ist service in france

[richie]

Language point nicely illustrated. "Entretien" translates more literally to "maintenance". The expression for a regular scheduled service would be "une révision de xx km".

Je ne crois pas mon ami, entretien... je reste avec ça, revision de bla bla.....

 

[mrsroynie]

Unfortunately work commitments mean service has to be done in Franceas i will need to get back, Might change ferry to nearer Spain and arrange with the Spaniards. Last thing i want to do is drive up and down the m4 to get 500 miles on the clock. Cant believe I will have too many issues with a 600 mile service. ie change the oil. Cant really book too far in advance, as dealer will only be able to confirm when bike is ready 2 weeks beforehand.
To be frank i may do it myself, as i detest dealing with main dealers and their snobbery and money swindling ways. Probably get a gs911 thingy and keep fingers crossed, and keep up regular attendances at confession.

Cheers bert

If you do the service yourself, you will invalidate the warranty. Don't do it.

As you say, there are unlikely to be issues with a first service ... and, of course, they will understand you perfectly whether you ask for an entretien or a revision. The French take responsibility for the safety of vehicles very seriously, so mechanics are legally liable for the work they carry out in case of an incident. You don't really have anything to worry about - unless they need to explain some technical issue to you, in which case take Richie up on his offer of translation.

 

[Mr K]

Why not just get it serviced near where you live?

A few hundred extra miles isn't going to make any difference.

I had close to a thousand miles on mine before I could get the first service done.

 

[M3GS]

Spending 4-5 months per year in France since 2005 I have no good experiences with French BMW dealers I am sorry to say.

When my 08 GSA stranded me with a ring antenna failure in that year I was left at the roadside in 37 deg sun (no shade for miles) for 3 hours or more, bike taken to BMW Agen only 40k away where it languished for 10 days.

When I chased with BMW assistance they informed me that the dealer had no time to do it as he was busy with customers bikes! (It was August). They then had it shipped to BMW Toulouse who fixed it in a further week but somehow managed to mark the top yoke, damage the BMW badge insert and spill brake fuid or some such on the airbox, staining it permanently.

On the plus side they gave me an Opel Meriva for the duration. (What a heap)

Back in UK I compained to Mondial and they sent me two bottles of cheap plonk by way of apology. I thought about complaining to BMW France but well, life is too short.

Having said all that I have never ever experienced direct hostility or rudeness from the French and I have been going there since 1974... Customer service does vary though IMHO...

Last year I had both my GSes serviced at Rainbow... yes even my French registered 05...

Cheers

Roger

 

[miked]

Originally Posted by mrsroynie
Language point nicely illustrated. "Entretien" translates more literally to "maintenance". The expression for a regular scheduled service would be "une révision de xx km".
Je ne crois pas mon ami, entretien... je reste avec ça, revision de bla bla.....
__________________

I'm with mrsroynie on this one.

The word "entretien" means two things, maintenance being one of them, but, "je veux un entretien" means:

"I want an interview..."

Revision is the French word for vehicle servicing.


For what it's worth, CW in Dorset service my bike and I can speak French as well as I can English, read from that what you will....

 

[stolzy]

I'm with mrsroynie on this one.

The word "entretien" means two things, maintenance being one of them, but, "je veux un entretien" means:

"I want an interview..."

Revision is the French word for vehicle servicing.


For what it's worth, CW in Dorset service my bike and I can speak French as well as I can English, read from that what you will....

Strictly true, but I hear people use 'entretien' for service all the time, it would be a very pedantic service manager who wouldn't understand.

Also, if you're after a favour, 'Je voudrais' will get you further than 'Je veux'

 

[richie]

We are talking every day language, j'aimerais bien un entretien sil vous plait... A la limite un entretien de rodage....

HTH

Pedantic, now there is a good word

 

[mrsroynie]

Leaving language issues aside, I think the important point is that Bert should not attempt to do the first service on a brand new GSA himself. However, straightforward it would be to carry out at home, it would instantly invalidate the warranty and subsequently the resale value owing to the missing entry in the service record.

I have had issues with French BMW dealers, but they were 'attitude' as opposed to 'technical' issues. For the record, I have had my bike serviced in France, the US, Canada and Ireland, and the only one that really failed me was Portland Motorcycle Inc., Oregon - cost us a week out of our Alaska trip in '09.

 

[miked]

I'd be reluctant to get the service in France. It will certainly cost more than the, because of the exchange rate and partly because almost everything does.

The dealer is likely to give you short shrift too - they rely on repeat customers. At busy times of the year they won't even talk to you unless you bought the bike there.

If you do decide to get the service done in France, book it in tomorrow (OK, Monday), 6-8 week lead time at my dealer is normal at this time of year.

Wot he said

Get the "entretien" of your bike looked after in the UK.

The "revision" will be cheaper and you will be less stressed because you will understand what is going on.

 

[Dainese Brave]

Apart from the language/attitude/warranty issues....

....I think a high consideration should be that buying a bike, then blasting it down a motorway at a near constant speed for 600 miles is not the best way to run in a bike!

 

[mrsroynie]

Apart from the language/attitude/warranty issues....

....I think a high consideration should be that buying a bike, then blasting it down a motorway at a near constant speed for 600 miles is not the best way to run in a bike!

May be not, but it is unlikely to do any harm at legal speeds. I've done it and I'll bet so have a lot of others here.

 

[Dainese Brave]

May be not, but it is unlikely to do any harm at legal speeds. I've done it and I'll bet so have a lot of others here.

I've no doubt....it won't harm it much, but it's not ideal. It's not the speed either, more the variation of load/speed/accelleration on the engine.

It's not something I'd like to do, and I'd realise I wasn't giving the bike the best start in life.