New X5 watch the warranty and poor service departments...

I bought a new x5 this year and was told that everything was covered except
the tires and gas under the extensive warranty. When I picked it up the
steering wheel was off center about 3 degrees but the car tracked straight
on so I did not worry about it... I did call service and they said just
bring it in when you get it serviced..... Found out later that 1st service
is not for 12k miles.... ok still not worried since I was under warranty!!!.

However, last week the Navi lost date & Time and the Blue Tooth lost its
paring. Took it in to North Scottsdale AZ, BMW to get looked at and the
service tech said that he would not fix the steering wheel off center
because the car had over 2k on it... He then said that there are other
things that are not covered by the 4-year warranty from BMW. He further
went on to say that if he fixed it he would get into trouble from BMW since
it had over 2k on it. He did re-pair the Bluetooth phone but said he did
not know why everything else (i.e. date, time, fuel consumption) reset...

I am not that concerned about loosing the date and time and B/T even though
it required an unscheduled visit, but I sure thought that BMW (with its
Precision Engineering mantra) would take care of the steering wheel
off-center issue. The Service department just said to live with it since it
tracks straight!!! I would have brought it in sooner if I would have known
that I would get this type of treatment on my 1st visit. I have never been
treated like this with my other cars (3 Lexus autos). Also when I called in
I offered to leave it (since I had several appointments during the day) if
they could give me a loaner but they said that I would have to wait while
they looked it over first.... again never had this problem with any Lexus
dealer in the past they always had Lexus loaners... Later I found out that
IF they would have needed to keep it overnight I would have been given a
Hertz rental but not a BMW.

Anyways Now I have a new car with the steering wheel off center and every
time I take others for a ride ( I am a real-estate broker so I take lots of
folks for rides) I point out the poor customer service I have received so
far and give my story of the off center steering wheel. All I can say is
that otherwise the car is great but the service I have received has soured
my on any future BMW purchases.

Gary Rall