[E92Fan]

Originally Posted by Zk1

Wow... I was stunned.

They charge £180 per hour and then on top of that I had to wait 40 mins to see a SA, I bought my car in for rattles, which they said they couldnt find.
Even though they are apparent at 30mph. My lighter doesnt work properly and i wanted my door aligned and bonnet done.

The bloke ended up telling me that they couldnt replicate any of the things i mentioned and to top it off, they always leave grease marks on my leather and dash and door leather etc. They did fix the error i had for brake lights though.

Absolutely disgusting, they were actually trying to fob me off with bull shit.
The bloke did try and say he wants to book me in for a more thorough investigation , ... I'm looking to try battersea BMW or Somewhere else closer to twickenham - any reccomendations guys.

Sorry to hear of your woes - however Berry BMW have one of the worst reputations of all the dealers in and around London. Best get your car off to BMW Battersea (Stuarts Road, not Nine Elms)

[lemans 330d]

keep away from stratstone Doncaster.
they advertised a 330d m sport on the net with privacy glass, mudflaps etc and i drove 45 miles to view it after the salesman had confirmed it was fully specced up to find it wasn`t.
they offered to do the privacy glass but i refused as it would be a film on the glass not dyed as factory which is an expensive option.
he then came up with a silly p/x offer and said the photo on the website was the wrong car.
total bunch of wan***s that cant even arrange the right photo to advert so i would not have trusted them any further.

[NPinUK]

I'm from Notts and use Sytner Nottingham for service. All I can say is be careful with them. There ok but they will take you for advantage if you don't know your stuff. They will tell you they done stuff when they aint e.g software updates. I was going to buy my car from them but they didn't have a demo so they said they would get in touch. Never did. Ended up buying from Sytner Leicester and every thing went well with them. Ironic as they are both the same company. Just depends on the day I suppose.

[Speedtrap]

Originally Posted by NPinUK

I'm from Notts and use Sytner Nottingham for service. All I can say is be careful with them. There ok but they will take you for advantage if you don't know your stuff. They will tell you they done stuff when they aint e.g software updates. I was going to buy my car from them but they didn't have a demo so they said they would get in touch. Never did. Ended up buying from Sytner Leicester and every thing went well with them. Ironic as they are both the same company. Just depends on the day I suppose.

BMW dealers are the most arrogant bast**^& in the world - not much difference anywhere. You really have to establish a relationship with one of the guys/gals before anything gets better.

[zltm089]

Great Posts guys! Very helpful! You guys should always complain to BMW customer service and make sure that "head office" hears about the laziness and incompetence/ arrogance of their employees/ franchise etc...especially during the current economic climate, they NEED OUR BUSINESS! I hate those arrogant salesmen who act like you need them! when its the other way round! Spoke to a sales guy a few weeks ago, from BMW (Canary Wharf, I believe they call themselves Sytner something...anyway...) When I said that with the current economic condition, its not surprising to strike a deal and get like £3-4k off list price, he tried his stupid basic sales technique on me!!! (I'm an ex sales manager!!!) Sometimes, they just act like they're are selling mobile phones!!! Unbelievable!!!

[BC4J]

Not sure about BMW Battersea. Had my car serviced (1st - £207) there last week, and more particularly wanted two issues dealt with. One was a vibration (or 'tingling' as Mr Clarkson would say) coming through the footwell and which I felt was driveline related, the other an interminable rattle from the centre dash that my local dealer failed utterly to sort. To their credit, Battersea did keep the car a couple of days to try to get to the root of the first problem. In the end they decided it was caused by the front types (PS2) having 'unusual' tread wear, ergo change them. As they have 6mm of tread left this does not appeal to me, especially not at £297 a pop! As the vibration occurs at lower revs, when accelerating modestly, I remain unconvinced of their prognosis. You can feel it at idle also, which is a time when the tyres are remarkably inactive! As for the second issue, the dash rattle returned with a vengeance less than 24 hours later. Draw your own conclusions.

Based on what many others have written here, it seems the dealer network as a whole is pretty piss poor. Not just BMW, but generally. My experience with Merc & Honda is not dissimilar. With car sales down the pan I expect things won't get better, as the service depts will be under extreme pressure to increase their financial contribution to the dealership. Good luck.

[Geoffo]

It's incredible to hear how many BMW dealers treat their clients/new clients with such disregard.

[dxb335d]

Originally Posted by BC4J

Not sure about BMW Battersea. Had my car serviced (1st - £207) there last week, and more particularly wanted two issues dealt with. One was a vibration (or 'tingling' as Mr Clarkson would say) coming through the footwell and which I felt was driveline related, the other an interminable rattle from the centre dash that my local dealer failed utterly to sort. To their credit, Battersea did keep the car a couple of days to try to get to the root of the first problem. In the end they decided it was caused by the front types (PS2) having 'unusual' tread wear, ergo change them. As they have 6mm of tread left this does not appeal to me, especially not at £297 a pop! As the vibration occurs at lower revs, when accelerating modestly, I remain unconvinced of their prognosis. You can feel it at idle also, which is a time when the tyres are remarkably inactive! As for the second issue, the dash rattle returned with a vengeance less than 24 hours later. Draw your own conclusions.

Based on what many others have written here, it seems the dealer network as a whole is pretty piss poor. Not just BMW, but generally. My experience with Merc & Honda is not dissimilar. With car sales down the pan I expect things won't get better, as the service depts will be under extreme pressure to increase their financial contribution to the dealership. Good luck.

How many miles on your car now mate?

I have same thing, had it ages. AT low revs pulling out of my driveway usually.

I think its the car just getting on abit in all honestly.

I found BMW battersea really good.

[BC4J]

Originally Posted by dxb335d

How many miles on your car now mate?

I have same thing, had it ages. AT low revs pulling out of my driveway usually.

I think its the car just getting on abit in all honestly.

I found BMW battersea really good.

Hi Carlos:

Only 19K on her now, in 18 months since new. The vibration started around the 10K mark, so can't blame age really. I've had a denzil before - Merc E300TD - and never experienced it. What do you think of their 'unusual tyre wear' theory causing it? To be fair, they said they changed all four of the wheels with that of another car and the vibration disappeared. As I said in my post, I don't want to pay for new tyres at the front when there's so much tread left. Kind of stuck really...

[dxb335d]

Originally Posted by BC4J

Hi Carlos:

Only 19K on her now, in 18 months since new. The vibration started around the 10K mark, so can't blame age really. I've had a denzil before - Merc E300TD - and never experienced it. What do you think of their 'unusual tyre wear' theory causing it? To be fair, they said they changed all four of the wheels with that of another car and the vibration disappeared. As I said in my post, I don't want to pay for new tyres at the front when there's so much tread left. Kind of stuck really...

I have some non runflat 19" front tyres. If you can get set 19" rims just to try see if they dont vibrate anymore you can try them. Obviously pay for fitting and removing.

[d2_unit]

hi Guys

Im new here, never owned a bimmer, so could do with some advice.

I am about to place my order for a 320D Msport with usual extras...leather, black paint, bluetooth, heated seats and sun protection glass.

I have phoned 4 dealers and visited one in oxford....it seems that they are offering large discounts...upto 3k, but recover the money by inflating the APR....15.5%!!!!!

There websites were showing offers on bigger engined cars at 9.9%. im in a battle to get a good deal but not having much luck with the dealers. its heavy discount, or high APR....

They also have a new offer, free upgrade to msport from SE - effective 1st Jan. i was happy when i saw this however, the list price of the 320d coupe has gone up from 30,535 (29th Dec) to now 31k. The offer may look attractive but they are inflating there prices for margin recovery......

From your experiance, who is the easiest dealer for me to strike a deal with???

[Z4 Beemer]

I spotted on the BMW UK website earlier today the free upgrade from SE to M Sport trim on 3 series coupe and convertible:

http://www.bmw.co.uk/offers

Is the APR figure for a PCP deal or HP ?

If you are in contact with 4 dealers it would be worth trying to play them off against each other, in order to get the best deal possible. Good luck and welcome to the forum!

[d2_unit]

Im am going for the PCP...4 years. This dude from Cheltenham BMW rang me earlier, same spec car on an 08 plate, 7500 miles, £28.5k, 5k deposit and £435 a month (12.2%APR).......

my brother financed 28k on a TT for £440...
23.5k at £435 seems way to high to me :-(

[BC4J]

Originally Posted by d2_unit

Im am going for the PCP...4 years. This dude from Cheltenham BMW rang me earlier, same spec car on an 08 plate, 7500 miles, £28.5k, 5k deposit and £435 a month (12.2%APR).......

my brother financed 28k on a TT for £440...
23.5k at £435 seems way to high to me :-(

D2 - put your query on the main UK forum to get more responses.

[zltm089]

Hexagon of Highgate

82 - 92 Great North Road

London N2 0NL

Spoke to a very arrogant "Sales Advisor" who at the end the the conversation, said to me "so ,why did you call?" what kind of question is that!!!...considering, that it was the dealership receptionist who called me in the first place!!! and he got annoyed when I asked him how many previous owners did the car have!!! ...don't think its the right attitude to have in the current economic climate, let alone for a bmw representative!

[Joyrida]

Originally Posted by zltm089

Hexagon of Highgate

82 - 92 Great North Road

London N2 0NL

Spoke to a very arrogant "Sales Advisor" who at the end the the conversation, said to me "so ,why did you call?" what kind of question is that!!!...considering, that it was the dealership receptionist who called me in the first place!!! and he got annoyed when I asked him how many previous owners did the car have!!! ...don't think its the right attitude to have in the current economic climate, let alone for a bmw representative!

I live like 2 minutes away from them and yes, they suck. Took my e46 touring in for an insured crash repair to the front of the car, picked it up after a week, on the way home had loads of warning lights on the dash. Took it back immediatley and they found it was a faulty radiator mount ... and blamed it on my driving home from the garage.. Not impressed and raised hell with them. ( never got the money back from insurers or BMW da bastids )

BMW in Harrow ... I dont wanna curse myself but Ive had good experiences with them SO FAR.
Took my 335i there last week for squealing brakes at low speeds and cos I had to push hard on the brakes sometimes prior to start up before the car recognises Im pushing the pedal.
Anyway sales rep and mechanic that went for a spin with me advised to wait till the noise is more prominent ( as the squealing didnt present itself at the time ) as they would charge 160 squid an hour if no fault was found. They did suggest it maybe the sensor, but to come back on an occasion when both problems are more prominent.

[dxb335d]

How the hell can they charge for fault finding, thats disgusting.

[Budgie]

They try anything on now i guess mate,always a few gulable peeps out there.

[Joyrida]

Im now booked in with the Watford branch. Will let ya know how that goes.

[swanseahammer]

Anyone got any experience of either Trainers in Swansea or Synters (sp?) in Cardiff?

Thanks.

[AlanQS]

I've posted before about the small - individually, annoyances experienced at the hands of Douglas Park in Glasgow but I think it only fair now to post about some positive experiences.

They installed my Alpine Hi fi upgrade for the official BMW figure of 2.5 hours. I left the car in with the intention of killing the time in town as I had no transport. When I returned, I discovered that, as it was their first time fitting it, they were taking their time and it was going to be a more like 4 hours plus before they finished. Rather than have me hang around for more hours they drove me home and then delivered my car to me when they had finished - and all at the original price quotation.

I had some black score marks on the bolster of my seat which appeared to be getting worse and possibly creating wear on the leather.

They have a BMW guy who visits them on a regular basis and takes care of all upholstery problems so yesterday they phoned me to say he would be in today and could I come in to show him the marks. He came over to me along with the GM which was a surprise, examined the marks with a magnifying glass to confirm that the marks were on the surface and there was no abnormal wear. Whilst I explained that monthly applications of Gliptone cleaner hadn't shifted it I was thinking that I'd have to wait until I got the car detailed and pay for the marks to be removed when the GM suggested he show it to their valeters who might have something more suitable.

He came back 10 minutes later with the marks removed!

No hassles of any sort and no marks

[jpfizz]

I've used Specialist Cars in Stevenage to service my cars since 2000. I've never bought from them 'cause I find their prices a little on the steep side, but I cannot fault their servicing department. Friendly and obliging (...what you should expect, but don't always get, when paying the sort of money the dealers charge!)

I've had a couple of warranty bits and pieces done over the last few years and never any trouble with those either. Just don't get them to replace your run-flats (boo hoo!) unless of course you want to pay near £900.00 for a set of 18s!!