And back to square one.
The fact here is this is piss-poor customer service. I was told point-blank by the dealer in SoCal I was leasing from that I could return it to any dealer (I was in NorCal/Bay Area and pondering whether to travel to SoCal to lease, which I ended up doing and turned out fine). I am a lawyer and can make up all sorts of legal ramifications of such a statement (e.g. fraud, promissory estoppel, etc.) but the real fact is, BMWFS and the selling dealer have every incentive to tell you want you want to hear to induce you to lease from them, because they get the benefit. And now I bet you that dealer is happy to represent this and sell many, many cars while not having to take the downside, which is accepting cars lease from other dealers.
If you represent to your customers one thing, and sneak a sentence in the contract that states otherwise, yes you maybe get away with it but ultimately you get a reputation of not living up to your promises. And that will harm your brand. As a good business practice, if BMWFS and BMW dealers want to continue promising this, they need to step up and ensure incentives to dealers for taking lease returns.
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well-said
We get a lot of frivolous “I will sue them and take all their money” gesticulating here, but I don’t see this improving unless people complain to the various consumer rights groups (in CA), state attorneys general, etc. Possibly (as challenging as this is) $0 class action suit to try and get the standard lease agreement changed.
Usually with the 1st party and alternative captives, the dealer-side of the agreement says “if you lease them out, you must accept returns”, but anecdotally in these situations you must call and beg the captive to call a dealer on your behalf. It shouldn’t be that way.
And if the dealers can’t be forced, direct me to a storage lot that the captive rents and I’ll drop it there. But most people are resigned after finally disposing of their lease, or take it out on a dealer, who as @trism reminded us isn’t party to your lease (especially if they aren’t originating dealer).
Tremendous finger-pointing as you try and return their asset to them. 
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Not sure how this devolved a bit. But to be clear, the only point I’m making is that irrespective of what the contract says, BMW (both dealers and BMWFS) continue to set a very clear expectation in the minds of customers that you’ll be able to do a lease return anyplace. I acknowledge the contract doesn’t actually say this, and if you want to pedantically hold that against me (or any other lessee), you’re certainly entitled to. But my point is simply that they are setting an expectation which isn’t met. Historically it was met! And I’m sure it will continue to be met in many markets, because regardless of what the contract says you often -can- return to any dealer. But in SoCal now, and I believe going forward, you can’t. And yet BMWFS if you call them will still tell you that you can, despite the contract. And I’d wager that a dealer will tell you that you can if you leased new right now. Again, because a lot of the time, you actually can! So the point is that they are knowingly setting a -potentially- false expectation.
I don’t think there’s much malice in this by BMW. Again, this is how things sometimes do work out. And for sure, if you are the kind of person who reads the contract and takes it literally you’d know that maybe you won’t be able to return anywhere you want. But it’d be so much better if BMW just acknowledged that up front. We don’t live in a civilization where we all sit around reading contracts all day long, and it’d be massively inefficient if we did. (I mean, zero mortgages would ever get done if most people actually sat around and read the paperwork. And nevermind like, surfing websites or installing software.) The point I think should be pretty simple: BMW is creating a consumer expectation that they can’t truly meet. Whether it’s incompetence or evil or just circumstances, the point is that it sucks for customers in SoCal, and as a result everyone in SoCal should be aware of the potential pain at lease end. Or BMW should just fix it and incentivize the dealers in some way as noted here.
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I really like that idea. It’s an extra fixed cost for the captive service, but it removes any misunderstandings.
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I don’t disagree with your conclusion, but I do disagree with part of your premise. What gets lost in the pronoun soup (“you, your, they”) is that the dealer and BMWFS are two completely different entities, independently owned and managed.
I would have a different opinion if the store where the lease was signed was owned and controlled by BMWFS, and I further agree that if BMWFS was instead called Aardvark Leasing it would be less confusing.
Let’s say you lease a BMW from a credit union, and a BMW dealership employee told you that the credit union would waive the disposition fee if you open a checking account with the CU.
You’d want to check with the lessor (or at least check the contract) first if this was important to you.
If this turns out to not be true, a rational consumer wouldn’t decide that the credit union is shady based on what a salesperson at the BMW dealer told them 35.9 months ago.
We do live in a civilization where people sign their name to legal documents without understanding the contents, and then blame everyone else when there’s a surprise.
You can read contracts or not read contracts, that’s your personal choice, but if the shit ever really hits the fan, your position is going to get you exactly nowhere in court. And that’s why you read these things.
PS: I read mortgage documents. My home is more important to me than any of my cars.
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By the way, some of the complaints in this thread are starting to read like the CFPB complaint database.
Consumer complaint narrative
On XX/XX/XXXX I purchased two televisions from someone on XXXX! I did not know the person so I used XXXX XXXX to protect myself! I met with the man at a public place, I paid him {$390.00} for two televisions and when I returned home neither of them worked. I immediately contacted Navy Federal to file a dispute. Two days ago I was sent an e-mail saying the amount never posted so there was nothing they could do, which was not true because you can clearly see the charge on my account! Today I get an e-mail stating they can can not comple the dispute, I must contact the person for a refund!! If I was able to contact the person for a refund I would not have had to file a dispute!! I am not going to sit back in a PANDEMIC and let you all steal money from me!!! Where is the consumer protection??? What is the point of you having a dispute department if you can not give people UNAUTHORIZED funds back!!! GIVE ME MY MONEY BACK!!!
Consumer complaint narrative
I bought a kitchen suite from Best Buy. When it was time to pay I told the sales person that I was using two different cards, some on my Best Buy card but I only wanted to put like {$1200.00} on my bbcc so I didnt max my card out. He told me Im sure theyve given you an increase as I replied to him that they had not and I would know if they had. I told him to call Citi Bank to see if they would give me an increase, he swiped my card and over drew my account. I was furious when a few days later I noticed my XXXX lowered my credit limit to were its almost to the XXXX, XXXX did the same thing as well as XXXX XXXX. I had a credit score that was pretty good and I know Ive used my spending is getting high but Im trying to help my XXXX daughters which they both have XXXX yr olds, Covid isnt helping anymore anyone. The guy at Best Buy really messed my credit up and Im almost in tears every day because if I need to go buy a car for instance I cant. Not one person at Best Buy or Citi Bank even tried to compensate me which I could care less I want my credit fixed, I wasnt the one who messed it up but I have to fix it. I dont think people understand how hard it is to take care of this and watch XXXX babies. Please, Please tell me we can fix my credit! I told that guy what he needed to do and he didnt listen!
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The problem is that BMWFS clearly is representing the same thing as the dealer, which is that the leased BMW can be returned to any dealer, according to many accounts here and my own dealing with BMWFS. The dealer and BMWFS are consistently telling consumers the same thing, and I agree with you they are two different parties.
I think most consumers would reasonably call up BMWFS to ask at lease-end what their options are, instead of reading through a 10 page contract to see where they should return the car, and if the horse’s mouth says you can return to any dealer, then a consumer’s expectation will be exactly that. Whether you have legal recourse is another question altogether.
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I agree that it’s a customer service issue for the lessor.
Their phone agents should know what’s in the contract, and how to properly direct a customer who calls with questions.
I cannot believe BMW still did not address this seemingly big customer service issue and unless we - customers- push back firmly, they will not. I also think this is “relatively” new problem since many more people started shopping around thanks to websites like LH and become more willing to drive far to lease. Dealers also have a point, nobody wants to incur costs with little to no return especially in Socal where space and labor has premium. It can be easily solved with a cost sharing amendment to the dealer contracts though. e.g. offer $XXX for each lease return. BMWFS already charge “disposition fee” to us. Apparently $350 covers only the costs of disposition from the originating dealer (!) .
So let’s exploit the power of the growing LH community. Maybe draft a one paragraph complaint and, once finalized, post here with a link to BMW customer service for all to copy and submit en masse to BMW.
You guys will hate me if BMW increases the disposition fee 
This is not off topic so please do not move this to the landfill. (Seriously, it isn’t, listen to it)
This is what I recommend you do:
(It’s in English, just has subtitles)
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So maybe good BMW lease deals are coming up? I would take one X5 off their inventory for 300 a month 
Has this been linked
https://www.bmwusa.com/return-vehicle.html
Scroll to
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Vehicle Return
Where can I return my vehicle?
When your vehicle term ends, please contact your originating BMW Center to schedule a return appointment. Please note that the only BMW Center required to accept return of your vehicle is the BMW Center where the contract originated. However, you may return the vehicle to a different BMW Center as long as that center is willing to accept receipt of your vehicle. If you are planning to return the vehicle to a different BMW Center, we recommend contacting them directly to see if they are willing to accept the return and discuss the details of their turn-in process.
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Thanks for pointing this out. Look at the screenshot attached (FROM THE SAME PAGE, but in big font and not stuck in an FAQ at the end). If this page isn’t textbook on how BMW is playing games here, not sure what is.
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Call your lessor and ask them the closest bmw dealership that accept your lease return. They will help you with your concern!
Reading the contract is a valid point but the dealer and BMW FS is knowingly willfully misleading the customer which should not be allowed. In my industry, I am not allowed to willfully mislead any client. BMW FS and the dealer knows what the facts are and yet they mislead the client which is unethical conduct.
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I think we’ve established that. So whom, with standing (BMW lease they tried, unsuccessfully, to return to a different dealer) is going to push to hold them accountable?
I think this is a productive first-step:
But they’re going to reply “thanks but that doesn’t happen” - after which, what’s the plan?
No plan necessarily. But doing nothing will certainly not change anything. Maybe the paragraph and link will go viral. Circulate to bimmerpost, edmunds, etc.