Nadeem -
(and anyone else who wants to hear my reasons for my negative attitude towards bmw park lane)
i had a problem with the lock on one of my bmw panniers i was due to go away for a week and needed to use the pannier - not only did sharon order me the new part.. but she leant me a brand new pannier absolutely free of charge for the week. good service.
however...the only reason i received this service is because of previous poor service i had from Park Lane / Battersea.
i ordered (and paid for) the bike with an extra power socket fitted, it didn't come fitted at the first service.
the very first time rode the bike on the motorway the offside black plastic panel came free - bending back and then breaking off altogether. the sales staff put it down to the fixing not being checked at the PDI.
when the black plastic panel ripped off it damaged the silver metal panel flanking the fuel tank. park lane replaced both (plastic panel and silver metal panel) for free at the first service.
but...
the new silver panel did not match the colour of the original...the first being brushed metal - the replacement was shiny-i pointed this out to park lane - they said something along the lines of it couldn't be different because there is only one part number.....however when i returned to show the salesman who sold me the bike he agreed it was not acceptable and they then replaced the non damaged panel to match the replacement panel, about a week later.
i bought a bmw satnav2 from park lane, i had already paid for the loom to be hardwired from new. once fitted the satnav had a constant humm in my autocom system, and when the "speak" button was pushed the humm became a (nearly) painful BUZZ. i took it back - they "fixed it" i rode away-same problem, i took it back they - erm -"fixed it" i ride away - same bloody problem - no difference despite having spent 2 hours in Battersea.
i had already paid £228.42 for battersea to fit my autocom system7 to the bike. they finaly pinned the problem down to the minijack cable running from audio out on satnav to the aux2 input on autocom box. they spent a while changing it-problem fixed! i ride away - same bloody problem!!!! constant humm in helmet speakers....not fixed at all!! i take a look under the seat - they have loomed in the new cable with no slack in it whatsoever and plugged it into the music input - not the aux2 inptut - i start to wonder why i paid park lane £228.42 to fit an autocom system when the person dealing with it clearly has no idea what he is doing.
they conceed they can't fix it - they will need the bike back for a day or so to fix it. it gets booked in for the following week. they collect it from my house and give me a free courtesey bike. good service at last!
despite being "booked in" a week previously it took them 3 entire days to fix the problem. i did indeed ride away with it working this time.
i had a prang on the courtesey bike they gave me - i was rear ended by a car, not my fault - light damage to bike, about £500 worth.... i parted with £1000 there and then to cover the excess on the policy. a month later i contact them regarding how the claim was going (i had all details etc. of the 3rd party.and filled in all forms for park lanes insurance) no response to my email - i telephone them - they had no news- i suggest a try them again in a month. month passes - again i email them - no response (4 days) later i telephone them - still no news. another month passes - i do get a reply this time from the salesman saying he suggests i contact his boss to talk about it. i do so, 13 weeks have passed since parting with my thousand pounds...the salesman informed me the 3rd aprty is "un-traceable" (he gave me false details). COMPLETELY MY FAULT - I SHOULD HAVE CALLED THE LAW AT THE SCENE OF THE INCIDENT AND NOT BEEN SO TRUSTING....i would like to think that the insurers might have found the 3rd parties details to be false within a month (when i first phoned) or maybe within 2 months (when i contacted them again)...either the staff at park lane were to blame (not contacting the insurers like they said they would) or the insurance company were to blame for dragging there heels - i accept that knowing the 3rd parties details to be false would not have saved me the repair bill to courtesey bike - but it would have meant i got back the balance of my £1000 "excess" fee a lot sooner. (i accept that the reason i am £500 out of pocket is completely my fault - what i have issue with is the lack of help from Park Lane in settling the matter in a reasonable timescale.
phew.....erm...finished!
sorry about going on - but Nadeem did ask......
Fanum - people are entitled to shop where they like, people are also entitled to thier opinions..mine are strong enough in this instance to advise someone (asking for recommendations on where to shop) that i would not rush down to Park Lane for anything - be it sales, spares, servicing or anything else. in (all) the examples of poor service i have listed above my shitty condescending attitude was never a factor.
sorry for long tedious post.
