Mark O’Shaughnessy

Long Review – But you NEED to read this . . .

I am a long time BMW owner over the past 16 years. I typically maintain my cars well, and drive them up to +/- 250K miles as I travel a lot for work. Early in 2015, I had a critical engine failure on my 645ci. I figured the best place to bring my car was to the Vista BMW Dealership in Pompano Bch. My thought being that it would be the most appropriate location to diagnose the cause in order to provide accurate details to my warranty service. Who best to diagnose and act as my advocate than the BMW dealership? I could not have been more mistaken.

What ensued was six months of the WORST communication, tail-chasing, and aggravation I have ever experienced in my life. The level of service and attention I received from my service representative at Vista was disgraceful. I have 26 pages of email correspondence, where days and weeks would go with no response, phone calls not being returned and no progress being made. In addition, I paid a visit to VISTA BMW in person to find my partially disassembled car parked outside in the elements, and all the removed parts piled in a heap on the floor amidst leaves and cigarette butts.

After reaching the point of no return with frustration, I finally found Foreign Affairs Motorsports. Wow, what a difference. This is a family run operation with years of experience and the BEST customer service. Their shop is immaculate. It’s not uncommon to see an array of Mercedes, BMW, Porsche, Lamborghini and other exotics on premises. Under the watchful eye of Bob Varela (father) the entire team took such wonderful care of me. And I am in the service industry, working with high profile clients in the Wyndham Hotel Group and have worked with Hilton and Four Seasons, so I know a thing or two about what good customer service looks like. Foreign Affairs Motorsports conducts themselves in a manner consistent with these leading hotel brands. Bobby Varela (son) was in constant communication with me and I never felt rushed. I had their full attention and care. Nick (Mechanic) was the sole person working on my vehicle throughout the entire engine rebuild and his workmanship was meticulous. Jared Varela (son) was actually the first person with whom I had contact here, and he spent over 30 minutes on the phone with me helping to understand my issue and offering advice . . . and that was even before I had decided to bring my car to their facility.

Their labor rates are less than you will pay at the dealership and they are fanatical about caring for the cars and customers under their care. I have the opportunity in my profession to stand in front of hundreds of hotel franchisees throughout the year and one of the topics is often customer care. In my seminars, I now use Vista BMW as the most egregious, tragic and apathetic example of appalling customer care and I use the team at Foreign Affairs Motorsports as the gold standard of outstanding customer service. If you are looking for a facility to call ‘home’ for all your BMW repairs, FAM IS THE PLACE. Don’t question yourself. Don’t bother looking elsewhere. And DO NOT, unless you want to be subject to the misery I went through, even consider going to VISTA BMW. You have been cautioned. Look at the other reviews on here for FAM, they are AWESOME. Look at the reviews on Google for Vista BMW, they have TWO reviews. Yes, the nations largest BMW Dealership has only two reviews on Google. Nothing to hide at FAM. Their reputation speaks for itself. And I am confident your experience here will be the same. These guys have been in business for years, have fanatically loyal clients, and they operate their own race team. I only wish I had discovered FAM years ago. Moving forward I will never entrust my vehicle to anyone else. Give them a call, take your car to their facility, you will be back here again soon to post your own positive review. FAM, I love you guys, keep up the great work, and THANK YOU for everything. – Mark