Greetings BMW Motorrad,
I am a forty four year old life long motorcycle enthusiast and journalist. I have been riding BMW motorcycles since my first ride with my uncle in 1974 at five years old. I am currently on an around the world trip (a book in progress) with a friend, both riding on 2007 F650S'.
We started in Florida and are currently in Coca, Ecuador.
On our way south we dropped our bikes off at Bogota BMW to get our oil changed, new tires and new chains and sprockets.
We were greeted at the door by the Motorrad service manager Edgar Gomez. He offered us coffee and we had a chat about our mutual long rides on BMW's.
After the coffee and chat, when I asked him when I could pick up the bikes, he said tomorrow. Wow!
When we came to pick up our bikes the next day they were clean and shiny, (they were covered in mud and dirt when we dropped them off). We also noticed that long since broken items were now working again like new! We were absolutely stunned. Service like that is very hard to find these days. Edgar is our hero!
We loved our experience at Bogota BMW!

On our way south through Banos, Ecuador, my radiator (which I had replaced with a new one just six months before) was leaking profusely. I was also having an issue with a fuse blowing and disabling the gauges, brake light, and hand grips.
From Banos we had the bikes loaded into a truck and taken to Quito BMW for diagnosis and repairs.
After we unloaded the bikes, a “service representative”, came, said hi, then soon disappeared. After waiting for thirty minutes in the parking lot, finally, Gabriel Espinosa wrote up the issues I described. The next day we took a taxi back. “All is good, don't worry” he told us. We hopped on our bikes, hit the starter.....silence. Gabriel tried..... silence...nothing. On his fourth attempt it started and Gabriel said “ see! Its ok!”
I told him that starting on the fourth try was not ok! We could be stuck in the middle of the desert, miles from nowhere! This was not a joke! He said they would look into it. When I asked him about getting another radiator he said he didn't have one in stock. So I asked him if he could check BMW in Bogota, or Lima to see if they have one. He told me “impossible”. What!? BMW motorcycles are bought and sold because of their dependability and outstanding service, especially for “adventure riders”......right?
So I asked to speak to the service manger. Twenty minutes later Humberto Sandoval comes out and tells us a new radiator is “impossible. Then he suggests that we “fly to Lima BMW and see if they can help you”.
After three days they finally listened to me and found the short blowing the fuse.
Don't stop reading yet! It gets better!
For three days we are told that they will contact us the next day via email and phone. For three days......nothing...
Each day we take a taxi in the late afternoon to the dealership. Each day they say “don't worry”. Each day, another problem.
Finally a BMW Motorrad “mechanic”, I wish I remembered his name, takes my bike for a “two hour test ride” while we wait in the parking lot.
When he comes back he says “all is ok, ready to go”.
The next morning on departure, I look at my odometer, it being in sync with my partners.
My odometer reads exactly three miles more than when I dropped it off. Two hour test ride!!!!? Replacement parts “impossible”!?
We are not Ewan Mcgregor, we don't have support vehicles. BMW reps in Quito don't give a **** about their customers or their bikes!
We are now stuck, sitting here in Coca Ecuador with a bad radiator with water in the oil and major electrical problems that BMW Quito couldn't, or more to the point, wouldn't fix!
I would also like to mention that I am not your typical BMW rider. I look a lot more like a Harley rider and get many jokes about it. Riding BMW motorcycles has been my life.....but at the moment I am stuck in the jungle between Quito BMW ( which I will never take anything to again and will warn EVERYONE I know about), and Lima two thousand miles distant. BMW Ecuador needs to be looked at by the investors.
At this point my confidence in my bike, and BMW in general is lost.

Very disappointed,
Author, Motos South (in progress)