[zeenon53]

Guess I will start from the beginning.

I have been searching for a new car for months online and in person locally. originally I was set on getting a MB C350 because I thought it looked better than the BMW 335i. I had test driven both cars along with the subaru STi and Mitsu Evo X. The BMW was the ultimate driving machine, definitely. Once I saw one with the m-sport I was in love.

While browsing the web I located a 09 dealer demo m-sport 335i in FL, being that I live in NC it was going to be a bit of a challenge to get the car. I called the sale rep, Carlos, and explained to him my situation and that I would be willing to put a deposit down and drive down to Florida in a few weeks with my car as a trade. He told me it wasn't necessary that they ship cars all the time. All I needed to do was provide a couple shots of my car that I was trading in, no problem. I went outside to snap a few pics and immediately sent them. I was hot for the car and wanted to secure it that day. A few days went by while I was calling once a day while trying not to be a pest calling multiple times. In total it took about 10 days to secure the car which I found very odd because in those 10 days I could have changed my mind and decided not to buy it.

On to the shipping. I received a call from Carlos that it would be easier for them to pick my car up first since they had a transporter in my area on the way down to FL and I would be without a car for 2 days, not a big deal. The transporter came and picked up my car on thursday. I did not receive the car until monday. This wasn't too big of a deal because I live about a mile away from work and had co-workers give me rides. Upon receiving the car I noticed it was filthy. It wasn't the filth that would accumulate form a transporter either. The interior was a mess, there was extensive brake dust on the wheels , and the exhaust tips were covered in exhaust soot. That doesn't happen from driving a clean car onto a transporter. So much for the $600 dealer charge to prep the car and do all the paper work.

After receiving the car I was going through it and noticed the car didn't have heated seats like it said it did in the ebay add. The OBDII cover was also missing along with 2 of the valve stem caps for the TPM wheels. I called Carlos and told him about the problem and he brushed it off telling me that the heated seat option is standard in all ebay adds. I immediately called BS on that and explained he had to place that in the add since every car add is different and I have seen 1000's of them. He said he would send me a set of floor mats to compensate for that along with the other items I was missing.

After almost 4 weeks and numerous excuses from Carlos as to why I don't have anything I called the manager Sal at Vista. Explained to him my whole situation, I also told the Sal that i have not received any financials on the car and that my temporary tags where about to expire. Not to worry I was told, he would take care of everything. I immediately received my floor mats but nothing else.

The temporary plate on my car is now expired and I am extremely pissed off. I am still waiting on the rest of the parts to get to me and have given up. I am extremely upset with the way this dealership handled my purchase and would not recommend them to anyone. I have been extremely understanding through the entire process but enough is enough. I filled out my survey from BMW NA last night and should be receiving a phone call from them.

[bavarianboar]

You got into it without thinking twice. Purchased the car without even looking at it.

Dealerships will take every penny from you and give you nothing in return if they could. And especially if you are falling into their trap like this where you sent in your car first before you even got the BMW. You showed them the hots for the car by quickly sending them your trade-in car's pictures.

I would never tell a dealer when making enquiry from out of state about a used car, and always will go test drive the car. Trusting any dealership that you do not know about is the biggest mistake you can do when doing out of state business.

You don't look very new to this forum. I wish you had spared a day and flown down to Florida and back to at least check the car out.

Sorry to hear what happened. Post in General forums maybe and someone might be able to tell you a better thing to do. Seems like you are stuck with that filthy bimmer.

[zeenon53]

I've done my research about vista BMW on here before I purchased, there are many positive reviews. I would like to think if I was local and could have went in person this would have been handled differently. There's no reason not to buy a "new" car from a BMW dealership on the web. I saw a ton of pictures in the add and it even received a CPO. Overall i'm very happy with the car but I would expect better service from a BMW dealership.