so last week i noticed that my car was getting close to 14,000 miles and thats what i thought the manual estimated the first service to be at. so since i just started school and the class load isnt to bad right now i decided to call in and schedule an appointment to take care of it. i live in san diego, ca and ive had bad experiences several times with the bretcht mini in escondido which is about a 30 min drive for me, so i decided to call the mini dealership in irvine, about an hour drive away. i told the person that answered in the mini service department that the service light on my mini hadnt come on but it would be helpful to get it taken care of this week since i was going to have a bit more time than when the light actually comes on. he said it was fine and got me an appointment for today (wednesday) at 7 am. i was up early and drove to irvine and when i got there i was told that with the economic crissis mini isnt servicing minis without the service light on. they instead offered me a "complementary checkup" (check all fluid levels, tire pressures, car wash etc) i was already there so i agreed to do that. everything went fine and i drove home. when i got home just for curiosity i decided to check stuff under the hood and to my surprise the windshield wiper fluid was empty and the coolant was low. this is after they assured me all this had been taken care of. so i have to say im really disappointed with irvine mini. i emailed them about it and this is the response i got:

Alan,

I will certainly discuss this with my technicians. There may be a
chance that the vehicle was taken by the car washers prior to the all
fluids getting checked or some other confusion. I do apologize. How
can we assit you with this? Would you like to schedule a service
appointment in advance (couple weeks) and I will get you a rental.

Phil


its nice that they are trying to be helpful but 2 disappointments in one day is a little unprofessional. what do you guys think?

 

Whoever talked to you on the phone in the first place gave you bad information. I don't know of any dealer that's ever had a policy of doing scheduled maintenance more than *maybe* 1,500 prior to the service officially "coming due". Most dealers won't do it until there's less than 500 miles remaining.

The whole "unchecked fluids" issue is just unexcusable.

 

I've had my Oil Changed 3 times now by My Local Dealer and by a Dealer down in AZ when I had to make an Emergency Trip. None have them have given me flack about the Mileage, OBC...NOTHING!! I'll get my Oil changed when I see fit, and I don't mind paying for it either. The guys in AZ even offered me my FREE Oil change, but since I already had Molly's Appointment Scheduled for April 17th I declined.

 

Be glad they even offer you a loaner. Sucks living an hour away from a dealer and having to coordinate multiple cars going up and back.

 

That makes sense - there's generally no problem with getting the dealer to change the oil as often as you'd like, as long as you're willing to pay for it.

The problem comes when trying to get a free scheduled maintenance service done before the car's computer says you're due. Most dealers will do it a few hundred miles early, possibly up to a thousand miles early if you're getting ready to go on a trip or something like that, but I guess some dealers won't do it early at all.

 

my dealer will sked an appt when the obc shows 1k miles to sked service

 

OK! I too live in SD and do not like going to the Escondido dealership, I have been going to Irvine to have my MCS05 serviced for the past 3 years leaving the house at 5:30 in the AM to make it there for the 7AM time, so I can sit there for 3 hours, just so I can drive back to SD.

My issue from last Novemeber was that I was trying to make an appointment with them and had called "Phil" at least 5 times to try to schedule an appointment. I even tried scheduling an appointment online. I finally receive a call from him about a quarter to 6PM! He told me that he couldn't "fit me in". I was a little irritated about how long it took him to call me back, If I had known that he couldn't schedule me earlier in the day, I would have made other arrangements. My boyfriend decided that this was unacceptable, called him back, and demanded an appointment. Oh! wow, how the schedule just cleared up and it turned out, they weren't that busy after-all!!! I have another appointment tomorrow, so wish me luck. I will update you all on whether or not the service has changed.

 

ok get this guys. its a year later, i have been taking my car to escondido since i wasnt very happy with the irvine dealership. first time i took it, the person (Mike Davis) was really helpful and everything went perfect. I even got a bmw loaner which was cool. Now yesterday (wed) i took some time of work to take my car early in the morning for its second service. Mike doesnt work there anymore, so i had a new service rep. First thing he does is try to offer me tires,a fuel system cleaning for $250 among other things, i blew him off. Then the fun begins. now you have to understand that the service light on my mini went on in feb 2010. he says that my next oil change isnt scheduled for another two months and he could do it if it was a month away but since this isnt the case, he wont be able to help me with that. I say ok, i dont want to have to come back so ill just pay for it and get it done, no they charge $130 for an oil change alone!!! I thought it was a bit excessive and i could just do it myself. I leave and come back the next day (today) get there around 5:30 to pick up my car and everyone is gone, only a receptionist (very nice and extremely helpful), she hands me my key and tells me that my car should be out shortly. Finally i get in my car and first thing i realize is that although it got a mediocre wash it wasnt vacuumed, the service rep had said they would wash it and vacuum it. again this wasnt a big deal, i can just do it at home it just the fact that they say one thing and do another that bothers me. I start going, but before i leave the parking lot i decide to check when my next service is going to be, i turn off the car and back on again and to my surprise the service light is already on and it says "Feb 2010" exactly the same thing it said when i took it in. Confused i get out and pop the hood, coolant low, windshield wiper fluid empty, windshield blades broken, etc. I start looking through my paperwork and realize the only thing they did was a brake flush and changed the micro filter. I go back in to see if anyone from mini was around and nothing, a bmw representative helped me and called a mechanic. The mechanic checked the warning messages in my car and said that the light was on because it needed new break pads, he asked for my paperwork and had a confused look on his face. Then he proceeded to tell me that the guys here were very picky about when they did brakes, they usually wanted the break pads to be at 3.5 MM ... mine were 4MM. i mean you look at a ruler at an angle and 3.5mm can look like 4mm. So he says that is the reason my service light wasnt reset. Now im wondering how they expect me to know when to really bring it in for breaks, if the light is already on maybe they are expecting me to measure everyday and hope i can shave a half a mm off in order to meet their standards. Im calling as soon as they open tomorrow morning and ill let you guys know how it goes and sorry about the humongous post, i just need to vent, im 2 for 2 here. Ive tried all the dealerships around southern california hahah 80% of the people working there have the mindset of a high school student, and its very frustrating. Oh and while i was waiting for my loaner car, my service rep and the guy in the cubicle next to him ket yelling at each other about how some 6th grader got caught with X lbs of heroine and was distributing it to the other students. the service rep kept saying things like "man that kid is tight". There were only 2 costumers around them i think but its just unprofessional.

 

theres 2 minis in my household , 08 and 10 and i cant help but think about how much longer i have to deal with this #@$@#$

 

Yea I havent taken mine in for service yet since I bought it....cant wait

I get to drive 90 miles to Omaha, NE if I need to go to a Mini Dealership as well......good times

 

It is truly sad. Good Customer Service is becoming a very rare commodity, once in awhile we comes across a good SA, but usually they don't last too long at their jobs because their MO is usually quite contrary to the stealerships management policies.

 

You guys might want to try MINI of Ontario, right of the 15 between the 60 and 10. They have invited our club (SCMM) out many times for events in the short time they have been opened and seem really sincere about taking care of us.