This is the second time i have visted Universal mini. First time was pretty bad as well.

I live about 10 min away from Universal Mini and i guess i am pretty young (23). I am ready to jump in and buy a car but i get there, no one asks me for help. i have to ask the receptionist twice to have a sales person to help me. I basically had to almost beg him to take me out to look at some cars, and when i asked for a test drive all he said was "it would be waste of time at this hour" WHAT A JOKE!!! When i told him my other car choices him and the other sales dude basically laughed in my face as if my judgement was poor. REDICULOUS!

I knew South Bay would earn my business the second i called them.

THUMBS DOWN TO UNIVERSAL MINI!
GOOOO SOUTH BAY!

 

I love salesman who do not try to sell or answer questions. One thing is call before you show ask questions and then set an appointment and do keep in mind that if they give you no respect that is why they have managers there and there is nothing a boss wants to hear more from a customer, that is shopping than their seller is gaffing you off. I have straight off the bat requested to deal directly with manager. This will usually catch them off guard a little.

 

W.T.F.

Good for you for taking your business elsewhere. Gaaawd, sometimes the arrogance of MINI Salesmen (you have to wonder if it transcends from the top of the dealership down) makes me so mad.

 

ha! that sux yo... my mini dealer was on me b4 i hit the door when i went for my test drive...

i'd write a letter...

 

I would normally write a letter too, but you're in a great position.

Get the a-holes name, once you have you nice new car from another dealer, take some good pictures, post them in this thread, then get a link of the thread to the universal mini dealers owner.

Let him see just how many people see when you get **** poor service!

I hate that, glad to see you are going else where.

 

Theres someone i know who swears by them. But of course he has bought 3 cars from them including a GP and paid cash for all 3. I guess he talks to them 3 or 4 times a week. So my guess is they were to busy talking to him or someone like him who is willing to pay over MSRP. I say F them, its great of you to take your money somewhere else. The one time i went there they were rude and didn't want anything to do with me. I was 24 at the time. Great to see nothing has changed. Go to south bay or east bay and they will take care of you and you wont pay a dime over MSRP.

 

go see Chris or Amanda at Southbay, you will be so much happier you did!!

 

Matt and Tony at Long Beach MINI are great, too. LB MINI has always sold at MSRP...was the first in SoCal to do so.

 

Write a letter to the general manager. If they care they will think twice before acting like that to other buyers. If they don't care then take your business elsewhere.

Hey, we don't have a thumbsdown button so...

 

Tony is totally awsome!
Amanda is so hot!

 

South Bay Mini got me set up quick. It was great. The initial conversation was while I was attempting to set up my own financing. Then I ended up with them when my bank failed on me. They gave me a great deal on my car and got me a great MINI. Even with the tire problem I am so happy to be driving a MINI every day.

The attitude at South Bay is pretty good, and they sell at MSRP as well. Screw a dealer that won't talk to you.

I like to go to car lots, I was down near Crevier, just before they opened. Those of you in the are know, there is a BMW, Honda, and at least Audi dealers there as well. I was looking at the TT, the dealer was an ***. Went to Honda they were marking up their convertable. Went to BMW, they were pretty damn cool. I also find the Porsche dealers are pretty cool too. They will chat with you and let you climb in their cars. They know you can't affor the car, but know an enthusiast when they see one and will talk shop.

Last year I stopped at Crevier and chatted with one of teh dealers for a while, we ended up going for a test drive, and we talked about our Focus' since he also drove one.

It's impressions like that that can make a good dealer. It's the guys that ignore you and laugh at you for even thinking about buying from them like they are better than you, that will lose customers and build a bad reputation.

 

I was in the car bidness for almost 30 years, and any saleman whos been in the biz for a while can tell you about the young kid who came in looking like he didn't have 2 nickles to rub together and drove out in a new high line car just because someone did their job and talked to him, me included!

I'm sorry to see this kind of behavior is still prevalent in the car industry, but I'm glad you found a dealership that will respond to your needs. The best way to deal with this is exactly what you did, take your business elsewhere.

 

I agree...I'm sad when I read about someone who had poor service from the dealership, whether it be in sales or service, and continues to go there "because it's closer" or "because there's no where else"...there's ALWAYS somewhere else. These days, you can order your MINI from across country if need be.

Good job for not just "taking it".

 

The niece of a friend of mine works at the local MB dealership.

She tells the story of one day a young "kid" in jeans and a tee-shirt wanders through the showroom looking at the high priced models on the floor.
The goofy sales guys sit on their a$$es laughing and joking, paying no attention to the customer.
The customer leaves, this young lady then approaches said goofs and asks
"Do you know who just walked out of here?
Goofs look at her suitably stunned

"That was Jason Spezza" (a forward for the NHL's Ottawa Senators. He could buy and sell these clowns 10 times over).
They were so fixated on his clothes and age they never figured HE could ever afford a nice new Merc.

Opportunity lost. Could you imagine the owner of the dealership hearing that one

 

. Mistaken entry

 

You're doing exactly the right thing by posting here. Word of mouth is what sets a dealer's reputation. I remember what it was like to be 23 and be not taken seriously. I responded then just as you're doing now. I took my business elsewhere and spread the word amongst friends and colleagues.

The thing is, usually in any organization, if this kind of ineptitude is found in one department, you'll usually find that it's prevalent throughout the company. Frankly, as a result of your posting, I'll make it a point to stay away from Universal MINI anytime I visit the Bay Area, whether I'm on business, or taking a vacation trip.

 

Sorry the dealer treated you like that. I have had a lot of similar experiences (Munroe motors/triumph dealer in SF, Mini of Concord, and most recently Brian Harris Mini in Baton Rouge). The guy at Munroe talked me out of a brand new Triumph Bonneville. I walked in there 4 times before someone actually talked to me, and when they finally did the guy was really condescending. Ok, I'll just take my 8 grand somewhere else. Most recently, some guy at Brian Harris chastised me over the phone for merely asking when the 08 would be available. I know it sounds blasphemous, but he's got me wanting to just give up and get a VW gti or something (not that I'd actually go that far)...I look like your average skater kid, but that doesn't mean I don't have money and that I don't work my a$s off to get it...

 

called today to file a complaint. spoke with the general manager who quite honestly did not sound like he really cared. he also said, and i quote.."We dont like giving out too many test drives because some people have hit curbs or caused damage to the cars".

oh well i guess

 

WTF. How do they expect to sell cars if they don't "like giving out too many test drives"?

 

Whoa!

Let's see...you were ignored/treated poorly by the sales staff...

Now the GM is telling you they "don't like giving out too many test drives"???!!!

First of all, the GM is full of caca. For all the GM knew, you could've been a highly-trained HDPE instructor...or a professional race-car driver...talk about sight-unseen prejudice!

I suggest that you find out who the parent company is of the dealership and send them a letter...send a copy of the letter to MINIUSA, too!

 

The parent company is Century West BMW. http://www.centurywestbmw.com/

 

send me a PM I'll give you the owner's contact. I know the son of the owner.

 

Send the owner a link to the thread, I'm sure he would not be happy if he knew potential buyers were walking off the lot feeling the way the OP has. At least in this case, he has lost a sale.

 

wow you guys are great! coming from the audi/vw scene, this is definetly the community i would want to be a part of :D cant wait till i get my car!

 

As a peson who once sold insurance ( we couldnt give a test drive ) I learned one thing very quickly and that was not to prejudge the customer.
Any number of times I talked to people who did not appear able to afford anything but in the end paid cash.
I also sold cars for a while and if a person wanted to test drive that was OK by me as long as I went along but the one time I broke that rule the guy wrecked the demo car, but he was not a teenager either so age was not a factor.
I have done what you did, walk out the door and go some where else. It always makes me smile when I think of the commission the idiot lost.

But you finally got the last laugh and now you can motor happily ever after.
MINI's rock