Service with a "Streit"

So, today I had to take the BWM roof-racks back and get the changed over. I had only installed the things twice, and now the head of one of the mounting screws is stuffed. And before you say anything, yes, I followed the mounting instructions (a first for a male), and yes, I did it right.

Anyway, with the roof-racks comes a torque-screwdriver, that is tuned to 8Nm. For the layman, that means a screwdriver that is calibrated to tighten screws to a certain tightness (8 Newton-meters).

The first time I installed the bastards, I was doing up one of these screws, and had reached close to 8Nm, but not quite, when the screwdriver seemed to slip. Any further attempts in tightening the screw didn't work, because the head was a little stripped. Luckily I could get them back off again, and it was no better the next time I tried (duh!).

So, I take them back today, hoping that they can order a new screw. Turns out that you can't order a new screw for these - you have to order the whole new set. No problems! Surely they are under warranty! WRONG! The nice guy in Service kindly informs me, in German, that it is my fault and that they don't have a guarantee when you install them incorrectly. I try to tell him that I did it right, and after asking him if he speak English - to which he says "Nein" - he goes off to find a translator (was it really that bad?!?!).
He eventually he comes back with someone from Military Sales (lots of American Army guys in Darmstadt...though none of them drive BMers...more like Caddies etc). He tells her his side of the story, which I got the general gist of. I then tell her (in short form) "If I hadn't inserted the screwdriver in the screw head correctly, then I wouldn't have been able to reach 7 or 7.5Nm before it slipped". She turns to translate this, and the guy says to her that he understood! DON'T SPEAK ENGLISH, MY ARSE!

Long and the short of it is, that I guess I convinced them that it was their fault, and they changed the things over free of charge...but not without a fight. Der Kunde ist König doesn't necessarily always apply, huh?

Tschüß,
'Brush