OK, please excuse my ignorance to proper terminology on the car parts here while I explain the situation here...

As I have posted before, I purchased my MCS from Herb Chambers MINI in Boston in June but I quickly discovered how lousy their service dept. is so I've been having it serviced at MINI Peabody. Long-story-not-so-short...While having my software upgrade performed earlier this week to remedy the cold-start problem, the very observant Gary King, (MINI Service SAVIOR!), discovered that Herb Chambers left the 'shipping blocks' on the car, (plastic ring thingys they place on the car shocks/struts while it's on the delivery truck to prevent too much movement on the shocks during delivery, I'm told). Now mind you, I have put 2,500 miles on the car with these damn things on there! So this was causing my MCS to have a VERY rough ride over the bumps and what seemed to be an alignment problem, (pulled to the left). Apparently these 'shipping block' rings eventually blew which then caused damage to all four of those dust booty things that are fitted over the springs (again, sorry for my lousy terminology). So once the MINI Peabody Service Dept. removed those rings, I've been having a much smoother ride for the last day and a half and the 'alignment problem' has disappeared. I'm taking up the dust booty replacement issue with Herb Chambers Boston, of course, but I'd rather have the service performed by MINI Peabody for obvious reasons, so we'll see what happens.

So my question is, has anyone else had this problem with such a dealer-oversight? If so, how did you deal with it and how did your dealer address it? Was the 'dust-booty' repair covered under warranty?

 

Since I also got my MCS from Herb Chambers I'll check my shocks in the moring and get back to you.

Vincent

 

Thanks Vincent. I'll post an update on how they respond to fixing the issue. I should hear something back tomorrow.

 

Pure Silver,
Can't say that I would be soo calm
Good luck with Herb Chambers.
It may be in your best interest to get a writen statement from Peabody describing what they found etc. I think this will be needed if HC tries to give you flack.
You may also want to notify MINI NA of the problem. This may help with getting the word out to dealers. Also.... it would make sure that HC is liable for the problem, rather than them just writing it off as warranty work.
I would consider too.... requesting that Peabody (if you trust them) do the work and let HC pay them for the work.

OK.... maybe I'm being a little hard on them....
Just my .02
Hope you get everything cleared up.
Happy Motoring.
SW

 

:smile:

Cheers!
Clover

 

I'm on my way down to see Gary to see if I have any damage because of Herb Chambers poor prep service.

Thanks for the post.

Vincent

 

All is well - Just a false alarm. The plastic shipping blocks are white and blue the small white doughnuts at the top of the shocks are part of the shock absorber assembly.

I can say enough about Peabody MINI service those guys are great.

Sorry Herb Chambers for my last post.

Vincent

 

I agree, those guys in Peabody are the best aren't they? Especially Gary!

Well, here's the latest on my situation...
I called the GM of Herb Chambers MINI this morning to inform him of the shipping blocks/dust booty problem and he initially thought I was calling for a different reason, (more on that later...). When I informed him of the problem, he apologized and said, 'sorry people sometimes make mistakes'. He agreed they would fix it and provide a loaner car, however when I asked him to give me something in writing admitting they were at fault, (in case there are any warranty problems), he said he couldn't agree to that and that would be a decision for his superior, (the BMW GM at the same location). So I drove down there to speak with her directly, ("Melissa", BMW GM). When I told her the issue, she was shocked and said it was an 'extremely embarrassing situation' and she appreciated me being so 'calm' about it. She apologized profusely and said that NEVER should have happened and she would personally see to it that everything gets fixed and yes, she would give me something in writing admitting their fault for my records. I had mentioned that I preferred to get my MCS serviced with MINI Peabody instead for obvious reasons, but after a lengthy discussion, she put me a little more at ease and convinced me to give them one more chance to 'right the wrongs'.

So I agreed to an appt Wed. - Thurs. in which they have agreed to the following:

- Provide a free loaner car for two days
- Replace the strut covers - you know, those dust booty things =)
- Conduct a thorough inspection of entire car front to back, (which obviously wasn't performed during the dealer prep as it was supposed to).
- Bonus: Offered to fix a scratch/dent on the passenger side free of charge. (see, the rough ride I had been experiencing before those shipping block things were removed had caused me to hit every bump, pothole, etc. VERY HARD. On one of these bumps a couple of weeks ago, I heard a thump as something flew up and hit the passenger side. When I pulled over to see what it was, there was a small dent and a 4-inch scratch on the door panel). So they've agreed to fix this for me for free.

Two other, unrelated issues:
- Getting back to my phone call with the MINI GM there, when I initially called, he said 'I bet I know why you're calling, the Autobahnd problem, correct?' (Autobahnd is that clear bra thing on the front of the car). I said, 'Actually no...Why? Should I be worried about THAT too?!' Apparently, Autobahnd had called Herb Chambers MINI to inform them they had seen my MCS while it was being serviced at MINI Peabody (Gary had diligently called them when he thought something wasn't quite right with the clear bra thingy, but didn't want to alarm me until he had the facts straight) . So Autobahnd called Herb Chambers MINI and said they had seen my car and were not pleased with their installation. They asked Herb Chambers to contact me, since I bought the car there, and make an appt. so they could replace it. So they will be doing that on Wed. as well. I looked at the bra thingy closely after learning this today and it is indeed peeling on the edges.

- Lastly...Believe it or not, on may drive home from Herb Chambers MINI, I discovered that my sunroof has begun to rattle, (Now I'm either CURSED or I think I have reached the paranoia stage)! So I'm going to ask them to check on that as well.

Of course that BONUS free dent/scratch fix convinced me it might be worth my time to give them another chance along with the fact that it's more convenient for me - much closer location than Peabody, loaner car - considering I have no back-up car, etc. So I'm happy they seem to be doing what they can to 'right their wrongs', but I'm still nervous. So everyone please say a little prayer for me... I'll let you know how it works out next week. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

 

Wow I have seen some pretty crazy stuff underneath both new cars and cars that have recently been serviced but I have never seen a car with the shipping blocks/locks/stops depending on your terminoligy left on.

I saw a brand new full sized chevy conversion van with the sway bar disconected once. The woman had just taken it in to have some front end work done and they left the front sway bar hanging by the bar's two middle rubber bushings. :evil:

I have seen a couple of jeep wranglers with the plastic limiting straps still attached to their shocks after they have had them replaced. I cut those off for the people and gave them the straps so they could take them to the dealer.

Found a brand new 1999 ford F-150 with no gear oil in the rear end once. Had to have the whole rear axle replaced.

Thats all the stories I can think of right now but I am sure there are others.

 

Azwed, You're SCARING ME!

 

Pure Silver,

I think that the GM of the BMW sector better make sure she educates the MINI side on proper treatment of MINI owners and MINI servicing! Absolutely give them a chance to prove themselves to you, but make sure you get all the info in writing, as promised.

Sounds like you have been the living embodiment of Murphy's Law! Things are bound to improve, now, and it's only fair for them to repair the damage on the side of your MINI caused by the dust-booty problem. (Love that term, dust booty!)

Let us know how it all works out for you. Good luck!

Cheers!
Clover

 

>>Azwed, You're SCARING ME!


I can't think of any screwups that bad from non-domestic manufacturers.
Quality control from the american automotive industry still leaves much to be desired.

The only thing I can think of from a non-domestic manufacturer that was a dealer screwup was on a couple of Subarus. They are shipped with a very thick viscous grease covering large portions of the undercarriage and apperently one day a local dealers prep guys forgot to clean the grease off of several cars before they were sold. I had two or three of them come into the shop over a couple week period with the grease still covering about half of the underside of the car.

 

Well I'm saying a prayer tonight as I'm dropping off my Baby first thing tomorrow morning.