All I did was put a battery in it.

[SC Maintenance]

It's not a trashed car. You dont think that a dud battery could happen?

Think of it this way. If you had a 2024 BMW under full warranty and it just up and quit / fully dead with free roadside - would you have it towed to a local shop? Remember - you don't know its just a battery.

Total scam written all over it. Something is up. Whomever let that thing in dropped the ball.

 

[maraakate]

Thats what the girl does but she couldnt test the radio, get the milage etc as the battery was completely failed and would not even work the dome light.

You also mentioned being blamed for scratches. I was more referring to that. Getting mileage, etc. yeah that won't happen during a normal inspection unless the battery is good. But yeah, not your problem it's the service departments issue now.

 

[maraakate]

It's not a trashed car. You dont think that a dud battery could happen?

If someone was an idiot and kept draining the battery over and over and over again for some bizarre reason, yes. It's always possible there are defective batteries out of the gate, but I'd imagine it be pretty rare from someone like BMW.

 

[walterjay]

Let your boss deal with it

 

[edyvw]

It's not a trashed car. You dont think that a dud battery could happen?

Oh, absolutely it could.
But then, roadside assistance + warranty? Most people, I would say huge majority, who buy vehicles like that are familiar with warranty etc.
Something doesn’t add up.

 

[slo town]

Your experiences with German cars always seem less than ideal.

Scott

 

[The_Jeff]

Let your boss deal with it

Yeah they get a cut of your labor, emotionally divest yourself of this problem.

If you have to talk to her, shrug and suggest she take it to the dealer. It's the perfect out, you're firing her as a customer, playing dumb, and you won't have to fix the radio. And if she DOES take it to the dealer, they'll pick up on her craziness and not give her what she wants as far as "proof" you screwed it up.

tl;dr, relax.

 

[Chris142]

Now you know why auto repair shops charge so much.

Most dealers now have camera's on the drive up covered service entrance, and they video and record everything on the car going in for exactly this reason.

Fits right along your thread of fancy cars with no gas. Mostly people that can't afford these things are the ones that have them.

Or tires. This was just a normal morning.

 

[PontiacHO]

Not sure I would have agreed to accept the car if I was the shop owner. Something is definitely wrong when the owner doesn’t want to use the dealership that will cover the repairs under warranty. There’s a really good reason for that…

 

[Egg_Head]

Your experiences with German cars always seem less than ideal.

Scott

I'd say it's his experiences with the OWNERS of German cars ...

 

[Owen Lucas]

Normally the girl up front takes pictures and notes anything wrong with the car before the job is given to one of us.

Worthwhile asking the tow driver for pictures. Pretty much SOP in the tow industry to take pictures to CYA.

Then she starts pointing out scratches and what not that she says were not there before. Just how does she know exactly where to look for new scratches ?

Scammer lifestyle. I've seen this 1000x working in the body shop/insurance industry. They'll know exactly where to go.

I've had a few that claim license plate bolt marks in a bumper were related to deer hits and a Land Rover air ride suspension has completely failed due to a rear ender.

Just blame it on insurance or the shop, they'll cover it!

Lol, good luck, argument ensues, boss gets involved, denys them, they cry and complain and eventually go away.

 

[pbm]

Cars are getting overly complicated for no good reason. My daughters Mazda has 'facial recognition' which notifies you when you've been driving too long....I think the Mazda should mind it's own business.

 

[Kira]

Re post #28 (Chris142's customer's tires):
They're worn on the inside edge. You need to dismount and flip them.
See...All mechanics are thieves!

Seriously, the BMW customer already has gotten into a personal fight with the dealership people.
Is it even her car? What owner of a quite new BMW wouldn't know it should still be under warranty?
Maybe it was a flood/salvage car and she "just" found out.

 

[SC Maintenance]

Re post #28 (Chris142's customer's tires):
They're worn on the inside edge. You need to dismount and flip them.
See...All mechanics are thieves!

Seriously, the BMW customer already has gotten into a personal fight with the dealership people.
Is it even her car? What owner of a quite new BMW wouldn't know it should still be under warranty?
Maybe it was a flood/salvage car and she "just" found out.

It should have a salvage title in California if it was? Maybe there are scams around this.

But yes I agree no owner of a new car under warranty gets towed wherever. This is the reason you buy a new car.

 

[Chris142]

I'd say it's his experiences with the OWNERS of German cars ...

They are definitely the worst! They buy a $2500 ten year old euro car not understanding why its so cheap then blame the shop for everything that goes wrong with it.

No update on the car from yesterday other than the customer told the girls in the office that they tried to jump start it. Thinking they may have reverse polarity the jumper cables.

 

[D60]

Had the exact same thing when I did the battery in a '15 CRV. She brought it back and I just held the stereo/screen power button a couple seconds longer and it came on. This was a total WAG but it worked = better to be lucky than good.

 

[dfarr67]

Well that's the thing dealing with joe public- you get ALL kinds of whack jobs.

 

[meep]

Possibility that whatever killed the battery also exposed the radio to surge/noise beyond its ability to filter it out. Might save that old battery for analysis.

 

[wavinwayne]

Then either its salvage or the lady is trying to blame us for her non working electronics.

One of those " Ever since ya" people.

Did your shop fire her as a customer? People like that aren't worth the trouble.

 

[Astro14]

Was she the one that ate your fellow mechanic’s chicken salad from the fridge?

Just wondering….