My R56 is back at Mini of Sterling again, after 26 days and $2200 worth of repairs with the same problems it had before. Before I go in to details of my experiences, I want to see what the general consensus is on their service department.
Please feel free to share the good and bad, name names if possible, I'm trying to get a feel if this is an isolated problem, or if #%€¥ like this is standard operating procedure there. At this point I am pretty sure I will be getting my lawyer involved.

Thanks for your time,
Drew

 

Anyone out there with ANY experience with Mini of Sterling PLEASE chime in.
Good, bad or indifferent, I want to hear your personal experiences. With the number of Minis in NoVa, and the dozens of local NAM members I am shocked that nobody has chimed in at all, even though 350 or so people have read this thread already.

Help me get a feel for what I am dealing with these people. If my incident is isolated, I would be less eager to take legal action against them. If this is common, possible class action lawsuit? Please let me know YOUR experiences with this dealership.

Thanks again,

 

Anyone with experiences at Mini of Rockville?

 

Yelp has some reviews for MINI of Sterling, people either love them or hate them.

 

Basically my issue w them is I brought my car in due to timing chain noise, and an intermittently blowing AC. What they repaired for $2200 over the course of 26 days were replacing 5 lifters and charged and pressure tested the AC system. Then they discovered the real problem with the AC was, a broken connector on the fan which they tried to charged me 2.5 hours of labor to fix. Throughout the ordeal, which lasted 26 days, getting ahold of anyone useful was impossible, and the dealership blamed the delays on my warranty company. I confirmed with the warranty company that the approved the repairs 11 days before they did the work.


I approved $320 worth of labor, they tried to collect $479 from me, finally settling on $411 out of pocket from me. I paid under duress just so we didn't cause a scene at the dealer.


Not one week after the repairs were done the timing chain rattle came back with a vengeance. The shop and the warranty company told me to return the car to Mini of Sterling even though I have zero confidence in them.


Now a week after giving the car a clean bill of health, claiming that my timing chain was within spec, they call me this morning and tell me the car needs:
timing chain and idler/tensioner
valve cover
2 coils
alternator
seat occupancy mats


I am dumbfounded....

 

And this is why I'm afraid to get a Mini. :(. That said, I agree that it sounds like the customer service is awful. I have dealt with Criswell (Chevy and Fiat) in the past and their customer service is awful as well but they never tried to nickel / dime me .. and never reported 1 week later that I needed all this extra stuff.

I have been interested in Mini - I just don't think I'm ready to deal with continuing expenses (especially if the cost is high). I just want to get in and drive. The Fiat 500 is also a small car and thus far (40k miles) has required very little attention. I can change my own brakes and such though, so I may save a little.

 

I have gone there a few times and they are not cheap but the customer service was decent for me.

Had a clutch replaced in my R53 and they gave me an estimate and came in a little under the estimate. Sometimes I use them for an oil change which is OK but pretty slow.

Never use them for parts as they charge more than MSRP.

An alternative is AutoScandia in Herndon. They are pretty good to work with but you have to go there as they are terrible on the phone.

Cheers

 

Working in a multi brand dealership myself, I always hated the "Steal-ership" moniker, since I have always worked for reputable shops, but I get it now. They are not the first dealership to try and rook me, Koons Honda had my car for a recall a few years back and while I was waiting the service writer came out to tell me that I needed 4 new tires, and both front motor mounts. My cars tires were less than 1000 miles old, and still had blue on the sidewalls. I asked the service writer to get his manager, and asked him to have the tech come out to my car to show us the "severe cupping" on my tires and broken motor mounts. Needless to say, none of my motor mounts were broken. Being a former ASE tech myself, I aint the brother to $%@% with as far as repairs on my vehicle go.


On a side note, that tech and service manager are still at Koons.

 

Follow up....
another 2 weeks at the shop last month for new coils (1&2) timing chain, valve cover gasket etc. Three days after I got the car back I installed 4 new Brisk spark plugs to replace the original oil soaked plugs. 2 days later, CEL comes back with general misfire, and misfires on 2 and 4. I return it to the dealer, and they claim it is the non stock spark plugs, and offer to put in new factory NGK's for around $160. I refused, and took the car home. For giggles the next morning before work I checked out under the hood. Good thing I did, as not a single clamp on my intake was tightened. The whole thing was completely loose just sitting on top of my engine. I am amazed the car even made it the 40 miles to my house the night before.


AVOID THIS SHOP AT ANY COST, FOR ANY REASON.

 

btw, IT MUST BE Thursday, BECAUSE MY cel IS ON AGAIN

 

here is an awesome update!
The car is STILL at the dealer, 5th trip, over two weeks there now on this trip.
They last got 24 hours of labor, plus parts totaling over $4,000 to replace my water pump. They were about to return it to me again last Thursday when it finally overheated in their presence. NOW they say it is developing air pockets in the cooling system, causing it to overheat.
They say I need a new head gasket, but to get that approved, they want me to approve $1690/11 hours of labor to get to it so they can then determine if the head gasket replacement is warranty-able.


I am half tempted to go and stick a gas soaked rag in the gas tank, light it and run.

 

Sounds like you have an after market warranty? Perhaps you should take it to an independent that will accept the warranty. I know here in Phoenix we have a couple of really good independents that work on Mini's..

 

AZ, problem is this dealer STARTED working on my problems, and warranty co has forced me to go back to them to finish the repairs.
I am awaiting calls from MINI USA, warranty co, and multiple people from the dealership, updates coming.


Total in repairs paid by warranty now total close to $18K!!!!

 

Car STILL at dealer. Even with me crashing 2 of their 2015 loaner cars, I still can't get it back!

End of September loaner was t boned while in a parking lot w/1800 miles on it.
Replacement loaner, a slick red S model 4 door with even less miles, I ran into the back of a church van sitting still in the middle of the road with no lights or signals on. Air bag never went off, I broke some toes, made my left hand big and useless, and badly bruised my tail bone and abdomen.
After tearing down my motor to the head gasket, my warranty co agreed to replace the head, even though the dealer is requesting a full motor replace. Any way I can push warranty people to do whole motor?
Even if it is cured with the head, I now have a car that is on record for needing an entire motor replacement, nobody in their right mind is going to buy this car for a good price.