Dealer service level

irelandoffline wrote: 3 page draft on getting ABS light sorted?? Me thinks you have other complaints too. Tell all....

Can't disagree that there are a couple of other recent issues I have had with the same dealer.  The shame of it is that profile of my cars hasn't changed radically but their service has.  I've been going to them consistently for 9 years and for the most part their service was excellent - never cheap but reasonable value for money.  The change of attitude coincided with them moving to new premises about 18 months ago.

I had the big hump a few months ago about a farce of a job they did on Mrs D's recently departed 318Ci and as a result I asked them to only do a pre-nct check above and beyond the oil service due last time on the 325i. 

They listed and quoted a price of over €700 for the faults noted.  I took the list to John Roche and additionally asked him to do anything on the list that was needed and to change the front pads because they had been a bit spongey after the previous Mondello day.  His bill - €150 + €100 for a headlamp cover I supplied.  Most of the items didn't actually need to be done.

My experience with main dealers is that they are not interested in working on older BMW's as alot of the time it is not a simple fix and they dont want to waste time trying to diagnose a problem as they wont be able to charge all of that time out and if they get it wrong you will be back in to them taking up garage space for free when they could have a 06 5 series in the same spot charging 120 euro per hour to change brake pads.

Dergside is right, when they pawn you off with "Do you really want to spend 120 euro per hour diagnosing this problem" what they actually mean is "PFO we dont want the hassle of working on your car as there is a good chance the car will darken the forecourt every couple of days when we cant fix it and there is easier money to be made with newer cars".

Regards,

Bayerische

635CSi wrote: Care to name and shame the dealer??

My location probably makes it reasonably obvious but I'll hold off confirming it until I've sent the letter and given them an opportunity to respond.

larzyh wrote: I may be wrong but would not have thought that working abs was a requirement; working brakes of course but I'm not sure about the abs.

I wasn't sure about that so I checked a pdf copy of the NCT manual I picked up somewhere a while back.  If its fitted and the warning light is showing on the dash its a failure item.  Whether its applied or not is another question altogether but I would have thought that they'd have an interest in failing cars where possible.

To be honest it wouldn't have been worth the effort to take the bulb out.  I don't mind getting the fault sorted so the worst that would have happened was a fail and therefore a re-test fee.

At this stage I've drafted a 3 page letter to the MD!  Will need to edit that down fairly significantly before sending!

The car went through (and sailed through) the NCT this morning and luckily the light stayed off for the test.  It came on when Mrs D started it herself this morning so I was prepared for a fail.  Other than the attempted fix of the ABS light the only preparation was a check of tyre pressures and a walk around the lights.  At least I can get John Roche to check it over as time allows now.

635CSi wrote: The best BMW dealer for sales and service in Ireland is Frank Keane from what I have heard and experienced. Dealers that get the wooden spoon are Joe Duffy, Maxwell Motors, Murphy & Gunn and Kevin O'Leary Silversprings.

I'd have to give Barry motors in Galway a vote as well. I was frankly stunned at the level of service from Barry's. Staying in Galway for a few days, they offered to collect the car from the hotel, delivered it back to me, carried out a few minor bits of warranty work and replaced a mirror glass that I just hadn't noticed was cracked when I bought the car, for nothing. Saving me €100 + VAT.

Keane's are my local and they are very good too. When they get the s/w updates from BMW they always keep at least one machine on the previous version in case anything stupid has been added or deleted in the update. For i.e. they found one update had removed the ability to code the OBC on the E46 saloon.