My first experience of the BMW servicing network...

B

Bradders75

Senior member
...and it isn't a good one. I haven't even taken the car anywhere yet and I'm already wound up!

The vehicle in question is a 2003 3.0iSE. How hard should it be to get a simple fixed price servicing quote over the phone?

Lincoln BMW...couldn't get through to servicing but said they'd ring back. Service guy eventually calls back but says he can only quote if I give the last 7 digits of the chassis number. I mean, WTF? I just want someone to let me spend a few hundred quid getting a simple routine job done on a standard vehicle yet Sopers make it feel like an exact science!

Astle BMW Scunthorpe...couldn't get through to servicing (twice) so said they'd ring me back. They didn't.

Sytner Nottingham...couldn't get through to servicing but spoke to a very polite lady who took lots of details and said she'd call back with 30 minutes. I'm still waiting 2 days later.

Sytner Sheffield...I got through to servicing first time! And they quoted there and then, awesome! £460. :cry: However, the chap said to call back if I find something more competitive locally (so why not quote the best price in the first place I wondered) but only if it's from a BMW main dealer. Makes me wonder what this offer is all about then? http://www.sytner.co.uk/bmw/aftersales/aftersales-offers/service-price-match.aspx :roll:

I'm seriously tempted to go down the independent route, even though I liked the idea of keeping the current FBMWSH, if only to help with ease of resale. I really don't want to debate the merits of BMW vs Specialist servicing, I just wanted to rant about how hard BMW make it for a customer to feel like parting with their money in the first place. Four dealers and only one can give a quote on the same day...and it's a bloody pants quote at that!
 
Know what you mean, but i would never take my car (new or used) to a BMW dealer unless i had to. Independents want you to use them again and again so will put the work in, BMW 90% of the time wont. Having said that one near me seems very good.
 
How easy is it to tar all dealers with the same brush! Unfortunately it seems to happen all the time on the Forum - one bad experience from a dealer and the whole network is condemned. Perhaps we should remember that dealers are not a charity but out to make a profit for the company who are independent dealers who happen to hold a BMW dealership. I have great service from my local BMW dealer who gives good quality service and for me value for and certainly wants me to use them again - it makes good business sense. I've had bad experiences with my local NHS hospital but I dont condemn every hospital in the country based on this one experience.
 
AlanJ said:
How easy is it to tar all dealers with the same brush! Unfortunately it seems to happen all the time on the Forum - one bad experience from a dealer and the whole network is condemned. Perhaps we should remember that dealers are not a charity but out to make a profit for the company who are independent dealers who happen to hold a BMW dealership. I have great service from my local BMW dealer who gives good quality service and for me value for and certainly wants me to use them again - it makes good business sense. I've had bad experiences with my local NHS hospital but I dont condemn every hospital in the country based on this one experience.
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Four different dealers, 3 negative experiences and 1 'meh'. Thanks for the slightly patronising alignment of my expectations though. :D

I haven't condemned the whole network (tar brush is still in the shed) but thought I'd share my experiences so far and the mini rant made me feel better. I've no doubt there are many great dealers out there (I experienced one on the Lake District meet) and well done for finding one yourself! I don't suppose they're near to Lincolnshire?
 
Bradders75 said:
I haven't condemned the whole network (tar brush is still in the shed) but thought I'd share my experiences so far and the mini rant made me feel better. I've no doubt there are many great dealers out there (I experienced one on the Lake District meet) and well done for finding one yourself! I don't suppose they're near to Lincolnshire?
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Malton Motors - North Yorkshire, great people to deal with, good service and reasonable prices (not always the cheapest but you get what you pay for). Perhaps a bit far from you but a good day out!
 
From reading different forums, you also get a picture that the same dealer can earn completely different reputations based on different people's experiences. Sometimes it's new owners claiming they get brilliant service from the sales guy (well, duh!), and longer-term owners saying they get useless service from the after-sales/service side. You can understand why to some extent as the sales guy has to be nice to get you to buy the car, and the service team have you by the balls.

I'm not saying it's this straightforward in the real world, but that's what I seem to take away from a lot of these posts.

When I asked my mother about her experiences of her car coming up to it's first MOT (she'd bought it new), she told me that they were 'wonderful'. When I asked her what she meant, she described the process she went through each time it went in. What it boiled down to was she'd regularly receive a 'marketing' flyer offering a winter/spring/summer/autumn 'check' for £100 or so and would immediately book it in. Every time she dropped it off, it was handed over without fuss, she was made a cup of tea/coffee and offered a snack. An hour later the car was handed back and she was on her way.

Now, this sounds fine, until you realise that the checks that were listed were: check & top fluid levels, check tyre pressures & tread, check brake discs & pads. Any fluid that was needed was charged, and any tyres, pads, discs that were 'required' were also charged. So ultimately no more than the 'free' check that Kwik-Fit type places do to get you to spend some more on 'add-ons'. However Skoda were charging for the privilege.

I knew my mother didn't do a lot of mileage, but when I found out it was only 5,000 miles a year, I tried to advise her that a quarterly check at £100 was just a waste of money and that if she wanted peace of mind she should just get the car serviced annually instead of the mileage-based plan she was currently on. It was only then that I found out that she was only taking the car in for these quarterly checks because an after-sales guy at the dealership told her that her warranty may be voided if she didn't keep up the maintenance on it, and inferred that these quarterly checks were part of it. As she'd been told this from the very start, she didn't realise she was being played, and went along with it for over 2 years until I started asking why the car was in the garage every 3 months.

From her initial experience, she was very happy with the dealer and would have given them a glowing report, however she was hoodwinked and the reality was that she was being ripped off. She has a different opinion of them now, but I wonder how many more 'happy' customers are just 'ignorant' customers? (of the general public, not us petrolheads of course).

At the end of the day, we can take on board other people's views on a specific topic, but unless we try it for ourselves we'll never know. However in my experience, the service you receive can change from brilliant to useless to brilliant over the course of the same visit, so it's difficult to give an unbiased view.

I don't think I've ever actually named the dealers I've had specific problems with as most forums have name & shame rules, but they're not difficult to work out.

The new dealer I've found since my last visit to a dealer (for servicing) some years ago has been great so far (3 minor warranty visits, all completed perfectly), and I'd recommend them to anyone. However I've unsuccessfully tried to book my car in for an oil service & air-con refresh, and despite 6 calls and 6 messages taken over the course of this week and I'm yet to receive a call-back to book the car in.

Is this just a blip? Are the team short-staffed due to holidays? Have this new company decided to go the way of so many others? I don't know, but will give them until the end of the day to get back to me before I'm forced to search for yet another dealership.
 
It is all about "who" you know in the dealership. If ever I have an issue with Vines, I call one of my two contacts and they sort it.

I also don't have any issues in telling them exactly what I think to their face which also helps ... 8)
 
Bradders,pity u had a bad experience of your local dealers,as mine have always been pretty good. a couple warranty claims,and a cpl services since 2007,so maybe u just were unlucky?
in saying that,my local dealer asked for my reg no,and took time to give me an exact quote too,so maybe its a hard question for them to answer,lol :rofl:
 
craig3.0 said:
Bradders,pity u had a bad experience of your local dealers,as mine have always been pretty good. a couple warranty claims,and a cpl services since 2007,so maybe u just were unlucky?
in saying that,my local dealer asked for my reg no,and took time to give me an exact quote too,so maybe its a hard question for them to answer,lol :rofl:
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I wouldn't say my experience has been bad as such (none of them have laid a spanner to my car yet!) but I'm surprised at the indifferent level of customer service. I didn't even have a problem being asked for the registration number for a quote but the chassis number?! Come on Lincoln - sheeeesh!
 
Yeah this is pretty shocking Bradders... Mine went in for its last Oil change and an Airbag Warranty issue at Sytner Sheffield. The service was excellent and i haggled on the price a little. Was a little peeved at 'additional extras' though...
Sytner: "Hello Sir, we recommend you'd change the wipers, theyre smearing a litlle"
Me: "Hmm ok, how much would that be to get done?"
Sytner: "Ohh not much, about £14"
Me: "Ohh right, why not then!"

Only to be charged £14 EACH... PLUS VAT.... PLUS FITTING!?! Im also sure they quoted 10mins fitting when i know for a fact that it takes about 15seconds a side. ~£45 for a set of wipers i was dumbstruck!

End of the day though, get some good quotes, haggle them all down and let Sytner price match it. At least then youll get a Coffee, Courtesy Car, Car Wash and a BMW Stamp ;)
 
My car is actually at Trainers in Swansea at the time of writing this, getting it booked in was very easy, the receptionist with the nice voice just took my reg number and quoted me £280 (2.0i se) she explained all the extras.
I dropped the car off today and was told that it needs the brake fluid changing, so I agreed to that and also had it hand washed and cleaned inside for a fee of £4.90....Im picking the car at 4:30 today so will give the full breakdown of costs then.....but I have to say, so far so good from Trainers of Swansea :)
 
Update on the inspection 1 of my 2.0i se at Trainers of Swansea.
Service cost £280
change of break fluid approx £40

I know that they don't really do a great deal for that amount of money but its done now and overall a good experience, they gave me a lift home and picked me up, they washed the car by hand and cleaned the glass and vacuumed the car for £4.90 (bargain)
So...I'm quite pleased :)
 
EdButler said:
Sytner: "Hello Sir, we recommend you'd change the wipers, theyre smearing a litlle"
Me: "Hmm ok, how much would that be to get done?"
Sytner: "Ohh not much, about £14"
Me: "Ohh right, why not then!"
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........and will that be for one or both? And will there be a fitting charge?' NEVER ASSUME! :poke:
 
AlanJ said:
........and will that be for one or both? And will there be a fitting charge?' NEVER ASSUME! :poke:
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Never use the word assume, because it makes an ASS out of U and ME :)
 
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