alohalc

i'm sure some of you guys already knew about my little car purchasing "adventure". i had ordered some parts on the day that i picked up my car which was june 8, 2004. after a month waiting, the chrome grilles and the wood shift knob are still not here . i called and asked my sales rep about them but every time his answer is the same, "oh, i think they are back order. let me check on that and will give you a call back later." needless to say, no calls from him. i called him again few days later and he gave me an unacceptable excuse. he said he was on vacation. good thing i asked the receptionist before i asked him and the lady told me he was working the last few days. he told me nobody knows he is taking vacation except the manager. i think even a kindergarten kid wouldn't believe this. i told him not to give me this kind of excuses anymore. i was the one who did all the follow-ups before and after the purchase. he said i stole the car ! yes, he did give me a little discount but i didn't point a gun at his freaking head! i gave him a number and he came back w/only $200 over my asking price which means my offer wasn't out of reach. and i didn't even bother and signed the papers right away. how hard a sale was that? i told him i'll talk to the president and send a letter to bmwna if he continues to play games. he said, "up to you. you can do whatever you want!" i was really pissed but i swallowed that. not because i'm chicken, just because i know he has two kids and hard to find jobs out there now. i decided to give him another chance.

another month passed. i called him again last month. well, do i need to say more? same answer for me :bashwall:. it was a friday and i waited until monday and called the parts dept myself. the guy in there told me there is nothing under my name nor the sales rep's name. i was so pissed and asked the parts guy to transfer my call to the president! i left a message and no calls from him neither. i called him again on wednesday and left him another message saying this is the second message. the sales manager called me back w/i 3 minutes. i told him i had the worst car purchasing experience ever! he was very nice and apologized many times. he walked to the parts dept and ordered the parts for me. he said i only need to pay for the cost price and make sure the guy in parts dept and my sales rep call me later that day.

the sales rep finally called me that day and left me a message saying he has something needed to discuss with me. he normally talks so loud but he sounded like a starving dog beg for food on that day. i called back and told him i didn't want to do this but i gave him a final chance on friday. if he placed the order on that day, i'd let him go but he still didn't order the parts over the weekend . he apologized and believe it or not, excuses again. he said, "oh, i have two kids at home. my wife works f/t and i'm so busy. sometimes i forget things i need to do." c'mon, this is a very typical american lifestyle. he's not the only busy one. but anyway, he said he'll give me a call when the parts are here.

i called (yes, i have to call myself again) couple weeks ago and my parts are finally here. i didn't pick them up because i have a few things i want the service guy to check on. my appointment was last friday 7:30 a.m.. the service guy told me the car should be ready saturday (yesterday) noon or earlier. following is the list of "problems" that i want him to check on:

cd plays from track 1 (a lot of us have this problem) most of the time
driver's side wiper vibrates/rattles
lack of power when the car is in 1-2k rpm
very jerky when in steptronic/manual mode
misaligned hood
trunk is hard to close
all the ac outlets are too small
need to press one of the memory buttons to have the steering wheel back to the position i pre-set
moonroof can't open (windows are all open properly) when i press and hold the unlock button on the key outside the car

i called my sales rep saturday before i p/u the car and wanted to have him put in the grilles and shift knob for me. the service guy wanted to charge me for that. he checked and called me back (finally he calls me ) and told me the knob is here but they ordered the wrong grilles! i have to wait at least another few days and i asked him to throw them in for me just because it's been three months but still couldn't get things right. he said he can't and have the sales manager call me. he promised he can give me a little more discount but not free. right after our conversation, the service guy called me and told me the car won't be ready 'til tuesday. because service dept doesn't open sunday (today) and monday is a national holiday. he told me the programming takes longer than expected. well, i dropped off the car 7:30 a.m. on friday and they still couldn't get it done after 30 hours :thumbsdown:. good thing is my loaner is another 530, unlike some of you guys have a toyota . at least i have something to drive over the long weekend. still not sure about all the problems are fixed or not. and not sure how much more discount i'll get for the grilles and shift knob. will keep you guys posted.

sorry for the super duper crazy long post. i'm sure some of you might fall asleep already . i feel much better after i blew off some steam.

530E60NL

Good write up!!! I have no problems with my dealer. I only get a bit tired of reading everyones problems and having to accept that I have most of them in my car too.

alohalc

hahaha...you understand my poor english ?

Jimbo

How hard is it? If I ran my business like the idiots at my dealership, I'd be out of business.

alohalc

not only yours, all the businesses will need to file bankruptcy if they act like our dealerships .

gmartin

alohalc - I think you need to send your car to the mainland to get good service!

Iceman

Wow.
I experienced massive problems with the service at my dealership too. But believe me, yours are very, very minor!
If I would post my complaints you would definately fall asleep, or you wouldn't believe it. I complained about the bad service to BMW's customer relations department in Munich, and it's a little better now, but still not OK and far from good! The letter I sent to Munich was 5 (FIVE !) pages long...
The sales experience was the best I've ever had, but the service is definately NOT!

BMW.Aaron.TeamF1

If you live in USA you should do your purchasing from www.pacificbmw.com, you give them one phone call and a few days later you have what you want from them.

If you want to continue doing business with the part dept guy of your BMW dealer just make sure he writes down your order in a paper so that way he doenst forget.


Also if you are not happy with your service dept just go to another BMW dealer.

John W

Yes, it's a sad state of affairs.

I bought my last two BMWs from one Dealer - they deal on price and are professional in sales in general,

Have them serviced at another dealer (since the first dealer's service dep't overcharges and does poor work), and

Buy the parts I'll install myself at a third dealer (since the other two charge 2.5X what Crevier and Pacific charge).

So, it's really silly, but I deal with three dealers to buy and maintain my cars. Yes, it's voluntary, but it's the only way I've found to be satisfied with both price and service.

JDN

I believe if alohalc had dealt with the parts department instead of the sales department, he would have had his parts delivered on schedule. I ordered my car through sales and picked up an accessories brochure as soon as one was available. I selected those I wanted and went to the parts department. Got a great discount and all parts were delivered ahead of the vehicle. Some I put in myself and the mud flaps in a private shop.

If an accessory is on the order form, then sales is the right department. If it is in the accessory book, most will fare better going to the parts department. They are separate profit centers within the dealership and sales really does not have a vested interest in parts.