Sandia BMW, Albuquerque NM

[jiminabqnm]

Long storey short. Called dealership to install two new tires. Only tires available were metzlers. I wanted bridgestones and was told (by Parts Dept)to "order from the internet and bring the tires in". Was then transferred to service. from there it got worse. was told since i didnt purchase tires from them, he must charge me 90.00 for the front and 110.00 for the rear. i told them due to the conversation with parts dept "to go get them tires from the internet and bring them in" i shouldnt have to pay full price. he agrees and charges me 35.00 each. i say ok and make appt two weeks later. i rcvd my new tires and took them in with the bike. 2.5 hours later i was told my rear wheel bearing play is too high. they try to adjust it and find out the bolts are badly stripped and unusable. bike is now down until parts arrive. i am then told "that if you want your bike fixed in less than 10 days, you need to pay for shipping for all parts" no discussion on cost of shipping, but i reluctantly agree. (i need the bike before labor day weekend).

Warranty - Yes
should dealer fix bike if under warranty - Yes
should a customer pay to get anything fixed under full warranty - NO

3 days later the bike is fixed and the dealership charged me for parts delivery. i bet they charged BMW too. Maybe i should ask them.

BTW - bike was torn appart 6 months ago. put together wrong by the same crew. interesting huh!!??

[TandemCyclist]

R&S owns all the MC shops in ABQ except Chicks don't they. Go to the city different for a little better experience, maybe.

I never could work with those guys the 20 years I lived there.

[UltraLT]

Just an opposite experience I had there. Was on vacation and noticed the bike was using more oil than I expected (new owner from NC) stopped in to ask a question about it. They stopped what they were doing and broght my bike in, checked it out and topped off the oil for, get this, no charge. I was impressed. In and out, 15 minutes.

BTW, my Harley uses less oil than the LT. They say that will drop off as the engine breaks in.

[fredthead]

Jim, sorry to hear about your troubles in ABQ. It is not unusual for the dealer to charge to mount tires whether you buy them from the dealer or not. My dealer charges $80 if I don't buy from him and the tire is on the bike, $32 if I pull the tire. If I buy the tires from him the price is half that. As for the parts shipping, when my rear drive went out and I wanted the bike ASAP I had to pay for the express shipping even though the bike was under warranty. I would not have had to pay if I let them go through their standard ordering and shipping. Using the express, I had a new drive shipped from Germany and mounted in 4 days. The express shipping was not outrageous. You might want to call up to Sante Fe or other dealers next time to see if they have the parts and have them Fed Ex'd to you or the dealer. This may speed up the usual 7-10 day BMW ordering time. Or go with the express as you did this time. Was the service manager aware of the problem you had six months ago?

[Ranger6]

Ya gotta watch 'em like a hawk. Four of us went in on a No-Mar tire changer and are now happy as clams...no more dealer-tire change abuse. :)

[Jerod521]

Believe it or not, the service at Motorsport used to be worse before Sandia took over the francise. Hard to believe but there are an improvement.


Either way that is why I always took my bike up to Santa Fe to get it worked on. (technically a satellite of Sandia but the crew is great) When the wife and I get another bike we will be taking it up to Santa Fe as well. Plus it is nice to ride up Hwy 14 through Madrid.

Hope that helps. Good luck!

[Jerod521]

I understand your frustration. Just keep in mind that Sandia just got the franchise from Motorsport and are in the difficult process of getting things right, finally, both in the eyes of BMW corporate and with the community. It may have just been a miscommunication with the service writer. I'm not sure. Although I'm not condoning their handling of your situation, don't give up on them yet. They are really trying hard to set up an excellent dealership. I just had a conversation with Jim the motorcycles gerneral manager. Seem that nobody from Motorsport wanted to come over. They got one Vet. tech from Santa Fe and moved in one Vet. tech from Texas. They are in the process of training 2 appentices. They also moved a parts person in from out East.

All this to say that they really are trying to be world class. Sorry for your experience. Maybe call back and talk with Jim and explain your situation. He may be able to do something for you.

Hope that helps...

-Jerod

[jgburns]

Sandia BMW told me they would have to charge me for the time if I brought the new tires in. R&S ordered the Bridgestones for less than I could get them on the Internet, then charged $40 each install + tax + stems. In the end, I paid R&S $140 less than what Sandia BMW wanted.

The parts and service people at R&S (they don't own the BMW dealers in ABQ and Santa Fe) are friendly and competative. Try them out - I've broken them in on the LT. :)