Looking for a bit of advice here...

Let me preface this by saying that I feel pretty stupid right now. I was moving my car this morning (ahh, Boston street cleaning...) and noticed to my considerable surprise that my rear bumper does not have the chrome accent - just the front! The rear "insert" part of the bumper is just red. I'm not sure how I've gotten through almost two weeks of MINI ownership without noticing it. To be honest, I'm picturing how it would look with the chrome in the rear, and I think I like it better the way it is. I love the chrome in the front (goes great with the grille and headlights), but the rear is just fine without it, especially if it's scratch-prone.

Anyway none of this changes the fact that I paid $120 for chrome accents that weren't completed. The last thing I want is for my car to go back to Herb Chambers MINI for any reason, much less to have the bumper removed and switched (!), so I called 866-ASK-MINI today and said that I would like to be refunded the $120. That was around 1:00, and I never got the promised call back. Maybe tomorrow.

So here's my question for you all... Now I'm thinking that I should also ask for a letter from MINI stating that this is the way my car came, just so it doesn't seem suspicious if I try to sell the car at some point in the future (for some unimaginable reason). If I noticed that on a used MINI, the first thing I would think was that it must have been crashed. Is this a reasonable request? Has anyone had any luck doing something like this in the past, with BMW/MINI or any other car maker?

To be really paranoid, do I have any good reason to suspect that my car was damaged and repaired prior to my receiving it? Has anyone else gotten front chrome and no rear chrome?

Alright, enough questions out of me.

 

Bueller?

 

I would make them aware of it....I cannot say this actually happened to me because I do not have the chrome package.....but if you are concerned I would call or write to them....what could it hurt?

When did you get your Mini??

 

Thanks L. Mini, I got my car on the 3rd of October. My build date was 9/5 or 9/6. Anyone with that build date might want to just saunter out to the driveway and have a look... Paying 20k for a car mysteriously turned me into quite a perfectionist, but somehow I missed this.

Anyway the MINI rep yesterday said she'd call back "in a little while" and it's now been over 24 hours. I think I'll wait to see what people here think about my other questions before I call back, which it's loking like I'll have to do. I'd prefer to take care of all my requests at once, if possible.

Anyway thanks again. I'll definitely post once this is resolved.

 

chrisneal, a fellow on the east coast got a front grille that was upper half MC, lower half MCS, and it actually looked kinda cool (can't remember his name, but I saw it on MINI2). He liked it, decided it was unique, and I don't believe he changed it.

However, I think you SHOULD get a letter of acknowledgement from MINIUSA that your car was delivered new with chrome ONLY on the front, not the rear, for resale purposes down the road. You are NOT paranoid, but far-sighted, to prove that it wasn't an accident that caused the bumper "uniqueness."

I'd also write a letter to the President of MINIUSA, I believe his name is Jack Frost, and make him aware of the situation. Post your story on ALL the MINI Cooper website forums, and you stand a pretty good chance of getting a call-back. The folks at MINIUSA read this site and Roadfly.org, too!

Good luck and keep us posted!

Cheers!
Clover :smile:

 

This is too weird. First of all, make sure that your own copy of the buyer's order shows that you indeed ordered the chrome bumper accents and that these were included in the final order submission from the dealer to the factory.

You either get them or you don't, but you don't get "Halves". I have never seen a MINI from factory missing the extra chrome bumper accents either at front or back. Unless this turns out to be a BIG MAMA screw up by the factory and then the selling dealer, then you should either be refunded $120 (Total cost of chrome package) or if you insist of having it, then they need to replace the rear bumper (Sorry you can't just "glue" the chrome strip onto an existing bumper) with one with the chrome strip already installed.

I did not order the chrome accents because I think this car has enough chrome as it is. It is a MINI not a Jaguar sedan.

Are you sure you have the extra 2 chrome strips in the front bumper?? Man, your case is very weird!

If I were you, I would ask for a $120 refund. I don't think is worth it thinkering and yanking out the original bumper to put another one just for the chrome strip.

I never seen a detail like these falling thru the cracks in 4 different places at the same time (Factory, VDC, Dealer and final buyer).

 

I would be curious to know what the notorious Herb Chambers Clan has to say. I bought from Peabody, and I certainly can understand your reluctance to go back to HC. Good luck.

 

>>First of all, make sure that your own copy of the buyer's order shows that you
>>indeed ordered the chrome bumper accents and that these were included in the
>>final order submission from the dealer to the factory.

I've got the sticker, and they're listed on there. I've got the MINIUSA spec printout from Herb Chambers (this is all they gave me), and they were definitely factored into the price.

>>Are you sure you have the extra 2 chrome strips in the front bumper?? Man,
>>your case is very weird!

Yes, positive. I really like them in front. The rear I can do without. Besides, ain't no Herb Chambers goon gonna mess with my bumper. At this point I'm trying not to get HC involved at all; I can't see what good it would do.

Thanks everyone!

 

>>I never seen a detail like these falling thru the cracks in 4 different places
>>at the same time (Factory, VDC, Dealer and final buyer).

This is why I'm now concerned that something funny happened on the way to Herb Chambers...

 

>>Bueller?
Fry?...Fry?...

 

This just gets stranger and stranger. I finally tried calling MINIUSA back today, and they reconnected me with the person I spoke to on Monday, who told me that she asked her supervisor, and US models did not come with a rear chrome insert, just the ones in front. I hung up in disbelief, pulled up a few pictures of Coopers with the rear inserts from the member gallery on this site (one with a Florida plate, one Maryland, and one PA - thanks!), and called back. Now they're "looking into some details", which I'm told might take a few days.

What the f*$& is going on here? Why don't the people answering the phones over there know what they're talking about? Has anyone else had this kind of stupid problem with 866-ASK-MINI?

Anyway I'll continue to post updates until this is resolved.

 

I've seen an S come in with the S accents on the right side of the car, and the regular Cooper accents on the left. Namely the side blinker housing. It was weird.

 

Maybe it did come with the car, then fell off!!!

 

The MINI is built using a manufacturing tecnique process called "Just in time". Since the great majority of these cars are built based on specific individual customer orders, the factory, suppliers and assembly line must be able to accomodate each one of the trillion configurations available as each car passes thru each assembly station and so forth (Have the correct parts available..seats, interior trim panels, etc). It is a very complicated manufacturing process and although I believe BMW has done a masterful job in its MINI Oxford assembly plant, bizarre discrepancies such as this can still happen from time to time.

When you order a new MINI in the US or Canada with the chrome package, you will get 2 inserts for the front bumper and 1 long one for the back. You don't have a choice of just getting the front and rear bumper inserts separately. Either you get the whole chrome package or you don't. If you don't get the inserts, then these are painted body color front and back, like in my Pepper White Cooper.

It seems to me that since you only got the front bumper chrome inserts, either MINIUSA or your selling dealer need to split the cost of these or refund you half of the $120 you paid for the WHOLE chrome package.

The 2 front chrome accents retail at $30 each and the back bumper one costs $60 (Hence = $120). If you only got the front bumper accents, then MINIUSA/Dealer needs to split the cost and refund you $60 for the back bumper chrome strip that you didn't get.

The MINIUSA people I have found to be generally very pleasant to work with and genuinely concerned and eager to help, but let's face it the great majority of the phone reps are PR people with very little, if any at all, tecnical background. However, it does not take a rocket scientist to grab a copy of the current sales brochure and confirm that the $120 chrome package includes bumper accents for both front and back.

If I were you, I would persue getting a $60 refund in any way, shape or form. Right now your dealer and MINIUSA ownes you that amount of money. Bottom line: You paid $120 for the full chrome package and instead (For whatever reason, the fault lies at MINI perhaps at the factory level) you got half of the chrome package. Therefore $60 are owed to you.

Good luck and let us know.

 

The same thing happened to me. My car arrived without the rear chrome insert. The Dealer noticed this when prepping the car for me and ordered the insert and I had it put on a week or so later. I wonder if I would have noticed it myself immediately...

 

Chris, I'll be interested in hearing how Herb Chambers deals with this Good luck! and let us know.

 

>>This just gets stranger and stranger. I finally tried calling MINIUSA back today, >>What the f*$& is going on here? Why don't the people answering the phones over there know what they're talking about? Has anyone else had this kind of stupid problem with 866-ASK-MINI?

Yes, I appreciate your sheer frustration on this. I went via email to MINIUSA customer service and got absolutely HORRIFIC responses regarding the xenons I had ordered. They were removed from my order and when I began asking about what was going on I was told TWICE that they were still going to be installed. I don't have them. :evil:

just my $.02 (ok, maybe it is $.04 since I repeated parts of a previous post).

 

[clip}
>>By the way, I was very adamant about pointing out to the Customer Service people just how terrible it is that they have such a great car and they're risking screwing up the whole deal with such shoddy service. How frustrating that they could spoil the future of the MINI by having terrible service. :evil:
[clip]

But I've had this problem with customer "service" in many industries...and what I wonder is whether it makes any difference to complain to customer service reps about the bad service they're providing. If they're so bad, you should wonder if they'll ever report a complaint about their own poor service! A real Catch-22. The bigger-picture problem is that some companies find it plausible to install nitwits in a position that ends up being the primary interface with customers.

So, is it possible to lodge your complaint with a department that stands over customer service? I've had some luck with this in other industries...but the auto industry does a VERY good job of shielding managment from the customer. For example, despite intensive searching, I've NEVER found a phone number or address for BMW that goes anyplace other than customer service. Very frustrating indeed and it's a downward spiral that ends up turning a company into Ford. Let's hope MINI/BMW arrests its progress in that direction

 

[clip}
>>By the way, I was very adamant about pointing out to the Customer Service people just how terrible it is that they have such a great car and they're risking screwing up the whole deal with such shoddy service. How frustrating that they could spoil the future of the MINI by having terrible service. :evil:
[clip]

But I've had this problem with customer "service" in many industries...and what I wonder is whether it makes any difference to complain to customer service reps about the bad service they're providing. If they're so bad, you should wonder if they'll ever report a complaint about their own poor service! A real Catch-22. The bigger-picture problem is that some companies find it plausible to install nitwits in a position that ends up being the primary interface with customers.

So, is it possible to lodge your complaint with a department that stands over customer service? I've had some luck with this in other industries...but the auto industry does a VERY good job of shielding managment from the customer. For example, despite intensive searching, I've NEVER found a phone number or address for BMW that goes anyplace other than customer service. Very frustrating indeed and it's a downward spiral that ends up turning a company into Ford. Let's hope MINI/BMW arrests its progress in that direction

 

Point duly noted jsun. (Twice )

What I'm about to say seems backwards, but it might be worth considering - What if we complained to the DEALERS about the MINI Customer Service people? You know, make them aware how this could have negative effects on them... They obviously have some kind of connections to other parts of MINI (probably also shielded from upper management, however). Maybe going around from the other end would work?

Just a gut reaction reply. Upon further thought I might realize how stupid this idea is.

 

Wel,l I think that at the end of the day, MINI is like any other car company in the business of making money.

 

>>This just gets stranger and stranger. I finally tried calling MINIUSA back today, and they reconnected me with the person I spoke to on Monday, who told me that she asked her supervisor, and US models did not come with a rear chrome insert, just the ones in front. I hung up in disbelief, pulled up a few pictures of Coopers with the rear inserts from the member gallery on this site (one with a Florida plate, one Maryland, and one PA - thanks!), and called back. Now they're "looking into some details", which I'm told might take a few days.
>>
>>What the f*$& is going on here? Why don't the people answering the phones over there know what they're talking about? Has anyone else had this kind of stupid problem with 866-ASK-MINI?
>>
>>Anyway I'll continue to post updates until this is resolved.
>>
Hi Chris,
I have a MC with a production date of 04/02 and it definitely has the chrome inserts in the front and rear bumper. (Jet Black with Black roof and mirrors w/ chrome --- nice!) I also have these funny stainless posts sticking out of it's head ... oh, maybe those are the roof rack posts :evil:

 

They forgot the sunroof on my Mini. I didn't actually realize it until the salesman asked me if I wanted a decal for the roof. Thankfully, I hadn't done any paperwork yet. I had to wait almost two more months to get another one, though. They said it happened once before only, in that case, the car came with a manual transmission when the customer had ordered an automatic. So, basically, I'm not at all surprised to hear about your bumper accents!

 

Dredging up old threads on a snowy day... I realized that I never posted to let people know how this turned out. MINIUSA asked me to go to a dealer to have them verify the missing "chrome" on the rear bumper, and then a check for $60 arrived in the mail a few weeks later.

I did go to Herb Chambers for this, since it didn't involve them actually touching the car. I hope it's the last time they see it!

Took the $60 and put it towards the Moss intake.