About 500 miles ago I took my '05 "S" to a new (to me) repair shop for an oil change. The place was conveniently close and the price was reasonable. The other day I noticed my oil pressure guage (chrono pack) showing an erratic reading. It was up and down, but eventually returning to normal. The next day everything was normal until at one start-up the oil light came on while the gauge registered zero. I shut it down and tried again a few minutes later. It was back to normal. I checked the dipstick and all was fine. I called another repair shop and made an appointment. They found the wrong oil filter was used, the O-ring was busted, and the drain plug was messed up enough to need replacement. That's two oil changes I had to pay for. Any advice on a course of action I may take to get my money back from the first guy, or is a personal boycott and bad review on Yelp the best I can do?

 

Have you tried calling the shop and telling them about the problem?

 

Give shop 1 the bill for the repair/2nd oil change...see if they refund the cost of the service. ...
Since you nevet gave the first shop a chance to fix the issue....you may need a good reason you did not call them before seeking a repair elsewhere.....

 

Because you took your MINI some place else with out giving them a chance to correct the problem you are probably out of luck. If it were me i would just move on, lesson learned... glad the MINI is ok..

 

Yeah, lesson learned. I didn't even take it back to the 1st place because I knew what to expect from them. I search and search for a decent mechanic who knows what he is doing. Few and far between - especially around where I live. There are just too many half-brains trying to fleece a quick buck. The second place I went to looks like a good place, least right now. Too bad I didn't know of them in the first place.

 

Try to locate a local club for the MINI specifically to see who those people are using for their service needs. If no local MINI club exists check out a general British Motoring Club to see if you can find similar results. BMW has also been around much longer and often a BMW trained mechanic can successfully work on MINI's. So try the local BMW car club for similar ideas.

 

SCMM.org is an active club in your backyard. We have members that own MINI repair shops that do excellent work at reasonable prices. Danny at MiniCorsa in North Hollywood would have been an excellent choice.

 

I've got a crazy oil-change story that involves me trying to get the original shop to make the situation right - giving them the chance to correct their mistakes - and finding, weeks later, my brand-new OEM drain plug under my ECU and a homemade plug in the oil pan. These were two totally self-supplied - down to the 36 mm socket! - oil changes, and neither of them went even remotely as it should have.

"Changing oil is not that hard," I figured, I just didn't feel like doing it myself. After giving them the chance to correct their mistakes, and having them screw it up again, I realized the whole truth of the fool-me-once maxim. While it's probably worth pointing out to the first shop that an extra-green mechanic (or useless old curmudgeon, one can never quite say) got in over his head and should be looked after a little closer, I think you probably made the right choice by getting another shop to do it right the second time.

...and as a Mini owner in Calgary, I feel like every single Mini on this board other than mine is a California Mini, with maybe the occasional nor'easter. You must be able to find a half-decent shop!

 

I would never go back and give them another chance. It just opens up the door to the above or rather below guy, Applesauce. OR, they do something on purpose.

I don't want to sound overly harsh but this is a sore spot with me. Three different mechanics, in three different cities, all recommended by co-workers, all turn out to be on cocaine and ruined my car. That would be my first guess, he didn't not-notice that the filter was wrong, but he put it in anyway. Because he was in a hurry to get another sniff and didn't care.

A good and safe non drug mechanic is very hard to find, and usually charges
prices very near the dealer prices.

 

Every once in a while I hear a horror story about one of those quick lube places where they don't do something or barely plug the oil pan and a short while later the plug is gone and no oil left. Last time I heard it the result was a seized engine and they had to sue for damages. Likely the only recourse is legal action if they don't budge when you go complain in person. Is it worth it for the cost of an oil change? That's up to you.