BBA reman forum / BBA reman forum / Website and company feedback

mercedes front sam

pepe1 — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 07:52:57 GMT

hi ya all is it possable for bba-man to rebuild the front sam on a mercdes c class 220cdi 52reg as i have been told that its shoot mercdes £312+vat +fitting+codeing.many thanks peter.

Happy Customer

wingingit — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 15:59:32 GMT

Hi, and thanks to the staff and technicians at BBA.

We had allowed a customer to supply used parts for his BMW 318i with 19 4E1 engine, as cost was an issue. One part had a dead short and engine ECU was duly smoking. Opened it up and large area of circuit board was well black and crisp. Explained to customer, who was very good about the situation, but obviously unhappy and expected us to solve the problem. Obtained second hand ECU and took to M.Tec services, our friendly local BMW independents (Glasgow). Sadly the second hand unit could not be programmed in on this model year. Options were, new (Big cost, bad reaction from customer) or complete set ECU + Immo + keys + locks. ( difficult to find )

Made many phone calls, BBA were only ones who said "Let's have a look". Sent down burnt unit to see if anything could be done with it, also sent second hand unit as a pattern part so that missing sections could be identified. Did take a while as apparently there was a backlog, but eventually I was informed that the technician had managed to power up the original ECU and take its info out, then clone it into the second hand ECU. A fair price was asked for the attempt, with no promises made. Fitted unit to car, and took back to M.Tec (thanks Thomas and Michael, really helpful) for another go at set up. Bingo, car up and running at a price that did not write it off. Bad situation resolved,

Tom

unhappy customer

Micra — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 11:35:59 GMT

The following day after my previous post was added I was contacted by Mark C who assured me that a replacement distributor will be sent to me priority post.this was on the 18/01/10.today is the 26/01/10 and I still have no distributor.I was also contacted by a member of staff on the 22/01/10 asking me why I had'nt sent back my faulty distributor,this is despite me sending the part by registered post on the 18/01/10 and having a receipt to confirm it was signed for by a C Miller on the 20/01/10.My car still sits in the drive,My children are still walking 3 miles a day to get to school and back.This is 21 days after I ordered a distributor for my car and I simply cannot afford to make any more calls to bba.If I could afford to go elsewhere for the part I would,but as I stated in my previous post I payed bba £230 and simply dont have the funds.

how to place an order?

toyotaist — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 11:06:26 GMT

How do I place an order on this site??

Post times.

TONY_GINGELL — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 16:01:13 GMT

What has happened to the post times? Even the posts from yesterday are now several hours out.

Update.
After just posting the above, they have now been corroected! Marc C's post was down as 03:00 now its back to mid morning. Weird........

unhappy customer

Micra — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 13:50:50 GMT

I contacted bba-reman on the 5/01/2010 requesting a reconditioned distributor for my nissan micra(part no 22100-99b04).I was happy with the price I payed which was £235 including vat and postage. as I live in the ROI I received the part 7days later which again I was happy with.On receiving the part I noticed that the part number on the unit that had been sent to me was differant to the part number I had ordered and I immediately contacted bba.I was assured that the part I had recieved was a superior unit to the one I had ordered and was definately suitable to my car.I supllied the part to my mechanic and to his disaproval I insisted that the part be fitted to my car(I needed the car to get my children to school). When I picked my car up from the mechanic he warned me that while he was test driving my car after fitting the distributor supplied by bba, the car cut out on him.he advised me to contact bba and demand the unit I had requested. While driving my car home with my children in the back the car cut out on me, while traveling at 50mph. This happened on saturday and since then I have sent four e-mails to bba (chris@bba-reman) requesting a refund or the genuine unit I ordered.All my e-mails have been ignored.I have called three times and each time I phone I am told that someone from management will call be back,nobody has called me(it costs me at least £5 for each call I make to bba).My mechanic has also sent an e-mail to bba containing a full technical report on the part I have been supplied,he has also been ignored. I have copy and pasted the e-mail he sent to bba.

I’m motor mechanic, auto electrician and diagnostics specialist with 14 years of experience in Motor Industry, also qualified as Peugeot Technical adviser currently working as Service Manager in Nissan major dealership “Flynns Carlow” in Carlow, Ireland and at the same time developing my own independent business as mobile mechanic. I’m writing to tell you about my first experience working with parts supplied by your company and I have to say I can not call this experience as positive!

I’ve diagnosed faulty distributor was causing no start in my customer’s car Nissan Micra K11 02/01/2010 at mileage of 72 465 miles. Analysing input and output signals at the distributor its built-in ignition amplifier (power transistor) was considered faulty. Diagnosis was confirmed at later stage using OEM scanner Consult II. Complete distributor (p.n. 22100-99B04) had to be replaced in order to rectify this fault and start engine.

Customer, decided to source part himself and ordered reconditioned unit from Your Company at the price in excess of £200 (including shipping). At your website company is advertised as “BBA is a worldwide leader in electronic automotive remanufacturing. We provide a quality alternative to expensive new parts. All of our products are covered by a two year warranty.” and despite relatively high price your offer seemed as good value for money.

When ordering “reconditioned” unit I’m expecting to see the same genuine part not new, but the one where certain faulty component or components where replaced or repaired with high level of care and quality. I was quite confused to find instead brand new part made by some unknown manufacturer when ********* handed me the part (p.n.) that your company supplied to him.

First of all positioning of connectors on supplied distributor was different and I had to spend extra labour time accommodating existing wiring loom in order to connect it to distributor. Engine started straight away with new distributor and after setting correct ignition advance vehicle was taken for test drive.

After only 20 miles trip engine had cut out. Very luckily for me I was just near my garage avoiding need of towing this car back. There was no spark again! After short period of time while I double-checked everything making sure there is no loose connections, etc, engine started normally again and kept running.

It’s also started normally next morning when ********** collected his car. Of course I had to inform him about this incident and expressed certain doubts about quality of this distributor. This REALLY was not pleasant thing to say for me, as I hate to return cars to customers not being sure about overall quality of repair. Even if there is no fault of mine, customer perception of my business suffers. Nevertheless *********** collected his car hoping that previous was just once off incident.

Can you imagine my frustration when only 20 minutes after leaving my garage customer calls me back saying: “I broke down”? It means for me that I have to leave any of my business immediately, load my tools in a van and go to help this customer. When I arrived ******** told me that car cut out on him when driving, very luckily again there was no dangerous situation created. Again after short period of time engine started normally giving him a chance to get home. We left engine running on idle with timing light connected to check for presence of spark. After few minutes engine cut out again, no spark! I have diagnosed the very same fault of ignition amplifier as before and this is at mileage of 72 496 miles. Which means part supplied by your company only lasted for 34 miles! Certainly this is not the best reliability result!

As I said before I’m working in Motor Industry for 14 years. I have experience not only as technical specialist but also in management and business roles. I know this is interesting and stable but at the same time – difficult business. This is business where we have high level of responsibility to our customers. Sometimes the very lives of people depend on quality of our job! I don’t understand either how you were able to offer supply of reconditioned genuine unit but instead have sent some cheap fake distributor made in China or wherever. When we googled this part number 22100-41B00 results that were brought up came together with price in region of £90! Can you explain me what kind of business practice is this when you sell cheap fake at double price making it appearing as proper reconditioned unit for people like my customer who do not have expertise to see the difference? And at the same time you requested to send back original genuine part! Who is the winner in this situation? Obviously its not me – my reputation suffered, my working time was lost, my customer not happy and as he is facing to pay another bill for diagnostics, call-out charge and, again, for replacing distributor he is not the winner either.

I’m really looking forward for you to supply my customer with properly reconditioned and reliable part specified for his vehicle and to compensate all the expenses caused by use of low quality part supplied by your company. Attached please find copies of invoices confirming the cost of labour to replace ignition distributor and the cost of repeated diagnostics and call-out.

Christmas present

Crasher — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 03:53:33 GMT

Thank you so much BBA for my Christmas present, a lovely thing to send and very much appreciated.

Thank-you!

cybergreg — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 12:33:23 GMT

2000 Saab 9-3 SID
Popped mine out, got the number, ordered it from you guys, got it in two days (WOW!). Installed it and it looks GREAT!!!

Sending my old one back today.

Thanks again
Greg

TT dash ebay price

Halcyone — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:36:16 GMT

Just priced a TT dash job this morning. BBA quoting £250+ carriage, on the phone.

Customer just seen exactly the same on Ebay for £195 with free carriage. (From BBA)

Why not look after the trade first who probably put in 95% of the work ??

Pretty disgusted really.

Also wonder how long this post will last before someone takes it off.

BBA Exhibiting at Mechanex Sandown

Alex-BBA — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 03:22:36 GMT

Hi,

Ben, Chris (Tuesday only) and myself will be exhibiting at the Sandown Park Mechanex show for the next two days. We will be on Stand 67a.

We will have a range of diagnostic tools with us with full lease facilites and maybe some show specials

Alex

X431 update site problems

cartech — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 03:48:49 GMT

I was wondering if it's just me that's having problems with the update site. I can get to the main page at www.x431.com but when I click "other areas" it just hangs at a blank page.

I've also noticed that it's not compatable with explorer 8 as the links don't show and there's no scroll bar. To see the links I have to zoom out. I've reverted to explorer 7 and all's well, but still hangs on a blank page.

The gathering!

Crasher — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 17:13:57 GMT

Are we doing it again this year chaps?

1993 MB SL500 throttle actuator

dshmd50 — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:32:04 GMT

Searching for the above MB part 000-141-52-25 ( with ASR ) and pricing and warranty seems all over the place. Any ideas on reputable seller of this part. Thanks, dshmd50

price of equipment

tam_b — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 04:35:07 GMT

I have emailed bba about the price of diagnostic equipment they sell. i.e price for renault clip also what price peugeot planet is.

But never seem to get a reply, ive email a few times regarding equipment. Im sending to diags@bba-reman.com is this correct or is there other email to send to. Why dont they have the price of the tool on the page listed with the tool.

BUY IT NOW OR BEST OFFER??????????

Hammond_Auto — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 04:06:36 GMT

Hi,
Last week I had an Audi A6 in with an ABS fault, no comms, "I know what that is" i said, "I need to send the control unit away to be repaired", and I gave the customer a price including p&p both ways to BBA and a small handling charge.

"oh I can get it done much cheaper than that!" said the customer "some place I found on the internet, if you take it off for me I will send it away"......

So, I removed the unit and a week later he phoned and told me it was back, he came round with it and said it was only £90 including vat and they collected and returned it! who could provide such a cheap service??? it was BBA......
I asked how he had managed to get such a good price as a non trade member of the public? "buy it now or best offer on eBay, i offered £90 and they accepted".

So......does this mean I can dictate the prices I pay BBA when I want a unit repaired? Sounds like it!

what are other BBA customers views on this?

citroen BSI board

swe62 — Sat, 23 May 2009 10:11:39 GMT

Just had my bsi board back, quick turn round good price,as usual, thanks . swe62

Ideas for Forum

Alex-BBA — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 09:50:51 GMT

Hi Guys,

After the last debate on here I would like your opinions on what direction you want the forum to go in.

Would you like a trade only forum with a public section? Anything else you would like to add?

Alex

Mechanex Bolton

Alex-BBA — Wed, 13 May 2009 09:43:06 GMT

Hi Guys,

Both Ben and I will be exhibiting at the show in Bolton next week on the 20-21st at the Reebok stadium.

Feel free to come and say hello. I will update this when I know our stand number.

Alex

Contacting BBA office by telephone

markc — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 11:32:42 GMT

Hi all,

Nothing has been decided on this but thought it would be an interesting experiment:

Our phone system has the capability of adding an auto-assistant to the start of the call so that you can better direct your enquiry. Now, we've always been against this on principle as we like you to know that there is a real person on the end of the phone who care's about your enquiry/sale/problem. However we know that sometimes people have to wait those extra seconds to order a part as we are dealing with other sometimes longer enquiries.

My question is:

would you be offended if we added a very short (say 3 option) list at the start of the telephone call so that you could choose

1 for sales (straight to a sales rep for fast track to purchasing a part and by pass the enquiries queue)

2 for technical/product advice (help with one of our products or enquiries about fault symptoms- usually longer calls that requrie one of our more experienced guys/gals to answer in any detail)

3 for all other.

This poll is just for experiment really, if the idea of talking to a nice lady who gives you 3 options is particularly replusive to the majority then of course the idea will be binned without further thought.

Any comments? post them below!

Thanks

Not so great Service

billlincs — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 13:51:20 GMT

HI all,
Just wondered what had happened to the usually great service from BBA? I called on Tuesday to ask about an EPS unit for a Fiat Stilo, and was told that although there were none on the shelf, one would be built up and tested for despatch ASAP. My boss then called BBA to pay by credit card, and was told the unit would be despatched Tues evening. This was great as the customer was desperate to have the car back, money no object, and Fiat couldn't get a unit to us until Thursday AM.
When the unit didn't arrive this morning (Thurs), my boss rang BBA to chase it up, and was told, after a long pause, that it hadn't even been sent yet! No other explanation given.
We are now being asked to supply a loan vehicle for the weekend as "It's all our fault" because we said the car would be ready this afternoon.
I would appreciate it if someone could look into this and post or PM a response.
Bill.

Mechanex show Donnington park 25-26th Feb

Alex-BBA — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 18:07:54 GMT

Hi Guys,

BBA will be exhibiting our wide range of tools at Donnington park exhibition centre. Both Chris and I will be present.

Feel free to come over and say hello, just remember to bring your cheque books

Alex

Mercedes - Benz C200 Kompressor Automatic

Mikey_131 — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 15:03:31 GMT

I am having a problem with my Mercedes - Benz C200 Kompressor, Automatic, year 2003. There are some fault conditions as follows: No Diagnostic Acceptance. No Ignition. No Central Locking. I suspect a computer glitch. Please can anybody help.

Regards,

Mike.

THANKS BBA

ALFY001 — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 19:15:57 GMT

Just purchased Landrover testbook & ids from bba. Absolutely brilliant. Dont know how we did without it before. Cheers Alex for the hard work getting it delivered even though it wasnt straight forward.

Also had Disco 2 ABS modulator fault, sent to bba & they sourced me a new unit & had it delivered within a couple of days. My customer was very happy. Keep up the good work. Thanks very much.

Ignored email

escort — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 23:27:35 GMT

I recently mailed Reman regarding the purchase of a Launch scanner.No reply.Perhaps somebody can comment on this.

UK Christmas opening times

markc — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 11:06:10 GMT

Hi all,

So many people have asked me in PMs I thought it was worth while adding it on here.

We are open on 24th December usual time

We are then closed on Christmas day until Monday 5th January when we open at normal time (09:00)

We will happily ship anything on 24th by UPS as long as you can accept reciept on 29th/30th.

We will try our very best to clear all of our work on or before the 24th so that we have a fresh start in January so keep sending in your parts for repair.

From all at BBA:

We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Un Happy Chappy

Car Doctor — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 11:30:07 GMT

Hello all

Sorry to have a bit of the moan but recently we sent to yourselves a SAM unit of a W203 Mercedes for testing. I first rang to enquire about approximate cost and turn around time on Friday 5th of this month. I was told it would cost approx £100 plus VAT plus carriage and the current turn around time would be 2 to 3 days upon reciept of the unit.

I called back about 20 minutes after the original phone call to arrange collection. On Monday 8th the UPS man came and took away my parcel. We rang up to confirm you had recieved it on the Tuesday and you acknowledged reciept of our unit and would be testing it soon.

We gave you a quick call on the Wednesday (day 2) and it still hadent been looked at, not a problem we understand your busy we will try again tomorrow.

Thursday 11th, In the morning we called for an update and we were told it would be tested and someone would call back soon to let us know the findings (nobody did). About midday we called back and then we were told that our SAM still hadent been looked at and that it would probably roll into next week before you could, even when you could of got round to it you told us that there was probably nothing you could do as you had never had one of these in before even though it is on your website as a common failure and you advertise the fact that you can test/repair these units.

Starting to get a little annoyed now that at the end of day 3 no attempt had been made to test our SAM unit we again called back for an explanation in to what on earth was going on and the lady on the other end of the phone denied telling us that there was a 2-3 day turn around time and insisted on telling us that all calls were recorded and she would go and have a listen to our original conversation (like it would make a difference that listening to recorded conversations would somehow speed up the repair of our unit) before giving us a call back "in 5 minutes". After half an hour or so somebody else called back with a half hearted apology but to be honest didnt really seem that bothered with our case and just offered to send SAM back to me for the next day.

If you were a customer going to a garage and were told that they could repair a complex fault on your car for about half the price of the dealers but needed the car for a week while they send the faulty item away for repair you would probably be happy with that, But imagine how p***ed of you would be when you come back a week later and it appears naf all has been done and the car is still exactly the same as it was when it came in. Imagine our embarrasment and maybe we have lost a customer now, is anyone at BBA particually bothered.

All that was needed here was better comunication for your side. The 2-3 day turnaround thing is a farce but if you told me in the first instance maybe 10-14 days for example that wouldnt have been a problem because then we could have given the option to our customer.

Finally I do believe this occasion was a terrible experience and I will think twice before sending you anything else to test/repair for me again although the other three times I have used yourselves has been good.

Anyway rant over, I hope this never happens to anyone else

Andy Dawson

Partner

Car Medic Preston

BBA feedback

Hammond_Auto — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 12:04:57 GMT

Hi, I have just been reading some posts from unhappy BBA customers and just wanted to say that I have had a few complaints in the past but in the last year or so I have received nothing but excellent service and advise and super quick turn around times on the various jobs I have sent in.
The phone has always been answered by the third ring and I have even called out of normal hours and received a response, BBA-Reman is my first and last port of call for ECU, Dash, ABS etc etc.....
So from us here at Hammond Auto, thank you BBA Reman for all your help this year

Mechanex Sandown park

Alex-BBA — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 08:19:38 GMT

As normal I will be at Mechanex Sandown park on the Launch stand.

Hope to see some of you there. If you cannot find me drop me a call on 07790 938445.

Alex

Newest BBA member

Alex-BBA — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 03:03:15 GMT

Congratulations to Chris and Amanda on their new arrival.

At 2pm yesterday Jack arrived at 8lb 1oz.

Luckily I have someone to help me do some demos now

Alex

Military Appreciation

theLoneSailor — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 15:24:00 GMT

Hi,
I am a US Naval Officer that has been laid up for seven weeks from spinal fusion surgery which took place in response to an injury at sea off the coast of a country called Bahrain in the Arabian Gulf during OIF/OEF. Luckily I have all of my limbs and will be 90% within a year and a half.

I just called and talked to a very nice uy Andrew who was very helpful when I asked about parts for my 2003 Saab 9-3. Just because it never hurts to asks I inquired if they had any type of military discount. Auto parts establishments are usually extremely patriotic and it is not uncommon to get something like 5% or 10%. It is not much money to either of us but it is a strong message of support to servicememembers and makes us realize the appreciation of our fellow countrymen, whether they agree with our orders or not.

Andrew informed me that there was no discount like that and even asked his boss who re-iterated the 'no' saying margins were just to close. I was also told the part that I needed fixed would be over $6000 from a dealership, which was a little high considering I had already taken in and had been quoted $1200. That is quite a substantial mark up just to make a sale to a laid up vet that is just trying too get better so I can get back to sea and do my job.

It sounds dense but at least I expect the dealer to pull one over on me. We expect small shops to show a little compassion, even it just means $5 or $10. It is not the money, it is the fact that I would be a repeat customer along with anyone I know you could service for th rest of my live.

Have a Fine Navy Day,
LT Q

BMW X5 CLOCKS ,PIXEL REPAIR FOR MARTYN AT EARL ST GARAGE 5 STAR SERVICE

earlst5629 — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 17:15:42 GMT

CAN I SAY A BIG THANKS TO ALEX AND ALL THE STAFF AT BBA ,KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK ,MY PIXELS LOOK LIKE NEW NOW CAN ACTUALLY TELL WHAT THEY SAY NOW

BBA-Reman at Automechanika

Alex-BBA — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 04:51:13 GMT

Hi Guys,

We are exhibiting at Automechanika this year. Feel free to come and say hello. We are in Hall GAL.0 A07.

Alex

Diagnostic courses/updates

Mad-Eric — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 10:34:14 GMT

Hi is there a contact or contacts that you know of regarding diagnostic courses and updates. we have numerous scan tools from launch to bosch ect. but as the work we do does not involve much actual repair work i still need to try to keep upto date on new technology.

i am a time served apprentice who spent 20years in the workshop and the last 14 at a automotive research centre so getting a bit rusty.

regards

Dave L

BBA PHONE NUMBER

K And R — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 09:24:55 GMT

Hi All.

If you have not noticed BBA phoned number has changed it is NOW 01634 687222 but the old 230055 will still be transfered to the new number for a while. But get the new number stored in your phones etc.

Kev.

BBA not giving accurate information

locrep — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 16:32:43 GMT

Has anyone been given false information regarding turn around times on faulty units from initial enquiry, I normally buy units from Dealer or a reputable supplier, I phoned monday & when some one eventually answered the phone I made my enquiry about testing & repairing an ECU unit if repair required, I was told 4/5 days turn around, the ecu was sent special delivery for next day delivery (received before 1pm tuesday) I phoned to confirm unit arrived & would they let me know as soon as they have a test result, I phoned again Thursday some one answered the phone eventually when they noticed smoke coming from its over heating bell system, I asked if the unit had been tested I was told no, I explained my customer is asking for an update,bearing in mind 4/5 days repair, The Lady kindly said she would chace it up for me, its Friday evening & still no update to forward to my customer, I wish I had just brought a new unit & given her car back on Tuesday or moved onto the next problem.

Launch Arrived !!!

F&E 4x4 — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 06:28:24 GMT

Launch Arrived this morning Alex.

Cheers Frank.

Workshop 2008 Show Birmingham NEC

Alex-BBA — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 10:37:33 GMT

Hi Guys.

Both me and Chris will be present at this show if any of you are planning on attending feel free to come and say hello.

We will be on the Launch uk stand which is 9-014

Alex Gillbanks
BBA-reman

want to order parts in ur shop

add-gsmcar — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 13:26:36 GMT

i want to order parts in ur shop but no one seems to respond to any mail i sent to sales team dont really know if i sent to wrong adress

if so i will be very glad if some moderator here can advice me on the best way to contact sales team thanks

Forum Time

Chris Venning — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 17:25:01 GMT

The clock's wrong

Vauxhall Omega CDU 24439378

wingman — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 15:09:08 GMT

I have a 2001 Vauxhall Omega Elite whose central color display unit is intermittent and is displaying all the symptoms noted on your website. I would like to obtain another unit or have the existing one repaired bearing in mind that the trade cost from vauxhall of a new unit is approx £950+ without any VAT. I note that your website has this item displayed, stating this item is available as a remanufactured unit in 2-3 days and requires the old unit to be returned otherwise an extra charge will be made. This charge appears to be in dollars ($150). However when I rang the UK BBA Reman facility at Rochester about 3 months ago I was told that they did not service this particular item. Is this correct or does it mean that this item is sourced from the USA? Can you please help/advise as this fault with the CDU is beginning to drive me round the bend, always occuring just when the Sat Nav or CD autochanger info is needed. Sometime a sharp rap on the screen area will stun it back to life!!!