[gnhm3]

Hey everyone, I just want to let everyone know about a negative situation I had with San Francisco BMW. About 3 months ago I began search for a 2004-2006 e46 M3. As most of you already know these are pretty hard to come by at BMW dealers these days. On August 8th I come across a listing online for a 2004 M3 at San Francisco BMW. I decide to give them a call and begin talking to a sales associate Nyomi Balatti. Nyomi is very helpful from the beginning sending me pictures, returning phone calls, and emailing me documents of the car. Everything checked out and I decided to pull the trigger on the car. The only thing that bothered me was that I was located in Los Angeles and the car was in SF but Nyomi guaranteed me I would not be disappointed.

I wake up the next day and give Nyomi a call asking her if the car is still available for me to fly in and drive it back. She assures me it is and asks what time I am coming in. I buy my ticket and let her know when I will be arriving. I ask her if someone could pick me up and she replies by saying I would rather pay for your taxi.

I am now on the way to LAX and I give Nyomi one more phone call making sure the car will be there when I arrive in 2 hours. Again, she assures me it's available and being washed for me to come pick it up. I asked if I can put a deposit just in case but she said that it is not necessary.

Fast forward 2 hours and I am now in San Francisco in a taxi about 5 minutes away from the dealership when I get a call from Nyomi. This is how the conversation went:

Nyomi: You won't believe it, they sold the car.
Me: Are you kidding?
Nyomi: I wish I was.
Me: I asked you a thousand times if it was still available and you said yes.
Nyomi: I don't know what to tell you.
Me: I'll be there in 5 minutes.

I am furious at this point. I arrive at the dealership and demand to see the manager right away. I am introduced to a manager by the name of Alex. Right from the beginning I can tell Alex doesn't care about the whole situation. He tells me that the car is gone and there is nothing anyone can do about it. He then decides to do me a favor by giving me a deal of $1000 above invoice on a new M3. I demand for my airfare and taxi to be taken care of at the minimum but he begins to counteroffer with only half. I threaten to blast him and his dealership on online forums when he finally agrees.

He says that he will send me a check in the mail since corporate has to write it. I ask how can I be certain he will and he replies by saying we've been in business for years and would never do that to a customer. He asks for a printout of my airline receipt which I provide and head back home.

More than 2 months later I have received no check and Nyomi the sales woman I dealt with will not give me an answer or help me out. This has to be the worst treatment I have ever received by any business. I wasted a whole day, took time off work, and had to pay for 2 taxi's. All together I wasted $415 that day.

Sorry for the long read but I needed to get this off my chest. Try to avoid dealings with this dealership at all costs, especially Nyomi Balatti, and Alex.

Cliff Notes:
1. Looking for an e46 M3
2. Find one in SF
3. Call dealership and tell them I am coming. They say they will hold it.
4. Buy plane ticket.
5. Call Sales associate numerous times before leaving to make sure it is still available which she says yes it is.
6. Fly in, get in a taxi on the way to the dealer when sales associate calls me and say they sold it.
7. Manager promises to refund my plane and taxi costs.
8. Never receive a check and dealer is now ignoring me.

[Sara]

Damn dude that sucks. I flew from New Orleans to Los Angeles to buy a car. McKenna BMW held mine for me in the garage. Because I was worried it would sell in the 7 days I had to wait for my plane to take off. Why didnt SF do that for you? Thats BS on their part.

[Kolyan2k]

sucks.....i had positive experience with BMW dealers over all....cant say the same about Honda

[EZ_TUR90]

Wow man. That sucks. Call the BBB.

Did you get anything in writing that they would pay for your expenses? Either way, take it to small claims and have both those idiots fly out to LA on their own expense. HAHAHAHAHa

[Kolyan2k]

Originally Posted by EZ_TUR90

Wow man. That sucks. Call the BBB.

Did you get anything in writing that they would pay for your expenses? Either way, take it to small claims and have both those idiots fly out to LA on their own expense. HAHAHAHAHa

BBB aint gonna do shit about it. I had filed claims with BBB before, it was a waste of time.....might get dealers attention though

[apc3libras]

Originally Posted by EZ_TUR90

Wow man. That sucks. Call the BBB.

Did you get anything in writing that they would pay for your expenses? Either way, take it to small claims and have both those idiots fly out to LA on their own expense. HAHAHAHAHa

Just curious but what do you think he can take them to small claims court for? There was no deposit on the M3 so technically it wasn't his for them to sell. I know OP asked to put a deposit on the car and she said it wasn't necessary but at that point I would have asked to talk to someone else.

This situation sucks and I feel really bad for you OP. The dealership could have handled this a lot better but hopefully you get what the said they would give you.

[bender rodriguez]

Wow that is messed up. Do you have any logs of them saying they will hold it for you. I am sure you could get it from small claims court.

[Route 16]

+1 BBB

[gnhm3]

Originally Posted by 335coupe2007

Bro call the better business bureau...and copy and paste that story in complaint. Go on the following website http://www.dealerrater.com/ . The BBB and the dealerater website is a BIG deal. ALOT of people go on those sites and the dealerships know that... my SA told me that her dealership looks at the comments on dealerrater BIG TIME and their rated on them.. so... Go on there and blast the a-holes for doing that. You didnt deserve that bullshit... im sorry bro.

Thanks for the advice man. I just wrote a review on that website.

[Hankdoll]

Originally Posted by 335coupe2007

Bro call the better business bureau...and copy and paste that story in complaint. Go on the following website http://www.dealerrater.com/ . The BBB and the dealerater website is a BIG deal. ALOT of people go on those sites and the dealerships know that... my SA told me that her dealership looks at the comments on dealerrater BIG TIME and their rated on them.. so... Go on there and blast the a-holes for doing that. You didnt deserve that bullshit... im sorry bro.

+1 for dealerrater. What a terrible experience! I must say, however, that I'm not surprised. I wouldn't trust a car dealer farther than I could throw one...especially a BMW dealer.

[AddictedToBavarian]

Damn bro however it looks like you drive a 2011 M3 now so happy ending?

[doubleIN]

wow that is some bullsh*t. completely unacceptable

[midwesterner]

wow, that is possibly the worst story I have heard on the forums in a long time. Almost as bad as some of the e-bay screw ups by a few BMW dealers (sold the car for a price that was too low for them to stomach and dealer tried to terminate contract!)

Sorry to hear about your out of pocket expenses. Would a call to the dealership by forum members help to let them know that we will not shop there in the future?

[AndyzDad]

+1 on the BBB and maybe if you had a small deposit (~200.00) on the car or if you have logs of your communication with them and had this happened, it would have been different..? Don't know if they can be held responsible enough for this. Good luck though.

[gnhm3]

Originally Posted by midwesterner

wow, that is possibly the worst story I have heard on the forums in a long time. Almost as bad as some of the e-bay screw ups by a few BMW dealers (sold the car for a price that was too low for them to stomach and dealer tried to terminate contract!)

Sorry to hear about your out of pocket expenses. Would a call to the dealership by forum members help to let them know that we will not shop there in the future?

Thanks for the kind words. Any call them to them would be very much appreciated. The dealers phone number is (415) 863-9000. Please ask for Alex the sales manager.

Thanks in advance.

[fdriller9]

It's obvious what happened here.

OP sounds like he did alot of research on the car. Knows it's value and negotiated a good price.

Someone who doesn't know jack about the E46 M3 saw the car on the lot and jumped at the asking price.

Dealer took the higher paying customer....

OP I would contact BMW NA!

[reaper335]

that's horrible.. but on a side note my dealer has a e46 m3 vert that has been sitting here lol too bad we are a little far from you

[Quasimodem]

Sorry about that, but good post, I hope everybody learns a lesson here:

You flews you lose.

[datbimmerdoe]

UNBELIEVABLE! smh

contact bmwna ASAP

[kdphan]

I'll remember about this thread when I decide to purchase my next bmw.

The only dealerships in the bay area i've dealt with so far are Peter Pan BMW and Weatherford BMW.

Weatherford has been okay to me so far after buying my car there.


I think i saw a sales chart on bmw dealerships in CA and SF bmw is somewhere at the bottom of total sales (from what I remember). So maybe this doesn't surprise me.

[JBE90335]

should've definitely put a deposit on it...

[Wild Squid]

Sorry to hear this, I could have told you to stay away from BMW SF. Absolutely one of the worst dealerships i have ever stepped foot into. I've visited them only several times to look at cars and every single time was ignored by anyone and everyone. It appears they only have time to deal with rich white boy trust fund baby types, or you must be a middle aged white guy that appears to be a Market St. suit. The atmosphere in there was if you didn't fit their ideal profile they didn't have the time to deal with you. So I went to their toilet and upper decked it with remnants of a Super mexican burrito and corn and cheese. I then sat in several showroom cars and hacked a loogie and spat it on the seat next to me. I fucking despise car dealers who think they are better than you just because they work in a bit of a upscale showroom or dealership brand.