Any decent Service departments in the South East?

[toasty]

My car is currently in a large BMW dealership for some warranty work and the service department are clearly drowning in too much work. The did send me a nice video showing they've looked at it but I've no idea when I can expect the car back. They don't seem to ever pick up the phone.

A friend who's recently retired from a Service Advisor role in the same group made it sound like the job from hell so I'm trying to have some sympathy.

Is this just a BMW thing or are all main dealers under this kind of pressure? Is it just in the South East?

I thought service was where they made all the money these days so would think they'd invest a bit more.

[anonymous-user]

Whereabouts in the SE are you? My local BMW dealer (Bishops Stortford) are just like that, and you can't call the service department directly, you have to go via their dealer group call centre, The dealer where I bought the car (Enfield) very rarely managed to answer the telephone.

As a result I ended up booking my car into Specialist Cars in Stevenage for it's running-in service, and they were superb. They have a separate service centre next door to the dealership, and that is as big as most dealers are, with great waiting room/facilities. Brilliant and quick service from them too.

So it's obviously franchise dependent!

[ScoobyChris]

Good experience of Berry (Chiswick and Heathrow) in the past although that was for regular servicing rather than warranty.

Chris

[fido]

If it's the same one in Surrey where my car is being sorted then yes they are definitely snowed under. An alternative is a trek to West London which is a bit of a pain journey-wise.

[f1nn]

Cooper BMW in Reading have always been spot on when I’ve used them.

[ChasW]

My local dealer is quoting over 3 weeks lead time for warranty work. The receptionist was most grateful when I accepted a 10.00 drop off time instead of 08.00-09.00.

[toasty]

Thanks. West London or Cobham may be better next time.

Lead time I can cope with, it’s the lack of contact that’s the pain.

[ladderino]

I think this is a problem everywhere at the moment because of all the recall work.

I've used Sytner High Wycombe for the past few years as it's my closest - I've had to moan at them several times because they've not always been the most communicative, but it really depends on the service rep you get.

Whenever you go there these days however they've got cars stacked up everywhere because they're so overloaded with recalls.

[smashy]

I got on well with the service manager at a dealership he said problem is the "Technicians" get trained up and leave so always staff shortages

[sunil4]

I had good service from Redhill BMW, Cooper Croydon were complete Muppets