# is BIMMIAN.com safe?



## tspanos (Dec 30, 2003)

I've seen some products that seem pretty nice on this website, and someone told me about it. But it's not a site i have heard much about. Does anyone know if they have good products? I want to purchase the solaris bulbs, and maybe a couple other little things from the site?


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## KP (Apr 16, 2002)

I've heard they're pretty bad and $$$. No one seems to buy from them much.


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## Cliff (Apr 19, 2002)

I ordered the painted side marker bulbs from them a while ago, and recently ordered new painted reflectors to replace my old ones from EvoSport (which cracked after a collision with a printer cart in my garage). They're OK.


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## Kaz (Dec 21, 2001)

I got my chrome gauge rings from them and didn't have any problems (see my avatar).

A few months ago there were some major issues (I don't recall why, offhand) and they took a big hit, at least around here.

I know the biggest problematic thing they sell are the blue interior bulbs. Because of the way BMW designed the housings, and the wattage of the bulbs BMW uses vs what's available in the aftermarket, the footwell lights and license plate lights tend to start melting after a while. I have this issue on my car where I have non-Bimmian bulbs, so it's not entirely their fault, though people think they're obligated to warn their customers about this.


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## gek330i (Dec 27, 2001)

I ordered a painted keyhole cover a few months back. Quality and shipping time were good.


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## Artslinger (Sep 2, 2002)

I think some of the problems where paint related... like if your color is not a top 3-4 color it may take a while for them to have the piece painted. Maybe the now they stock the parts in more colors.


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## kyle5574 (Aug 26, 2003)

I ordered a painted spoiler from them. No problems. It was on backorder, but they still got it out to me quickly. :thumbup:


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## Bill325Ci (Jul 17, 2002)

I've ordered several things from them in the past. Never had any problem.


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## mng (Oct 15, 2003)

my vote: :thumbdwn: 


guess they're like any other vendor, some good, some bad. FWIW, i bought their silvervision bulbs a long time ago....a couple of them didn't fit (they were supposed to be for the front turn signals). a couple others cooked themselves inside of 2 weeks. they told me to shave the non-fitting bulbs, then i tried to return them (to Canada, which was a pain), then the replacements didn't fit, etc, etc, etc....finally just said **** it and ate the money. later i realized that they're overpriced too.

good luck


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## AlexM520 (Sep 27, 2002)

tspanos said:


> I've seen some products that seem pretty nice on this website, and someone told me about it. But it's not a site i have heard much about. Does anyone know if they have good products? I want to purchase the solaris bulbs, and maybe a couple other little things from the site?


My vote is :thumbup:

I bought front painted reflectors and Platinum Vision 2 bulbs last summer and very happy so far. You will have no problems with their SOLARIS as it is their 3rd completely revised version of this type of bulb (yellow glow). I have their previous version - PV2 bulbs and love it.

As someone said above, if you are ordering parts/accesories in a popular paint colour you have nothing to worry about. Unfortunately custom or unique colours have given them blunders IN THE PAST (they may be okay now).

They are a small but very popular vendor/company on E46Fanatics.com They grew fast over the last couple of years because of good products and cheaper prices than their competitors (in general) and naturally accumulated fans and enemies over the years. 
Plus many people instead of dealing with issues directly with the company, take to these forums and start nasty threads about them.

Unfortunately, every half a year or so, they screw up on a product and take a hit on Bimmer forums. They DO FIX THEM but if you were one of those people who bought in the beginning, some were upset ..... although Bimmian almost always provides full refunds.

1st blunder: Original Platinum Vision 1 bulbs - were not giving very bright orange colour>> they were okay for most of the time, except in a very bright sunny days.

2nd blunder: Replacement Platinum Vision2 bulbs during their first 2-3 months manufacturing -early 2003 - not much improvement over original PV1 bulbs so some people got upset; PV2 bulbs produced after May 2003 were fine -  they reduced the amount of paint sprayed on the bulbs giving bright & strong orange colour ---- that's what I have - made in June 2003 batch.

3rd blunder: Custom or unique car paints have caused some issues in the past >>>> haven't heard anything bad this year.

MNG wrote: ".. I bought their silvervision bulbs a long time ago....a couple of them didn't fit (they were supposed to be for the front turn signals). a couple others cooked themselves inside of 2 weeks. they told me to shave the non-fitting bulbs"

>>> Bimmian always used BMW OEM bulbs which were spray painted with special painting gun. As a result their bulbs ALWAYS fitted properly without any shaving. On the other hand PHILLIPS Silvervision which people ordered from Europe (UK) had to be shaved because they were European bulbs and not North American BMW OEM.

>>> Same thing for MNG's overprice reference. Just a cheap shot at Bimmian. For their price around US$55 or so you get 6 bulbs (front, rear and side). Some people ordered PHILLIPS Silvervisions from UK for about $40 but you only got 4 bulbs (front and rear) ..... the same people still had to go and order & pay additional $$ for Side Yellow bulbs from Bimmian because nobody else had them 

Good luck.

AlexM520


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## MA330CIC (Mar 13, 2004)

I've had a positive experience with them. :thumbup:


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## RKT BMR (Sep 7, 2002)

Kaz said:


> A few months ago there were some major issues (I don't recall why, offhand) and they took a big hit, at least around here.


They had an incredibly obnoxious "customer satisfaction" policy posted on their website (mainly saying, if you're not satisfied and have a problem, you could go phuck yourself -- in business-like but kind of Nazi-ish terms), and this caused quite an outroar. The whole thing is hashed out in this thread, and is kind of entertaining.

I purchased front body-colored replacements for my reflectors and their platinumvision bulbs, and had no problems with any part of the experience, and was satisfied with the products. This was before the "customer satisfaction policy" brouhaha, upon which I vowed not to darken the site (or business) again unless they got some business sense and realized they should be putting customers first, even if they have to come out on the losing end sometimes.

Looking back in the thread about this, it appears they took the policy down in January. Not too inspiring that it took almost six months for them to come around to this reconsideration, especially in light of the huge brouhaha over it. This has led people to be suspicious that the only thing that's changed is the written policy on the website -- the personality and behavior of the bimmian guy hasn't changed. Seems to me like a reasonable inference to draw.

I won't be a returning customer at this point. I need to see something explicitly from Bimmian that they will be endeavoring to make me happy if I have a problem with a purchase from them, regardless of whether or not I choose to discuss my experience and opinions about the experience on bimmerfest (or anywhere else). Absent that, he's lost this customer for good.


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## tspanos (Dec 30, 2003)

*Thanx Alex*



AlexM520 said:


> My vote is :thumbup:
> 
> I bought front painted reflectors and Platinum Vision 2 bulbs last summer and very happy so far. You will have no problems with their SOLARIS as it is their 3rd completely revised version of this type of bulb (yellow glow). I have their previous version - PV2 bulbs and love it.
> 
> ...


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## audiophilia (Mar 25, 2003)

:thumbup: :thumbup: 

Their gear has improved the look of my car immensly.


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## e46shift (Oct 12, 2002)

bimmian is notorious for having a bad rep
you are probably better ordering from bimmerfreak

this is how shady they are

www.bimmerfreak.com .. a sponsor on fanatics
www.bimmerfreaks.com .. goes straight to bimmian. talk about stealing business


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## mng (Oct 15, 2003)

e46shift said:


> this is how shady they are


that is wrong  :tsk:


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## Solid (Feb 3, 2003)

i've ordered a few times from them. no problems...

The shipping does take awhile though, since it's coming from Canada...


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## RKT BMR (Sep 7, 2002)

e46shift said:


> bimmian is notorious for having a bad rep
> you are probably better ordering from bimmerfreak
> 
> this is how shady they are
> ...


OMG... just one more reason to avoid giving bimmian one penny of additional business.

What unethical dicks.


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## AlexM520 (Sep 27, 2002)

RKT BMR said:


> They had an incredibly obnoxious "customer satisfaction" policy posted on their website (mainly saying, if you're not satisfied and have a problem, you could go phuck yourself -- in business-like but kind of Nazi-ish terms), and this caused quite an outroar. The whole thing is hashed out in this thread, and is kind of entertaining.
> .....................
> .....................





e46shift said:


> bimmian is notorious for having a bad rep
> you are probably better ordering from bimmerfreak
> this is how shady they are
> www.bimmerfreak.com .. a sponsor on fanatics
> www.bimmerfreaks.com .. goes straight to bimmian. talk about stealing business


This is how it's all get started .... incomplete/inaccurate information gets passed around,
maybe deliberatly, maybe the poster is just not thinking.

It is interesting that RKT BMR wrote a sizeable reply about obnoxious "customer satisfaction" policy but failed to share with us how it came about OR the fact that Bimmian has been a sponsor on E46Fanatics for OVER 2.5 years and so called obnoxious policy ONLY was posted in August 2003 AFTER a very nasty and deliberate attempts by a couple of people to smear their reputation ....... and we are not talking about average negative or dissatisfied post about them. They NEVER had anything even remotely posted before.
I am NOT saying this short lived policy was the best thing, but they had to do something to protect their name and reputation.

And what about E46SHIFT post about www.bimmerfreak.com. He tells us that both companies are sponsors on E46fanatics, which is true. So what are we missing here :dunno: 
... oh wait, he forgot to tell us that Bimmian was a sponsor for over 2.5 years on E46Fanatics and Bimmerfreak JUST popped out of nowhere 6 month ago by COPYING Bimmian business approach and style. 
And E46Shift has wisdom to tell us that Bimmian is stealing from Bimmerfreak.... hey E46Shift, Bimmian has been selling their stuff for 2 years BEFORE Bimmerfreak arrived on the scene and they were doing more than fine. Do you still think Bimmian stole something from Bimmerfreak??? I don't think so. :nono: 
MAYBE, just maybe, Bimmian is fighting fire with fire after Bimmerfreak's blatted attempt to steal Bimmian business and their original style by offering identical products.

You can draw your own conclusions about all of these things, I just wanted to share a bit of other side to all these one-sided posts.

AlexM520


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## RKT BMR (Sep 7, 2002)

AlexM520 said:


> This is how it's all get started .... incomplete/inaccurate information gets passed around,
> maybe deliberatly, maybe the poster is just not thinking.
> 
> It is interesting that RKT BMR wrote a sizeable reply about obnoxious "customer satisfaction" policy but failed to share with us how it came about OR the fact that Bimmian has been a sponsor on E46Fanatics for OVER 2.5 years and so called obnoxious policy ONLY was posted in August 2003 AFTER a very nasty and deliberate attempts by a couple of people to smear their reputation ....... and we are not talking about average negative or dissatisfied post about them. They NEVER had anything even remotely posted before.


I didn't "fail" to do anything. I had no idea what motivated them to put the offensive policy on their website, nor do I care.

The misbehavior of some handful of customers is no reason to institute a blanket policy that is obnoxious to all customers. This is, of course, my opinion, and it is shared by quite a few other people. You are to be commended for rallying to the defense of Bimmian should you feel otherwise, however attacking me in the process does not constitute defending them.

If you believe a general, public "customer satisfaction policy" that states the retailer will not honor resolving customer satisfaction issues with ANY customer who discusses their dissatisfaction on a public forum is just, please defend that policy. No need to get snotty with me personally.

I do not think it reasonable, and believe it to be extremely poor business judgement. Apparently bimmian eventually moved closer to my POV on this, as they have modified the policy -- but they still have a way to go.

As I stated in the thread referenced above, the wisest approach for bimmian to take was to make the handful of dissatisfied customers whole, including a full refund if necessary and possibly even a "truce" gift to say "no hard feelings, please consider us again in future purchases". Then, if the slagging on public forums continues, which they so professionally informed us all (in a somewhat threatening way) they do monitor, they have the upper hand in responding to each and every one of the cretin's slagging posts by setting the record straight -- "We tried to come to an accomodation, could not, so we refunded the full purchase price + S&H, and threw in a complimentary set of interior Xenon bulbs as a gesture of our intent to make this customer happy. Reader can decide for themselves if bimmian.com is a good vendor to do business with."

But hey, that's not how it went down. A handful of obnoxious customers slagged on bimmian, and bimmian responded by being obnoxious to all its customers. They're free to operate this way, and the BMW community is free to take their business elsewhere.

The link issue above just piles more damning behavior on their plate, hence I will not be doing business with them again at this point, and I suspect I'm not alone. As I said, my one transaction with them was quite satisfactory. However, given their stated customer satisfaction policy, the risk should I have a problem is now too great to do business with them again.


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## e46shift (Oct 12, 2002)

AlexM520 said:


> And what about E46SHIFT post about www.bimmerfreak.com. He tells us that both companies are sponsors on E46fanatics, which is true. So what are we missing here :dunno:
> ... oh wait, he forgot to tell us that Bimmian was a sponsor for over 2.5 years on E46Fanatics and Bimmerfreak JUST popped out of nowhere 6 month ago by COPYING Bimmian business approach and style.
> And E46Shift has wisdom to tell us that Bimmian is stealing from Bimmerfreak.... hey E46Shift, Bimmian has been selling their stuff for 2 years BEFORE Bimmerfreak arrived on the scene and they were doing more than fine. Do you still think Bimmian stole something from Bimmerfreak??? I don't think so. :nono:
> MAYBE, just maybe, Bimmian is fighting fire with fire after Bimmerfreak's blatted attempt to steal Bimmian business and their original style by offering identical products.
> ...


come on, lots of stores offer similar products. its good for the consumer to have competition. bimmian has acs replica pedals, im sure they had no qualms about selling these 'copies'
bimmian crosses the line with this address shanagan, most will agree.
dont be so naive


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## AlexM520 (Sep 27, 2002)

e46shift said:


> come on, lots of stores offer similar products. its good for the consumer to have competition. bimmian has acs replica pedals, im sure they had no qualms about selling these 'copies'
> bimmian crosses the line with this address shanagan, most will agree.
> dont be so naive


Yes, a couple of (not "a lot of stores") carried SOME of products similar to Bimmian (each other vendor did not carry more than one or two products like Bimmiam). Most of these other vendors also sold & focussed primarily on mechanical parts (suspension, brakes, exhaust etc.) for Bimmers and they weren't so much focused STRICTLY on appearance items.

Bimmerfreaks is focused strictly on appearance upgrades/parts and happen to have IDENTICAL products as Bimmian.

I AM COMPLETELY FOR competition, like you correctly pointed out it will be beneficial to all of us - consumers. But that's does not mean Bimmain cannot respond to another vendor's "guerilla-marketing" tactics.

The question was whether Bimmian have done something unethical or shady..... and I simply wanted to show that they DID NOT "fire" the first shot in this matter. They simply responded to Bimmerfreaks action.

It is easy to make ideologic statements when it is not your ass, livelyhood and business reputation are on the line.

AlexM520


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## [email protected] (Jun 24, 2004)

*Bimmian is awesome*

As far as quality of products go, Bimmian is the best. I have ordered multiple products from them and have never been let down. Clear lenses, interior xenon bulbs, gauge rings, DDE halo rings, painted reflectors are all products I purchased from them.

Their prices are very reasonable, and their customer service is great. If any of you are interested in purchasing from them, contact me and I can get you a 10% discount because I have connections with the owner. E-mail me at [email protected]

Mike


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## stephenn (Jun 24, 2004)

For those of you who wouldn't recommend Bimmian.com, who else sells the M3 lip spoiler already painted in Silver Titanium? It's on back-order at Bimmian and I can't find anyone else that sells them already painted.


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## e46shift (Oct 12, 2002)

AlexM520 said:


> Yes, a couple of (not "a lot of stores") carried SOME of products similar to Bimmian (each other vendor did not carry more than one or two products like Bimmiam). Most of these other vendors also sold & focussed primarily on mechanical parts (suspension, brakes, exhaust etc.) for Bimmers and they weren't so much focused STRICTLY on appearance items.
> 
> Bimmerfreaks is focused strictly on appearance upgrades/parts and happen to have IDENTICAL products as Bimmian.
> 
> ...


i was reffering to stores like tirerack and discounttire. how could they not expect for someone to sell similar products? they are childish and yes it is shady what they are doing. it looks like they cant handle the business world and resort to these ridiculous tactics..
if bimmerfreak shot first, bimmian returned fire at itself


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