20red
Registered user
Bahnstormer Alton
Vines BMW
- Thread starter JonF
- Start date
thebuyer
Registered user
Williams Manchester
Mega deal on new GSA triple black.... And great service....delivered free and didn't look to closely at my px
Mega deal on new GSA triple black.... And great service....delivered free and didn't look to closely at my px
Darren@Vines
Registered user
A reply from the dealer
I suspect this was just after certain members of the team attended the Motor Trade Law course and were frightened by the legal side of the business, and the rights of the customer if we fail to inform you of any defects found, but remember these supposed defects are just in the opinion of that technician on that day! As the law stands if we had failed to tell you that your disc was below the recommended limit and you were involved in an accident on the way home and the brake failed the technician and the service advisor plus the general manager could all be charged and serve a custodial sentence! So please bear that in mind the next time you visit any bike or car dealership and you get a recommended estimate ! Welcome to the united states of blame culture.
A reply from the dealer
I suspect this was just after certain members of the team attended the Motor Trade Law course and were frightened by the legal side of the business, and the rights of the customer if we fail to inform you of any defects found, but remember these supposed defects are just in the opinion of that technician on that day! As the law stands if we had failed to tell you that your disc was below the recommended limit and you were involved in an accident on the way home and the brake failed the technician and the service advisor plus the general manager could all be charged and serve a custodial sentence! So please bear that in mind the next time you visit any bike or car dealership and you get a recommended estimate ! Welcome to the united states of blame culture.
Is that it ? Your business has been absolutely slated and that is all you have to say? Doesn't exactly inspire confidence in Vines does it ?
To be fair he wasn't there at the time. This thread is 6 months old.
http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showth...vice-Department-Staff-Changes&highlight=vines
Maybe not but he had read the same information that you and I have read.
Darren@Vines
Registered user
I'm not known for my love of Vines (Guildford or otherwise) due to some pretty shoddy work/recommendations and downright fraud over the years for members of this and other forums, a couple of highlights being...
R1100 charged over £120 for rear pads that were not asked for and when taken home were not replaced at all anyway!
R850 that lost power when it rained, told a whole heap of stories and bills only to break down again. ECU faulty (logical) right through to barking mad, clutch has gone and probably better to fit a new engine...Needless to say it was taken away and we fixed the side stand switch...
K1300GT Brand spanking new with crash bungs fitted by Vines that fouled the fairing...so badly there were fairing screws left in the glove box by the 'mechanic' as they would not go back in.
However it is who your mechanic is on the day and how rabidly money grabbing the service manager that often decides if you are going to have a good or bad experience.
Best BMW service I have had was when my FD destroyed itself in France. Just over 300 yoyo's for rebuild of FD and dealing with bad shims from the factory, new rear pads. Picked the bike up to find they had also changed the engine oil FOC, topped all fluids, washed it (no mean feet!) and even topped the tank off! The next customer might get a terrible time...but I doubt it.
Vote with your feet (I have used North Oxford with good results) or if you have skills and facilities DIY, at a club level I keep my workshop clear for our members bikes. The only kick in the nuts is CAN-BUS, but one day I'll have to just get the GS911 (or borrow Beemermans
)
R1100 charged over £120 for rear pads that were not asked for and when taken home were not replaced at all anyway!
R850 that lost power when it rained, told a whole heap of stories and bills only to break down again. ECU faulty (logical) right through to barking mad, clutch has gone and probably better to fit a new engine...Needless to say it was taken away and we fixed the side stand switch...
K1300GT Brand spanking new with crash bungs fitted by Vines that fouled the fairing...so badly there were fairing screws left in the glove box by the 'mechanic' as they would not go back in.
However it is who your mechanic is on the day and how rabidly money grabbing the service manager that often decides if you are going to have a good or bad experience.
Best BMW service I have had was when my FD destroyed itself in France. Just over 300 yoyo's for rebuild of FD and dealing with bad shims from the factory, new rear pads. Picked the bike up to find they had also changed the engine oil FOC, topped all fluids, washed it (no mean feet!) and even topped the tank off! The next customer might get a terrible time...but I doubt it.
Vote with your feet (I have used North Oxford with good results) or if you have skills and facilities DIY, at a club level I keep my workshop clear for our members bikes. The only kick in the nuts is CAN-BUS, but one day I'll have to just get the GS911 (or borrow Beemermans
)I used Vines once.
Never went back - never will
Never went back - never will
went to vines once on a freezing winters mid-week day. Walked in and looked around, and was completely ignored for 20-30 minutes, so I went home. Place was fully staffed but empty of customers - there was only me, but they were only interested in talking to themselves, and completely ignored me.
I'll admit I could have gone and talked to them, but surely an offer of a coffee and a chat would have been a reasonable ice breaker (and would have been most welcome considering the temp outside and that I was on a bike)
I have no doubt that they will have changed (optimist that I am), but I'll not be going back
Never had that issue with SPC, Bahnstormer or Steptoe (or indeed any other bike related business)
I'll admit I could have gone and talked to them, but surely an offer of a coffee and a chat would have been a reasonable ice breaker (and would have been most welcome considering the temp outside and that I was on a bike)
I have no doubt that they will have changed (optimist that I am), but I'll not be going back
Never had that issue with SPC, Bahnstormer or Steptoe (or indeed any other bike related business)
wheeledwidewebb
Registered user
These threads are good for people to stumble across when searching for information about dealers so with that in mind I think it is worth while me telling my story-so-far.
I bought an RT from Vines Guildford in November 2013 purely based on the fact that they offered me the best deal. I picked the bike up and things went downhill somewhat, after riding off in a downpour I noticed that there was a red dash light on. I had assumed it was the fuel light when I left the dealership so after filling up with fuel I was surprised to see it still on. Pulled over on the A3 (not pleasant) to find it was a tyre pressure warning light. Limped to the next services to find that the rear tyre had 9 pounds of air in it.
I was pissed off but wasn't about to turn around and head back for a rant in the pouring rain, and anyway the salesman had said he would talk to me in a few days to see how the new bike was.
Well he never rang. To be fair I never bothered ringing them to complain either because it was in the past and what were they going to do, say sorry, send me a bunch of flowers?
A few weeks ago I read another thread somewhere on here that was criticising Vines and I noticed that some fella called Darren had replied from Vines and said he was new there and was trying to turn things around. As I had a problem with something on the bike and some corrosion on the final drive I thought I would contact him to see what he was like.
OK, things have not been resolved yet due to bad weather and the fact that I am 100 miles away from Guildford but the Vines chap has been pretty good this far, he replies to me via email of an evening or when he is not in the dealership and he seems pretty decent.
Maybe the final result will be poor or maybe it will be good, certainly the Vines copybook is far from perfect in my experience but after rambling on about all that stuff I just wanted to make the point that there is at least someone there who appears to care about the customers.
I will make sure that I provide feedback regarding the end result as well. As I said though I haven't managed to get back there yet due to me being a fair weather, M25-roadworks-hating kind of rider and I should of said earlier that the Vines chap has told me that if they have a van passing he is happy to collect the bike - shame I am way off their regular routes, but at least he offered.
I bought an RT from Vines Guildford in November 2013 purely based on the fact that they offered me the best deal. I picked the bike up and things went downhill somewhat, after riding off in a downpour I noticed that there was a red dash light on. I had assumed it was the fuel light when I left the dealership so after filling up with fuel I was surprised to see it still on. Pulled over on the A3 (not pleasant) to find it was a tyre pressure warning light. Limped to the next services to find that the rear tyre had 9 pounds of air in it.
I was pissed off but wasn't about to turn around and head back for a rant in the pouring rain, and anyway the salesman had said he would talk to me in a few days to see how the new bike was.
Well he never rang. To be fair I never bothered ringing them to complain either because it was in the past and what were they going to do, say sorry, send me a bunch of flowers?
A few weeks ago I read another thread somewhere on here that was criticising Vines and I noticed that some fella called Darren had replied from Vines and said he was new there and was trying to turn things around. As I had a problem with something on the bike and some corrosion on the final drive I thought I would contact him to see what he was like.
OK, things have not been resolved yet due to bad weather and the fact that I am 100 miles away from Guildford but the Vines chap has been pretty good this far, he replies to me via email of an evening or when he is not in the dealership and he seems pretty decent.
Maybe the final result will be poor or maybe it will be good, certainly the Vines copybook is far from perfect in my experience but after rambling on about all that stuff I just wanted to make the point that there is at least someone there who appears to care about the customers.
I will make sure that I provide feedback regarding the end result as well. As I said though I haven't managed to get back there yet due to me being a fair weather, M25-roadworks-hating kind of rider and I should of said earlier that the Vines chap has told me that if they have a van passing he is happy to collect the bike - shame I am way off their regular routes, but at least he offered.
I just had my X-Challenged fixed by Vines. I followed up from Fat Boy's return and commitment to improve service. On this occasion they did a good job. Communication has been sparse though. And having bought 4 bikes from them I would expect some kind or acknowledgment. However, delighted to have my XC back up and running so all good
I'm not defending the issues that people have mentioned, as Vines have obviously pissed a few people off in the past. But, they have thousands of repeat customers (I'm on my fifth bike from them), so they must be doing something right.
Let's hope these issues are in the past, as the new management in the service department are determined to make sure this doesn't happen in the future.
Let's hope these issues are in the past, as the new management in the service department are determined to make sure this doesn't happen in the future.
+1 I have had 6 bikes from them without any real problems!!
I've just had a mixed experience with Vines.
My bike was in today for a 6k and annual service (R1200GSA) which was done promptly and I even got a phonecall to tell me that it was ready before I was expecting
However, on the way home, whilst filtering through the traffic on the M25 I heard a funny clanking noise from beneath the bike. I thought it was something flicked up against the bash plate and as I had my earplugs it seemed louder than normal, but it happened again. So I pulled off the motorway at the next junction and found that the entire front mounting bolts for the sump guard had gone awol and all that was holding it in places was the rear bolt through the rubber bushes. I dread to think what could have happened if the entire sump guard had come off and got tangled in the rear wheel whilst I was filtering at about 50mph on the M25
So I nursed the bike home, got home around 1715, and phoned Vines straight away - they agreed to get the bike picked up and get it sorted out for me. So at 1915 the Vines van turned up and whisked my bike away hopefully to return it tomorrow.
Not happy that I was given back a bike that had this sort of problem but am more than pleased with what Vines are doing to sort out this issue for me Will update once I get the bike back.....
My bike was in today for a 6k and annual service (R1200GSA) which was done promptly and I even got a phonecall to tell me that it was ready before I was expecting
However, on the way home, whilst filtering through the traffic on the M25 I heard a funny clanking noise from beneath the bike. I thought it was something flicked up against the bash plate and as I had my earplugs it seemed louder than normal, but it happened again. So I pulled off the motorway at the next junction and found that the entire front mounting bolts for the sump guard had gone awol and all that was holding it in places was the rear bolt through the rubber bushes. I dread to think what could have happened if the entire sump guard had come off and got tangled in the rear wheel whilst I was filtering at about 50mph on the M25
So I nursed the bike home, got home around 1715, and phoned Vines straight away - they agreed to get the bike picked up and get it sorted out for me. So at 1915 the Vines van turned up and whisked my bike away hopefully to return it tomorrow.
Not happy that I was given back a bike that had this sort of problem but am more than pleased with what Vines are doing to sort out this issue for me
Will update once I get the bike back.....
That is shit quality control and checking, they put you in danger. If I was you I would be speaking to the service manager asking him what he was going to offer in compensation; a discount on your next service for example.
I've been calling them for 2 weeks now to book a 1 year service, leaving messages and being promised to be called back. Nothing. Can anyone recommend a BMW certified mechanic near Redhill? Cheers
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