Foreign Motors West Inc

 

0

25

Anthony R.

Somerville, MA

I went here in the spring looking to order a BMW, but the salesman was terrible. I had my eye on the new 1-Series and was hoping to place an order for a 135i.

The sales guy actually tried to talk me out of it - "It sounds like a 128 would probably be enough power for you." "Navigation? What are you doing? Get a tomtom!" That's nice that you're trying to save me money, but please don't patronize me. It would also have been a bit of a plus if the guy knew more about the car than I did from reading the brochure. I know it's too powerful for me to legally use - and I obviously don't care, or I wouldn't be here. Went to BMW Gallery in Norwood instead and had a much better experience.

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21

305

Holly S.

Pepperell, MA

I took my troubled Mercedes here the first time because they are employee owned for a fairly routine service which went smoothly. Then I had a small catastrophe and the car needed to go to the shop a second time.

I don't recall exactly how I did it, but I managed to get the car to the shop although it seemed like it was on death's door. After running over the problem and checking it in with the service desk, I was in a little pickle. I live 45 miles away, and work full time in Bedford. I needed to get, ideally, to work, or back home to take an unwelcome vacation day.

Knowing that they are charging me $100 plus an hour to lay a finger on the car, they could not have been less impressed with my situation, and they told me they could take me to the Natick commuter rail station, and then I was on my own. Oh, and the car would be in the shop for a couple of days. They offered me ZERO other options. I don't know if I look like I'm low maintenance, but they didn't throw me a single bone.

I have heard stories about other dealer service shops carting folks around, even offering them loaners - I would have appreciated anybody recognizing that I was really putting myself out coming to them for service in the first place.

Since then, I've brought the car to the local repair place less than a mile from my house so I can walk back if I have to. They offered to give me a ride. That's all it took for me to decide I'm not going back to FM West again.

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Elite '08

10

92

Kevin W.

Worcester, MA

Bought the Benzino there with solid service but had to go in for a repair a year later for them to fix a problem with the radio. I paid for the repair for a pretty penny and they convinced me it was fixed. It wasn't, I went back and they said that I had broke it and wanted me to pay for another repair. I was pissed. If I could give this place negative stars I would.

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10

27

Bill O.

Westford, MA

Meh.

I bought my wife a fancy car here in 2002.  They claim to have this great service.  Service so awesome you will only ever buy cars from them again.

Again, I say, "Meh."

We had a good chance to test how great their service was, because this fancy car had tons of weird problems. Well, tons compared to what I am used to from our usual Japanese cars, which generally speaking have zero problems.

Anyway, the service here isn't *bad*. It's not like the people aren't nice. They actually do fix the things they say they will fix.  But the claim that the service is in any way better, or even *as good* as the service you get at a high-end Acura/Lexus/Infiniti dealer is just laughable.

Here's the service experience at FMW:

1. Call for an appointment. Navigate IVR, finally talk to a person, get tranferred, leave a message for service.

2. Wait one day.

3. Call back again (because no one called you back).

4. Repeat 1-3 until you actually talk to a service rep. Usually this takes only two tries.

5. When you show up for your appointment, you walk into a big room full of desks.  It's not clear where you should go, and no one offers to help you until you stand there looking like a dork for a couple of minutes. (I'm really good at this part).

6. Often somebody asks you what "team" you are on.  "Duh, I don't know, nobody ever told me that." I say.  I think I was on the blue team.  There was a silver team, which  sounds better. I don't know what the teams meant to this day.

7. If you want a loaner car, you actually had to get it from an enterprise care rental agent in the dealer.  If you didn't reserve a fancy car (the same kind that you bought), you end up with a nicotine-coated Ford Focus with a broken mirror.  You have to endure the Enterprise agent upselling you on fuel purchase and insurance.  Thanks, but no.

7a. You have the option of them coming to your house and picking up the car, then dropping it off again.  This is great, but they won't leave you a loaner.  So unless you have extra cars around, or can just stay home during the week, then it's not so useful.

8. Then they fix your car. They do a good job with this, and usually have the parts in stock.

Overall, the people at FMW are nice, but they are deluding themselves if they think they offer service competitive with the current standard.  

At my current dealer, I call, and Jack usually answers the phone.  Sometimes he doesn't answer, but he always calls me back the same day and we set up an appointment.

When I show up for the appointment, Jack gives me the keys to a loaner car. I tell him what I want fixed on my car, and then I drive away.  It takes about 7 minutes total.  That's great service.

We sold our fancy car from FMW and bought a car from Jack's dealership, just because the service was so easy.

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0

52

Ebrahim B.

South Waltham, MA

Went in to buy a BMW and couldn't have had a better experience. I would recommend a Paul McAbbey, guy knows how to deal with customers. I got a great value, a fully loaded 525 for only 36k, almost 7k under list because it had 300 miles on it as a showroom car. Mercedes Benz is also dealt from this location though I havn't personally experienced their sales people.

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