I never wanted to write a post like this to anyone connected to MINI. I’d wanted my very own MINI for years and finally purchased one for myself almost 2 years ago. Up until last month, it was the best car I’d ever owned. I had no problems with it to speak of, aside from the necessary trips needed for any kind of maintenance.

I live in southwestern Montana. The closest MINI dealer is MINI of Murray in Murray, UT—they’re a little over 400 miles from where I live & drive. After Murray, distances are almost double—Schomp MINI in Denver, and a couple of dealerships in the Seattle area. Both of those trips are over 700 miles.

When I started experiencing a problem with my car earlier this year, I decided to have it serviced in Murray, UT because it’s the shortest trip. That’s when my horrible experience started…

On Friday June 12th, I dropped off my car at MINI of Murray. On top of the general maintenance I was going to have, I described some of the issues I was having with my iPod adapter, and the Service Advisor, Shiloh, requested that I leave my iPod with them to see if that was the problem. I directly handed my iPod to him. We were told our car would be in good hands and we’d receive a call when they were done working on it.

On Monday, June 15th, we received a phone call. The car had been broken into over the weekend while sitting in the lot at the dealership; items from inside the car had been stolen. The most maddening part of this call wasn’t the content, but who was making it—not the dealership, but the police. We didn’t hear from the dealership at all until we contacted them. They weren’t apologetic about what had happened. They didn’t try to reassure us that they’d fix everything and make it right. Instead, they were defensive and somewhat rude. Some of our calls went un-returned for a day or two at a time. We wanted to know details about how this situation was going to be handled—were they going to cover the damage, or did our insurance need to? Were the items stolen going to be replaced? Items that included my iPod, which had been placed back in my car instead of keeping it in a safe place in the dealership until the car could be worked on. Unfortunately, it took the dealership over a week to officially decide what was to be done. While they waited, no service was completed on the car. While they waited, no parts were ordered.

In the end, we were assured we would be compensated for the CD’s, CD visor, and iPod that were stolen. The pair of binoculars that were accidentally left wouldn’t be included because they were a gift and we couldn’t provide a receipt for them. Then we were assured that the passenger side window that was broken through would be replaced, and re-tinted (against our wishes), along with the driver’s side tint (so they would match).
The dealership had my car for over 3 weeks, in total. They only worked on it for 2 days. Adding in time for parts to ship, they could've had the car back to me in little over a week.

My car was re-delivered to me today, July 8th , finally. I was, honestly, very excited to have it back. It’s the summer and this is the best time of year, in this region, to go for fun drives, and driving is my passion and hobby.

Unfortunately, the car was returned to me in unacceptable condition. Not only was the replaced window NOT re-tinted, as promised, there were still pieces of glass inside the car, on the seats, as well as glass dust in the door pocket and grease on the door itself. We had requested that they not tint the window originally. We asked that they compensate us so that we could get it done locally in case any problems with the tint occurred, including it not matching the current tint. They insisted on tinting it at their dealership. Since the tint wasn’t done there, we at least expect them to pay for the tint to be done here. No compensation has been provided to us.

Shiloh, the service advisor, also assured us that the CD’s and CD visor would be compensated for. This compensation was also not provided. The only compensation we received was for the iPod that was stolen.

It would be one thing if they’d told us they wouldn’t provide these things, but they did. The fact of the matter is, they should have gone out of their way to make things right. But they didn’t. Instead, they’ve made things worse.

So I'm posting here, and every other MINI messageboard I'm a member of, to let everyone know of the horrible, maddening, and unacceptable treatment we received from this dealership. While things are getting financially tough for many people around the country, you'd think that customer service would be the top priority for dealerships. It seems that in this case, it was the last thing they cared about.

Sorry for the gripe, but I hope no one goes through this at any dealership, MINI or not. (And honestly, I held MINI at higher standards than your run-of-the-mill dealerships...)

Mel

 

What a horrible experience and I'm so sorry that happened to you.

Have you written to the Mini Corporate headquarters in an actual letter (not email)? I would do that as well because something needs to be done about that. That's simply unacceptable that they'd return a car to you with broken glass on the seats, etc.

What a mess.

 

I agree, that's just not good enough,I too would report them to MINIUSA

 

I wrote to MINIUSA in an e-mail (contact link on the website), as well, but I'm not sure how to contact them otherwise...?

I absolutely LOVE my car, but I really don't think this was a fair or reasonable way to deal with us and I really don't want anyone else to get treated this way, either.

 

im sorry your dealing with this.. i would take pictures of it.. and then make a call to mini usa..

 

Sorry for your problems MontanaMini. One thought would be to go through your insurance to make everything right and let them deal with the dealership.

I have been dealing with Ralph Schomp in Denver for many years with first with my M Roadster and now also with my Mini and have always been very happy with them. It is a longer drive, but I'll bet you'll be happier with their service.

 

COKen--I originally bought from my MINI from Schomp and was very pleased with the sales & service. We just couldn't make the lengthy trip to Denver again this year, so we went with Murray. I really regret it now...

I'll be sending a letter to some of the execs at MINI USA if we don't hear anything from Murray in the next day. I refuse to sit around and wait to hear from them after the length of time they had my car.

 

is that Mini of Murray's insurance should cover them! IT's not like it's out of pocket for them. They should just give you their insurance company contact info and have you deal with them to get a check cut.

This is really a drag and there's no reason that it should be happening.

I feel for you.

Matt

ps, one other option is to find out who owns Mini of Murray and take the to small claims court.... That should get a response....

 

I forgot to mention--when this first happened, and they were trying to "figure out" stuff, we asked if their insurance was going to cover it or if we needed to file a claim with our insurance. After a day or two, they told us that their insurance would cover it--which is why we didn't file a claim in the first place to get things taken care of. Murray told us they'd take care of it.