Peter S

Mr P Simmons

I bought an 11 month old used approved BMW earlier this year and took it back 4 days later with a number of problems. About a month later Cotswold took it into their workshop and started the next 5 months of analysis and fault fixing. At the end of the 5 months I managed to get a refund, less the cost of a set of tyres. The car visited the workshop 8 times (and was in Cotswold's possession for circa 20-25 days in total) until the majority of the problems were resolved. The following components failed and were replaced under warranty: - sat-nav - starter motor - clutch - flywheel - minor components like wiper / xenon bulb ignitor. I always found the front desk service team to be polite and courteous. However, it was a stressful battle to get the faults recognised as Cotswold repeatedly returned the car with statements like 'we can't find a fault with it - there are no fault codes in the computer and we can't replicate the problem'. It felt as though, I the customer, was some sort weirdo imagining and inventing problems. When the sat-nav unit was replaced the car was returned with damage to the interior trim and grease marks over the display screen and windscreen. This was resolved the next time the car went back in about 10 days later. I will never return to Cotswold as I felt that they'd initially failed to sell the car in a fit state. All issues were reported either within 4 days of purchase or by the first time it went into the workshop (except the headlamp issue). I attempted to reject the car after 3 months of ownership as the driving experience had been no fun and heavily compromised: - no sat-nav - intermittent failure of the car to start again after the auto engine stop (had to lock and unlock the car to get it back into life) - no DAB - no USB - judder when starting (faulty clutch / flywheel) Cotswold refused to act (on the rejection) and told me to contact BMW directly. Over the following 2 months BMW told me that my complaint was directly with the dealer - Cotswold Gloucester, since BMW UK do not make or sell cars - ergo there is no manufacturer backup or escalation support for customers if you're unhappy with the service you receive from their dealer network. You're left on your own to deal with the dealer. Consequently, I am now wary of ever buying a BMW that is still under manufacturer warranty. BMW told me to be realistic - components can fail and require replacing. They failed to address the complaint that it was immediately apparent that this particular car was a lemon, was't fit for sale, faults were reported to Cotswold BMW in less than a week of purchase, and (Cotswold's words - "since there is no goodwill from BMW, there is nothing we can do") Cotswold BMW showed no more goodwill or sympathy than to book it in for repeated visits to the workshop for warranty work. I only managed to get the refund after turning to social media to report my miserable ownership experience referencing Cotswold BMW in the posts. There were other faults with the car at the time of return which did not get fixed: - flickering xenon headlamps - intermittent cruise control (simply failed to turn on) Incidental note; whilst my car was in for repair, two of the less than 1 year old loan vehicles had problems of their own: - one had only one working screen wash jet - another had a similar sat-nav fault as my vehicle experienced. In my opinion the loan cars state of repair was the cherry on the icing, as a demonstrable statement of the (quality of BMW products) and Cotswold BMW Gloucester's Quality Control being unacceptably poor for what is marketed as a premium brand.