Complaint Review: BMW North America - Shawn Bugbee Mike Pechko

I am a new BMW Motorrad (motorcycle) customer as of 6-9-18. This is a summarized version of the situation I find myself in due to my purchase. I bought a brand new 2018 BMW motorcycle to be used as a means of transportation and to travel on a ramp on the back of our motorhome due to its relative light weight at 350 pounds. I selected the BMW G310R and purchased it. After a week with the motorcycle and about 50 miles on it there became an issue where the motorcycle would not drop below 3,500-4,000 RPM's at any time. In or out of gear it would not drop below that level. I reluctantly rode it for about another 50 miles to see if it would settle in and it did not. I read forums online and there were many accounts of that model having a problem with the thread lock on the idle adjustment backing out. I had the motorcycle delivered to an authorized BMW dealer for repair. After being strung along for about 10 days and after multiple calls to find out what the issue was, I was told they believed the throttle body was bad and after checking with BMW corporate there were no replacements manufactured yet. After a month of waiting for the part to be made, my motorcycle was returned in mid July, but, I was told it would need to come back in the first week of August for a recall of a defective kickstand that would need a plate added to give stability. Then on 7-30 about two weeks after having it back, I was called by Mark Pechko in BMW in Executive Customer Care (mark.pechko@bmwna.com) and was told that BMW needed to buy back my motorcycle because the frame was fractured and it could not be repaired. To be honest, I was horrified and angered that this was not disclosed to me and I had been riding a motorcycle for approximately 100 miles without knowing the frame was broken. That is not a decision anyone should have made for me. I should have been told immediately that this motorcycle is potentially unsafe, and this dealer and BMW Motorrad elected to not say anything for weeks even though both parties knew, as BMW corporate was involved in the repair of my motorcycle for weeks (BMW Rep named Tyler). 

Now, BMW has sent me a contract as is legally required to buy back my motorcycle with $0 compensation to me for my motorcycle insurance policy that cannot be refunded, riding gear I purchased specifically for this bike, accessories I purchased specifically for this bike (Some even BMW logo items) and again a great deal of my time having dealt with them for months at this point over a brand new motorcycle.. Mark declined every single request for payment and said he would only offer $500 BMW loyalty funds if I bought another BMW motorcycle, which is exactly what anyone would get buying a second motorcycle and I do not want after having seen BMW quality first hand and the experience of how I have been treated by Mark and members of the executive team that I will discuss later in the story. Therefore, I get nothing to make me whole and am out $1,000 for insurance and riding gear and accessories. That is absolutely not right and unacceptable. Mark Pechko could not care any less. Next I researched BMW executive team members and focused in on 3 specifically as they have responsibility specifically in this area. They are Shawn Bugbee, EVP Operations (shawn.bugbee@bmwna.com), Michael Peyton VP BMW Motorrad (michael.peyton@bmwna.com), and eventually BMW USA CEO Bernhard Kuhnt (bernhard.kehnt@bmwna.com). To these 3 executives I have sent approximately 20 e-mails and have even called into the executive offices and have spoken to Shawn Bugbees' Exec. Assistant Barbara Royland (barbara.royland@bmwna.com) Phone 551 502-9292. To all of those attempts I received one response that was entirely ill-informed by Michael Peyton which was from late at night while he was on vacation, so one may expect him to be uninformed. Nothing from Shawn Bugbee or Bernhaard Kuhnt. 

As a side note my wife has also purchased 2 BMW cars and I have purchased this BMW motorcycle. That said, we have spent $100,000 with this company which I understand does not qualify me as their best customer, nor, will we be their worst. I have even made mutiple concessions to try to settle this matter with some limited compensation to me. I agreed they could provide a larger loyalty bonus on a repurchase with no cash, they declined. I agreed, to a cash payment with no loyalty bonus of just $390 to cover only my prepaid non-refundable motorcycle insurance, they declined. They have also included in their agreement a paragraph that requires me to not tell this story to anyone which is another reason I have refused to sign. You can read this and make up your own mind if you want to buy BMW or not. I can just tell you that before you do, Google Mark Pechko at BMW who is their rep that handles their buybacks due to recalls in "Customer Care"and see for yourself if the exoperience I have with this person does not sound very very similar where they offer $0 Additionally, I have an office co-worker that has had a BMW touring bike for 16 years and his words were,"BMW used to be passionate about their motorcycles, now they only care about profit." This is evidneced by these specific bikes being assembled in India which saves money over assembly in Germany. Unless you are happy to waste your time and money in the same way I have, you should STRONGLY consider some of the other fine motorcycle manufactures that build quality products. I have had a Honda, Yamaha, and even a Suzuki that were all better examples than this BMW even though it was brand new.