Complaint Review: BMW South Motors Marco Ruiz-Sales Mangaer

I visited BMW South while I was visiting other car dealerships in the area searching for a new vehicle. I test drove and began negotiations with Carlos Dieseldorff, Sales Representative, for the purchase of a 128 series. After negotiating, I advised Mr. Dieseldorff that I still was not sure if I wanted to take the car. He then suggested I take the car for the day as a loaner. There would be no cost and I can return the next day without any obligation. I agreed to take the car and signed a Borrowed Vehicle agreement and provided them with my credit card and insurance, in case of any damages. At this point, Mr. Dieseldorff had been polite, courteous, and very professional.

The next day I decided to visit Braman BMW who is located only 5 minutes from my home. Braman gave me a better deal on the car so I decided to make the purchase through them. They also offered to have the loaner returned to South BMW on their flatbed tow truck. I appreciated the extra service since BMW South was about 40 minutes away. I later spoke with Mr. Dieseldorff and advised them I decided to purchase the vehicle through Braman the car was enroute to their dealership. While, understandably Mr. Dieseldorff was not happy I did not close the deal with him he was not rude or out of line. He was concerned because the car had his dealer tag on it and he said he could get in trouble. I told him I would be happy to contact Braman so they can provide him with an exact time the car will arrive and proceeded to call Braman. While I was on the phone with Braman, I received a call from a gentleman that identified himself as Marco Ruiz, Directory of Security for BMW South (I later came to find out no such position exists and in fact this was the Sales Manager), advising (or better said screaming) at me that if the car was not there in 1 hour he would report the call stolen and charge $3000 to my credit card. Literally this man was talking to me like a common day thief at which point I told him he can speak with Braman directly because I would not allow for him to speak to me that way.

The car was delivered as promised but two days later I was charged $500 on my credit card by BMW South. American Express has been investigating the incident and BMW South is now stating the charge is because the car was returned without floor mats. #1) The car NEVER had floor mats---it had paper mats like the ones used after your car has been washedInteresting note that they did not state the car was damaged because obviously they would need to show photos and actually proof, instead they opt to state things are missing that were never there. #2) There are NO floormats on bmw.com for $500!! The most expensive on the whole site are $245. #3) They are accusing me of STEALING and basically committing FRAUD to try and get whatever money they can. This is the most blatant non-ethical and unprofessional behavior I have ever been involved in a sales transaction. I work in sales so I COMPLETELY understand how it feels to lose a deal but NEVER would I resort to such disgusting and ludicrous behavior.

I had stopped by BMW South just because I was in the area looking at other cars or I would have gone to BMW Braman to begin with. Especially ironic, is that my sister bought her first BMW with BMW South three years ago and had a similar situation. She was sold the car which supposedly had the Bluetooth feature where you can control your IPOD through the radio of the car. After she purchased the car and tried to use the feature, it would not workshe later found out it in fact did NOT have the feature. When she complained to the sales manager (dont know if it is the same one), he offered her free floor mats instead of properly installing the feature she was promised. Its ironic that in this whole process I believed I received better treatment from the sales representative than the Sales Manager. But unfortunately if crooks are running the management of the establishment, it will ruin it for all parties involved. I HIGHLY SUGGEST NEVER PURCHASING A VEHICLE FROM BMW SOUTH!!!