Hey, Im just curious as to who may have bought a MINI from MINI of pittsburgh, and what their thoughts are on the dealership?

 

I am waiting on my first MINI - ordered from them - and I am not well pleased with them so far. They started our relationship by promising me a completely ridiculous and optimistic build/delivery date (I know that now; I didn't then), and have been non-communicative to dismissive and annoying ever since. I really am not asking them for much, but honesty and respect would be nice (as would returning the single phone call I have made to them). I had a bad experience with the BMW side of the dealership on a service matter, but I was hoping the MINI side would be better, and since they were the only MINI game in town, I went with it.

Anyway, I am hoping once I get the car, the memory of this business will fade. Right now I think of them as the obstacle I have to get over in order to get the car I want.


ETA: And I feel bad that my first post here was a complaint. I'm really very positive about the car itself!

 

Just curious, what kind of time frame did they give you initially?

 

He told me that it was showing up as being built within the next week to ten days - maybe even starting the next day! And the explanation was that they had that spot in the production queue and had just slotted me in there. Turns out it was 6-7 weeks later that it was built. Now I figured I'd have to wait a while and the timeline that it has turned into was about what I was expecting going in, but that song and dance made me think I was getting very lucky. I really do feel that it's better to under-promise and over-deliver than to over-promise and disappoint.

 

6-7 weeks to get out of the factory is insanely long. You should have been out of the factory after 2-4 weeks.

 

That's interesting.

Spouse's guess based on that is that I got bumped for somebody else (his theory is that they bumped me for somebody who was financing, since they make more on those cars). I asked my MA about the timetable back in early May after it had been over a month and his response was that he was "sorry it was taking longer than you might like." So I knew then that I was in for the long haul and just going to have to wait it out. I considered telling them to forget it and going to Cleveland for a dealer, but I just didn't have the energy to start the whole thing over again.

 

My comment has nothing to do with MOP, but I ordered last June (12th maybe) and didn't take delivery until the last weekend in August. I ordered from Towne (Buffalo NY) and everyone that I was in touch with around here during that time had similar waits.

 

I got my MINI from MOP last July. It was literally the only one they had in stock(ZERO at dealership); actually, it was sitting in Century 3 mall! Gas was like $4+ a gallon! Anyways, I really needed a car, and wanted a MINI. The MA I had was GC, who is no longer there. He worked very hard for me to be able to purchase the car, as the dealer wasn't interested in selling it? Guess they actually just wanted to have one car on the showroom floor for people to see. Bill S actually had his car there for people to see. He is the Mr.MINI guy you see on TV. MOP is really involved in the local MINI club, and sponsors several events. Bill is a cool guy!

Since my purchase, I have been to the dealer twice. Some crackhead was sitting in my car Christmas night after church. He had broken in to several cars looking for money for drugs, on my car he had smashed the drivers window....Long story short, it took MOP bodyshop 29 days to repair the window, and replace the inside drivers door panel. NO phone calls returned, ever. Body shop SUCKS! Seems they did not have the MINI survey that you complete when you go into service or purchase your car, so they really didnt care too much what you though. When MINI USA sent me a survey later on, the called and tried to make it up to me with some discounts.

My 2nd trip was when my clutch went entirely out. ZERO MM on the flywheel, etc. I told the service guy about the sticking/burning problems a couple weeks earlier, they drove it and said all is fine. When it broke, they towed my car to the dealer, they replaced clutch, flywheel, transmission, etc for FREE. NO questions asked. They also found a leaking thermostat and fixed that at the same time! Total cost to me was $0, they charged MINI $4,860! This was at 7,500 mile s.

Overall, I wanted the MINI and not the dealership. Service dept is GREAT, the MA's kinda seem like the used car salesmen you see on old TV commercials though. Bill the GM is awesome, and comes to/sponsers
MINI events with the clubs.

It is not stopping me from buying my next MINI there, but there are a couple dealers in OHIO that are close. Maybe buy from them and service from MOP?
Bill will also help you if you dont like one of the 2 MA's...

 

Purchased both of my MINI's at MOP (04 Cooper, 07 S). Sales staff was helpful. Bill Schmitt, sales manager, is enthusiastic about the brand and the local club. The service department has always been very good. I have never dealt with the body shop.