Recommended BMW Main Dealer ???

[m33ufo]

Hi guys,

I have an M3 CSL which is approaching the end of it's manufacturers 3 year warranty. I have a number of trim types issues I would like rectified before the standard 3 year warranty expires as they aren't usually covered under extended warranty etc.

My problem is this, I have used Rydale Cardiff for a number of years but have rarely been satisfied with the level of service offered. I popped in today and queried possible warranty replacement in a number of items - these are all items that are commonly replaced under warranty on the CSL, one example is the steering wheel which being made from Alcantara suffers from 'bobbling'!!

Anyway, long story short, they are proving to be no help at all. I'm hoping that someone may be able to point me in the direction of a more professional and sympathetic BMW dealer or even better, a one of their technicians. Apparently it's usually the tech guy who discusses the claim with BMW and agrees it there and then

Any thoughts or input welcome. I guess my only other local options are the dealers in Newport or Swansea.

Cheers

[pwd95]

Friends of ours always get their new BM's at Newport rather than Swansea. They recon the service is far superior. (extra hour each way) I'll find out which one.

[DAVE-W]

I'd steer clear of Trainers in Swansea personally.....had poor service from them when I had my 330 CiSE.

It's very conjective though isn't it.......got a mate who's currently dealing with Rydale on a new 325 convertible as Trainers treated him like sh1t and in his opinion Rydale were superb!

What about Haverfordwest...there's a main dealer down there isn't there....maybe even Bristol m8?

Dave

[m33ufo]

The disparity in customer service between dealers is huge. It's incredibly annoying when other CSL owners throughout the UK take their cars in and get warranty repairs carried out without even a second thought whilst with Rydale Cardiff it's like getting blood from a stone.

I should probably try another dealership. I don't have a good relationship with the assistant service manager, I was a little unkind when years ago they lost the service book for my MRoadster and then just a couple of years ago dented the door on my M5 whilst it was in for a service!

Maybe give Newport a try or as you suggest, Bristol, I have heard some decent reports of them.

Edited by m33ufo on Friday 8th June 23:30

[andrew190783]

Dick Lovett BMW in Bristol

[Samiad]

Rydale Cardiff are awful.

Rcently bought a Z4 from them, and the experience was pretty bad - almost enough to put me off BMWs in the future.

Poor service from sale to after sale.

Edited by Samiad on Saturday 9th June 02:11

[Freewheeler]

Personally, as much as it grieves me to say this, I believe you generally get a better level of service if you travel across the bridge!!

[Luckey]

I too have had a number of horrific times with the said Rydales of Cardiff and Nu'put

I now travel to Cotswold Gloucester, who are a pleasure to deal with. There are a number of South Wales PH members who do the same... search for comments in the BMW and M Power sections.

BMW Cotswold Gloucester
Cole Avenue
Gloucester
GL2 5ER
Tel [phone]

Take a look at the this guys profile Cerberus MS - he's a Master Technician at Gloucester who knows his stuff and has also done work on my cars from home. PM me for details.

I've used Autotech BMW (Independant) in Caerleon with no complaints from me to date

Good luck !

[m33ufo]

Luckey said:

I too have had a number of horrific times with the said Rydales of Cardiff and Nu'put

I now travel to Cotswold Gloucester, who are a pleasure to deal with. There are a number of South Wales PH members who do the same... search for comments in the BMW and M Power sections.

BMW Cotswold Gloucester
Cole Avenue
Gloucester
GL2 5ER
Tel [phone]

Take a look at the this guys profile Cerberus MS - he's a Master Technician at Gloucester who knows his stuff and has also done work on my cars from home. PM me for details.

I've used Autotech BMW (Independant) in Caerleon with no complaints from me to date

Good luck !

Your post was literally music to my ears! All I get from Rydale is negativity. When I suggested to the aforementioned assistant service manager (Keith!) that my warranty was shortly expiring (August) and that I wanted some mechanical issues looked into before moving onto extended warranty he actually said that…….if we spend an hour or so fault finding and then don’t find a problem we would charge you for the labour! Never heard anything like it on a car under the original 3 year warranty, or extended for that matter.

I am more than happy to travel to Gloucester if it means that I would be dealing with a technician that I can trust to look after my car properly.

Another problem with Rydale is that they rarely (if ever!) work on the CSL. I was told by one of the parts guys that the last time they had one in for service some parts were ordered incorrectly because they assumed it was the same as an M3.

I shall PM you

[bean455]

We get all our m cars serviced at newport,Nathan who is on the service dept.is a personal friend of mine,and we have had no problems in the past.you can always say that if someone knows you that the level of service gets better.Hope you have some luck.

[Mr MoJo]

Bristol is your best bet, have only heard horror stories from both Newport and Cardiff (and thats from the inside !!) Dick Lovett is your answer, treats customers as they should be treated.

[m33ufo]

bean455 said:

We get all our m cars serviced at newport,Nathan who is on the service dept.is a personal friend of mine,and we have had no problems in the past.you can always say that if someone knows you that the level of service gets better.Hope you have some luck.

I guess it's often a case of who you know.

[m33ufo]

Mr MoJo said:

Bristol is your best bet, have only heard horror stories from both Newport and Cardiff (and thats from the inside !!) Dick Lovett is your answer, treats customers as they should be treated.

I'll have to investigate Dick Lovett and Cotswold BMW further.

[taffyracer]

I am in exactly the same position but with an M3, warranty is due on the 18th and I have loads of rattles and other issues that need sorting before i extend the warranty. I've used Rydale cardiff and they are shocking, car came out with more faults than before so went to Wellsway in Bath, they were even worse, don't believe the hype-Wellsway are shite!

I'm talking to Newport now on a new car but with reservatins, we'll see, I have a contact at Dick Lovett's, so will try and get the problems solved there, i'm told they are good

Edited by taffyracer on Saturday 9th June 11:38

[m33ufo]

taffyracer said:

I am in exactly the same position but with an M3, warranty is due on the 18th and I have loads of rattles and other issues that need sorting before i extend the warranty. I've used Rydale cardiff and they are shocking, car came out with more faults than before so went to Wellsway in Bath, they were even worse, don't believe the hype-Wellsway are shite!

I'm dealing with Newport now on a new car and we'll see, Herford or Dick Lovett's is the next port of call though.

I think the key is going to be knowing someone on the inside before getting your car looked at. On the surface it seems to be a very personal judgment by the technician or service department bod that decided whether or not you get the job done - utter bull!

I have 2 months to get my car sorted.

[Luckey]

m33ufo said:

I shall PM you

I'm working all day Saturday and Sunday so will look out for your PM Sunday evening... out on't beers tonight see butt

A recent friends experience of Rydale Cardiff goes something like this: -

He took his 320D Coupe in for service and made a point of asking for the handbrake to be adjusted. 'That's not on the list of to do checks' was the response.
Having had umpteen services before he knew that it was part of the checks so insisted they produce a sample checklist before handing the keys over. Indeed, handbarke adjustment was there in black and white. Fine start !

This gets better..... he had the car back and the handbrake was not done... they would not do it there and then, so he had to rebook 4 days later.

It gets worse.... the following morning he carried out some routine checks. Upon checking the oil level he found, well.... 'extremely low'. Imagine your own reactions !
Upon calling Rydale he was belittled ....'is the car on the flat' blah blah blah... 'our metering is calibrated and there is no chance of error' blah blah blah and so on.

Needless to say, he blew his normal calm temperament and finally got them to repeat the entire service. A stinking letter to BMW GB gave him a voucher for £200 off the next service. (I wet myself as he took up a 5 yrs free service offer at time of purchase). They extended it to parts and acccesories.

Car is fine but Rydales have lost another paying customer.
I have my own stories..... but Rydales don't deserve the space on PH.

Edited by Luckey on Saturday 9th June 11:27

[taffyracer]

This is what happened to me before xmas at Rydale Cardiff. My car went in for handling problems, got a call to say they'd need it 2 days as parts needed to be ordered, went in, collected it and was told some of the parts hadn;t come in, so was booked in 2 weeks later, came out a TP light came on, took it back in and it was reset. 4 days later the light came back on, i was having new tyres and then noticed the rear alloy was cracked, hence the warning light! weeks later car went back in for original problems, phoned at 5pm to find out what was happening and was told they needded to keep it as they needed parts! Got stroppy at this point, 1 weel later the NS xenon blue so it went in and got sorted with the otehr bits, drove 100m and the tps, tc and handbrake warning lights came on, went back in and it was reset, went 1 day and it all came back on. At this point the OS xenon went and it went back in has a new light and all the sensors reset. 4 days later all the lights were back on and now everypone was flashing me at night, the xenons were set to LHD!

I then took the car to Wellsway and they sorted it but they were equally as bad.

I'm now changing the car and wouldn't give Rydale the crap off my shoe so will be looking elsewhere and have just been put in touch wiht someonhe at Dick Lovett so will make the journey across the bridge to get the sort of service that we should get back here.

Pathetic!

[m33ufo]

Luckey said:

m33ufo said:

I shall PM you

I'm working all day Saturday and Sunday so will look out for your PM Sunday evening... out on't beers tonight see butt

A recent friends experience of Rydale Cardiff goes something like this: -

He took his 320D Coupe in for service and made a point of asking for the handbrake to be adjusted. 'That's not on the list of to do checks' was the response.
Having had umpteen services before he knew that it was part of the checks so insisted they produce a sample checklist before handing the keys over. Indeed, handbarke adjustment was there in black and white. Fine start !

This gets better..... he had the car back and the handbrake was not done... they would not do it there and then, so he had to rebook 4 days later.

It gets worse.... the following morning he carried out some routine checks. Upon checking the oil level he found, well.... 'extremely low'. Imagine your own reactions !
Upon calling Rydale he was belittled ....'is the car on the flat' blah blah blah... 'our metering is calibrated and there is no chance of error' blah blah blah and so on.

Needless to say, he blew his normal calm temperament and finally got them to repeat the entire service. A stinking letter to BMW GB gave him a voucher for £200 off the next service. (I wet myself as he took up a 5 yrs free service offer at time of purchase). They extended it to parts and acccesories.

Car is fine but Rydales have lost another paying customer.
I have my own stories..... but Rydales don't deserve the space on PH.

Thank you my man

It's a shame, they have a handful of semi-helpful guys, unfortunately these are hugely outnumbered by the complete wasters.

Couldn't find your pm option so have emailed you. Just in case you don't get it my email is [e-mail]

Don't drink too much

[m33ufo]

taffyracer said:

This is what happened to me before xmas at Rydale Cardiff. My car went in for handling problems, got a call to say they'd need it 2 days as parts needed to be ordered, went in, collected it and was told some of the parts hadn;t come in, so was booked in 2 weeks later, came out a TP light came on, took it back in and it was reset. 4 days later the light came back on, i was having new tyres and then noticed the rear alloy was cracked, hence the warning light! weeks later car went back in for original problems, phoned at 5pm to find out what was happening and was told they needded to keep it as they needed parts! Got stroppy at this point, 1 weel later the NS xenon blue so it went in and got sorted with the otehr bits, drove 100m and the tps, tc and handbrake warning lights came on, went back in and it was reset, went 1 day and it all came back on. At this point the OS xenon went and it went back in has a new light and all the sensors reset. 4 days later all the lights were back on and now everypone was flashing me at night, the xenons were set to LHD!

I then took the car to Wellsway and they sorted it but they were equally as bad.

I'm now changing the car and wouldn't give Rydale the crap off my shoe so will be looking elsewhere and have just been put in touch wiht someonhe at Dick Lovett so will make the journey across the bridge to get the sort of service that we should get back here.

Pathetic!

It's a painful experience, who would guess they would charge getting on for 100 pounds an hour for the privilege of cocking things up quite so expertly!

Dick Lovett would be closer for me than Cotswold BMW but the possibility of being able to chat with the technician and discuss things reasonably and hopefully fruitfully before hand is sounding VERY appealing.

At the end of the day all I want is to receive a level of service that many/most BMW customers take for granted

Initially I want to get my warranty bits sorted, maybe shall try Dick Lovett for my next service.

Edited by m33ufo on Saturday 9th June 12:44

Edited by m33ufo on Saturday 9th June 12:45

[David Godfrey]

the point has been made, looks like you have some other dealers to try, good luck.