Eveytime i send my car in to a dealership i get a sick feeling in my stomach

[iyerm2]

I see there is a few threads going around about horror stories/bad experiences at delearships.
My car is in at a dealership to get my locks changed due to my keys getting stolen and everday that it spends at the dealership i wonder how much worse the state of my car is

For some reason i feel like i cant trust anyone but myself to take care of my car as i wud
i wonder sometimes after hearing the stories about what the competency level is on the shop floor
Is the work load of the staff too high?
OR do they not know what they are doing?
OR Do they just not care about doing their jobs to best of their ability

The thing that bugs me the most is that no matter how many people on this forum have bad experiences, those dealerships that they went to will still continue to get business and the complaints wont even make a dent in their everyday sales

I just hope that my car comes back in the same state that i sent it in

 

[calypso]

Your only hearing the bad stories, people very rarely speak of the good stories.
My cars all go to the dealer and never had an issue, only downside, sometimes they are abit expensive.

 

[Jakkals_F30]

Agreed....

We rarely hear of the good work done by dealers and really not all work done is bad.
I've never had any issues with auto glen.... car always goes there and if i ask them to have a look at something they do it and give me proper feedback and updates.

They gonna have a shocker when my car goes in soon... around 3k km to go then they have alot to look at for me. but i know they will resolve the issues so don't stress too much..:thumbs:

 

[dvst8]

Agree as per above two posts.

Never had any hassles with Autobahn service.

:thumbs:

 

[Sabretooth tiger]

Well BMW SA booked my car in to Fountains BMW

 

[dvst8]

Well BMW SA booked my car in to Fountains BMW

Are they fixing ur problem under MP ?

 

[Sabretooth tiger]

Well BMW SA booked my car in to Fountains BMW

Are they fixing ur problem under MP ?

Yep they going to.

 

[dvst8]

Yep they going to.

Awesome stuff !

:thumbs:

 

[Philip Foglar]

Yep, it is natural for people to publicly complain about bad service, but rarely praise for good service. It's like people complaining about diesel or turbo problems - never really hear from people praising for otherwise faultless service from their cars.

But yes, natural to feel concerned and personally I have been on the receiving end of minor damage and carelessness - in fact very unlucky to be honest.

Scratched engine cover and wheels while at the agents. Even when I place emphasis on having to take care, TWT cannot work with wheels without scratching and chipping them - they really should give a person a self service option (it's worth learning how to use this equipment and get your hands dirty)!!

 

[Swiegie]

Hi

I feel exactly the same, I cannot sleep properly when my car has to stay overnite!

I am extremely full of sh!t and is always scared that they might scratch the car or bugger up something. I honestly hate it when my car needs to go for a service.

This is probably due to many bad experiences from various dealers and not just BMW.

Cheers

 

[calypso]

This is the thing, you treat your car like shit, and others will to treat it like shit. What I do is make sure my car is clean enough to off of when I send it in. Engine, wheels everything. It goes in looking like a show piece. And it really seems to help.

 

[Philip Foglar]

This is the thing, you treat your car like shit, and others will to treat it like shit. What I do is make sure my car is clean enough to off of when I send it in. Engine, wheels everything. It goes in looking like a show piece. And it really seems to help.

Well, that was my thinking too - car taken in all spotlessly clean. Still ended up with chipped/scratched wheels and scratched engine cover...

 

[calypso]

Well at least then, because your car was clean, this was easy to spot.
I thought only TWT damaged your wheels? Now the dealer too?

 

[Philip Foglar]

Well at least then, because your car was clean, this was easy to spot.
I thought only TWT damaged your wheels? Now the dealer too?

Oh no, TWT are indeed the masters of wheel destruction!! But with my car going to the agents, it was just some carelessness, as if the wheel was allowed to rest against its face and the bolts dropped out while being removed - silly things. But TWT properly stuff wheels up, just thinking about makes my blood boil!!! :argh:

I didn't bother with the wheels when the agents scratched them because TWT had a go at stuffing them up a few months earlier - okay in retrospect minor scratches even when I look at the wheels now, but point is, they were spotless until "others" had any influence over them! Frustrating!

 

[CyberMatix]

I have been driving BMWs for about 15 years, and the amount of sh!t that I have endured from the dealerships repairing the cars under MP is absolutely incredible. The last time they couldn't even fix a non-functioning cigarette lighter, and they let the battery run flat, and they didn't even wash it decently. I can write a book.

But on average it seems that the average BMW drivers are in general happy with their service.

So it seems the problem is with me and not them. I seem to have "Bad Karma". That is just the way it is and I just have to live with it.

At the moment I have chucked MP, and taking the risk on my own.

My opinion is, FWIW, that big companies like BMW, Vodacom, ABSA, Alexander Forbes, TWT etc. work on the "average" principle. If the average customer is more or less happy with their service, the "outliers", like me can just go and screw themselves.

What really p!sses me off is that BMW, in particular, have an ongoing PR campaign that stresses the principle of "exceptional customer service". That is just so much BS. But it works.

Good service should be a given, one needn't compliment a company for delivering it. This is what they are paid to do.

IMO the mentality of many of the people working for BMW is just - "Look, we work for BMW, and we are special". The fact that you are a customer is just an annoyance for us, so if you don't like what you get from us, it's just your bad luck.

 

[Sabretooth tiger]

Spot on Cyber Matrix

 

[calypso]

Yes but alot also has to do with generating relationships with the people that work there. And I am not talking about poking the aunty over the counter.

You will find most of the mechanics are actually car guys, and love speaking about cars, all kinds, projects whatever. The sales people on the other had, I have not actually found any who seems to be interested in cars.