A Nigeria-based German, Mrs. Marie Omorodion, whose brand new BMW X6 which she bought from Coscharis Limited developed a fault, has alleged unfair treatment by the seller. But Coscharis says she is being economical with the truth as it has done enough to address her complaints, writes Adedeji Ademigbuji.
When Nigerian-based German, Mrs. Marie Omorodion, bought a brand new BMW X6 SUV from Coscharis Limited at N16 million about three years ago, she was convinced that the reputation of the brand made the car a reliable choice.
She was, however, shocked when the car started misbehaving no sooner than the car was delivered to her.
Omorodion, who, according to sources, has petitioned the Consumer Protection Council (CPC) lamented that her problem with Cosharis Limited, authorised auto dealer for top brands, started in 2012 shortly after she took delivery of the SUV car.
According to her, the car started misbehaving, graduating speedily from one fault to the other. She added that in spite of several efforts by the authorised distributor to address her complaints, the brand experience of the car has been appalling. She said the car started giving her problems from the very first day she bought it.
“I purchased the car in question on the 31st of July, 2012 for a sum of N16 million. The car was delivered on the 1st August, 2012. On taking delivery of the car, I pointed out to the Sales Manager at Coscharis, Victoria Island branch, then that the DVD system was not functioning. He replied by assuring me that it would be fixed and that it was a matter of just replacing it. He said further that due to settings, it could happen and refuse to work on arrival from Germany. I agreed to it being replaced since the sales consultants had assured me that it was not a big deal.”
In fufillment of the auto dealer’s promise, Omorodion said a new DVD system was ordered and received on April 2013, about eight months after the car was purchased. But to her surprise, the new DVD system too refused to work and they concluded that the new one ordered was also faulty. Following the failure of the DVD, she said another DVD system was ordered with an order dated 27th June, 2013.
She said: “At this point, I realised that the car had issues but didn’t realise what the issues were. I was not anticipating any problem at all since it was a brand new car bought directly from Coscharis which is supposed to be the face of BMW in Nigeria.”
However, she said the car later developed another fault while she was driving on the Lekki Expressway, precisely by the Chevron toll gate at 100km per hour speed with no prior warning.
She continued: “It locked itself and shut down. I was terrified and scared that oncoming cars would run into me. I called the BMW maintenance office in Lekki-Epe for help. Officials came later and the car was towed to their workshop. The technical people later confirmed an entire transmission failure: what they called mechatronic gear box failure. This was just ridiculous.”
Having barely used the car for a year and three months, she said it was incredible such a brand new car could experience total transmission failure. After reporting the new development, she said the transmission was boxed and allegedly sent to Germany and a new one was ordered on the advice of German technicians. The car had to stay in the workshop for another six weeks before agearbox was put into it for her to use for another two weeks before the new one arrived.
She said: “During the six weeks, I was not offered any courtesy car which should normally be offered and should be a standard since the incident was due to no fault of mine. In Germany, this can never happen. So, why would you have different standards for Nigerians when we even spend more money to buy these luxury cars considering the freight costs and high duty and clearing costs.”
She recalled that sometime in November last year, while driving home around 8pm in the same car with her kids, the car suddenly went off again.
“The car went off without any prior notice at all. It just shut itself down and refused to start. This was between the Chevron roundabout and the second toll gate towards Victoria Garden City. This time around, a diagnosis showed that it was pump failure and it had to be ordered again from Germany,” she lamented, adding that if the car had been purchased in Germany, it would have been replaced long ago.
She said after the car was fixed last year December 12, while she was driving from Law School, Victoria Island, towards the Civic Centre by the traffic light, the car went off again without any warning.
“I started off at top speed and to my surprise, right in the middle of the road, with cars coming behind me, my car once again stopped. There was no notice. It just stopped. I cried my eyes out because this happened at a dangerous junction with my children in the car. I called people to help me put up the caution signs and called BMW expressing my disgust. I had been fooled many times but because I really liked my car, I wanted to believe them and kept falling victim all the time,” she said.
The German said it was discovered that the brain box had packed up this time. Though Coscharis is said to have put the car in shape, Omorodion has vowed not to have anything to do with it again.
The General Manager, Marketing and Corporate Services, Coscharis Group, Mr. Babarinde Abiona, told The Nation that Omorodion has decided to wage a war against a brand from her country but insisted that Coscharis respects every customer and as a result, it would not join her in the media war. He said the customer has made several threats to go to court but because the story is not as she painted it, she has not got the nerve to sue the company.
“We are not going to engage our customer on the pages of newspaper. Other papers have thrown the story into thrash can. She has threatened to go to court but we don’t know why she has not. We respect our customer. She felt this is the strategy she can use to blackmail us. Unfortunately, she is a German. The truth of the matter is that she is very economical with the truth,” he said.
Abiona stated further that Coscharis has given her warranty and other benefits. “If Coscharis has done any bad to her, BMW German would have used the German sentiment to please her and even complain about the way we handled her complaints as a customer.
“BMW has told her to come back to us but she will not tell you that some of us have championed her cause; we pushed for discount but she said we wanted to sell her car. “This is a car she bought in 2012 and we should be objective. She’s using CPC to threaten us. The fact is that we managed her car since 2012 when she started complaining. So, if we have done anything wrong, BMW would have used the German sentiment to sort her out. She has been rubbishing our brand in the media. She is just being economical with the truth. Three years down the line, she would have gone to court if truly she is pursuing a true cause,” he said.
