I’m not that guy who goes into car shops on the weekend and tries to act big, nor am I that guy who bounces around from car shop to car shop test driving cars for the hell of it, in fact, I intensely dislike test driving cars. So, when I go to a car shop it’s because I’m interested, and by the time I do, I’ve normally looked at my financials, looked at the resale value of my current car and so forth, so I go in there with a purpose and not to waste anybody’s time as I appreciate people’s time.
Last weekend my sister and I went down to BMW in Cape Town. I’ve been driving my Audi for a couple years and I feel it’s time to perhaps change, I would stick with Audi, their service is great, the guy I deal with takes me seriously and has always had my best interests in mind (I feel it’s fairly rare to establish a relationship like this), but Audi don’t have a car that I want – The A4 and A5 cabs are too big, the S3 is for kids and doesn’t have a soft top, the TT is beautiful but I can’t bring myself to get that and the Q-range is sexy, but I feel I’m not ready for a baby seat in the back (chuckle) and the R8, well, let’s just say that I appreciate the fact that paying off property is far wiser and if you’re going to spend money like that on a car, there are plenty of better options. So, that covers the Audi range and is why I’m not simply going in and taking that direction.
The 125i/135i cabriolet’s that BMW has are, to me, gorgeous. They’re similar to my A3 cabriolet, but have a few features that I wish mine had, the engines are also stronger and there’s a slightly better touch of elegance. I’ve eyed them out for a while now and that’s what lead me into BMW to have a chat. I was greeted by a guy called Shaun who was friendly, showed me the 125i and 135i, told me about the specs and gave me the change to sit inside one – he offered a test drive, but like I said, I don’t like test driving. I left with an awesome booklet and was rather excited at the idea of treating myself to a new car as this difficult year comes to an end – I’ve worked my butt off this year and felt I perhaps deserved to treat myself. In terms of finances, it wouldn’t cost much more than my car, so all in all it was a situation that looked fairly good. Shaun promised to email me through a quote on the Monday so I waited in anticipation.
It’s Friday today, it’s been almost a week and not a word, so I followed up this morning to which I received the following response:
“I tried calling you about four times an no answer an I was off from work on Tuesday an wensday had an small op on my mouth so sorry about that . What eaxactly would you like to know”
Say what?
I wasn’t greeted, I was made to feel like it was my fault and the spelling and grammar is just awful. Perhaps I’m just anal and perhaps I’m overreacting, I don’t think I am though.
Now, I admit that I don’t always answer my phone, I do this thing called work during the day, which often comprises of strategy to which I prefer to have my phone off so I can concentrate, but I always check for missed calls and voicemails – I have not received a voicemail and don’t see any missed calls that I haven’t responded to. I could be wrong and I certainly do make mistakes, but I’m quite efficient in this regard and don’t believe the error lies with me. That being said, the agreement was an email because he was going to send a quote through – quoting over the phone.. highly doubt that.
But in all seriousness, what’s the deal? Do BMW mark up their cars that much that they aren’t desperate for new sales? Have they got enough customers that they’re able to play their pieces like this? I’m no economist, but last I checked, one would imagine that car sales guys would push hard to close a deal, especially considering the time of year.
You tell me, am I overreacting or do you agree that this leaves a bitter taste in your mouth?
Update: I received a good response from BMW’s Twitter account, “You’re certainly not over-reacting. That’s not how we like to treat our customers & we apologise for the poor service. We are investigating this with the Dealer. Please send through your contact details and we will be in touch.“
Hi Chris
I’ll admit that I would be pretty peeved off by something like this. I figure we’re both pretty much in the same boat – we’re incredibly busy people and often miss calls. It’s probably the worst way to try and get hold of me.
The frustration is that a response like this is becoming more and more “the norm” rather than the exception. It’s as if company’s don’t bother teaching staff how to properly communicate via email.
Remember when we were at school and taught how to write a formal letter? I think the same should apply on a business email – at least the first one, until a rapport has been established.
While it’s hard not to be too pedantic, I think it’s important to realise this guy probably doesn’t know any better.
A lesson to him would be to respond and tell him that while you’re still incredibly interested in buying a BMW you’ve decided to shop somewhere else as you find his cavalier writing far too personal (why would he tell you about his mouth op?).
Then take your business to BMW SMG at Canal Walk. I’ve been there a few times and find them very helpful. My mom was interested in buying an X1 for herself. We got 3 quotes (pre-owned, demo and new) on the spot! The salesman took us to a comfortable lounge area, arranged for us to get cappuccinos and biscuits while he worked out the quotations.
Less than 10 minutes (with a few check-ins from him to make sure we’re OK) later, we had the quotes, multiple payment plan options (no deposit, deposit, with and without balloon payments) for all three choices.
Somehow you seemed to get a seriously unprofessional guy, but I wouldn’t *not* buy a BMW (that would be cutting your nose to spite your face). Rather take your business elsewhere – and make it clear to him and his manager why he lost the sale.
You’re overreacting! Sounds like another shameless attempt to get a discount. Go dos dick
Hi Tony,
Thank you for popping in and sharing your opinion. You raise a good initial point about the art of writing a response, one would at least expect a greeting, especially form BMW, which I classify as a luxury brand, it’s the very least they can do.
The whole situation has left a bitter taste in my mouth – when I went to Audi the first time and told them how VW had messed me around, they turned around a quote in 24 hours and closed the deal within 24 hours – it literally took a few days to purchase a car. Now, I don’t expect service like that every time as I believe I was lucky with my sales guy, but this is the complete opposite to BMW and that leaves me asking the question about if this is pre-sales service, what on earth will post-sales service be like?
I do agree though, a situation like this certainly shouldn’t result in a gross generalisation over BMW’s service and that shouldn’t put me off from moving forwards, but I think I’m going to sit and have a think about it before pushing forwards. If anything, it’s made me now wonder about whether it’s the right car ;)
@John – So you’d be fine with being spoken to like that? Discount.. goodness me, I don’t need a discount. Troll is troll.
There it is: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/78/Trollface.svg/200px-Trollface.svg.png
My opinion, Chris – stick with the Audi … what about the A4 cab?
This is sad to hear.
I have only received good service when chatting to the sales people at BMW in Town. I take my car there to be serviced as I feel they offer the best after sales customer service.
That being said, I did buy my car in Joburg.
Its good that you have made this point, I hope that the sales person hears that his conduct wasn’t suitable. I would not be very happy with a response like that either!
@Tony – It’s a tad big man, my driveway McGuyver parking skills won’t be able to fit that :D
Oh hello trolly troll John. First off:
1) Chris has laid out a legitimate complaint here. He’s a businessman (and one of the best ones I know!) and interacting with a business with whom he wishes to spend money. I would, as a potential client, feel exactly the same distaste as him, if I received some half-arsed, garbled response to my query, after receiving ZERO feedback at all.
2) Oh John. If Chris wanted a discount, he’d ask for it. He’s got zero skills at beating around the bush. He’s also got class. Trust me, if he was looking for a discount, laying out his complaint on his blog would not be the way to get one.
3) It would appear, John, that you also enjoy colloquial garbles of language. Perhaps you can get in touch with this salesman, be best friends and then run off into the sunset together with your ridiculous commentaries and communications entertaining each other?
Off you go then.
Chris, in your position, I would get a bigger driveway :D
Hahahahaha Tony, best response, ever. The cost of a bigger driveway is slightly large in comparison to upgrading to a car with a fairly similar cost, but yes, a bigger driveway would rock! ;)
TBH I’m put off very easily when someone uses totally incorrect grammar or spelling (not to mention not greeting in an Email).. we all spent 12 years in school learning English and/or Afrikaans so what’s the problem?
Take a drive to SMG in Canal Walk, you won’t be disappointed :)
1) I will ignore the troll. Poor man.
2) The thought of buying a new car makes the Scot in me shiver. Pissing money away.
3) I initially thought you were over reacting, but then I realized that we have generally become far too excepting of crappy service and almost expect it. When Tony went in it sounds like he got the proper service you would expect. If someone comes in wanting to buy your product make it easy for them! I am quite confused by this guy because as far as I knew, car sales people got commission on sales so there is incentive for him to make you feel like a king and want to buy a car.
4) Buy your Fiance a new car that actually works before you buy yourself a new one ;)
James, you’re correct. If this guy was working for KIA or Toyota it would be another story. The Big Three German brands demand a little more professionalism.
Customer service and communication is essential whatever the product, but with something like a car, it is even more important. It’s awesome that BMW are jacked on Twitter at least – without saying anything, you wouldn’t have been able to give them a heads up on how their dealers are performing.
In fact, for ,many big companies, customer complaints = good thing. Best way to strive for improvement. And I know this from writing about this very thing! :)
I emailed a place to get quote on couches, and needed different prices for different materials. Got a reply in just a few mins, with breakdown on each cost, as well as recommendation on which material is best. Even advised on an alternative to velvet, which is more expensive.
So even though it is not a huge brand-name business like BMW, selling furniture rather than big ticket item like car, that sales team actually gave me options to SAVE money.
That is how it should be done with EVERY company – regardless of size, industry and products.
P.S. Get a Merc SLK Kompressor rather. Classic, stylish and fcuk-off-awesome race car vibe. ;)
Hi Chris,
Sorry to hear about the bad service. Unfortunately in my experience this happens at most big companies – sometimes you get excellent service, other times not. I haven’t had anything but AMAZING service from BMW Hatfield in Pretoria. I wouldn’t make something like this make me change my mind – rather visit another dealer and try and get better service from them.
Just one thing to keep in mind with regards to the 1 series: the current coupe and convertible models are on their way out. BMW is expected to launch the all-new versions within the next year, meaning the old ones’ values will drop even quicker than they currently do. In fact, in future the coupe/convertible will be called the 2 series.
@Gregg – Hey Gregg, how goes? (chuckle) You share the same opinion as Tony and myself with regards to grammar and the likes. I sometimes wonder if it’s because I’ve been involved in the web so long that I naturally greet in an email and so forth. I shall take a trip down to the one at Canal Walk and see what’s up.
@James – Yip, I was anxious that I might have been, but the thing is, this is a luxury brand, luxury brands should be at a certain level and when I compare to my experience at Audi, it falls horribly short. The service I received at Mini was exceptional though, that was on a different occasion when I was picking up a car for a weekend, so yeh, initially a bit moan and groan, but all valid in my opinion. Haha, I would love to buy her a car, but I don’t think that’s motivating or anything, there’s more to it than just spending the money, my old man’s a Scot, I don’t just piss money around either ;)
@Rox – You raise a point, my response and such will only assist them the next time someone comes along. Which couch place? That’s worth sharing! What about getting a pink Honda Prelude? ;)
@Johann – Cheers for sharing your experience with BMW, as did Tony, it’s encouraging to hear that and I certainly won’t just write off the company based on one incident, it’s effectively why I wrote this post, to gather opinions and hear all sides. With regards to the models.. that was a BIG thing in my mind, and I started searching around, the last thing I want to do is purchase a new car and find out that in 6 months the new model is coming.. don’t stress, I’m on the ball with regards to that! I’m waiting to hear back from Audi with regards to when the new A3 Cab is being released. How’s your beast treating you?
@Chris Not sure which beast you’re referring to, but if you don’t know I actually traded the Scirocco in for a 335i (old shape) a couple of months back. It’s thirsty, but man that engine sounds good! And it goes like crazy. I got it with only 33k km on the clock from a BMW dealer, so it’s practically new. The car was about a year and half old when I bought it, but it cost 2/3 the price of a new one. I figured the previous owner took that huge knock, so now I can sleep at night knowing I’m not losing quite that much value.
Like a few people have said, go to SMG. Simple.
When I bought my 1er, I actually ended up getting it from a dealership in Bethlehem, after struggling with the local Claremont one (which I suspect you went to). Now, I service it with SMG, even though it’s a drive out there and I’m in Claremont. Figures…
Instead of a previous-gen 1-series cabriolet, have you looked at an F21 3-door 125i or even M135i (oh my goodness)? There is simply no comparison between the build quality of the E81/82/87 and the F20/F21, they’re worlds apart. The interior is also a revelation in comparison. People love to hate the headlights, but I personally prefer them to the previous-gen, to be honest.
@Martin – That F21 3-door 125i is a wicked vehicle, I quite like those lights, but that M135i, well, now that’s a beast! I had problems with the CBD branch actually, but I’ll definitely take myself along on SMG and have a look around :)
Yeah, definitely have a look! My 118i is already fairly rapid (125kw, 250nm), but the 125i’s 2.0 twin-scroll turbo is a gem of a motor with 160kw.
For some serious temptation, have a look at this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xwecTp91-o
PS: Mail me if you have any questions about options and features, with the time I’ve spent on 1addicts.com forums over the last 6 months, I’m pretty sure I know more about the F20/21 than any BMW salesperson in SA.
Pretty wicked M135i vs RS3 video on this link: http://www.pistonheads.com/news/default.asp?storyId=26529
Martin, the power is actually one of the main reasons I’ve been looking. I’m having a good laugh, the link you posted to the video is the same one I posted a few comments up, or at least similar :D
I’ll definitely pop you a line if I decide to move forwards and need advise, thank you very much!
The M135i is an awesome machine. Just read this article by Jeremy Clarkson: http://hotrod-web-prod.herokuapp.com/clarkson/bmw/1-series/5888
@Johann – I completely missed your previous comment about the car, I didn’t realise you flogged the Scirocco, those 335i’s are even more of a beast compared to the Scirocco, that’s for sure, sheesh! Must admit, I’ve always been a fan of new cars, but as the days go by, I’m seeing more and more value in purchasing a vehicle that’s a year old with low mileage, mostly for the simple reason that it’s hugely cheaper, you take less knock yourself and these luxury cars are more than often driven very carefully for the first year anyway.
That M135i really is a beast, and the sound it makes is to die for. I can’t afford one of those bad boys, so I think I should stop looking at videos and pics, and reading about how incredible they are!
Hi Chris
I have to add that my last three cars have all been “pre-owned” demos, 1 BMW and 2 Audis. I’ve typically saved R60 000 on the sale price and they come with less than 10 000km on it and you still get the balance of the motorplan (for audi and BMW its 100000km/5years).
I definitely think it’s the way to go. It requires a bit more patience in getting the right colour/additions and sometimes you have to sacrifice a thing or two you would have preferred, but the saving benefit is huge. And when you consider the interest savings on the R60000, another massive saving.