[mogli882]

Originally Posted by Trigger2007

lol, I love turning up in Jeans and T Shirt for dealers! Its always interesting to see there response.

Did this at an Audi dealer, and the guy gave me all the reasons not to buy a TT. Which as a Sales Director was great, I asked him if he didn't want me to buy one, and he really couldnt answer me! Out of courtesy gave the manager a call to let him know his sales people were total unprofessional. Of which he didnt seem surprised.

I got the same in my local Audi dealer, some total idiot...he just couldnt be bothered. I remember him saying that he wanted me to drive every other car before driving a TT...I was like do you actually want to sell me a car? it was alot of effort for him just to get some keys out for one they had in stock...I requested a test drive, they never did get back to me.

[Jules6]

Ocean in Plymouth has been excellent so far with a real honest treatment.
I've tried Westerly in Exeter for years as they are the most convenient location but they have a real attitude problem and are very expensive. Took the proverbial when looking at buying my last car so I went to Ocean in Plymouth where the salesman was clearly a petrol head and loved cars. I had previously shopped around but Ocean not only gave me the best deal without any bull getting there but they were also the only dealer where they treated you well. They had come recommended by a colleague and I was pleasantly surprised.
I have and will continue to travel that bit further to use them even if it was same price because it costs nothing to be pleasant and helpful.

[RagingKileak]

Sandal Wakefield - Completely Average.

Better than Nissan, Fiat, Vauxhall.
Worse than Lexus, Honda, Subaru

Not what I had hoped.

Matt

[PhilR]

Preston Hall Teesside - $hite!

Always have issues with these guys but it's a 30 min drive to next nearest BM dealer.

I get the impression they just want your cash and don't hide the fact like a reasonable dealer would.

I have just booked a "waiting oil change service slot" next week with a 1.5 hr slot.

I can forsee now that I will be there 2 to 3 hours.

Asked if I could supply my own oil and they said NO the service manager doesn't allow it.


Quoted me £17.49 per litre for their oil. I guess I can an get it from Halfords for circa £12 per litre.

For the record I will personally be depositing 9 litres of oil supplied by me into the service managers capable / incapable (delete as applicable) hands for my service.

[CraigUK]

Phil, I live in the North East. I've never tried Preston Hall but I have tried most of the other North East Dealers.

So far the best by a long way has to be Cooper BMW at Bolden near Sunderland. Quite competitive for price and their service is spot on. Elvet at Durham are OK but overpriced IMO. Fawdingtons in Newcastle also OK but nothing to write home about.

[Budgie]

The ELMS group local to me will price match any quote locally within i think 50 miles, think you gotta show them a written quote or close to something like that.

I did ask for the ED 320d CDV software update but was told its not out now till june...pissing me off now,even if its minor although i did log a complaint to say if my clutch goes ill blame them totally.

[Nevtiger]

I have had a pleasent experience so far purchasing my 318d MSport from Wood in Salisbury.

They wanted to do a deal and to be honest pretty much delivered on what i wanted in terms of money. They were more than happy to match an internet quote and were able to deliver more quickly. It was a good experience.

I have yet to have the car serviced - only done 1100 miles so far - at Wood so will see what happens then. BUT my wife bought a new Cooper from Wood in 2001ish and every visit to have any thing done was a big chore. They were rubbish. At that time both Mini and BMW were together in the same showroom, workshops etc, and even trying to get some ones attention if they knew you were a MINI customer was difficult. They managed to fit the wrong colour parts back on during a service too! From a different car.........

So it will be with some reservations i take my 318d into them for its first service.

[oscarguitar]

I've alway found Wood in Salisbury very helpful and pleasant to deal with. I have to pass their Bournemouth Dealership to get to Salisbury which is 30 miles away. for buying cars I'm prepared to make the trip as the Wood Bournemouth Sales team have always made me feel like I came in on the bottom of someone's shoe! I have bought something in the region of 8 BMWs now so I must be a reasonable target, but apart from a golden moment about 5 years ago they treat me like dirt. (In the past I have had 2 convertible 3 series, a 530d touring and an early X3 (only had that for 2 months, what a pile of......)from them, and I still didn't get any invites to the launches or fancy days out)

I currently have the 335d, an X5 and have bought a mini for each of my sons.
335d from Berry Chiswick, X5 from Westerly Yeovil, Mini from Scothall Leeds! and the second one from Wood Salisbury. Their loss.

The service department is good however and the guys on service reception and in the workshop are 1st rate, but it does help that I get a lot of knowledge from this site and don't take kindly to being given any BS, which they now know.

Good to hear what others think.

[Mr_Patience]

I did business with Preston Hall in the last week, they facilitated an extended test drive and we did the deal on my 335i all within 2 days. I can only comment on my overall experience and it was second to none and leagues ahead of my experiences at local Audi and Mercedes dealerships.

[Hund]

Yup, totally agree I am on my first BMW, and took it into a well known dealer near Warwick,.. took them ages to figure out what was wrong with my SMG gearbox (as they hadn't seen one before!) and charged me for the priviledge. I took the car for new tyres at my local Ford garage (have specialist car experience - and are far cheaper for tyres than direct) and they noticed that the gearbox oil is leaking,... so thanks for the £800 bill for not actually curing the problem BMW!
Equally when I lived down South my parents went to buy a 5 series and an M3 and as they walked to the showroom in casual 'out for a walk' clothes they got treated like plebs. Have relatives in Germany - this is not the way the Germans run their dealers. Needless to say they lost both sales and parents went direct to Germany and saved a fortune,... doesn't help the service issues either!! Frankly I am gonna look for a local specialist rather than giving these pumped-up muppets my car again.

Had a Porsche beforehand and found the official and specialist dealers much more pleasant, explanatory and cost effective,..

[vivekk]

Originally Posted by PhilR

Preston Hall Teesside - $hite!..

I've found that to be the case as well, Phil.

Originally Posted by CraigUK

Phil, I live in the North East. I've never tried Preston Hall but I have tried most of the other North East Dealers.

So far the best by a long way has to be Cooper BMW at Bolden near Sunderland. Quite competitive for price and their service is spot on. Elvet at Durham are OK but overpriced IMO. Fawdingtons in Newcastle also OK but nothing to write home about.

I completely agree with you Craig.

I've found Cooper Boldon to provide the best customer service- far better than that provided by those 'individuals' at Preston Hall.

Originally Posted by Mr_Patience

I did business with Preston Hall in the last week, they facilitated an extended test drive and we did the deal on my 335i all within 2 days. I can only comment on my overall experience and it was second to none and leagues ahead of my experiences at local Audi and Mercedes dealerships.

I think you must have had some REALLY BAD experiences of Audi & Mercedes dealerships, to say that about Preston Hall?!
Perhaps you'll see their true colours when you're in need of good post-purchase customer service.

Viv

[Mr_Patience]

Originally Posted by vivekk

I've found that to be the case as well, Phil.

I completely agree with you Craig.

I've found Cooper Boldon to provide the best customer service- far better than that provided by those 'individuals' at Preston Hall.

I think you must have had some REALLY BAD experiences of Audi & Mercedes dealerships, to say that about Preston Hall?!
Perhaps you'll see their true colours when you're in need of good post-purchase customer service.

Viv

Hi Viv, like I said I can only report on them as I found them and they were very customer focussed, not sure how their servicing and after sales is but I am sure I will find out eventually... David

[vivekk]

Originally Posted by Mr_Patience

Hi Viv, like I said I can only report on them as I found them and they were very customer focussed, not sure how their servicing and after sales is but I am sure I will find out eventually... David

Good luck with them David.

You wouldn't have been heading towards the A66 from Yarm over the last 2 weeks, would you BTW- I thought I saw a car that looked like yours?

Viv

[Mr_Patience]

Originally Posted by vivekk

Good luck with them David. You wouldn't have been heading towards the A66 from Yarm over the last 2 weeks, would you BTW- I thought I saw a car that looked like yours?

Viv

Castle York are my default 2nd option as were York Audi when I had my RS6.....

Yes indeed that could have been me you saw, I picked the car up around 10 days ago....

[_Si_]

Just purchased from Sytner in Oldbury. Very pleased with them. Car was delivered with a small scratch on rear bumper and small scratches across instrument cluster. They took the car back, loaned me a nice coupe and within 2 days it was returned to me with new bumper and new cluster

[Darren Edwards @ Sytner]

annoying it was presented with a couple of defects but good to hear it was sorted promptly

[Speedbird-E92]

Sytner Harold Wood, very disappointed. We had a one series which had a list of malfunctions, they did attempt to resolve them but failed and when i asked for our money back or an exchange, they refused. The representative from the used car sales department was the most patronizing man we have ever had the misfortune of speaking to. He even told us that if we wanted perfection we should have purchased a brand new car Obviously we cant all afford new cars.

After we pushed further they said all they could do is give us a favourable trade in price or keep the stuttering one series and they would give us some compensation. The car was that awful that we had no option but to trade it in and as a result we lost all our deposit that we had put down on the one series just 7 months earlier.

We are pleased with our 3 series but it had to go back for some warranty work . When i collected it, the footwell was badly soiled and it had a scratch on the door and bonnet. Now i cant prove that the scratches were done by them,but i washed it before it went in and i am pretty sure they were not there. It seems to be one thing after another, so i am dreading taking it back for its service.

The receptionists are superb, very helpful and even made me a cup of tea whilst i was waiting for our warranty repair. 90 minutes was the estimated repiar time and it was almost spot on so thumbs up there.

All in all our experience of Sytner Harold Wood over the last year has not been a very pleasant one.

[Neil McRae]

Recently I've dealt with Syter in Coventry and I have bought a few cars from Sytner High Wycombe. Both dealers are very good, High Wycombe are outstanding, wife bought a nearly new Z4 coupe from them there was a problem with the brakes, they sorted it and replaced all the discs and pads. Delivered the car to our house with flowers for the wife. Had a 335i E93 on loan during the work!

[Trevikins]

Originally Posted by CraigUK

Phil, I live in the North East. I've never tried Preston Hall but I have tried most of the other North East Dealers.

So far the best by a long way has to be Cooper BMW at Bolden near Sunderland. Quite competitive for price and their service is spot on. Elvet at Durham are OK but overpriced IMO. Fawdingtons in Newcastle also OK but nothing to write home about.

Visited Cooper BMW at Bolden and sales were very helpful until they agreed to sell me a car that had already been sold (blamed it on the guy who was on his day off).

Bought my current car at Fawdingtons but fell out with them after they left the car filthy after a service. The brand manager there is a right pompus plonker who treats customers like something he's found on his shoe.

Called into Stratstone Wallsend one day as the tyre pressure monitor was playing up; received 5 star service and have gone back to them ever since.

Cheers

Trev

[markymark34]

All reviews from Northern Ireland

JKC - said they would phone me and didnt, sold the 535d that i wanted to test drive but did appologise.
Bavarian - Bend over backwards to help you, I test drove 3 cars in a row. Also got a great cup of tea and a bun.
Prentice - Salesman called Derek is easy to get on with - no bulls**t, just tells you what the bottom line is. Ended up buying from here after driving 2 cars. Always returns calls.

Mark.

[Geoffo]

I'm not used to using UK dealers, but was recently in Stephen James BMW dealership in Bromley Kent.

Wasn't to sure what to expect as I've never used them before, but found them to be very good. They told me how long the work would take & were on time giving the car back.Could drink as much Tea & Coffee as i liked while waiting & the cost was cheaper than I'd expected.

All in all a positive experience

[AlpineWhite]

Im from the West mids and me and the wife have been looking for a 330d Msport cab for her. unfortunatly a couple of local BMW dealerships are awful as bad experiances have occured at sytner solihull, benham Wolverhampton, and central Birmingham. That said sytner Oldbury were very helpful and did pretty much everything they could to do a deal with us. We have ended up though ordering the car from cotswold BMW in Cheltenham as they offered me a deal i couldnt refuse. Both of these dealerships gave me a first class service in buying a new car and have looked after her little Mini Cooper S in the past without no problems.