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Oh, you're NOT going to believe what just happened to me..

200K views 1K replies 264 participants last post by  Boraxo 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
So, I take my car to Flow BMW (the one that's on Peters Creek Pkwy, in Winston-Salem) to have my tire looked at. Sitting in the lounge, reading my book. A pleasant looking fellow comes out.

- Hi, I'm the general manager, please come with me.

I'm a little apprehensive but follow anyway. Racking my brain, trying to figure out what I did wrong. I don't have a chip in my car or anything, everything is stock... Walk into his office. Dimly lit, there's another dour-looking dude sitting in the corner. He's not smiling, kind of gives me a menacing stare.

- Have a seat.

Ookay then. I sit down.

- Is your alias c-o-o-n-t-i-e on bimmerfest?

I go, "HUH?"

- ARE YOU COONTIE?

I stammer, "Uh.. no." (OK, I wasn't gonna crack on the first question! Once the cattleprods were to come out, maybe then but surely not immediately. Plus, I think I'd be less flabbergasted if he had said, "We have a new M3 we don't need, it's your to keep.")

- Well, we have a reason to believe you are.

Then, he takes out a manila folder and (looking at it upside-down), it's full of my bimmerfest print-outs, certain passages highlighted. He takes a page out.

- It says here you once referred to buying a car at our dealership as "like being sodomized with a broomstick."

I squirm a little and go, "So, you have your own little Gestapo research unit, is that it?"

The sullen-looking dude in the corner (at this point they got the whole good cop/bad cop production thing going on here) says, "We don't like it when people maliciously slander our dealership."

I kinda stammer.. "Well, it wasn't slander, really, I just told people the truth. I didn't like being treated like an idiot by your saleswoman, it just wasn't a pleasant experience. Especially that when I offered $1k over ED invoice to your sales lady over there, she laughed in my face and said she's worked for 15 years and never did ED and no way would I get a 3yr lease for less than $700/month. I then went to Ricki in NY @ DiFeo and leased my car in 10 mins! For the price I wanted! AND! She didn't laugh in my face! So, how about that?!"

The good cop says, "So, you like Dunkin Donuts?"

I go, "what?!"

He says (taking another post from the folder) - right here, you said, "There's a Dunkin Donuts across the street, you can wait there during service."

I'm like, "Ok. SO?" (trying to see if these two really, REALLY hate Dunkin Donuts for some reason. They didn't look like it though.)

(cue in the bad cop)

- Well, when you go buy a donut that costs $3.50, do you offer them three dollars?!

I go, "A car is not a donut, first of all. Second of all, if you're so concerned about good image, why not just offer people fair prices, instead of putting on a whole dog & pony show?"

He says, "Because buying a car is like buying a horse. People have been doing it for centuries. It's called, 'NEGOTIATION.'"

I'm like, "Well, why would you waste my time in the name of this 'negotiation' instead of just selling it for a fair price and be done with it?"

Anyway, this "Waiting for Godot"-like back & forth theater continues for a little bit. Then the bad cop says, "OK, if you hate us so much, you can't come here any longer" or some such thing. I took my book and left, basically.
___

Thinking about it for a bit, I'm sure they were gunning for me for a while. I'm stunned that a dealership would have this Stasi-like group of people, trying to flush out whoever's posting bad reviews about them.

What do you guys think? Incredible, eh?

[Note from Moderator: The owner of the dealership, Mr. Don Flow, first replies to the OP in post #835.]
 
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#48 ·
"Well, it wasn't slander, really, I just told people the truth.
Sorry buddy, but you lost credibility right here. This is not The truth and you basically acted like a jerk. They don't owe you anything but a normal business relation. You wanted to impose your invoice+1K$ theory. They have the choice and the right of turning you down. This doesn't give you the right to SLANDER them with a stupid and childish statement like you did.

GROW UP.
 
#52 ·
IMPOSE?! I made what people usually call "an offer." She refused it. I hung up and never talked to the lady again.

What exactly was I trying to impose here?!?!

They treated me as if I were a 16yr noob. When somebody asked for an opinion on the dealership, I gave it to the person. Simple as that. I may have used a colorful language but I was being honest.

Read my original post from 6 months ago. I said their prices are horrible but they all seemed like nice people. I'm certain of the former but no longer sure of the latter.
 
#206 ·
You gotta learn the word 'courtesy', because this sentence could have been exactly from a 16yr noob
A sign of maturity for a business that wants repeat buyers is to treat even 16yo noobs with the same courtesy as they would any other customer. Doesn't cost anything...

You can tell by the amount of excitation this has caused how much they have advanced their cause already. Keep it up guys...
 
#54 ·
Wow that was intresting! :yikes:

I'd venture to guess that my BMW dealership doesn't know who I am on bimmerfest because if they did I can't figure out why they haven't offered me a high-level position with them by now! I love them and I love BMW's. :thumbup:

Are you listening ********** BMW? Since I just accepted a position, if you want me to work for you I'm going to require 3 figures and a BRAND NEW E92 M3 Jerez Black/Bamboo LOADED with 6MT. Send me a PM when you come to your senses and want to take your dealership to the next level! :angel:
 
#59 ·
Welcome to Bimmerfest.... Maybe you should pay the fee since we all know you're a dealer now :)
Dealers are not required to pay a fee to bimmerfest:confused: In fact we welcome bimmerphiles from all walks of life.

Bimmerfest sponsors are allowed to advertise at this site.
 
#57 ·
I find it absolutely remarkable that the dealer is now calling the OP out in the forum.

Do they think this is helping their case?:dunno:

Wouldn't something like, "we apologize for treating you like a criminal because you chose to post about us" be more constructive? Can we have another chance to earn your business, sorry we got off on the wrong foot...etc

Now its all he said we said they said I said that you said that we said the he said etc etc etc.

Its OK for the customer to be right. Thats when they come back... you don't even have to like them. Telling people you don't like them, banning them from your dealership.

On behalf of the OP - go f*ck yourself.
 
#67 ·
I find it absolutely remarkable that the dealer is now calling the OP out in the forum.

Do they think this is helping their case?:dunno:....
There are always 2 sides to the story and I think one should have the right to tell their side of the story. In fact, from his post, we learned that Coontie is no saint as he asked the dealership to (essentially) commit insurance fraud by post dating the tyre insurance.

Just my 2 cents worth... : popcorn:please continue..
 
#58 ·
Obviously FLOW and 4BMWFamily does not subscribe to the common business practice of "the customer is always right." Coontie could have come off as a little crazy with the story, but 4BMWFamily basically came in and confirmed that this happened. Instead of intimidating customers, they should be working on their sales tactics instead of surfing the net looking for negative stuff. Seriously.

Wow...didn't expect that this would be my very first post!!
 
#64 ·
Obviously FLOW and 4BMWFamily does not subscribe to the common business practice of "the customer is always right."
How can the customer is always right when he is slandering? Because his stement suggest that they are playing unfair. They just didn't agree basically on a price issue! They have the right to sell higher than the best price you can get. If my business was attacked this way, I would answer too.

No, the customer is not always right, much less so when he is not even a customer.
 
#72 ·
He's not slandering, he's telling the truth. He had a negative experience. Do we all have to keep our negative experiences quiet for fear that our dealership will refuse our business? He would be slandering the dealership if he went around spewing negative things that were not true.

He's a service customer, and could be a future sales customer, but he won't be when a business acts this way.

This reminds me of the phrase a friend likes to use, and perhaps 4BMWFamily might remember this - when you wrestle with pigs, you're going to get dirty. Take the high road Mr. Dealer, it's a lot cleaner in the end.
 
#78 ·
Um. The whole thing might have been a bit more pleasant if you would have started out by saying "Well sure I'm Coontie and yes indeed, buying a car from y'all was exactly like being sodomized with a broomstick, and apparently getting a tire fixed here is pretty much the same experience."

All in all, a good story and makes me grateful for my dealership.
 
#87 ·
I don't care how you look at this, the dealer was completely wrong in how it was handled. EVEN IF this was a complete lie and it was considered slander, it should have been handled through legal means...not a some confrontation at the dealership. I own a company and I have to eat $hit from customers all the time...that's the deal and you know it going in.
 
#102 ·
bimmerfest vocabulary for the noob:p

1) SA ---> Service Advisor
2) CA -----> Client Advisor (aka to GT BMW ... Sales Advisor)
 
#105 · (Edited)
wow what a coincicence. Just today, I got a phone call from our dealer saying I have been using their name inappropriately on the forum and legal actions could be taken against me (basically they want me to stop posting the problem we had with an ongoing problem). At that point, I found out that apparently this forum is heavily monitored by the head office of BMW and they actually call the owners/managers of the dealerships to inform them about what people have been posting about them. Personally I actually like that fact, 2 days after my post, all problems we had with our dealer were resolved. If only I did this sooner.

Oh ya, in case you guys want to know, no legal actions were taken. It's probobly because our complaint was justified and I didn't lie about the problem we've had.
 
#110 ·
...I found out that apparently this forum is heavily monitored by the head office of BMW and they actually call the owners/managers of the dealerships to inform them about what people have been posting about them.
I would like to take this opportunity to tell you how amazing United BMW of Roswell, Georgia has been to me. Shout out to the greatest CA ever: Al Ennes. And special thanks to an awesome SA, Ed Barnes.

I can't wait to purchase my next BMW from them, a 2008 M3 Coupe at $10K off invoice.

*My name is Peter Reynolds, and I have approved this message. I drive a 2007 335i Coupe, Sparkling Graphite w/Saddle Brown interior. Purchased August, 2007.*
 
#114 ·
I certainly don't blame Flow for saying no to Coontie's offer but to pull him into some dingy office for a caning over his posts is silly.

They created a lot more problems than was warranted by Coontie's, "gimme my 335i for 1k over invoice" schtick.
 
#118 ·
I certainly don't blame Flow for saying no to Coontie's offer but to pull him into some dingy office for a caning over his posts is silly.

They created a lot more problems than was warranted by Coontie's, "gimme my 335i for 1k over invoice" schtick.
Watch out, your comment about the office being "dingy" is slander. The dealership would have been much better served by letting the OP know he was not welcome. That would have been the end of it, the "we want to talk to you" while producing a folder of the "violations" was just plain stupid.

Flow BMW welcome to the internet age.:thumbup:
 
#115 ·
i've been on the fest since the beginning, and i have to say that this (at least the first 2-3 pages) has been one of, if not, the most entertaining threads i've read in a long, long time.

:thumbup:

i have no idea if the poster really is from flow or not (btw, i always got great service from performance in chapel hill), but it's kinda funny to think that the stealership would attempt to fight this battle in public like this. if it really is them, they're even stupider (is that a word?) than coontie makes them out to be.

for the record, i believe i got my e46/330i for $750 over ed invoice back in the day, and my sales guy was darn pleasant to work with every fricken' step of the way (i'll give a shout out to joern at passport bmw!).
 
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