Tracker Scandal

at

Anyone?

Meanwhile…

Life moves pretty fast.

UPDATE:

More as we get it.

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44 thoughts on “Tracker Scandal

  1. postmanpat

    Oh no! looks like its curtains for FrankKeaneBMW ..thinks no one. My precious BMW!!! boo,,f..ing hoo

    1. Mike

      The Twitter handle for the garage mentions BMW, it could have been a mini…
      Putting biases against BMW drivers to one side, I would be totally widdled if this happened to me.
      We are paying enough for a service, we are not here to fund the motoring needs of these guys.

      If ever there was an opportunity to put your hands up and go, “Actually you’re right, that’s poo, we’re really sorry”…

      If I may be permitted to rant… :-)
      I bought a Seat Leon from a dealership near Liffey Valley a few years back.
      Had an issue with the battery which was sorted under warranty (ie, paid for by the brand and not the garage).
      My car was jump started and I drove to the dealership but as usual, it died the minute it was turned off. they just needed to swap the battery. There was none in stock and it would be a few days arriving. I offered to go get one for them to fit and they said no, I asked if we could take one from one of the new cars already onsite, and they said no. Whatever. The warranty gives me a rental replacement – yay. As I was stuck in the dealership, I asked if they could drop me around to Enterprise (Walkinstown I think it was) they said no.
      I’m sure if I asked for a test drive of something that someone would have been free, but as I wasn’t BUYING anything, I am just a cost / hassle.
      Every year I’ll get all the usual junk-mail from the dealership about getting a new car.
      While I’m delighted with the car itself and will happily get another Seat, WHY would I give them my business? The car ads, the TV ads, all that sponsorship and marketing money to win people around and engage and convert people to the brand…
      Business transactions (say shopping in Tesco) offer such little opportunity for business to differentiate themselves in terms of customer experience as we use self-checkout for shopping or ATMs / online banking when Banking. Issues like this are opportunities to differentiate yourself and simply say “We’re sorry your car died in your driveway, our fault, we’ll get you a replacement car, I can take you there now”
      Again, to be fair, Seat do offer the replacement car, and paid for the new battery no issues. My issue is with the specific dealership.

  2. John

    I always assumed a mechanic would be test driving my car after it was serviced or repaired to ensure whatever gubbins had been replaced or adjusted were correctly fitted or adjusted.

    1. Rob

      A woman in work put her fancy pants convertible in there and was told it couldn’t be fixed quickly and needed to be kept over the weekend (which happened to be sunny), so she was surprised to see it being driven along the N11 on the way to Wexford on the Saturday.

  3. martco

    ah. this is an age old problem..especially if you have a nice interesting motor (M3, Golf R etc.)
    they might have dickyed-up their showrooms in recent times…all nice steel, glass, porcelain led lit gaffs with the customer experience centre & the espresso machine but fundamentally there’s still a lot of the same old Irish car dealer hoorism & poor practices in existence underneath it all

    not remotely surprised at this story, furthermore I’d be doublechecking that the work that was supposed to have been done was in fact done

    1. Pip

      It’s a strange smoke and mirrors world.
      They don’t appreciate one’s attempts to be real with them.

  4. Prof.Fart

    going to an actual BMW garage is bonkers in the first place, but to pay the needless extra money to do so, you’d expect them not to use your car for personal use. i have a golf and the VW garage said theyd replace my broken wing mirror for €350, i got one in the scrap yard for 50 quid and had a normal mechanic fix it in for 60.

  5. V

    Well
    I bought – guite recently, from Frank Keane’s
    And couldn’t recommend then highly enough

    Just saying

    1. Joe Small

      The BMW is a vanity car – to signal to neighbours and friends that you have enough money to buy one.

      Wait until the next heavy snowfall and all the BMWs and Audis will be the first to get stuck.

      1. postmanpat

        If I won a BMW id just sell it. Sounds like a hassle to own. broken door handle or wonky radio dial ..€500 to fix . no thanks. what’s the point?

      2. Cathal

        Not up here, they’re just diff cars, cheap as.chips from the UK, far too soft though, clapped out Omega or IS200 are better,

    2. V

      A give over
      It’s actually a great car
      Very happy with it

      And Keanes gave me a savage trade in price – didn’t try it on or didn’t try and get me to buy a flashier car (I took a blinged up pimped up Evoque, straight from the TOWIE cast out on a test drive, I was carrying on like a TV3 girl)

      My last car was so worthless that I was looking at throwing it into the Windsor Auctions.

      The whole transaction was great value, the handover left nothing out and a minor follow up – swap out the wipers, Frank Keane Motors went over and above.

      Very Happy to recommend them

      1. Paulus

        V, nobody has ever, ever, in the history of the Irish motor trade, achieved a good deal in any garage: The best you can hope for is that they rip you off just a little less than the one down the road.

    3. Prof.Fart

      V.. that’s very different to what’s being talked about. An entirely different service. The guy who said “thats standard practice” would certainly be nice and easy to deal with, just buying a car. having it serviced is a different kettle of fish entirely. So don

    4. Freddie

      I’d be interested to know why you think they’re so good and how you’re qualifying these thoughts, or did some salesperson just stoke you?

      1. Prof.Fart

        its so irish of you V, a real “well im alright, jack” input. You couldn’t care less what they do to someone else, you got treated well and sure that’s all that matters.

        1. V

          Ah now now Dr Gas
          Don’t be vandalising my posts with your narrow minded view of the world

          I merely introduced Broadsheet readers to my own experience of Frank Keane Motors

          And since I did
          Lemme tell ye about what happened when I used a main dealer service garage (in Dublin 6) Important to know now that they are no longer a Honda Dealership btw

          CRV – traded in a Alfa that they rode me on price for. But I wanted the CRV they had (teenager was just one at the time and I had to change put the sporty hatch back racer.

          Anyway, after about 6 months or trouble I left it in for a full service. They charged me ridiculous money for 4 new tyres, and insisted I get a new battery. Working full-time with a one-year old crèche etc, the convenience was very welcome, and they took advantage of that.

          About a week later the car died in the work (hospital) car park. The AA lads couldn’t get in until clinics and visiting hours were over. An absolute nightmare with herself tired and hungry and needing a bath.
          Anyway AA lads not only said the battery wasn’t fitted properly, it was older than the car itself.

          So you see I’m well used to shabby service garages as well, so when one exceeds expectations I’m more than happy to recognise it.

  6. Liam Deliverance

    That is completely unacceptable to me, some people may not be bothered by that practice, I would not be at all happy about this. Good to know, thanks Sean.

  7. DOC

    Bavarian
    Motor
    Works
    Do not give a damn about their customers. I know that because I used to work for them

  8. Bort

    Lovely, just got a lad sacked from his job. I know loads of mechanics that take cars home because there’s no room in the garage. Not really a big deal unless it got robbed or damaged. Get over it

  9. martco

    ah here get off her back with yer generalised nonsense about @V’s choices in life! we all buy our cars for different reasons. some see utility, some see art, some it’s pure budget…layers of parameters

    ye can’t just say BMW’s are this BMW’s are that. EVERY motor manufacturer has its good & bad products. want a diamond motor? trust me there’s time, effort & experience involved (plus a dash of luck)

  10. Bort

    Lovely, just got a lad sacked from his job. I know loads of mechanics that take cars home because there’s no room in the garage. or the technician came to work in his car but took your car home to test drive it. Not really a big deal unless it got robbed or damaged.

    1. Kolmo

      Why would he be sacked, unless he took the car without his managers permission, it would be under the garage insurance, presumably…

    2. Janet, I ate my avatar

      when you leave it at a garage for repairs you don’t expect it to be at risk of either

  11. Kolmo

    All service customers are what pickpockets call pigeons, spoofing and shyte-hawkery is the business model, most of us are not technically trained enough to question what is being said, we trust them, they know that and proceed to take the absolute p!ss, – they’ll don’t even buy you dinner. Learn as much about your car as you can is the best protection.

  12. John G

    My workmate left his BMW into Frank Keane for a service, he was told later that day that they did work amounting to north of €1k which he was taken aback with. As far as I remember, he unhappily paid it. He then checked his dashcam footage at home and found that they never touched the car, they had just moved it from one car park spot straight to another one and hadn’t actually done a thing to it.

    They initially denied it and after he threatened them with some bad publicity/legal action with the video they gave him a full refund and redid the service for free.

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