Never do business with I.G. Burton BMW / BMWUSA Survey

[MTrey]

After recently taking delivery of my 2011 M3 and being honest in my BMWUSA review of I.G. Burton BMW in Milford, DE (poor review), I was instructed by the General Manager to "Please do not recommend our dealership to any of your friends. Please do not call us for deal on a car." The owner of the dealership said in a follow-up email "The satisfaction report you filled out unfavorably about us really hurts our organization which you know." THE ENTIRE DEALERSHIP WAS COPIED ON THESE EMAILS. I am not going to bore you with all of the details, but I waited 6 hours at the dealership to take possession of a car that was already prepped and was told to "Google" how to use the vehicle. This has been a horrible experience and I have been in contact with BMWUSA and stated that I do not understand the purpose of doing their survey if this is the outcome. BMWUSA's stance is that there is nothing they can do since BMW dealerships are independently owned. My family has purchased 10 BMW's in the past 10 years. I referred 4 vehicles and my family has purchased 2 from I.G. Burton BMW over the past year. Bottom line is DO NOT PURCHASE ANY VEHICLES FROM I.G. BURTON BMW and BMWUSA does not act in your best interest.

[1sikbmr]

wait so you filled out a survey against the dealer with BMWNA and they gave away your information? Then said dealer contacted you about your bad review?

[Kayani_1]

Hey if I was you I would have sent every one on that email a reply that "Do not worry I was never going to recommend or spend a penny with you guys any more. There are plenty of other dealers from which I can buy a car."

Do not let them make you feel like they did you any favor by selling a car. You paid for it and they can shove it where no light gets in.

[1sikbmr]

thats bullshit. Tell that dealer to kick boulders. thats stupid that a dealership would stoop so low as to contact a person bad mouthing them for their review instead of trying to correct the problem. Some people really don't learn. If you want' to be an ass call BMWNA again and complete another survey or a over the phone report against them again and forward the email to them. Then email the dealership back and let them know that you were never going to recommend them. A dealership should never feel that they are doing you a favor when you are the one spending the money.

[SP330]

I'm sorry to hear of your troubles. At least your car is in your possession safe and sound.

I really don't understand how distant the connection is between BMW USA and the dealerships. "Yes they sell our product but we have no control over them"

I see more consistently higher standards at Honda and Toyota dealerships than I do at BMW.

Next time go to Thompson or BMW Mt. Laurel. They're great.

[saeedg48]

Originally Posted by 1sikbmr

wait so you filled out a survey against the dealer with BMWNA and they gave away your information? Then said dealer contacted you about your bad review?

ahahaha fail

[OC3]

Thank heavens for the Internet.

[mkoesel]

Originally Posted by 1sikbmr

wait so you filled out a survey against the dealer with BMWNA and they gave away your information? Then said dealer contacted you about your bad review?

Yep - ABSOLUTELY!

This is BMW NA's policy. There is no anonymity. And this is a big reason why I refuse to fill out the surveys. The goal here is not customer satisfaction - not even remotely. The goal is to find out who the "trouble maker" customers are and to blacklist and/or mistreat them. Make no mistake, this is absolutely how they operate their business. Almost no one believes in these surveys nor agrees with the way BMW NA monitors their dealership network. BMW NA has plenty of feedback to have come to understand this fact long, long ago. And yet, they do absolutely nothing about it. Why? Because they do not have to. They can sell cars just fine even with a poor sales or after sales experience. Unfortunately, this is just part of the price of owning a BMW.

By the way, I should clarify that I am pleased with the service I recieve at my local BMW store. However, it has not always been this way at this particular location, and certainly has not been the case at some other nearby locations.

[mkoesel]

Originally Posted by SP330

I really don't understand how distant the connection is between BMW USA and the dealerships. "Yes they sell our product but we have no control over them"

It is simply a matter of what I said above - they do only what they need to meet the sales goals they set out to achieve. Dealership experience, as important as it is in principle, simply does not impact sales enough one way of the other for BMW NA to address it and maintain it in any truly functional, acceptable manner.

[rabman5]

I hate the surveys and hate the begging for "all 5's" even more.

[SenorFunkyPants]

BMWUSA do in fact have some control over their dealer network...they can simply revoke an individual dealers franchise if it consistently performs below standard.
I would imagine that your dealer is pissed with his bad survey because it will have cost him in some way, most likely in some sort of bonus paid to dealers who perform to a certain standard.

[1sikbmr]

Originally Posted by saeedg48

ahahaha fail

u trolling brah?

[Technic]

Originally Posted by MTrey

I don't understand why the dealership is given your information after the review when you ask to not be contacted by the dealership after completion.

Assuming that your story is 100% factual... forget about the dealer for a second.

The question is why you are not making BMWNA responsible for what they did and this outcome. They said that they do not have control over what the dealer could do however the fact of the matter is that their action caused harrassment to you by one of their dealers, regardless of you requesting in the survey no further contact with such dealership.

What is next? The dealer refusing warranty work just because they did not like your responses? What would happen when you call Roadside Assistance and this piece of shit dealer is the closest to the location of your malfunction? Are they going to refuse your car?

This is not a pissy issue. This goes against contractual obligations which BMW and this dealership entered with you by mere fact of the purchase of this vehicle, and that's what you should be concerned about.

I hope that you will not have to be in that dealer for anything in the near future.

[///Armin]

I had the same thing happen to me! the owner told me straight up to never come to the dealership again after a bad review.

During an oil change they over tighten the bolt and the next I was there for an oil change they tried to blame the last place that did the oil change, which was them! so I gave them a bad review on their survey and next thing you know the SA called me and told me not to ever come to the dealer, then his manager and then the owner.

It was at BMW of Sterling here in VA

I found it shocking and was actually going to get the news media involved. If there are more people out there, we should find a local news media and get the word out.

I really hate the fact that they are allowed to do this.

[iatacs19]

Originally Posted by ///Armin

I had the same thing happen to me! the owner told me straight up to never come to the dealership again after a bad review.

During an oil change they over tighten the bolt and the next I was there for an oil change they tried to blame the last place that did the oil change, which was them! so I gave them a bad review on their survey and next thing you know the SA called me and told me not to ever come to the dealer, then his manager and then the owner.

It was at BMW of Sterling here in VA

I found it shocking and was actually going to get the news media involved. If there are more people out there, we should find a local news media and get the word out.

I really hate the fact that they are allowed to do this.

Wow, that is a new low.

Are these no decent places left for service anymore?

[nevin]

Hey OP they are my local dealership. Me and my family have known the dealer personally and bought about 6 cars from I.G. Burton. They are TERRIBLE, I found the dealer after an incident I had and he tried to run away from me. I had to yell down the hall and tell him to "get back here." They are becoming notorious accross delaware for their awful customer service. Every chance i get i will talk bad about them to my customers and i serve 300-500 new people every single day! if there is anything I can do, emails or contacting BMWUSA in your behalf I would be pleased to do so. The story about the farmer is 100% true, I used to honk and wave at him as well. He sat out on his car every freaking day for a long time!

Let me know if I can help

Edit-I have to add that Ladonna at service, the tech Chris, and the sales team have been extremely nice to me. However, someone at the dealer did crack my front lip one time and chipped one of my wheels but would not pay for it. Ladonna tried to get the service manager to call me but I never got any calls.

[///Armin]

Unfortunately BMWNA will not do anything, as far as they are concerned the dealership are privately owned and can do what they please. BMWNA can be a liaison on issues but can not in any way tell them what to do. I pursued this all the way, that is why I think it's a great story for news media. This is the only way to get their attention.

[mjf6175]

What many are missing here since it really is not well known, is that MOST car manufacturers (not just BMW) provide enough information / feedback to the dealership about the survey results that the identity of the customer who completed the survey can be easily determined.

[nevin]

Originally Posted by ///Armin

I found it shocking and was actually going to get the news media involved. If there are more people out there, we should find a local news media and get the word out.

I really hate the fact that they are allowed to do this.

Count me in!!! I know a ton of people who stand behind me. I spoke to 2 EMPLOYEES that had big problems with them when they took the cars they bought there in. Seriously, it does not get worse then that! You can't even take care of the people running your business!!! I would go on all fucking day if I could!

[SenorFunkyPants]

If you want to properly shake the tree then don't waste your time with BMWUSA...copy all you emails with a covering letter and post it to BMW's CEO in Germany.
That will get everyones attention.

[James T. Kirk]

It's easy to tell a guy to just walk away from ever working with a dealership, but not everyone has multiple BMW dealerships conveniently located to choose from.

I would forward all emails to BMWNA and Germany just for their records. It may not get you anywhere, but this shouldn't go un-reported. Furthermore, it illustrates an abuse of information that should be geared toward improving service, not targeting customers for criticism. BMW may want to review their policy on that more generally.

[SenorFunkyPants]

Originally Posted by MTrey

How do I post it to BMW's CEO in Germany?

CEO = Norbert Reithofer
a bit of googling should find the BMW ag address or email at:
norbert.reithofer@bmw.de