Hi there,

First off, I am a new mini countryman owner and couldn't be more excited for this car!

This was my first experience at a higher grade dealership but I do know that the survey they give after sale is directly related to the salesman's bonus. That being said, this was my experience and I want to know if it sounds like BS or if I'm just being naive:

At signing, we made a split second decision to add simonizing and the wheel and tire protection warranty to our contract. The car was not in the dealership at that point. After thinking on it, doing our own research and speaking to other owners we decided to cancel both. (I know we should have done this kind of research ahead of time or not signed but live and learn right?)

Called the salesperson on Monday, asking to please cancel both. Was told the business manager would get back to me. No one got back to us on Monday.

On Tuesday morning I sent a follow up email stating we called Monday and we would like to cancel these items. A different business manager called back said she'd look into it but had no idea where our car was. OK sounds like of reasonable but why call back w/o that info. Anyway.

Also speak with salesperson on Tuesday and agree to come in Wednesday to pick up the car. Salesperson says we can pick up car and cancel those items with Mini customer service and not have to redo paperwork. So I call Mini who says no, this is not how it's done and paperwork has to go through dealer. Call salesperson who says OK, come in Wednesday for paperwork also. Shouldn't he know this before telling me wrong advice?

Wednesday night go in for paperwork. Car has already been simonized and it was done on Monday according to salesperson. Salesperson says there is no work order showing it was done on Monday. Chalked it up to 'live and learn' and to not order things w/o making a well informed decision. Not a huge deal, cost $795. However, even though car is in, paperwork is signed we can't take the car b/c they didn't register it yet. ??? thought we were picking it up.

Can't pick it up Thursday b/c salesperson has the day off and finally Friday, I pick up the car. Get the song and dance from salesperson that he's very sorry for any 'bad feelings' and gives us a bottle of champagne (very nice but I am pregnant and due in a few weeks). He also says in response to why we the car couldn't be registered on Wednesday is that his business manager was out of the office. Not sure how this is related- you're telling me no cars can be registered when the business manager is out? This is also a combo BMW/ Mini dealership- a BMW manager actually took car of our paperwork and he was in on Wednesday.

At the end of our conversation he goes over the survey I'm going to receive and that any score less than a 10 is a fail. So he wants to reconfirm I'm happy and that I should say all 10's and all yeses. This is rather annoying b/c I can handle my own answers thanks very much but I do also know that it's tied to his bonus so it's important to him.

Get home and look over the paperwork they gave us for the financing- there is a simonizing receipt which states the day applied was TUESDAY, not Monday as salesperson said.

So what do you think? As I write this I am getting annoyed and feel like it is BS but I'm not well versed in car buying and want to be sure before I cost this guy his bonus.

Thanks for reading!!

 

IMO you should of never taken delivery and never signed anything. Then once you would of walked out of the deal I would of been willing to bet they removed the $795.00 charge or at least attempted to discount it for you. I would definitely not give this dealership a 10 and I hope you did not. Also I would be very concerned taking your MINI back to the dealer for service as you can see how things will get done. Just my opinion.

 

He cost you $795.00. So now it is payback time. Don't do it and do not let guilt get the better part of you.

 

Also Welcome aboard. You have found the MINIac family and we are here to help you learn all about your MINI. How about posting some pics of your new baby and good luck with your other new baby?

 

It's all BS in my opinion. I had similar experiences with other non-MINI dealers and I hate the pressure tactics used to make you buy extras while signing paperwork.

My most recent experience this week was in stark contrast - no extra sales attempts, paperwork all done when I walked in the door ready to sign and I even asked for a freebie at the last minute for my wife (Black Jack duffle bag costing $150) and they just threw it in no problem. MINI of Burlington will be getting all 10s.

Honestly I would contact the dealer manager, tell them your issues and see if they will refund the $800. If not, no 10s for them.

 

 

This. If that fails, I would contact MINI USA directly and complain, loudly.

That said, congratulations on your new MINI! Don't let a crappy dealer ruin your enjoyment of your new car.

 

IT'S ALL BS!!!

Btw, your salesperson ruined the integrity of the survey just by mentioning it, let alone telling you the answers to respond with.

You were bamboozled plain and simple. If you don't complain, it will happen again to the next person.

Go on Yelp and tell your story. Dealers read it religiously.

 

Oh, mine took it VERY personal that I did not take the extended warranty. Literally, he cost me a couple of days of getting the car even after I told him countless times NO NO NO NO NO NO NO! It was a total rip-off. Other than that, my experience went very well. This was a non-Mini dealership but they do own one.

So, I too think you have been 'screwed'.......def find a way to get out of it.

 

You tell him Judy

 

But things will get a lot worse if you do not post pics soon!!!!! You could be Braminarantined!!!!!

Congrats!!!
\m/

 

 

Oh, I did !!! And a lot was in email so had it not cleared up, I certainly had the emails telling him NO NO NO NO NO!!

 

Lmao

 

Welcome to NAM and the MINI family.

Not only would I trash the salesman on the survey and call MINI USA, I'd have my lawyer send a letter to the dealership demanding my money back.

 

Wow you guys rock! Know what I have to do now... Thanks for taking the time.


Pics of both babies to come shortly!

 

WHAT?!?!?! Two?? Twins?? You are going to throw off the Bram-o-meter!!!

You are welcome.....For me, I want so much to give everyone a chance & think that there are still good people out there- and there are. I don't know if 'trashing' is necessarily the best way to go but you def need to deal with this issue. There is no way that you can lose in this situation unless you allow it. Anymore, car prices are fairly set with the help of the internet so making loads of money from the sell of a car is pretty much over. So, to find a new way to 'knock you head off' is with these extended warranties, ins, etc. Good luck!!!!

 

Haha! I meant pics of my mini baby and my human baby

 

to OP.
Its all BS I would skip all managers at the dealer and get to the General Manager if not the owner of the dealer. It's the finance mamager and business manager and sales managers job to make sure you do take this crap. But the owner or GM will care about the dealers reputation.

I do not think Mini usa will do much . This is all between you and the dealer. I might suggest contacting the better business beareau and be sure the dealer knows that is what you are thinking. It seems you did all you can do to cancel and did so in good faith. They bullied you into it. Toss things at them like it isnt just this purchase that gets smeered here but you wouldnt even consider another mini nor recommending to friends etc etc.

To add insult to injury, my understanding of these products is that they are simply wax. At least years ago it was. What you are actually paying for and what represents a potential cost to the dealer is the warranty that comes with. So fine, tell them keep the warranty. Again in the old days it would not have mattered that the product was applied. It is cheap. And sometimes wasn not even applied. It is simply a warranty. A warranty that you will likely never need nor cash in on. At least that was the old days.
The furniture business works this way too as we paid for a product to be applied and the warranty that comes with. Know ho I know it was never applied... They delivered it in factory wrapping and unwrapped it in front of me. When i questioned the delivery guy he seemed to not understand anything about a product that was supposed to be applied. We have the warranty. What ever. Rant over.
I would insist they give you some real value back for it if not cancel and refund or take off the contract.

 

 

Huge pet peeve of mine when they give you the survey and coach you to give them all 10's. That is total BS. If they want to know whether you are satisfied or not, they should ask yes or no questions. Giving a 10 out of 10 is like saying it's the best service you ever got in your life. Don't do it!

Look at all the local Mini dealership pages. They all have scores around 4.8 out of 5. My experience was they were an average car dealership. Not great, not bad. So they should get average scores. Just got my car two days ago. No one has asked me to fill out a survey, at least yet.

 

You will get a survey as an email.

 

This sounds completely reasonable to me. Good luck OP.

 

A neighbor of mine bought a new car - something nice and more $$ than a MINI yet similarly unique - and bought a special paint treatment. He actually took delivery and was to take the car back in a few days for the application which was costing many hundreds of dollars. I encourage him to call and ask what exactly they were going to do. He did and came back and told me "they are going to clay the car ...... what ever that means."

I showed him a Mother's clay bar kit in my garage and explained he was going to pay many hundreds of dollars for a $25 dollar box of clay and detail spray (actual value and $2) and a few hours of labor. I encouraged him to get his money back and we could do the same thing over a six pack the coming weekend . . .

But of course MING is still out there too ....
http://www.mingshineasia.com/english/products.html
anyone else remember the MING paint process? Very popular in the 70's and 80's; right up there with Ziebart undercoating.

Ignore the survey is my best advice. No one is worth all perfect scores and as a former TQM instructor it galls me that the basic idea behind the survey or comment card as envisioned in pure TQM was lost along the way. A WISE company WANTS to hear about what the customer did not like. The survey SHOULD ask:

We KNOW we can do better. Please tell us which area needs the most improvement in your opinion:

Collect a month of those ... add up the numbers and go to work.

For example after my last visit I might have said: "why do you charge $120 to change a cabin filter that costs $10 at the parts store (not the dealer) and takes 2 minutes to replace?"

 

They gave me the sell on some sort of interior and exterior protective material options -- can't remember the brand name. The range of cost was something like $600 to $1,100. Didn't seem like it could possibly be worth the price.