[mkaaes]

Today I took my car in for its first service at BMW of Bellevue, wow was I underwhelmed with their level of service. I made the apt 3 weeks in advance and brought it in today at 10 am. It took them until 4:30 to finish a basic service (ie. oil, filter). Finally when they were "done" they give the car back to me soaking wet with a mediocre wash job. It looks like they just sprayed it down with a hose WTF! I'm curious to see others experience with their local service dept

[scollins]

I bought my E90 from them in May of last year, and I have not had a need to visit the service department yet. I did one oil change at 5000 miles (7500 now) at Eastside Bavarian because it was half the price of the dealer.

I will say though that the one time I called service I wasn't impressed. We had an SES idiot light come on, and I called to see when I could bring it in to have it checked out. They said "two weeks." Two weeks?? Just to have a damn code scanned? I said, "The manual says not to drive it when the light comes on, so I'm supposed to sit on it for two weeks?" "Yes sir, sorry, but we are really busy." BS.

Anyway, I learned that Schuck's will scan codes for free, and I had them check it out. Code was "evaporative system leak", which generally means "loose gas cap." They cleared the code and things were fine. Time was 5 minutes and cost was zero.

I know I won't get to the 15,000 miles for the oil change before I get to one year. So I'll be scheduling an oil change at the one year mark. It should be interesting to see how it goes, because I want them to collect a sample to send off to Blackstone for me.....

[SteelTorque]

NEVER and I mean NEVER take your in car for service to Bellevue. They are well known for their shitty service.

BMW Seattle is great!

[asdflkijd]

Originally Posted by SteelTorque

NEVER and I mean NEVER take your in car for service to Bellevue. They are well known for their shitty service.

BMW Seattle is great!

+1, the sales department is retarded also.

[PJS3]

Generally speaking, I personally will never buy or service my car at bellevue. Seattle, despite some minor bad experiences, has treated me much better than bellevue.

[scollins]

Well, my sales experience at Bellevue was just fine. I don't know about Seattle because I never stopped in there.

I hate going into Seattle (the city) (what a shithole....)

[TTG]

Stay as far away from Bellevue as you can..... Sales & Service!

Also, good luck getting a loner if you did not buy your car from them......

Here is a thread about my experience at BMW Seattle:

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=91625

[cabrio8]

Unfortunately, I have don't have positive news about my experience with BMW service. I've switched to Seattle two years ago and the level of service has been exceptional. I feel the Seattle advisers are working for your business and they have a "can do" attitude. In contrast, the Bellevue advisers are complacent and simply aggravating. I also agree with PJS3 that Bellevue Sales mirrors the service dept. I purchased my 2008 335i vert from Matt in Seattle BMW in January and the experience was five stars. I would never give Bellevue BMW my business.

[vAnt826]

BMW of Bellevue is horrible, although this board has members that are affiliated with them.

[Sub Zero]

hey im mostly a lurker but i have to chime in about bellevue bmw. ive been there 3 different times to check out cars the past few years and not once did a salesman ever come to help me out. once there was even 4 salesguys doing nothing but standing around at the front door yet still didnt come to ask if i needed assistance.

[scollins]

Originally Posted by Sub Zero

hey im mostly a lurker but i have to chime in about bellevue bmw. ive been there 3 different times to check out cars the past few years and not once did a salesman ever come to help me out. once there was even 4 salesguys doing nothing but standing around at the front door yet still didnt come to ask if i needed assistance.

Not defending Bellevue here, but that to me is a "catch-22." I for one hate being swarmed like a piece of carrion by the "sharks" or "vultures" as soon as I step onto the lot. I like to look around on my own first, without a shadow pestering me. I know more about the cars I'm interested in than the salesman, so they really are of little use to me until I want to sit in the car, take it for a test drive, or inquire about available inventory.

When I reach that point, usually a salesman has come over to see if I need help. If not, I don't bother waiting for them to find me, I go find them. Frankly, I'd rather go find them when I'm ready instead of the other way around.

[andytaro]

+1 for Seattle Sales. Especially Mark Harrington. If you are buying a car from BMW Seattle, make sure you deal with Mark. He is very responsive and easy to work with.

Bellevue is .........
I got an email from a sale manager when they will be hosting a sales event, and noted that he will directly work with me. However, when I replied to his email, he just forwarded it to one of his sales guys after 2 weeks I've sent an email.

[ATG]

Originally Posted by scollins

I hate going into Seattle (the city) (what a shithole....)

Totally agree! If I lived in "the city" I would have never gotten a sport package b/c the roads suck big time there.

[asdflkijd]

Originally Posted by andytaro

+1 for Seattle Sales. Especially Mark Harrington. If you are buying a car from BMW Seattle, make sure you deal with Mark. He is very responsive and easy to work with.

Bellevue is .........
I got an email from a sale manager when they will be hosting a sales event, and noted that he will directly work with me. However, when I replied to his email, he just forwarded it to one of his sales guys after 2 weeks I've sent an email.

Mark is a stand up guy, very good manners and excellent sales associate.

[PJS3]

Originally Posted by Sub Zero

hey im mostly a lurker but i have to chime in about bellevue bmw. ive been there 3 different times to check out cars the past few years and not once did a salesman ever come to help me out. once there was even 4 salesguys doing nothing but standing around at the front door yet still didnt come to ask if i needed assistance.

I experienced that 8/10 times at BMW Bellevue. At Seattle they dont swarm you. They offer their services if you need any, but BMW Bellevue, they just sit inside behind the glass doors and watch people look outside till you come in. Thats poor service if you ask me. Definitely customer does not appear to come first there.

[Getter]

Originally Posted by asdflkijd

+1, the sales department is retarded also.

You got that right. WTF man? I've had FAR better sales & service at Ford for my truck. I ended up buying my car through a dealer in Chicago and shipping it. The Eastside needs to step up. Bellevue needs a bitch slap.

Alvin in Bellevue did his best to talk me out of a 335 to a 328 with no incentive and no good reason other than we have heavy traffic and I'll never need the power. Guess he just doesn't get it.

[mkaaes]

I personally liked my second sales guy Dave Skipworth. A very good guy the first guy I talked to (I won't mention his name) I didn't really like.

[Ty Vil]

Oh hey Phil!

I don't have any experience with either but a longtime forum member and Old School Club member Dan Perry is a writer at Bellevue.

[ELA_4]

Yeah, Dan is a service writer at Bellevue and although I do know him personally, he's a great guy and a total car nut. If you need service on the Eastside, I'd talk to him.
-ELA

[brocken]

Be very cautious about getting your car serviced at Eastside. If you value your paint job at all, definitely do NOT let them wash your car.
I'm still dealing with the aftermath of a simple oil change turned disaster. Before I explain I will say that the sales experience there was good. I worked with Jay (can't remember his last name, older guy with gray hair) and he wasn't pushy at all and made the transaction very easy.

Now for the service dept... I took my car in December for it's first annual oil change. Seemed like it went pretty well, my wife babysat the car for me while it was there and made sure they didn't wash it. Came home, car looked fine. Over the next few weeks I noticed dash lights would flash on randomly and my speedo would drop to zero. Finally take it in and they say "oh, this is a serious issue, you need to leave it". Reluctantly I left the car with them. Three days later they have it fixed, turns out the battery cable was not tight on the terminal... One, I know the last people to touch that were the guys doing the oil change and two, why did it take three days to check the battery cable?
Anyway, I told my SA NOT to wash the car while it was there. He said oh yeah, no prob and wrote that in highlighter on the service order... When I pick it up it had obviously been washed, and a poor job at that(there had been bird poop on the car and there were clean spots amid the dirt left). It also looked like they'd taken a brillo pad to the car instead of a wash mit.... I'm picky about how my car looks but by any standards it looked bad. Deep scratches all over the car. And the SA tried to say they never washed it! Finally he said they could buff it out at their shop, I said no way and left.
Called back the next day and talked to the service manager. He agreed to have another detail shop fix it.... long story short on that, not even close, still looked like crap. So I pester them again, this time I have to talk to the General manager, he agrees to have another "high end" shop detail it... looks better but still not even close to how it was before I took it to Bellevue BMW.

To sum it all up, I've had to spend way more time at Bellevue BMW than I ever should and they irreparably damaged the paint on my car. Worst part about that, the SA and the service manager don't really get that it's a problem... guess they never had black cars or they're the kinda guys who are ok with driving their car through a brush car wash.

I held my tongue about the whole deal hoping that Bellevue would redeem themselves and restore the car to it's condition before I took it in but that hasn't happened and never will. On top of that, the people I've dealt with in service have not been "customer" oriented and have treated me very poorly.

[toofasttooslow]

Hmm, I haven't had a "bad" experience there per se, but they did wash my car. It was my own stupid fault for telling them not to. Every dealership swirls and scratches the paint when they wash it. The lot attendants don't give a crap about your car. You're just a number in that respect. From now on though I plan on putting a big sign in the windows saying "No Wash" and just to make sure "No Lavadora"

I had a bulb out error and the guys there fixed me up pretty good when the appointment finally came due. I will complain about one thing though; it takes way too long to schedule service there. I routinely change my oil ever few thousand miles, and was going to do it at the dealership. When I found out how much they charged and how long I'd have to wait to get it in I turned around and called Strictly. I got in a couple days later, brought my own oil and was only charged like $20 bucks. Compared that to the $70 dealership oil change and the 3 week lead time...