Brought my convertible in for airbag recall work. The recall itself was fine, but the complimentary wash, done by a third-party valeting company, stripped the waterproofing from my soft top. The canvas was recently replaced, only about three months old and beaded water perfectly until that wash. Afterwards it soaked up water and there were leaks into the cabin. I wasn't given an invoice or job card for the visit either. To be fair, the service manager accepted responsibility and arranged for the valeting company to re-proof the roof. Getting there was hard work, though: my follow-up emails went unanswered for a week, and I had to chase. On the day of the fix, I dropped the car off at 10am expecting to be in and out. Nobody told me how long it would take. After two and a half hours with no updates, I walked over to the valeting bay myself, and the car wasn't there. Staff were "hunting down" the service manager, who then walked straight past me. I only got an answer after repeatedly chasing other staff, who eventually found him and had him update me. I was then told they'd prefer the car to sit for a few more hours, all without any offer of a courtesy car. I had things to do, so I had to take the car before it had sat, which means I may need to get it re-proofed independently later. In total I was there for 4+ hours, and I lost an entire working day fixing damage they caused. A dealership should be competent enough to tell customers how long a job will take and keep them updated. Avoid the complimentary wash if you have a convertible, and expect to chase for any after-sales issue. I've had poor service from this and other BMW dealerships before, with a previous BMW I owned. It's a stark contrast with other big brand dealerships I've used. Overall, if you need work done on your BMW, there are very competent, highly recommended independent specialists in the area.

Absolutely disgusted with this company. They tried to rip off my 80 year old mother and charge her £1,000 for work that she didn't need doing. She bought her car in on her own for an airbag recall and they said they would also do a "heath check" on the car. After the airbag was done, they used scare tactics to intimidate her into replacing one tyre (£200), which they said was shredded and they said there was a crack in the exhaust and it was likely to fall off (£800). Luckily my mother is not gullible and said it's only just had an MOT which would have picked this up. She refused the work and drove directly to her local HiQ garage which she trusts. They put it on the ramp for her and told her that there was nothing wrong with the car and it didn't need any of the work suggested. Since when did it become practice to try and take advantage of our elderly community. You should be absolutely ashamed of this practice. My mother didn't want to tell me because she didn't want any trouble. I guess this is what you rely on to rip old and vunerable people off is it? How many times have you done this to other people in a similar situation and got away with it? Disgusting. Avoid this garage at all costs.

Lost its personal touch

Amazing experience and smooth process of buying my BMW 120D M Sport. Absolutely fantastic service from Mason from the start to the finish, with everything being clearly explained throughout, nothing was too much for him. And never having bought a car without viewing before it really offers a sense of security. 10/10 service would 100% recommend and do it again myself. Thanks again mason, a credit to the team!

Been a client for a while at this dealership never had an issue until recently I discovered that they incorrectly installed tyres on my car, fitting the front tyre on the rear, and rear tyre on the front. The excuse given was that an apprentice changed the tyres and it wasn’t signed off by a senior technician prior to handing the car over. I didn’t check the tyres at the time as I trust(ed) this dealership.

The good work that you've continually performed on my car over the years is overshadowed by your team's lack of customer care. When I visited yesterday morning, I was ignored by roughly 6 people. I was bringing a courtesy car back and collecting my car. I was told to be there for 8am sharp as the car needed to be valeted before going out to someone else at 8:30am. I walked through the door at 7:59am, and waited for 7-8 minutes at an empty reception desk, ignored by everyone else around. Apparently filling up the mugs at the coffee machine is more important than serving customers..? After I gave up waiting and approached someone to ask what I'm expected to do, I was asked to sit down and wait a further ~5-10 minutes before someone came to see me. Whilst I appreciate a number of the team were busy, nobody even acknowledged my presence. I also can't help but feel bad for the next customer who is going to have to sit and wait excessively for the courtesy car to be ready, and the knock-on poor experience this creates for them. Assuming you have plenty of CCTV, I encourage you to watch the footage inside the doors of Mini dealership (being used temporary during your refit works) from 8:00-8:10am to see your customer experience in action. BMW positions itself as a luxury car brand, but nothing about my experience felt this way. What started as a good morning turned into me leaving feeling angry and frustrated after handing over £1500 for the repairs. How this feedback is handled with determine whether I'll be back, or to the local independent garage in future. Please don't ask me to call or email you. EDIT: And another generic reply asking me to do more work and email you. Down from 2* to 1*.

Really pleased with the whole experience and especially with the help from Stephanie. From the start, Steph was brilliant at getting everything sorted and making the deal work. There were a few things I wanted changing on the car before collection, including having the wheels refinished in silver, and nothing ever felt like too much trouble. The wheels came out fantastic, and they even supplied the little M badges separately so I could fit them once the finish had properly cured. She also went above and beyond with a request for some dealer-branded plates for my private reg, which was a really nice touch. There was a slight issue with the agreed part-exchange value on collection day after some additional things were picked up on my MINI. This was outside Steph’s control, but she completely understood my position given that we’d already agreed the deal and went back to management to get it resolved. I really appreciated the way she handled it and made sure we were able to complete the deal we’d agreed. Most importantly, I’m absolutely delighted with the X3 M40d. The car looks fantastic, the preparation was excellent and I’m really pleased I went ahead with it. Thanks again Steph for all your help — genuinely a great experience from start to finish.

Good dealership, efficient and effective

Cant get through to anyone on the phone, hopeless. Ring, ring and more ring. Only thing that does get answered is the pointless call department. They can't do anything so waste of time calling them. I have become more and more disappointed with Group 1 BMW.

Dangerous safety faults after recall – Dealership refusing to inspect. Took my car to BMW Portslade for an official airbag recall. Received the car back with electrical faults (doors locking themselves). Two weeks ago, it escalated to a dangerous 'steering lock' fault and 'airbag seat restraint' warning. The car now fails to start and is unsafe to drive. Another BMW branch refused to look at it, and now BMW Portslade flatly refuse to inspect the vehicle because I have an open Ombudsman case. They have left me stranded without a working vehicle after breaking it during a safety recall. Trading Standards have been informed. This is a highly disappointing review for me to write. I have been a dedicated BMW owner and fan my entire life, having previously owned an E36 318is, an E36 M3, an E46 323i, and an E90 320d. Unfortunately, the poor standard of customer service I recently encountered has completely shattered my trust. BMW used to mean quality to me, but this experience has been a massive letdown.