my Tulsa BMW gear at "cost" ecperience

[Indy Dave]

So we've all heard that the beemer dealership in Tulsa is leaving the brand, so they had all their BMW stuff marked at 'cost'.

 

In the market for gear, I call Saturday June 20th to see what hey have in my size. I am get put on hold for literally an hour while they check to see what hey have and wait on other customers. I have a headset on and am multitasking, so the wait is no big deal and they do keep coming back to assure me they haven't forgotten about me.

 

The parts guy - Zach - gets back to me with a list of items my size. We come up with a list that I'm going to buy, we go item by item (I have a BMW gear catalog) with prices. The he says he's going to have to call me back, because he 'dropped his piece of paper'. . . He calls back and has some more items, but now says he can't log in the computer to get the 'cost' price. He says he will put the gear I said I wanted in a box and come in Monday (his day off) and call me and finish this up. Monday comes and goes - and I'm not surprised not to have heard from him. I call Tuesday and leave a message. I call Wednesday and Zach is not in today, so I leave another message. They also assure me that he has put my items in a box to hold them for me. Thursday I call and get Zach, and he says he has a customer in front of him, can he call me back?

 

He DOES call me back and we finalize the list and prices. Expect now colors have changed on a jacket and pants. Hmm I have to think about that - I don't like the color combination they had. I tell him I need to think about the new colors and will call him back. 10 minutes later I call back and say I don't want the jacket and pants, but will add the Santiago pants instead. Fine he says, but he has a customer on front of him and one on the phone and he will call me back. My total gear price is $1700 +/-.

 

No return call Thurs. I call Friday and leave a message. No return. I call Saturday - they had just closed, so I left a message on their machine. No call Tuesday (they're closed Monday) Today I call and get Zach and he says someone took the stuff out of the box and sold it. [While I'm no Einstein, I knew something was odd about this whole thing - so I'm not totally shocked). I ask why he'd not called to tell me this and he said he didn't have my number. I tell him that's BS and that he's been stringing me on all along.

 

I call back and ask to speak tot he GM. Turns our he's busy, would I leave a message - which I do and also give the nature of my call - because they asked. Next I know I get a call from the dealership - not form the GM but from the 'parts manager' who says that BMW came in "Friday or Saturday and took everything". Even items that were supposed to be in a box that were sold, I ask? Well, we didn't know how to get in touch with you, and we didn't want to be left with the merchandise.

 

Once again BS, as it was quite clear the items I wanted - we'd gone over the list 2 times, having added the pants to the order.

 

So yeah . . I guess my inclination is to call back again tomorrow to speak to the GM - I kind of wonder if this guy was calling to cover for his buddy. I'm not sure what I expect - there is nothing they can do IF in fact BMW has the gear. But it seemed odd that he would say "BMW took" everything we had, so I'm not sure I buy that story either. Either way, it's a lost cause. Although a lot of the gear was discounted, "cost" is a relative term. The expensive gear was discounted, but not 50% or so like one would expect for this type of sale.

 

[tcshooter]

Sorry to hear that, as I am the one who put this out there. BMW had already come some 4 weeks ago and got everything they wanted, bikes, parts, and tools. I picked up a 49L trunk 2 weeks ago for just over 500. I talked to the lead sales guy, who lives by me. He told me the ownership has changed 3 times in the last 6 months. the new owners had no desire to put money into the brand as they had fallen out of compliance (no BMW certified Techs both quit) I think they may have sold your stuff and just not wanted to tell you. Kind of glad the dealership is gone, so I wont have to deal with them.

[Paul Mihalka]

I'm afraid your expectations were too high. When a shop has a liquidation sale, they are not in a position to do research and pack and hold merchandise for customers. You come, you find it, you buy it, first come first served. I can blame them only for not telling you right away that they cannot provide the service you want.

[bmw_rider]

Another alternative was to have given them the credit card info, then it is SOLD, and BMW if they took it would have to return it.

[Indy Dave]

well - ole Dave was not holding back on providing payment, I was ready and willing and wanting to get this completed for my [what was then upcoming] ride. I was happy to have closed the deal the first time I talked with the guy.

 

I never asked (or implied or suggested)them to hold anything, it was the sales guy would had one reason or another he needed to call me back. The deal was set before the jacket and pants in question changed color ~ that was the only time anything was held up on my doing - and that was a 10 minute deal while I tried to figure out how much of a tool I'd look like in the mis-matched jacket/pants.

 

More to your point Paul - they certainly have no incentive to treat me well, and one wonders what kind of scratch the parts guys make on this kind of deal - if it is a 'cost' sale, probably not much. This is why I was being patient about 'customers in front of me' and why I was not being vigilant in hounding them with call backs every hour or whatever.

 

It's all good ~ Daytona BMW has the Santiago pants on sale (and only $30 more than Tulsa), which is all I really needed anyway. Ironically, Zach had come across the Santiago pants only in our last conversation.

 

 

Dave

[Indy Dave]

BTW - I see that Daytona also has the Airflow jacket for a whooping $1.00 more than Tulsa. . . . .

[tallman]

Don't know any of the parties involved in your story, but I do know long distance shoppers.

The results can be mixed to say the least. More often than not the failure to consumate falls on the caller not the providers.

Just the way it is.

Perhaps they were swamped w/foot traffic and didn't have much time to go check inventory for a potential sale when there were customers in the store.

Maybe they just didn't care.

It seems the driving factor for your purchase is price and then color rather than dealer location or customer relations.

You should be able to meet those criteria easily.

Don't understand the reason for your post.

Dealership floundered and closed.

You came in at end of their business cycle and didn't get what you wanted.

So?

If you had gotten a great deal, let's say free gear, would you post that?

If so, why?

This is about you, not a closed dealership that no one else will deal with.

I don't get it.

Are we supposed to feel sorry for you?

Avoid a closed dealership?

[bmw_rider]

The lengthy description in the original post to this thread led me at least to get the impression that this had gone on over a longer period of time than what has now been shared. Look at it this way, the dealer was at a minimum loosing the BMW franchise, possible closing it's doors altogher. You are lucky they answered the phone for a deal shopper when they had live foot traffic in front of them. There are a hundred scenarios that are feasible - you got an employee that didn't know if they had a job tomorrow, etc.

 

Like you I also shop sales of all sorts, sometimes you get the deal sometimes you don't. Rather than dwell on the ones that didn't happen I start searching for the next one.

[Indy Dave]

yes - I am an idiot. pardon me for taking advantage of a post here calling attention to discounted prices. Sorry I'm not one of those that pays full boat on everything; a fool and their money soon go separate ways.

 

I have been accurate in the time-line, and I was patient - perhaps I should not have been. I'm not a pushy a** wipe who isn't considerate of others. I run a business and I know things can pile up. We have our share of pushy customers - the squeaky wheel types that think they are the only ones who exist.

 

Think what you want - shop where you want. I was sharing my frustration and notice to others who were also looking to buy items from them - this would seem to exclude those who enjoy paying full boat.

 

I was looking for a few items and it turned out that had a lot in my size - unlike the 2 dealers in my state who carry little by way of BMW wear, neither of which are local. So it turned into a significantly larger purchase then I intended.

 

That being said, I've now ordered the items I needed from another dealer MAIL ORDER and they were helpful as always.

 

As for the reasons the dealership LOST BMW (not closed), that has been stated and it seems this outcome may not be so unusual. So at your dealership, do you just have your phone people advise phone buyers not to expect normal service? Ever consider that many riders have no local dealers? Or that non-local dealers may not carry much by way of riding gear? Ever wonder why A&S, Chicago, Bob's and Daytona/Orlando Dealerships do so much LONG distance business? Maybe your dealership should consider changing their attitude about non local buyers as there is obviously a large amount of business to be done.

 

[Motodan]

Nobody really cares what happened to you or you deal. Everyone has their own discords to deal with. They only reply to your rant because it creates a brief distraction from their own plight.

[RoadJunkie]

Gee whiz...I care...

[tcshooter]

So do I, that way I know not to use this dealer in my local area. Have a coke and a smile and enjoy the 4th.

[jasonTDI]

Why screw around with them. All the last year stuff is clearanced EVERYWHERE. Most about half price. Call Bob's BMW, Max's or any others.

 

So we've all heard that the beemer dealership in Tulsa is leaving the brand, so they had all their BMW stuff marked at 'cost'.

 

In the market for gear, I call Saturday June 20th to see what hey have in my size. I am get put on hold for literally an hour while they check to see what hey have and wait on other customers. I have a headset on and am multitasking, so the wait is no big deal and they do keep coming back to assure me they haven't forgotten about me.

 

The parts guy - Zach - gets back to me with a list of items my size. We come up with a list that I'm going to buy, we go item by item (I have a BMW gear catalog) with prices. The he says he's going to have to call me back, because he 'dropped his piece of paper'. . . He calls back and has some more items, but now says he can't log in the computer to get the 'cost' price. He says he will put the gear I said I wanted in a box and come in Monday (his day off) and call me and finish this up. Monday comes and goes - and I'm not surprised not to have heard from him. I call Tuesday and leave a message. I call Wednesday and Zach is not in today, so I leave another message. They also assure me that he has put my items in a box to hold them for me. Thursday I call and get Zach, and he says he has a customer in front of him, can he call me back?

 

He DOES call me back and we finalize the list and prices. Expect now colors have changed on a jacket and pants. Hmm I have to think about that - I don't like the color combination they had. I tell him I need to think about the new colors and will call him back. 10 minutes later I call back and say I don't want the jacket and pants, but will add the Santiago pants instead. Fine he says, but he has a customer on front of him and one on the phone and he will call me back. My total gear price is $1700 +/-.

 

No return call Thurs. I call Friday and leave a message. No return. I call Saturday - they had just closed, so I left a message on their machine. No call Tuesday (they're closed Monday) Today I call and get Zach and he says someone took the stuff out of the box and sold it. [While I'm no Einstein, I knew something was odd about this whole thing - so I'm not totally shocked). I ask why he'd not called to tell me this and he said he didn't have my number. I tell him that's BS and that he's been stringing me on all along.

 

I call back and ask to speak tot he GM. Turns our he's busy, would I leave a message - which I do and also give the nature of my call - because they asked. Next I know I get a call from the dealership - not form the GM but from the 'parts manager' who says that BMW came in "Friday or Saturday and took everything". Even items that were supposed to be in a box that were sold, I ask? Well, we didn't know how to get in touch with you, and we didn't want to be left with the merchandise.

 

Once again BS, as it was quite clear the items I wanted - we'd gone over the list 2 times, having added the pants to the order.

 

So yeah . . I guess my inclination is to call back again tomorrow to speak to the GM - I kind of wonder if this guy was calling to cover for his buddy. I'm not sure what I expect - there is nothing they can do IF in fact BMW has the gear. But it seemed odd that he would say "BMW took" everything we had, so I'm not sure I buy that story either. Either way, it's a lost cause. Although a lot of the gear was discounted, "cost" is a relative term. The expensive gear was discounted, but not 50% or so like one would expect for this type of sale.

[AdirondackJack]

Actually Mr. Motodan, that is not in the least bit true. There are many of us who empathize greatly with WTA's plight and feel his pain. You can offer excuses till you're blue in the face for shoddy, dishonorable service. . . . . . .but in the final analysis all you offer is shallow excuses for sub-par thinking. Having been in the customer service business for the better part of 50 years I can personally attest to the importance of these essential values. No doubt you subscribe to "situational ethics". I am sorry that you are missing out on some of the real plaesures in life. A great man once said "Human beings are operating at their best when they are doing something that truly helps their fellow man". Wait a minute. . . . .I guess I said that!

[tomk99r11]

I don't know about your situational ethics but I don't think the dealer was up front in wasting time with the OP's call and the dealer rep should have said the deals are close out first come first serve, cash in hand. As for the OP, to expect that the dealer rep spend inordinate amounts of time on the phone is not reasonable in my opinion. But that's just me.