Okay, Forsdicks Tygervalley has messed up, Big Time...

[Sith]

I really don't understand what you guys are going on about here. You're like a bunch of old grannies with wet panties. This is just the norm, shoddy and poor service = money = success. That is why my suppliers and clients are all richer than me, and not on the verge of stomach ulcers.

On a more serious note, Philip, I know exactly what you mean. For years I dealt with one senior man at one main dealer, and had excellent service. Now that he has retired, so has the service. This is no slight on any staff members at this dealer, which I shall not mention, as most of them are friendly and curtious, but the overall service has crashed. Last year the MLE went for a handbrake adjustment, a general check, and to have something fixed on the front seat, which had to be outsourced. Well, the adjustment and general check were done correctly, but the car was not even washed, they just wiped the dust all over. It looked dirtier than when it had gone in. To top that, the driver's door beading strip was hanging off the door. When I pointed this out, the first response was maybe it was the outsource guy who had worked on the seat. Luckily it was just a clip, and the strip was not damaged, but they still made me buy a clip, which I fitted myself. As regards the seat guy, it took me months to get him to fix my seat, although he did do a good job when he finally did it. As it took months to get him to do it, it has taken months to pay him for doing it. After countless calls to pay him, I just gave up, so got the seat repaired for free in the end. At my foolish insistance the car was washed, and one of the centre cap stickers was blown off with the high pressure hose and lost. So I had to have new stickers made too. It's extremely frustrating, you have to really be on your nerves when trusting your car to anyone, never mind dealers, for any work to be done. It's especially scary when the car is an old classic and parts are extremely hard to source.

I don't know the answer to these problems, but can tell you guys I shit myself everytime any of my cars go anywhere for any work to be done.

 

[Gizmo]

I don't know the answer to these problems, but can tell you guys I shit myself everytime any of my cars go anywhere for any work to be done.

Im the same.:fencelook:

 

[Yuvan]

:nonono:

 

[Philip Foglar]

Wow! I have had better service and attitude at lawnmower repair places! I am really quite shocked with all of this! I better stop posting for the moment, I am way to wound up and annoyed right now. :bangdesk:

 

[netercol]

DIY ftw.. only way to make sure its done properly nowadays is to use the only mechanic you can trust.. yourself.

 

[Coisman]

imp:
Mmmmm...... pilchards!!!! :drool:

 

[CocoPops]

Hmmm, While I do understand the frustrations and annoyance at incompetence, did the coils packup before the car went in for a service?

If they did not drive the car, and the problem only presented itself after you picked it up and drove for a bit, surely the dealer cannot be held responsible and given a bad name?

Getting your name wrong etc after you have corrected them is not acceptable, however not a train smash either, apart from the name wrong and not stamping the service book(which is a major PAIN), I dont see what they did wrong from what you have posted?

Im not picking on you, just asking as its not adding up to me?

 

[xcalibur]

Damn that sucks , last good service I got from BMW is from Solly Mohamed at Leo Haese , if you friendly to him , and your car's still on motorplan he will sort you out perfectly . Maybe because my dad has been buying cars through him since 1992 . But I still recommend him

If you're talking about Leo Haese Hatfield, I will not vouch for them. See the thread: http://www.bmwfanatics.co.za/showthread.php?tid=20620

 

[Mamba]

I don't know the answer to these problems, but can tell you guys I shit myself everytime any of my cars go anywhere for any work to be done.

Im the same.:fencelook:

I am the same, even though I can do most of the work most of the times I do not have enough space or time to do the job.

---

"Guys we need to get active and collectively e-mail the dealer and BmwSA and make a noise ."

+10000000000000000000000000000000

About time

Say where and when and I am there ..


...

 

[Philip Foglar]

Right, so the clincher. They had agreed to and were supposed to collect the car this morning because the car is undriveable. And I had insisted that they fetch the car with a flat-bed since it was given to me in this undriveable state at the end of Tuesday as the dealership closed - had by that stage still not heard back from them regarding the quote for the service and extra work that needed to be done. On the way home the slightly rough idle became a distinct missfire as well as a massive loss of power. Managed to limp home and park in the garage. They had not stamped the service book, had my name incorrectly spelt (different name entirely) and then had lost one of the plastic caps for the wheel locks.

Phoned them yesterday and spoke to the workshop manager who immediately gave me attitude saying that they had quoted and can't be held responsible for the car breaking down - bare in mind that the car was 100% driveable when I dropped it off.

So we get a call this morning that they are coming out to fetch the car - a driver will drive it back. Come on, I am perfectly capable of driving the car myself - reason for the flat-bed is to prevent damage to the engine. So I phone back, no they are discussing it and will get back to me. All the while I am especially waiting for them. An hour passes and I decide to phone the dealer principle again to find out what is going. Now all of a sudden he claims that they did no commit to collected the car with a flat-bed and are not responsible for what has happened. I must either drive the car there or let them fetch the car and drive it there.

Under the circumstances it was only right for them to do as much from their side as possible to help based on all the things that went wrong - yesterday my conversations with the dealer principle seemed to be on the right track, but it's as if everything was forgotten this morning. And their excuses and reasoning for why all these things went wrong is seriously weak and pathetic, but I was willing to look past it provided they would just assist by fetching the car and respecting my property.

So I will never ever be taking any of my cars to this particular dealer, only time they will see me is for when I go and get parts etc.

I have now taken the car to a place in Brackenfell that my father in law often goes to (they have replaced a faulty coil pack on this car once before) and they are going to replace the blocked PCV valve and pipes. Went through to Forsdicks to get the parts and have them stamp the book and provide the missing plastic cover - got to the point of not even trusting them to be able to do this right. They were suppose to come to me to stamp the book and return this missing part, but I seriously doubt that this is part of their abilities. Yes, I might be sounding very over the top and petty, but I have never had such back and incompetent service in my 15 plus years of owning cars!

It is a monumental disgrace for the brand name that these are the sort of people providing service for these superb cars. You are welcome to flame me and sing the praises for this dealership if they have been good to you, but I cannot accept this level of bad service from two separate dealers within one month and with two different cars - one under motorplan and the other not. At least SMG solved the issues and attended to their mishaps in a friendly manner - the workshop manager at Forsdicks needs a serious attitude adjustment as well. Have had better service at lawnmower repair places!

So hopefully will get the car back later today and back in good health.

Sure, things do happen and can't always expect the dealerships to take responsibility for things like this, but based on all that they had got wrong the least they could have done is collect the car on a flat-bed - surely they have their own recovery vehicles...

 

[Antec]

Sorry to here pal. I took my 130i in on Monday to the Tygervalley branch and they fixed a problem with my drivers seat and were very helpfull.

 

[maximus]

Hellopeter.com their asses :thumbsup:

 

[Niju06]

Hellopeter.com their asses :thumbsup:

+1

 

[Twinz]

I will never sing the praises of Forsdicks...that dealership is a monumental disgrace. Only the blind still goes there.

Now phillip, why do you still support their parts department? :nonono:

 

[Mamba]

Hellopeter.com their asses :thumbsup:

+1

waste of time, BMW does not respond to complaints on hellopeter, so why bother...

 

[Luis Malhou]

I have had great service on my BMW's at Vaalridge BMW in the Vaal.

Even their parts guys are good, I ordered lost of parts for my restore job on the E12 and they always got it right first time.. except for the really ridiculous pricing.

Had very shitty service from Mazda/Ford Vereeniging and Vanderbijlpark with my wifes SOHO, now her MAZDA 5 and my RANGER. Constant bad service and eventually had to contact H/O in SA to assist.
Am a big fan of Mazda (had 8 models so far), but Mazda 5 definitively the last!! Mazda or ford in my yard.

 

[Philip Foglar]

I will never sing the praises of Forsdicks...that dealership is a monumental disgrace. Only the blind still goes there.

Now phillip, why do you still support their parts department? :nonono:

Interestingly their parts department has not failed me, yet. And they are conveniently close to me, so until something corrupts their service that affects me I don't really have a problem dealing with them. As long as I can get the parts I seek at somewhat decent prices that's fine. Certain parts of course I would get from other suppliers for obvious reasons.

Anyway, so an update:

Insurance covered a flat-bed to transport the car to Le Roux's Motor Clinic. Car was dropped off around 12:30 this afternoon with me supplying the parts bought from the agents. Got a call just after 6 this evening to tell us that the car was ready for collection and they were still busy closing up so if we hurried we could fetch.

Went through and paid - was a completely satisfying experience, everything was done as asked and they went out of their way to have the car ready today still which we had not expected. The labour worked out to two thirds of what Forsdicks wanted to charge.

I am sure that there are many other good privately owned places that do fantastic work on BMW's and other cars, but will support them from now onwards and recommend them as much as possible. They know what they are doing and as mentioned go the extra distance to help.

I am still utterly disgusted at the poor service I got from Forsdicks - will never take a car or even a lawnmower to them! So they saved their precious R600 for a flat-bed (that was all that I actually wanted out of them due to all the stuff ups that they made), but have lost a potential client forever and I will make a point out of warning people away from them, and I have full right to do so.

At the end of the day, very happy with the car now!! :thumbs:

 

[Twinz]

Good decision :thumbs:

 

[Luis Malhou]

There are good service garages, one is in my area. I have used him for years on my out of warranty cars. He was my fathers apprentice when he started as a mechanic many years ago. He has worked on mostly BMW's and now runs his own service and repair garage (20yrs). He is obviously not genuine BMW but thats his speciality and he has good relaitions with BMW in the area for spares etc and even with other makes of cars which he will also work on.

Honest and reliable and well priced.
He does from old to new BMW's. For those in the area you can give him a try.
Carlos Freitas at CARLOS AUTO CENTRE Vanderbijlpark
0169311951
Tell him Luie refered you and he will help you out.

 

[WPBMW]

I have had both my previous 330's serviced at Forsdicks as well as my 335i and I have never had anyproblems with Forsdicks. In fact I have only had good service. My 335i have been for one service only but soon needs to go for service again and should I experience any negative fibes I will be big enough to report back here, but for now, I am as happy as can be. Forsdicks even allowed me to install laserjammers on the motorplan 335i and i have it in writing that it will not effect the motorplan.