Closure of the Birmingham (Rednal ) dealership

Lord Snooty

Well-known member
UKGSer Subscriber
Joined
Jan 6, 2002
Messages
10,441
Reaction score
624
Location
Redditch, Worcs
I had this email from Blade BMW Motorrad (formerly known as Clarkes)

Customer notice.
From 31st August, Blade Motorcycles will no longer be representing the BMW Motorrad franchise in Cofton Hackett, Birmingham. The decision, which has been mutually agreed with BMW Motorrad, has been taken largely due to the fact that we have been unable to find suitable new premises to meet BMW Motorrad brand standards.

We apologise for the inconvenience but for all warranty and future service work please contact your local Motorrad Centre.

So if you live in the West Midlands your option now is the Wolverhampton dealer who are not getting the best of press here at the moment :( A reduction in choice is never a good thing and I can't believe that BMW will not want a dealership in the second city.
 
That's a shame. I used them a lot when I first got my g/s.

They lent me a new 1150 whilst they did some work on it. For a fortnight. It was almost a shame to pick my old bike up.

I used to ogle the new bikes in the show room, knowing I couldn't afford them, a good lunch hour pastime.
 
I had a choice of Blade (close to me) or Benhams Wolverhampton (not close to me) when I placed my GSA order.

One of the sales team at Blade made feel like I was a hindrance to his day, so I gave my c£20K to Benhams, who, so far, have been fine.

Not a large sample size, granted, but the customer is always right.
 

That's the same place, not two dealerships.....

I'm not surprised they've gone. Were always poor with customers as Clarkes and as Blade.

I went in during 2008 to buy a GSA, they really didn't want to know, I couldn't give them my money.

No change recently.

Staff were poor in servicing, I had my bike serviced there once, (Only the once mind) they missed the failed rear drive, when I pointed it out as a warranty item, they said they'd never heard of one failing before..... yeah, right. But the service guy instantly knew the tollerance on movement in the bearings and how it was 3 1/2 hours labour to change one over....strange that.

I don't touch dealers unless I have no option... I wont miss Clarkes / Blade.

Roger.
 
It's shame about that, I had a lot of work done there and the technical guys were good, although they have been through a succession of poor/criminal service managers. The irony is that they had the prefect premises next door vacant and looking for a lease (the old Rolls Royce/McLaren showroom) which they were talking about taking up. Seeing as the next nearest is Wolverhampton (not well recommended on here) or Cotswold (would never go back there again after they left my bike in dangerous/damaged state), I might be going to an independent or Grinall Cars in Stourport.
 
If your bike is out of warranty and you no longer need dealer servicing then I can recommend Arden Motorcycles at Alcester, no fancy showrooms or posh areas to sit and sup coffee but good old fashioned knowledge and know how from being in the business for decades, and half the price of a BMW dealership.
 
If your bike is out of warranty and you no longer need dealer servicing then I can recommend Arden Motorcycles at Alcester, no fancy showrooms or posh areas to sit and sup coffee but good old fashioned knowledge and know how from being in the business for decades, and half the price of a BMW dealership.

Sounds like the answer to my dilemma.... Do they have all the BMW diagnostic kit?
 
Sounds like the answer to my dilemma.... Do they have all the BMW diagnostic kit?

Hi Tony, they do have diagnostic kits, whether it is specific to BMW I am not sure, best thing is to give them a call and have a chat with either Simon or Nick.
 
I lived just around the corner from them in Barnt Green in the 90's and they looked after our instructor bikes for the BMW track days (Boxer Cup specials). They were always friendly, but I did get a mixed level of service over the years with a few issues cropping up on a regular basis which overall left me just that little bit disappointed with them!

Still a shame to see a dealer go though as I believe it limits customer choice and reduces the element of competition in a locality.
 
Blade Mottorad

I had a recall rear drive done there on my 11 yrs old R1200GS and they were fine and the parts dept always very helpful.

I had a bad experience with a renowned an ex BMW trained dealer which resulted in a shagged engine & a bill for over £1200, for me , the only people who will ever be asked to do work on any of my or Margarets BMW's is Mickey Boy and the very missed Steve Scriminger.
 
Unfortunately Reg even well regarded mechanics can mess up - as I found after getting my clutch replaced on my GS and then having it fail completely first time I went out on the bike because the slave cylinder was loose and leaking....
 
I had a choice of Blade (close to me) or Benhams Wolverhampton (not close to me) when I placed my GSA order.

One of the sales team at Blade made feel like I was a hindrance to his day, so I gave my c£20K to Benhams, who, so far, have been fine.

Not a large sample size, granted, but the customer is always right.

I hadnt seen the news about this so found myself today parked up outside the closed store.

Last year I paid blades birmingham a visit, with 15k burning a hole in my pocket, ready to walk out of the shop with a GS.

Like you, I found the sales guys non-plussed; and my asking for a test ride seem like a chore for them. I left, and the following week bought my GS from wollastons northampton ( who’ve been great to date).

Speaking to a colleague sometime later, without my mentioning my ecperience, he told me that he’d visited Blades birmingham for a new K1600, but left with nothing as he felt the sales guys weren’t interested.

Really strange mode of operation. I can only wonder whether there was an underlying discontent among the employees, and which finally brought about the end result.
 
I hadnt seen the news about this so found myself today parked up outside the closed store.

Last year I paid blades birmingham a visit, with 15k burning a hole in my pocket, ready to walk out of the shop with a GS.

Like you, I found the sales guys non-plussed; and my asking for a test ride seem like a chore for them. I left, and the following week bought my GS from wollastons northampton ( who’ve been great to date).

Speaking to a colleague sometime later, without my mentioning my ecperience, he told me that he’d visited Blades birmingham for a new K1600, but left with nothing as he felt the sales guys weren’t interested.

Really strange mode of operation. I can only wonder whether there was an underlying discontent among the employees, and which finally brought about the end result.

Knowing they were due to close, I called in to book my bike in for a service and the fork recall - Not interested!

Had it done at Woolastons & what a different place that is. :thumby:
 
Really like Wollastons. Sales staff are non-pushy (whilst at the same sensibly interested in serving up test rides), service staff friendly, and the Jane and girls do a fine job at the cafe. Always a good atmosphere around the place. Hope it stays the same when they expand the premises late next year.
 


Back
Top Bottom