Bob Ryan

Review of BMW of Mountain View

This week was the latest in a series of disappoint...

This week was the latest in a series of disappointing service experiences at BMW of Mountain View. It's unlikely I'll go back again.

After receiving a call that the car was ready, I was unsure where to pick it up because of the construction at the site. My service rep said to bring the loaner back to the same bay where I'd dropped off my car. When I showed up around 5 p.m. on 9/26, there were five empty cars blocking the driveway, so I couldn't reach the bay. No employees were in sight, so after waiting 5 minutes, I left the car and walked into the bay. There were no employees there either, just several customers standing around.

I checked in the office where my service rep, Daniel, had been earlier in the day. (Daniel was quite good, by the way; he just wasn't around when I needed him.) The first office was empty. I checked the next office and found three employees chatting. I told them I needed to drop off a loaner and pick up my car. They told me to go to the cashier's office. Once there I stood at the counter and was ignored for several minutes by the two women behind the counter until I said, "Can someone help me?" They seemed surprised, but asked what I needed.

I said I was dropping off a loaner and picking up my car. She asked my name, dug out the paperwork, had me sign it, and then returned to her work. I had to ask her if she wanted the keys to the loaner. "Sure," she said. "And where do I get my car," I asked. She pointed back out toward the bay and said someone would bring it down.

After 15 minutes, all the other customers had gotten their cars except for one woman and me. Finally, an employee with a clipboard told her they couldn't find her car. She laughed about it, but clearly was frustrated, telling me that her husband refused to come to the dealership because the service was so bad. Ten more minutes passed before her car was found and tracked down. I asked the kid with the clipboard and walkie-talkie how they were doing on my car. He asked to look at my paperwork and then walked away without saying anything. I called after him and said, "Well?" He said he didn't know what was going on.

At this point, I lost it and went back to the cashier and told her I wanted to speak to the service manager. She said she'd get him and walked off toward the front of the building to find him.

The service director (John Seadler) showed up several minutes later, and after some initial confusion on his part, he moved into damage control, asked the kid with the walkie-talkie to get a move-on and tried to get a handle on why I was so irritated. He said he'd only been on the job for a few weeks, but was focused on improving the customer experience. I told him my story, wished him luck, but said I'd likely go to Stevens Creek (where I bought my previous BMW) or Peter Pan (where I got my most recent service because of earlier frustration with BMW of MV).

Seadler did a good job trying to understand my frustration. He seemed sincere in wanting to change the culture, but I expect he'll have his hands full. My experience with this place (starting with sales and including support, parts and service) is that treating the customer like an annoying distraction is deeply part of the culture of the company. I can't count the times I've walked into the showroom or the service department and waited while employee after employee walked past without asking if I'd been helped or continued a personal conversation with a co-worker as the customer waited.

Making this worse is my wife's experience at Lexus of Stevens Creek. She actually looks forward to service visits. They greet her like an old friend, she enjoys fresh coffee and Danish in the lounge and uses the free wi-fi before driving off in a freshly washed car.

When my car did arrive, after 45 minutes, although it was 91 all four windows were rolled down, A/C was off, no one had re-set the seat and mirror positions to my pre-sets, radio was on and floor mats were askew. I felt as though a bunch of teenagers had spent the day joy-riding in it.