BMW Park Lane / Nine Elms - experience on //M buying
Discussion
Hi. Hopefully this won't be shut down but has anyone else bought an //M car from Park Lane, or had their car serviced by Nine Elms ? I picked up an Approved Used Car yesterday and was a little surprised by the collection of minor (but material) issues. For instance:
- one headlight full of condensation and malfunctioned
- front tyre treads c.3mm tread and rubber cracking all over edges.
- rear tyres not matching (one Michelin PSS and the other a Pilot Sport [assume this is an issue?]
- alloys were refurbished but finish is poor and there are v obvious paint runs in a couple of places
The car is otherwise super and drives beautifully. Maybe my expectations were high because Park Lane is owned by BMW GB. Anyone else have experience with them ?
The car was prep'd by Nine Elms hence giving them a mention too.
- one headlight full of condensation and malfunctioned
- front tyre treads c.3mm tread and rubber cracking all over edges.
- rear tyres not matching (one Michelin PSS and the other a Pilot Sport [assume this is an issue?]
- alloys were refurbished but finish is poor and there are v obvious paint runs in a couple of places
The car is otherwise super and drives beautifully. Maybe my expectations were high because Park Lane is owned by BMW GB. Anyone else have experience with them ?
The car was prep'd by Nine Elms hence giving them a mention too.
Not had this personally while buying an approved BMW but I traded in (with BMW) a 2012 318d which had, under my ownership, multiple issues with drivetrain errors, was involved in a big smash (had the whole rear 3/4 of the shell replaced and entire rear suspension changed) and subsequenltly did not AT ALL drive as it should do afterwards. In my eyes it was a complete shed.
It was sold as a fully approved 3 year old used car from a neighbouring dealership a week later.
It was sold as a fully approved 3 year old used car from a neighbouring dealership a week later.
Edited by thatsprettyshady on Thursday 9th June 08:38
Edited by thatsprettyshady on Thursday 9th June 08:39
Edited by thatsprettyshady on Thursday 9th June 08:39
Wow. That is so bad it is impressive. 
I had it checked over in detail upon arrival so have sent a report to them. Will be interesting to see how they respond. Am almost happier to have the remedial work carried out by another dealer as I can't believe they released a car with only one working headlight.
I had it checked over in detail upon arrival so have sent a report to them. Will be interesting to see how they respond. Am almost happier to have the remedial work carried out by another dealer as I can't believe they released a car with only one working headlight.
Sounds typical of my experience with a west London BMW main agent - bought a AUC 6 series off them a couple of years ago. I had it delivered due to them being a hassle to get to and had to send it back to them twice due to terrible paint repair (could have done better with a spray can), other paint repairs that they said they would not having been done, and a 1 inch gash in the sidewall of one of the tyres. The service I received was truly awful for a main dealer but the more I've dealt with them (main dealers) over the years I'm actually coming to expect that the experience will be one that tries my patience.
I've dealt with James Dowie at Park Lane Battersea who is now based at Nine Elms whilst the recent refurbishment at Battersea. I've been using him since 2004 when he was at Cooper Banstead. Great guy and now is the workshop service manager at nine elms. Ask for him personally as I never deal with any other person. It is quite amazing the difference in service between personnel at the same dealership or service centre.
m3asd said:
I've dealt with James Dowie at Park Lane Battersea who is now based at Nine Elms whilst the recent refurbishment at Battersea. I've been using him since 2004 when he was at Cooper Banstead. Great guy and now is the workshop service manager at nine elms. Ask for him personally as I never deal with any other person. It is quite amazing the difference in service between personnel at the same dealership or service centre.
Interesting suggestion considering the situation.Curious what you think a service manager will do with OPs issues, other than just pass him back to the sales person/manager? They're the service centre, not the "let-me-just-sort-for-you-FOC-all-the-little-bits-the-tits-in-sales-thought-they'd-get-away-with" centre.
PH can be a real font of invaluable knowledge/contacts, but in this case I just worry it might end up giving rise to an awkward (and unnecessary) conversation for both the OP and James.
OP, if it were me I'd pursue with the sales person. And at the very first whiff of disinterest (which there will be), just politely tell the sales person your grievance is with the car not the sales service they gave, and you'd like the contact details for the MD of Park Lane to get the snag list resolved. They'll be happy to biff it up the chain as car preparation is not their responsibility and dealing with aftersale issues doesn't pay their mortgages, they'd rather go flog another car.
Had a call this evening from a senior person involved in service/prep, directly in response to a call I placed to them this morning.
Very good conversation and acknowledged the issues. Indicated that they will resolve all the issues. Am very impressed with the level of service. Perhaps helps that I was reasonable about the list of issues and didn't raise stupid things.
11/10 so far for the initial reaction. Will update as things progress.
Very good conversation and acknowledged the issues. Indicated that they will resolve all the issues. Am very impressed with the level of service. Perhaps helps that I was reasonable about the list of issues and didn't raise stupid things.
11/10 so far for the initial reaction. Will update as things progress.
Kananga said:
Hi. Hopefully this won't be shut down but has anyone else bought an //M car from Park Lane, or had their car serviced by Nine Elms ? I picked up an Approved Used Car yesterday and was a little surprised by the collection of minor (but material) issues. For instance:
- one headlight full of condensation and malfunctioned
- front tyre treads c.3mm tread and rubber cracking all over edges.
- rear tyres not matching (one Michelin PSS and the other a Pilot Sport [assume this is an issue?]
- alloys were refurbished but finish is poor and there are v obvious paint runs in a couple of places
The car is otherwise super and drives beautifully. Maybe my expectations were high because Park Lane is owned by BMW GB. Anyone else have experience with them ?
The car was prep'd by Nine Elms hence giving them a mention too.
Having a car delivered to you in that state is frankly UNACCEPTABLE, I nearly had a deal with them but there service and responses were so bad I went elsewere, never again, they just don't care.- one headlight full of condensation and malfunctioned
- front tyre treads c.3mm tread and rubber cracking all over edges.
- rear tyres not matching (one Michelin PSS and the other a Pilot Sport [assume this is an issue?]
- alloys were refurbished but finish is poor and there are v obvious paint runs in a couple of places
The car is otherwise super and drives beautifully. Maybe my expectations were high because Park Lane is owned by BMW GB. Anyone else have experience with them ?
The car was prep'd by Nine Elms hence giving them a mention too.
I bought an AUC from Park Lane a few years ago, which I discovered upon getting home had a few electrical gremlins.
They took the car back and sorted the gremlins, but the car returned with a reasonable number of light scratches on - the kind you'd expect to see from crap washing techniques - which were definitely not there when I'd given the car back to them. They denied any wrongdoing and refused to deal with it. I persevered to a point but eventually lost the will to deal with the useless twunts so just gave up and got on with my life.
They took the car back and sorted the gremlins, but the car returned with a reasonable number of light scratches on - the kind you'd expect to see from crap washing techniques - which were definitely not there when I'd given the car back to them. They denied any wrongdoing and refused to deal with it. I persevered to a point but eventually lost the will to deal with the useless twunts so just gave up and got on with my life.
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