Ocean BMW & MINI Reviews 

Terrible after sales support. Charge the customer for known design flaws. Avoid!

My car was booked in for coding in power mirrors and an electric tow bar @1500.

Arrived 1445. Dropped keys 1450. Car not moved from car park until 1535. 1635 Im taken in to be shown a broken fog light bulb, rubbing brake hose and loose tow bar, no attempt at coding has been done. 1645 manager sees me to explain they cant code the mirrors today as its a long process. As for the tow bar they wont code until its secure and safe (fair enough). 1655 manager says car is being brought around. 1710 I come inside to remind them to bring my car around... and then it finally is.

What a waste of time, there are multiple points here in which time wasting could have been avoided for us all:
0.5) On arrival the automatic booking in machine wasnt working - great start!
1) My car on the programming in sheet literally says, "coding for tow bar and power mirrors". Surely someone could have noticed this and maybe called to explain its a longer process than just the hour it was booked in for?
2) Simply actually taking in my car at the booked time, even 15 minutes late is relatively acceptable. But 35 minutes, over half the allowed appointment time. WTAF!
3) Why was my car up on a ramp having anything done to it that was anything other than what I booked in for? Fair enough a quick check. But 1 hour to realise I had a fog light out (which the car tells you anyway), a loose tow bar and the brake hose is rubbing?
4) Im told that my car is being brought around by the manager - OH NO IT WASNT! (Maybe in some magic, rainbow fantasy land or a parallel universe) Another slip on an already icy sheet of despair and hopelessness.

The sad thing is, I have actually been in to Ocean Falmouth plenty of times over the past 3 months just to pick up parts. And even for a simple pickup I have found myself waiting up to 40 minutes. Several of these times I have just walked out as it has taken so long.

Despite all this, the staff are actually lovely and helpful. Lee the manager was straight talking and helpful. I just wish they'd bring that getting poop done energy to bring it home with the service, or departmental communication.

So it is my sincere wish that the unnecessary suffering I had to endure today is mitigated by new measures: perhaps some sort of follow through confirmation between departments for each customer, an internal app or whatsapp group ? Although in all honesty, I feel as if this will fall on deaf ears. But I shall remain hopeful, as I know anything is possible if it has people with drive behind it that actually want to improve customer experience.

I will be back as with coding I dont really have a choice, as soon as I muster up the energy to deal with the woes of BMW service that is.

So for now BMW, your cars are shiny, sparkly and built very well - I like working on them. Your staff are kind, friendly and helpful. I just do not enjoy the poopy communication between departments/teams/me that holds all this glitter together. Poop rolled in glitter.

I hope to be soon leaving a 5 star review for all the changes that have happened for my next visit, stay tuned...

UPDATE: I have now coded the power mirrors myself - it took me 15 minutes... I am confident I can do the tow bar and so I shall most likely not need to come back. Why wasnt it that simple when I came in...?!

Overall I found BMW very efficient in providing a detailed assessment of my options for a new car. From the initial introduction to the final handover of the new car it was very engaging and pleasant experience. The BMW Adviser Ben Miller was a good communicator with a smile which enhanced the customer experience. My reasons for giving such a high mark emphasises the importance of providing a first class service on this occasion.

Its incredibly annoying when you get through to service, you explain the issue. "I'll get back to you" is the response. No one does, I call again, explain again, still no response. I then call for the third time , this time I explain to the receptionist which quite honestly has a really shirty tone with me. Premium brand does not mean premium service does it. Really disappointing service Ocean in the context of the word.

My X5 went into Ocean Paignton for a repair to its sunroof plus a fix a bumper scratch and general service. Marc and the team coordinated the whole process (including arranging for the car to go down to the Plymouth body shop). Car came back like new (valeted inside / outside) - price was very competitive.

The following week my countryman went into Ocean for a scratch repair / service / MOT - again the team did an amazing job and again I was fully kept informed through the whole process. In both cases they worked around my busy schedule - which makes the process stress free.

Would recommend.

Georgia and the entire team at BMW were absolutely fantastic from start to finish when I visited BMW in Falmouth. The attention to detail and knowledge on all aspects of the cars available was superb, making it an all round pleasure and cannot reccomend them enough. I can't wait for my new BMW, thank you!

Picked up my fantastic new car from Ocean BMW yesterday and I can say that the overall experience has been first class. From early engagement in Oct 23 to picking up, the team has kept me informed throughout and handover was smooth and problem-free, even though I was late arriving! Thanks to Andy Arnold, Jimmy Smith, and the now-departed from BMW Matt Harry for making it stress free.

I bought a car from Ocean Torbay in January 2023 and the sales process went smoothly but after-sales has been atrocious! The car developed a fault last month and I have booked it in for collection on FOUR different dates now, each time no-one has showed up nor was there any attempt to let me know they weren't coming. The most recent time I was assured a manager was involved and it would 'definitely happen' but the same thing happened. My calls are never returned and no one seems to know what's going on. If it wasn't a warranty repair I would have given up with them a long time ago.

Just had our bmw in at bmw falmouth for a diagnosis on the engine as the eml light showing and idling up and . Paid nearly £400 and a week later the car is the same and the eml light back on. Did their survey and informed them they had not fixed the car as it was still the same fault. Not heard a thing, puts you off buying bmw. Mot good service, will complain Monday.

Hi, just to say that my experience with Marc Prince at the Paignton branch was great. He was very helpful, polite and friendly.

On two occasions I have used an online form to contact BMW Torbay to buy a new car and on both occasions my contact form has gone unanswered. To me it shows how bothered they are !! GENUINE REVIEW

Collected our new car from Ocean BMW Plymouth yesterday. Ben was the salesman ; he did an excellent job but the whole team was lovely . Will buy from them again.

Can never fault them at BMW ocean Plymouth. So helpful and nothing is ever too much with the staff, staff are so friendly and whenever they walk past there is always a smile on their faces. Wouldn’t trust taking my car anywhere else. Thankyou bmw

This is my second car from Ocean BMW in Falmouth Georgia has been amazing from the start, she listened to my requirements for a car and found me exactly the one I wanted. No hard sell and was genuine throughout our experience from the beginning when testing and then buying the car.
Georgia went out of her way to make sure we were completely happy with the car and we are extremely pleased with our purchase.
Thank you Georgia I am sure we will be using Ocean BMW again.

It was a great experience from the start. Probably the best experience I’ve ever had buying a car, well and truly looked after by Ben and the team. They bent over backwards to accommodate me. I will be using them in the future.

I was looking for a new car. The sales executive,Georgia,
was professional, knowledgeable and patient.
No hard selling just information and advice, an all round pleasant experience

Georgia has been very attentive and understood the type of car I was after. She managed to find me the car with all the preferences I had ensuring every little detail requested was matched. This was followed up by constant communication and contact especially as I was 300 miles away from Falmouth Town, providing me full transparency into the step by step progress. I would genuinely recommend Georgia if you are looking to buy your next car.

Appalling service and arrogant staff.
My car was booked on for service last week , the booking made two weeks prior over the phone, the booking was made by a female who i spoke to at length about having a window of time that day before picking my partner up from chemotherapy at the hospital, the day arrived and i pre registered the car on line the night before, my keys are placed in the box and i sit and wait, 30 mins later i looked to see if my car had moved from the parking space i had left it, it was still parked!! I went to ask what was going on as i had an hour and a half left before i had to be at the hospital, i was then advised my appointment was actually booked as an all day appointment and not an express one, i took my keys and left after wasting the morning, i called later to be told no one was available to help with the reason as to why this had happened, i get a call later that day from an extremely arrogant service manager “matt “ simply said it was booked as an all day booking and nothing more was able to happen , the fact i had booked and express appointment and waited in the showroom was really of no significance to him. I am discussed that this dealership is so un reliable, not in the slightest customer centric.

Went to test drive possible new cars today and was looked after by Georgia.
She was extremely helpful and knowledgeable regarding the models I was interested in. Not pushy at all, went through everything clearly and professionally as what I have been used to whilst dealing with Ocean Falmouth.

Appalling customer service. Logged wrong mileage on 2 MOTs in a row (km instead of miles) causing discrepancy. This renders the car unsellable. Service history also mistaken. Took us 2 weeks to get them to send a simple email to DVSA to rectify (still awaiting confirmation).
To my utter disappointment: they would not admit their fault nor offer an apology.

3/11/23: Discussed with Head of Business: apologised and resolved.