I made an appointment @ Bob Smith BMW/MINI in Calabasas CA., to take my Cooper S in for warranty work (a broken precat @ $2000 worth of work) tomorrow @ 9 AM. I got a call today, from them, the guy said that they are so busy that they might get to my car next week. I asked him, if they are that busy, why did they make an appointment for tomorrow? He told me that 3 MINI techs got hurt. A good friend of mine, in the know, told me that they are so slow that the MINI techs are looking for work @ other places and that they are putting me on the back burner because my car is warranty work. Whats up with that?

 

Wow, I just got my Mini there a few weeks ago. I'm sorry to hear that you are going through that. We had our BMW serviced there on the BMW side and it was very impressive. Can you take it to Universal?

 

Mini Techs looking for work at other places ?!?!?! wow.... why would they look for another job if their dealer has lots of work...

 

Dealers get paid for warantee work just like every other job. It may be slow pay and at a different rate, but the factory pays, not the dealer.

 

I have had nothing but bad experience with warranty work at Bob Smith Mini. Appointments do not seem to mean anything to them. They are poor at troubleshooting problems. They are even worse at performing quality repairs. The Service Advisors (SA) are very poor at communicating to the Techs what needs to be done (poor service write up). The SA are very poor at communicating to the customer what is being done to your car, how the work is progressing, when the car will be done, and ultimately what was done to the car. The SAs seem to be too busy to provide good service.

 

They make a lot more on nonwarranty work. They charge you 2 hours and bang it out in an hour and they do that all day long.

 

I took the car this morning, and I'll post a write up when it's done. I know one thing, It wasn't the wonderful experience I get from South Bay. I would love to take it there, but I didn't want to drive it for an hour and a half (that's if there is no traffic) with the problem that it has. I may have to end up taking it there.

 

THIS^^

I don't trust your 'in the know' friend who says they have so little work they can't do warranty work. As someone else said, the dealership gets paid to do warranty work. They just have to use book time.

 

Oh ya, he knows the deal. And how could you trust him if you don't know him? And, "book time" makes them a lot less money then nonwarranty time. It's comman knowledge in the auto service business. It's really sad that they would do that. Anyway I am making arrangements to get it out of there and to a dealer that wants to work with me.

 

Mechanics will not turn down work just because its warranty....
Yes they get book but that means very little. If they need more time to do a job they get basically get if they have a good reason. Most Techs are not paid by the job and most are paid by the hour or at least are assured a full day.
Im not calling you Cyn, just wondering why Technicians would want to leave a busy paying shop

 

Plus cars in warranty are newer, cleaner, basically corrosion free and when they perform the warranty work they now have the shop well aquatinted with the customer for future business

 

You would think all that would be the case. But it just doesn't seem to be. There was one tech @ the desk just waiting for something to do. And the whole time I was there, about an hour and a half because I had to wait for a ride, I only saw one MINI and that was mine. So, I really can't explain what is going on. Maybe most of the techs left and they are short. But I do know one thing: They were not busy working on MINIs.

And it's not up to the techs to work on which car when. They are told which car to work on and when to work on it.

One thing I remember, is everyone there seemed to have this lazy, I don't give a F&^% attitude, like they deserved to get paid and sit around and do nothing and screw anyone else. But I noticed that the BMW side seems to be totally different.

 

A "good" mechanic can usually do flat rate warranty work in less time than is allotted and MAKE MORE MONEY.....or be lazy and make less per hour.

I would be contacting MINI USA and discussing this issue!! ANY PROBLEM reflects badly on the MINI Experience.

Service appointments should be handled in the order received with some give to the situation of the customer. An out-of-town emergency repair should get some priority IMO and in this case COMMUNICATION with existing appointments / customers is KEY to keeping everyone HAPPY!!!

 

When the dealers work on a car for repairs weather it is Warranty paid or Customer Paid they have what is called a "FLAT RATE MANUAL" What ever hours to do the job is in that book. If a job takes two hours and the mechanic only takes one hour he will be paid for the two hours. If he is lazy and stupid he will take three hours but still only be paid for the two hours in the book. If he does not do the correct repair job and has to do what they call (WDO) work done over it is on him. He does not get paid for work done over.

That is why most mechanics are only parts changers and don't even try to repair anything or rebuild anything like an alternator or A/C unit. It is in their best interest to just replace a bad part and go for the Flat Rate.( My opinion "best way in the long run" )

Putting on accessories can be charged by the hour or flat rate. It is up to the dealer how to charge for non repairs. They usually have a set price on their labor charges for that though.

An independent repair shop will charge you any way they feel like. Usually they are way cheaper then a dealer and will repair a part if needed and not just replace the whole thing. They usually have real mechanics and not just parts changers.

There are some really stupid greedy--- did I say "STUPID" ???? Did I say "GREEDY" dealers that do not pay their mechanics flat rate and pay them by the hour and then their customers are the one's that suffer with shoddy repairs and mechanics that should never touch a car. Good Mechanics will almost always demand the Flat Rate pay scale. Bad mechanics will take a job at any cost just to be working. Greedy stupid dealers always use the hourly mechanics but still charge Flat Rate.

____ This is nothing new and it is all dealers "not just Mini Dealers----

 

You need to find another dealer for your service and warranty work - these folks will never make you happy, and you'll always be wondering if they did the job right. Find a place you have confidence in, even if you do have to drive an hour - or have it towed.

And be grateful that you have a choice of dealers. Most parts of the country have one dealer serving a very large geographical area, and it's just not feasible to drive to anouther.

We're fortunate here in KC to have a very very good dealer that really does concentrate on service after the sale, and supports the local club's activities as well.

 

Its true most techs can make more money on Flat rate but many do not have that choice. It is really the choice of the Dealer and its owners. These days Flat rate is not so common because of how complex the cars are. A lot of Attention to details and diagnosis is needed. IMO an assured paycheque plus a bonus the best compromise of quality work and efficiant use of time.

You should take your concerns to management. These are the people you are paying and entrusting with your car. If that does nothing you can send corporate an Email. They take these Emails seriously

 

I'm making arrangments to take it to a different dealer, a dealer who has always taken good care of me, but it's about an hour and a half away, at best.

 

I contacted Mini USA about Bob Smith and they said they would discuss the issues with Bob Smith but that I would not receive any update on the discussion or results. I thought that was really too bad.

Based in CynMini's experience so far, it does not look like the discussions had an positive impact on Bob Smith Mini.

In my case I finally gave up getting my issues (remaining vehicle problems) resolved. My car is now out of warranty. I should have never taken my car in for warranty work and I should have done the work myself or taken it to an independent shop at my expense. My car spent four weeks going back and forth each week on a flatbed because Bob Smith was so incompetent.