Windscreen Fiasco At Bmw Mini Cooper Main Dealer

[blaze6]

hi, just wanted people's thoughts on this:-

my cooper s was having the roof painted black. according to bmw procedures, the front windscreen needs to be removed , the roof painted and then the windscreen put back in. when they removed the windscreen it cracked and they've charged me for a new windscreen as on inspecting the old windscreen it isn't a genuine mini cooper windscreen. now i'm not happy to be charged for this for the following reason:-

i bought the car less than12 months ago (july 2008) from bmw cooper thames ditton - they sold me the car with a warranty for parts - they didn't inform me the windscreen wasn't genuine - now they're saying i'm responsible - and that the previous owner should have made them aware.

what do people think ? - at the end of the day - they sold me the car, checked the car etc. even if they missed the windscreen - it's still their responsibility as they sold me the car. i'm writing to their management , i'll let you know how things go.

it would be interesting to know what the mini cooper sponsor on this site thinks.

sy

[mooneymini]

That is shocking.

I would not be happy at all paying for a windscreen which came with the car purchased from a dealer!

I have just put a deposit on a mini from sytner and on the testdrive noticed that the windscreen was an RAC one.

Would have never thought to question that there would ever be a problem with that though!
Maybe I should now

[hoojkel]

Firstly, I can't believe it just cracked when they removed it, what were they doing? was there a crack already on the screen?? If there was no crack on the screen prior to removal then they must have caused the crack therefore are liable, regardless of whether its an oem screen or not.

[blaze6]

Quote: Originally Posted by hoojkel (original)

Firstly, I can't believe it just cracked when they removed it, what were they doing? was there a crack already on the screen?? If there was no crack on the screen prior to removal then they must have caused the crack therefore are liable, regardless of whether its an oem screen or not.

i know, i've just emailed them, i'll see what they say, all sounds very suss to me.

[Keano]

Not long after I got my car i noticed that the seal round the front screen was perishing. When BMW were looking at it they said that it was due to a non-standard screen having been fitted. They gave me the option of putting the old screen back on (with a risk of the problem repeating) or pay to have a genuine new screen put in.

My advice to you is to kick up a fuss to get them to do it as this is what I did and I got all the work completed for free including a brand new genuine screen.

If they sold it to you as part of the cherished scheme then the car should have been checked over by them - you buy the car from cherished (and end up paying more) so that it is up to scratch and approval by them - they should have noticed that the screen wasnt correct, if they didnt how were you supposed to? I used this to get them to pay for mine...

When buying my car i was told that it had JCW suspension it ended up having eibach lowering springs so it shows how much they inspect it... (incase you were wondering i tried to get the jcw suspension fitted so it matched the spec i thought i was buying but they managed to get out of it because on the advert it didnt specify JCW suspension, only in the verbal description they gave me...)

Good luck!!

[blaze6]

Quote: Originally Posted by Keano (original)

Not long after I got my car i noticed that the seal round the front screen was perishing. When BMW were looking at it they said that it was due to a non-standard screen having been fitted. They gave me the option of putting the old screen back on (with a risk of the problem repeating) or pay to have a genuine new screen put in.

My advice to you is to kick up a fuss to get them to do it as this is what I did and I got all the work completed for free including a brand new genuine screen.

If they sold it to you as part of the cherished scheme then the car should have been checked over by them - you buy the car from cherished (and end up paying more) so that it is up to scratch and approval by them - they should have noticed that the screen wasnt correct, if they didnt how were you supposed to? I used this to get them to pay for mine...

When buying my car i was told that it had JCW suspension it ended up having eibach lowering springs so it shows how much they inspect it... (incase you were wondering i tried to get the jcw suspension fitted so it matched the spec i thought i was buying but they managed to get out of it because on the advert it didnt specify JCW suspension, only in the verbal description they gave me...)

Good luck!!

hi keano,

when you say "kick up a fuss", what exactly did you do, i've sent them an email. what else do i need to do?

sy

[motionmonk]

Sayanthan,
I had a stress fracture on my windscreen when it was barely 4mos old; I did some research, and I preferred to get a replacement from a different source than BMW, one made by PPG Glass. Not only was it thicker than the OEM one that came with my MCS, but it has stood up to lots of dust, rocks and sand in my local area.

I mention this just to say that a non-BMW windscreen isn't necessarily bad; but I do feel strongly that your local MINI dealer should have told you about this ahead of time. The windscreen is, unlike some vehicles, under a fair bit of tension in its placement. It is very upright, so it's prone to damage, and it has multiple compound curves, so it's tricky to install.

You should ask your dealer for the option of an OEM windscreen since they replaced it... and I would chew them out for not being civil enough to tell you what they were doing to your car.

good luck!

[Keano]

Quote: Originally Posted by sayanthan (original)

hi keano,

when you say "kick up a fuss", what exactly did you do, i've sent them an email. what else do i need to do?

sy

Talk face to face is always the best option I find. Try to be polite but firm and press them into accepting that they need to replace it. If im going to have a moan then i go in when its busy...

I totally agree with hoojkel - at the end of the day, they broke it!!! The car was under their safe guarding so they are responsible.

"...the previous owner should have made them aware.." they are the previous owner so using their own words they should have made you aware and they didnt...

Hope you get somewhere with it!!!

Good luck.

[Scrogg]

Quote: Originally Posted by sayanthan (original)

on inspecting the old windscreen it isn't a genuine mini cooper windscreen

And that matters because...?

Please tell me you don't believe that MINI buying a screen from the same place Autoglass/RAC/every other windscreen company buy theirs from, printing a MINI logo on it and then putting a massive mark-up on it actually makes it any better?

[*Vikki*]

Scrogg i dont think its the same screen even though autoglass/rac etc say it is. Reason being i went through some bacd luck with stones hitting my screen in a space of 3 months during winter a few months ago. I got my window screen replaced by autoglass, the next week literally a tiny stone hit it and it cracked it. This then happened again a few weeks later. I then read on one of these forums about asking for a genuine MINI window screen. I asked autoglass and they wouldent get me one from MINI. Saying they were just the same and something to do with liscensing laws or something. I demanded in the end and got one and i would put money on it being a much harder glass as its taken loads more hits with stones and no chips.

[Electric Sheep]

If they broke it, they should pay for it, regardless of whether its a genuine MINI windscreen or not. The very fact that they broke it indicates they were careless and/or negligent. Note: I am not a lawyer (though I did study law at university).

Get thee to a Citizens' Advice Bureau ASAP, and contact Trading Standards. As a consumer, you have certain rights and to me it seems like these rights are being ignored. When buying the car, you had the right to expect it to be of a "satisfactory quality" (section 4, sub-section 2 of the Supply of Goods and Services Act of 1982). If they managed to break the windscreen, I'd say that the car didn't live up to this. It's not unreasonable to assume that they could remove a windscreen without breaking it: it's not that uncommon a thing to have to do, surely? The bottom line is that, if they're telling you that the windscreen was sub-standard, then they sold you a car of equally sub-standard quality.

The dealer's attempt to pass the whole thing off to the previous owner is equally bunk. Presumably the car was on a MINI "Cherished" scheme, which touts the fact that the cars are inspected and cleaned and all that kind of nonsense before being let loose on the forecourt. Wouldn't they check all the glass is up to snuff? Are they admitting they didn't spot this sub-standard windscreen? Doesn't that then mean that they didn't carry out their inspection properly?

Section 13 of the same act (SOGSA 1982) states that the "supplier will carry out the service with reasonable care and skill". Your contract with the garage called for them to paint your roof; in return you'd pay them. It does not sound that reasonable care and skill was exercised. Would you expect them to break a windscreen? I, for one, would not.

This whole thing stinks and you shouldn't stand for it.

[paul04]

[quote=VincentVega;3447112]If they broke it, they should pay for it, regardless of whether its a genuine MINI windscreen or not. quote]

I agree. It doesn't matter what sort of windscreen it is, the guys didn't take care of it when removing it from the car so it is their fault and not yours.

[blaze6]

Quote: Originally Posted by VincentVega (original)

If they broke it, they should pay for it, regardless of whether its a genuine MINI windscreen or not. The very fact that they broke it indicates they were careless and/or negligent. Note: I am not a lawyer (though I did study law at university).

Get thee to a Citizens' Advice Bureau ASAP, and contact Trading Standards. As a consumer, you have certain rights and to me it seems like these rights are being ignored. When buying the car, you had the right to expect it to be of a "satisfactory quality" (section 4, sub-section 2 of the Supply of Goods and Services Act of 1982). If they managed to break the windscreen, I'd say that the car didn't live up to this. It's not unreasonable to assume that they could remove a windscreen without breaking it: it's not that uncommon a thing to have to do, surely? The bottom line is that, if they're telling you that the windscreen was sub-standard, then they sold you a car of equally sub-standard quality.

The dealer's attempt to pass the whole thing off to the previous owner is equally bunk. Presumably the car was on a MINI "Cherished" scheme, which touts the fact that the cars are inspected and cleaned and all that kind of nonsense before being let loose on the forecourt. Wouldn't they check all the glass is up to snuff? Are they admitting they didn't spot this sub-standard windscreen? Doesn't that then mean that they didn't carry out their inspection properly?

Section 13 of the same act (SOGSA 1982) states that the "supplier will carry out the service with reasonable care and skill". Your contract with the garage called for them to paint your roof; in return you'd pay them. It does not sound that reasonable care and skill was exercised. Would you expect them to break a windscreen? I, for one, would not.

This whole thing stinks and you shouldn't stand for it.

Thanks for the advice, looks like we've got our own legal eagle on mini2.com! i'll definitely use some of what you've said in my letter to mini.

[blaze6]

I got some good news today, mini cooper have agreed to fit a new windscreen FOC. thanks for all the advice i've received.

[Electric Sheep]

That's good to hear. Make sure it's a genuine one!