My experience with BMW of Catonsville started off very
positively. I was looking for a particular vehicle on a .short timeline, and coming from out of state. They had what I wanted and offered me a fair
positively. I was looking for a particular vehicle on a .short timeline, and coming from out of state. They had what I wanted and offered me a fair deal that I accepted. I flew to Maryland to finalize the paperwork and drive the vehicle home. My salesperson, Joe, was organized and professional. The finance person I met with, Sam, was great and ran the process very smoothly. I was very happy as I left the dealership.
The issue is the registration and licensing in my state. I was assured during the process that they had regular experience with out of state customers and that they knew how to manage the process. I offered to manage it myself but was assured that 'we got this'. Considering how I found them and the process during my visit, I felt confident with this. That was a mistake.
I don't know what happened internally with them but they seriously dropped the ball. As 30 days since purchased passed, while I was expecting my plates to arrive in the mail any day, I received my first email from them. They needed information, that I had already given, to START the registration process in my state. Not only was I not getting my plates within the 30 days required in my state, but they hadn't even started the process.
So now its been 50 days since I purchased, my temp tag expires in 10 days and I have a business trip planned for 6 days from now - just the type of trip I bought the vehicle for. I have no license plate, I am outside of the state required registration period and I they tell me they handed off the process to a 3rd party and can't tell me when I will get my plates.
I am beyond frustrated at this point. Since the first email from them, I have had to initiate every contact for an update. Not once have they reached out to say here is where we are at and here is what we expect going forward. Nothing gets said unless I ask and the response is now to point at a 3rd party they chose. I have emailed them (the registration clerk and my salesperson with the GM in copy) asking both what went wrong and to ask that they improve the communications. No response from anyone.
While I would like to rate them well to reflect my positive experiences in some ways, it is apparent that when something goes wrong they will bury their heads in the sand and hope that it just goes away somehow. I don't know where the ball got dropped - another thing they won't communicate - so I have no choice but to apply the rating to the salesperson, though I don't know if he deserves it. At the very least he has been unresponsive - so that doesn't inspire confidence in after the sale service. Perhaps my being out of state and having no chance of gaining my service business has affected their perspective on my value as a customer.
Very disappointing. I can't recommend them.
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by G.Sharman
Feb 08, 2023 -
BMW of Catonsville responded
G.Sharman
Please accept our apologies for the level of communication. Once the titling and registration is submitted to the DMV, there isn’t much to communicate until the tags arrive. As discussed, out-of-state registrations do take a little longer due to the need to have a third party licensed registration service involved. We are permitted by the State of Maryland to issue a second temporary tag if needed, but not until two days prior to the first tag expiring, which we were prepared to do. Also as communicated, we received your new tags on Friday, and they were immediately overnighted to you. Also, thank you for the nice words regarding your sales experience and for the follow-up once the tags had been delivered to you. If anything else is needed, please contact our General Manager, David Lee, at davidlee@mileone.com or call 410-818-3356. Thank you for your business and your patience.
Feb 09, 2023 -
BMW of Catonsville responded
G.Sharman
Please accept our apologies for the level of communication. Once the titling and registration is submitted to the DMV, there isn’t much to communicate until the tags arrive. As discussed, out-of-state registrations do take a little longer due to the need to have a third party licensed registration service involved. We are permitted by the State of Maryland to issue a second temporary tag if needed, but not until two days prior to the first tag expiring, which we were prepared to do. Also as communicated, we received your new tags on Friday, and they were immediately overnighted to you. Also, thank you for the nice words regarding your sales experience and for the follow-up once the tags had been delivered to you. If anything else is needed, please contact our General Manager, David Lee, at davidlee@mileone or call 410-818-3356. Thank you for your business and your patience.
Feb 11, 2023 -
G.Sharman responded
For potential customers who are interested in reading this far, I will provide a final summary of my overall experience with BMW of Catonville now that the last issue has been resolved.
The first thing to be aware of is that, in my view, they did not communicate with me effectively until I posted the first review above. It took less than 45 minutes after posting the first review until I received a direct phone call from someone in a senior position. Prior to that it had all been slow or no response to my emails asking for attention to the issue with senior people in copy They get an email alert when a review is posted and its very unfortunate in my view that it takes a public review to prompt attention instead of being more proactive. This points to a concern more for image than service.
The other thing to note is that even when they finally did become more involved, they did not come with any solutions. To be absolutely clear, there is a 30 registration window for new cars in my state. My state takes this so seriously that they have a website for buyers to report any state dealer who is later than 30 days providing registration. BMW of Catonsville disputed this window but could never provide any evidence to support their claim of a 90 day window. I proposed 2 solutions to BMW of Catonsville but they couldn't/wouldn't take action on either despite the cost of action being less than $1k.
BMW of Catonsville did offer to extend the drive-off Maryland registration but this would not have addressed the registration window violation in my state. Violation of the registration window is subject to a small fine which BMW of Catonsville offered to pay but my issue was not the small fine or a ticket.
My issue was that if, in the worst case, there was a major accident involving significant claims, that my insurance company would use the registration violation to deny my coverage leaving me with essentially unlimited personal liability. Given the value of todays cars and possible medically related claims this is not a risk I was willing to take. This essentially left me with a very expensive vehicle that I couldn't use. BMW of Catonsville refused to even acknowledge that I was potentially at risk - likely because acknowledging that risk would have highlighted the absolute lack of effectiveness of their responses.
In the end, my state registration arrived prior to a major work related trip - exactly the type of trip I bought this car for. However, its timely arrival had nothing to do with any actions taken by BMW of Catonsville. It was prompt processing by my local county that resulted in its arrival. Yes, BMW of Catonsville did courier it once they were in possession but they did nothing to actually accelerate the process. In fact, if they had processed the application directly after the sale, instead of only starting on it after 30 days had already elapsed, all of this could have been avoided.
While I still believe that BMW of Catonsville offered a good buying experience up to leaving the dealership, I can only urge anyone who does encounter an issue with them that is not quickly resolved, to make it public in order to have them address it with any energy. And honestly, it is a real shame to have to say that. They can, and should, be better.
Honest and thorough.
Accessible and thoughtful. A 5-star asset to dealership for sure and the BMW brand.
Accessible and thoughtful. A 5-star asset to dealership for sure and the BMW brand.
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by KB
Jan 05, 2023 -
BMW of Catonsville responded
Hi, thanks for your great review, and for giving our dealership such a high star rating! We hope you continue to choose us for all your automotive needs! Take care!
Howard was very attentive, patient, and helpful during
our car buying process today. Thank you!
our car buying process today. Thank you!
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by Chaoyingchen9
Other Employees Tagged:
Howard Moon
Dec 22, 2022 -
BMW of Catonsville responded
Hi, in order to deliver the best experience possible, we try to set high expectations for ourselves. We're so glad to receive your positive review. Our team is available should you require any extra help.
Excellent service nice Howard!
! He helped us so much , very flexible I came the safe day and was accommodated!! I love ❤️ bmw
Will come back
! He helped us so much , very flexible I came the safe day and was accommodated!! I love ❤️ bmw
Will come back
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by Ella0
Nov 22, 2022 -
BMW of Catonsville responded
Hi, thanks for your great review, and for giving our dealership such a high star rating! We hope you continue to choose us for all your automotive needs! Take care!
Purchased X5M from this dealership.
Very satisfied. Sales associate Joe and finance manager Mark were both great to work with.
Very satisfied. Sales associate Joe and finance manager Mark were both great to work with.
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by Anton Golubev
Oct 10, 2022 -
BMW of Catonsville responded
Hello Anton, thank you so much for your feedback! Our team will be very happy to hear about your kind words and high star rating! Thank you so much for choosing BMW of Catonsville as your first choice for service!
Thank you Joe Feng and David Lee for taking care of our
family purchase of 2 BMWs. Impeccable experience. Much apprecaited.
family purchase of 2 BMWs. Impeccable experience. Much apprecaited.
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by skasraian
Other Employees Tagged:
Mark Sonn
, David Lee
Oct 08, 2022 -
BMW of Catonsville responded
Hi, thank you for your support! We're happy we could help. We hope you continue to choose us for all your automotive needs! Take care!
Jerry and Joe are the best!
This is our second purchase from Bmw of Catonsville, Thanks again guy's! See you next time.
This is our second purchase from Bmw of Catonsville, Thanks again guy's! See you next time.
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by jin lon
Other Employees Tagged:
Jerry Herbert
Sep 14, 2022 -
BMW of Catonsville responded
Hi Jin, we're happy to hear you had such a positive experience with our team! If you ever need anything else from us, please feel free to give us a call or stop by. Have an awesome day!
Incredible service, friendly, knowledgeable, no hassle,
and they work fast. Joe Feng was great to work with on my custom order. Great communication.
and they work fast. Joe Feng was great to work with on my custom order. Great communication.
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by tb
Jul 29, 2022 -
BMW of Catonsville responded
Hello, we're happy to hear you had such a positive experience with our team! If you have any further questions, please give us a call. We're always happy to help!
3 Purchases thus far.
..
Brand new 2019 M2 Competition (ordered) - Joe Feng/ David Lee. Perfect delivery. Thru finance and paperwork in under 15 minutes. No issues. Exce
..
Brand new 2019 M2 Competition (ordered) - Joe Feng/ David Lee. Perfect delivery. Thru finance and paperwork in under 15 minutes. No issues. Excellent customer care, service and vehicle delivery.
Brand new 2020 X3M Competition (in dealership) - Joe Feng/ David Lee. Perfect delivery (completed purchase agreement/ finance, including processing trade of 2019 JCW Clubman. Completed purchase but an outstanding campaign was open on this vehicle. David Lee put me in brand new 5-series loaner, effected the campaign the following Monday - finalized delivery that Monday afternoon. Not a single hitch. Flawless delivery. As an adder, David availed the dealership area to accommodate my own PPF dealer application. Try as you may but you won't find a better dealership for customer care, service and vehicle delivery.
Brand new 2021 M340i - xdrive (ordered). Joe Feng/ David Lee. Expedited order/ closed delivery/ accommodated my own PPF installer. Zoomed thru the finance office and ready to leave before the PPF (which had began hours earlier) completed. Another winner. 3 straight perfect deliveries. No issues at all.
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by KAlphonso
Joe was awesome.
He made the purchase experience smooth. From the early research until purchase and beyond, Joe's engagement abs personal commitment to customer se
He made the purchase experience smooth. From the early research until purchase and beyond, Joe's engagement abs personal commitment to customer service was superb. Joe is an excellent asset. This was the second BMW purchase within 2 months and 5th from this dealership. Our next vehicle will definitely go through Joe Feng and Sigis Skirpa. Great Job!
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by Thomascgentle
Other Employees Tagged:
Sigis Skirpa
Mar 10, 2022 -
BMW of Catonsville responded
Hi, thanks for your great review, and for giving our dealership such a high star rating! If you have any additional needs or questions, we will be more than happy to assist you! Safe travels!
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