Dealer Rant: Open Road BMW

[phichi1106]

So I take my M3 for service (misfire cylinder 3... ended up needing a new harness). My rant is that I took my car here for the initial 1200 mile service which was fine. Until I saw 2 of my rims were curbed ever so slightly. It was a few days after that I spotted this and said maybe I did it and didn't know I touched a curb. It was so minimal that I could repair it easily so I didn't complain

So after I got my car back this time. I rushed back to work as I was running late for a meeting and just checked the rear wheel again, all seemed fine. I get home after work to inspect my car, both my front wheels are curbed. Lightly all around. I called them out on this and one of the valets said how do you know you didn't do this (during my maintenance, I did have 1 badly curbed rim done by myself repaired but was aware of any other damage to my car). I'm less pissed because it's minimal and I was going to powder coat my wheels this winter but it's the principle. Really?! You just lost my business, I also understand you had my car for 3 weeks (ignition coil > spark plug > fuel injector > DME > wiring harness) but I see you also put 225 miles on my car (you think you joyrided it a bit?)

So what other dealers can I go to in central NJ. I live around New Brunswick Rutgers. I won't go to Bridgewater BMW because their service department is even worst. How is JMK's?

[loflier]

225 in 3 weeks?!? WTF!!!

[NikB316]

I've had an excellent experience at bridgewater BMW for service. I heard they used to be slacking when they first opened but I've been to quite a few dealers over the course of the year and can say they have been the best. Give them another shot if you want, I believe Debra was my SA.

[e46e92love]

Dude, if my dealer put 200+ miles on my car I'd have a sit down with the SM, GM and the owner of the dealer and put my foot up each of their asses.

Just saying.....

Cheers,
e46e92

[tibra1]

Foreman or SA probably took it home..a@@holes

[S65V8]

Exactly the reason why I think going for extended maintenance is stupid.

[phichi1106]

Surprised I got a response from the GM...
Me:
Hi,

I normally do not complain about a service that was done at your
dealership as I have been going here for the last few years. I
recently picked up my car after an extensive service on an engine
malfunction (it was there for 3 weeks).

I dropped off my car with 4195 miles on it and it was returned with
4450. I can understand that my car needs to be routinely driven after
a repair to make sure something is fixed. I would say that should be
50 miles (100 miles being generous). I can not recall any type of
service that would warrant the additional 150-200 miles to my car.

I'd like to hear back about this. You may contact me back at my email
or by phone

GM:
I can definitely understand while you would be concerned. It is not uncommon to put that kind of mileage on a vehicle to ensure a problem will not reoccur or to reset certain cycles. That said, our Service Director is far more qualified to discuss this matter in detail.

Expect a call from him on Monday. Thank you for bringing your concern to my attention an giving us the opportunity to keep your confidence.

All the best,

[paradocs98]

This was obviously for warranty work, but if ever you need quality non-warranty work done, consider a strong independent shop like Motorworks West in Wyckoff or Northeast Motorsports, also in that area.

You want to be able to trust dealership service departments and give people the benefit of the doubt, but sometimes I wonder if it wouldn't be a good idea to place a GPS tracking device in your car (they're cheap) to see where it gets driven when it's in for service. The dealer would have a hard time explaining why your car was out in some residential neighborhood or on the highway at 10pm on a Friday night...

[jaehshim]

NJ/NY is the most BMW dealer populated area, and it seems pretty difficult to find a dealer i can trust. kinda sad...

[tibra1]

Originally Posted by phichi1106

Surprised I got a response from the GM...
Me:
Hi,

I normally do not complain about a service that was done at your
dealership as I have been going here for the last few years. I
recently picked up my car after an extensive service on an engine
malfunction (it was there for 3 weeks).

I dropped off my car with 4195 miles on it and it was returned with
4450. I can understand that my car needs to be routinely driven after
a repair to make sure something is fixed. I would say that should be
50 miles (100 miles being generous). I can not recall any type of
service that would warrant the additional 150-200 miles to my car.

I'd like to hear back about this. You may contact me back at my email
or by phone

GM:
I can definitely understand while you would be concerned. It is not uncommon to put that kind of mileage on a vehicle to ensure a problem will not reoccur or to reset certain cycles. That said, our Service Director is far more qualified to discuss this matter in detail.

Expect a call from him on Monday. Thank you for bringing your concern to my attention an giving us the opportunity to keep your confidence.

All the best,

That email is a stiff fart in the wind..no reason they should have put that many miles road testing a car

[Ghetto2315]

Come see me at Circle BMW. I'll put you with my M service advisor Tim.

[6spdg37s]

..

[phichi1106]

Most likely I'll have to go there even if it's out of the way. I'm curious on how the dealership is gonna deal with this. And I can't imagine the damage they could've done to my clutch or over rev's

[jeff4598]

If it's warranty I second Bridgewater-fine on 4 occasions.

If you are paying $ there is only one choice Motor Works West.

[Rakus]

I live Edison also. And I would never bring my car to Open Road BMW. I'm literally a mile down the road from them. I got my car from Prestige BMW in Ramsey, NJ, and a buddy of mine who's live here also got his car from Presitge as well. They have great service. No issues there at all. Good luck with future services

[Adobong_M]

OPEN ROAD BMW in Edison? They do not know anything about the M3. I left and didn't come back after the service manager told me that new m3's don't need 1,200mile service

[nchan50]

Originally Posted by Rakus

I live Edison also. And I would never bring my car to Open Road BMW. I'm literally a mile down the road from them. I got my car from Prestige BMW in Ramsey, NJ, and a buddy of mine who's live here also got his car from Presitge as well. They have great service. No issues there at all. Good luck with future services

+1 for prestige bmw - they have an excellent service department.

[phichi1106]

So I came in to speak with the service director today. There was a total of 5 test drives on the car due to my unique case, which was documented. They were trying to get a fault after each test drive so they would test drive it 20-30 miles each time. Previously when they've serviced any of my family's cars or mine, that seems consistent. I told him that still does not account for the 100-150 miles. He was just quiet while I started asking what they will do to guarantee any potential damage that could've happened to my drivetrain or engine. I asked for an email verifying that Open Road will repair any engine or drivetrain work outside of warranty which he agreed to. I will have this signed with a witness on Thursday when I come back. Also for the damaged wheels, they've agreed to replace my damaged wheels with new ones.

I found this to be "acceptable". I'll most likely be taking my car to another dealership for service in the future. And poop, Prestige is over an hour away from where I live

[bk_mike]

Originally Posted by Ghetto2315

Come see me at Circle BMW. I'll put you with my M service advisor Tim.

+1 for Tim and Circle BMW. I drive 60mi each way to service my car there. After dealing with the two dealers closest to me I would tow my car to Circle BMW if need be.

[phichi1106]

Looks like I'll give Circle BMW a shot the next time I need to go for service^^

[Ghetto2315]

Originally Posted by phichi1106

Looks like I'll give Circle BMW a shot the next time I need to go for service^^

Cool. Come see me in the showroom and ask for Danny. I'll make sure you end up with my M Service Advisor Tim

[Darth One]

I'd be more pissed at the wheel curbing. I'm glad they're replacing the wheels for you.

I am of two minds regarding this forum's general anger at putting extra miles on cars in service. on one hand, I understand the principle of the matter, but on the other hand, 100 miles is nothing in the grand scheme of things. i am fine if a service professional tells me that they need to drive my car to make sure it's fixed right - as a matter of fact, earlier this year my dealer put 75 miles on my low-mileage Porsche because they were trying to diagnose a difficult, intermittent problem. they found it and I was fine with that even though 75 miles is like half a month's normal use for that car.

if you're concerned that the extra mileage is inappropriate joyriding or abuse, I suppose you can ask to see a DME scan or something.

edit - I missed post #18 where the SA mentioned the 100+ miles that are "unaccounted for". I see more clearly now where you should be concerned. I wonder if any service porters get fired for this now.