Tipping BMW service advisor

[Westside Guy]

Originally Posted by blockhead25

Never would have thought about tipping.
2 things that I would think would be as good as gold to them:
1. Perfect scores on customer service survey
2. Sales referrals. Let them make some money on your friends and family.

I could see why tipping could be nice if establishing long relationship at near by dealer.

2. I think you meant to say referrals to the service advisor. Sales and service are separate profit centers at a dealer.

[blockhead25]

Originally Posted by Westside Guy

2. I think you meant to say referrals to the service advisor. Sales and service are separate profit centers at a dealer.

Ha. Oops. Yeah, I mucked that up.

[Our03z4]

Originally Posted by BeEmVe

Tipping in the US is out of control.

I have never tipped my SA for any of my vehicles. I have given my Toyota SA a gift of a bottle really good Belgian beer to show my appreciation.

I will add the following, during the initial free service periods at BMW we received surveys basically stating if we could not give 5/5 they did not do their jobs. I called BS on that as well as any survey I get like that.


You get a three just for doing the job right that is my expectation. If you screw up, you get 2 or 1. If you doing something beyond my expectation, you a 4 or a 5. But that is not how BMW thinks. I was told if their SA do not get a 5 they dinged. For the most, I quit doing such surveys.

If a customer for either of my businesses ever give us anything lower than a 4 star rating (extremely rare, maybe a couple of times in 20 years) they get a call that day that they are dropped as a customer unless it was somehow valid. You sound like a person that expects someone to kiss their feet in order to get a decent rating. If everything is done right and at the right price it is common courtesy to give a 5 star rating. At my wifes former employer anything less than 5 stars and you'd be in trouble, people like you really do cause issues for employees.

[TRiCC]

You should actually tip the service technician that performed work on your vehicle, the service advisors actually never perform work on your vehicle, all they do is talk and are a face to complain to if there are any complaints, as a service technician speaking from experience, find the technician and request your vehicle to be worked on under their supervision, and you'd be sure to have your car extra taken care of.

[CLTMDA]

I have used the same service advisor for many, many years. They are really the face of the brand post-purchase and you could almost count them as the largest factor in future brand loyalty. They are paid well. I have never tipped him. I always get customer service I don't see as being improved upon. He knows me. I recently spent a couple years outside the brand. With my current vehicle on order, I did not just walk in to the dealer. I emailed my old service advisor and told him what I wanted. He recommended a sales person and that is who I ordered my car through. I would expect the salesman to buy him a bottle of wine or something. That being said, if I am taking the car in for service around Thanksgiving or Christmas I might bring him a bottle of wine.

My experience with Hendrick BMW has been nothing short of spectacular. They go above and beyond whenever the opportunity shows itself, from the sales associates I have spoken to to the service people I have interacted with (Advisor, Tech, Manager). The crazy thing is that I do not get the same treatment and/or experience with the Hendrick Mercedes folks. I am just a number to them. I do not know what it is, but the guys at the BMW dealership know how to keep my business and I plan on replacing my wife's GLS 450 with a BMW when the time comes.

[blockhead25]

Originally Posted by Our03z4

If a customer for either of my businesses ever give us anything lower than a 4 star rating (extremely rare, maybe a couple of times in 20 years) they get a call that day that they are dropped as a customer unless it was somehow valid. You sound like a person that expects someone to kiss their feet in order to get a decent rating. If everything is done right and at the right price it is common courtesy to give a 5 star rating. At my wifes former employer anything less than 5 stars and you'd be in trouble, people like you really do cause issues for employees.

Don’t love the tone, but agree in this day and age customer surveys really should start from a perfect score and then marked down if anything was wrong. Uber rating of 3 and the person won’t get a job. Support satisfaction surveys of 3 is considered very bad.

The problem is, I don’t think this is clear to people without experience. If you don’t fully understand the results it would seem perfectly logical to give 3/5 for average service, 4/5 for good, 5/5 for excellent. But given how these surveys work it really should be scored 5/5 for anything average or above.

[3002 tii]

Tipping your SA for doing their job (and earning your trust so you come back) is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. Bring a box of donuts, or tip the guy who drops/picks you up to and from dealer. But SA lmao… that’s as bad as my wife who insists on tipping all my kids teachers during holidays, end of year and teacher appreciation day. It’s f’ng ridiculous…

[smokinjoe64]

IMHO BMW SAs are akin to a 'professional'. Meaning not hospitality, commission based.

Mmmm, naaah...
After 17 Bimmers, 11 factory ordered...my dealer interaction/expectaion is SAs have requisite training, knowledge to know more than a typical customer, particularly for M vehicles.

So NO, BMW NA & dealers need to ensure ALL representatives are capable of supporting a premium brand along with pricing/costs demanded

• My experience ~60% proven favorable.
• YMMV - Unfortunately Dealer quality/people is solely their investment choice

Consumer Tips:

• Locate a Quality Dealer who vets/pays accordingly => Get quality SAs
• Find a great indy Performance Shop; develop a 'relationship'

...comments?

[Our03z4]

Originally Posted by blockhead25

Don’t love the tone, but agree in this day and age customer surveys really should start from a perfect score and then marked down if anything was wrong. Uber rating of 3 and the person won’t get a job. Support satisfaction surveys of 3 is considered very bad.

The problem is, I don’t think this is clear to people without experience. If you don’t fully understand the results it would seem perfectly logical to give 3/5 for average service, 4/5 for good, 5/5 for excellent. But given how these surveys work it really should be scored 5/5 for anything average or above.

Sorry about the tone, I just feel strongly about things that can critically affect a business. People that don't understand the rating system shouldn't use it. I especially hate when you see people leave 1 star reviews on Google with no explanation. I usually don't pay attention to those and still try the place out.

I totally agree with you. I think an avg experience should get 4 stars, but like you said it's not how it works. My company rating is currently 4.9 with the lowest rating or 4.5, I'm proud of that.

[Joachim]

Originally Posted by Our03z4

People that don't understand the rating system shouldn't use it.

The problem is, people don't know that they don't understand the rating system.
Please consider, not many might have such a close relationship with and trust in the sales people and service advisors so that these are able to enlighten the customers prior to voting how things work.

[pbonsalb]

My take from reading this thread is that a 5 star review, the maximum, merely means the job was done and everything works. I don’t have or need a service advisor but have had to deal with them a few times over the years in the past. Some are idiots, some are competent, some are good. Usually I know more than they do. I stay as far away from BMW dealers as possible.

[snareman]

Originally Posted by pbonsalb

My take from reading this thread is that a 5 star reviews, the maximum, merely means the job was done and everything works. I don’t have or need a service advisor but have had to deal with them a few times over the years in the past. Some are idiots, some are competent, some are good. Usually I know more than they do. I stay as far away from BMW dealers as possible.

Yes, to them anything but a 5 is failing.

[BeEmVe]

Originally Posted by Our03z4

If a customer for either of my businesses ever give us anything lower than a 4 star rating (extremely rare, maybe a couple of times in 20 years) they get a call that day that they are dropped as a customer unless it was somehow valid. You sound like a person that expects someone to kiss their feet in order to get a decent rating. If everything is done right and at the right price it is common courtesy to give a 5 star rating. At my wifes former employer anything less than 5 stars and you'd be in trouble, people like you really do cause issues for employees.

Your assumption is wrong. Quite wrong. I expect a business to do the job I pay them to do. It is a simple concept.

Doing the job that I pay a business to do is not a 5/5 customer service rating because that leaves no room for going beyond the customer's expectation.

I hate surveys that begin with, if we didn't give 5 star service let us know. Therein lies the issue, businesses that that set a survey bar that does meet their customer's expectation. Try starting with, if we did not meet your expectations or went beyond your expectations let us know.

Dropping a customer for such a pendantic reason makes you look like at a business owner that people should not patronize. If you are proud of that business practice post up your business details.

In the mean time, do know that just the other day I personally wrote the CEO of automotive group about an employee who went beyond my expectations. Such feedback is far greater.

[KevinC]

Originally Posted by Our03z4

If a customer for either of my businesses ever give us anything lower than a 4 star rating (extremely rare, maybe a couple of times in 20 years) they get a call that day that they are dropped as a customer unless it was somehow valid.

Well, good luck with your next business after these 2 go tits up.

[Our03z4]

Originally Posted by KevinC

[/b]
Well, good luck with your next business after these 2 go tits up.

I'll be retired before that happens. We have a waiting list that never ends and a 100% renewal rate, I think we're doing fine. Like I said, people who leave "bad" reviews are an issue. If the reason for the rating is valid it will absolutely be fixed immediately, there is no place for errors in my businesses. But if you just throw a 3 star out and say everything is great, well you best be looking for a new company. It's too damaging to have those customers around.

[Westside Guy]

If I ever had an issue with my service department I would attempt to resolve it before trashing someone with a negative rating. I would never post a negative rating before doing this.