Recent visit to BMW dealer in Grimsby

[Billd]

Yesterday drove over to Grimsby dealer, very impressive place. Points of interest for me.

-they had 5 new R Nine T's in the show room all pre sold and all being picked up this Sunday. Lucky new owners! Was taken with how small they were but then again I rode there on a 1150 GSA.

-Young salesman named Ashley was an impressive sort that other sales people should emulate.

-really nice selection of used BMW bikes and I thought fairly well priced.

-seen a flatdeck with three BMW's loaded on the back. One was a nice looking 2002 1150GSA with the aluminium panniers and sporting UKGSer decals. All headed down to London area as bought by trade dealer. Was told that the dealership only sales 2008 and newer BMW's as they must offer BMW warranty and thus shuffle off all the older bikes to dealers that handle older inventory. This will be much the same with all main BMW dealers.

Was an enjoyable ride out. Only down side was I did take away a new bike brochure!

 

[tweedy453]

Yesterday drove over to Grimsby dealer, very impressive place. Points of interest for me.

-they had 5 new R Nine T's in the show room all pre sold and all being picked up this Sunday. Lucky new owners! Was taken with how small they were but then again I rode there on a 1150 GSA.

-Young salesman named Ashley was an impressive sort that other sales people should emulate.

-really nice selection of used BMW bikes and I thought fairly well priced.

-seen a flatdeck with three BMW's loaded on the back. One was a nice looking 2002 1150GSA with the aluminium panniers and sporting UKGSer decals. All headed down to London area as bought by trade dealer. Was told that the dealership only sales 2008 and newer BMW's as they must offer BMW warranty and thus shuffle off all the older bikes to dealers that handle older inventory. This will be much the same with all main BMW dealers.

Was an enjoyable ride out. Only down side was I did take away a new bike brochure!

I'll guess that the 2002 GSA was in silver with the full adventure aluminium panniers light bar hella fog lights side in fill panels etc etc was formally mine ! Traded her in for a 2011 TC GSA , and I would have to agree with you in everything you have said. Although I didn't deal with Ashely personally I dealt with Paul I felt it was a very positive buying experience as I got a good price for my old GSA1150 and all my little snags with my new bike were sorted prior to collection ! I felt welcomed and every stop pulled out to make me a happy customer and I for one would certainly recommend them !

 

[stever1]

Buyer beware. I'm an ex Astles/Marshalls customer. Wont be using them again.

 

[tweedy453]

Buyer beware. I'm an ex Astles/Marshalls customer. Wont be using them again.

You obviously have had a bad experience which to be frank is a real "bummer !" Especially considering the amount of money you spend when taking into consideration the cost of a service or buying a new bike. For the moment it's still a plus for me re Astles / Marshall BMW , innocent until proven guilty . I would be interested to know though wether your bad experience was recently and if you don't mind briefly what did it entail ?

Cheers jon

 

[stever1]

It was last year at a 12,000 mile service, i was told i had a brake disc below the minimum thickness of 4mm. I found this strange on a bike with only 12000 miles on it. It was agreed that it would be changed as a warranty job. Adrian in service reception went on holiday when i took it in. The idiot who is now the bike manager was quite serious when he told me it was my own fault as i ride the bike all year round. Apparently BMW bikes aren't designed to be ridden all year. THEN. he really got my attention when he said it would have been alright to go on my hols on the bike with the brakes not working correctly . (a 2500 mile euro tour, 2 up with full luggage). Next problem was the bike was going in for an 18,000 service in September on a Saturday. They rang me on the tuesday and said they could not do it on the day arranged. I made several suggestions to try and sort out an alternative but they were not interested in trying to sort out the problem. At that point i started using barry Robsons at York
The main problem at Astles is that they are not really a bike dealer, they just sell bikes as a sideline to the car business. I started using Astles in June 2010 when I bought my first BMW bike, a new GS. I kept that until i got my current 2012 RT and in that time the dealer has had numerous personnel changes. They never seem to stay very long. At one point things seemed to get better when they employed steve constable as the manager but he's now moved on.
During my time as an astles customer I could tell you many other stories such as collecting a bike which had a flat tyre, or the time i lost the top box as it had not been fitted by the dealer correctly but you get the idea. So, eventually I took my money elsewhere .

 

[tweedy453]

I think if that had happened to me then I too would have a very bitter taste in my mouth sorry to hear about that but it's the benifit of this forum in that knowledge is power and its upto the individual how they use it thanks for the heads up on your experience.

For the moment I can only go by my own personal experience and give them the benifit of the doubt until such as time "they piss down my back and tell me it's raining" or not as the case maybe only time will tell ?

All the best Jon

 

[getalife]

So had a job 5 mins from here today, so after reading this decided to pop in.
Thinking of getting a new RT so thought would be welcomed with open arms.
Climbed round all the bright white BMW M this and M that cars to get to the bike corner of about 10 bikes.
Waited 10 mins, wandered outside to look at the other 10 bikes out there.
Wasn't accosted, acknowledged or enquired upon so decided to give it a miss. Only one other Customer getting his 1600 fixed so hardly rushed off their feet to at least smile at me.

Think I'll go to York and see if Barrie has cheered up.

Funny enough had exactly the same attitude off them when they were Astles, so I've bought 3 new BM's elsewhere since then.

 

[Tommy Gunn]

To each their own & I'm pleased you had a good experience.

You can add me to the list of 'won't go near them again' but I hope they've realised the error of their previously long standing crappy attitude & have improved since being taken over.

 

[roadrider]

They used to be very good when it was run by Harveys, pre Astles. Bought 3 bikes from them. When Harveys sold out to Astles the car side seemed to take over the running of the servicing etc & imho it went down hill a bit, after a while a lot of staff semed to come & go quite quickly as mentioned by Stever1. When the Mini was launched it took over at least half of which was to be the new bike showroom & the bikes were squeezed to one side as an afterthought or so it appeared to me. As others have mentioned they are car dealers first & formost & bikes appear to be a sideline.

FWIW I had a couple of servicing issued & other niggling things so I took my custom elsewhere....

 

[Jem Wilton]

My r100gs came from up north I think, the keys have Harvey's stamped on 'em. I now call the German Harvey of course, but I reckon that could've been the garage he came from...