Quote:
Originally Posted by omaham3
To all,
I purchased my 2008 m3 at bmw of lincoln, so I feel that I must provide a unique point of view that I would like to share. I will keep it short and only to 3 thoughts.
To begin, I have had a purely business relationship with the Catania family on many occasions. The family comes from a hard working class of people. I have represented the family in a number of real estate dealings and know first hand that the family is a down to earth group of people. Fil's (the gm's) father always made sure that I was paid for my efforts and never taken advantage of, though some other real estate folks would like to backdoor most clients. With this, I know that Mr. Catania and his sons know the difference between right and wrong even when the lines are sometimes unclear at best. I personally respect the family very much. So the matter of this all being a big mistake, I hope that is the case and it can be worked through.
Secondly, I understand most people on this board have very little regard for car dealerships and car sales people in general. Our society has painted them both in a negative light. I can only hope that as many people who read and make these posts that at least as many stand up and tell their stories of the positive experiences. Today's car dealers are spending more and more to attract buyers with a product that has an ever greater shrinking margin. One does not need to be an insider to witness this!
Thirdly, The team of people at bwm of lincoln treated me with the greatest amount of respect. I felt like I was a being well treated throughout the purchase process. I know that I was buying a car at the high end of the market, but I believe this group would do the same for the average chevy buyer. The bmw manager went above and beyond my expectation. Both I and they knew that outside their doors, I was just a regular guy, but inside, I was a special buyer. I say this because I witnessed how another buyer was being treated while I was waiting for the my car to be ready. The staff was making sure this man was being made special also.
So, I hope all turns out for the best tomorrow for both parties. Stories like these only take away from the spirit of the brand and the aura of the car.
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Yes, dealers that treat customers like Lincoln BMW attempted to do early on can take away from the brand. That's why I hope BMW NA sees this thread, realizes the broad reach of this story and has a talk with Lincoln BMW about their practices. Maybe no more M3 allotment for a while will make them think twice about screwing over the brands customers.
Lets face it, you had done business with the owners family then bought a BMW from them. Of course you had a good experience. Its obviously not everyones experience. If I were buying and lived in Nebraska I'd travel out of state if needed to avoid the possibility of shady dealings at that dealership.
If the owner is such a stand up guy why did it take until this story got traction before he caved in? Why is he offering the car with additional conditions? There is a time when the owner needs to admit his employees mistakes and make things right. Not hide behind new purchasing conditions. If I were the dealer I'd be giving the guy the car for MSRP or even invoice just to show the world the dealership isn't that bad of a place. Sadly, anything less and the dealer will always be branded as a stealership because of the actions they took early on in this incident.
You can post how upstanding the dealer is all over this thread but the facts are still posted in the first few pages. They are only backing down because of the publicity of this matter & they would lose any legal action. If the buyer had no outlet the dealership would not have budged - just like they didn't budge when they thought they could get away with screwing with the buyer.
That pretty much makes Lincoln BMW the poster boy for shady dealers which is why car enthusiasts of all kinds have joined to post their support.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AML
This might be a case of a few bad apples spoiling the bunch. Although it does question how well of a grip the upper management has on their guys.
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Well put
I'd add that at the time the owner found out about this issue he should have worked to correct it - not wait until there was so much attention he couldn't ignore these bad employees then offer the car "with additional conditions". That still screams stealership.