BEWARE: SAN FRANCISO BMW

[ChuckG]

Call up the S. F. BMW and find out the name of the general manager. Then write a nice but firm letter explaining exactly what happened and ask that they pay for the bumper replacement. This is your best avenue get satisfaction at this point.

The general manager has the power to get this fixed. The general manager can make heads roll. I once got almost $600 from a dealer using this method.

Chuck

[z2g]

Originally Posted by WillTheGreat

The two BMW dealers I really do not recommend the BMW dealerships in Berkeley, and San Francisco. I've had relatives lease a few Bimmers, and these two offered okay deals (relatively the same) but they acted like they had a customer waiting for the deal they offered to you when you reject it.
Concord isn't too bad, its actually one of the better ones in the Bay Area. Customer service after purchasing the car is a lot better than the San Francisco dealership. Almost day and night imo.


I disagree with your stereotype regarding which cars each race likes. However, I did notice that the dealership in SF does offers their prices slightly less (a few bucks less ) than other dealerships in the neighborhood.

It's not really a "stereotype". It's more of a general observation. I'm not trying to be racist, if that's what you're thinking. For example, Asians don't buy American or VW's....for the most part. Why do I say Chinese love BMW's? Because all my Chinese friends and acquaintances all have and love BMW's. Why do I say that Viet ppl love Mercedes Benz? Because I'm Vietnamese and know my ppl's mentality......Movado/Cartier = best watchmakers, Yamaha = best pianos, and Mercedes = best cars and sign of success. Is it correct? Of course not. I'm just the messenger.

[jcbjr]

Thanks for all of the support and advice on my situation at BMWSF. I will be sending a letter to the general manager about the travesty that occured xmas eve as well as to BMWNA. I am not holding my breath that anything will come of it but want to leave no stone unturned for the way I was treated by this shyster dealership! If this post helps lose even one sale to BMWSF I will have at least gotten some revenge for their horrible customer service and total lack of respect for their cutomers.

[Jed Peters]

From now on, you need to frequent BMW of Humboldt Bay. In fact, they are probably closer than chico! Anyhow, they're the best....I'm in sacramento, and I've still bought 2 cars from them, including my X5.

I recommend that EVERYONE buys from BMW of Humboldt Bay....

[jcbjr]

Thanks for the info on Humbolt Bay BMW. I looked at there web site but never talked to them becasue they had no diesels in stock. By the size of their inventory they are a very small dealership which is fine but the smaller dealers don't seem to be able to get vehicles ordered as quickly as the larger dealers do. This is due to allocations by the factory. I was able to get my X5 from BMWSF about 5 weeks sooner than my dealer in Chico was able to otherwise I would have bought from them. In hind sight I wish I would have now. Another few weeks of waiting would have been much better then what I went through xmas eve for sure.

[Jed Peters]

Originally Posted by jcbjr

Thanks for the info on Humbolt Bay BMW. I looked at there web site but never talked to them becasue they had no diesels in stock. By the size of their inventory they are a very small dealership which is fine but the smaller dealers don't seem to be able to get vehicles ordered as quickly as the larger dealers do. This is due to allocations by the factory. I was able to get my X5 from BMWSF about 5 weeks sooner than my dealer in Chico was able to otherwise I would have bought from them. In hind sight I wish I would have now. Another few weeks of waiting would have been much better then what I went through xmas eve for sure.

Regarding BMW of HB....I have had 2 VERY difficult to find cars for them to go after and find....and they've actually gone out and found them both times!

1st was a fully loaded, year old 5 series wagon, second was the X5 I just bought--they found me the right one, at the right price.

[jcbjr]

Next time I will deal much closer to home. Dealing with big city car dealers is a thing of the past for me. I thought by going to an area with many dealers that the competition would have made for a more competitve market which translates to lower prices. In this case smaller would have been better. In SF I was just a little fish in a large pond that got swallowed up and spit out.

[ABMW]

The message as of late is pretty clear to those of us who live in the Bay Area.

AVOID LOCAL BMW DEALERSHIPS LIKE THE PLAUGE.

There's one dealership where I've had a semi-positive experience and that was in Pleasanton.

The rest of them are for the birds. I took delivery of my 35d 8-days ago.

Worst buying experience of my life.

It appears the positive experiences that BMW owners have had, locally, are few and far between here.

There must be a regional manager for our local. If a few of you would like to join in, I'm up for writing a group letter with a summary of short snippets we've each experienced.

As I mentioned a few days ago, I've had better experiences purchasing a Hyundai at the age of 18, than working with these jokers.

They've become too "fat" off of all the business to care about individual customers. We obviously live in BMW Central. Drive through any semi-nice neighborhood in the region and you'll see 10 to 15% of the cars are made by BMW. Some places like Piedmont or Noe Valley probably have 30 to 40% BMWs.

What a shame. I'm sorry you had this experience. It's a great SUV, and there are MANY consumer laws that will assist you. If you need help, feel free to contact me and I'll point you in the right direction, legally.

[Diesel Guy]

You know. One letter form an uphappy customer doesn't carry the weight of a bunch of responeses from a group of BMW enthusiasts. Perhaps emails from such a group. polite, yet to the point about customer satisfaction, might go a bit further.

According to their website, the Schmitt familty has been owners for over 40 years. I'm sure they'd like to offer a remedy for their screw up by an employee (not the technician, the sales manager).

[SiLvX5]

Sorry to hear, do you have any pictures of your scratch? SFBMW has the worst service, I live in San Francisco and will never take my car there.