at least you have dealers

[Pthagonal]

heres whats happening in Ireland

in Dublin.. to be exact

Maxwell motors BMW are stopping bike sales and serviceing.. i just want to tell you about a bmw salesman who i became friends with and deserves a belated thankyou for all hes done..

he has now moved on and since maxwells have no proper bike salesman they have stopped/are stopping doing bikes altogether

now john was not the most organised guy but he knew his bikes and he enjoyed the bike side of things, he did everthing he could for bikers.. and he did everhthing he could for riders like myself.. test rides, info on parts, and how to's, sponsorship of various charitys i hit him for.. and all round genereally nice guy..

i think the managment didnt realise what a good thing they had when he left.. because now they cant do bikes and are going to lose out on a important part of the "bmw lifestyle"

john was doing the bike sales on the side as such, he didnt make much commision on bikes, not compared to cars.. and was working from a small unit in the showrooms.. so it was nice to know that he had the largest sales figures in ireland for bikes.. by miles.. he got lots of hassle for his efforts,, from management and from buyers.. and from myself,, as i said not the best organiser but once you understood that, you were fine,, just keep reminding him and he'd get it done..

anyways hes gone now and maxwells as far as i know are getting out of bikes completly..

johns back with the family business now and just bought himself a 999 to blast about on .. hes ridden everthing on two wheels.. and 4 wheels as well.
aside - i must tell u the story of how he lost the first ever (and only) bmw mini in ireland, ( the morning of the press launch ) remind me.. its hilarious..

anyways good luck to him and we will miss his anter..s..

as for what to do now..

the only other real bmw bike dealer in dublin is Maddock's in bray,, and lets just say iv heard too many bad stories about him to even think of going near him.. as before once your miny is in his hands after sales is terrible..

so where do we go?

what do we do?

the word is bmw are opening 2 purpose build bike dealerships in dublin .. one north and one south.. with the south probably going to maddock..


so god help us..

as for northside.. i dont know.. joe duffy bmw maybe? who knows... the gods that be, will probably think that the bikes don't make enough money here to warrant a bike only showroom.. maybe they don't, but bmw could easily afford to set up a proper showroom.. at least somewhere we could try on teh rider gear without having to order them first..

untill then we will see. as for myself., im just going to buy in england..

better deals, better prices and even though its second hand you know your going to get a perfect bike and save a fortune at the same time..


rant over..

to john good luck..

and to any other riders looking to buy in ireland.. good luck..regards

Pthagonal

 

[shuck raider]

Sympathise with you, pthag, looks like the whole thing is going down the toilet in Dublin. A good guy in a dealership like Maxwells should be worth many thousands each year to them. Their loss, by the sound of it.

Belfast ain't much better - you either do business with Charles Hurst or you don't do business at all. They are the only B*W dealers in N Ireland. Walked out of there on Saturday because they wouldn't throw in a set of pannier rails on a proposed deal for a new 1150GS. Lost the deal because of what, 50 quid to them at cost? Sod 'em, I'm looking at Scottish/N English dealers now

 

[BawdyMonk]

Pythag, you underestimate BMW mate, last year they sold 10 new bikes here in Cyprus, before that it was less, they, Der Vaterland, TOLD the importer he had to sell 50 this year, and that he must employ a Bike sales manager. When BMW tell an importer/franchisee to do something it appears they do it...

The bike manager was employed and they hit 50 sales by the end of August, my Adventure was #50
They had one (part-time) bike mechanic, now they have 3 designated bike mechanics, and the target for 2004 is 80 bikes, 2005 is 120

Try telling BMW Germany about the situation in Dublin...

 

[Pthagonal]

yep

well what ive heard is that they are opening 2 proper bike showrooms..

bmw have taken over the importation of bikes and cars to ireland themselves..

motor import used to be the company that had teh franchise, now its bmw themselves so we will see what happens..

ireland is a bit strange..

a basic gs is 16500 euros or something like that

bmw.ie doesnt even have a bike section on it..

prices in ireland are crazy and if they give the dealership to maddock its gonna be nuts, lets just say his after sales service leaves a lot to be desired..

and his prices are always more expensive than anyone elses

for me if i want a new gs ill go to the uk or europe and buy a nearly new one.. it would save me a few grand if i do it right..


if only i had a few hundred thousand id set up my own bike shop..

but it would be more than just beemers..


regards

pthag

 

[Pthagonal]

well now

ive jsut sent a stinker of a email to bmw.ie

lets see what happens..

basic questions hwy are there no details about bikes on bmw.ie?


then a nice little rant on the fact that there are no bike showrooms here in ireland etc etc

we will see what happens


regards

pthag

 

[Hairnet600]

pthag

as for northside.. i dont know.. joe duffy bmw maybe

arent they gonna miss him on liveline

 

[ferguscawley]

Pthag

If you think Dublin is bad, then don't even contemplate Cork. I have had a horrific experience with Kevin O'Leary's garage in Tivoli, Cork. Not bike related but I got a good enough sense of what their customer service is like when I bought a 1994 525TDS from them 2 years ago. I bought the car trade - it was rough enough internally and needed some TLC - I 'd like to be able to say that I bought it for a steal, but stupidly, I didn't. Anyway, to cut a (very) long story short, it was 3 months later before I even got the log book for the thing. I wrote some savage emails and faxes to both Kevin O'Leary himself and BMW Ireland. Kevin O'Leary is a decent honest guy and if it were not for him, nothing would have happened. Their (newly appointed) sales manager at the time was to blame for all my problems. What a w**ker.
Because i bought the car trade, he tried to sh1t on me.
If I had the money tomorrow (i.e. Lotto win) and could afford a new 530D, I would go straight to Bolands in Waterford with my money. I'm not sure if they do bikes or not but they get my vote before Kevin O'Leary's in Cork.
Anyway, why do you need a delaer to service the bike ? - all they do is charge 4 times what it really costs to do a half-hearted job.
There - rant over - feel much better now

Ferg