BMW Service (Hello, anyone in There?)

I hear and read the many troubles BWM owners have with their bikes on this forum. I have yet to find anyone raving about the service they've received from BMW. When I have questions about my 2006 K1200GT, I find many answers here, but when I need service "All bets are off". Sometimes it seem like I know more that the dealer since I read about it on BMW MOA. I have two dealers within 30 miles of my home, and both have left me searching for another dealer. I wondered, if anyone can recommend a BMW motorcycle dealer within 100 miles of Reading, PA with service knowledge of my bike and will also treat customers fairly.

Speaking for myself and I know many others, Hermys is in your backyard and they are a top notch dealer both for sales and service.

Eckenhoff Motorcycles in Cherry Hill, NJ has a great mechanic and I've had two very good experiences with them.

Montgomeryville Cycle is new to the BMW network and I've not had service there but they seem like nice, knowledgeable folks from my conversations with their staff.

Bob's is farther away but I've had mostly great experiences with them. On the instance that I did not, I contacted Bob directly and he made it right.

I guess the question is whether or not you have a dilemma with BMW as a whole or with a specific dealer? And if it's a specific dealer, did you address it with the right person there?

It depends on where you are and what you consider a reasonable distance to be. I do almost all my own service - it is part of the hobby. But when I want something done by a dealer there are 4 excellent dealers if not exactly where I live then at least where I often travel.

Engle Motors in Kansas City, Gina's in Iowa City, Iowa, Lone Star BMW in Austin, Texas, and Bentonville BMW in Bentonville, Arkansas are all excellent. I have patronized Engles since 1983 and Gina's since they opened, whenever that was back in the old store. I have received excellent on-the-road service from Max BMW in New York, Frank's in Vermont, Bob's in the DC area, Morton's in Virginia, Beaudry Motorsports in Post Falls, ID and the combined HD/BMW dealership in Grand Junction Colorado.

There are good dealerships out there. Now anybody can have a bad experience, or what they perceive to be a bad experience with one dealer or one tech at one dealership most any time. Sometimes there are misunderstandings or personalities clash. But I usually take most rants and some tales of woe about a dealer or other business with large grains of salt because they often conflict completely with experiences I have had with the same businesses.

BMW is rapidly (for them at least) introducing new models with new technology - some for better and some for worse, maybe. This challenges the technicians to stay schooled and up to date, to work on new platforms and systems, and to use new tools. And like everybody else in the world some are better at it than others.

Bottom line - don't believe even half of all the bad news you hear on the undisciplined and mostly unverified Internet and go find out for yourself. Sure, take some clues about reputations, but try to take a balanced view. Your whole world will be better for it.

I've bought 4 BMW's from BMW of Southeast Michigan, in Canton, MI. I sure wouldn't go back if the service wasn't up to par. They are excellent, will bend over backwards if you need help, and are reasonably priced. I had both headlights in my RT burn out just before a holiday weekend. They told me to come right over before they closed for the long weekend, installed both bulbs (it took about 45 minutes) and then only charged me for the parts.

You might tend to hear more about bad dealer experiences, but that doesn't mean the good dealers don't exist.

Have you considered Crosscountry BMW in Metuchen, NJ. I've been taking my BMW's there for service and I've been happy with them. I like Bob's outside Baltimore, and I purchased a bike there a few years ago, but I prefer Metuchen's dealership. I recently purchased a GSA from Fabian there, and I highly recomend them. Joe in service has always been very helpfull. Great guys there!

Paul

Hermie is truly an honest guy for sure and Chris the main mechanic in Carlilse is about the best BMW mechanic in the country. Sometimes I don't like what they say is wrong and what I have to spend but in the end they are right.

Hermy's is absolutely the best dealership I've ever had the pleasure of doing business with. For my money, you can't go wrong with them.

I dreamed of owning a K1200GT for years and every chance I got, I'd drop by the local dealership and look at the used bikes. Last year I got the funds together to purchase a 2006 with 14K miles, and I was the happiest guy in the world. My troubles started soon after and my opinion of service gets lower and lower every time I need them. Rather than dwelling in the past, I'd like to move toward finding a BMW service shop that can fit my needs.
1, Be Honest 100% of the time. (Don't hide a repair gone bad by saying "Oh, must be something new". Don't say they all do that, because they don't!)
2, Be helpful to "Do it Yourselfers" (Many people like the dealer to do all service work, but others like and sometimes NEED to do things themselves. Discuss experience based repairs, share knowledge with CUSTOMER, that way they will come back again and again)
3, Be able to "Think outside of the box" (ok, $240 HID lamp is bad, but $20 H7 lamp will get you by for inspection)
4, Charge me fairly. (When I need "The Expert" I'll pay full price for what you do, but if you didn't fix the problem, you need to absorb the cost. I'm not paying for you to practice)
5, Tell me about BMW recalls, parts upgrades, performance modifications, enhancements, bug fixes, software improvements etc. (Why is this hush-hush? This isn't broadcast to owners, but when I come to the dealer with issues about my bike, TELL ME! Especially if it is under warranty. Put the part in...DUH!!!
6, I AM THE CUSTOMER, I WILL BE TALKING ABOUT MY BIKE TO OTHERS, I WILL SHARE MY EXPERIENCES WITH OTHERS, MAKE IT RIGHT SO I CAN SAY NICE THINGS.

So again, anyone out there that can meet my needs? If so, I'll be a faithful customer. Any dealers monitor this site? I'd like to make an appointment...

I have found the number one thing that makes the difference is spending a few minutes with the fellow working on your bike to really explain what the problem is, ask what diagnostics will be done, and manage expectations (aka charge me for the proper diagnostics and call me with your findings and an estimate to repair.) My bad experiences have all centered around a service manager either too busy to listen to what is wrong with the bike and ask the right follow-up questions or immediately decides what the problem is based on a quick comment and puts the fix on the work order instead of the problem/diagnostics. Often a problem becomes noticeable when more than one thing is at work contributing to it, and without proper diagnosis the quick fix becomes fixing a contributing problem (letting the real problem seem fixed but reappear in short order.)

Service managers in my opinion can make or break a shop. Bob's used to have a guy named Ted Porter who was awesome, he would field all questions like how particular things were diagnosed with patience and enthusiasm and really did an excellent job of making sure you were comfortable that he fully understood your concerns before the ticket was submitted. That kind of service is not common unfortunately, too often replaced by the "just close your mouth, leave your bike, and open your wallet" mentality.

[QUOTE=Ted;588740]Service managers in my opinion can make or break a shop. Bob's used to have a guy named Ted Porter who was awesome, he would field all questions like how particular things were diagnosed with patience and enthusiasm and really did an excellent job of making sure you were comfortable that he fully understood your concerns before the ticket was submitted. That kind of service is not common unfortunately, too often replaced by the "just close your mouth, leave your bike, and open your wallet" mentality.[/QUOTE]

Fortunately for me, [url=http://www.beemershop.com]Ted has his shop[/url] 6 miles from my house. The east coast's loss is the west coast's gain.

He took the CHP business away from the local dealer because he could diagnose problems a little more accurately than "You need a new transmission", and he took the local club's business away from the dealer because he could diagnose problems a little more accurately than "You need a new wiring harness".