Credit where its due

[1rotty 40]

Since we're a bit off topic here's a goodie for you.

Several years ago a friend of mine who manages a large company & who at the time was about 26 was looking to replace his & the company owners vehicles.

Went to a well known BMW dealership ,quite literally with cash in hand so to speak, as the decision had already been made as to which models each wanted.

Despite being very well dressed as he always is he was virtually ignored & treated with disdain.

Within 24 hrs the company had purchased 2 mercs at a cost of around $300k.

This company upgrades every year.

This incident happened about 10 yrs ago & both are still driving mercs.

Work that out !!

Dumbarses!

[jordyboy2 0]

I drove down to wellington on the auckland anniversary day, unfortunatly my rear right shock burst through its mount.

So i 018 Jeff Gray and explain the problem to them, they say they dont stock the part and would have to courier (this was no use to me as i needed to drive back to auckland the next day, and driving on 3 shock absorbers didn't tickle my fancy) it from Akl, but say if i found the part they would install it for me on the same day.

So i call around and find a place called parts plus Great they have the part and for only $35 inc gst (team mcmillan bmw charge $85).

I called Jeff Gray and was told that I'd have to wait till next thursday toget it installed, i was thinking what the hell its a 20 min job

Finally after scouring petone and lower hutt i found this lovely chap in a shell service centre who was closing up shop for the night, i explained my situation to him, and hey presto he did it for me, all in under 20 mins, he only charged me $50 and he ended up getting a $50 tip too

So my experience with jeff gray is "great un-success"

[Cale 36]

Maybe its because they all drive BMW's.

[E34 0]

To me this sounds exactly like the what the person I dealt with at Jeff Gray was thinking. Let me know what you do for a living so I know not to ever let you near anything of mine. If you get the opportunity to read the article by Scotty Stephenson in the January Edition of Top Gear NZ. I think you might find that you fall into the 95% he describes in the article.

I see from your ride description (and your name) that you drive an E34. This makes your car a minimum of 2 years older than mine. Does this mean if I take my car into the same place you do I should be treated with more respect than you?

No where did I mention those with older or less valuable cars should be treated differently to those with newer stuff. What goes around come around, one reason why Toyota are the best selling brand on both sides of the Tasman is because of their customer service (especially compared to Holden and Ford).

Maybe some people get more satisfaction from going to a dealer and being around cars 10 to 20 times the value of theirs. True, a dealer might have service tools etc, but I'd take a good guess that any garage dealing with older (and popular) European models can do the same job. What my occupation has got to do with it, I don't know, but I'm a diesel mechanic and truck driver, comes in handy... Means I don't feel warm and fuzzy after blowing $600 for a BMW service when i can do it myself in about 3 hours. If I did need to use dealer tools, I'd fork out and take it to an independent garage.

Edited February 28, 2009 by E34