lightningfast7

So I took my 2005 E55 up to the dealership to get them to replace the COMMAND, fuel evap purge valve, and the sway bar bushings..
When they give the car back to me, they said it still needs an alignment (I'll agree.. because the negative camber caused the inner tires to wear.. but that was it).. come to find out.. now the steering wheel is cocked about 30 degrees to the left (when wheels are straight) and i'm getting an "ESP malfunction visit workshop" message. I'm sure it has to do with the steering wheel alignment.. They kept saying it was like that when i dropped it off which was COMPLETE BS! My roomate and gf both drove it and agreed there was nothing wrong. What could they have done to jack up my steering that much?!? They said it had nothing to do with the sway bar links..

lightningfast7

Here's a vid to show you how far it was off.. mind you it was perfect before they worked on it..

hcetzneb

Well the wheel being that far of is why the esp light is on... Nothing they did that you listed will do anything to the alignment.

JonMBZ

Looks like an alignment issue to me. I had the same problem after I was in an accident and the body shop forgot to have it aligned. No idea as to how it got like that though. Maybe a valet curbed your car.

lightningfast7

It's funny you say that, because that's exactly what I told the service manager. He kept trying to tell me the tech said it was already like that, but I kept telling him that why wouldn't I mention something like that?!? Pretty big issue if you ask me.. I think someone messed up and doesn't want to fess up

JonMBZ

What's the issue will they not align it for free? I don't see the problem unless they have a credible employee (service advisor) saying the car was not like that then it should be a non-issue. The tech saying it wasn't like that means nothing since the valet staff gets the car before the tech.

lightningfast7

No the problem is that they're saying the car WAS like that before I brought it in.. I'm fighting for a free alignment since they're the ones who jacked up the toe on the alignment (although I know camber needed an alignment anyways)

JonMBZ

Well I don't know both sides of the story, but dealers don't have their own tow trucks, so it's likely that it could have come off the truck like that. It seems like you needed an alignment already, but they could have caused it to be worse am I correct? It's a judgment call on both parts really, if the service dept really thought they were liable I think they would have done it for free since there is no lost money for them to do it. That's why I said it would be a non-issue. If you really feel you have been wronged talk to the service manager/director respectfully and see if he can do anything further. I don't know the situation, but if you made a big scene this could have caused their unwillingness to comp it. I only think this could have happened because you already talked to management.

lightningfast7

I only made a big scene when the service rep called me a liar. I pride myself on being a very honest man. I even brought my roomate in to back up my claims. The service manager was trying to get both sides of the story but instead of going right to "We'll take care of it for you", he kept insisting that "You brought it to us that way". There were no tow trucks. I brought it straight into the service reception and they took it from there.

novae500

stealerships are jack!*##*.....i only take mine in for warranty work. Having the steering wheel llike that would be very noticeable and you would have known about it before dropping it off. HOpe you get an alignment done out of good will for their eff up.

JonMBZ

Sorry to hear the trouble all I can say is making a big scene usually isn't a great idea, it just makes people not want to go the extra mile for you. Next time talk to the management how you would like to be talked to if the advisor is not taking care of your concerns. It seems like a bad situation on both of you guys they think you are a liar and you are upset being called one. In the end I think they should have just taken care of the concern, but I have been in the car industry for a long time now and we get customers daily with the "it wasnt like that when I brought it in" complaints so you can also imagine why they could be defensive in this type of situation. Dealerships write off all kinds of things like this you have mentioned and I doubt they would normally have an issue taking care of this, the only reason why I could see why they wouldn't was based on how you acted there and that's just from an outside point of view. Good luck hopefully they will take care of you :\