Weekend from hell...M5 drivers please read!!!

lsdvm · 12th August 2004, 23:46

Hey all, just wanted to relay some events of this past weekend to you, and start a petition to boycott a certain hotel here in NJ. I'll go through the story and what happened and then leave you all with a bit of advice.

Attended a wedding and reception for friends of the family at "hotel-X" on Saturday 8/8, had a blast. So much so, we stayed overnight. Now I NEVER park the baby outside overnight, but of course, that was the only option on this occasion.

Anyway, I wake up with a sizable hangover to a cell phone ringing at 6:45AM (after retiring from the bar around 2AM

), and I'm thinking "someone better be dead, because it's wwwaayyy too early for this!"
(Some of you already know where this is going, right?)

Well, it's one of the other guests who had lost their keys the night before and had gone out to scour the parking lot and saw the inevitable...

Get this, 7 cars had been broken into between 3:30 and 4AM, and of course, mine was one of them!

Worse yet, their "Security" company "didn't see or hear anything"...and didn't report it to the cops for a couple hours!!!!

Wait. Wait, it gets better! My car was bad, but one of the cars was left on cinder blocks!!! Literally!

After the cops bring in the finger-printers, write up the reports and we all gather up all our belongings that had been tossed (presumably to find the Valet keys), we all make a bee-line for the front desk, thinking they would at least be sympathetic and offer some sort of concession.
(Is this an unreasonable assumption? I think not.) What do they offer us?

Free F^%$^NG breakfast! Yep. I don't condone violence (unless it's absolutely necessary), but now I truly understand the term "justifiable homicide".

Directly behind me was a pristine M-roadster, whose driver was even more livid than I was! (Unfortunately for him, he ran out of the hotel with his fly open...we all got a chukle out of that one).

So in talking to the cops I find out that THIS ISN'T THE FIRST TIME this place has been hit. Nor has the hotel taken any steps (additional security, cameras, etc) to prevent this from happening to poor saps like myslef!!!!! I've already spoken to my attorney, the insurance folks and the the hotel's GM about this...it's gonna be ugly!

Hence my personal crusade to hurt their business where it counts the most. If ANY of you live in NJ or plan on coming to visit this God forsaken place, DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT PARK AT THE MADISON HOTEL, MORRISTOWN, NJ overnight!!! Take a look at the pics of my car and you'll understand. You've been warned!

I'd been meaning to post pics of my baby after all the mods and before this **** happened, but alas....hey, can someone tell me why I'm only able to post a single pic? **** technology!!

Anyway, I learned the hard way that once they gouged out the door lock, they were able to defeat the alarm system completely. DId BMW now know about this weakpoint in the car?? They'll be getting a letter from me!

I plan on having the stock US door lock replaced with a European style door handle (part# 51 218 24 5 463, $58.54 retail), which doesn't have a lock cylinder so the alarm system can't be deactivated. Anyway, just thought I'd share my experience with you all and hope this doesn't happen to anyone else.

Bye for now.

Ashok Arora · 12th August 2004, 23:53

That's awful but thankfully the insurance should be able to repair that perfectly. I wouldn't launch any type of campaign against the hotel as this'll probably end up being counterproductive and costing more time (money?) than it's worth. At least you weren't attacked personally or injured - count yourself lucky.

Wish you all the best

BmwNut · 12th August 2004, 23:57

Good god man, I am so sorry to hear about this.

I dont know how much liability the hotel has, as usually it is a "park at your own risk" deal at hotels. Best wishes getting the situation sorted out, and getting the beast back into good shape. They sure did a number on the door...

kiwi M & M · 13th August 2004, 00:09

If this had happend before and the hotel fails to warn you... i smell negligence...

Hope you didn't suffer more damage than the door... I assume they probably jacked the nav systems?

best wishes

Quadcammer · 13th August 2004, 00:15

holy ****!!!
I go to school 2 minutes from there, (drew university) I can't believe something like that would happen in that area. i see a lot of fancy cars there, so thats a major surprise. my m5 had something similar happen but they only screwed up the actual lock cylinder.

good luck getting that fixed.

Bingocaller · 13th August 2004, 00:20

Wow that door !!!!

Sorry 2 hear about your misfortune.

Having the same "problem" with the pics - anyone know?

Thanks

FAST 5 · 13th August 2004, 00:33

Wow.......... Im ssooo sorry to hear about your unfortunate experience. Morristown is a nice area as Quadcammer stated, and Madison (neighboring town) is a very good community. There is no doubt i my mind that your lose and any other car broken into is done by a employee of the hotel. Theye ither did it with others involved or called a "connectionb" to have the car's broken into. This happens frequently at hotels located on Route # 3 east/west bound directions, but your hotel location was a shock when I read it. Im sure the local police suspect the hotel staff but need concrete proof to accuse the hotel and or its employees. A good way would be to use a fellow M5er's car as bait, used by the police and hold surveillance during the night period. Im sure they bust the person/people responsible, since a hot looking M5 would be too much to resist.
Robert

boostmiser · 13th August 2004, 00:49

That blows! Sorry to hear that
When I bought my car, I drove it from Florida to Delaware. I stopped over somewhere north of Savannah, GA to take a nap at the Motel 6. I was terrified that someone was going to pillage the M....but I guess I just got lucky.

Need4Spd · 13th August 2004, 03:11

My condolences, as expressed by others. One thing I'll add. There's another thread on this, but FYI, have your alarm reprogramed so that it can't be disabled by the door lock key, but only by the remote. Jacking the lock then won't disable the alarm. If your remote ever dies, you can still start the car by opening the door with the key, then turning the ignition (yes the alarm will be blaring but so what). If you go the lockless Euro handle route, if your remote dies, you'll be stuck outside your car with no way in. That could suck big time, especially if it's cold and raining or snowing.

Sonic M5 · 13th August 2004, 06:11

lsdvm,
My condolences! This could happen to any of us but I smell a rat!
It is quite possible that an employee at the hotel could conspire with the culprits. It is too coincidental that so many cars can get jacked without anyone
knowing about it. And the fact that this isn't the first time make it even more suspicious.