[IG-G80]

What was your buying experience like?

I’ll share my experience because I think it is atypical. I’m in the Chicagoland area. I placed an order with one of the larger dealerships in my area. It has great reviews and a recently renovated facility. On top of that, and most importantly- they had an allocation.

This is my first M and I wanted it to be special so I spec’d the car with everything I wanted - individual Irish green, carbon buckets, laser lights etc… For me this is a very special car and something I’ve been looking forward to since I was a child. I was excited….

The sales guy did not share the same excitement. When placing the order, he did nothing to elevate the experience. No input on the spec and shared very little regarding the custom order process. I might as well have ordered online like a Tesla. It was a bit of a red flag but I didn’t think too much of it since I was just happy to have an allocation.

Now - fast forward to present day. Between the time I placed the order and now, I’ve had zero contact from the dealership. I was tracking the car myself and I saw the status flip to in-transit so I reached out to the sales person to get an update. Responses were short one liners and very cold. During ordering time I specified I wanted to pick up the car at the SC performance center. I started asking about scheduling dates for the pickup and the dealer then tells me they never scheduled this and it is now too late. I promised myself way back that my first M would be a euro delivery. Since that is not an option, PCD is second best. I’m clearly pissed and the sales guy could care less. I now want them to discount the $700 maintainance package as compensation for their mistake. Am I out of line?

I now start asking about getting the P.O so I can send this over to my CU to get the ball rolling on financing. They stall and I think they do not like the fact I’m not going with BMW financial.

The car arrived at the dealership this Thursday. I politely ask the sales guy to send some photos. He says he will … never did.

I hope I’m not sounding like a pompous prick but I would expect more when buying the top end of a manufacture’s product line.

[fanofbmwe46]

Sorry to hear about that experience. I’ve bought 9 BMWs in my life across several different dealers. The spectrum of customer service is staggering.

[vmalho2]

Originally Posted by IG-G80

What was your buying experience like?

I’ll share my experience because I think it is atypical. I’m in the Chicagoland area. I placed an order with one of the larger dealerships in my area. It has great reviews and a recently renovated facility. On top of that, and most importantly- they had an allocation.

This is my first M and I wanted it to be special so I spec’d the car with everything I wanted - individual Irish green, carbon buckets, laser lights etc… For me this is a very special car and something I’ve been looking forward to since I was a child. I was excited….

The sales guy did not share the same excitement. When placing the order, he did nothing to elevate the experience. No input on the spec and shared very little regarding the custom order process. I might as well have ordered online like a Tesla. It was a bit of a red flag but I didn’t think to much of it since I was just happy to have an allocation.

Now - fast forward to present day. Between the time I placed the order and now, I’ve had zero contact from the dealership. I was tracking the car myself and I saw the status flip to in-transit so I reached out to the sales person to get an update. Responses were short one liners and very cold. During ordering time I specified I wanted to pick up the car at the SC performance center. I started asking about scheduling dates for the pickup and the dealer then tells me they never scheduled this and it is now too late. I promised myself way back that my first M would be a euro delivery. Since that is not an option, PCD is second best. I’m clearly pissed and the sales guy could care less. I now want them to discount the $700 maintainance package as compensation for their mistake. Am I out of line?

I now start asking about getting the P.O so I can send this over to my CU to get the ball rolling on financing. They stall and I think they do not like the fact I’m not going with BMW financial.

The car arrived at the dealership this Thursday. I politely ask the sales guy to send some photos. He says he will … never did.

I hope I’m not sounding like a pompous prick but I would expect more when buying the top end of a manufacture’s product line.

Who’s the dealer? I’ve done a lot of calling around in IL to get an allocation and never ended up getting one so I went out of state because I was tired of the ambiguity at some dealerships

Overall, I agree with you; there’s a lot of dealers who just don’t care and don’t give you all the options and customer care you think you’d receive when spending 100k on a car.

[gs1403]

Originally Posted by fanofbmwe46

The spectrum of customer service is staggering.

This. Even within the a dealership, there are shitty CAs and good ones, but I generally see that CAs are reflective of higher management and their policies/attitudes. I've met some great CAs, and some that made never want to be within 10 miles of that dealership.

Sorry to hear you got stuck with bad one. The PCD thing does sound like a blunder on their end if it was mentioned to them when you ordered the car. Some form of compensation for that would be nice but I would not expect it.

Some dealers definitely do not like it when you use outside financing. I recently got into a shouting match with the finance guy at a local Porsche dealership because I brought a check from my CU on the day of delivery. I had never agreed to finance through them and it was not stipulated on the PO. The guy started by adding $1200 worth of accessories to the sale without telling me, and then claiming they were mandatory add-ons from the factory ("comes with every Porsche") when pressed on the price discrepancy that I probably would not have questioned if I hadn't brought my Excel sheet that had everything calculated down to the last penny (there was a trade involved that made things a less straightforward in terms of numbers). This eventually devolved into a full on verbal brawl which had my sales guy and his sales manager running over and telling the finance guy to take out the BS accessories from the sale.

Moral of the story - make sure your numbers are all in order before you sign, especially if your dealership seems less than forthcoming.