Main dealership confidence (NOT!!)

Richard Howard

Richard Howard

Zorg Guru (I)
Joined
Dec 31, 2016
Points
94
Location
Wymondham, Norfolk
Model of Z
Z4 3.0L SE Roadster (E85)
A very good friend of ours (who sadly lost her husband recently) brought her year old X1 round to me late yesterday to have a look at as her car was advising her of low tyre pressure in the front left tyre. Sure enough there was a nail in an awkward position on the inside edge just on the curvature of the sidewall. The tyres are Bridgestone Run Flats. As time was getting on a few calls were made to tyre centres in and around our area, none stocked this particular tyre - so the next call was to the main BMW dealership in our area, who supplied the car from new - C**p**s BMW, Norwich, eventually got though to one of their 'customer service advisors' in the service dept and told him the story and asked whether they had a Bridgestone T001 RFL 225/50 R18 95W in stock. Yes, was the answer, we do but only a rear not a front (!!!!????) - Errrr What???. So I asked, if there's the same tyre of the exact same size with the same speed rating fitted on the rear, what's the difference? I don't know sir, but we've only got rears, I can order a front one for you though!!!! What utter b*****ks!!!

THAT'S UNLESS SOMEONE CAN TELL ME OTHERWISE!!

In the end, and very late afternoon, I phoned my indi man who got back to us a few minutes later & said that one of his tyre suppliers has got what we want, it'll be with him in the morning & he'll fit it right away once he's got it!
 
I know exactly where you are coming from. If you actually get to speak to the service department rather than a call centre, my general experience is that they don't really have a clue about their products and try and fob you off with generic answers.
 
You'll probably find that it's a case of "computer says no". No excuse, really, but there's a lot of people around doing jobs that are more about having the ability to wear a suit than any amount of knowledge, experience, or intelligence. Hence our government.:bag:
 
Generally No such thing as a front and rear tyre ( apart from some highly specialised vehicles)
Granted you get staggered set up where rear tyre is wider but that doesn't make it a rear only only a rear for that vehicle some rims are rear only usually due to width or offset but even then the tyre that goes on it is not specifically a rear only tyre ) reckon dealer guy didn't have a clue what talking about.
Stephen .
 
Biggest worry is most people at the other end of the phone would know a piston from a washer pump and can only go on what the screen says, assuming they're smart enough to read in the first place.

Tony.
 
From my own experience and that of others I have heard from I wouldn't take my BMW to the main dealer in Derby to have the ash trays emptied.
Worst experience with a garage in my long motoring life.
Find a good , recommended independent where the person doing the work needs to maintain customer satisfaction.
 
Years ago I had an E36 325i as a company car. One very cold morning when the car was about 3 months old it wouldn't start. Just whirred over, wouldn't fire. I phoned the BMW rescue number and very efficiently they dispatched a recovery vehicle that arrived in about 15 minutes. The recovery guy jumped in, tried to start it - same problem.
He loaded the car onto his truck and took it and me to the local BMW dealer, where he told me to report to reception whilst he unloaded the car. The service adviser took all the details and asked me to sit down. All very good so far.

About 10 minutes later, he returned and with a withering look said that the service manager had started it straight away, driven it in to the workshop and that there was nothing wrong with it. I replied that the service manager wasn't outside my house at 7.00 o'clock when it wouldn't start or when the recovery driver tried it at 7.20. The service adviser said "well, you must have over fuelled it sir". I went ballistic at him....

Now you may think that the customer is a d*ck, but if you want to keep his business, don't insult his intelligence. I've never set foot in that dealership since.....
 
Last edited:
Having had company cars of various makes for over 25yrs and changing them every 2 to 4 yrs I have had to deal with main dealers for all servicing and repairs and with the exception of my local VW dealer they have all be bloody awful, the very worst being Mazda. As I currently have another VW so I am happy enough at the moment, but in my experience they are mostly shocking.
 
I have noticed that dealerships usually do good prices on OEM tyres, not all, I’m sure. Always worth asking. Unfortunately very few of the people who now work in garages are what I would call mechanics, yes they know what’s wrong and what to change if the computer tells them but they do not know enough to look at that part and tell if it can easily be repaired. People like Lee and tony are becoming quite rare in the auto industry.

Mike
 
Investigating mechanics are a thing of the past. :(
 
Robert Wiles said:
About 10 minutes later, he returned and with a withering look said that the service manager had started it straight away, driven it in to the workshop and that there was nothing wrong with it. I replied that the service manager wasn't outside my house at 7.00 o'clock when it wouldn't start or when the recovery driver tried it at 7.20. The service adviser said "well, you must have over fuelled it sir". I went ballistic at him......
Click to expand...

So what did they do to fix it?
Or did it not go wrong again,


(because you had overfuelled it......:whistle:) ;)
 
gookah said:
So what did they do to fix it?
Or did it not go wrong again,


(because you had overfuelled it......:whistle:) ;)
Click to expand...

They didn't. I took it to another BMW dealer near work, told them the problem and they happily took the car in, checked it over and changed one of the sensors. It's over 25 years ago now so I can't remember if it was crankshaft or camshaft. The car was great after that.

Because of their good service, I used them all the time I had the car. They were a pleasure to deal with and didn't give up on a recurring air-con problem that the car developed just before the warranty expired. Stephen James in Enfield. No idea what they're like now though.
 
Worst 3 years of my ownership of my Zed, the warranty period where by I had to take it back to them !
I that time I had a door trim panel damaged, wheel arch/wheel scratched and the car tracked incorrectly on BMW’s fancy piece of kit (only adjusted one end of the rack!!!) glade when it was over and never been back since.
 
Call centres work only from what's on their screens. They don't get any real world training. They were probably working on a different account (selling chocolates or insurance the previous week). They daren't stray away from their script and make a judgement or the wrath of satan (called a supervisor, often equally untrained) lands on them for not meeting their call targets. They more often than not don't have a second line support, so if the computer says no, that's the end of the line. Customer service has been delivered because they answered the phone. That's all that counts.

Technicians work entirely from a diagnosis chart/script. They frequently have no comprehension of what's going on from a technical perspective. They most certainly are not engineers. The often don't have the ability to comprehend what they see and form a qualified judgement. They are also driven to ramp up the workshop hours and reduce the warehouse stock.

Specialist Indies are a much better bet. They more often have much better detailed and wide-ranging knowledge of many aspects of motoring technology. They have to understand not just what, but also why. They won't have the stock to simply lift from - they will have to order in the right or equivalent parts. Good Indies are hard to find though.

Knowledge is power. The race to de-skill everything by stream-lining processes allows cheaper skills to be employed, but, companies fail to see that excellent customer service comes from knowledge, not from cheap automated scripts operated by someone hundreds of miles away from either the customer or the service provider. It works in some industries, but not cars. While 95% or more customers nowadays don't know anything about their cars, they can get away with it.

The best thing with stealers is to not only know the question but also the answer. In the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king!
 
If you think that stealers service ‘ technicians ‘ are bad, you want to try talking to the people in their technical department. They won’t actually answer anything of a technical nature, as I have found out on 3 separate occasions.
In case it makes them liable for anything.

A ‘technician’ is the guy that has computer and telephone skills to be able to contact a mechanic to fix the problem. =))=))
 
Redline said:
Specialist Indies are a much better bet. They more often have much better detailed and wide-ranging knowledge of many aspects of motoring technology. They have to understand not just what, but also why. They won't have the stock to simply lift from - they will have to order in the right or equivalent parts. Good Indies are hard to find though.
Click to expand...
That's very true, I've used the same Indy (BMW time mechanic/workshop foreman from way back) for the last 25year since he set up on his own. No frills, no loan car just great service. I know of at least 4 x Z3 MCs and at least 2 other M cars that use my Indy plus quite a number of other BMW owners.
 
Redline said:
Call centres work only from what's on their screens. They don't get any real world training. They were probably working on a different account (selling chocolates or insurance the previous week). They daren't stray away from their script and make a judgement or the wrath of satan (called a supervisor, often equally untrained) lands on them for not meeting their call targets. They more often than not don't have a second line support, so if the computer says no, that's the end of the line. Customer service has been delivered because they answered the phone. That's all that counts.

Technicians work entirely from a diagnosis chart/script. They frequently have no comprehension of what's going on from a technical perspective. They most certainly are not engineers. The often don't have the ability to comprehend what they see and form a qualified judgement. They are also driven to ramp up the workshop hours and reduce the warehouse stock.

Specialist Indies are a much better bet. They more often have much better detailed and wide-ranging knowledge of many aspects of motoring technology. They have to understand not just what, but also why. They won't have the stock to simply lift from - they will have to order in the right or equivalent parts. Good Indies are hard to find though.

Knowledge is power. The race to de-skill everything by stream-lining processes allows cheaper skills to be employed, but, companies fail to see that excellent customer service comes from knowledge, not from cheap automated scripts operated by someone hundreds of miles away from either the customer or the service provider. It works in some industries, but not cars. While 95% or more customers nowadays don't know anything about their cars, they can get away with it.

The best thing with stealers is to not only know the question but also the answer. In the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king!
Click to expand...

There was such a place in Lincoln up until a few years ago when the owner passed away. His wife and son were in the business too but sadly the most valuable asset of the company, Dave's knowledge and experience mostly was lost with him. Not only did he have the knowledge he also had the physical experience of doing the work. You cannot, despite the best intentions, pass this on.

Tony.
 
Welcome to BMW ( Insert location here)!

a9bed2132bb3a25119faab742d2cc124.webp
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top