[redfred18t]

Hey everyone, so I wanted to share my experience with BMW of West Springfield in West Springfield MA with you guys.

A few months ago, I had an issue with my car. The front and rear brake pad wear indicators were set off. My car, having iDrive, would display that my pads needed replacing. Also, my car being under warranty, I brought it to BMW of West Springfield since I could get a loaner to get to work (had to drive to hartford). As part of BMW's warranty, maintenance up to 50k miles is covered under warranty (so pads would fall into this). Even before I scheduled the appointment, I asked the service rep if it would be covered, he checked, and said yes. If it wasn't covered, I would have done it myself, but I can't turn it down if it's free.

Before any work was to be done on the car, I was already in a bad mood. I told them I was working in hartford, and they had no problem with that. But they said they wanted the car back by the end of the day. Well, that's impossible since at that time, I was working til 9-10pm at night. I told them I could have it there by the time they opened the next day, and they were like "ok fine" with lots of attitude. So that right there annoyed me that they were bitching about a loaner vehicle. It got even better when I got a call at 5pm the same day. The rep said "hey fred, wanted to let you know that we are pulling you're car in to look at it in an hour or so." So, you're bitching about your loaner vehicle being back by the end of the day yet you dont even look at my car. I made the appointment a week or two in advance so it's not like it is a walk in. Also, I dropped my car off at the time the dealer opens, 7am i believe.

I then get a call the next day at about 10-11am, and they said the front pads are fine, but the front sensor needs to be replaced, the rear sensor isn't even connected, and that the rear brake pads were good, but needed to be replaced since they were aftermarket pads, and the rear pad sensor wouldnt work with it. Also, none of this is covered under warranty. So it would cost $500+ to do this. I was pretty pissed at this point so I told him to leave the car alone and I will pick it up next day.

Anyways, I pay a stupid $120 diagnostic fee and return the loaner. I am surprised they didnt give me shit for the loaner since I put on like 400 miles on it. I put about 100 miles a day combined with my commute and classes, and the day before I dropped it off, I drove to albany (100 miles each way) to buy my miata lol.

Now, fast forward to two weeks ago. Since the pads were good, I put this off until I had some spare time. I finally ordered new brake pad sensors for a total of $45. There is only one sensor for the front and one for the rear. I started with the rear sensor. It was disconnected like they said, but they said the pads on the car wouldnt work with the sensor (it is grooved to fit the sensor). Well, I looked inside the caliper, and there it was, the pad was grooved to fit the sensor. Since I already had the new sensor, I just replaced it and then connected it to the pad. I threw the wheel back on and started the car. I reset the sensor for the rear pads, and doing so it reset the front pad sensor as well. I think that there was a glitch in the software that caused it to show the pads were worn out since there was a lot of pad left. I should have reset it from the beginning myself but it didnt even cross my mind. Anyways, I've been driving around for about two weeks, put like 400 miles on it, with no problems yet. As to why the sensor was disconnected, I have no idea. Maybe the previous owner had someone do the brakes and they were too lazy to connect the new sensor.. i dunno.


Basically, BMW of West Springfield wanted $500 to do something that cost me $45 (and I didnt even touch the front sensor, so really like $25) and 20 minutes of my time to do. I spent more time trying to figure out how to reset the software than anything. Not to mention all the shit they gave me for their precious loaner when they ended up not even doing anything that day.

Also I have another parts/service experience from them. I bought an oil filter from them (since I didnt want to wait a week to get it shipped) and they gave me the wrong one. It was for like a v8 out of a 7 series. They swapped it out without any issue, but if you work in parts every day, how do you mistake a filter that different (the filter was significantly bigger and had different part numbers than what was on the invoice). The guy did give me a quart of oil for my frustrations though, lol.

Finally, last experience was way back before I bought my BMW. I was with a friend and we were looking at 3 series. Probably walking around parking lot for a solid half hour. Went inside and no sales people ever approached us. A month or two later, I went there again myself since I was looking at getting a 335i sedan (which I do own now). They had one I wanted to check out. I hung around the place for 45 minutes without any sales person saying a word to me. There was a kid maybe a year or two younger than me also looking at 3 series, and he had his mom with him (they rolled in with an Audi Q7, I still had my slammed mk4 jetta) so she could definitely write the checks. No sales person approached them either. I mean, in a recession you think you would be hurting for sales? I guess they dont feel like making money. Anyways I headed down to New Country BMW in Hartford right after this, out of frustration, and had a great experience. I ended up not buying the car there (it was a 335xi and a grayish color, not really feeling it) but if I was going to get a new car, I would definitely go there right away. I bought my 335i from another dealer about a month or two later (white, 6 spd, sedan, everything I wanted + idrive).

Also, my friend who I was with that first time saw that BMW of West Springfield had an S2000 for sale. It was low mileage and a good price so he checked it out and ended up buying it (I just got the 335i otherwise I would have checked it out). Only flaw with the car was a dent which they agreed to have pulled out. It took them over a week to do it (you could bring it to a paintless dent remover, an hour TOPS). Also, when it was finally done, he was going to go pick it up and they messed up his registration. I dont remember the specifics of what happened, but my friend has claimed it was his worst car buying experience ever.

cliffnotes: BMW of West Springfield will try to cheat you out of your money, dont care about customers, and are clearly incompetent at what they do.