AutoBavaria Penang is crap indeed!

[lolex]

Just to share with you guys....My ride is a 325i SMG.My car was sent there for 2nd inspection and I told them that my car has little bit of juddering at very low rpm.A newbie customer sales officer attended to me.He told me that they need more time to check for the fault.No problem,they has all kind of diagnostics tools and ppl to sort out the problem he assured me.After a few days and many phone calls in between to check my car status,they told me its my gearbox flywheel gasket that is leaking.It needed to be fixed to solve the juddering problem.Feeling abit hesitant,I ask them are they sure is the gasket? As clucth slippage could also contribute to that problem.They said no issue with the clucth as it still bites like hell.So...OK.Changing the gasket is not so easy like changing clothes,they need to down the whole gearbox to get to the problem.I fixed an a date with them before I went overseas for 5 days.I came back..gave them a phone call to see when I can come collect the car BUT was told they could not fix the car.I mean..wat the F@#!? Anyway I kept my cool and ask why ...was told its not the gasket..its the clutch that needed to be fixed now.Oh...and the pump also... great!.I check my calendar its not Apr the 1st nor its another Gotcha call fr the Morning crew...I dont blame them if they could not locate the problem during the 2nd inspection.My car needed to be plucked on to some funny diagnostics machine for at least 8 hours and some one has to be there to overlook for any problem during the 2nd inspection the cso told me.BUT they took my car for the 2nd time to pinpoint the fault and was 100% certain is the gearbox flywheel gasket leakage.I also reconfirmed with them its that exact problem before I left my car there for repair and now they are telling me all this bulls@#$.I was damn piss..and demanded that they assemble up my car ASAP.(thinking of getting it out somewhr for 2nd opinion).The lousy AB Pg has wasted more than 2 weeks ( my car was sent in on 18th Feb) on my car and they could not even solve my problem.The CSO and even the After sales manager could not give me the date when my car will be ready.I reach the boiling point when I told them I will be faxing over a couple of letter to BMW Malaysia and AB Glenmarie(HQ) about my issue.....I receive a phone call 10 minutes later asking to go collect the car in 3 days time....hows that???? AB Pg....if you guys are not crap I dono what is....CheersLolex

 

[felixtan]

bro, not only AB penang la... AB glenmarie here is crap too la...

 

[totoro]

some one should write to Germany BMW about this. shame!!! have them revoked .

 

[lolex]

bro, not only AB penang la... AB glenmarie here is crap too la...

haha..ya bro..I posted my thread before I read the Ab glenmarie thread few rungs below.

If the HQ oso like that..those peripheral we can forget about it! :stupid:

 

[lolex]

some one should write to Germany BMW about this. shame!!! have them revoked .

Dont think they will entertain mere mortal like us la bro.They might be listening to someone more influtential

 

[mizhan]

this is the sad truth about authorised service centres. i worked at 2 car companies before, and trust me, they are not very different from one to another.

most of the aftersales centres' personnel, the people who actually perform the work i mean, are apprentice level; or 'mechanic III'. there are of course the senior people, but most of them no longer wish to get their hands dirty, some even got promoted to administrative positions or at the very least, became service advisors. these sifu's at best will only tell the mechanics what/where/how to troubleshoot; but they don't actually pick up wrenches anymore. as most of you know, many mechanical aspects of BMW's are somewhat a black art.. you need to know what you're doing. a lot of times, knowledge obtained from tearing a wira or camry apart, is useless when troubleshooting an E60 for example. even replacing wheel bearings on an E30 requires experienced dirty hands.

sorry.. i'm just killing time during my lunchbreak here. my point is, the best mechanics in town are the independent workshops - these people have the fundamental knowledge, experience, and most important of all, passion to get things right.

now i'm sleepy...

 

[ALBundy]

Just to share with you guys....

My ride is a 325i SMG.My car was sent there for 2nd inspection and I told them that my car has little bit of juddering at very low rpm.A newbie customer sales officer attended to me.He told me that they need more time to check for the fault.No problem,they has all kind of diagnostics tools and ppl to sort out the problem he assured me.

After a few days and many phone calls in between to check my car status,they told me its my gearbox flywheel gasket that is leaking.It needed to be fixed to solve the juddering problem.Feeling abit hesitant,I ask them are they sure is the gasket? As clucth slippage could also contribute to that problem.They said no issue with the clucth as it still bites like hell.

So...OK.Changing the gasket is not so easy like changing clothes,they need to down the whole gearbox to get to the problem.I fixed an a date with them before I went overseas for 5 days.I came back..gave them a phone call to see when I can come collect the car BUT was told they could not fix the car.I mean..wat the F@#!? Anyway I kept my cool and ask why ...was told its not the gasket..its the clutch that needed to be fixed now.Oh...and the pump also... great!.I check my calendar its not Apr the 1st nor its another Gotcha call fr the Morning crew...

I dont blame them if they could not locate the problem during the 2nd inspection.My car needed to be plucked on to some funny diagnostics machine for at least 8 hours and some one has to be there to overlook for any problem during the 2nd inspection the cso told me.BUT they took my car for the 2nd time to pinpoint the fault and was 100% certain is the gearbox flywheel gasket leakage.I also reconfirmed with them its that exact problem before I left my car there for repair and now they are telling me all this bulls@#$.

I was damn piss..and demanded that they assemble up my car ASAP.(thinking of getting it out somewhr for 2nd opinion).The lousy AB Pg has wasted more than 2 weeks ( my car was sent in on 18th Feb) on my car and they could not even solve my problem.The CSO and even the After sales manager could not give me the date when my car will be ready.I reach the boiling point when I told them I will be faxing over a couple of letter to BMW Malaysia and AB Glenmarie(HQ) about my issue.....I receive a phone call 10 minutes later asking to go collect the car in 3 days time....hows that???? AB Pg....if you guys are not crap I dono what is....

Cheers
Lolex

Hi Lolex,

As a consumer it is always very easy for us to point fingers.

I'd have some experience with the SMG tranny, and based on your description I do not think AB has done anything wrong, perhaps they took some extra time to fix your ride but that was due to the fact they discovered the hydraulic pump failure.

Your car probably was experiencing the early symptom of the dreaded hydraulic pump leak (very common in the SMG) of which hydraulic oil leaks to your clutch set. Normally, many owners will only realised this when the gear shift is not working anymore (car stalls). So, when the mechanic first checked on your car, his assumption would be the flywheel oil seal (which again is common). To replace the oil seal, the tranny would have to be removed, and prior to that the exhaust pipe and long shaft would have to be taken out as well. I think AB is very responsible in that sense. There are mechanics out there that will tell you the hydraulic pump and clutch set need to be replaced when sometimes the culprit is the flywheel oil seal. If AB had done that, then I would say AB is guilty as charged!!

I believe when the gearbox is removed, the mechanic would have then noticed the clutch pack is soiled with oil and hence the need to replace it. The whole thing itself cost more than 4k ++ (parts alone) and I have seen it many times.

Cheers
Albundy
President

 

[lolex]

Hi Lolex,

As a consumer it is always very easy for us to point fingers.

I'd have some experience with the SMG tranny, and based on your description I do not think AB has done anything wrong, perhaps they took some extra time to fix your ride but that was due to the fact they discovered the hydraulic pump failure.

Your car probably was experiencing the early symptom of the dreaded hydraulic pump leak (very common in the SMG) of which hydraulic oil leaks to your clutch set. Normally, many owners will only realised this when the gear shift is not working anymore (car stalls). So, when the mechanic first checked on your car, his assumption would be the flywheel oil seal (which again is common). To replace the oil seal, the tranny would have to be removed, and prior to that the exhaust pipe and long shaft would have to be taken out as well. I think AB is very responsible in that sense. There are mechanics out there that will tell you the hydraulic pump and clutch set need to be replaced when sometimes the culprit is the flywheel oil seal. If AB had done that, then I would say AB is guilty as charged!!

I believe when the gearbox is removed, the mechanic would have then noticed the clutch pack is soiled with oil and hence the need to replace it. The whole thing itself cost more than 4k ++ (parts alone) and I have seen it many times.

Cheers
Albundy
President

Helo Mr President,

Thanks for chiming in.

The fact that they failed to see there is shortage of pentosin in the hydraulic pump and the leakage around it signifies that they are very unprofessional in carrying out the diagnostics procedures let alone the repair work.Maybe what bro Mizhan said is so true that those sifus did not actually get their hands dirty anymore and delegate the job to lower rank mechanics.

I have "asked" and "confirmed " with them whether is it really the flywheel oil gasket that needed to be changed and they said a big YES caused they have RECTIFIED the root of the problem or else they would not have taken down the tranny.So during the aftermath,maybe as you said ,they realised that the problem is the clucth not the seal,fixed it back up "without doing" anything and charged me rm670 for labour..not to mention the number of weeks my car are stucked there.They CONFIRMED is the oil seal prob > then said no its the clutch prob > then I have to pay for their labor and their wrong diagnosis?

As a civilised person as we all are,I just paid up and took my car out but this bad experience will linger forever..

Cheers
Lolex

 

[anxious]

Hi Lolex,

As a consumer it is always very easy for us to point fingers.

I'd have some experience with the SMG tranny, and based on your description I do not think AB has done anything wrong, perhaps they took some extra time to fix your ride but that was due to the fact they discovered the hydraulic pump failure.

Your car probably was experiencing the early symptom of the dreaded hydraulic pump leak (very common in the SMG) of which hydraulic oil leaks to your clutch set. Normally, many owners will only realised this when the gear shift is not working anymore (car stalls). So, when the mechanic first checked on your car, his assumption would be the flywheel oil seal (which again is common). To replace the oil seal, the tranny would have to be removed, and prior to that the exhaust pipe and long shaft would have to be taken out as well. I think AB is very responsible in that sense. There are mechanics out there that will tell you the hydraulic pump and clutch set need to be replaced when sometimes the culprit is the flywheel oil seal. If AB had done that, then I would say AB is guilty as charged!!

I believe when the gearbox is removed, the mechanic would have then noticed the clutch pack is soiled with oil and hence the need to replace it. The whole thing itself cost more than 4k ++ (parts alone) and I have seen it many times.

Cheers
Albundy
President

Mr President, whilst you may be right on the technical aspect (of which I am clueless) , I am sure that objectively you will agree that the service Lolex has received as related by him is wanting esp considering that cars sold by AB are a quarter million ringgit upwards.

I have read time and time again owners complaining of poor service by distributors and I dont think they are all whiners.

BMW Msia should look into such matters.

Most cars being serviced at AB are new or relatively new. Owners also pay a premium on service, so I dont blame Lolex for being upset when he gets less than satisfactory service.

If the Service Center had the benefit of ur experience on SMG gearboxes as related above, I am sure that they would have been able to give Lolex a much more informed diagnosis to his problem as u have done and it would have saved Lolex from a lot of unnecessary anxiety.

 

[ALBundy]

Mr President, whilst you may be right on the technical aspect (of which I am clueless) , I am sure that objectively you will agree that the service Lolex has received as related by him is wanting esp considering that cars sold by AB are a quarter million ringgit upwards.

I have read time and time again owners complaining of poor service by distributors and I dont think they are all whiners.

BMW Msia should look into such matters.

Most cars being serviced at AB are new or relatively new. Owners also pay a premium on service, so I dont blame Lolex for being upset when he gets less than satisfactory service.

If the Service Center had the benefit of ur experience on SMG gearboxes as related above, I am sure that they would have been able to give Lolex a much more informed diagnosis to his problem as u have done and it would have saved Lolex from a lot of unnecessary anxiety.

Anxious, appreciate your comments, but out of curiosity...have you ever got your car serviced at Auto Bavaria Penang?

Cheers

 

[jarance]

Anxious, appreciate your comments, but out of curiosity...have you ever got your car serviced at Auto Bavaria Penang?

Cheers

bro, I think the question is irrelevant. I have used a UDM for more than 10 years and I have never used AB or any of the authorized workshop. I have been to some of the workshop (Ingress and Sapura) organised by the club and I am quite impressive by their setup.:top:

IMHO, If you are not happy with AB, then go to Sapura or Ingress. Unfortunately, they may be not available in Penang. However, AB is not the only shop that can service your car. :listen:

 

[VKS]

Just wondering if these kind of service happens in other countries...anybody?:dontknow:

 

[anxious]

Anxious, appreciate your comments, but out of curiosity...have you ever got your car serviced at Auto Bavaria Penang?

Cheers

Yes I did an inspection of my car there but my comments above are based on Lolex's experience which he related to us.

Whilst I understand that you wish to moderate the forum to accord some fairness to the distributor, I dont think you need to be overly protective about them.

Based on the comments I have read in this forum I can draw the conclusion that most distributors are more interested in selling the cars than after sales. That's my opinion.

Of course we may agree to disagree on that.

Forums like this are an excellent opportunity for owners to share their experiences.

I certainly dont agree that AB Penang is carp as suggested by Lolex, however I feel AB as a whole needs to show some improvement.

 

[ALBundy]

Anxious,

I am not being protective of them. I am just trying to give a more balance account of what could have transpired. And yes, I do get the other side of the story as well from Auto Bavaria.

As you have rightly pointed out, this forum is for all BMW enthusiasts to share their experiences but look at some of the postings here. How many have actually have had bad experience with AB Penang? Did you?

There was one posting in another thread in which one forumer heard parts are being swapped in an authorised workshop. This is purely hearsay and unstantiated. In fact I have sent private messages to some of them asking for more clarification of which there is no reply.

Constructive comments and positive/negative experiences with workshops, dealers and etc are always welcome in this forum, but the person sitting behind the monitor should act in a responsible manner, and if not the club could get into a hot soup.

My interest is simple, and that is to protect the club's interest.

Cheers

 

[saat]

I've only been to AB Penang once in 1984 and what started as a very exasperating experience turned into a good one because with someones assistance, I managed to secure (illegally) an item I needed to nurse my car back to KL.

But I have been to service departments of AB Sect 14, AB Federal Highway, AB JB and AB Glen Marie and in almost 95% of the cases I came away dissatisfied. I like the brand and I dont have a choice but to go back there fearing voiding the warranty. Someone here suggested not to buy from lor go to AB. I say why should we let them get away with it. I've bought the car, now AB should keep its end of the bargain. Up until recently, there was no choice for authorised purchase and servicing of BMW. Even with competition, the service with AB has not improved.

I have made numerous attempts to put in constructive suggestions to AB, Sime and BMW (M) Snr Management, but to no avail. What irks me is that the Snr Management of AB was not interested in listening to me. I got more airtime from the chairman of Sime. Maybe you can do a better job at it than lowly me.

I think I will save the bandwidth by not detailing out all my experiences with AB spanning 25 years. I think let the person who experienced it speak and let off steam.

 

[infinityKL]

1 bad experience is enuff to kill all good ones...

 

[lolex]

Anxious,

I am not being protective of them. I am just trying to give a more balance account of what could have transpired. And yes, I do get the other side of the story as well from Auto Bavaria.

As you have rightly pointed out, this forum is for all BMW enthusiasts to share their experiences but look at some of the postings here. How many have actually have had bad experience with AB Penang? Did you?

There was one posting in another thread in which one forumer heard parts are being swapped in an authorised workshop. This is purely hearsay and unstantiated. In fact I have sent private messages to some of them asking for more clarification of which there is no reply.

Constructive comments and positive/negative experiences with workshops, dealers and etc are always welcome in this forum, but the person sitting behind the monitor should act in a responsible manner, and if not the club could get into a hot soup.

My interest is simple, and that is to protect the club's interest.

Cheers

Mr President.I truly agree with you that it is your interest to protect the club,that is one thing.
... but this is my real and personal experience I had with AB Pg and I wish to share it with all the members here.Not everyone servicing their car at AB Pg knows this forum and they might not be well educated enough to write in English and post their comment here.

Take for instance both of my bro in law barely finish form 5 and chinese ed..one driving an e46 PF* 8**8 and another e60 PH# *3 .Both of them also had bad experiences with AB Pg but of cos they dont even know about this forum let alone posting a thread.And one incident my bro in law had is about the part swapping as you mentioned.But that's another story.

Talking about hearsay..=) 2 of the long serving CSO (one use to handle my car) in AB Pg had resigned simultaneously recently (now all CSO in AB Pg is new recruit) and of cos I have heard rumours on what exactly happened to them fr those in the same industry.

As I said I wish to share my experince I had with AB Pg particualrly in handling the SMG car...my car to be exact =) All the best.
Rgds
Lolex

 

[lolex]

1 bad experience is enuff to kill all good ones...

Very true and very well said! :top:

 

[t2ribena]

for me i got one encounter with them and after that i gave up sending my car there...last year during my outstation trip to pg, my car AC cannot shut down even if i off the ignition and remove the key...so i drove to AB Pg to get my car checked and to see what they can do..it was 4.50pm and when i arrive no one entertain me and those SA was like passing to each other to attend to me...like u go la, then u go la...i was like wtf??? then at last one SA reluctantly attend to me...told them my problem and what he said was like we are closing please come back but i told him hei the car AC cannot shutdown la what are u thinking??? wat if i park my car then the AC run until the battery flat?? then he go call someone to plug the GT1 in and find no fault but cannot explain the problem...so with the priority to close the shop he ask me to come back tomolo to get my car recoded with new software...i was damn angry at that point and said to them its ok...and i left pissed off...thinking what kind of dealer of a premium brand handle the dealership like this....the toyota SC is far better than them...

btw i did later go see the fuse diagram myself and cabut the fuse for the AC when i stop the car...

 

[Over_Boost]

1 bad experience is enuff to kill all good ones...

Well said indeed, I myself drove all the way to Jalan P.Ramlee to get my UDM service rather than going to AB PG.