You don't get what you pay for

So, the master cylinder was replaced and all seemed right in the world. But much like Britney Spears, it's not right. Last weekend I was planning on taking the long way to Roseville for a friends birthday and hit up the twisty bits north around Lake Berryessa. Unfortunately, the bike had other plans. I made it to SF from Mountain View (~40 miles) before the same problem popped up. I call SJ BMW who last had it and they agree it's not right and that I should bring it in. Needless to say, I'm less than thrilled about being 60 miles north of it with a clutch that doesn't work right.

So, I ride down and hand the bike over. I take the owner aside and tell him I'd like to discuss how SJ BMW plans on buying the bike back. He pauses for a long time and says, "We're not in the business of buying bikes back". I start to respond with something nasty and bite my tongue. I comment that I'd like all the paperwork for any service done to the bike. He agrees and I wait 90 minutes for the service department to figure out the problem and fix it.

While I'm waiting, I chat up the sales guy who shows me 3 brand new bikes on the floor that are missing parts from the factory. Seems that BMWs quality has taken a dive. My already low opinion of the bike and the dealership slips even further. I wander around and touch everything in the place and try to not have a "HULK SMASH!" moment.

Finally, the bike is done and the owner comes back out. "We replaced the master cylinder last time and we *assumed* that fixed it. The slave cylinder is the problem and it's working fine now." "Assumed"??? Nice...

I quickly toss my paperwork in the top case and hit the road. I'm now 5 hours behind and still need to make it to Roseville! The bike makes it there and back with no noticable problems. This is good. So far.

I get home and start going through my paperwork only to realize that they didn't give me anything for the warranty work they just did. It'll have to wait until Tuesday when the dealership opens up again. I call on Tuesday and ask for the paperwork to be faxed over. I get the same paperwork from the first service. I call back and don't get any return call for the requested paperwork. Classy.

So, call Mountain View BMW and talk to the service manager to get the paperwork from the warranty work done there. I'm told that they can't log any of the work as warranty work because I didn't complete my last warranty work there. That's odd because dealers don't get paid for labor hours on warranty work unless they log it. So, I have no proof that it was in their shop for any warranty work.

I've since submitted my paperwork to a local law firm that deals with Lemon Law cases to see if there's a case. At this point, I have very little faith in the bike or the dealers ability to fix it. And the last thing I need is to have it break down a few thousand miles from home.

In the end, you don't get what you pay for. You do get a good lesson on how NOT to run a small business and to not believe the hype surrounding any product. I won't be making this mistake again with BMW motorcycles...

I know what you're thinking -- are you still gonna go on the trip?!? Hell yeah! I only get one long vacation a year and this is it. The bike will do it or it won't - either way, I'm not working and hanging out with a good friend. There are MANY worse ways to spend time ;-)