I've never found BMW dealerships to be great on service, but really have to say avoid Pacific BMW in Glendale, CA. I would recommend both Assael (Monrovia) and New Century (Alhambra) over Pacific.

Last Friday night, I had a flat tire about 2 miles from Pacific BMW. This is my 5th flat tire since I've had the car - M mobility, aka fix-a-flat, is 0 for 5. I called AAA for a tow (63K miles on the car now, so no BMW roadside). I figured I'd have it towed to Pacific, since it was close and I knew they had Saturday hours and should be more likely to have a tire than the average tire store (I didn't know any around there anyway). Mistake.

The tow truck arrived quickly and it was even a flatbed! Problem #1 - the driver informs me Pacific has no after hours drop off (most have a place to put the car and drop keys in a box). I had to pay $35 to have the tow company "store" my car over night and deliver it when Pacific opens the next morning.

I called Pacific BMW the next morning (8:30AM Sat) to make sure the car was delivered and that they had my info. It took 4 calls to get a service advisor (1-infinite loop on "press 4 for service"; 2-dropped by receptionist; 3-dropped again by receptionist). On the 4th try, I talked to Galo. He confirmed the car was there and that my telelphone number in their system hadn't changed. Said he'd call me back when they had a look.

No call by noon, so I called back; got Galo's voice mail. He called back within an hour and said they hadn't looked at the car yet, but that he'd call me back within half an hour. Finally at 3PM I got a call - I just needed a new tire, but they couldn't do it today; it'll be ready by 1PM on Monday. Quoted price $380 for a Continental installed. Ouch, but I expected that from a dealer.

At this point, I'm annoyed that it's take almost 7 hours to tell me they can't help me. Tell me that at noon and I might have a chance of calling around and finding a tire elsewhere and getting my car back in service, but fine, it's a tough car to get tires for and it was the weekend.

Fast forward to Monday. I swing a ride in to work. I'm expecting to get the normal "your car is ready" call. Nope. 1:53 - I call him. "Galo's at lunch". Leave a voice mail. No return. 3:49, I call again - voice mail. Finally at 4:12PM he calls TO TELL ME THE CAR WON'T BE READY TODAY. WHAT? "uh, the tire is coming in from out of town and didn't make it. Sorry.". At this point, I've moved from annoyed to MAD. Again, he's waited so late to tell me, that I have no options and have to scramble for a ride home. No "hey, for you hassle, we're cutting a deal on the tire" or "we'd be glad to pick up a day's rental car for you". Nada. This is a shop where I had spent almost $2,000 on repairs just a month or so before (a separate story that should have clued me in).

I sent an email to Terry Wallace, "Customer Relations Mgr / Service Mgr" at 4:49PM on Monday laying out my displeasure with their service, indicating that I hoped she could do something about it. By 9:30AM on Tuesday, I had heard nothing, so I forwarded the email I sent to Terry on to Lowell Ward, Service Director. About an hour later, Lowell did respond, but the response was hardly satisfying:

"I just spoke to Galo regarding this, and he said your tire just arrived.

I also mentioned your e-mail to Terry Wallace, and she was in the
process of addressing it also. She will be contacting you regarding
this instance."

It's now 3PM. I've still heard nothing from Terry. I did finally get a call from Galo saying my car is ready. Guess they think that 3+ days is reasonable for replacing a tire.

Other items that might dissuade you from using Pacific BMW:
1) $120/hr posted shop rate (on top of using "book" hours, rather than actual hours)
2) most of what you put in the online reservation gets ignored. My first visit was scheduled on line and I had to repeat all of the info on what was wrong with the car. I asked for the confirmation to be made via email; they called instead
3) They no longer have on-site rental cars, despite an indication on the web site that they do and the fact that they have a check box for needing a rental car on the reservation form
4) Small, dirty and uninviting waiting room (certainly not what I expect at the rates they charge)
5) tiny lot makes for a nightmare when you try to get in and out of the lot
6) The service department is not co-located dealership sales and is in a decidely industrial area