[Jay_328]

Originally Posted by obLu

I wish I could just go around asking for all 5's and then squeek by doing the absolute minimum required. Life'd be a lot simpler.

[LEDZEP]

My CA actually knew more about the car than I did. She still does in some areas. We'll argue about some function and more often than not, she's right. She does her homework. I've actually seen a service technician come to her for help!! I was thrilled to buy two cars from her, and she would never get less than 5's.

I agree the system is flawed. Service is another story - and I disagree that it's only about the attitude of the SA. My SA is a pretty hot looking female who is extremely friendly and accomodating. So what. That has nothing to do with the fact that the problem may not be corrected, or there is grease on the leather interior, or they forgot to give me a copy of the work order.... these are all part of service. The service dept may not have built the car, but they are paid and trained to maintain them. I know more about some aspects of my car than the technicians do - and that is highly unacceptable. Just because you put a blue shirt on a monkey with the name "Joe" on the front doesn't mean he should be working on my car.

[shadye90]

Originally Posted by obLu

Keep in mind, I'm not attacking you, I'm just debating why we as customers think "exceptional" is getting the job done, and not going above and beyond to get the job done to our satisfaction.
.

Point well taken..I understand the frustrations as a consumer as well..just recently i went in to my local BMW service center to diagnose an electrical problem(which wasnt fixed btw-i wound up taking apart the fuse box to diagnose it), but i still gave my advisor all excellents because he and the mechanic genuinely tried their best-and thats all i ask for..so i just hope by me posting my comments that the general public is more informed about how fuck*d up the survey system is and hopefully you guys can look out for your advisor if he/she has made an effort to help you out..

[ben1364]

Good posts. My summation is that the "points system" is a marketing tool invented and sold to the maunfacturers/importers that looks good but isn't working. There are so many such surveys that virtually every car and truck line can advertize being best overall or best in class in one or another of them. I suspect that the public has tired of reading/hearing about them and pays little attention. I would think the companies would be well advised to stop trying to use them as marketing props and instead use them to gauge actual dealership and manufacturing performance.

[lumbergh]

Well, I finally read all the posts and had to put one up of my own.

Having a salesman beg for a 5 and not really doing anything exceptionally is BS. It is also BS if someone gives 5's because you bought a car and there were no problems.

The last car I bought from a dealer "Chevrolet" they asked for "completely satisfied" ,at the end, and tried to buy me dinner if I would give it to them. I told them no way. If they wanted a high rating they should have already earned it. All that would do is breed mediocraty because they didn't deserve it. I told them where they did not give me complete satisfaction and they made an effort to make it up, nothing special just acknowledged where they sucked and said they would work on it, but again they didn't completely satisfy me so I opted to put not satisfied. There were good reasons. If they want 5's or "complete satisfaction" they need to work for 5's from the very beginning and not beg for it at the end, when I'm thinking of my new car and forgetting about the pain in the butt process it took to buy the car.

By the way the only reason the original poster got any sort of an apology is because the salesman realized he was discussing this with other people, and maybe reading this forum. I would report this schmuck even if you promised 5's because his email should have been "what did I do wrong" not you're an ass and don't talk to me again. He should be fired for his first email. That is not a five star salesman. It sounds like he was lucky to get 4's


Here's my system.
1 you sucked
2 I won't complain about you but you sucked
3 you did your job
4 you made some extra effort but not exceptional
5 you did better than other sales people and should be rewarded

I am not a snob that feels I should be beckoned to when I buy a car or that I should be able to abuse sales people and ask for obsurd things, I am also in a very customer oriented business. I just feel the best should be rewarded and the rest should be happy they have a job. If I acted like this guy I would not be in business. If he wanted 5's he should have earned them, then he wouldn't have to ask. If I acted like a 3 I would get paid like a 3. It's not that hard to do a job well. There is a reason it's sales and some excel while others don't.

I have yet to meet a 5 when it comes to auto sales but it looks like some of you here did. THOSE salespeople should be rewarded with bonuses. NOT Schmucks begging/pressuring for 5's but not actually performing.

Someone really should send this thread in to BMW NA not too get the guy in trouble. He is an idiot and inconsequential and if he gets in trouble it's because he screwed up. It should be sent to give them an idea of how people really feel about their sales people overall and then maybe we'll get great sales people. Shoot, I would give the guy a bonus/tip myself if I thought he deserved it and felt he/she did an exceptional job.

People obviously care about customer service. Look at all the views and all the posts and this is just one thread on one forum dealing with one model. WOW. If I were BMW NA I would think this thread is the best sales feed back ever. Much better than a loaded survey.

[CnoteMD]

I also think this rating system has serious flaws, but maybe we can create our own rating system on this site. It's much more common to see threads about the problems that people have had with salespeople, but we hear far fewer stories of the good experiences.

My experience was somewhat mixed. I gave my dealer all 5's but the salesperson recieved some 5's and some 3's. He did a good job getting me to place the order. After that, everything went downhill.

For those who have had a salesperson truly worthy of an "all 5" rating, please post the dealer and salesperson's name on this site. Then the rest of us can deal specifically with that salesperson. When someone uses that salesperson we can continue to get all 5's. This way the salespeople that do a truly excellent job will continue to recieve all 5's and also have a higher volume of sales (and high ratings).

Michael

[LEDZEP]

Not too bad an idea. I have previously posted about my CA, Stephanie Antone of IG Burton Imports, Milford, Delaware. First of all, the dealership sells Mercedes Benz and BMW under one roof. I was actually there test driving a C240 sedan and had never driven or even looked at a BMW. The sales person on the MB side had previously sold me a car ('02 MB) and I was having her crunch numbers, look into available options, etc. for the C240 - when I noticed... far across the showroom floor... the new E90 (this was in mid May and it wasn't even for sale yet).

I figured looking at another pretty car was a good way to kill some time, so I wandered over there. I was blown away by the new styling of the E90 and gave it a good once-over in the showroom. Then back to the MB side to finish up with the quote I was getting there.

When I was done with MB, I wanted to oggle the E90 again so I trotted back over and was met with a very enthusiastic but very un-pushy young lady (Stephanie) who told me tons of things about the car and asked if I'd like to drive one. Took the test drive, during which I was given more great info on the car. Afterwards she gave me her card and invited me to contact her anytime... that was it - no sales crap.

A day or two later, after obsessing about the car and wearing out the brochure she gave me, I sent her an email. She replied promptly and invited me to another drive if I wanted one, etc. What I was most impressed with during the whole process was her knowledge of the vehicle - and keep in mind this thing was just hitting the States. Not just sales bullet points, but she knew every mechanical and electronic detail, what could be done or not done with certain functions, etc. It was as if she actually took an interest in her work and bothered to learn the car. It was also clear that she had an enthusiasm about the car itself, and would rather be racing me on the track than sitting across the desk.

IG Burton is a relatively small BMW dealership, so they don't get enormous allocation and inventory, especially for new releases. They had a few E90s in stock, but not exactly what I wanted. I gave Stephanie my desired options and color choices and asked her to see what she could do. She found my car on a ship as was able to deal for it and the rest is history. Or is it?

Stephanie called me with the VIN of my car and the name of the ship it was on, and an ETA for arrival. She answered my many questions about accessories, put up with my daily "where is it now... okay, how about now" emails - and even made it fun. I felt that she truly did not mind the constant pestering, and she even sounded excited about it.

Car comes in, she somehow managed to get it prepped for delivery the SAME day and I picked it up that evening, even though I had evening plans - she made sure to fit it in perfectly with my schedule.

Less than a week went by... BANG... I got rear ended in my brand new baby. I called Stephanie and told her about the accident and asked if she had any advice. She told me about the BMW collision center owned by the dealership. I asked her directions on how to find it (it's in a different location) and she suggested I come to her and she would take me there. I went to the dealership and met her there and she rode with me to the body shop, introduced me to the manager and helped get things arranged. While the repairs were being done, and I was getting frustrated and impatient, she helped by calming me down while at the same time talking to the shop and getting better info than they were giving me... and nudging them along. She made sure that I was called the minute the post-September software was available, etc.

Meanwhile, we ordered the E91 with Stephanie, who despite NO allocation for 3 series wagons and another customer wanting one also, got our car ordered and in the very first week of September production (also managed to get the other customer a wagon too).

No matter how upset I might get about things like shimmy or bluetooth problems, she always wants to know what she can do to help. After the software update on my E90, I had an OBC error for something wrong with the windows. She came to my house, went into the garage, cleared the error while explaining why it was alerting and how to fix it if it ever happens again.

I told BMW I wish I could give her 10's or 12's. I also wrote a letter to her management letting them know how pleased I am. Now, who would not give all fives to Stephanie??

[chrissal1]

hey Ledzep - can't she help you with the steering wheel problem?

[LEDZEP]

Originally Posted by chrissal1

hey Ledzep - can't she help you with the steering wheel problem?

Funny you should ask. She has offered to help and says that it's very important for me to be satisfied. I have tried not to do that because it really isn't her job or responsibility to have to deal with service issues. I also don't want to put her in any awkward internal position of pissing off people she has to work with and will need favors from. That said, I got a call on Friday from the GM of the dealership who had the service manager there on speakerphone, and he said that he understood I was not completely happy and wanted to know what they could do to change that. Later, I emailed Stephanie about that and she said "a little birdie might have told them".

So, hopefully they will do more to help with that problem. But of course that has nothing to do with the sales experience, so I try to keep them separate.

[chrissal1]

wow mate... sounds like she's a total gem.

[findtom]

hey Ledzep - is she hot?

[chrissal1]

Originally Posted by findtom

hey Ledzep - is she hot?

hehe...I was thinking the same thing....

So is she?

[StewtheBassman]

Of course she's hot.

[LEDZEP]

If I answer that, then everyone will be coming here to buy their cars... and I won't get any attention any more.

[findtom]

Originally Posted by StewtheBassman

Of course she's hot.

I figure she must be for him to have come back for a second BMW from her.

[StewtheBassman]

What I said!

[Jay_328]

You guys notice he did not answer the question?

[england1987]

If what you said was true about giving him fives, then you should have done. But, either way, his responce wasn't the most pleasant I ever read. This falls on both of you, I feel.

[itznin]

DON'T BRING THIS THREAD BACK!

LOCK IT......... LOL.......

[shragon]

i didn't read through the whole thread as it is kinda long at 11 pages. just wondering how long after you bought the car did bmwna call you for the survey?

[poldim]

I dont have time for 11 pages of reading. Anyone have a summary? What did he do about it?

[ben1364]

This entire thread illutrates why the CSI is useless except for bragging rights to be placed in ads, etc. The only folks that benefit from CSI surveys are the survey companies, IMO.