
Bob Smith BMW
Calabasas, CA
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They are bus. You have to wait a week if you want a loaner. I took the car in 3 weeks ago because the back seat rattled. They "fixed" it, and then it started rattling again last week. I called to make an appo I took the car in 3 weeks ago because the back seat rattled. They "fixed" it, and then it started rattling again last week. I called to make an appointment and they said I can bring the car in only between 7 and 11 a.m!!! After getting upset, the clerk agreed to "allow" me to come in at 3:40. I took it in today AGAIN. The loaners are very basic cars, some without navigation. Brian Avelar is great though. The problem is that they are very busy and you just have to wait for an appointment if you want a loaner. Isaac, the Resident Genius, is also very helpful. He does everything he can to resolve issues. More
NEW PURCHASE I just wanted to write your business a quick note to thank your team for your honesty and dedication while selling me my new car yesterday. (BMW 65 I just wanted to write your business a quick note to thank your team for your honesty and dedication while selling me my new car yesterday. (BMW 650i) Thank you so much for answering all of my questions honestly and following up with me, and making the process not as painful as it otherwise could have been. I'm happy with the car I purchased, and about the purchase price. You can be sure that if I have any friends looking to buy new cars in the future, I'll be sending them to BOB SMITH BMW, and telling them your one of the most professional dealerships I have ever dealt with. I will also be leaving nothing but 5 star reviews about you guys. (RAJAN, SALMAN, STEVE I THINK, and of course ERIC) Vr, RG More
Terrible, absolutely terrible. I found the perfect car at Bob Smith BMW and proceeded to give them a down payment for the car. The accepted it cashed my check etc and then let me kn I found the perfect car at Bob Smith BMW and proceeded to give them a down payment for the car. The accepted it cashed my check etc and then let me know about 3 days later that they would no loner hold the car and they were selling it. Completely rude and untrustworthy people. Only out to make a dollar no matter what the expense. DO NOT SHOP FOR CARS HERE! There are several and I mean several BMW dealerships around that area, so go to ANY other one besides BOB SMITH they are the absolute worst! What they did was not only wrong it was unethical. I tried proposing several alternatives including getting the car that day and they said no everytime because they wanted to sell it to someone right then and did not care that I had already paid them some money for it. Once again don't ever shop here and don't work with Hovik. More
I Thought They Were Very Good I bought a new car from Bob Smith recently. They got me the car I wanted and arriving at a good price was not a hassle. They totally buy into the way I bought a new car from Bob Smith recently. They got me the car I wanted and arriving at a good price was not a hassle. They totally buy into the way BMW wants things done and they do it. They are friendly and professional. I will buy from them again. Made it easy. More
Excellent Customer Service by Ken Firmin! Referred to Bob Smith by a good friend of mine for service. Ken Firmin went above and beyond to make sure I was taken care of. Ken provided excellent Referred to Bob Smith by a good friend of mine for service. Ken Firmin went above and beyond to make sure I was taken care of. Ken provided excellent customer service and I was very impressed. Clearly explained to him what was going on with the car and what needed to be done and he did everything in his power to make sure I walked out with a big smile on my face. Thanks Ken for all your hard work. I definitely recommend Ken in Service. He's the best hands down! -Ron V. More
Worst car purchase experience ever I purchased my last 3 cars (all new), a Ford Mustang, a Toyota 4Runner, and a Volvo XC60, in the last 10 years through internet price negotiation. In I purchased my last 3 cars (all new), a Ford Mustang, a Toyota 4Runner, and a Volvo XC60, in the last 10 years through internet price negotiation. In all 3 occasions, I communicated with the internet staffs at the car dealers first to settle on a car price, and then went to the dealership to pick up the car and sign the necessary paperworks. From time to time, the salesmen would try to sell me additional stuffs, which was annoying, but I understood they were trying to make a few dollars more on the sale and I have no problem with that. My good experience with internet car purchase was stopped cold when I ran into these guys at Bob Smith BMW. The story started when I saw an X1 in the new car inventory on Bob Smith's web site. I put in an offer and received a callback from Brian Mayer promptly. I explained to him that I was in Arkansas and I'm purchasing the X1 for my wife in LA. I informed him that I already had a quote for an identical X1 from another BMW dealership in Ventura County and said my offer was based on that quote. In addition, I told him my wife drives a Toyota 4Runner and asked him to commit to a certain tradein value. Brian said he will definitely beat the Ventura County's offer. A few days later, my wife drove her 4Runner to Bob Smith, thinking that she will trade in the 4Runner, sign the necessary paperworks, and pay cash for the X1. Her first surprise came when Brian tried to sell her another X1, a used one. My wife called me from the dealership and I told Brian through Facetime in no uncertain term that I have NO interest in the used car. Next came the worst salesman I believe I've ever met, Paul Nema. The first thing Nema tried was to pretend that my previous internet negotiation with Brian never happened. Instead, he was going to re-negotiate the whole deal, and he started this by telling me how much less he thinks the 4Runner is worth. Now, Brian asked for and I emailed him the VIN of the 4Runner a few days before my wife's visit and he also knew that we bought the car new, and it was kept in top shape throughout the years by the Toyota dealership at Marina Del Ray. On top of that, I told Brian what I wanted for the tradein in my email. But Nema refused to listen. Throughout the next 1hr or so of negotiation through Facetime, Nema joked (he asked me if I like coffee???), berated our offer for the X1 (even though I forwarded him the offer from the Ventura County dealer), and when I continued to refer to Brian's promise that he would beat the other offer, he told my wife how unreasonable I was and she should just purchase the car since she had the check book. And by the way, Nema's offer was $3,000 more than the offer from the Ventura County dealership. Perhaps Nema thought we were country hicks from Arkansas, and can't do math (I'm a Mechanical Engineering Professor and spent 4 years at UCLA previously as a researcher) At the end, both my wife and I had had enough of Nema and she left Bob Smith feeling sickened by the whole ordeal. The funniest (or the saddest) thing was she never saw the car she went to buy because they never showed it to her. To be fair, since my experience with Bob Smith was limited to Nema and Brian, I cannot condemn the whole dealership based on this single incident. Also, who knows, Nema and Brian can be the best people away from work. But, what I can say for sure is that I will never go back to Bob Smith again for anything because I refuse to do business with anyone who wants to play games with me. More
Upsetting Service Experience With Bob Smith BMW My family members and I were 30+ year customers of Bob Smith BMW in Calabasas, CA. We've bought/leased 10+ cars from them over the years. And I've j My family members and I were 30+ year customers of Bob Smith BMW in Calabasas, CA. We've bought/leased 10+ cars from them over the years. And I've just come through a really eye-opening ordeal with them that left me without use of my car for two weeks. Beware of Bob Smith BMW and their service dept. and how you will be treated by management, even though they admit in writing that the entire service department was clearly in the wrong with a gross misdiagnosis. Here's the story: I towed in my 2006 X3 on February 10th as it wouldn't start. Was told without any empirical data that my rings were shot -- which is why the engine, with just under 80,000 miles, suddenly had zero compression. The car had just passed the CA Smog Test the week before. Rings don't just suddenly wear out. Was told by my Bob Smith BMW service rep that I could either replace the engine ($13,000 plus cost of diagnostics of $2000, total $15,000) and BMW might kick some money in, or I could buy a new car. I looked into buying a new car. Even "built one" on BMWusa.com and spoke to a sales rep for quite a while based on Bob Smith BMW's say-so that my engine was dead! But something didn't feel right. After repeated calls, and three emails for the GM Catherine Smith to email/call me back -- as she was out of town, we agreed to meet. For nearly four days Bob Smith BMW's service department maintained it was the rings and that my engine was dead. I didn't buy it and told them so. And suddenly on the fourth day (2/13) that they had my car, the engine suddenly had compression again. I towed it out of Bob Smith BMW to another mechanic for an independent review. Gio's Automotive looked at the car, tested it, and verified that I had 165psi across all cylinders, and drove it for hundreds of miles. No compression problem then or now, almost two months later. But I sure seemingly had a compression problem for four days while it was at Bob Smith BMW. And they still can't even tell me how my car suddenly regained compression, but they were sure it was the rings. The GM at Bob Smith BMW, Catherine Smith wrote me: "I am completely horrified and disappointed by the experience you have had with our service department. This is the antithesis of the quality of care we strive to provide. I am very sorry to say the least." Bob Smith BMW owner Tim Smith wrote: "While it may appear to you that you don't matter, nothing could be further from the truth. The problem here is, aside from the fact that some serious mistakes were made, there still remain areas that have no clear answers. One thing is for sure, we have a broken customer. Not one who just arrived on the scene last week, but one with whom we have shared repeated experiences for thirty years and ten or so BMWs." Bob Smith BMW clearly acknowledged that they have a big problem with how I've been treated. What would have happened if I'd not questioned the misdiagnosis and bought a new car? No one at Bob Smith BMW would have ever spent another minute on my 2006 X3. We'd never known that the engine actually still worked. Bob Smith BMW did nothing in the way of repairs, just diagnostics. What did Bob Smith BMW offer to do for me following a very serious misdiagnosis? Two very pleasant face to face meetings -- never any anger on either side. At the first meeting Catherine did offer me an opportunity to help me into a new car. No specifics, but a nice start! Told them I needed some time to consider. However, when I didn't jump at that immediately, and following a meeting at my office with Tim Smith and a followup letter from me suggesting they simply put me into a new car, it all came to a big abrupt halt. Tim Smith wrote: "That's not going to happen. I'm happy to explain in a phone conversation." A phone call took place where Tim pulled the offer of helping me into a new car off the table and basically told me "you go your way and I'll go mine." What? No negotiation at all? Is that how you treat a 30-year customer, who never once got angry, and who probably would buy/lease another 5-7+ cars in the years ahead if he'd been treated with some care and respect? So, if you are a Bob Smith BMW customer, beware when they tell you that your car needs costly repairs. Do your homework! And instead of seeing this through with a calm customer who wanted to solve this, they told me -- we don't want your business. There are now three things I know: 1) I'm happy driving my 2006 X3 that still runs fine. 2) I have no car payments as I wasn't mislead into buying a new car or engine. 3) I know that I won't shop at Bob Smith BMW ever again. Please, read this and pass it along to your fellow BMW owners before they make a costly mistake and accept the diagnosis of an expensive repair at Bob Smith BMW, or elsewhere for that matter. More
I was very pleased with the friendliness of everyone I ran into at Bob Smith BMW. I started with Greg Huber as my primary contact. Greg's follow up and professionalism was top notch. Greg asked JC Reznick ran into at Bob Smith BMW. I started with Greg Huber as my primary contact. Greg's follow up and professionalism was top notch. Greg asked JC Reznickoff to help me with a test ride. JC was very energetic and knowledgable. After making my final decision to purchase my BMW form Bob Smith, JC took his time to ensure I was comfortable with all the bells and whistles of my new 550i. I would strongly recommend Bob Smith BMW to anyone looking for the Ultimate Driving Machine! Steve R. More
As always, the service personnel at the dealership were outstanding. This time, in particular, Sue Bolger. Sue is professional, friendly, knowledgable and just a pleasure to interact with while you are t outstanding. This time, in particular, Sue Bolger. Sue is professional, friendly, knowledgable and just a pleasure to interact with while you are there. I would highly recommend the dealership, and in particular, Sue. I can honestly say I look forward to bringing my car in for service because I know I will be greeted and treated with caring professionals. Sue gets an A+ from me! More
The power steering unit died and I made an appointment for repair. Well, there were several hurdles to overcome in my situation and Sue Bolger handled every one with courtesy and professionalism. She put for repair. Well, there were several hurdles to overcome in my situation and Sue Bolger handled every one with courtesy and professionalism. She put a rush on the part that was not in stock, expedited the loaner car, and kept in continual contact with me as far as the progress. Sue was thorough and pleasant. I am happy to recommend this dealership. More