I agree with you - partly.

Mini USA has made it so onerous for delaerships to collect on many warranty claims that they often feel that it is easier to hit the customer up for money.

However, in Angelos' situation, it would have been pretty easy for the Tech to call Mini and say " We have a 6 month old car here with a faulty pressure plate. The clutch looks fine."

The Tech could have sent them or shown them the plate and made this case quite easily. Heck, they could have shown them the clutch for good measure as I really don't think it shows any indication that it is so worn or so abused that it could have caused this damage.

If Crappier Mini had done so, this would have been a warranty issue. Unfortunately, they have chosen to blame the customer.

This is a complete failure of the whole Mini USA customer relations system and should also serve as the final warning to anyone doing or considering business with Crevier. There are plenty of good dealerships out there who will make the warranty case for the consumer.

Crevier has a long history of being a $hitty BMW dealership and I guess being a $hitty Mini dealership just came naturally.

As to the Service Department Manager, Kyle - I hope you read this thread and I hope you have the ***** to sign up here and post - you should be ashamed of yourself for many things. Do a search under "Crevier" on this site and see what people think of the job you've done.

Primarily, you should be ashamed of the ruse you've inflicted on the OP of this thread and the torment you've caused him. I hope the proper agencies get involved and not only fine your crappy thieving dealership, but ban you from working int he automotive service industry for life.

In the interim, I hope someone with a soul at Crevier reads this thread and notes what a hack shop you're running and fires you.

 

The whole dealership sucks. Under the circumstances he should have posted a group photo of everyone who works there.

 

tell us what you really think!

Matt

 

I think it's the other way around. MINIUSA doesn't know anything besides what the dealer told them. If Crevier puts the right spin on it, which I think they did, MINUSA will probably not side with the car owner.

I place ALL of the blame on Crevier. None of a Northern California Mini dealers seem to have this kind of reputation, and this isn't the first time Crevier has pull crap like this.

Over on Mini2, someone was raving about Crevier. I posted a link to this thread.

 

I honestly don't get why the dealer would do this. Either they get paid by the customer or they get paid by MINI USA...what's the point in pissing off a customer if MINI USA will pay them anyway? Is there something we don't know about how this works - does MINI USA pay the dealership less than the customer would? Really, that's the only thing that makes sense, but even in this case, they "cut a deal" for the customer...if they'd just sent the whole thing under warranty they probably would have gotten more out of MINI USA than they did from the customer.

I really don't get it. Aside from the horrific treatment of the customer in this case, the whole thing just doesn't add up right.

 

Sure hope you dont have any clutch problems with your new car.

 

Got dropped off at the dealership this morning.

Despite all the arguing over the phone the last few days, they were all in an awfully cheerful mood.
"Good morning, I'm Andrew..."
(interrupts) "OH, Andrew Yoon! Yes we know you."

Kyle had taken the rest of the week off for his birthday.
Roger came instead and was very attentive.
He ran to get me a new cigarette lighter fuse when i told him mine had burned out. There was no mention of the forman, a test drive, or anything aggravating.
I simply read through and signed the bill (got copies of course), was offered a flower by one of the cashier ladies, gave my mini a hug in the parking lot, then motored off towards the LA smog.

My baby purred happily.
We are in sync like the moon with the tides.
Everything seems to be working fine...
the way the adverts told me they would.

That said, my goodness. I feel like if they had treated me with this kind of respect and common courtesy from the get go, we'd all have been spared considerable headaches.

@Skiploder
Yeah, my BAR rep alluded to it being easier for Mini to simply write the issue off as non-warrantable. I don't remember the specifics, but its generally more beneficial to the dealership (money comes faster, can charge more for parts/labor).

I'm waiting to see what happens with the BAR now.
Will keep everyone posted.

 

To answer a few random questions:

The dealerships make more money if it is a customer pay job versus a warranty job.

The service writer can VERY EASILY call the rep and explain the situtations and get a part covered. It doesn't matter what part, all that matters is the situtation. I've gotten rotors warrantied before, and I've warrantied stuff all the way up to about 75,000 miles before. It just depends on what has happened and what is going on. Now I don't work for Mini, but it has been like this for the two different manufacturers I have worked for.

Finally, it is all one dealership even though it's different departments. It's all one reputation.

 

And it appears many MINI dealerships don't give a crap about reputation. I don't believe MINIs are going to continue to sell themselves as they have been and, eventually, MINI dealers are going to have to change their ways and answer for their conduct. But, right now........

 

LynnEl , I've got nieghbors that like mine and want one for themselves ,at this point I'm a little afraid to tell them "Ya it's great you should run down and get one".Angelos dealer is my dealer and I've also had issues that they just blow off.If the dealers would take better care of us I could sell a few for them.But , right now......

 

Remind me to NEVER live in LA..... not that I need to be reminded!

 

Did any of our techies here check to see if the "R50"clutch plate is the correct one for this car. Could it be the wrong plate from the factory?? Could the dealer be showing you parts out of some other car?

 

Yeah, when people ask me, I make sure to tell them all the pro's and cons.

 

Any new updates yet on this?

 

Yes I miss the drama,they need to start a new reality show angelo's world,if the rest of your life is anything like the last few weeks it would be a huge hit.

 

Curious as to whether or not this got resolved by the BAR!

 

NEWS! WE NEED NEWS!

 

Another bump for more info, please!