I bought my 05 JCW based on an ebay auction that they had posted. I worked with David Chase and he was very helpful throughout the purchase. I noticed the car had aftermarket wheels, however it did say that the car had 17" wheels. I went ahead and ordered the kit and a set of 18" ultraleggerras to run for the majority of the year.

The car arrived at my house with 16" wheels and snow tires! I contacted David and he said he would handle this as well as the fact that I didn't get my personalized plates that I paid for and the lienholder was not on my title. He assured me that it would be taken care of. I kept calling and writing, but nothing was ever done. Eventually I found out that David wasn't there anymore and started working with the manager, Mike Morganstien. Again, this started off great and he assured me that he would take care of everything. Meanwhile time passes and I start sliding all over the place with my summer tires in the winter! I went to put the snow tires on and they went right on, but didn't have much clearance. I went to back out and the rear wheels locked. The calipers were grinding against the wheel! I ended up having to grind the wheels down as a temp. fix until Mike got my 17's out to me or sent a credit so I can order them. Meanwhile the front wheels rubbed through my braided lines and I lost my brakes! Todd sent me out some new lines and I ran my summer wheels the rest of the winter. This then caused me to damage two of my wheels on potholes, so I got to pay another $700 to replace two wheels this spring.

Now Mike is saying that they won't do anything to help me, they won't pay me the money back for my plates, or the fact that it cost me another $65 to re-title the vehicle for the bank due to their screw-up. He said that they will give me a credit towards my next car.

Do yourself a favor and avoid this dealership at all costs!!!

 

It would help to mention where this dealer is located.
Also, another example that it's best to buy your car "on the spot" and avoid Ebay BS

 

Sorry about that. They are located in New Jersey, and appear to have a very good rep. I have about 25 very detailed pics to check out, and have bought bikes and boats and various other things online. This one just bit me in the butt though!

 

File a complaint with the NJ Department of Consumer Affairs.

 

Sorry to hear about the experience -- though they did offer credit towards your next purchase
However, you'd probably save the NAM administrators some time (from having to merge threads) if you didn't post the same thing on, at least, 3 forums I've seen

 

I hadn't thought of the department of consumer affairs, I will definitely do that! Sorry about all of the posts, I just want to make sure as many of my fellow NAM members as possible hear about this and spread the word. I have about $18k in aftermarket in the car now and they know that I am not going to be getting rid of it, that is why the offer of a credit towards my next vehicle.

 

That's unfortunate and makes me a bit worried.

I had a good vibe when I went to Prestige, and I've been going there even though it's another hour away compared to the closest dealer. I even spec-ed out an R52 with them... makes me wonder if I shouldn't commit to them if I go down that road...

 

I'm not sure if they do it in your area, but I know in some areas you can have the tires fixed at a shop and send the bill to the city, and they will pay for the new rims/tires if damaged by a pothole.

And I would email/call MINI USA and see what they have to say... it wouldn't hurt to add in some slight white lies too, ex. how mad you are, you won't recommend the car, etc. etc. Hopefully the customer service is good, and hopefully you can get your money back.

-Cody

 

you put brakes on before having wheels that fit? why would you do that? that's not the dealer's fault

 

I was confused there, too. Yeah, they should have had the right wheels/tires on there in the first place, but it sounds like they were pretty nice to you. You didn't HAVE to upgrade the brakes right away until you had the full setup sorted out. I'm not sure I would have offered the replacement lines myself... I guess they wrote it off to customer satisfaction and did the nice thing.

Maybe I'm not understanding the whole brake thing.

 

Sounds to me there are two companies involved here---his complaint with Prestige in New Jersey and Todd of TCE who sold him the brakes and seems out of the kindness of his heart--sent replacement brake lines for something that wasn't his fault.

 

I actually put the brakes on at the same time as the 18's, and had already contacted the dealer about the fact that the wrong size wheels were on the car. It became a more urgent issue when winter came and the issue had still not been resolved. Nobody paid for anything except me. New lines, repaired calipers, new wheels, and I still have to buy a set of winter tires and wheels before next year. Please keep in mind that all I asked for from the dealer was a credit for my plates and title work and either a set of 17's to swap for the 16's or a credit so I can buy my own.

Keep in mind that this was a pre-owned vehicle, so Mini USA wouldn't be able to help. It was just a misrepresentation in the first place that should have been taken care of and has dragged out way too long.

I did check on getting reimbursed by the state for the pothole damage, but found that it is virtually impossible to get them to pay.

 

sounds like lots of bad decisions made, by the dealer, the car's owner. Only good one made was by Todd (which is no surprise...standup vendor).

 

Again, I have no complaints with Todd. He has been great to work with throughout the entire install and replacement, so please do not put words in my mouth. I have nothing but praise for all of the vendors that I have found on the NAM site.

 

nobody is putting words in your mouth.

 

I went ahead and edited the original post as I did not want it to seem as though I had anything negative to say about Todd or TCE.

 

sounds like you did get ripped off.. not really their fault you hit a pot hole..but you would have bent the better rims..

take them to small claims court.. you will win. !!!

 

Sorry for your "troubles". I have had nothing but pain-free positive experiences with Prestige. But then again I'm not an *******.

 

I thought about small claims, but was told I would have to travel to NJ to do it. I would almost consider doing it just for the principle of it all. I had heard nothing but good things about them as well, and that is why I bought it there.
Oh, and Wintersway, I think you just contradicted yourself by making that statement

 

Ha! Hilarious!

 

^ +2

 

Nice!

Presumeably you put the 18"s on right away? along with the BBK?


Why were you driving with summer tyres in the winter, and how is your decision to do so the fault of Prestige?

I'm assuming you didn't try and put 16" rubber on 18" rims , so must have put the 16" rims with snow tyres back on the car. You were lucky that the fitted with your BBK - "not much clearance" is enough


Oh, so there wasn't "not much clearance" there was "no clearance". Surely you would have caught this if you spun the wheels to check before driving? Similarly, how was this the fault of Prestige?

let me check that I understand this right, You took of the wheels that had sufficient clearance, but wore summer rubber, and replaced them with wheels that did not clear but had winter rubber. When you then realised that they did not clear, instead of, say, getting winter rubber on the 18"s, or buying some 17"s cheap on ebay, or, replacing the BBK with standard, you _ground_ into your 16" rims until they cleared the calipers.

I'm not sure why this is Prestige's fault. Did they advise or approve you to make this modification?

Why were your braided lines touching the wheels? How is this Prestige's fault?


YOur wheels do not car what the season is. If you damaged your 18" rims on potholes, you would have damaged any other non-steel rims on the same potholes.


If you had this sort of money to spend, why didn't you spend it at the beginning and save yourself this whole saga?

It sucks that Prestige apparently did not provide you with the car at the spec you believed it to be, it sucks that they apparently did not follow up accordingly, however, all of the events that took place above were of your own free choice and decision. You did not *have* to drive on the wrong rubber for the season, you did not have to put 16" rims over a BBK that did not clear, you did not have to grind your wheels etc.

Hardly a surprise that, I'm not sure I'd be looking to help you out either, given your "interesting" thought and decision making process.

 

Unfortunately I didn't have the money to spend when it came time to put the winter tires on and was not anticipating a clearance issue. We got about 14 inches of snow very early this year and the summer tires were on the car. After slipping and sliding around for a while a went to put the winter tires on and discovered the hard way that they didn't fit. That was my fault, as I had the parking brake on while putting the tires on and didn't check the clearance as it appeared to just be very close. Mike assured me that it would be taken care of promptly so I ground them down to get the needed clearance as the damage was already done and I didn't want to mess up my good wheels and tires. Desperate times/desperate measures.

I am not holding Prestige responsible for anything but starting an unfortunate chain of events by not providing me with what I paid for. That is why I never once asked them to pay for anything but what they owed me. You make some very good points and I hope this helps to clarify a bit.

 

By the way, I don't work for, am not affiliated with and am not a customer of Prestige, your post just didn't make much sense to me.

Kudos to you for taking accountability for your not insignificant part in this, however, the thread is titled "Ripped off by Prestige!!" and has a long and sorry saga that isn't really relevant to Prestige, so you didn't do yourself any favours there.

 

If the auction stated that the car had 17" wheels and it arrived with different equipment as you say it would seem that the auction was misrepresenting the item. You might want to consider contacting ebay as well as the Attorney General, BBB/and consumer protection group for the state they are in.

The personalized plates you had a deal on and any additional fees you incurred as a result of them not following through on an agreement is also something worth reporting, although, obviously a separate issue from the auction, so best to be clear about that.