so far today, I've called the SA and left a message, called back three times and gotten busies or voicemail. I've emailed him and Brian Latimer and gotten no response since yesterday. I've called in to the receptionist and asked for him directly twice, I've asked for Brian twice, and asked for Tony Morehead three times now. Been passed around about four times and currently still on hold......

round and round we go. this is the normal experience I have with trying to contact anybody there. At this point, I just want the car back.

 

The funny thing is that it's so simple. Just call me before I call you. I should never be left wondering if my car is done.

1. Take appointments and stick to them.

1a. If you take an appointment and you know BEFORE I SHOW UP that you won't be able to even TOUCH MY CAR that day, call and change the appointment. That way I can at least have my car instead of parking it on your lot.

2. If you can't meet the deadline, call and notify me.
2a. As soon as you think it will be late, AND
2b. Before I call you to get an update.

3. Admit up front if it's not going as planned. ie parts will be late, or they can't track down the problem.


I'm a pretty damned reasonable person, if you tell me the truth, yes, maybe I won't come back, but at least I won't be so pissed that I get on an internet site and say bad things about you

 

what's most concerning to me is the premise that I've heard twice now - MoS doesn't believe my roof scratch nor the dash blemish were present at delivery (specifically Tony Morehead). So, after dragging their feet and making my jump through hoops to get this far, now they question my integrity as well. Since the MA saw it in person before I left the lot and said "we'll take care of it when you bring it in for the center console install", you'd think my integrity wouldn't come into play. Guess money > integrity for Tony (he was standing right next to the MA looking at the scratch when my wife and I took delivery).

One things for sure - Tony Morehead nor his father will get a dime more of our hard-earned money. We're in the market to replace the Subaru wagon with an SUV and we'll make a point of not shopping either of their establishments. Sad, since we've bought two cars there already.

 

It's a very sad tale to hear. My advice - don't even talk to Tony any more, talk to Mike Arata. I can tell you from my own experiences, he is in the customer service mentality. My only concern about it now is that his hands may be tied by all of the other people involved.

 

Although our purchase experience was great at MoS I'm growing more and more irritated with their service department. We took delivery of our 06 MCSa late October minus our auxiliary gauges. They were supposed to be installed the day of delivery but according to our MA they were missing "parts" needed to complete the job. Not wanting to wait we decided to take delivery and come back on November 10.

I arrived November 10 to find I did not have an appointment, although my MA had arranged one the night of delivery. By the end of the day I called service only to find out they hadn't done anything to the car - in fact they never had the gauges. We were promised by our SA that we would get a call the week of November 12 and arrangements would be made for MoS to pick up our car at my wife's office and a loaner dropped off for her use.

Surprise - one week later no call. We ran into our MA when we were at MoS to pick up our tags and told him of our experience. He promised to get on it and things would be resolved the week of November 19.

Another surprise - a week passes and no call. I send an email to one of the ***'t service managers, and copied my MA inquiring about the gauges and installation.

No response - from anyone! Send another email early this week to the ***'t service manager, my MA and the MoS general manager and still no response. Finally leave a telephone message with my MA yesterday and get a response indicating this will be resolved next week. Thank goodness we have documentation that they still owe us the gauges.

Unbelievable way to run a dealership - I may be driving to Towson for service once, and if, I get these gauges installed. Stay tuned...
:impatient

 

wow......eerily the same as mine.

my car came back last month with no work done, again. (three times in for the work and almost 20 days at MoS and STILL nothing is done). No call since....been two weeks since I had it out in the lobby with the MA and the SM. Got a phone call survey about the experience. Bah! Lowest marks across the board.

I felt I had been blacklisted....I mean, it couldn't really be this bad right? Apparently it is.

 

with the gal that books the appointments. I was going in for an ECU update....

Her: we have these slots available for appointments. Which do you want?

Me: as early as possible. I'll wait for the work, it's a small job.

Her: Oh, the appointment time isn't when they start work.

Me: So what's the appointment for?

Her Silence........ Then.... Well, that's how we book our service. I really don't know how long, what was that you were having done, will take.....

Me: Why don't you just say the appointments are pointless. I'll do an early morning or previous night drop off. It will be easier for everyone.

Her: So we have you for 10:30 am on blah blah blah....

Seems like a lot of the systems Mini uses for routing work are from books that were thrown out of business school. But what can you do? Find a good Mini shop and only give the dealer the car for free service or warranty work.

Matt

 

This post has a happy ending. MoS contacted us in mid-December. However due to work obligations we weren't able to schedule a time for installation until last week. Our MA got us hooked up with a great SA who knew his stuff, delivered what he promised and gave us terrific service.

 

congrats!

my situation is still unresolved...no action on MoS's part really. supposedly all the parts came in and I was scheduled to drop my car just before the holidays - nobody told me until I got an emailed reminder. I asked the person to confirm all the parts were accounted for and got no reply from the SA she included on the email.

 

It's a long drive, but I continue to go to Richmond from the DC area to get work done. They do it right with no fuss or muss.

 

I love MoS...I'm sure that they aren't perfect and with that being the only MINI dealership in the area I'm not surprised when there is a delay in the time it takes to complete the work needed. Anyways I just wanted to share that everytime I go to MoS I have a wonderful experience. My MA was fantastic my MINI was my first new car purchase and he was so patient with me while flip flopped about options and what not. Anytime I need something I just give him a call and he takes care of it. One time I need a loaner and they ran out of MINI's and gave me some crap neon from enterprise next time I went there I was just joking around and said you better not give me a another neon and they gave me a BMW. Whether its a scheduled appointment or just dropping by to get my fluids topped off they are always just super nice and get the job done right the 1st time.

 

cool. perhaps you can talk to your MA and ask him to call me and see if they can get mine back in for resolution of delivery issues - going on six months now and no luck!

 

update - nothing resolved, still. Multiple calls, emails, and drive-by's. I did finally get a call from Tony last week. Stopped by, talked about it, he agrees they can do better.

Apparently, the parts needed were in, but nobody told me, and they were returned to the warehouse. comedy of errors! parts are back in stock now, except one piece that's (again) on national backorder (an OEM piece that was not returned to me when the armrest was intsalled).

In lieu of repainting my roof, I asked for price consideration on a JCW brake kit (hopefully a win/win right?). Tony thought that was a good idea too. A week passed, no calls back or replies to emails. Finally caught him on the phone today - he forgot about it. He called me back tonight with a price - $1600/installed!!! He said they normally charge $2200, so they are giving me 'their cost on it'. Ummm, NO! Checking their own website, the price for parts alone is some $200 less than he quoted me for that piece (MSRP at $1065).

I'm left just shaking my head. I mean.....patience, rudeness, understanding....nothing seems to get the job done at MoS.

 

@ Motown, brake kit is $852 plus shipping.
@ MoT, last quote for Installation, total 4 hours of labor
or DIY (which I don't know how ).

 

it's a front caliper swap.

Pop spring clip.
Undo caliper slide bolts (uses allen wrench)
Remove caliper (pads may fall out now, take them out if they don't).
Remove caliper frame (I'm guessing a new one comes with the kit.)
Add new caliper frame.
Disconnect old brake line and hook up new one (you'll need to bleed, but this will keep the mess to a minimum).
Mount caliper in frame.
Add slide bolts
Add metal clip.

Somewhere in there I lube the slides of the pads with Moly grease. Also, you may have to move a pad sensor over.

Rears are just a pad swap. Pretty much the same but you'll need a tool for compressing the brake pad.

Figure 2 hours, 4 if you've never done it before. Get some brake fluid as well for bleeding the system when you're done.

Matt

 

That really sucks.. isn't tony the manager/owner's son?

 

Matt - plus rear pads - part of the kit to keep proper bias. Still, you're 100% correct - it ain't rocket surgery! I've put Brembo's on in 20 minutes + another 30 to bleed (on a Subaru, but this isn't much different). Add 5 minutes for rear pads.

yes, and he's honestly convinced he's doing me a favor!! As a DCMM member, 15% off at the parts counter nets me a better deal and that's independent of what I see to be an easy list of work owed since I took delivery in July.

What's most ironic? We were able to pay the car off and get clear title faster than MoS could resolve the issues.

 

exactly. the idea was to offer a win/win. No need to pay out of pocket to repaint my roof, just give me the kit at cost. Seems a no-brainer to me, but apparently Tony thinks charging more than even MoS's price at the parts counter or website is a 'good deal'.

This gets back to a fundamental issue with all car dealers. Each department is an independent business. Sales may have to pay that price from Parts and pay Service that amount for install, and that's part of the reason we see $2200 'options' on window stickers. It's MSRP + Install + a profit for Sales. Avoiding the Sales dept, you can get a considerably better deal. I've seen it happen at all car brands as a consumer and having worked in that industry on a higher level, it's part of 'the business plan' - Service, Parts, Sales, F&I, etc.

 

Well good luck getting your issue resolved--I have been going round and round with these clowns for 6 over months now. They are absolutely one of the WORST dealers that I have ever done business with.

They have ordered one part for my car 3 times and each time they sent it back before notifying me it was in. They scratched the crap out of the back of my seat when they replaced the seat cover because it had split along the edge. I could go on and on...

I have tried being nice, they just put you on ignore. When you get nasty, they simply refuse to return phone calls.

I am giving up and heading to Richmond for service. I have two friends who recently ordered 07 MINIs and I told them whatever you do, DO NOT buy from MOS. One went to Crown in Richmond and the other to Towson.

I have even considered selling my MINI over this--I love the car, but if I can't get decent service, it maybe time to try somebody else.

Anybody have any suggestions?

 

My auto would not have sat 9 days unattended. I would have collected it after day 3 of no action. This is not just big talk. I've had experiences like this and not just with autos. I have terminated orders and contracts when necessary. It is a part of my job that has carried over into my personal life. Knowing when to cut losses without emotion may make me live longer.

 

it wasn't a big deal to me to leave it. I had a 340hp Subaru to drive at the time, so the loaner sat in the driveway. Once I realized they were full of BS about the timeline and were no closer to being done than the day I dropped it off, I called and told them to have it ready to pick up. I'd think that someone would notice two weeks of loaner car rental cost and nothing done on the work order as being a bad way to do business, but it's clear that's the least of MoS's issues.

 

Hey guys, sorry to hear you havce so much trouble up north there. I suggest you try Crown Mini of Richmond. The service advisor Clay is awesome. The technicians are very knowledgable and will even come talk to you personally if they need more information on the problem you are having (which i think is great..) I have had nothing but good luck with Crown Mini. You should give it a try

 

As I'm finding down in VA Beach, I can't find anyone to say anything bad about Checkered Flag MINI! Great bunch of folks over there. I was in the dealership chatting with the MAs for at least an hour!


-Paul!

 

Well, some dealerships are getting it right

 

WOW, did they go to like 4 dealerships in the US to find good #s?