I took my '03 S in on Sat 3/12 for its first service and the passenger window quit working so I needed to get that fixed.

The GOOD: My service advisor was Adam and he did a a great job. I dropped it off at 6:45 am and it was ready as promised at 1:00pm.

The BAD: I asked not to have the car washed since I am very picky about how my baby is detailed. The rear bumper area was a little dirty so someone decided to wipe it down and put small scratches across the bumper...ARRGH! I think they will buff out ok.

Today, Monday, my wife noticed a puddle of oil under the car and sure enough the oil filter is leaking really bad and made a mess all over the subframe. So its going back today for rework. I was really optomistic about the visit going well but I was proved wrong. I hope it don't have to go back ever again. I'm an engineer in the USN and can change my own oil from now on.

 

Sorry to hear that. I guess some things never change.

Did they give you a new window motor or is it on "order"?

 

They had the new window motor in stock and fixed it right the first time.

I went back at 11:30 today to have the oil filter leak fixed "in about an hour" so I waited and it was finished before 3:00. I guess it took them a couple tries and really kicked their butt since Andy told me twice they had to go "test drive" it. It's all good now. I'll just save myself the trouble and do it myself next time.

 

I lost the headlight washer cover thingy ( sorry for my lack of knowledge ) about a week after I got my MINI, so I took it in, and they fixed it quickly. I was impressed with the quickness and professionalism, though I have nothing to which I can compare it because this is my first non-POS car

 

I would have hoped that MOH would have turned things around by now, but it sounds like they're still having some quality of service issues. Without going into the whole incident again (it can be found if you dig the forums here), Allison and I had a really bad experience with our '02 Cooper S. I still miss the car terribly - it was a really, really fun car. The service experience turned it 180° though. It wasn't just MOH, but MINI NA and BMW NA that made things worse. :( Like I said though - had the service been better we would still own "POLLN8", our little yellow and black car.

It's kinda frustrating on the whole that a marquee such as BMW would even wander towards the crappy service bubble. It seemed very clear to us that unless you owned a 7 series you weren't going to get more than superficial treatment at MOH. The service advisors we dealt with (who are long gone...and from what I've heard, the replacements as well) were great. They really tried, and were frustrated along with us when we couldn't get things solved. The salesman we had, Aka, was fantastic. A ++. I never heard what happened with him other than he moved out of town.

(sigh) Such is life I guess. You can go into things hoping for the best, but sometimes you're just going to get let down.

OTOH, the service we've had from Infiniti of Honolulu has been 4 star so far. If only every business out there actually treated customers like we'd all like to be treated... man what a great world it would be

 

Yes, Im back good to hear that mini is keeping up the great work, n-e-one seen my bimmer. I let it in Hawaii, I think it's gone yes

 

I had a great service dept. visit last Wednesday. My driver's side window quit working over the weekend after 3 months of intermittent failure. Jenny handled the repair with courtesy and speed, getting the car back to me, fixed and washed, 2 hours ahead of her earliest estimate. Outstanding, Jenny!

 

I've said it before, and I'll say it again at the risk of being repetitious... I really hope that they have turned around the service issues there. The MINI brand is pretty cool.

 

I took my mini in TWO WEEKS AGO for a problem with the engine cooling fan. Turns out the motor shorted out causing my car to overheat on a number of occasions (took me a while to figure out what the problem was and I tried to just replace the fuse, but they insisted to keep my car). Well it was really nice of them to squeeze me in with in three days of when I tried to get the fuse. However, I have yet to get my car back. here is the relevant timeline and I am excluding names (for those that would like names you can pm me if it is that important).

Thursday June 23 took car in and dropped it off.
Friday June 24 I was told the fan motor was defective and they were flying one in. It should be in by monday-tuesday and I should have my car back by wednesday, June 29th. I picked up a loaner car on monday (they didn't have any available until then) because I had guests coming in and had to get them from the airport.

Wednesday, thursday, friday - I finally hear something. I am told that the wiring harness to my AGS was faulty and when they tried to plug it back in my car ran rough and they had error codes in the OBD II and to get a new harness ASAP. Luckily I had Andrew (Eastside mini) drive on that same day (he is really good) and drop it off. All they had to do was switch it out and clear the error codes (which should clear themselves out on their own). I was promised my car back by wednesday at the latest (July 6th).

Friday, saturday, sunday, monday, tuesday - my service advisor is on vacation so that means my car sits without anyone working on it (how does that work? no service advisor means no mechanics?).

Wednesday July 6th - I am supposed to get my car back. No word from dealership until I called at 5pm. The response was "Oh, we forgot. I think the mechanic was backed up installing something on a bmw." I didn't get any call, none. I had to call the dealership.

Thursday July 7th 3pm - still no word and I don't want to call them anymore.

I have had to call to check on the loaner car, to check to see if my car is ready on the promised dates, etc... They are not calling me to keep me informed and just assume because I have a loaner (and I am sorry to all the 5-series owners out there, but the 530 is not that great of a car) that I will be ok without my car. I Am being treated as if this is better for me to drive a bmw and have my mini in the shop than to have my car. Sorry I had to vent, I am frustrated. What can I do when it is all warranty work and I don't have to pay for anything? Am I just supposed to suck it up and let them have my car forever? Any advice appreciated

 

......and then as if by miracle 20 minutes after post i get a call saying my car is ready to go.

 

Sorry to hear about what happened But hey, your Cosworth head came in today and I took a peek Top notch quality with Cosworth engraved on the head and a serial number.

 

I had my first free oil change done at MINI of Hawaii on June 15. Made the appointment over the phone and took the car in.
My Map Light switch was broken but that was replaced and i complained about brake squeak but the service advisor Eric told me that it was normal on all cars.
My only complain is that i had to wait about 30 mintues for the shuttle to come and those genius mechanics didnt reset the oil service counter.
Kinda off topic but is there anyway i can reset that myself? i dont wanna take my car in just for that...

 

One SA told me I had to wait the indicated 15,000 miles to get my oil changed, which didn't sit too well with me because that would be once every three+ years. So I had another SA order a free oilchange and tell them NOT to reset the indicator. If you insist on the reset: http://www.mini2.com/forum/faq.php?f..._faq_reset_cpu

 

technically you dont have to wait for 15K miles if it has been a year. My car is almost 3 years old and I have had two done for free already. You just get them a year in between.

 

I know that to preserve the warranty it has to be done at least once a year. But Eric told me to wait so the fix was to get another SA. You'd think they would see this all the time in HI and annual oilchanges would be automatic. But no, I had to notice and ask for it and then be persistent--not what I'd call 5-star service.

 

not a service incident log, but...just to remark that the old mini showroom, or the secondary showroom, is being converted to a f/t mini service dept! and i believe with a lounge and stuff too!

do other bmw/mini dealers have 2 separate service dept's too? is this simply because the mini sales are going thru the roof, and therefore too much extra stress for the single service dept?

anyways, i think it's supposed to be up and running by the end of this month. and just so happens my 2nd service should be coming up around then. maybe i'll be one of the lucky first __ customers, who'll receive a surprise?

 

Will this just be a SA station or will there be additional lifts and techs? If it is just a new area for SAs, there will probably be no change in service as the big problem was the workload was too great for the number of techs at the dealership.

 

That sounds great! I'm going in for my 10k checkup next weekend, so I'll have to check it out then!

 

i believe just the service advisor(s), no additional lifts or techs, although that'd be excellent if they did. i think they will be preserving some space for mini showroom stuff.

hmmm...what % do you think of all servicing is done to minis? 15-20%? if it's that much, i'd think that'd warrant an extra lift or two, as well as a few more techs. but space is at a premium over there.

 

BMW/MINI has the space to put in additional lifts or to hire additional techs, but I think they are really looking at their budget. The Big Island store is coming on line and it is supposed to be about the same size as the Honolulu store. The Maui store has outgrown their location and is securing more space across the street. They will probably build a new dealership within the next 5 years.


The unfortunate part is their experienced people are being pulled off the front line and sent to other stores or are now behind the scenes. I have heard they already have a candidate for their Kona service dept.

You are probably pretty close to the current breakdown of MINI:BMW service ratio, but it will change in the future. I think with the inception of MINI of Hawaii, Shelly probably sells @ 1500 cars a year or more. I think they used to sell about 2/3rds this amount on BMWs alone. So, within the next few years, I think the ratio will probably be closer to 40%. There are lots of people looking for alternatives to dealer servicing once the warranty is up and the only shop doing maintenance work on MINIs right now is BME. Motorwerkes is getting into the game and will probably do maintenance and mods. I also know of a few other European shops gearing up to work on MINIs, but they are unsure of the demand.

 

I went in yesterday for my 10K service. All in all, it was ok. My top still squeaks when it moves, and the SA told me I had to live with thewear marks on my cabrio top. They also washed it and I told them not to...other than it, service was petty quick and finished when promised...

 

does anyone know the best time to call to make an appointment. I've been trying since last week to make an appointment, but no one ever answers and I'm never able to leave a message. i'm getting rather frustrated...

 

wow, they either gotta be cranking or...? i was always at least able to leave a message. but that was when that one SA with the black mini was still there. i usually call mid-day.

also the service dept is about to undergo a bit of a change around the end of the month when they split up the SA's into the bmw side and the mini side. not sure how many will be on the mini side. i think i heard jenny will be one of the mini SA's?

as a last resort maybe call up randy and ask him to help you out with making an appt. otherwise, you'd hafta go down in person to get one. but that would pretty much blow...i thought they had a receptionist at the entrance to take all calls?

40% minis being serviced in the future! bmw/mini of hawaii had better get ready. plus who knows what's gonna happen when the next evolution of the mini occurs. if the cabrio was any indication, watch out!

 

ok, i called 3 times today...first time (9 AM), again no answer and was sent to voicemail that doesn't allow me to leave message. second time (1 PM), got a receptionist who sent me to voicemail where I was actually able to leave a message. third time (4 PM), following up on message that no one has responded to yet, again, no answer and was sent to voicemail that doesn't allow me to leave message. I would have called Randy to ask for help, but I don't think he works on Mondays.

 

I had the same problem when I made my last appointment...it really sucks Hopefully, this will improve when the techs are separate.

On my top issue, MINI of HI won't fix it. They claim there is no official guidance regarding wear of the cabrio top from MINIUSA...though mainland dealerships have replaced worn tops because of a tech bullletin from June of this year... So, in the mean time, I have one spot that is almost a hole and a bunch of other ones that are going to be holes soon, and the SA told me to put a towel in between the folds...yeah, right...that's really nice...