Car serviced yesterday by MB main dealer
Discussion
When your dealer supplies you with a new fuel and oil filter do you expect them to be fitted free of charge? I thought not - so why do you expect them to fit your wipers free of charge? Any business has to make money to cover their overheads - they do that by charging for the labour not by giving it away for free.
And they do take more than 30 seconds to fit. It can take longer than that to remove the old ones if they are a bit stuck.
Having said that I think that the good dealers I have used have all fitted wipers free of charge as a goodwill gesture. Nevertheless I would always check this up front if I asked for new wipers to be fitted. We all know main dealers charge about £120 per hour for labour and it is quite common for 15 minutes to be the minimum charged for. Since there's no way I would accept that level of cost for a job I could very simply do myself I would only agree to them fitting the wipers if they were going to do so FOC.
And they do take more than 30 seconds to fit. It can take longer than that to remove the old ones if they are a bit stuck.
Having said that I think that the good dealers I have used have all fitted wipers free of charge as a goodwill gesture. Nevertheless I would always check this up front if I asked for new wipers to be fitted. We all know main dealers charge about £120 per hour for labour and it is quite common for 15 minutes to be the minimum charged for. Since there's no way I would accept that level of cost for a job I could very simply do myself I would only agree to them fitting the wipers if they were going to do so FOC.
750turbo said:
Wrong, the £32.09 is for the PARTS ALONE, not the fetching, carrying, fitting etc...
I am very familiar with these type of invoices.
what a lot of bI am very familiar with these type of invoices.
ks. ive never been to a dealer who said you can have the parts but we are going to charge to carry them to the counter/your car etc. you sir should get cock of the year for your post.BigBen said:
750turbo said:
Wrong, the £32.09 is for the PARTS ALONE, not the fetching, carrying, fitting etc...
I am very familiar with these type of invoices.
So if you went to the parts counter you would get charged more than £32.09 because fetching and carrying were extra. Seems unlikely, however I am not so familiar with these types of invoice.I am very familiar with these type of invoices.
Old ford said:
750turbo said:
Wrong, the £32.09 is for the PARTS ALONE, not the fetching, carrying, fitting etc...
I am very familiar with these type of invoices.
what a lot of bI am very familiar with these type of invoices.
ks. ive never been to a dealer who said you can have the parts but we are going to charge to carry them to the counter/your car etc. you sir should get cock of the year for your post.Thanks for the abuse, such a lovely place at time, grow up.
CraigyMc said:
This was the email exchange I had with one of the sales guys later:
Call it petty if you like, but they won't be having any business from me in future.
Voting with your wallet is the only way to get the behaviour to change.
Bet that had them quaking in their boots! Or more likely they thought pompous dick, deleted it and carried on signing up their next finance deal.Hi <SalesBod>,
I needed to change the address on the mails you send me as they were causing a problem at work.
If you could cancel anything that is sent to me that would be very helpful.
For the record, I probably won't be buying any cars from <BMWDealer> after your service department
attempted to charge me £13.40 to fit a pair of windscreen wipers to my car.
This was utterly ridiculous on two grounds:
(a) I asked for the parts to be put in the boot of the car, and
(b) it takes less than 30 seconds for me to fit them myself. That's an hourly rate of about £1608.
In terms of revenue, that's £13.40 up, and about £40K down (my last BMW was £38600).
Call it petty if you like, but they won't be having any business from me in future.
Voting with your wallet is the only way to get the behaviour to change.
CraigyMc said:
The car was only back in BMW for a free reflash of one of the electronics modules (the one that drops the window when someone uses a plain screwdriver on the lock, permitting access to the OBDII port and allowing the car to be driven away without the alarm tripping).
As I was there anyway, I asked for a set of wiper blades to be supplied.
I didn't actually ask for them to be fitted at all - I specifically asked for them to be put in the boot (I wasn't planning to fit them then and there).
Even if I had asked for them to be fitted, it's a 30 second job to do both of them (I'm actually sad enough to have done it against the clock).
This was the email exchange I had with one of the sales guys later:
Call it petty if you like, but they won't be having any business from me in future.
Voting with your wallet is the only way to get the behaviour to change.
It does seem petty to me.As I was there anyway, I asked for a set of wiper blades to be supplied.
I didn't actually ask for them to be fitted at all - I specifically asked for them to be put in the boot (I wasn't planning to fit them then and there).
Even if I had asked for them to be fitted, it's a 30 second job to do both of them (I'm actually sad enough to have done it against the clock).
This was the email exchange I had with one of the sales guys later:
Hi <SalesBod>,
I needed to change the address on the mails you send me as they were causing a problem at work.
If you could cancel anything that is sent to me that would be very helpful.
For the record, I probably won't be buying any cars from <BMWDealer> after your service department
attempted to charge me £13.40 to fit a pair of windscreen wipers to my car.
This was utterly ridiculous on two grounds:
(a) I asked for the parts to be put in the boot of the car, and
(b) it takes less than 30 seconds for me to fit them myself. That's an hourly rate of about £1608.
In terms of revenue, that's £13.40 up, and about £40K down (my last BMW was £38600).
Call it petty if you like, but they won't be having any business from me in future.
Voting with your wallet is the only way to get the behaviour to change.
No way that I would end up buying a car I didn't really want just to get one over the dealer like that. Just seems like cutting off our nose yo spite your face.
I have here a 2 page receipt from BMW, for work done for the previous owner on my E91 in 2008.
Car had a flat battery. They charged it.
Including Energy Diagnosis Battery Charge Level, current consumption test, instrument cluster test, ccc reset, alternator charge test, battery checks, encoding of cas, initialising tyre failure indicator sunroof and windows, resetting steering angle sensors and dsc calibration, the total bill is £223, at 2008 prices.
I also have a receipt here from my local BMW indie, for work done on my E91 this year.
Car had a flat battery. They replaced it, with a Bosch S4 - 4 year warranty.
Including battery and diagnostics, the total bill is £116.
Car had a flat battery. They charged it.
Including Energy Diagnosis Battery Charge Level, current consumption test, instrument cluster test, ccc reset, alternator charge test, battery checks, encoding of cas, initialising tyre failure indicator sunroof and windows, resetting steering angle sensors and dsc calibration, the total bill is £223, at 2008 prices.
I also have a receipt here from my local BMW indie, for work done on my E91 this year.
Car had a flat battery. They replaced it, with a Bosch S4 - 4 year warranty.
Including battery and diagnostics, the total bill is £116.
andy43 said:
I have here a 2 page receipt from BMW, for work done for the previous owner on my E91 in 2008.
Car had a flat battery. They charged it.
Including Energy Diagnosis Battery Charge Level, current consumption test, instrument cluster test, ccc reset, alternator charge test, battery checks, encoding of cas, initialising tyre failure indicator sunroof and windows, resetting steering angle sensors and dsc calibration, the total bill is £223, at 2008 prices.
I also have a receipt here from my local BMW indie, for work done on my E91 this year.
Car had a flat battery. They replaced it, with a Bosch S4 - 4 year warranty.
Including battery and diagnostics, the total bill is £116.
Main agents are not charities. If you go there to get work done then (on the whole) be prepared to have your trousers pulled down.Car had a flat battery. They charged it.
Including Energy Diagnosis Battery Charge Level, current consumption test, instrument cluster test, ccc reset, alternator charge test, battery checks, encoding of cas, initialising tyre failure indicator sunroof and windows, resetting steering angle sensors and dsc calibration, the total bill is £223, at 2008 prices.
I also have a receipt here from my local BMW indie, for work done on my E91 this year.
Car had a flat battery. They replaced it, with a Bosch S4 - 4 year warranty.
Including battery and diagnostics, the total bill is £116.
You think all their 'lounges' with the wifi, free tea/coffee, food, etc. cost them nothing to run? Its all charged back somehow.
Just reading about the wiper blades, takes me back to a post I made last week on the 'Tales of Awesome Customer Service' thread:
Kinky said:
I'd like to nominate Swain & Jones, Jaguar main dealer in Farnham 
I'm going on a very long journey tomorrow and simply did not have the time to do my usual sweep of the car, oil, fluid levels, tyre pressures, etc, etc. Last time I did was 2 weeks ago and knew that my oil level was low.
So I called them this morning, asking if they could give it a once-over today. "Sure, no problems, just pop down and we'll squeeze you in".
So I eventually did duly pop down. They took the car in, about 2 minutes after I arrived. Then about 40 minutes later, it was finished. Half a litre of oil, 2 new wiper blades (I did know that 1 was knackered), tyres, pressures, etc, etc and everything else checked and absolutely fine.
I also availed of their coffee whilst there.
And the cost? A total of £0. The service manager told me not to worry and that they were happy to do it. I was mentally expecting a cost of about £40 or so. And he waved me on my way.
A refreshing and very pleasant experience
My old Mercs and Beemers were all serviced at dealerships. MB Basingstoke and BMW Ascot - never ever had an issue with either.I'm going on a very long journey tomorrow and simply did not have the time to do my usual sweep of the car, oil, fluid levels, tyre pressures, etc, etc. Last time I did was 2 weeks ago and knew that my oil level was low.
So I called them this morning, asking if they could give it a once-over today. "Sure, no problems, just pop down and we'll squeeze you in".
So I eventually did duly pop down. They took the car in, about 2 minutes after I arrived. Then about 40 minutes later, it was finished. Half a litre of oil, 2 new wiper blades (I did know that 1 was knackered), tyres, pressures, etc, etc and everything else checked and absolutely fine.
I also availed of their coffee whilst there.
And the cost? A total of £0. The service manager told me not to worry and that they were happy to do it. I was mentally expecting a cost of about £40 or so. And he waved me on my way.
A refreshing and very pleasant experience
Kinky said:
Just reading about the wiper blades, takes me back to a post I made last week on the 'Tales of Awesome Customer Service' thread:
Geesus Christ Kinky - You are going to give the PH Collective (Anti Main Dealer Mob) a collective heart attack!Kinky said:
I'd like to nominate Swain & Jones, Jaguar main dealer in Farnham
I'm going on a very long journey tomorrow and simply did not have the time to do my usual sweep of the car, oil, fluid levels, tyre pressures, etc, etc. Last time I did was 2 weeks ago and knew that my oil level was low.
So I called them this morning, asking if they could give it a once-over today. "Sure, no problems, just pop down and we'll squeeze you in".
So I eventually did duly pop down. They took the car in, about 2 minutes after I arrived. Then about 40 minutes later, it was finished. Half a litre of oil, 2 new wiper blades (I did know that 1 was knackered), tyres, pressures, etc, etc and everything else checked and absolutely fine.
I also availed of their coffee whilst there.
And the cost? A total of £0. The service manager told me not to worry and that they were happy to do it. I was mentally expecting a cost of about £40 or so. And he waved me on my way.
A refreshing and very pleasant experience
My old Mercs and Beemers were all serviced at dealerships. MB Basingstoke and BMW Ascot - never ever had an issue with either.I'm going on a very long journey tomorrow and simply did not have the time to do my usual sweep of the car, oil, fluid levels, tyre pressures, etc, etc. Last time I did was 2 weeks ago and knew that my oil level was low.
So I called them this morning, asking if they could give it a once-over today. "Sure, no problems, just pop down and we'll squeeze you in".
So I eventually did duly pop down. They took the car in, about 2 minutes after I arrived. Then about 40 minutes later, it was finished. Half a litre of oil, 2 new wiper blades (I did know that 1 was knackered), tyres, pressures, etc, etc and everything else checked and absolutely fine.
I also availed of their coffee whilst there.
And the cost? A total of £0. The service manager told me not to worry and that they were happy to do it. I was mentally expecting a cost of about £40 or so. And he waved me on my way.
A refreshing and very pleasant experience
This thread alone proves how many people have absolutely no idea how a Dealership operates, which given that this is "mainly" a car forum, is just a tad disappointing.
Edited by 750turbo on Wednesday 27th August 18:53
750turbo said:
Geesus Christ Kinky - You are going to give the PH Collective (Anti Main Dealer Mob) a collective heart attack!
This thread alone proves how many people have absolutely no idea how a Dealership operates, which given that this is "mainly" a car forum, is just a tad disappointing.
I have to agree totally agree with you .... and whilst we're there, don't mention trade-in prices This thread alone proves how many people have absolutely no idea how a Dealership operates, which given that this is "mainly" a car forum, is just a tad disappointing.
The old farmer from whom i rent some workspace off has an E class Diesel 'AMG'
The salesperson told him that the engine '..was managed by AMG..' and then went on to say '..whatever that's supposed to mean.'
It seems like Mercedes are equally as happy as BMW to let their flagship tuning arm be watered down to bolster sales.
The salesperson told him that the engine '..was managed by AMG..' and then went on to say '..whatever that's supposed to mean.'
It seems like Mercedes are equally as happy as BMW to let their flagship tuning arm be watered down to bolster sales.
Thankyou4calling said:
It does seem petty to me.
No way that I would end up buying a car I didn't really want just to get one over the dealer like that. Just seems like cutting off our nose yo spite your face.
There are plenty of BMW dealerships to choose from. I simply won't buy from that one.No way that I would end up buying a car I didn't really want just to get one over the dealer like that. Just seems like cutting off our nose yo spite your face.
Sheepshanks said:
You come across as an arse, TBH. You appear to have no idea how business generally, or specifically a dealership, works. And if it only takes 30 secs to fit the wipers then you didn't save them much by asking for them to be put in the boot.
How insightful. Thanks for your contribution.Time is money and a service managers favourite is the chap who sells 14 hours in an 8 hour day
130% efficient in a month,he doesn't car about quality until the complaint arrives, 4 waiting jobs whilst still doing another job oh yes you get plenty of time to do a good job oh really and to top it all off the customer thinks the techie/mechanic is paid huge sums
Yeah it's living the dream alright or was it a nightmare it's all a blur
130% efficient in a month,he doesn't car about quality until the complaint arrives, 4 waiting jobs whilst still doing another job oh yes you get plenty of time to do a good job oh really and to top it all off the customer thinks the techie/mechanic is paid huge sums
Yeah it's living the dream alright or was it a nightmare it's all a blur
CraigyMc said:
JimmyTheHand said:
CraigyMc said:
How hard is it to type "bought" ?
That must have made your day finding a commonly mistyped/used word so you can show your superiority.Baryonyx said:
There's your problem right there...
Haha! I'm not going to bite. Anyhow, the service fella called me today and said they'd have to carry out further investigations which could take 2 or 3 days and was I OK with the loan car, which I am.Funny thing is my new E Class Cab arrives Friday so I'll be running a little fleet.
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