BMW of Madison

I've found Zimbrick BMW service to be sub-par. This is especially troubling since BMW parts and repairs come at such a premium price.I have owned an 1995 325i now for almost a year and have dealt with Zim especially troubling since BMW parts and repairs come at such a premium price.I have owned an 1995 325i now for almost a year and have dealt with Zimbrick BMW on three separate occasions. My first experience with Zimbrick BMW was nothing special. I took the car in the first week I owned it to get an inspection and a few key thing repaired (power steering line and coil packs) along with an oil change. I pulled into the waiting area on a Saturday morning at 11:45 a.m. to find NOBODY around. Not a single person. Keep in mind the service department stays open until 12:00. I hunted down a kid working back in the garage who looked confused and mentioned all the guys may have left early for a Badger game. Since all service managers were gone too, I just parked my car inside and left a key and a note on the service manager's desk. A week later my car was unapologetically returned with everything repaired and a hefty repair tag. Unimpressive. The second time I took the car in I had the belts and pulleys replaced which turned out fine, but I was told I also had a leak in my transmission oil cooler. The bill was something like $1200 to get this fixed, to which I replied, "no thanks" and easily replaced the thing myself for about $250. A savings of almost $1000. The third time I took the car in, the A/C wasn't cooling properly when the car was idling. I suspected the aux. fan and this was confirmed by Zimbrick. An estimate of over $600 was given. This being a bit pricey, I held off and took the car as-is, but not before paying a $60 inspection fee. Driving the car home, I noticed the A/C didn't cool at all anymore even at highway speed. I promptly left a message with the Zimbrick manager which went nowhere. To make a long story short, I did my homework and found out the culprit was nothing more than two swapped relays. Literally, the solution required nothing more than swapping two relays in the fuse panel. The aux. fan popped on and bingo, my A/C was fine. I guess the highly-trained BMW mechanics overlooked this. And that was the last time I took the car to Zimbrick. The belt/pulleys installed last spring have unfortunately started to squeal, so I'll have to take it in one more time since their warranty covers parts (most parts carry a one-year warranty), so I don't have much choice there. Otherwise, I do all of my maintenance work now and avoid Zimbrick altogether. It's not all that tough with the right tools and there are many good resources. Lots of home mechanics figure this stuff out, especially since not all of us BMW owners make a CEO's salary. I had very positive experiences with Zimbrick Honda in the past (I've owned five Hondas), so I had high expectations from Zimbrick BMW. Yes, their dealership is sparkling clean and they'll offer you a bottle of BMW water when you come in, but past that, there's not much in terms of service or quality. More