Get missing dash pixels repaired by BMWNA (E39)

So what was the labor charge for you?

I had mine done last year after going through customer relations. It cost $125.00, and is already going out again!

My dealer is replacing my MID panel as well due to failing pixels! If you have this problem, it looks to be covered as well!

Originally Posted by beachcomber_bil

I had mine done last year after going through customer relations. It cost $125.00, and is already going out again!

You get a two year warranty on the new part.

Called BMWA directly- took all of one week from time of 1st call to dealer appt.
Total cost is $91 (one hr labor).
Asked my rep at BMWA why some people had to pay for 1/2 the part and some people pay nothing- response was that it depends on how long you have owned the car and if you were a previous BMW owner. I have owned my car for 1 1/2 yrs and did previously own a BMW (motorcycle but it counts I guess)
Cheers!

very good post, same thing happened to my 03 530i, they agreed topay for parts and same as you i have to pick up labor 1hr. not bad. They admit that there were many bad units, and this is y they do the "right thing" and pay for the parts..

I have an '02 530i with the 6/100 CPO coverage. I have 2 more years or 30,000+ miles left. Should I wait until I get closer to the end of my warranty to replace mine?

Guys,

Someone asked about older higher mileage cars. I have a 97 540 with 114K on the odometer. I followed the original email chain about a month ago. Sent the email and Sema (very nice and professional lady) from BMW customer relations called me. Gave her more details and a couple of weeks later, I had a brand new cluster. Cost me $95 for 1 hour labor plus I got a free car wash! I bought the car used and quite franky this was the only thing wrong with the car. This was a definate plus in my book. When this one dies, I will be shopping for another.

Originally Posted by mike43068

I have an '02 530i with the 6/100 CPO coverage. I have 2 more years or 30,000+ miles left. Should I wait until I get closer to the end of my warranty to replace mine?

Your call here but I think I would have it replaced the next time you take the car in. Obviously, it won't cost you anything, not even labor, to get it replaced under warranty.

Is this the same as the pixels in the head unit for the radio? I have 2 lines that just died and I emailed the woman mentioned 3 weeks ago and still haven't heard from her...

I believe so...keep emailing...persistance is the key!

Well..

I think e-mailing is better, cause I couldn't wait for a response, called BMWNA, and reached some guy named Lew. Lew informed me that BMWNA was only paying 50% of the total repair, leaving me with $400+ dollar bill. So while I was discussing it another BMW owner said that BMWNA paid for his part and he only had to pay for labor. (he called BMW NA too.) He suggested that I call Lew back at BMWNA to work it out.

I tried that. Lew was very firm and unwilling to work with me, plus not to mention very annoyed and rude that I even brought it up. He only asked me three questions.

1. Where did I buy the Car. BMW Dealer
2. How long have I owned the Car. Almost 3 years
3. How many Miles are on the car. over 100k

And based off of that Information he came to the figure of 50%.

However after reading this thred, I feel like I'm being screwed.

I'm now going to e-mail Veronica and work this like a new issue. With any luck I'll get offered the same deal as everyone else. (pending there's no database that contains data about my past communication with Lew.)

So for a summary....

DON'T CALL BMWNA, because you might get Lew. If you do, he doesn't care about the customer and only offers 50% unless your car has less than 50k miles on it and is less than 3 years old. He is very Firm an annoyed to even talk with you about repairing the issue. Almost as if he were taking it personally and paying for it out of his own pocket.

Be patient with Veronica, from what I have read here, she's fair and willing to help.

I know that BMW doesn't have to extend this offer. And that what they're doing, even if they are paying 50% of the repair, is generous. However, they must know that this part isn't holding up, and that if they plan on taking responsibility, they should the same compensation to every customer.

email sent today
we will see what comes of it

They're only giving me a 25% part warranty and want me to cover 75% and the labor. Considering my car does have 140,000 I have owned it for 3 years and have added alot of the miles. Also this is my fourth bimmer. I would like to see if you get anywhere

How did you contact them? Through e-mail? Who did you work with?

Also, at that price, it's better to get it fixed at www.vdorepair.com Cheaper and lasts longer.

I contacted them through email leonora and then a rep called me back. I also had a friend call her right after and he has one with 80k and she said the same

Sounds like they don't have a hard set formula for this. I've heard everything now. There defiantly isn't a formula to this madness. Just read this whole thread, there's guys from 1997 to now either getting the part free, paying 50% or paying 75%. It seems that they flip a coin to whether or not they're feeling generous. Honestly, I don't see the benefit unless they offer the part for free. Besides, they know that the part is crap; they know that it fails... Why can't they offer the same deal for everyone?

I've owned BMW's since my mother died. I got her car which was a 1987' L6.

Later I bought a 1996 328i, 1998 740i, 1986 325e, and a 2001 540i.

I know things don't last for ever, and BMW is being generous by offering something, but it just bothers me that they're not being fair to everyone.

I can afford the parts, the car, and the service. But I can't afford the corporate attitude.

I'm not going to have BMWNA fix my car unless they want to offer the part for free. Instead, I'll go with www.vdorepair.com because it's cheaper and the warranty is longer than the other offer BMWNA has for those less fortunate.

Maybe then, when I'm through with the car, I'll switch to an AMG.

I just bought a 2003 530I that has the pixel problem in the MID and driver console. Problem is, it has 80000 miles on it now. My BMW dealer says $800 to fix it, so I called BMWNA and left my information. I should be getting a call back in about a week or so. Fingers crossed.

I looked on the BMWNA website and couldn't any kind of service related phone number. Mind if I ask what number called? I sent a couple of e-mails to the contact mentioned in this thread and received no reply.

Originally Posted by facedon

I just bought a 2003 530I that has the pixel problem in the MID and driver console. Problem is, it has 80000 miles on it now. My BMW dealer says $800 to fix it, so I called BMWNA and left my information. I should be getting a call back in about a week or so. Fingers crossed.

my '98 has the problem, and they offered to fix it for the 1hr labor charge, parts covered by them or BMWNA! BMW of Dallas is great. Free loaner BMW too.

As has been mentioned in this post, there seems to be a magic formula that nobody seems to know. From what I can gather, my situation probably makes me the bottom of the barrell. As for what number I called, I used the one in the service manual.

Bimmerd00d, did you call or email? I called and I am thinking that wasn't the best move either.

soldering in a wired ribbon cable is the only long term solution that I trust. It would be a horrible job. I will be trying when mine go out (i only have two intermitent pixels, resta are perfect)

Originally Posted by facedon

As has been mentioned in this post, there seems to be a magic formula that nobody seems to know. From what I can gather, my situation probably makes me the bottom of the barrell. As for what number I called, I used the one in the service manual.

Bimmerd00d, did you call or email? I called and I am thinking that wasn't the best move either.

Went through BMWNA via email for my inst cluster, and i just called the dealer regarding the MID panel and spoke with the same service advisor.

based on my survey, success is often had with email, and less so with calling... oh well, I am sitting by the phone and waiting to hear my fate.

Hiya, new to the forum... Figured I'd post my experience...

I've got a 1997 540i that had the high cluster problem. Bought the car used from my local dealership 2 months ago with 120,000 miles on it. It was not a CPO car. Heard about the customer loyalty recall and so I called BMWNA, figured nothing ventured was nothing gained. the number I called was 1-800-831-1117. Got a gentleman by the name of Mike, who was very pleasant and helpful. He asked the usual battery of questions, year, mileage, last couple of digits in the VIN, how many BMW's did I currently own, how many have I owned in my life, etc. Said he would talk to his marketing team and someone would be in touch. 3 days later he called back, asking which dealership I planned to use. I told him my local BMW dealer here in Madison, WI and he said that he would call me back later. 2 days later he called back saying that BMW would pay 100% of the cluster and I had to pay labor. I made an appointment to get the car in for the following week. When I made the appointment I asked about the labor cost and was told it would be 1 hour, $100. Got the car in, and it was done in almost 1 hour exactly. Bill was $142. I asked why this way and was told that it wasn't an hourly labor rate, rather cluster swaps were billed at a fixed rate due to programming. They immediately agreed to drop the bill from $142 to the $100 I had been quoted, so I was quite happy... until I got into the car... all of your presets will be gone, I had been tracking fuel mileage since day one, that was gone, all the radio stations had to be reprogrammed, etc... really a minor thing considering the cost of a new cluster though... so yeah, for those keeping score, '97 540i, 124,000 miles, not a CPO car, previously owned 4 BMW's, free part, I pay labor.

-Brad