Bob Smith BMW

My experience at Bob Smith BMW of Calabasas was, in my opinion, a complete embarrassment for a so-called luxury dealership. I dealt primarily with a salesperson named James Merrick, and based on everything that happened, I feel like other buyers need to know exactly how this place operates. The day before my appointment, I spoke with James multiple times about a specific vehicle. I asked very clearly if it could be put on hold for me because I was planning my day around it and considering canceling another appointment at a different dealership for a similar car. Each time, I was reassured that the car would be kept for me. The morning of the appointment, I reconfirmed my visit and was again given no indication that there was any issue. I then canceled my trip to the other dealership and drove over an hour in traffic to Calabasas just to see this car. I arrived 15 minutes early for my scheduled appointment, checked in, and sat waiting in the lounge. After all that, James finally comes out, looks me in the eye, and tells me, “I have bad news, the car was sold last night.” This is the same car we had discussed the day before, the same car he had assured me would be held for me, and the same car I reconfirmed that morning before driving all that way. In my view, there is absolutely no excuse for not telling me before I spent over an hour on the road and gave up another opportunity. To make it worse, he claimed he “didn’t know” the car was sold until then, even though he had the entire morning before my appointment to check and let me know. From my perspective, it felt like he knowingly let me drive all that way, allowed me to sit there and wait, and only then dropped the news so he could pivot into trying to sell me something else. That’s exactly how it came across: a complete disregard for my time and effort so they could take a shot at upselling me on a different, more expensive car. And sure enough, after telling me the car I came for was gone, he immediately started pushing a different vehicle at a higher price. Then Matt Smith got involved, and in my experience, that only made things feel worse. Instead of real accountability or a genuine attempt to fix what happened, I got what felt like a hollow, robotic apology and a line about “we don’t hold cars.” Hearing that after I had confirmed multiple times with their own salesperson that the car would be held for me was incredibly frustrating. It came across as completely out of touch and, in my opinion, showed zero respect for the promises made by their own staff or for my time as a customer. Later, Wayne Lewis and Levon Yeranyan also came into the picture. Their involvement, from my point of view, only added to how bad this all felt. The interaction felt scripted, like a standard “sorry this happened” speech with no real substance behind it. In my opinion, Wayne’s approach felt especially insincere and mechanical, like a cookie-cutter sales apology with no real empathy for the fact that I had canceled other plans, driven a long distance, burned time and gas, and lost a real opportunity because I relied on what their team told me. In my opinion, this dealership showed a complete lack of respect for my time and for the commitments their own employees make. The way this was handled felt deceptive and deeply disappointing. If I were you, I would be extremely cautious about trusting any promises from Bob Smith BMW of Calabasas, and personally, based on my experience with James Merrick, Matt Smith, Wayne Lewis, and Levon Yeranyan, I would not choose to do business here.

My experience at Bob Smith BMW of Calabasas was, in my opinion, a complete embarrassment for a so-called luxury dealership. I dealt primarily with a salesperson named James Merrick, and based on everything that happened, I feel like other buyers need to know exactly how this place operates. The day before my appointment, I spoke with James multiple times about a specific vehicle. I asked very clearly if it could be put on hold for me because I was planning my day around it and considering canceling another appointment at a different dealership for a similar car. Each time, I was reassured that the car would be kept for me. The morning of the appointment, I reconfirmed my visit and was again given no indication that there was any issue. I then canceled my trip to the other dealership and drove over an hour in traffic to Calabasas just to see this car. I arrived 15 minutes early for my scheduled appointment, checked in, and sat waiting in the lounge. After all that, James finally comes out, looks me in the eye, and tells me, “I have bad news, the car was sold last night.” This is the same car we had discussed the day before, the same car he had assured me would be held for me, and the same car I reconfirmed that morning before driving all that way. In my view, there is absolutely no excuse for not telling me before I spent over an hour on the road and gave up another opportunity. To make it worse, he claimed he “didn’t know” the car was sold until then, even though he had the entire morning before my appointment to check and let me know. From my perspective, it felt like he knowingly let me drive all that way, allowed me to sit there and wait, and only then dropped the news so he could pivot into trying to sell me something else. That’s exactly how it came across: a complete disregard for my time and effort so they could take a shot at upselling me on a different, more expensive car. And sure enough, after telling me the car I came for was gone, he immediately started pushing a different vehicle at a higher price. Then Matt Smith got involved, and in my experience, that only made things feel worse. Instead of real accountability or a genuine attempt to fix what happened, I got what felt like a hollow, robotic apology and a line about “we don’t hold cars.” Hearing that after I had confirmed multiple times with their own salesperson that the car would be held for me was incredibly frustrating. It came across as completely out of touch and, in my opinion, showed zero respect for the promises made by their own staff or for my time as a customer. Later, Wayne Lewis and Levon Yeranyan also came into the picture. Their involvement, from my point of view, only added to how bad this all felt. The interaction felt scripted, like a standard “sorry this happened” speech with no real substance behind it. In my opinion, Wayne’s approach felt especially insincere and mechanical, like a cookie-cutter sales apology with no real empathy for the fact that I had canceled other plans, driven a long distance, burned time and gas, and lost a real opportunity because I relied on what their team told me. In my opinion, this dealership showed a complete lack of respect for my time and for the commitments their own employees make. The way this was handled felt deceptive and deeply disappointing. If I were you, I would be extremely cautious about trusting any promises from Bob Smith BMW of Calabasas, and personally, based on my experience with James Merrick, Matt Smith, Wayne Lewis, and Levon Yeranyan, I would not choose to do business here.

A month ago I left my car at the dealership with egr issue. The whole month I had an useless conversations with the dealership ( John Hizon) and bmw representatives. Despite the additional warranty they insisted me to pay additional fee to remove the manifold to check the issue. Definitely the worst service I had. No BMW anymore