BMWs are known and accepted as "The Ultimate Driving Machines". For the price you pay and the product you get, you'd assume that the dealerships would deliver accordingly.
Not the case with BMW of Bellevue.
I worked with Mark Harrington and the Sales Manager (forget his name) about six months ago.
I expressed interest over the phone about a specific car in their inventory I found in Auto Trader. I specifically told Mark what my maximum price was and I was not willing to come in unless this price was doable. He said this was absolutely doable. I don't like wasting time with anyone and my time is very valuable, so taking their word I came down drove the car and was ready to buy, right there and then.
Mark pulled the old "let me talk to the manager" thing and he came back with a new price that was SIX thousands over my maximum price. I said, Mark, we agreed that I would not pay more than “x” and he said "I know, but that's all he's willing to do".
Clearly I was had, and I was insulted. I said "So who lied to me, you or him, to agree with my price on the phone?". He said it was him (the manager). I said, you go straighten it out with him then or I'm walking. He shook his head and said "That's all he's willing to do". I left, feeling insulted.
I called the manager directly to tell him what had happened and he told me that Mark had never mentioned my high price to him and began to tell me that the price I was asking was way too high anyway. (The price I chose for this car was the AVERAGE price in Autotrader for the area, which was very reasonable).
Never the less, I was had and I refuse to do business with this kind of flakiness.
Having been a BMW owner for years, I purchased a nearly identical vehicle (my 5th BMW) for the price I wanted from Park Place right across the street the very same day! Those guys run a great shop and I'll probably write a review accordingly.
more