Knauz BMW in Lake Bluff, IL is the Number One rated Dealer for customer satisfaction in the US.

The customer service center has a culture and bias for the highest level of customer service.

They refuse to add dealer mark ups above the factory list price.

Time and again, I have had a good experience with David Rolain my Customer Service Advisor, and "Skip", Master Service Technician who installs all mods and service on my car.

Kevin Hale who handles all of the performance and custom modification stuff can't be beat for service.



:clap: :clap: :clap:

I hear that Chicago has a few good dealers. I hear off and on things about Patrick BMW in Schaumburg, but I know they have a Tech who is really in tune with the racing and performance customer. His name is Al Valenzo. He's the cheif wrench for Larry Wright's BMW Club Racing rocket. If you need a guy at Patrick, Al is your man

Brian

David Benck rules! He kicks!

I bought my first BMW from them and I cannot say enough about them. It should also be noted that they sit in the middle of quite possibly the richest freakin 20 mile circle on the planet. They could charge the world for those cars and don't.

I dropped my car there one time to get some work done and the salesman gave me the keys to his demonstrator, easily a $15K more expensive car than mine and told me to keep it for a week to see how I liked the sport mode in the automatic. I put 700 miles on the car and he didn't blink, told me I could borrow a car anytime.

If they weren't 2300 miles away, I'd own 2 or 3 more cars.

It is common knowledge that every year when I go home for Christmas vacation, I drive 50 miles to pay them a visit on my first day back in the area.

Without a doubt one of the finest dealerships for any make anywhere in the US.

Originally posted by BAADDOG
Knauz BMW in Lake Bluff, IL is the Number One rated Dealer for customer satisfaction in the US.

The customer service center has a culture and bias for the highest level of customer service.

They refuse to add dealer mark ups above the factory list price.

Time and again, I have had a good experience with David Rolain my Customer Service Advisor, and "Skip", Master Service Technician who installs all mods and service on my car.

Kevin Hale who handles all of the performance and custom modification stuff can't be beat for service.



I agree 10000000000000000000000000000000%
KNAUZ BMW

Advisor David Rolaine

Parts Kevin Hale

Tech Skip

Second choice is Patrick BMW.......
They will also both be MINI dealers...

Knauz is also a Panoz Dealer
And the only Merc dealer I know full of AMG cars

:redspot :buttrock :clap: :D :stickoutt

Originally posted by BMLRacer
I hear that Chicago has a few good dealers. I hear off and on things about Patrick BMW in Schaumburg, but I know they have a Tech who is really in tune with the racing and performance customer. His name is Al Valenzo. He's the cheif wrench for Larry Wright's BMW Club Racing rocket. If you need a guy at Patrick, Al is your man

Brian

Patrick is top's in the Service Dept.

I watched Al Valenzo shoehorn in a Dinan intercooler prototype into Scott Galaba's One Lap of America's M Roadster.

Previously installed was a Dinan SC and a Dinan over sized all alluminum radiator.

Al also had to do some custom fabrication. Very few BMW Dealer service dept's will do custom fabrication.

We were anxious that Al was not going to be able to fit all the running parts back into the car. The next day it was done and running faster then ever.

Al Valenzo and Curt in Parts are good service people to know.

:clap: :clap: :clap:

Edited by Jim Powell:

Substituted text for original message:
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UD///M3 is not happy with a transaction with Kevin Hale who was vouched for by Ben Liaw.

UD///M3's original text continues:
=========================
If you'd like to know why, click on the link:http://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=15641&highlight=kevin+hale

I've had my servicing done at Knauz the last couple of times. Can't say I remember my sa or tech's name. :dunno Maybe I'll get chummy with them next time when I get some aftermarket stuff put in. :)

DMD,
I'm sorry that you had an issue with Kevin. I do not know him, so I won't get in the middle of this. But, please refrain from lobbing personal attacks in this forum. I appreciate that things didn't go your way on a deal, but you will not make threats in this forum.

Please go back and reword your post. I'm sure that there is another, more benificial to all of us, way to say what you need to say.

Brian

Originally posted by DMD///M3
If you'd like to know why, click on the link:http://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=15641&highlight=kevin+hale

DMD///M3 wrote:

"He told me that I should have contacted him about the missing parts, and he would have looked for them. However, in my mind, he was the last person I thought about calling when my car was on the rack in pieces. He should have sent the complete kit to me in the first place. A few missing nuts and bolts, I could have lived with. But major $hit, I couldn't just pick up at Pep Boys, I decided to just order directly from Dinan.
He basically told me he was unwilling to reimburse me for anything.
The legal route seems to be a uphill battle. However, I still believe in karma. What comes around goes around."


The begging question is why in the world did you not want to call Kevin first thing and inquire as to the where abouts of the missing parts??

According to what you said "Kevin did offer to look for the parts and send them to you when you did get around to finally calling him."

However, you said it was after you purchased new parts from Dinan.

Otherwise, I think you did it to yourself and and have no one to blame, but yourself.

Originally posted by BAADDOG


The begging question is why in the world did you not want to call Kevin first thing and inquire as to the where abouts of the missing parts??

According to what you said "Kevin did offer to look for the parts and send them to you when you did get around to finally calling him."

However, you said it was after you purchased new parts from Dinan.

Otherwise, I think you did it to yourself and and have no one to blame, but yourself.

To answer your begging question, I had lost his number.

If I had known he worked in the parts dept at Knauz, you better believe I would have called him there.

If you had just paid $3000 to someone, (especially someone who sells parts) don't you think he should have checked and double checked a parts list to see if every major part was accounted for?

When all was said and done, I called Ben Liaw. He gave me Kevin's work number. I called Kevin, and I was nothing but polite to him. I was looking for a show of good faith. I wasn't looking to recoup all my losses, just something... anything. You know what I got from him? Attitude. Bad attitude. The gist of what he said to me was How did you get this number? You should have called me. You're not getting a dime from me, have a nice day.

It's not about the money now. Maybe I should be mad at myself, but don't you think I have a somewhat legitimate gripe with Kevin?

BMLracer I'm sorry if I offended NE1 with my personal attacks, I'm just venting.

DMD,

I talked to Ben at length about this yesterday because I wanted to make sure that I didn't take sides. It really sounds like there was a case of miscommunication.

Unfortunatly, when purchasing something used (sometimes when you get something new even) a part can easily get left out or slips your mind when you're packaging the bits. Especially on a kit that has as many misc. bits as a SC. It's happened to all of us. I have been on both ends of the phone call. But what is really hard to do is ask for money back. Especially the number that I was told that you asked for. I believe that it very well may have cost you this amount of money, but it's a buyer beware situation. I know that there are plenty of people on the boards that have Dinan blowers and would have been more than happy to give you a parts list before you began installation. I ALWAYS double and triple check the parts that came in the box and recheck when I take the stuff to someone to install (if I'm not doing it myself).

I really believe that neither Ben nor Kevin were out to get you. For Ben, it's bad for business. Chalk it up as a mistake. I don't know Kevin, but I don't think that any guy who makes his living selling parts would ever try to rip you off. He may have been surprised to get a call at work about it because his dealership may have a strict rule about selling personal parts on company time (it implies that the transaction is backed by said company). And, now that emotions have setteled down, you might wat to go back and talk to Kevin and say, "hey, we had a problem in the past, can we work something out like gentlemen". Maybe if you take the high road he'll throw you a bone in the future. Same goes for Ben.

When you buy used parts, even if it's a $15k 3.2L euro engine, they are sold buyer beware. I have had plenty of "complete" engines show up with out alternators, or Power steering pumps, and even without computers. A simple phone call to the PERSON I WROTE THE CHECK TO usually solves the problem. If I can't reach that person, I'll try the middle man. If all esle fails, come to a place like this and ask if someone knows how to reach the person I am having a hard time finding. It sounds like plenty of people here know the people you needed to find. I never, ever let things go for more than a week. Much more than a week, two at the most, and the seller has usually moved on to the next project.

From the sounds of things, you got a smoking deal on a near new Blower kit. It sucks that you had to buy a part that the seller had accedentially forgotten to pack. But, remember, to err is human and I'm sure that you have made a mistake in the past. And if he were really trying to sleaze you, he would have left out more than a pulley.

Good luck and really think about trying to make ammends with these guys. I know that Ben has a wealth of knowledge to share with the BMW community and it sure sounds like Kevin is a reasonable and knowledgeable guy. And, if you do run into a problem, use this place as a resource to find a solution. Not as a place to gripe well after the deal has gone sour.

Thanks for taking the time to read this. And, if all else fails, let one of us Vendor Mods know if we can help you. We all have deep ties to the BMW industry and will be more than happy to help you before tempers get escalated.

Brian

Brian,
Thank you for trying to shed light on the situation. It is hard to put myself in their shoes right now, because I still have a somewhat bitter taste in my mouth. However, I've read your comments and I do believe that Kevin and Ben did not act in bad faith. I'm trying to find closure here, and it's hard to put blame on myself as BAADDOG puts it just because of human nature... it's easier to blame someone else.

Nonetheless, I've decided to turn the other cheek, and chalk this up to miscommunication, and my inexperience. This was definitely one of those lessons I wish I didn't have to learn the hard way.

My apologies to Ben and Kevin if you are reading this.

Sincerely,
James
:)

DMD,

I think you're making the right move. I know it's hard to write a 3G check, another check for install, and then yet another check for missing parts. It is a complete and total pain in the rear. When ever there is a human involved, at some point, you'll have a mistake of two. But, look at how much fun you're having with the blower now. Try to look at the bright side, you have a near new blower for near 1/3 of the price. Even I'd sign up for that deal.

I still think it would be taking the high road to drop a note to Ben and Kevin and tell them that you want to consider this in the past and you'd like to move forward on a positive note. I think you'll be surprised, in a good way, at their reactions.

In the future, do not hesitate to use this forum to get information before things get out of hand. All of us moderators in this forums have pretty deep industry contacts and we're all willing to help other enthusiasts. And remember, always double check the parts list the day the package shows up, regardless of if you're buying it from Joe down the street or Bob's House o' Bimmer Bits.

Brian

yeah Knauz is great! That is where I purchased my 1995 318is last March with only 37K miles and a only one owner. They did all of the previous service on it and will continue to do so.

Patrick is also great. I know of a few racers that take their cars to Patrick's service department and my friend and his 1995 Ti wouldn't go anywhere else.

It's nice to see others in the Chicago area.

Originally posted by quick318is
It's nice to see others in the Chicago area.

Yeah, well, Chicago's a big city! :)

Actually I think there are more Chicago members over on DTM Power (http://www.dtmpower.net) than here, but a lot of them cross back and forth.