Recommendation? BMW Dealer servicing C/W London

[AlasdairB10]

I'm looking for a decent franchised BMW dealer service center in central or west London - needle/haystack etc. I'd prefer to go independent as there is plenty of good ones but have a mondial warranty so not really worth the hassle for the warranty claim approval.

Any thoughts? Most of my local dealers get roundly slated in the google reviews....

Thanks

[creampuff]

Berry Chiswick: service a bit clueless but they haven't actually cocked anything up that bad so far. They did once fit V rated tyres instead of W rated as per the tyre placard which they changed after I complained. Have used them several times. If you book far enough in advance you can get a loan car. If you wait they give you a capuccino and a biscuit. They were actually cheaper than the local independent for a vehicle check (the thing that you do when the car on hoist symbol appears on your dash).

[AlasdairB10]

creampuff said:

Berry Chiswick: service a bit clueless.

Thanks Creampuff - they are my closest. Would you trust them for a cylinder borescope inspection?

[Theophany]

HR Owen in Park Royal were pretty good for me recently. The previous owner religiously used Berry Chiswick for 12 years after buying the car from them in the first place, which would suggest he was pleased with them! The BMW/Mini place in a Town named after a different county-ish are a fking shower, mind. Had dreadful experiences with them.

[AlasdairB10]

Theophany said:

HR Owen in Park Royal were pretty good for me recently. The previous owner religiously used Berry Chiswick for 12 years after buying the car from them in the first place, which would suggest he was pleased with them! The BMW/Mini place in a Town named after a different county-ish are a fking shower, mind. Had dreadful experiences with them.

Thanks Theophany. You are going to have give me a bigger hint on the fking shower though...

[Cheib]

AlasdairB10 said:

Theophany said:

HR Owen in Park Royal were pretty good for me recently. The previous owner religiously used Berry Chiswick for 12 years after buying the car from them in the first place, which would suggest he was pleased with them! The BMW/Mini place in a Town named after a different county-ish are a fking shower, mind. Had dreadful experiences with them.

Thanks Theophany. You are going to have give me a bigger hint on the fking shower though...

If you aSPIRE to do a google search you might find them. Used to resemble a six sided shape.....

I've used both them and HR Owen. That latter seem very disorganised. Bought some winter wheels from them which they had to order from BMW UK...I turned up and someone had put "my" wheels on a demonstrator the day before. When I went back a few months later to have my summer wheels put back on they'd forgotten to get them back from storage. Maybe the work they do is better than how they are organised!

[Theophany]

Cheib said:

AlasdairB10 said:

Theophany said:

HR Owen in Park Royal were pretty good for me recently. The previous owner religiously used Berry Chiswick for 12 years after buying the car from them in the first place, which would suggest he was pleased with them! The BMW/Mini place in a Town named after a different county-ish are a fking shower, mind. Had dreadful experiences with them.

Thanks Theophany. You are going to have give me a bigger hint on the fking shower though...

If you aSPIRE to do a google search you might find them. Used to resemble a six sided shape.....

I've used both them and HR Owen. That latter seem very disorganised. Bought some winter wheels from them which they had to order from BMW UK...I turned up and someone had put "my" wheels on a demonstrator the day before. When I went back a few months later to have my summer wheels put back on they'd forgotten to get them back from storage. Maybe the work they do is better than how they are organised!

Only had a wee bit of mechanical work done by HR Owen, secondary vacuum pump and clearing out the sunroof drainage channels. Service adviser kept me informed the whole time and they didn't take the mickey on price. Only criticism is they had some circus midget move it from the garage to the parking space - couldn't get in the damn thing until I'd moved the seat back as I'd be steering with my face.

[Cheib]

I wouldn't say either are great. Moved out of town to Bucks middle of last year...the local dealer isn't much better either.

Like the OP I have a Mondial warranty so need to keep the service history.

[mmm-five]

Can't recommend Berry Chiswick (Brentford/Osterley more like), as I had to take mine there for a warranty job when my brake caliper seized on the way down to work nearby.

The initial phone call from them a couple of hours later listed the 2 calipers (got to be replaced in pairs), the 2 discs (again in pairs and 1 was knackered from the seized caliper), and a set of pads.

I told them to go ahead as it was on a fully comp, no excess BMW Insured warranty.

Picked it up at the end of the week for my trip home, and found out they'd simply replaced one caliper (under warranty) and the other caliper, both discs & pads would have to be paid by me as they were not covered under warranty.

Took about an hour of talking to the service tech, service manager and warranty administrator before I could head home - although still with a bill a single disc.

I also found out that their labour rate was about £150+vat, when I asked about getting my inspection 1 done whilst it was in for the caliper. Got a call to say it would be £1200 - and I thought they'd misheard and quoted for an Inspection 2 - but no, the Inspection 2 was £1500. Got it for £700 at Knights in Stoke (plus £12 for the hire car for the day).

[creampuff]

AlasdairB10 said:

Thanks Creampuff - they are my closest. Would you trust them for a cylinder borescope inspection?

Hard to say. I've been happy with Berry, clueless service aside, but otoh they haven't done anything that complicated either. Car has been serviced by Berry for 6 years, except for one visit to an independent for brake pads, another visit to BMW in Germany for more brake pads and a trip to HR Owen (mentioned by the other poster) for a door respray. I got the impression HR Owen were also ok. So my review for Berry Chiswick is "used them 6 years, they haven't cheesed me off so far"

[AlasdairB10]

Brill - thanks for the responses. I've heard Park Lane are OK too but might give Berry Osterley Park a go.

[Cheib]

AlasdairB10 said:

Brill - thanks for the responses. I've heard Park Lane are OK too but might give Berry Osterley Park a go.

Park Lane are owned by BMW UK (only dealer they do own) so you'd hope they'd be better!

[Gruber]

Cheib said:

Park Lane are owned by BMW UK (only dealer they do own) so you'd hope they'd be better!

I've used Park Lane for routine servicing from time to time. They've been fine, but I'd recommend you don't let them wash your car once they've finished - the one time they washed mine, I could swear it came back dirtier (and definitely swirlier) than it went. Mind you, that was a couple of years ago so maybe they've bought a new sponge since then...

[The Stiglet]

BMW Battersea, 9 Elms (service department for Park Lane) aren't great in my experience. Cracked my rear bumper a few years back on a mint e39 540i sport. Denied it and then we had a stand off as I refused to accept the car. I'd asked them to pull CCTV footage, but they made up something about it not being in scope etc. Manager agreed to pay. Crappy repair cracked again within 3 months.

Don't know about servicing at Berry Chiswick but the standard prep of their AUC is a disgrace. Seen a few there recently and it was an embarrassment to the brand.

My car is currently in at Cooper's Thames Ditton and I am very happy with the phone service and feedback so far. I haven't collected the vehicle yet, so this isn't a personal recommendation but my father and two others use them (for a few years) and all have positive feedback. Hence my decision to take the car further out for work.

[The Stiglet]

The Stiglet said:

My car is currently in at Cooper's Thames Ditton and I am very happy with the phone service and feedback so far. I haven't collected the vehicle yet, so this isn't a personal recommendation but my father and two others use them (for a few years) and all have positive feedback. Hence my decision to take the car further out for work.

Collected my car from them yesterday. I'd dropped it in straight from a £22 pro car wash - car was filthy with brake dust all over alloys and mud up the sides. One of the alloys had been badly curbed with a chunk out of the rubber tyre band.

Not really enjoying owning a BMW these days...

[TB404]

Hello there,
Any update on recommended BMW service centre in London area? Looking forward to my first Bimmer (2017 330e) and a bit worried by all these stories...

I want to do some modest coding to the car also install a new proper hifi system so ideally want a service centre who's friendly to those...

Thank you very much!

[Eddieslofart]

Bimmer ? Really ?

[TB404]

Eddieslofart said:

Bimmer ? Really ?

Thanks mate, that was helpful feedback. Totally answered my question.

[smashy]

Berrys is a long walk from me. I take mine to N Oxford....just cant take the doing you a favour attitude and the fact cars are left in public place overnight

[aeropilot]

TB404 said:

Hello there,
I want to do some modest coding to the car also install a new proper hifi system so ideally want a service centre who's friendly to those...

Dealers won't care about the new audio system unless something goes wrong with the car that they can blame the install on, then you'll likely be on your own.

There aren't a lot of options for West of London.

Park Lane's service in Battersea, Berry's in Isleworth and in West Drayton and HR Owen in Acton.... that's yer lot.

I've used 3 or those 4 during the past 7 years, can't say I've been hugely impressed with any of the 3, but as I move job location quite a bit being freelance, I use whichever dealer is most convenient to my work location.
Have also used Sytner at High Wycombe a lot, and forced to use Sytner at Maindenhead once as that was the nearest one to where I broke down on the M4 and so where BMW Assistance trailered the car to. Have to say, both Sytner's were better than either of the 3 out of 4 options mentioned above.