I walked into Peter Pan BMW a few weeks ago in about the worst attire possible -- swim trunks and an old t-shirt. I practice with a dragonboat team nearby and decided, spur-of-the-moment, to go for a test-drive after practice. I was stinky, covered in salt and not really expecting to be taken seriously.
When I walked into the dealership, the salespeople greeted me politely and asked how they could help me. I told them I wanted to test-drive a 3-series and one of them walked me over to their display models. I mentioned that a few days ago I had been in contact with Christina, their internet sales manager, and he introduced me to her. Christina was an absolute pleasure to work with. She was very friendly and never tried to pressure me into making a purchase.
Since I had emailed her earlier, she knew which car I was interested in and walked me over to the lot (about two blocks away) to take it out for a test drive. "Do whatever you want, but you're responsible for any tickets," was her ground rule. The drive itself was pleasant as well. I'm interested in gadgets and the in-car tech, so I asked a number of questions about the navigation system, etc. She wasn't too familiar with those details (it was her third day on the job, turns out), but she did call the dealership during the test drive to find out the answers. The car sold itself in the first few minutes, so when we got back to the dealership, I asked her to give me an out-the-door price under a set amount. She came back with a figure $600 above that, but the price was good given all of the options. Christina made the entire paperwork process fast and painless, and even offered some of her Wetzel's pretzels while she took care of everything. Once that was done, I sat down with Dahl, from the finance department, to sign all of the contracts.
Because I hadn't been expecting to actually buy a car, I didn't bother to bring any form of payment. Once the paperwork was done, however, I was told that I could take the car as long as I came back later than day with the down payment. I had another car, so I decided to just come back for the new car later. I live about an hour's round-trip away, so by the time I came back the dealership was already closing. After I gave Christina the check, she walked me out to the car (which had been detailed) and took me through all of the setup (mirrors, memory seats, phone, etc...). Despite how late it was, and despite her son already waiting to pick her up, she didn't try to rush through this in the least. I expect the customer service to be good for such an expensive car, but Christina really did go above and beyond.
A few days later, I came back to have some paint and interior protection applied (yes, it's a waste of money, I know). I was supposed to meet with Dahl at 10am to drop off my car and pick up a loaner car, but happened to arrive 40 min early, before she was there. The loaner was already at the dealership, so the person at the front desk called Dahl, took my keys and got me into the loaner car (didn't even have to pay for the fuel I used that day).
My car was supposed to be done by late afternoon and I expected to be called to come pick it up once it was ready. At 7pm I still hadn't got a phone call, so I called Dahl to check. She told me that it had been ready a few hours earlier and that she would wait for me to pick it up.
By the time I got to the dealership, it was (again) past closing time. Dahl and another salesman were still there, waiting. Dahl gave me my keys and some papers (no paperwork to fill out) and then the other salesman (whose name I can't remember, unfortunately) sat down with me to activate the BMW Assist service. He was very friendly and made sure that everything was done to my satisfaction. He, Dahl and I were the last to leave the building before it was locked for the day. Again, very impressed with the customer service.
It's been a bit over three weeks now and I've not had any issues, big or small, with the car. I'd definitely recommend this dealership to anyone looking to buy a BMW and will come back if/when I'm in the market for another one. read more