We just have to watch that we are not doing the electricity company thing.

e.g. You get home and the lights work, you don't call the electricty company.

You get home and the lights don't work you call the electricity company and give 'em hell.

Good service should also be recognised. Perhaps we should have a dealer feedback section, subject to legal considerations. The dealers tend to watch such forums as this anyway so it may give them some direct feedback or you somewhere to check a dealer out and see what their customer service is like.

 

I agree with that 100% and that is why I was so disappointed with my dealers response. I just went elsewhere. If the second dealer didn't fix it, my next step was writing the President of BMW.

In 1980 I bought a NEW Mustang ... it had paint flaking issues on the matte black on the hood. Local dealer couldn't do a thing ... waiting on parts from Mexico.

I wrote to the Prez in Dearborn, MI via certified mail. After waiting MONTHS ... amazing ... new grille the next week.

I think car dealers, in general, hate forums. Can't have all those customers comparing notes

 

I'd have to say that no matter where you go people think that the squeaky wheel gets the grease, but I used to work as a Customer Service Manager at a local computer retail chain (CompUSA). I would say I was happier to help the people that had their gripes but allowed me to try and fix it first before they got all "call the cops" mad. I've had many times where the customers think they are in the right, but it turns out they are trying to get something fixed they themselves caused the problem, i.e. spilling coffee or soda on their laptop keyboard.
The management team would always try to fix the problems for the people that were yelling, but we ended up trying to find the fastest way out so they would just leave, but they never got the service that most of the customers got.
My latest person problem with AT&T and them being my ISP. I pay for their 3-6 mbps rate but for some reason they keep charging me the 3-6 rate and only allowing the 1.5 mbps rate to my house. It's quite annoying having to call them up every month and tell them the same problem over and over again. I've called the regional manager twice and have yet to get a call back. The only thing I can say is when I get a tech on the phone, and tell them the problem they normally fix it within 5-10 mins, so at least I'm getting the service I pay for most of the time. My biggest gripe here is I have to keep paying attention to my rate every week so I know when to call them and complain.
So I've learned that everywhere you go being calm and letting the people try and fix a mistake first is the best bet. If they don't fix it the first time, keep calm and explain your situation to them and hopefully they'll realize your being patient with them and then they are more willing to go out of their way to fix the problem first and make you happy. I hope AT&T figures this out soon so at least I can say they are the best ISP in my area for DSL, but I'll wait on that comment.
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BTW, I would add for the OP ...

I read lots of car forums and the MINI is always well-respected. Except for the occasional "clown car" responses from the few ... Its respected about everywhere.

Thats why I need a definition for "superior". In its class, I agree!

 

Yeah, they do. Trust me, they would have charged us for a new M3 engine if we didn't know about other failures via the forums. The fact they treated the car like hell during the protracted repair is another thing, and BMW couldn't have cared less.

And yes, BMWs and MINIs get respect and good reviews for their driving characteristics, and materials/fit and finish, but ownership and inherent issues are another matter that only long term owners can weigh in on.

 

Another interesting facet to this discussion is that I work for an automotive supplier. We supply the automotive market (Honda, KIA, Jaguar, BMW, Ford, Daimler Chrysler...etc...etc) with electronic assemblies. The suprising thing to me is when we have a defect (a comparatively rare instance) we get the immortal crap beat out of us for closed-loop-corrective-action.

From an automotive consumer's perspective, I've never had a dealer offer me any kind of corrective action, nor have I ever requested corrective action from the dealer for any defect on my car whether or not it was a manufacturing defect or a dealer caused defect.

My point is: What if when we went to the dealership and say for instance, they scratched our car, we requested that they do a corrective action on the defect. In other words, we required them to investigate the defect and tell us what actions they are putting into effect that will keep this from happening again in the future. You know that they do this type action for Ford or Visteon or Delphi or GM or BMW or whatever other company they're associated with.

This is probably a stupid approach in that no dealer would probably do it, however it would resolve the problem. Maybe an interesting forum here would be for people to post their dealer-caused defects and the dealer posts a corrective action for those defects. I bet the defects would stop in a big hurry.

Just a thought...
POWER to the MINI's!

 

Another aspect (and this is just something that I think from time to time) is that most MINI owners adore their cars. Love them, can't imagine not having them. For whatever reason (Chows outlined a few). And so then we're willing to deal with the "little" issues (which those who own Hondas or Toyotas would think of as massive issues, but whatever...) - windshields, motor mounts, trannies, rust, electrical insanity, etc. And of course MINI dealers and MINI USA know this. It's easy to brush off someone who you know isn't going anywhere. It's practically a domestic abuse syndrome - they know we're not going to leave because we love our cars.

THAT part of it is not fixable. That's why, in the case of MINIs and service, you HAVE to be the squeaky wheel. In escalations at AT&T, whoever I called had exactly 2 hours to either come up with a solution, or flat-out fix it. If they couldn't, refused to respond, or I didn't like their solution after 2 hours time, on up the chain I went. You can be a thorn in their side without being difficult, obnoxious, etc...and that's what gets things done in my experience. I LIVE by the 2-hour rule now, even though my AT&T days are long gone. I can't tell you how many VPs, presidents, CEOs, etc, return my calls with complete exasperation that "their people" couldn't handle an issue that's usually so minor. You just have to get to the person with the integrity.

I don't think anyone is expecting the world to stop spinning for their service issue. I think we all just want it handled responsibly, correctly, the FIRST time so we don't have to go back again and so we don't even have to escalate issues in the first place. I don't know WHY the SAs are used as the gate-keepers when they're clearly not capable of being the problem-solvers, and they're our main interface with the company after delivery.

 

This is true but I think its because the marque is so new. I think you got to look at the big picture. Lots of people "love their cars" you read that all the time here. On the other side, are the threads where ppl had enuff ... and looking for the Lemon Laws (easy to find, just do a search)>

BTW, many ppl never leave the OL, thats all they post in so your not seeing the big picture by a snapshot on NAM.

But, I'm betting that those ppl who "cant imagine owning anything else" ... take a look at Mikey (Chile). Had an accident, sunk money into the car, now sold it to his "mother" bought a STi. BUT, months ago ... totally different story.

Car "loves" come and go ... when something new catches your eye

 

Hassel mini on long island has awesome sales guys but the service station for bmw/mini that is down the road from them sux ****.

I have never seen worse service at a dealership ever. 5x in a row bad service. that's not a one in many random bad experiences.