Benham BMW, Wolverhampton

[MacJ]

As a follow up to my previous thread on Final Drive Failure BMW have now resolved the problem for me.

On collecting my bike (which I bought from Benhams) after service I was told by the service representative that the rear wheel bearing was rough and needed replacement at a cost of £420. I pointed out that this was a well documented failure of which BMW was aware. I asked for this to be dealt with as a warranty/good will repair as the bike was only 2 months out of warranty with 10K on it.

Benhams refused point blank to contact BMW and told me to do it myself! So having bought the bike from them and had it serviced by them since I bought it they just told me to sort it myself. That's their version of customer support.

I decided to contact another dealer, Roy Pidcocks of Long Eaton, to get an alternative quote for the work. As soon a I spoke to the service assistant at Pidcocks he asked why my dealer had not sorted it out for me. Within an hour of my call Pidcocks had received authorisation from BMW to carry out the work and the Final Drive on my bike was repaired by them today at no cost to me as a recall/warranty repair. BTW I have never used them in the past.

I have nothing but praise for the staff at Pidcocks (Dave and Roger) who made every effort to fit the repair into a time to suit me, provide a replacement bike for the day and then carefully explain the work they had done.

Let me see will I be going back to Benhams again???????

 

[oldnfat]

Good, vote with your wheels....only way to stop poor service....might want to point out this forum and at least give them the right of reply....would be interesting to get their point of view.

 

[solidstate100]

Doubt I will ever go to Benhams either....what a bunch of C**ks

Well done for getting it sorted!

 

[DJ GSA]

Bummer!

Glad you got it sorted.

Makes me worried cos I got my bike from Benhams. I've not had any problems with them thus far but then I've only got 2k on it.

I did baulk though at the £170 then stiffed me for a running in service.

I will most definitely be keeping an eye on things, thanks for the heads up.

 

[Wapping]

Mac J, you should write to BMW and tell them, for sure.

 

[NLC]

Unfortunate circumstances but I am not surpirsed. Some dealers don't care and others bend over backwards. Concur with Wapping let the mother ship know. Perhaps they will send you a new triple black for your troubles.

 

[PaulGS1200Adv]

Benhams of Wolverhampton were only car dealers. When they applied for suitable applicants to work in the bike section I believe the supervisors job went to a retail supervisor who had no experience in bikes. I would NEVER use them for anything other than parts. Go to Clarks, they have always been bike dealers.

 

[adrian38]

My father in law worked for a large BMW dealership for many years. Benham in Wolves had the most shocking reputation for poor service. I recently tried to buy a bike from them and they blatantly tried to rip me off! Very socking to be honest. +1 for clarkes in Birmingham. Supposed to be very good.

 

[jeff]

BMW dealers

Bath Road Motorcycles (Bristol Mottorad) giving up main dealership this month. Not prepared to spend huge amounts of money on car showroom-like premises.

Motorcycles will move to car dealer, possibly does not bode well for Bristol Bikers. My only experience of such a set up was not good. Almost condescending when suited up twat realised I did not ant to buy a car. The lovely motorcycle smell of a proper bike dealer is missing completely.

Great shame. Have had great service from them for over 20years.

 

[iandavid]

Vines of Guildford are both car and bike, seperate sections, but the bike guys are excellent. Best part is that the toilet is in the car side and I just love the looks from the snotty car reps when you walk across their lovely showroom in wet riding gear

 

[Yonkyo]

Bath Road Motorcycles (Bristol Mottorad) giving up main dealership this month. Not prepared to spend huge amounts of money on car showroom-like premises.

Motorcycles will move to car dealer, possibly does not bode well for Bristol Bikers. My only experience of such a set up was not good. Almost condescending when suited up twat realised I did not ant to buy a car. The lovely motorcycle smell of a proper bike dealer is missing completely.

Great shame. Have had great service from them for over 20years.

Well, i'm holding out hope that Dick Lovett's (taking over from Bristol Motorrad) will be as good as Cotswold (also car & bike), who took the franchise from BVM Stroud.

At least some of the staff are transferring to the new shop.

 

[jbodin]

As a follow up to my previous thread on Final Drive Failure BMW have now resolved the problem for me.

On collecting my bike (which I bought from Benhams) after service I was told by the service representative that the rear wheel bearing was rough and needed replacement at a cost of £420. I pointed out that this was a well documented failure of which BMW was aware. I asked for this to be dealt with as a warranty/good will repair as the bike was only 2 months out of warranty with 10K on it.

Benhams refused point blank to contact BMW and told me to do it myself! So having bought the bike from them and had it serviced by them since I bought it they just told me to sort it myself. That's their version of customer support.

I decided to contact another dealer, Roy Pidcocks of Long Eaton, to get an alternative quote for the work. As soon a I spoke to the service assistant at Pidcocks he asked why my dealer had not sorted it out for me. Within an hour of my call Pidcocks had received authorisation from BMW to carry out the work and the Final Drive on my bike was repaired by them today at no cost to me as a recall/warranty repair. BTW I have never used them in the past.

I have nothing but praise for the staff at Pidcocks (Dave and Roger) who made every effort to fit the repair into a time to suit me, provide a replacement bike for the day and then carefully explain the work they had done.

Let me see will I be going back to Benhams again???????

Mac, John here we met at the Royal Oak a couple of weeks ago. Glad you got your bike sorted.

 

[snerkler]

I have nothing but praise for the staff at Pidcocks (Dave and Roger) who made every effort to fit the repair into a time to suit me, provide a replacement bike for the day and then carefully explain the work they had done.

I have not had much dealings with Pidcocks as they are a little out of my way, however the couple of times I have been they service has been excellent. Also they are much happier to offer discounts on accessories, clothes etc than my local dealer. If I lived closer I would not hesitate to use them all the time

 

[johnwiffen]

MMMM, I liked BVM had good service, but after one bike from Cotswold would never go back there again. Had two from Clarks since, they have been very good.

 

[G5RJO]

BMW Dealers...

Shocked you could buy a bloody bike from Clarkes...

Went in there armed with the dosh ready to buy one, as has been said before... staff couldn't be arsed to lift heads out of MCN to speak. Had to go over and 'pester' them and then they just pointed at screen prices. Nice!

Got my bike from BVM in Stroud before they lost the franchise. (Nov 2008).

Have had bike serviced at all the local places including Benhams. Benhams took 3 days to do a 12000 service and wanted to charge me for a loan bike for the 3 days

Do yourself a favour, if you have basic engineering skills you can service these things yourself.

You can buy all the 'extra' tools like torx bits, throttle balancer, GS911 etc and break even pretty quick. (You can also 'sell' a licence slot on the GS911 to let others utilise it to get savings even quicker).

Print out the BMW service sheets, keep receipts for everything and attach that to your service book. Compare the prices for NGK plugs on Ebay or your local motor factors to the price BMW wants

At least you'll know it's all done.

Keep the money you save in servicing and extended warranty in an account and I bet it more than pays for the bits you may need that a warranty 'may' cover.

Roger.

 

[moly]

My father in law worked for a large BMW dealership for many years. Benham in Wolves had the most shocking reputation for poor service. I recently tried to buy a bike from them and they blatantly tried to rip me off! Very socking to be honest. +1 for clarkes in Birmingham. Supposed to be very good.

i just goto say one thing they are a car dealership i have had 15 bikes from clarks NEVER let me down good workshop !!!!good sevice "good allround bike shop "

 

[teejay]

Also crap service from Benhams, left bolts undone after last service for which I have a £100.00 credit note as way of apology still to be used if at all.

Just before this years trip in May the gearbox seal was weeping, Pidcocks looked at it there and then and gave me a price to repair it, called at Benhams on the way home to see what they could do, wouldn't even quote without their mechanic looking at it, so they wanted me to book it in for their bloke to tell me what I already knew AND had been confirmed by Pidcocks.

That what happens when you talk to some 'suit' at the service desk who doesn't know one end of a bike from the other.



Teejay

 

[trainman]

Bath Road Motorcycles (Bristol Mottorad) giving up main dealership this month. Not prepared to spend huge amounts of money on car showroom-like premises.

Motorcycles will move to car dealer, possibly does not bode well for Bristol Bikers. My only experience of such a set up was not good. Almost condescending when suited up twat realised I did not ant to buy a car. The lovely motorcycle smell of a proper bike dealer is missing completely.

Great shame. Have had great service from them for over 20years.

Hopefully BMW are sensible enough to retain the staff - as this thread shows a glossy showroom with clueless staff will soon get a reputation round the biking fraternity and end up selling nowt

a good test if you are in a dealer for the first time is ask them what bike they ride, its a passion and i would expect anyone in this type of job to be an owner

 

[Rasher]

I don't think this is just a car dealership issue, I have found some bike only shops piss poor in the past, plus you can have a bad experience that can be rare, I certainly had a bad time at a well repsected BMW dealer because a quote I was given was not upheld - maybe a rare occurence, but enough to stop me ever going back (And yes I did question it at the time and was given no explanation)

I often find staff unwilling to be particularly helpful, and customer service is rapidly dissapearing in all walks of life, it was great before "customer service departments" existed, now for the most part it is shocking in most industries.

It does not help that most of us are guilty of going for the cheapest deal and the rot set in twenty plus years ago when everyone started going to Carnell and Motorcycle City to get a £5k bike £100 cheaper than their local dealer.

If I find good service somewhere I will keep going back, and don't screw them down to the lowest price I can find on the web, I always want a deal, but typically would pay £500 more for a new bike from my local dealer if I think I will get a great service from them (And have done exactly that in the past)

 

[adrian38]

Mac, John here we met at the Royal Oak a couple of weeks ago. Glad you got your bike sorted.

Royal Oak Wombourne?