United BMW Intentionally Screws Up Suspension Upgrade *AND* Screws Up Wheel Alignment

As described in a previous post, United BMW intentionally failed to install major components of a suspension upgrade, then demanded another $1,500 to complete the installation correctly with all the required parts. I asked United to double-check & triple-check their facts. After going round-&-round with United for several days United authoritatively stated it is "impossible" to provide springs with 135 suspension upgrade.

When I outed United's comical absurdities on the 1Addicts.com board United immediately called me and said "Ooohhhh, thhooosse springs . . . Just bring you car back in and we won't charge you $1,500.

If United cannot even figure out what major components are required to do a suspension upgrade, and intentionally installed mis-matched springs & shocks in my 135, my preference is to have a competent service organization complete the suspension upgrade correctly with all required major components.

United refuses to provide a refund for the $500 set of springs, and refuses to issue a refund for the labor costs associated with intentionally installing four mis-matched springs & shocks.

Originally Posted by United

Don't worry, we know what we are doing. We are one of the top 30 BMW dealerships in the country and have a superior reputation for quality, competence and professionalism. Just bring your car back in and we will fix it real good. When you signed the service order right before we returned your car, you thereby acknowledged United's work was done correctly. United has no obligation to offer you any remedy for intentionally hosing up your car.

Notwithstanding United's sterling reputation decided it would be a good idea to have a competent service organization double-check the four-wheel alignment United performed as part of the suspension upgrade.

United massively screwed up every alignment setting. The mechanic checking the alignment was gobsmacked at how badly United FUBAR'd the alignment. The edges of my new Michelin Pilot Super Sports had started to shred with United's FUBAR alignment.

Originally Posted by United

Ohh, you are just being unreasonable & stubborn asking for a refund. Don't worry, we know what we are doing. We are one of the top 30 BMW dealerships in the country and have a superior reputation for quality, competence and professionalism. Just bring your car back in and United will fix it real good.

jejune, any updates since your post?

Yes, there are a couple updates . . .

Most notably, this matter was also posted to the 1Addicts.com forum which sparked several pages of active discussion. 1Addicts.com deleted the post and would not provide any explanation for the deletion (note the link in the OP is no longer working).

United BMW is a sponsor of 1Addicts.com. Draw your own conclusions.

United BMW does not appear to be a sponsor of bimmerfest.com so it may be safe to provide a response to your query without being jumped by a posse of trolls.

Immediately after this Bimmerfest post was made, United BMW's After Sales Manager responded to the 1Addicts.com post and proceeded to mount the argument that parts & service dept personnel had been counseled for mishandling the matter, yet United BMW is under no obligation to offer the customer (me) any remedy because United BMW did nothing wrong.

The After Sales Manager went on to explain that United BMW had actually sold & installed an unadvertised double-secret installation kit that cost $50.00 less. $500 worth of springs was not included in the unadvertised double-secret suspension kit because United BMW had further discounted the full suspension kit cost by $50.

United BMW stated essentially these same assertions to the BBB and a BMW USA customer quality assurance organization.

Fortunately the CEO of United BMW of Roswell's parent organization offered a reasonable response to a very tersely worded letter regarding this matter. He has agreed to provide a full refund when I return all the parts that had been installed by United BMW.

Unfortunately the corresponding Eibach suspension kit has been on back order since the middle of September, so haven't been able to complete the exchange and obtain the agreed upon refund.

Got the Eibach suspension kit installed. Very happy with the Eibach kit. Was worried about ride quality, but to my experience there is no significant ride quality degradation. I'd highly recommend the Eibach kit if you want to tighten up a 135's suspension and remove gobs of understeer.

The mechanic found a few more problems with United BMW's work:

• The sequence of nuts and bushings at the top of the rear shocks were installed incorrectly.
• A few nuts had been rounded-off.
• A screw fitting securing a sensor wire had been completely stripped out so the sensor wire was just flopping around loose.

The Eibach kit was installed in under four hours by a local tire shop. United BMW had billed me ten hours to hose up the BMW suspension kit install.

The United BMW after-sales manager had aggressively asserted that the four wheel alignment had in fact been done correctly and the alignment settings found by a local tire shop were indeed within BMW specifications. Don't think BMW specifies a half degree difference in camber for the rear tires and don't think an interesting assortment of cross-eyed toe settings are within BMW spec's.

• Left front toe: 0.24 deg;
• Right front toe: -0.05 deg off to the right;
• Steer ahead: 0.15 deg to the right;
• Left rear toe: 0.37 deg to the right;
• Right rear toe: 0.28 deg to the left;
• Rear total toe: 0.66 deg to the right;
• Left rear camber -2.0 deg to the right;
• Right rear camber -1.5 deg;
• Rear thrust angle 0.04 deg;

The after-sales manager had aggressively asserted that United BMW had installed a double-secret suspension kit that did not include springs, but cost the same amount as a kit with springs. The manager and the service invoice did not cite this different suspension kit number. The United BMW service invoice cited the actual, correct BMW suspension kit part number United's web site specifically touted as including new springs as the central feature of the suspension kit.

The United BMW after-sales manager requested that I not discuss my United BMW service experience on Internet forums. The after-sales manager mentioned that he had many forum buddies standing ready to shout down any attempts at such. Exactly this happened on another popular BMW forum before the relevant post was deleted in its entirety by the moderator without explanation.

Great buncha professionals at United BMW.

Good to hear that it worked out for you, curious who did you get to do the new install, was it a BMW Dealer or an Indy?

What a horrible experience. Glad to hear you finally got it done right.

The Eibach kit was sourced and installed by Butler Tire in John's Creek. I have been getting tires there for almost fifteen years. Always a positive, professional experience. Pretty much the same core crew has been there that whole time which no doubt plays no small part in their consistent quality service.

Of course I sorely regret not checking with Butler Tire before getting involved with United BMW's fiasco. Butler's help in straightening out United BMW's FUBAR work was greatly appreciated. It was reassuring to fall back on a trusted shop.

@gmblack3 thanks, yep, I'm much, much happier with the Eibach kit. After a few more miles I'm hard pressed to find any faults. Inspires alotta confidence to casually slice through a curve rather than struggling to balance the weight off understeering front tires. Understeer is never any fun.

The Eibach kit does sit a bit low. I'll have to admit there is a bit of hoon in me that thinks the 135 looks great hunkered down on its tires. I'm amazed how it can sit low yet still ride as well as it does. Haven't hit the bump-stops even after a few back road sorties.

My impression is that even a *correctly* installed BMW performance suspension would be too much of a committee-driven cushy compromise. BMW can't sell 1M's if a 135 can be transformed into a 1M with a BMW suspension kit and chip kit. Put a decent set of tires, an Eibach kit, and a JB4 chip kit on a 135 and . . .


The Eibach kit is a total no-brainer especially considering you can get an Eibach kit installed for less than half the price of the BMW performance suspension, notwithstanding ham-fisted felons at dealership service departments.

Got a call from United BMW of Roswell's general manager.

Seems United BMW has noticed that I have been sharing my performance suspension install experience on the Internet.

The general manager asked that I refrain from sharing my experiences at United BMW since they had issued a full refund for the hosed up performance suspension install.

I had to remind the general manager that it took several weeks to obtain the refund and during that period United BMW repeatedly misrepresented the facts of the matter and made every attempt to evade responsibility for hosing up the performance suspension install and made a deliberate attempt to double-charge me for parts & labor.

I also had to remind the general manager that a previous request to refrain from discussing my experience at United BMW was not made so politely and was issued in terms of a crude schoolyard ultimatum.

What then, the general manager inquired, would it take to convince me to refrain from sharing my United BMW experience?

When it was suggested an apology might be warranted the general manager said he'd get back to me.

That was several weeks ago.

Fine buncha' professionals at United BMW.

Thanks for sharing your story. United Roswell was very unprofessional when I dealt with them also. I would stay far away from this place.

JejuneLegume,

I personally regret you had a poor experience with us. I did what I thought was best at the time and clearly I was wrong. I'm very sorry that the whole ordeal went sour and took weeks to correct. In any case, we went about the entire situation the wrong way, and for that we're truly sorry.

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Daniel Miles
United BMW
678.832.4667

Originally Posted by UnitedBMW

JejuneLegume,

I personally regret you had a poor experience with us. I did what I thought was best at the time and clearly I was wrong. I'm very sorry that the whole ordeal went sour and took weeks to correct. In any case, we went about the entire situation the wrong way, and for that we're truly sorry.

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Daniel Miles
United BMW
678.832.4667

Can't imagine why any BMW needs a suspension upgrade. The suspension on my BMWs has been so much better than any car I ever had in about 50 years of driving that it's hard to believe that anyone could improve on it.

Originally Posted by UnitedBMW

JejuneLegume,

I personally regret you had a poor experience with us. I did what I thought was best at the time and clearly I was wrong. I'm very sorry that the whole ordeal went sour and took weeks to correct. In any case, we went about the entire situation the wrong way, and for that we're truly sorry.

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Daniel Miles
United BMW
678.832.4667

I had an issue at United BMW too. I brought my car to United BMW in Roswell for replacing a fuel sensor. When I got the car back it had several white water spots which were not there when I dropped it off. It is as if you park the cars in an area with sprinklers that spray mineralized water.

The damage couldn't be removed by washing the car. It literally looked like the water had etched the paint. Washing it had no effect. Neither did quick detailer. I had to literally have a professional detailer do a paint correction (remove a thin layer of clearcoat) to get rid of the damage. It was very disappointing.

Obviously this wasn't deliberate damage, but it raises questions about where United BMW stores their customers' vehicles. Personally I wouldn't take my car there again, since I don't need mineral deposits on my paint.

Originally Posted by UnitedBMW

JejuneLegume,

I personally regret you had a poor experience with us. I did what I thought was best at the time and clearly I was wrong. . . .

Daniel Miles, United BMW

Please pardon the suggestion this isn't the time or place for such an apology.

Perhaps a better time would have been six months ago when I was required to invest a very, very large amount of time & energy to extract a resolution from United BMW. A resolution that ultimately had to be personally directed by the CEO of United BMW's parent organization. If it honestly takes six months to reflect & understand the egregious actions taken by United BMW . . .

Perhaps a better place for your apology would be 1Addicts.com where your characterizations of this matter included "beyond ridiculous", "useless", and "jumping to conclusions"

As the post discussing this matter was suddenly deleted from 1Addicts.com without explanation, I'm sure your sudden appearance and single post on this forum has been with the best intentions for United BMW.

Originally Posted by Stealth.Pilot

. . . raises questions about where United BMW stores their customers' vehicles. .. .

The salesman that sold me my 135 at United BMW of Roswell described how there has been many thefts from customer cars stored on United BMW of Roswell lot . . . Rims, stereos, etc. . . .

Originally Posted by JejuneLegume

Please pardon the suggestion this isn't the time or place for such an apology.

Perhaps a better time would have been six months ago . . .

Look forward, not backward. If it hadn't been for United's screw up, you may never have had the opportunity to get the Eibach suspension.

If 1Addicts did what you claim they did, and I have no reason to doubt you, removing the thread may have not been such a bad idea, since it did erase any record of the details of United's despicable efforts to discredit you. But to not give you any explanation for abruptly removing the thread casts serious doubt on the board's credibility-- it has none. It's heavy handedness in my eyes shows a serious lack of respect for it's "customer" base.

Of course the moderators have an absolute right to do whatever they like, It's there board. The users merely give the board a means of making some money, that's all. No user support, no interest by vendor supporters. So in choosing to exercise its censorship right in support of a vendor sponsor it demonstrates an unacceptable bias against the user community. All of its users ought to take notice and perhaps rethink patronizing a board sponsor that will screw them with 1Addicts assistance. I mean why enter into a transaction with a 1Addicts board sponsor when 1Addicts will not permit a defrauded user from discussing the transaction?

Untied has apologized. I've heard lots of BS apologies, which usually begin with "If we offended you in any way." This one seems genuine. Forgiveness is the other side of the apology coin. Why not take the high road and accept the apology and move forward.

1Addicts still has to answer for it's shabby conduct. Maybe United can use the same influence it exercised in having the thread removed to help 1Addicts acknowledge their gross disrespect for the 1Addicts community and make an honest statement as to their future policies regarding their treatment of the user community.

@Wihelm, thanks for your viewpoints.

I'm not real happy with 1addicts.com, but to be fair, the admin didn't have much of a choice but to delete the post.

In the 1addicts post, United BMW's After Sales Manager was aggressively making the argument that they installed a different, imaginary suspension kit than the one United BMW had advertised on sale at the time.

It may be possible that the 1addicts.com admin couldn't really explain that the post had to be deleted because the After Sales Manager was explaining (screaming) how a site sponsor (ahem, allegedly) defrauds customers via an outrageous bait-&-switch scheme.

The post deletion was a pity if for no other reason than it would have been entertaining to see to what other gems would have surfaced in the post.

Originally Posted by UnitedBMW

JejuneLegume,

I personally regret you had a poor experience with us. I did what I thought was best at the time and clearly I was wrong. I'm very sorry that the whole ordeal went sour and took weeks to correct. In any case, we went about the entire situation the wrong way, and for that we're truly sorry.

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Daniel Miles
United BMW
678.832.4667

I don't know whats worse:
a.) the intentionally screwed suspension job with fake work order.
b.) the incompetence of not even being able to do a simple wheel alignment.
c.) the arrogant coverup including outright lying to BMW North America etc.
d.) a disingenuous apology.


I'm glad you are not my BMW dealer.

I'm sorry to hear about your trouble with United but am glad to know it's not just me! I recently had a similar experience with United and certainly wish I had read this thread before I took my car there.

I took my car into United because the back tires (purchased 6-7 months ago from United) were cupping. They also (supposedly) did an alignment about 9 months ago. After looking at the car, they said the worn tires were due to a bad alignment, which they were the last ones to do. I argued with them for 2 days until they finally agreed to install 2 new tires and perform the alignment for the cost of 1 tire. Side note: The GM was very rude and denied any accountability even though they did the alignment and installed the tires, so I'm not surprised to read about your problems with him either.

Upon supposedly performing the alignment, United called me and said my rear subframe was bent and I must have hit something (I didn't). They told me it would cost at least $3K to replace and I should really just trade the car in. I told them no and went to pick up the car.

Before I was even home, the sales department called trying to sell me a new car. I told them (not very nicely) where they could stick it and made an appointment with a BMW certified shop the same day. Once the certified shop looked at the car, they said there is NOTHING wrong with my subframe (duh) and, in fact, the problem was just a $300 wheel bearing!

Got the car back yesterday and it drives like brand new. United BMW was either trying to take me for $3K for the subframe or convince me under false pretenses to trade in my car for a new one. What a bunch of crooks!

Additionally, according to the certified shop, United either didn't do an alignment on my car or did a pretty terrible one. I'm now convinced this is also what they did 9 months ago, which is why my tires wore out so quickly (wonder if they do that on purpose for additional work and sales). This is unethical at best and borders on thievery. Thankfully, I knew to get a 2nd opinion or they would have totally fleeced me.

@Stealth.Pilot and mere13: Yep, some shops I have visited have voiced grave doubts about United BMW based upon similar customer experiences.

Please take a moment to share your experiences on general consumer review sites. This is what prompted United BMW of Roswell's GM to call me last March to request I shut up & go away.

There is every indication United BMW subscribes to a service that monitors consumer review sites, and likely astro-turfs consumer review sites with fake positive reviews.

United BMW has learned that they can close BBB complaints by simply offering a resolution, no matter how unacceptable the resolution is to the customer. That is all the BBB requires to close a complaint with a positive outcome.

GA Office of Consumer Affairs took my complaint for action, and forwarded the matter to the CEO under AG letterhead.

The internal BMW QA organization is a complete waste of time as the org has no authority and somehow thinks repeating whatever the dealership says is problem resolution.

Some suggested sites:
kudzu.com

CitySearch

SuperPages

InsiderPages

CarGurus

MerchantCircle

Originally Posted by Wihelm G

Untied has apologized. . . . This one seems genuine. Why not take the high road and accept the apology and move forward.

Please allow me to bounce off your comments a little. Maybe the scope of the matter isn't coming across.

For what did United apologize? A "poor experience" that happened to have "went sour"?

When the "mechanic" asked for the four springs to complete the install properly and he was explicitly instructed to complete the install without the springs, is this a "poor experience" that happened to have "went sour"?

When United BMW neglected to call me to inquire if I wanted the suspension package installed without springs, then pay an additional $1,500 at a later date, is this another "poor experience" that happened to have "went sour"?

United BMW claims to have performed over "forty" performance suspension installs on 135's, yet we are to believe that United BMW does not know the major components required to complete a suspension install?

When United BMW charged twice as much labor as required to complete the installation is this another "poor experience" that happened to have "went sour"?

When it was repeatedly pointed out to United BMW that the advertised suspension package specifically and prominently features four new springs, are we to believe that a high-end dealership does not recognize the elements of a fraudulent transaction and would not make every attempt to distance themselves from such a possibility?

Over the course of this transaction United BMW took the following positions:

1. The springs are included in the package;
2. The springs are not included in the package and demanded $1,500 to install;
3. The springs are included in the package and will be installed at no cost;
4. The springs are not included in the package;
5. Then ultimately issued a full refund as the springs are included in the package;

Is this another "poor experience" that happened to have "went sour"?

When United BMW unequivocally asserted to the BBB that:

1. Springs are not included in the package;
2. The wheel alignment performed on my car was within BMW specification;
3. I am confused and don't understand wheel alignment specifications

Is this another "poor experience" that happened to have "went sour"?

Immediately coincident to the After-Sales Manager threatening to have his friends shout me down on the 1Addicts forum if I don't shut up and go away with my hosed up car, a series of ad hominem attacks appear in the deleted post discussing this matter. (see attached images)

Is this another "poor experience" that happened to have "went sour"?


Having endured such idiocy from United BMW for almost two months, "whoopsie" doesn't cut it.