Barbados Taxi Drivers Threaten To Sue Local BMW Dealership For Poor Quality Service.

Local Barbadian Taxi drivers who have recently been in the news protesting poor service from the local BMW dealership have threatened to sue the dealership for time lost due to the vehicle being out of service. The taximen’s lawyer Chester Sue (No you can’t make stuff like this up) threatened the lawsuit to members of the local media today.

The taximen’s complaint was recently covered in the Nation newspaper.

Some of the protestors estimated they could lose $200 to $300 in business a day because of poor service.

Anthony Wood said he was “tired of the run around” and “the shabby treatment was just not right”.

“They tell you to bring the car for two weeks, and nothing is happening. When you come back for the car, nothing has been touched yet so the service is lousy. When I go to the insurance company, I can’t tell them I didn’t work this week, so I can’t give you any money,” Wood vented.

Lloyd Holder said: “It is ridiculous . . . . They lend us a loaner, but what can a loaner do for you? It can’t put any money in our pockets. It is to transport our families. We can’t use them for work. We are not begging them, we have bought the vehicles.”

Holder, the owner of a BMW for five years, said it had taken seven months to have his car alarm fixed.

The drivers said if the situation did not improve, their next step would be the law suit.

While reports on Starcom network today would suggest that the taximen have gone that further step, Managing Director of Warrens Motors indicated that he had not heard about the suit, but “would deal with it if it arose”. At the time of the earlier press article he indicated:

“We do all we can to address their issues. Nobody is laughing at them. We know they are businessmen and we understand and empathise with them when their vehicles are off the road.”

Based on today’s news report it would seem that the taximen have decided to ratchet up the pressure an additional notch.

We on the Margin do have to wonder why the taximen should feel that their only route available was to go public and to threaten going to the courts.  We can’t help but feel that the initial reaction from Warrens Motors may not have been as prompt as they felt they had a right to expect having bought the car reputed to be “The Ultimate Driving Machine”.  We can’t help but be disturbed by claims of transmissions “going bad” after only two years of service on what is supposed to be a top quality car. Yes taxi’s are run hard but hey IT’S A BMW!!!!

We will continue to follow this story.

 Marginal