Some of you may have read my posts concerning my troubles with Princeton MINI. My first salesman was very rude and told me to my face that he does not care about making the sale and told me I should go to Morristown. My second salesman seemed fine until I took delivery. My MINI was outside covered in pollen, still had plastic on pieces inside, did not have my promised floormats inside, and had little black threads all over my Redwood seats. Ok, I guess it's my job to detail it... The most frustrating though was my missing bonnet silver stripes.

The MA threw my floormats in, no big deal, but was pretty sketchy about the stripes. He said they were on backorder and no one told him. Ok...

He said to call him on Monday (I took delivery Saturday). I gave it until Wednesday because he's slow, and I figured he would know the deal by then. "When would you like them put on?"...ummm, "Do you have them in yet?" "Let me check." 5 minutes later..."I'll call you tomorrow when I know what's going on with them."

Of course, no call. So I send him an e-mail saying I was expecting a call, what's the deal? He responds that they are on national backorder, and this does not reflect him or the dealership. I'm not sure how accurate this is, but I do know that his lack of communication certainly does reflect him and the dealership.

Anyway, I would definitely not recommend Princeton MINI. My experience with 2 MAs was total crap. Their manager does a great job, but I'm sure that's because he gets a lot of experience cleaning up messes. I really hope their service guys are a lot better than this.

My question is, does anyone know about this national backorder business?

 

Call other dealers asking about the availability of the stripes yuo seek. They can look and see how many if any are at their regional parts distribution center.

 

sounds sketchy to me.

 

I went a long way out of my way to go to another dealer. The first were un-professional and had a terrible attitude. The VW Rabbit was almost on the cards as a consequence.

Mini of Fairfield County are the complete opposite and so far the experience with them has been great.

 

. I am glad i didn't have to put up with any of that ****.

 

here in sacramento niello mini is great! everytime i need someting i e-mail them or call them and they get me what i need!

 

dealerships are paid by the factory to detail cars it is included in the price. so you should charge them 175.00 for detailing your car. I would send miniusa the bill and explain of the poor service.

 

I feel I should chime in here, as I just picked up my Mini at Princeton Mini on Friday.

My MA was Kyle. I think for a mass produced car dealership, they did a good job delivering the car. I do agree it does take time for them to get back to you, but I think part of this is the fact that they are very busy and that my MA Kyle has the personality that if he is with you he will not answer the phone or anything other than give his full attention to you. I respect this as I am too OCD to do this and am one of those who constantly check my Blackberry in meetings. If I left a message for Kyle, he would call me back the same day or 1st thing the next when he got in.

So back to the dealer thing... now why do I say OK for a mass produced car dealership...

If I call a porsche, ferrari or lambo dealer I do expect a call back from someone within an hour. They have limited floor traffic. Mini is very different. Even on rainny friday picking up my car there were people in the showroom looking at cars. Must be the near 4.00 gas...

So what did I like about Princeton....
They were curtious and took care of any of my concerns as I was tracking my car. We had one sorta mistake in the order which was a mutual thing that we tried to correct the next business day which MINI wouldn't let us (Mini is a mass produced car, with Porsche or Ferrari you can call the factory and have stuff corrected). Princeton made good and got the option retrofited when the car arrived. This was not a trivial task logistically to do. They kept me upto date as everything we needed was moving to the dealership and were concious of my time. I told them my exact schedule so that they knew when they could "punch" the car or not. This courtesy I think let them not rush to complete my car delivery for the EOM April as if I didn't receive my car by a certain date it would have to wait a week.

I asked them to match my prefered rate at my bank, and they beat it.

Were there things that can be improved... Sure but I've had issues with dealers for more expensive products... I had a 100k+ car delivered with a scratched shifter from someone wearing a ring driving it to get gas and the "detailer" not noticing and watch lose a second hand before I even left the store. I'm not being snotty here, but do you think those issues were solved overnight, parts had to be ordered and they took time.

Were there things not perfect on my mini... yes very minor plastic/chrome pieces need to be changed and they will be taken care of I'm sure, things happen in transit across the world. And while I want my car perfect for delivery it will be soon enough (until my eldest son gets to it)

My only issue is their "detailer" needs to learn what blue painters tape is when waxing a car or he has to use better wax that doesn't turn white on plastic. But that only took a minute to clean up as I did my 1st wash/paint inspection. (note to self, next Mini ask them not to wax car... I'll do it myself)

I'm sorry you had a bad experience, but I really don't know if you gave them a chance or not. I do know if you start yelling out the gate you don't always get the best support, I know I would put someone who does on the bottom of my list to talk to and anonymously trashing them on the internet while it may help you feel better, I have discovered it doesn't help the issue.

Now if you want to hear a real customer service horror story let me tell you what I'm going though with a Kitchen Cabinet Manufacturer right now.....

 

It doesn't matter what production level your new car is. You are paying good money for a new car. You deserve to be treated well (even if you are acting like an idiot). My take on this is that Postlapsaria is reacting too late to the multiple failures of the dealer. I would have taken the first salesmans' advice and gone to another dealer (in our area, we're lucky to have 2). Then when I picked up my MINI, I'd drive straight to the first dealer and ask to speak to the highest placed person on site. Give them the business card of the first guy and say 'you coulda had the sale of this car'.

And Cory expects too little. He thinks unless we pay $100,000 we can't get treated well. Everyone should expect to be treated well, regardless of if your purchase is for $2 or $200,000. Quality service is out there and it competes. If we reward bad service, it will be provided to us and it's our own fault.

 

+1

 

I would have to agree with mysticturner...Money for a new car, and they ARE supposed to be getting a commission...I don't care if you don't like ME...like my MONEY if you're like that!

The beauty of today's technology is: make sure you have email traffic from these jokers or voice messages, etc. My MA (what does this stand for anyway?) was such a freakin' ditz (and he was MALE) in Germany was so sketchy on so many things, I took my "ammunition" (email and phone messages) to his supervisor and complained. I had quite a list --not only was he my Mini MA TWICE (for my '04 and '07) he also was dealing with my husband's BMW!!! You'd think this JERK would have been more considerate or paid more attention to my concerns considering I enabled THREE decent commissions for him!! I wasn't trying to get him in trouble, but if I was having this problem and I knew how to get the mission accomplished through leadership channels, what kind of crap was he handing those a little more naiive (sp?), and who had less money to spend? I'm NOT out to punish dealer reps by any means, but c'mon...this is a lot of money for a large population of folks. And definitely an emotional event for the first timers! Treat us right!

Anyway...for ANYBODY out there having dealership problems (not just with the Minis), DO NOT STAND FOR IT. Be REASONABLE in questioning their sketchiness, but do not just let it happen...Don't let them victimize others! If you think they owe you reasonably prompt responses, tell them so. And if they don't get the picture, let their supervisors know. It's the least you can do...some of these people MAY BE rushed or super busy and don't realize how rude they're being.

Ok...off the soapbox now...ENJOY THE MINI ANYWAY! Happy motoring.

 

Let me clarify a few things...I treated both MAs with respect. The issue that started the rift with the first MA was the value of my trade-in. I know people here have some horror stories, but I was offered 1/17th of what I just sold my car for. Not only that, when my MA told me what the wholesaler offered, he said "like a dollar". I said "uhhh....what?". He said "We can give you $100, but I can probably talk him up to $1,000". I said "uhh....what?". Then I said forget it, let me just test drive the MINI.

Came back the next week, he offered me $100. I said, "I have to be honest, I feel like you don't care about making this sale." He just shook his head yes. I stood up and said I'm going to Morristown. The manager Jeremy stopped me, said he could set me up with another MA, I left and thought about it, and then came back. Should I have went to Morristown? Definitely.

I decided to forget about trading in with the second MA, placed my order, and left. We talked through e-mail through the waiting period, and then delivery came. You guys know my experience with that. Mystic, you're right, I didn't say anything about the detailing then, and now it's too late.

Corey, I certainly did not have Kyle, and it sounds like you had a better experience than me. Obviously Princeton does a better job than what I experienced, or they wouldn't be in business anymore. However, I have to agree with Mystic again that I think you are setting the bar a little low. I am graduating college next week, and my MINI is a huge investment for me.

 

The final straw for me was when the Business manager at Hartford Mini started arguing with us over the phone. It would have taken just 10 minutes to take our order. So we drove to Stamford where they were packed full of people. Several staff members acknowledged us and said there would be a short wait. 5 minutes later the business manager took care of us. 15 minutes later we leave, order placed. The difference between the two places were night and day.

I just get the feeling that at Hartford they think that demand is so high for MINI's they don't have to try.

 

Unless the manager had come up with some decent monetary incentive to stay, I would have walked there and then - some things in life deserve second chances. Being arrogant and rude to a customer doesn't get a second chance in my book.

If the car wasn't to your satisfaction at delivery tine, you shouldn't have signed the paperwork and taken delivery. Refusing delivery usually gets the attention it deserves from the sales manager.

Did you get a 'we owe' sheet for the stripes? Usually, if anything is missing at delivery you get a 'we owe' in NJ. That bit of paper is their obligation to get things to you in a timely manner.

As with anything in life, your position is only really strong until you have signed and accepted the car. Once you have signed, you just have to hope that you got a great dealer and MA.

John.

 

Next time drive up to prestige mini. There the best!

 

I am closest to Princeton Mini and "tried" to buy my 2008 MCS there. Could never get salespeople to call me back or even email me back, despite two follow ups with each method. Otto's Mini was responsive, courteous and got the business. Took delivery Saturday

I am also a BMW owner and have heard from many BMW folks that Princeton is not pleasant to deal with.

YMMV

Chris

 

[quote=postlapsaria;2221914]Some of you may have read my posts concerning my troubles with Princeton MINI. My first salesman was very rude and told me to my face that he does not care about making the sale and told me I should go to Morristown...

... Anyway, I would definitely not recommend Princeton MINI. My experience with 2 MAs was total crap... I really hope their service guys are a lot better than this. [quote]

So postlapsaria, I guess this begs the following questions:

Why would you even bother to continue having any business relationship with this dealer considering the treatment that you've received?

Do you really think that things will be different in the service dept.?

The cavalier attitude that you see in sales may also (read probably) permeate the whole dealership.

Personally I don't think that I'd want these folks servicing my car and I, for one, would not be willing to give them a chance!

Once bitten, twice shy!

 

Isn't "sketchy dealer" redundant?

 

Just cancel the order for the stripes, get your money back, and get aftermarket stripes done somewhere. From what I've seen you can get way cooler looking stripes elsewhere. If you didn't get the stripes as part of a package I'd do that.

 

[QUOTE=Sabre;2225297][quote=postlapsaria;2221914]Some of you may have read my posts concerning my troubles with Princeton MINI. My first salesman was very rude and told me to my face that he does not care about making the sale and told me I should go to Morristown...

... Anyway, I would definitely not recommend Princeton MINI. My experience with 2 MAs was total crap... I really hope their service guys are a lot better than this. Because they are closer than Morristown by about a half hour...I hope you're wrong

 

It's dissapointing to hear how the dealership treated you. I have much more experience with bmw dealerships and am just now starting the mini shopping experience. Given that the mini's go for msrp, these guys are making much more profit than my bmw's which were at least twice as much in price.

As for service, give them a shot. At least with bmw dealerships, the service departments are usually far different than the sales department. Remember, the service dept is a big money maker for the dealership. they usually treat you pretty good.

good luck

 

Make sure you give Mini your honest feedback about the dealer & your MA. Let them know they have they have folks not providing the expected "mini" experience.

 

Whoops!

 

I also went to Princeton. To be honest I have nothing to complain of... yet.

Postalpsaria: Who were your MAs if you don't mine me asking?

 

go to ottos. remember i guy named otto has to be good.