Vague moany question !

[gringogordo]

Hi,

I got myself a BMW x1000xr a few months ago. I know that my owning a BMW will strike awe and feelings of inadequacy in some of you ( ;-) ) but seeing as it was 2nd hand I thought I'd take it to the dealership for a service the other day. They charged me (to be fair they asked for permission first) £28 extra to tension the chain. I decided to let them so I could see just exactly how far they tensioned it but made a mental note never to go back. I'm a mechanical numpty but that would take me 5 - 10 mins once I got the right spanners out and I've never been charged for that before, kind of assumed it was part of a service tbh. Just wondered what the general feeling was, whether I got what I deserved for not having it spot on when I went to the service (I left it for a couple of weeks as I knew I was going for a service and assumed that would be part of it) or whether you general agree my moany whinging was righteous ?!

[Badger-Roy]

Hi,

I got myself a BMW x1000xr a few months ago. I know that my owning a BMW will strike awe and feelings of inadequacy in some of you ( ;-) ) but seeing as it was 2nd hand I thought I'd take it to the dealership for a service the other day. They charged me (to be fair they asked for permission first) £28 extra to tension the chain. I decided to let them so I could see just exactly how far they tensioned it but made a mental note never to go back. I'm a mechanical numpty but that would take me 5 - 10 mins once I got the right spanners out and I've never been charged for that before, kind of assumed it was part of a service tbh. Just wondered what the general feeling was, whether I got what I deserved for not having it spot on when I went to the service (I left it for a couple of weeks as I knew I was going for a service and assumed that would be part of it) or whether you general agree my moany whinging was righteous ?!

You was charged £28 to adjust the chain!!
i just hope for your sake they wore protection and used a lot of lube...... And I don't mean for the chain!

[Wes]

Does seem excessive, and I would have thought it would have been covered in the service, it would probably be worth checking what is next time.

[Trev_P]

mine is always done as part of the service and as far as i know always has been since i can remember, after all, the dealers have to justify the over inflated prices for servicing. unless of course its a BMW dealer lol
but £28 for adjusting the chain feck me, i think i would have told then to stuff it tbh. still, we live n learn, once bitten and all that :p

[Dazr]

They do charge for it, i bought a BMW S1000RR a few years back and when taking it for a service with the dealership they advise they charged if i wanted the chain adjusted on the service. I did complain saying i bought the bike from them and they did waive the charge. Have to agree though it should be done as part of the service, the other thing i used to do was take a can of Worth Dry chain lube as the stuff they put on was like splatter muck it got every where.

If they serviced it try saying surely it should be included....

[WR6133]

I'll go against the wind here and say I think charging was fair. To me a basic service is oil, plugs and filters (+ these days plugging it in and reading fault codes). Chain tension is basic maintainence anyone with a chain driven bike should be keeping on top of.

[Badger-Roy]

I'll go against the wind here and say I think charging was fair. To me a basic service is oil, plugs and filters (+ these days plugging it in and reading fault codes). Chain tension is basic maintainence anyone with a chain driven bike should be keeping on top of.
I don't think charging is the unfair bit, it's the charging £28 to adjust a chain. Thats a job that only takes a VERY amateur spanner monkey like me 10-15 minutes so shouldn't take a pro mechanic more than 5-6 minutes really, £28 is excessive.

[BugsyB]

You've described an engine service but there's more to a bike than the motor. If a bike service was asked for, a chain adjust is fundamental.

[WR6133]

If a bike service was asked for, a chain adjust is fundamental.

Riding around with a correctly adjusted chain is fundamental, it's not something to ignore until the annual service. It's a basic user task on the same level as making sure there is air in the tyres. The service clearly included checking it but why should they then not charge for adjusting it? It's a mechanic taking time and using resources (lube) to do something that the owners handbook probably clearly specifies as a user task.

[wiltshire builders]

Chain should be covered by the service but at least now you know BMW don't.
I always use Master-tec for my servicing: 07534537086

[gringogordo]

Yes interesting. It was only a little out and I'd done it a couple of weeks before which is partly why I let them do it as I was surprised it was that worthy of a mention. They tightened it a bit more than I did, I'm a little nervous as I overtightened the chain on an Africa Twin years ago and had a major engine/gearbox failure soon after (and also someone I trust told me on the xr it is better to leave a little slack). Mechanic said it was unrelated but I've always assumed he was saving me from self flagellation! Anyway back to the point I agree that a service, especially a dealer service, is a checklist of specific tasks and that if it's not on the list you probably have to pay extra but I just assume that basic tasks like that are included (frankly I'm quite lazy and often let the chain lubing go a couple of weeks before the service as well 'knowing' it's about to get a proper looking after. Not to do that is not an all round service to me but that's not to say they should do it for free and I guess someone who wouldn't think if leaving it to the mechanic would be annoyed to be paying for something they didn't want.

I suppose at the end of the day I assume when I take it to a good mechanic they are looking everything over and doing whats's needed and when it's so specific to the checkboxes I lose confidence that that is happening (but even that is probably unfair as they gave me pretty precise measurements of disks and pads etc). Also I kind of hope to see a good reason for the dealership prices when I do go to a dealership and this shouts lack of customer care to me (not throwing in a 5 minute job). Anyway I wouldn't not take it to them ever again but I wouldn't bother using them for a standard annual again (and to be clear WR1633 I don't leave it until the annual service, but I'm commuting at the moment so probably need to check every couple of weeks and let it slide for a couple of weeks as I had the service coming up. Accept the point though, which is partly why I asked the question to see what other people thought)

[Gerry]

I'm with the majority here Ben, ten minutes at tops... so £168 per hour! That's harsh, even for BMW.

You should have taken it to SIMPSONS OF WESTBURY, they only charge £25.00 (obviously plus waste, environmental charge and VAT) ;-)