A recent trip to Perillo BMW for scheduled maintenance and some new tires resulted in the usual SNAFU. Not only did they install the wrong tires on my vehicle and try to cover it up, but then they claimed the requested tires were unavailable. They even went as far as to claim the tires I requested were not BMW-approved. A few calls to tire shops around Chicago confirmed city-wide availability, and I then provided the dealership with recent articles outlining how all new 3-Series with the performance package would ship with the Michelin Pilot Sport PS2s I requested. Technically the last few runs of the M3 shipped with the tires, but I know my car certainly isn’t an M car. Long story short, the tires are available, and they are BMW-approved.
After the initial run-around attempt, the conversation went something like this.
Me: “Yeah, I went ahead and ran the DOT numbers through Michelin, and the tires are in fact the wrong ones.”
Them: <silence>
Me: “And here’s the 800 number you can call for Chicago area tire logistics.”
Them: <silence>
Me: “Oh, and the PS2s are actually shipping with new 3-Series and have been on the M3 for a few years. I printed out some press releases for your review.”
Them: <silence>
I was surprised to see the dealership prices on tires were actually competitive, which was why I went with them since my car required service anyway, but when they wanted $310 for an alignment, I just couldn’t do it. Right after I got my tires, I took it to a Ashland Tire and Auto, a well-respected shop on the near north side, for a standard $70 laser alignment. When the car was on the lift, I got a good look at what Perillo did to my wheels–lots of nice little scratches and gouges consistent with a sloppy tech knocking the wheels around when installing tires. I called my service rep right then and there (about 20 minutes out the door) and left a message outlining what I found. A few days later, I got a call back to bring the car in again.
They stuck by their claim that the tires were unavailable. Not wanting to deal with them anymore, I told them to put my old tires back on and give me a full refund. This is where it get good. I had to leave my car there overnight for them to do all of this, so I got a call the next day, and the service rep told me that the shop foreman could not find any wheel damage, and he wanted me to point it out to him when I came in to pick up the car. <fast forward> I point out the obvious damage. The foreman, Darren (sp?), looked at me and told me the scratches and gouges were from potholes and that he sees this all the time. The guy lied through his teeth to my face. In all his XX years of working on cars, he had never seen damage like resulting from tire/wheel service. Yeah. This doesn’t surprise me at all.
<That pothole almost unscrewed the lug nuts!>
The fact is the car went in clean. Actually, when you drop the car off, they do a walk around and note any scratches, dents, etc. on a paper you sign before they accept the car for service. No wheel damage was indicated on this sheet when I signed it, because there was none!
Why didn’t I see this before I left Perillo’s service department? I suppose it was my own dumb fault. I didn’t think for a second I needed to check the work of a dealership whose cheapest car with no options runs $36,000 (?). This combined with the fact that your car comes back to you via valet in a tight garage with 5 people behind you all but laying on the horn to get out doesn’t exactly make for enough time in a decent place to do an inspection. I do have a call into BMW NA who forwarded my complaint to the proper channels, but we’ll see what that gets me. Hindsight is 20/20, as after the fact I read a few online reviews from people in the same boat, only the one that stood out to me involved an M3.
Perillo BMW service department has a few truly outstanding service reps, and these people are why I’ve returned despite otherwise bad car service. The dealership there in downtown Chicago is just too busy. They must see a hundred cars each day, and with city union labor rules, they probably have to blow through work as fast as possible just to turn a profit (overlooking $310 alignments, that is). It’s unfortunate they have enough volume that their service department can still provide shoddy service. Not that it will affect their bottom line in the slightest, but I guess all I can do is write this post and vow never to return to Perillo BMW.
It was raining the day I got my car back and took these pictures, so the wheels are a bit dirtier than they usually are.
Appreciate the pictures, as it took me 30 minutes to give up on Photoshop and bust out good ol’ Paint to draw the ellipsoids!
