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Oct 26,1976



Mr. Klaus Nabielek
BMW of North America Inc.
12541 Beatrice St.
Los Angeles, Ca. 90006



Dear Mr. Nabielek:

\JThis letter is long and angry; it gets longer and more angry every
time I inspect my car and find more things done incorrectly
by BMW mechanics. This letter was originally written to my
lawyer, but I have decided to see what BMW will do about the
mess first. The events described below happened over
a month ago; I have waited this long to give myself a reasonable time
to cool off. The cooling period
is over.  

The participants in this travesty are H&E, the BMW dealer
in Palo Alto, and Allison BMW in Sunnyvale and myself.
Let me describe the chronology of events.

I have a 1970 BMW 2800. I bought it new in Germany and it 
now has about 94,000 miles.
Originally I had the car serviced by factory authorized dealers, but found
their service to be outrageously overpriced and the quality of their work
below standard. Once H&E neglected to tighten the condensor; the car 
stopped abruptly in traffic the next day. Luckily I was able to fix it. 
One other dealer  in Los Angeles set a valve clearance
at 0.015 rather than the specified 0.010-0.012; it was quite loud and 
I had to fix that too.
Neither of these incidents
have much to do with the current situation; they simply point out the
quality of the service I have experienced. 
In the first 30,000 miles of service, nothing was done to the car but routine 
maintenance (except for a window replacement done by H&E; that was another
contentious point: I  discussed the problem with them  before the 12,000
mile warrantee expired, and they ordered parts for it at that time;
however when I took the car in for the 12,000 mile service they charged
for the labor. That seemed wrong then, and seems wrong now! Bill enclosed.)
At any rate, the dealers were not servicing the car according to
my standards or indeed even to the standards prescribed by the
manufacturer. The general intent  of this letter was close to being written 
long ago. Inertia set in and I just decided to do the work myself since
I really didn't believe that anything could be done.
I find it hard to believe that a company that can build a fine
car like the BMW has such a difficult time establishing competent dealerships.

When I purchased the car, I also purchased the official workshop manual.
This was done in Germany since the American distributor would not supply
these manuals. I have worked on automobiles including foreign cars (Porsche),
and supplied with the manual and tools was able to maintain my car
quite well for about 60,000 miles. In that time I have replaced
the water pump, a drive shaft bearing, and rebuilt the master cylinder, besides
doing the valve adjustments, timing and tuning. I am not an incompetent
mechanic.  I did not  work on my car because I particularly enjoyed it
or had the spare time to do it;
I worked on it because of the expense and frustration involved
in dealing with the factory authorized dealers.

This spring the car started overheating. Since it was about 90,000 miles
and the first water pump went bad about 45,000, I surmised that the water pump
was at fault again. 
Closer inspection confirmed this. I  also noticed that the "fan clutch"
did not appear to be engaging. This device is supposed to let the fan
free-wheel until the engine warms up; at that time it is to engage and
draw air through the radiator. I replaced the bad water pump, and the fan
clutch. All BMW parts are warranteed for 6 months; the parts were bought
at Allison BMW
on April 19,1976. The fan clutch cost $90.18; when installed, it worked.

The car continued to overheat in traffic, but the driving I was doing did not
perturb things too badly. I moved to the Santa Cruz mountains and summer arrived.
That
combination of events soon made driving impossible. 
The round-trip to work is over 60 miles a day, and I work
something over 70 hours a week. I need a car I can
depend on, and I expect that the work performed on that car 
be up to standard; I don't have time to fix up other people's
mistakes. I expect that, when I pay someone more than I'm making, their service
should supply something that I cannot supply myself, and I expect that the
quality of their work be at least comparable to my own.

At any rate, I bought a new thermostat
and while replacing it, discovered that the old one was  not the problem.
Both thermostats opened at the prescribed temperature.
The problem therefore continued. In disgust, I took the car to
H&E in Palo Alto. I told them exactly what I had replaced and what the problem
was. I even taped a note to the dashboard detailing what I wanted done.
That note is enclosed.

Since it had been over 60,000 miles since a factory authorized dealer
had inspected the car, I asked them to perform such inspection for me. They said
they would, and said the car would be ready  that same evening. That was
Aug 30, 1976. The car was not ready that night; they mumbled something
about "needing parts". Indeed I suspect that they didn't even look at the car 
since no special parts appeared in the bill.

The next day I called and they said the car was ready, and that they had found the
problem. They claimed that the fan clutch was bad and their solution was to freeze
it up. Now the factory manual gives strict warnings about imobilizing
the fan clutch (see enclosure). 
I asked the manager what they did. He said something about
"installing a bolt". The only information in the work shop manual deals with
replacing some of the mounting bolts with longer bolts, freezing the
clutch against the water pump. I understood that was what he had done
and was quite irritated  since he said he had only "installed one" and the manual
says to
replace them in pairs.
It wasn't until later that I discovered what they had really done!!!

They said that I should talk to Allison BMW about the warrantee.
They said that they ran a "block check" and that there was nothing wrong with the
head gasket. Their tune-up cost $150.93; the mileage on the
car was 93,384. They found noisy  rocker arm shafts (which I already knew), 
they found that the car "ran-on" (which I also knew, and found very
aggravating; it had done so to some extent ever since new, and
no mechanic had been able to fix it)
but they didn't notice
that the clutch  and shock absorbers were quite bad. 
Driving home, the car still overheated. Not much of a tune up
for $150.93.  The car overheated the next day too, so I decided to
wait until the weekend to do anymore with it. 
I got alternative transportation. That weekend I flushed the radiator
but no improvement was  made. On closer inspection I discovered that nothing
but the rudimentary parts of a BMW inspection were done. Even 
the driver's manual gives a detailed list of the operations 
to be performed in such an inspection. Later, my analysis of poor workmanship
was
confirmed by Allison BMW: they said the head bolts were even loose.

Since Monday was
Labor Day I had to wait until Tuesday to do anything.
I called Allison BMW on Tuesday. I told them I had overheating problems
and wanted the valve job done and wanted them to
replace the carburetor base gasket since H&E claimed that was the
source of the "running-on". They said it would be done in two days.
I didn't have the car with me, but since I was sceptical of their time estimate,
I made a special trip
back to Los Gatos (60 miles), got the car, and delivered it. 
I explained carefully what the problem was and what H&E had said. I gave
them copies of the H&E receipt and the sales slip on the fan clutch.
The  car was not ready in 2 days; it was not
ready in 3 1/2 days. I blew up, and they got a loaner for me. That was
a pleasant suprise. They told me the head gasket was bad, that the fan clutch
wasn't  the problem, and that the radiator should be boiled out.


Since they seemed to be competent and since I had a loan car, 
I thought it would be
a good time to get the shock absorbers installed. I asked for an estimate
of what the current bill was and what the cost of installing the shocks would be.
They said the radiator, valves, and valve guides were about $600, and the shock
absorbers would run about $400 installed. 
I explained that I had a 2800 and therefore had self-leveling devices on  the rear
but they said the standard shocks would fit. I said I didn't believe it, but
asked them to install the shocks.
A few days later they discovered that the rear shocks wouldn't fit, and only
installed the front ones: estimated cost $244.
They also discovered the weak clutch. I asked them to replace it; estimated
cost: $286.

My conception of the current bill was about $1200; their bill was $1642.55.
I was unhappy, but willing to pay for quality work.
On checking the parts list I found all kinds of things which H&E should have 
replaced if they were indeed doing a proper inspection.
Indeed several objects appeared on that bill which defied credulity:
new points condensor, oil filter and spark plugs. These items were replaced
by H&E 92 miles before. The Allison manager claimed that the plugs were badly
fouled because the valves were bad. I don't believe it. What I
do believe is that the BMW policy is to replace everything rather than
diagnose. They replaced the parts simply because they \F2always\F1
replace parts. It makes me wonder how many of the other
parts they replaced  were really worn out.

What I didn't find on the parts list, sent me out to the parking lot: I didn't find a 
bill for the bolt which H&E removed from the fan clutch. The cost of every
part is always quite explicit, right to the last $0.30 washer.
I checked the fan clutch; it was still frozen as H&E had installed it.
I immediately called Allison. They said that since H&E doctored the part
that H&E should replace it, but they (Allison) would see if they could cover it
since I had asked them to replace the part initially.
On closer examination I discoverd what Allison was talking about: H&E had
drilled a hole through the side of the fan cluth and jammed a screw in it.
That's how they fix cars! I had told H&E that the fan clutch was new; indeed,
I had even put a note on the dash board to that effect. In prior dealings
with that agency I had discoverd that every detail had to be spelled out
in detail. Once you tell them what is wrong, they can replace the
part. The net effect was that H&E destroyed a warranteed part, and in doing
so installed a bolt which could cause  "serious imbalance" (section 11 52 000 
of the BMW manual).

Since I had to return the car after 600 miles, they decided to 
see if they could replace the part under warrantee. 
Allison did replace the part, and I am grateful for that. I believe that they
are trying to do a reasonable job, however several things have come up since 
and I have reached the end of my patience with BMW service.
In particular, I noticed that there was an excessive amount of oil
on the underpan on the right-hand side of the engine. 
At the 600 mile checkup I told them about the leak and told them
that the car was beginning to run-on again.
When I got the car back the work sheet was inscribed "engine swetting - no
problem". Well the engine continued to "swett", and finally I checked
the engine with a mirror and flashlight. The end cap for the
chain tensioner piston was very loose. It wasn't even finger tight!
It was a half to a full turn from the face.
I find that incredible. They didn't look very hard.

At that 600 mile checkup they also seem to
have disconnected the automatic choke. I haven't had time to take it
apart to see what the problem is, and I certainly don't have a day
to waste taking it back to them.
Since the 600 mile checkup, the engine is running on again, and the
alternator is beginning to make strange noises. I surmise that 
the de-greaser that they sprayed all over the engine compartment
got into the alternator. I will take that apart when I have time.
Before the  checkup,
I also noticed a medium sized dent  and chipped paint in the right front fender. 
Something
slipped when they were installing the front shocks. I asked
them to stop it from rusting and they did. However the dent is still there
and is just another indication of what I consider unprofessional
service. 


Perhaps you now understand why I am upset. I have wasted an excessive
amount of time  and money on bad service, and I have wasted an excessive amount of
time preparing this letter and the enclosed documents. I will not
be put off by a simple apology. I want a total refund of the monies I spent
at H&E and Allison BMW. I want the parts and labor for a new water pump
since the mistreatment it suffered cannot be ascertained.  I will hold
in abeyance the question of the alternator and the carburetor, pending my inspection
or your response. Regardless, I want  the supplements to the BMW2800 manual since
Supplement 2 (copy enclosed), since it seems that I will have to
perform all services myself.

I find writing this letter to be an incredibly degrading experience.
I expect to be treated fairly by people and get very upset when I 
feel I have been taken advantage of. 
I don't feel that your service
teams are intentionally careless. I don't really understand what the
problem is, but if they cannot perform services as advertised then they
should not be in business.
I am  writing to you as the agent for BMW. If I cannot receive satisfactory
treatment from BMW I shall take my case elsewhere.
\.
\←L\→S\←R\-L\/'2;\+L\→L

Yours sincerely,

John R. Allen
18215 Bayview Dr.
Los Gatos, Ca. 95030
\←S\→L