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

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.]

Wow, that is incredible. Don't they think you are going to post what happened?

Thats wild! If I dimed out my local dealership, I'd be toast given my screen name on this site as well as the description of my car. It would take them about 30 secs to figure out who I was.

BTW its not defamation (libel or slander) if its the truth. Sounds like the dealership sucks and you did well to get your BMW elsewhere.

I'd have a hard time taking such a lame interrogation seriously though

You are a finer gentleman than I am. I would have told them where to kiss me and walked out. I assure you that the conversation would have gone like this.......

Thanks for posting. I'll be sure to steer clear of Flow.

Unbelievable ! Hope you have better luck with the next one you go to.I have had a very bad experience while i was bimmer shopping.
Venue: Markel BMW, Omaha(50 miles from my home - Lincoln).
Background: I went to the dealership with my wife after enquiring about the CPO 3-series from their inventory.The salesperson(#1) on the phone confirms the ones i was interested were indeed, certified(CPO).
Scene :The salesperson(#1) is no where to be found.So some other chum(#2) tries to help us.We had the stock ids with us, but it appeared they lacked close monitoring of their inventory.He finally locates the car after making us wait for almost an hour for the test drive.During which #2 tells me the car is not cerifiable.We were upset because the very purpose of us making this trip was because #1 told us all the cars are certified and that the price is inclusive of CPO-ing.Slowly we realized the baiting-game #1 played on us.
We come back after the TD to be greeted by the original salesperson.He looked surprised when we told him what we found out about the certification.He made up some excuse and started with the negotiation process.Our initial offer was a little low, but hey, who doesnt like a good deal? He apparently was in ahurry or some, he just got up and left.It was so rude of him after making us unnecessarily wait.We were interested in another car and wanted to bump the offer, but his attitude was a complete turn-off for me and my wife.
#2 didnt even do anything to help.

I STRONGLY recommend not going to this dealership.Say "NO" to Markel BMW, OMAHA.

Originally Posted by coontie

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?

WOW The BMW dealership Gestapo really does exist.

Originally Posted by SonomaDriver

I'd have a hard time taking such a lame interrogation seriously though

Heh. Now I know what spies have going through their heads when their covers are blown.

I swear, it was BEYOND surreal. I felt like any minute they were going to put a hood over my head & haul me off to some sub-basement BMW dungeon, where leather-clad S&M dudes would go medieval on my ass, Pulp Fiction style.

Whatever. I don't really wanna say any more bad stuff about them because they know where I live now.

Originally Posted by BMW Power

Wow, that is incredible. Don't they think you are going to post what happened?

Good question. They were probably so pissed that they didn't care.

It's kind of funny because the last time I felt like this when I got a Saturday detention from my HS vice-principal for being late to English AP 5 times in a row.

Originally Posted by coontie

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?

AWESOME!!!

That is one of the coolest Bimmerfest stories ever. The GM actually asked you if you said, "- It says here you once referred to buying a car at our dealership as "like being sodomized with a broomstick."?

I wish I could have watched this in person.

Sounds like these guys should spend less time on the web and more working on their image.

I think its time we ask the mods to put the .robots index filter on these webpages.

Originally Posted by coontie

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?

I still say I would have told them to F-off. However, having thought for a moment, perhaps you should consider contacting BMWNA about this? I suspect they would strongly frown on dealers behaving like this........despite what you may have said on the internet using your 1st Amendment rights.

Originally Posted by cjwheeling

AWESOME!!!

That is one of the coolest Bimmerfest stories ever. The GM actually asked you if you said, "- It says here you once referred to buying a car at our dealership as "like being sodomized with a broomstick."?

I wish I could have watched this in person.

Yes!

Here's the quote in question:

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...61&postcount=2

That was in Feb 07!! So, these guys were trying to suss me out for 6 months now!

Originally Posted by coontie

Good question. They were probably so pissed that they didn't care.

It's kind of funny because the last time I felt like this when I got a Saturday detention from my HS vice-principal for being late to English AP 5 times in a row.

Why did you go back to them in the first place?

Originally Posted by KAP8

I still say I would have told them to F-off. However, having thought for a moment, perhaps you should consider contacting BMWNA about this? I suspect they would strongly frown on dealers behaving like this........despite what you may have said on the internet using your 1st Amendment rights.

I did call BMWNA. They said that every dealership is independently owned and there's nothing they can do.

That's ok. I don't really feel like going back there. After getting this Gitmo-like treatment... No, thanks.

Great news -- at least you can give them all "1" on the service visit, and f*ck up their residuals or bonuses or whatever they get that cause them to plead for that '5'.

Originally Posted by 335e92tx

Sounds like these guys should spend less time on the web and more working on their image.

I think its time we ask the mods to put the .robots index filter on these webpages.

+ 1

I may live in Germany now, but if I ever live in your neck of the woods, I will never buy a car from them.. and oh do I make plenty of dough that they'd just love to have. Eventually some of the more rude BMW dealers in the states are going to realize that they're just selling cars, nothing more. You're a CAR SALESMAN. Sell me a car and STFU.

Originally Posted by coontie

. I felt like any minute they were going to put a hood over my head & haul me off to some sub-basement BMW dungeon, where leather-clad S&M dudes would go medieval on my ass, Pulp Fiction style.

I think you actually mean Formula 1 (or FIA) style don't you. Maybe these guys can find out who caught Max with his pants down.

Originally Posted by coontie

Yes!

Here's the quote in question:

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...61&postcount=2

That was in Feb 07!! So, these guys were trying to suss me out for 6 months now!

So how did they connect the dots and figure out your BF identity?

some real a$$holes you have there. Good riddance...

Originally Posted by jwac

So how did they connect the dots and figure out your BF identity?

Easy. Last week I posted a question asking whether runflats can be repaired. People chimed in, said basically, "no." I replied saying I'm just gonna take it to a dealer to have them look at it.

At that point, all they had to do was sit & wait until some dude shows up with a nail in his tire and that's it. That's the rat!

The most amazing thing is that my original "broomstick" post was made over six months ago and apparently they had nothing better to do than lay there in wait for my arrival.

Originally Posted by jwac

So how did they connect the dots and figure out your BF identity?

Not too hard I imagine. If you check his profile, he lives in NC, has tried to buy a 335 from them and his name is Zach.

Originally Posted by 325ic a beer

some real a$$holes you have there. Good riddance...

In all honesty, it was the creepy dude in the shadowy corner that was kinda freaking me out. The General Manager seemed like a pretty nice fellow. He actually said he cares about his image, wants to improve it, they'd rather have local people buy local, etc.

But the other dude (the one playing the bad cop) was a whole 'nother story. He was the one talking about horses, houses and Dunkin Donuts.

I'd have a tough time not telling them to go f*#@ themselves. I read your post. Trust me I've said way worse about my local dealer but they took the high road with me and it worked. You catually complimented them about a bunch of things.

Now I trust my dealer and deal with them regularly. We have a very positive relationship and I recommend them to others because they went out of their way to find out why I was flaming them and they did their best to correct it. Thats a professional approach that BMW would endorse. I got the same crap from BMW about the dealers. So they don't have any control over their distribution nertwork? For a company so focused on brand image I find that hard to believe.

Part of being in retail is taking sh1t from customers, doesn't matter if they don't like it. Who exactly do they think they are? They should be asking you what they did wrong and how they can correct it. Maybe apoligize for coming off so arrogant and seeing it from your side.

Those d1cks shouldn't have a franchise.

What a bunch of a$$hats.

Originally Posted by jbeene

I'd have a tough time not telling them to go f*#@ themselves.

BMW Corporate should hear about this. Part of being in retail is taking sh1t from customers, doesn't matter if they don't like it.

I'm not sure BMW would be too happy with this kind of heavy handed treatment. Who exactly do they think they are? They should be asking you what they did wrong and how they can correct it.

I was having all kinds of issues with my local dealer, the approach they took was what are your concerns, how can we rectify them etc. Now I trust them and deal with them regularly. We have a very positive relationship now and I recommend them to others because they went out of their way to find out why I was flaming them and they did their best to correct it. Thats a professional approach that BMW would endorse.

Those d1cks shouldn't have a franchise.

What a bunch of a$$hats.

I couldn't agree more. I would have used more expletives in that room than they have ever heard in their life. That is no way to run a business.