MINIDivision,

I appreciate the information you provide to the MINI community, and I appreciate the fact that MINIUSA allows you to monitor the forums for feedback about the MINI experience. I am also sorry that when you post some good news, you are immediately pounced upon with more problems and rarely receive thanks for a good solution. That would be very disheartening to me and totally sap my enthusiasm for the job. So, let me first say thank you for the information and updates that you currently provide. We're glad that you are here and part of this community, and we realize that your participation here is in all likelihood heavily governed by policy at MINIUSA. I have a suggestion, below, that I believe will increase customer satisfaction as well as make the responses you receive much more positive.

As you should know from your marketing research, MINI owners and especially MINI owners on these forums like to make decisions based on their own research. MINI owners do not like to be marketed to, but prefer to seek out products that appeal to their sensibilities. Along with this mindset also comes a need to understand the "why" of a situation when problems exist.

Let's take a look at one recent example: the AUX port. While the fact that it took longer than expected to be released from MINI was a sore spot with some MINI owners, it is my firm belief that most of the frustration of the MINI community on these forums resulted in the lack of information "why" the AUX port took so long to produce. If there were logical reasons behind the delay, we can understand and appreciate the delay. But, without explanation, the creative minds of the MINI demographic begin spinning, and it breeds speculation and frustration.

A similar issue occurred with the rear fog lights. Why would MINI leave the bulb and wiring in the car and purposely disable the rear fog lights? That's illogical, that's wasteful, that doesn't make sense from a cost-basis, that doesn't make sense from a safety issue. More than the rear fogs, the MINI community wanted to know, in plain terms, "What the heck was MINIUSA thinking?". It comes back to the issue of WHY. Give us a reason. Now, we hear we will get the lights, and that is indeed great news, but why can't MINIUSA tell us when we can expect it? Explain to us what will cause delays in getting this rolled out. Explain to us if computers will need to be re-programmed, dealers trained, parts produced, etc. Just let us know the "WHY".

I, as well as others, am growing more and more frustrated with my new MCS because it stumbles or hiccups in first gear unless I pull away extremely slowly and feather the clutch just right. I also have the yo-yo issue at around 3000RPM. Can you guess what I'm going to say next?

Why did BMW/MINI release a software version on new cars that exhibits this behavior? Did this not show up in testing? When will it be fixed? What is causing it? Why does it happen?

Is the yo-yo a function of engine software management or is it a more fundamental problem with the overall design that will require more than software to address? Why is the yo-yo so hard to rectify?

I hope you can provide some answers to these questions. You see, my brand new car is sick, and I want a diagnosis. I want to know when I can expect it to get better. I want to know the treatment planned to make my MINI better. Right now, many of us are out here waiting. It's very much like a visit to the hospital with a sick child, and we're sitting in the waiting room, and we've been here a long time, and no one has come to talk to us. No one has come to explain what is going on. We're all sitting here in the waiting room, pacing, wondering, speculating, and we're getting more anxious and frustrated by the hour.

I appreciate you taking the time to read this. I hope that you will pass along my letter and take to heart my suggestion that MINIUSA provide us more information in the future. We all want our cars to be perfect, but perfection is rarely achieved. In the absence of perfection, we will settle for explanations, estimated time lines for fixes, and causes of the problems we are experiencing. Information, freely provided, will go a long way in customer satisfaction until a fix is available. Whatever you do, please don't keep us in the dark, because this is the single greatest source of dissatisfaction in the information age. Coffee mugs are great and we all like free pens and t-shirts, but information is something MINIUSA can provide at no cost, and I promise you it will reap rewards in customer satisfaction far greater than any t-shirt ever could.

Sincerely,
John Stines

 

Nicely said. :smile:

 

Very nice post John,
thank you!!!

 

Very nicely put. However I doubt MINIUSA will give you much on the way of "in-depth" explanations about current day issues just because of legal and liability implications. Carmakers, rarely if ever, volunteer to accept liability for product related defects.

I agree that BMW/MINI should have never released these cars to market with very poorly executed and tested engine software calibrations. That is totally unacceptable specially coming from the maker of "Ultimate driving machines". I have never befor eowned a car that required constant "Software patches" to make it run properly. Heck, my childhood's Atari 2600 video game always worked right from the get go!

I want to see better communications between MINIUSA and its body of 70 dealers accross the country. It always seems to me that the dealers are in one page and MINIUSA is in another...are we still relying on smoke signals or something? In the era of e-mails, faxes, computers and high tech communications, this nonsense should not be happening!

MINIUSA needs to realize the the typical MINI buyer is young, affluent and educated so trying to outsmart your customer base is not only dumb but foolish. get your act together!

 

I'm with MINI USA. I've passed this message on to a MINI National Customer Relations Representative who will be in touch with you soon, or if you prefer, you can call us at (866) ASK MINI.

 

>>I appreciate the information you provide to the MINI community, and I appreciate the fact that MINIUSA allows you to monitor the forums for feedback about the MINI experience. I am also sorry that when you post some good news, you are immediately pounced upon with more problems and rarely receive thanks for a good solution.<<

All I've ever heard from "MINIDivision" on this site are these robotic "We are sorry to hear of your problem. Please contact us at 866-ASK-MINI" messages. Well, we know the phone number, for _____'s sake. What's the point? Was there a substantive message that I missed? What exactly are you thankful for, jstines? What "good news"? 31 posts in a year - it's not like they're throwing us many bones here.

I do appreciate 90% of what you wrote, and it's very lucid and convincing.

_________________


Borla exhaust, Moss intake, Magnecor

 

>>>>>All I've ever heard from "MINIDivision" on this site are these robotic "We are sorry to hear of you problem. Please contact us at 866-ASK-MINI" messages.

I've said it before MiniDivision is a droid!!

 

Well put, John.

 

Wouldn't surprise me. I've been told by "ASK-MINI" reps that they monitor this site, but I don't think they really read it.

They don't seem to realize that "I have forwarded your post, please call us" isn't helpful to the rest of the owner's community....

Sometimes MINIUSA is really good at recognizing that they have an active owner's community, and other times they just don't get it....

 

My new MINI has also been stumbling since I received it in April. At first, I thought I had just forgotten that "left leg operation" and I'd get better. Then I discovered that so many other folks had the same problem. My first inclination was to just follow the action silently (as I have been doing) and wait to see it get fixed. Maybe it's better to add my name to the waiting list. How many others are silent about a problem that at least deserves some kind of response other than "we're working on it"? Remember the squeaky wheel business? And why haven't I heard anything about it from my dealer's service people?ermc2@att.net

 

>>My new MINI has also been stumbling since I received it in April. At first, I thought I had just forgotten that "left leg operation" and I'd get better. Then I discovered that so many other folks had the same problem. My first inclination was to just follow the action silently (as I have been doing) and wait to see it get fixed. Maybe it's better to add my name to the waiting list. How many others are silent about a problem that at least deserves some kind of response other than "we're working on it"? Remember the squeaky wheel business? And why haven't I heard anything about it from my dealer's service people?ermc2@att.net


My MCS is no different from others reporting this slow as hell from the stopped position, through 1st gear. Downright dangerous at times. I'm intellectually accepting performance mods related to the problem, e.g., air intakes, but keep reading that S owners, not all, report it still hasn't helped. I'm not wanting to spend money on something that is not a definite cure. Very frustrating. Still love the car...but would like a cure from MINI.

 

There is no way MINIDivision can give you an intelligent reply in these forums. There would have to be a team of lawyers involved. The only hope is that MINI will listen to these concerns and fix them.

 

^ ^ mcs22004, I agree with your statement under the conditions that you replace the "can" in the first line with "will". I think your rationale though is totally on target. Unfortunately. :evil:

 

>>There is no way MINIDivision can give you an intelligent reply in these forums. There would have to be a team of lawyers involved. The only hope is that MINI will listen to these concerns and fix them.


TOO late the LAWYERS allready got involved!