1 st visit to the local dealer...
 

After owning the X5 for over 3 years, this morning I did my first visit ever to a BMW dealership here in Montreal. All I can say is wow, I never had such a great service from a car dealer. I was there in order to get a new remote key and also buy a bunch of small parts, button etc. Apparently there was a recall for my X5 which consist of the ECU reprogramming, which was done for free, it took about 90 minutes to perform, they also washed my truck also for free. Man what a great morning. The technician who came to talk to me later, told me both of the lower control arm where shot but also the tab bushing if not mistaking on the parts name. I re-did the entire drive train on the X5 back in early december 2011 and after only 2 months, I find out earlier this week that both lower control arm are shot again. I ordered the part online and save a bundle but I now hate myself since I have to replace it again. Autowarehouse who sold it to me are sending me a new set and said it's probably a manufacturer defect. If the new parts end-up to be the same, I'll just toss those and order a set of original BMW lower control arm online for 170$ each, the dealer is asking 379$ each, ouch ! Don't get me wrong, I'm not cheap by any mean, but since I'd like to trade the 2004 for a 2010 later this year, I'm not going to throw my money out of the window.

The BMW dealership is called Canbec, first you enter a multiple garage door building, where each car owner has a personal attendant who take care of you, until a technician come by and drive it to a separate garage. Customer can either leave the dealership and come back later to pick-up the car/truck or you stay in the garage salon, where you get first class treatment. Free food, coffee juice, it's a very cosy place with leather chair and a lot to see. They have a very nice show room where you can see either used or brand new car and X. It didn't took me long to locate the X5M, but other model as well, I also liked the X5 35i which I was quite surprising, also saw a lot of nice other car, X6, few M3, one AC Schnitzer and all the other model of the brand. All in all it was a very pleasant morning, I have to go back to get the key since no one new that it had to be ordered, but it's no big deal I'll get it next week. They also offered me a 55 point inspection for 29$, it's normally 129$, I'll have it done next week, but will also asks them to replace the tab bushing as well and once done, everything will have been taken car of and my X should be good for a while, hopefully until I sell it or trade it. That's about it, also the girly who took care of me, I mean who handle my case, was really nice and cute. That's about it, I'm sure I'm going to buy my next Bimmer up there. :thumbup:

Service
 

The service dept. at BMW of Greenwich could take a lesson from BMW Canbec.

When I first purchased my 5-series I had an occasion to visit their parts dept. and was waited on very well. Can't say the same for their service dept. "Advisors". Big shop, they have a row of about four "Service Advisors". maybe I picked the wrong one but his attitude was that he had more important things to do and that I was interrupting him.

That was five years ago and I have not been back to BMW of Greenwich for anything since.

My first few visits to tha local dealership were pretty much the same as yours,but after they learned my face and name,things started to get spoiled,so now I am alternating shops once in a while.
I hate the attitude of doing all the effort to gain the customer and relaxing once he is back for second or third time.
My cars were always washed at the dealership,unless it was a summer and they were clean.

Was the visit at canbec ? Just curious to know. Human behaviours being what they are, I'm not surprise that some take people for granted, most people make that mistake taking everything for granted, but life will eventuality take care of that. Futur will tell if canbec take me for granted without paying attention to either how they treat me or how their service is. I have been in business for 30 years now, all I can say is I have learn how to take good care of people, the old saying " treat them well and they will come back " work, but time will tell.