BMW SA need to step up their game

[ChrisBrand]

Being a member of this forum for some time now it has become quite obvious when it comes to customer service BMW are not really prioritizing it.

Just to give an example of how someone like Mercedes-Benz handled the following situation. My dad has a 2006 Mercedes-Benz c320 cdi. The car has 108 000km and the engine light went on. The car went in for two days and came back but after a day the light went on again.

After my dad explained that he needed a car for work they gave him a new A180 cdi. For about 4 days he drove with the sweats on the lowest position as not to be spotted. But thankfully his car came back. Believe it or not a few days later the engine light came on again.

Feeling a bit embarrassed by this they told him that they would keep the car till they were certain what the problem was. They had a meeting and decided to give him this as a loan car. He has had the car for a month now and they finally found the problem. Being a bit reluctant to give back the brand new car he told them he was on holiday and would return it when he got back. He still hasn't returned it :rollsmile: But no complaints and he should receive his car back soon.

This is unfortunately a long post but just to illustrate that one of BMW's biggest contender also has brand loyalty like BMW. But with better customer service some customers just might walk over. Its not how big the problem is and if you struggle to fix it. Everyone makes mistakes and struggles somewhere in their life but its how you handle it.

BMW STEP UP YOUR GAME!

And a few picks of the loan car: 2012 c350 cdi AMG Pack Avantgarde with every extra imaginable. incl. Bi-Xenons, sunroof, "flappy paddle" gearbox, etc. When he got the car it had 1200km on the clock

Sorry for the long post and pics of non-BMWs

 

[Mr Occo]

Once should get a poll setup for bmw service customer satisfaction and run it over a 3 month period on this forum. Once done it should be sent to BMW head office an SA, since there are many users here it might give them a tickle and maybe get them to do something about there crap service.


Just a thought.

 

[abmi0000]

I like the interior styling :thumbs:

 

[Mr Occo]

I like the interior styling :thumbs:

:thumbs::thumbs:

 

[moranor@axis]

lol bmw would give him an e90 320i for a day after the car had already been in for a week... return his car and say the check engine light in normal :rollsmile:

 

[Sabretooth tiger]

Thats awesome service, and what a nice car.

Why did it take them that long to find the problem?

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lol bmw would give him an e90 320i for a day after the car had already been in for a week... return his car and say the check engine light in normal :rollsmile:

They use F30's now. I had one for two days while they sorted out my bluetooth and my windscreen.

 

[herr bmw]

well i had issues with bmw yesterday and ended up talking with the dealer principal,well to cut along story,forgor to drop off the locking nuts,to remove the wheel.so did that this afternoon.

well lets just say hat there was a complete change in the dealership and even the service advisor,still had tomake a plan with my own transport,but at this stage isnt a problem

so yes,what seened to be going bad ,has now been sorted out and im very happy

 

[Sabretooth tiger]

well i had issues with bmw yesterday and ended up talking with the dealer principal,well to cut along story,forgor to drop off the locking nuts,to remove the wheel.so did that this afternoon.

well lets just say hat there was a complete change in the dealership and even the service advisor,still had tomake a plan with my own transport,but at this stage isnt a problem

so yes,what seened to be going bad ,has now been sorted out and im very happy

Club Motors Fountains:inlove:

 

[NavZ]

I've had endless problems with Auto Atlantic, Cape Town. I took my dads 645Ci there a few times but they didn't fix a single thing they were meant to, they even messed up an oil service... YES AN OIL SERVICE. The car parks in the garage all week & is only driven every second weekend or so. The first time I drove it after the service, the oil light came on, turns out the oil was dangerously low. They also messed up the cream interior with oily/greasy black marks.
I also took the car in for a rattling noise near drivers door and after several repeat visits, the rattle is still there. It even came back with more problems. At one stage there was something leaking & of course they said it was a coincidence that the car happened to leak on the way home (after just picking up the car.) There was also an intermittent problem with the passenger window which would get stuck & open again after you just closed it. When I took the car in for that, on my way home I tried out the window & it was still doing the same thing & it even stopped working altogether for a while. After taking the car back a few more times I just gave up. Do they even test the cars before returning them? They are a waste of time, money & patience. :argh: #Rantover

 

[herr bmw]

correct sabre

 

[msm]

Yep, BMW's service sucks. Last month my X5 went in for a faulty oil level sensor - the f&Ckers at JSN could not give me a loan car after they discovered that it was going to take more than a day to sort out - idiots said it's not their policy :thumbdo:

Once again, while BMW's are brilliant cars and I'd buy them over and over again, I wish we had decent service through the dealerships.

 

[Bayn46]

To be fair, there aren't any popular, local, merc forums, and I'm sure there are plenty of unreported horror stories. Being a big community, we tend to see a lot more feedback than with some of the other brands. We are also actively paying attention to BMW related content around the world, and paying less attention to the likes of merc, audi, etc.

That being said, top class service from merc, definitely something that you would hope to see from luxury brands such as Merc and BMW. Always good to hear stories like this.

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

 

[zaleonardz]

Two things,

Firstly, I applaud merc for the above, good show.

Second point, its a sales tactic for your dad to buy a new car

 

[ChrisBrand]

I understand what Bayn46 is saying and especially with regard to VW.

And zaleonardz, i also got the sale tactics bit but i just wish they rather gave him the c63 then :rollsmile:

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Just to put into perspective. This car with extras is about R550 000+ worth. Which i think is a hell of a lot if you can buy a second hand c63 or M3 with 40 000km on the clock with that kind of money.

Also spotted the other day a 2012 c180 BE coupe for R480 000. Who in their right mind is gonna buy a c180 for R480 000???

 

[White_Mercury]

Ok lemme add 5c . Ive had my car in at Volvo which many of you would consider a crappy car, but I had them install lots of extras and the loan car was something like a hyundai i10. I just asked if i could rather get a Volvo and they also gave me a brand new s40 to drive for 3 weeks without a moments hesitation.I also get smses and calls thougout the day to tell me about progress. I get dropped off at work if i take the car in for a service and the guys really go out of their way to be friendly and do a great job with a service. They send mails to rate the service and they participate in all forum events. So that kinda makes one feel that they as dealer are interested in their customers and does not simply make a sale and give a damn about aftersales service. I think a lot of the bigger brands could take some notes. Clarkson also decribes aftersales service as a crucial part of a persons relationship with a car.

 

[Jandre]

Your dad must tell them he is on holiday for a year.

 

[Raybimmer]

Mercedes will always strive to provide good service , and the sale opportunity is good business sense and good pr as well .
The dealers of BMW SA always seem to think their customers are idiots who do not know their cars and loan cars are like hens teeth .

It would be nice to get someone from a dealer or BMWSA to comment on the forum , they might get a shock .

What about reports like these yearly service percentages ( Malcolm Kinsey ? ) , Maybe a few emails to them will open their eyes .

When I am told a new car has 20000 parts and if 2 or 3 give trouble it is a very small failure percentage , I assume the dealer expects failures but he does not have measures in place to cover the customer transport needs while the vehicle is being attended to .

Yes using a sms system to keep me informed about my vehicle is good , even if the dealer says " spares ordered ,will be here tomorrow afternoon and your vehicle ready a day later " , at least I am in the picture .:thumbs:

 

[ntuthuko]

I understand what Bayn46 is saying and especially with regard to VW.

And zaleonardz, i also got the sale tactics bit but i just wish they rather gave him the c63 then :rollsmile:

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Just to put into perspective. This car with extras is about R550 000+ worth. Which i think is a hell of a lot if you can buy a second hand c63 or M3 with 40 000km on the clock with that kind of money.

Also spotted the other day a 2012 c180 BE coupe for R480 000. Who in their right mind is gonna buy a c180 for R480 000???

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GEEZ half a mil for a C180 with less doors :nonono:

 

[mk1-fan]

I have to disagree with the OP.

The best service I have ever received, was from my local BMW dealer. Our Merc dealer however, have always been useless, only the last 3-4 years have they started to improve.

Sadly bad service is only the product of the DP's attitude. You can get bad and good service at any dealer, no matter what the brand.

Case in point is the two local VW dealers: the one is excellent and the other one so bad, I wonder how they continue to exist.

In any case, be glad you don't have to deal with GMSA, by far the most useless bunch I have ever come across.

 

[herr bmw]

it all depends to which dealer you go to,had bad work done by zambisie,which has now been corrected by club motors fountains,and they found other things wrong with it and sorted it out.
as for a loan car,wasnt lucky there,but we made a plan for the three days.

as for the dealer principal,he went above and beyond to make sure i was happy,and he checked every hour on the progress of my car,so :bravo: to them

a friend of mine drives a c200 merc,and he always gets a loan car,better than the one he has got,and when he returns it,they try to convince him that this is the car for him,they even go so far as having figures down to presuded him even more,tatics:biglol: