My wife and I registered for a test drive of the i3 last month with BMW Corp. They took my info and scheduled a specific appointment for this past Saturday at my local dealer (Marin County, CA, USA). It was with great excitement and anticipation when the time came for our appointment. I have been keeping up with the i3's features, release dates, pricing and tracked the auto and general press for details about the car. We consider ourselves to be knowledgeable and serious potential buyers, after all we have a current BMW and had over the years, 4 other models. So we are loyal to the brand!
Upon arriving to the dealer lot, we were shown a parking space. There were several customers huddled around one i3 and another group standing near a welcome sign apparently waiting for attention. After 5-10 minutes, I finally asked the fellow (not BMW personnel) near the sign what was going on. He said go inside and register.
In the showroom were a couple of blue-shirted, BMW i3 people (as distinct from dealer), verifying sign up and checking IDs. We got processes and went back out to the lot. We surmised that there was a waiting list and we dutifully signed in again. 15 minutes goes by while another blue-shirted person proceed to present the the i3, you know the standard feature and benefits pitch. No making light of it, the introduction was helpful for my wife. Another 15 minutes goes by when finally another blue shirt calls and we were shuffled into the i3 with another customer. Now there are 3 customers with the blue shirted i3 driver headed off the lot in the car. I asked when we would switch so we could drive. The driver said no driving today, we would only get a ride. Well, the ride went 300 yards up the road to a shopping mall parking lot. The driver launched into a demo of the car's tight turning radius. She basically did donuts in the parking lot. Ride over, we went back to the dealer, 5 minutes end to end. No test drive.
When. I asked why no test drive, , the reply from her was....we have too few cars. A client drove one into a ditch a couple of days ago. I pressed her again and then she offered that the i3 that I just got a ride in was not a production car and not for customer demo. Hey what is the real story? Didn't I sign up with BMW Corp for a test drive?
So we march back into the showroom to offer our feedback, we were asked to do so by the blue shirt. The same guy who signed us in shoved an ipad in my face and said please fill out the survey. What a joke, the questions were about how I felt about the i3's performance, e.g. ride, acceleration, handling, etc. I kindly asked the blue shirt,
How am I to know about the car after sitting in the back seat and not driving it. His response, well I can't help it, the survey design for a post drive feedback. WTF!
At this point my wife has checked out and I am getting steamed (can I use more descriptive language here). I asked for a dealer person, and one finally showed up. In the presence of blue shirt I3 guy and the dealer sales person, I laid it out. Oh, before this, I asked again why no test drive, another different answer, we had too many people who dropped in the drive the car and there is not enough time and too few cars. But wait didn't I have an appointment and you could have called me with an update before I came in if plans have changed.
If we were told upon arrival that there is no drive, we would have been disappointed but certainly not angry. Our schedules are tight, we are busy people even on weekends. The whole thing was a waste of our time. I want to like the i3 and it is probably a good choice for us. BMW knows how to make a car (not totally convinced) but they failed miserably in customer engagement. For us, the i3 is as much about an intellectual attraction as it is about ordindary car expectations. But we never expected such shabby treatment. At the end, no BMW blue shirts nor dealer person offered an apology. "I am sorry" would have at least shown good manners.
Upon arriving to the dealer lot, we were shown a parking space. There were several customers huddled around one i3 and another group standing near a welcome sign apparently waiting for attention. After 5-10 minutes, I finally asked the fellow (not BMW personnel) near the sign what was going on. He said go inside and register.
In the showroom were a couple of blue-shirted, BMW i3 people (as distinct from dealer), verifying sign up and checking IDs. We got processes and went back out to the lot. We surmised that there was a waiting list and we dutifully signed in again. 15 minutes goes by while another blue-shirted person proceed to present the the i3, you know the standard feature and benefits pitch. No making light of it, the introduction was helpful for my wife. Another 15 minutes goes by when finally another blue shirt calls and we were shuffled into the i3 with another customer. Now there are 3 customers with the blue shirted i3 driver headed off the lot in the car. I asked when we would switch so we could drive. The driver said no driving today, we would only get a ride. Well, the ride went 300 yards up the road to a shopping mall parking lot. The driver launched into a demo of the car's tight turning radius. She basically did donuts in the parking lot. Ride over, we went back to the dealer, 5 minutes end to end. No test drive.
When. I asked why no test drive, , the reply from her was....we have too few cars. A client drove one into a ditch a couple of days ago. I pressed her again and then she offered that the i3 that I just got a ride in was not a production car and not for customer demo. Hey what is the real story? Didn't I sign up with BMW Corp for a test drive?
So we march back into the showroom to offer our feedback, we were asked to do so by the blue shirt. The same guy who signed us in shoved an ipad in my face and said please fill out the survey. What a joke, the questions were about how I felt about the i3's performance, e.g. ride, acceleration, handling, etc. I kindly asked the blue shirt,
How am I to know about the car after sitting in the back seat and not driving it. His response, well I can't help it, the survey design for a post drive feedback. WTF!
At this point my wife has checked out and I am getting steamed (can I use more descriptive language here). I asked for a dealer person, and one finally showed up. In the presence of blue shirt I3 guy and the dealer sales person, I laid it out. Oh, before this, I asked again why no test drive, another different answer, we had too many people who dropped in the drive the car and there is not enough time and too few cars. But wait didn't I have an appointment and you could have called me with an update before I came in if plans have changed.
If we were told upon arrival that there is no drive, we would have been disappointed but certainly not angry. Our schedules are tight, we are busy people even on weekends. The whole thing was a waste of our time. I want to like the i3 and it is probably a good choice for us. BMW knows how to make a car (not totally convinced) but they failed miserably in customer engagement. For us, the i3 is as much about an intellectual attraction as it is about ordindary car expectations. But we never expected such shabby treatment. At the end, no BMW blue shirts nor dealer person offered an apology. "I am sorry" would have at least shown good manners.
