[halohead52]

Ordered an X3 January 28th, delivered to dealer February 21st. Someone at the dealership scraped a post with the front fender 2 hours before my scheduled pickup on the 23rd. Not a bad injury but the factory paint job is forever compromised. Instead of stepping up to the plate and telling me they would do what it took to make it good, I had to go in on the 26th and make a new deal, complete with haggling, fake cheer, and their good cop/bad cop routine. "Can't go below XXX! Corporate won't let us do YYY! I'm so upset at that guy putting me [him!? what about the customer?!] in this position." They even had the gall to say, "You're lucky we told you about it at all." They finally gave it to me for invoice, and no doubt made money on the deal with the back door discounts. Then they turned me over to the finance manager who was beyond unprofessional: rude, bullying, and condescending. I paid cash for the car, fer crissakes! How much trouble could I cause him?!? By the time I was done I felt like I'd had an un-anesthetized root canal.

It's a beautiful vehicle, I got it in record time, drives so good it's sinful, the mojave leather is a dream with the titanium silver, and my skeptical husband is completely won over--"I'm gonna like driving this!"--yet all I can feel is wrung out.

How the dealership conducts itself is so crucial, and can make or break the experience. I'm going to love my X3 because at some point it will cease to remind me of the severe absence of "joy" involved in buying it. But those of you who have excellent, professional dealerships near you should rejoice and give them all a hug from me the next time you go in.

[mccun934]

wow, horrible experience. the quote: "You're lucky we told you about it at all." is the worst. I imagine you will never buy a car there again and recommend to friends/family not to either.

[sfax]

My dealer doesn't seem quite so bad in this light. Wow. I would write a written complaint about this "we're lucky we told you" comment. I would be livid if someone said that to me

[xDrive35i]

Originally Posted by halohead52

Ordered an X3 January 28th, delivered to dealer February 21st. Someone at the dealership scraped a post with the front fender 2 hours before my scheduled pickup on the 23rd. Not a bad injury but the factory paint job is forever compromised. Instead of stepping up to the plate and telling me they would do what it took to make it good, I had to go in on the 26th and make a new deal, complete with haggling, fake cheer, and their good cop/bad cop routine. "Can't go below XXX! Corporate won't let us do YYY! I'm so upset at that guy putting me [him!? what about the customer?!] in this position." They even had the gall to say, "You're lucky we told you about it at all." They finally gave it to me for invoice, and no doubt made money on the deal with the back door discounts. Then they turned me over to the finance manager who was beyond unprofessional: rude, bullying, and condescending. I paid cash for the car, fer crissakes! How much trouble could I cause him?!? By the time I was done I felt like I'd had an un-anesthetized root canal.

It's a beautiful vehicle, I got it in record time, drives so good it's sinful, the mojave leather is a dream with the titanium silver, and my skeptical husband is completely won over--"I'm gonna like driving this!"--yet all I can feel is wrung out.

How the dealership conducts itself is so crucial, and can make or break the experience. I'm going to love my X3 because at some point it will cease to remind me of the severe absence of "joy" involved in buying it. But those of you who have excellent, professional dealerships near you should rejoice and give them all a hug from me the next time you go in.

This is entirely unacceptable. I bet it was someone who test drove the car -- dealerships will often let people (prospective buyers) test drive cars to be picked up in a day or two, belonging to other people. This makes me really uncomfortable.

If I were you, I would go to owner of the dealership (unless that is who you dealt with) and let him know that this happened, misbehavior and all. If he is no help, find out what company owns the dealership or the chain of dealerships affiliated and file a professional, legitimate complaint against the dealership, its owners, managers, maintenance, and dealers. Make sure you include names.

[MA78]

I think we all need to know the name of the dealership and who the offending individuals were so that future members will know who to avoid.

[Razel]

Find out who the person in charge of the whole dealership is. They should at least take names and offer some compensation.

You might who this is by contacting BMWNA customer service via email and asking them. Tell them you would like to resolve the horrendous new-car pickup experience you've had (taking 4 days, 23rd-26th) with the top person before escalating further. Otherwise, you feel the need to find another dealership to provide vehicle servicing and will need their (BMWNA) recommendation.
BMWNA strongly encourages resolution with the local dealer, sometimes to the point of not reading/listening to the original complaint. If this happens, and they suggest contacting the dealership, point out strongly that they're missing the point. Generally, they become more "Customer Support" from that point.

In my experience. One man's opinion. IANAL and YMMV. Best of luck, too.

[jaymk5]

I was told by my dealer that we will be contacted by BMW cust. support after delivery, they also mentioned anything less than 10 in the feedback is a failure to BMW and the dealership discounts

[Nahoa]

Less than 10? Crap. I think 10 was labelled "truly exceptional". I gave my dealership what I think now were a bunch of 9's that were the high end of "excellent". They did an excellent job, I'd recommend them in a second and go back even faster, but I thought "truly exceptional" was something really out there -- red carpet to the car staged inside, carrying me to it so my feet were clean, delivery it to the house, or something. Hope I didn't slam them by giving "Excellents"!!!

[mike185]

Originally Posted by halohead52

Ordered an X3 January 28th, delivered to dealer February 21st. Someone at the dealership scraped a post with the front fender 2 hours before my scheduled pickup on the 23rd. Not a bad injury but the factory paint job is forever compromised. Instead of stepping up to the plate and telling me they would do what it took to make it good, I had to go in on the 26th and make a new deal, complete with haggling, fake cheer, and their good cop/bad cop routine. "Can't go below XXX! Corporate won't let us do YYY! I'm so upset at that guy putting me [him!? what about the customer?!] in this position." They even had the gall to say, "You're lucky we told you about it at all." They finally gave it to me for invoice, and no doubt made money on the deal with the back door discounts. Then they turned me over to the finance manager who was beyond unprofessional: rude, bullying, and condescending. I paid cash for the car, fer crissakes! How much trouble could I cause him?!? By the time I was done I felt like I'd had an un-anesthetized root canal.

It's a beautiful vehicle, I got it in record time, drives so good it's sinful, the mojave leather is a dream with the titanium silver, and my skeptical husband is completely won over--"I'm gonna like driving this!"--yet all I can feel is wrung out.

How the dealership conducts itself is so crucial, and can make or break the experience. I'm going to love my X3 because at some point it will cease to remind me of the severe absence of "joy" involved in buying it. But those of you who have excellent, professional dealerships near you should rejoice and give them all a hug from me the next time you go in.

Congrats first on a great car ! And F..k that dealer , so far I found a dealer I can trust and a salesman I can trust , with good service , Thank God for that , but I hear stories like that all the time and make me sick , Park Ave BMW in NJ is were I buy my cars and friends buy there car Mike Messieger my sales guy , but Congrats , enjoy

[Nahoa]

Disgusting approach those people took. Just not right.

[jaymk5]

Originally Posted by jaymk5

I was told by my dealer that we will be contacted by BMW cust. support after delivery, they also mentioned anything less than 10 in the feedback is a failure to BMW and the dealership discounts

For some reason my comment was not posted fully, hence the continuation...

So my dealer mentioned that anything less than 10 is considered failure by BMW. So for the worst experience that the owner of this thread had the dealer should be given 0

[Nahoa]

Would be nice to see BMW NA follow-up on that situation. Send him accessory credits or something if they're so serious about customer service -- or a discounted driving course!

[jaymk5]

Originally Posted by Nahoa

Less than 10? Crap. I think 10 was labelled "truly exceptional". I gave my dealership what I think now were a bunch of 9's that were the high end of "excellent". They did an excellent job, I'd recommend them in a second and go back even faster, but I thought "truly exceptional" was something really out there -- red carpet to the car staged inside, carrying me to it so my feet were clean, delivery it to the house, or something. Hope I didn't slam them by giving "Excellents"!!!

Agreed. I am yet to take my delivery I will certainly not give 10, it will really depend on my delivery experience.

[flash3]

Originally Posted by jaymk5

Agreed. I am yet to take my delivery I will certainly not give 10, it will really depend on my delivery experience.

Is it @ the time of delivery where you fill out all the paperwork for financing, options/warranties etc or does that happen @ the time of deposit?

[jaymk5]

Originally Posted by flash3

Is it @ the time of delivery where you fill out all the paperwork for financing, options/warranties etc or does that happen @ the time of deposit?

When I made my deposit, I filled in a form for BMW finance, but the sales rep told me that will be just sent to the BMW finance and the actual work (discussing options / warranties) will happen only when I take the car out. Hope this helps.

[Lotus7]

Originally Posted by jaymk5

I was told by my dealer that we will be contacted by BMW cust. support after delivery, they also mentioned anything less than 10 in the feedback is a failure to BMW and the dealership discounts

I was told the same verbally, then received individual form letters from my CA, his sales manager and a dealership VP saying that if I couldn't mark "10" for every response, they'd like me to come in and discuss it with them. I simply didn't respond to the survey at all, since it's obviously highly biased by the pressure from the dealership and is therefore worthless.

The "10" rating is "truly exceptional" and although my dealership was OK, I'd consider my interaction with them only average. I knew a lot more about the car in terms of option bundling and option availability than my CA who was often confused about what equipment was standard and what was optional. Several times he mentioned how much I was going to love the "Twin Turbo" engine in the 35i. I'm still waiting for the second turbo.

[MB330]

Originally Posted by mike185

Congrats first on a great car ! And F..k that dealer!

+1! Best advise!

[Beyu]

Originally Posted by flash3

Is it @ the time of delivery where you fill out all the paperwork for financing, options/warranties etc or does that happen @ the time of deposit?

Originally Posted by jaymk5

When I made my deposit, I filled in a form for BMW finance, but the sales rep told me that will be just sent to the BMW finance and the actual work (discussing options / warranties) will happen only when I take the car out. Hope this helps.

Hmm, my dealer never had me sign any papers for the car but I had taken the time to work out the pricing and options for the vehicle before putting down a deposit; I really hope the dealer doesn't pull a 180 after the car arrives.

Anyone know if the pricing I worked out with them is considered official? My stepdad leased a car from the same salesperson a few years back but I don't have much experience in purchasing a car. I'm not looking to finance and am buying the car outright, I hope this is the reason why they didn't have BMW finance contact me.

[flash3]

Originally Posted by Beyu

Hmm, my dealer never had me sign any papers for the car but I had taken the time to work out the pricing and options for the vehicle before putting down a deposit; I really hope the dealer doesn't pull a 180 after the car arrives.

Anyone know if the pricing I worked out with them is considered official? My stepdad leased a car from the same salesperson a few years back but I don't have much experience in purchasing a car. I'm not looking to finance and am buying the car outright, I hope this is the reason why they didn't have BMW finance contact me.

you're paying straight up cash/check for the car?

[Razel]

This is the first BMW automobile I'm buying, but the motorcycle end of the company wants either 9's or 10's on the survey. They used to do the same for service during the warranty period, but they don't appear to be doing that anymore.
I have to wonder if there's some bargaining room after purchase when the survey comes out.

[MA78]

Originally Posted by Lotus7

I was told the same verbally, then received individual form letters from my CA, his sales manager and a dealership VP saying that if I couldn't mark "10" for every response, they'd like me to come in and discuss it with them. I simply didn't respond to the survey at all, since it's obviously highly biased by the pressure from the dealership and is therefore worthless.

The "10" rating is "truly exceptional" and although my dealership was OK, I'd consider my interaction with them only average. I knew a lot more about the car in terms of option bundling and option availability than my CA who was often confused about what equipment was standard and what was optional. Several times he mentioned how much I was going to love the "Twin Turbo" engine in the 35i. I'm still waiting for the second turbo.

My CA gave me two sets of floor mats, a keychain and driving gloves for promising to give him all 10s. Hahaha

[Lotus7]

Originally Posted by MA78

My CA gave me two sets of floor mats, a keychain and driving gloves for promising to give him all 10s. Hahaha

You must be a better poker player then me. All I got was two key chains with the dealer's phone number on them, and two crummy license plate frames with the dealer's name and number on them in giant print. They were the first things I removed from the car as soon as I got home. Had to pay full list for the floor mats and cargo liner.