Quote:
Originally Posted by ellisina4
I was planning to send this weeks ago, but just never got around to it.
I thought it is a good idea to bring up the importance of relationships, even in places where they seem to be not that important... like buying a car. A person may think that squeezing a good deal out of BMW sales associate is a big win and that is all that is important.I may have thought like this for a short moment after I switched brands... Audi guy for 15 years... having a great relationship with my Audi SA. At that moment I thought that I would try to get a good deal out of the BMW SA... after all, I do not know him. I was then politely reminded of what I already knew from many life experiences, something I forgot in a momentary lack of judgement, i.e. relationships in life are very important.
6-7 years after I purchased my first BMW, my mother and I found my father a retirement present... 2020 X3MC. This was a result of a few autocross events from a couple of years back, when I started taking my dad with me and my daughter to the local Chicago BMW autocross chapter. At that time, we used my M550 and kept switching drivers. My father loved it so much that I knew that eventually we needed to get him his own autocross ready vehicle.
So about 3 weeks ago, my father came by my house and as he was pulling on my driveway I right away saw a huge screw in his front tire.... I walked around the car and saw another one in the rear tire. Both tires could not be fixed as screws were in the last part of the thread, right by the sidewall. All this happened on Friday night, right before Sunday’s autocross event that my dad was going to take his new, just broken in, car. I called Knauz BMW parts... tires are on backorder... called other dealers... same story... checked with Tire Rack... backordered... all this was a clear sign that we would not be going anywhere on Sunday.
Saturday morning I called my SA, Matt. What followed is a true testament to what relationships are about... Matt spoke with Knauz’s used car manager whose wife purchased X4MC and swapped factory Conti’s for all season tires. The Conti’s were stored at the dealership... Matt got their OK to give me 2 of their tires... Yes, I would reimburse them once I was able to purchase new ones. At the same time, a BMW tech, Sami, whom Matt recommended a while ago and someone I have been working with for the last 4-5 years, happened to be at Knauz working on his car. Sami paused working on his ride and clocked in to replace the tires. All this happened in a 2 hour time frame.
Next day my dad and I went to the Sears Center Arena and had a blast autocrossing.
To me, during current hard times, everything that happened makes it even more important/special.
Matt Pudlo is a true BMW enthusiast, true friend and someone any BMW owner can rely on... and I am glad to have met him along my life path.
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SO very well said - well done.