I want to preface my story with the fact that I am not advocating people to stop or not do business with Mini Mania. Each person must make up thier own mind after getting all the information they can. I provide this as one cog of information so that the community can make a wise and informed decision.

On the 16th of July I placed the following order with MM.

Stage 3 Street Kit for 91 Octane. This includes the stage 1 cylinder head, throttle body, cam shark injector, 3 piece Pulley Upgrade, CAI, Exhaust, Plugs and a gasket kit.

High Performance Suspension Upgrade. This includes springs, shocks, adjustable read control arms, strut brace and rear sway bar.

StopTech Front Big Brake Kit.

StopTech Rear Slotted Rotors.

Nology Wires.

I was told all was in stock and my order would go out the next day by my customer service guy, Rich. Well a couple days later I call to check up and I am now told that there are parts not in stock. OK, these things happen. Not the end of the world, though annoying. To make this part of the story shorter I will simply say that after 3 different stories They finally ship most of the order minus the rear shocks and strut brace.

Upon receipt of the order I open up and inspect each part and proceed to find that the cylinder head had a major damage that is as plain as day. The hole where the chain tensioner enters the head is both significantly out of round and the rim is raised so had it been used there would have certainly been an oil leak. I was told by a VERY experienced mechanic that this head came from a wreck in his opinion. I immediately called MM and was told to return it and they shot out a new head the same day. Wow, I thought, OK...sh*t happens and they made good. I 'll live.

Well, I get the second head and open it up and begin to inspect it and find that the caps are missing!!! I speak to a machinist friend and he warns me not to use the caps off of my original head as there is a chance of the cam binding. At this point you can imagine I am pretty upset and once again MM accomodates me and takes the second head back no questions asked. I had decided at that point to have my own head polished and ported rather than doing anything more with MM.

Another service issue I feel they let me down on is the fact that the website says that you must have 17" wheels to accomodate the Stoptech Big Brake Kit. Well, let me tell you that that is about 10% of the whole story. The amount of 17" wheels that are confirmed to fit are counted on less than one hand! I know the buyer should be careful about these things but you would think that they could disclose more than "A 17" wheel is required..." and would have said how few wheels firt without spacers. My Volk LE37's needed 5mm spacers to fit.

I have not mentioned the fact that they also sent a 2003 exhaust when they new I had a 2004 car and in my extreme frustration decided to modify the bracket so it would fit rather than packing up one more huge carton to ship back.

There is my story in a nutshell. Again, this is not about bashing but more about letting my fellow MINI owners know what happened to me. I feel MM charges top dollar and should deliver top quality service. I invite any representative of Mini Mania to respond and tell thier side of this story. I am more than happy to hear what they have to say.

All I can say is this. ALWAYS pay with American Express if possible when using mail order or internet ordering. They will wipe the whole bill if you are messed around and will really go to bat for you.

I am still owed my credit as far as I know (over $6700) at this point as they received the 2nd head back yesterday but because of Amex I feel safe posting this now.

 

That is a terrible story. Make sure that you contact the owner Don@minimania.com and make him aware of what has happened. I have been dealing with them for over 22 years and have never had a bad experience. I have, however, dealt with other companies with impeccable reputations and ended up having experiences similar to yours – it is almost as if Murphy’s Law went crazy on you.

 

Wow, Rondor, that really sucks. I remember you posting about the order in the past. I'm concerned because I'm trying to decide what to do about tuning when my 05 gets here. I'm highly tempted by Mini Mania because they're only a 3 hour drive from my location, and because after my last car I'd rather go a 'kit' route this time around, instead of one-off parts like most here.

Rick-Anderson, what more can you tell me positive about MM? I'm really looking for some convincing here, one way or the other. Thanks!

-mike

 

Why not tell us who you are? It would add validity to your story. Without it, I see it as just pure mud-slinging.

 

My name is Chris Bryer and I live in Encino California. I am married with 2 children and the 2004 MCS MC Edition is a thrird car for us.

Anyone who would like to speak to me personally about it is more than welcome to PM me and I will give you my phone number.

I have NOTHING to hide whatsoever. I will say that MM was quick to take parts back and acknowledge issues. But when I place a nearly $10,000 order I would hope for better service than simply taking back defective parts, not disclosing about brake kits that have less than 5 confirmed 17" wheels that will clear the caliper and sending incorrect year parts.

 

I beleive he saw a post I made in the Mini2 boards. That is what he refers to. I was unaware of this board when I first ordered the parts.

 

As much as people would like to make you think otherwise, with computer generated logos and websites, high performance accesssories for a car like the Mini, with very few cars sold in the U.S., is a "cottage industry," mostly run out of people's homes and small garages. Sometimes the businesses grow by adding other small-production specialty car brands, but since the total market for Mini performance parts is small, these businesses tend to stay small. When things go wrong, it is usually as much a shock to them as to you, since they are often just drop-shippers or kit assemblers. Most are car hobbyists whose love of the car expanded into a business.

I really believe that the internet and other modern media has reduced the average attention span to about 20 minutes in this country. We want everything NOW. Thus, instead of getting the suspension right, then doing the brakes, then the engine, etc - people want to put $6700 of non OEM parts into a $20,000 vehicle without any problems. Murphy's Law says this is an unrealistic plan. If you are going to basically manufacture race cars, with an output of one a lifetime, you should expect "production problems." No matter how knowledgeable you are about these things, the supply line is only as intact as the stupidest, least motivated employee, which nowadays can be pretty bad.

 

Hey Chris. You've gotta understand my sckepticism. No hard feelings, right? Thanks for coming clean. :smile:

 

Dominic: No hard feelings whatsoever. I fully understand and will be happy to speak with you personally.

I have full email documentation of every detail of my transaction with MM. I dont think that given how I handled things that MM would dispute one thing I have posted. I invite thier response once again as I am always willing to hear another side of a story.

 

Rondor,

Aloha and welcome to NAM.

Sorry to hear about your problems with MM. MM is quite a good outfit with a known presence in the MINI community. Your individual troubles are frustrating and I would suggest that you contact Ken@minimania.com or someone higher up to let them know about this.

I think problems that boil down to quality issues need to be addressed. Businesses are busy with receiving product, filling orders, shipping them out but at the same time they need to troubleshoot, pay attention to detail, add some value/advice and know their product line. This includes wheel sizes that fit big brake kits and making sure that your parts will fit your 2004 MINI.

Bigger price tag orders should raise some red flags on getting the order right and inspecting stuff before shipping (don't they know that shipping things three times is costing them a bundle and delaying product to the customer?).
Again when it gets busy things may not be in place to ensure quality in all cases. I think alot of the problems could have been avoided.

He's what I tend to do. I try to find a vendor where I know the person I order from. I try to research the upgrade so that I know what are the right questions to ask before I call. It is known that big brake kits are notorius for not fitting wheels of 17" (since wheels really vary alot it is not easy to test them, plus many will need spacers of 5 to 10mm to fit).

I tend to order and install one upgrade/system at a time. This means if there is a backorder on something it doesn't delay everything. But there are advantages to doing major work all at the same time for labor cost reasons.

I try to find a really good mechanic that I can trust and I don't expect things to go that smoothly if he hasn't worked on that MINI upgrade before. Sometimes it takes more time to do things right and it may cost more to do it that way. Also, it may be good to use only one vendor for ease of ordering but I tend to pick and choose from various sources.

Thanks for your post and I hope you get any issues resolved. Once everything is done let us know how you like your highly modded MINI and post some pictures.

 

What the hell are they doing?

 

just my two cents worth, whenever i order anything online and find out it's backorderd i immediately cancel the order. i've just had one too many deals like this go bad and have to take action to get my money back. The way i see it, if it's for sale on the website, and not available, then that's false advertising.

 

I have a really good mechanic...fortunately or that first damaged head might have gone on the car! Things will work out and for the better in the end. MM's head only has the exhaust portion ported and polished and mine will also do intake.

Live and learn. I am not bitter. I posted this so people could see how things happen and take better precautions than I did.

 

Too bad about your problems. Minihune makes sense. MM appears to be a good organization, and your case could just be a fluke, but it raises eyebrows to everyone. Probably the standard thing to do is to do upgrades one step at a time. But I'm like you in that I like to do a series of things all at once, and feel that you should be able to do that no problem. After all, that's why these suppliers offer these packages. I've been thinking about doing the head work, and have been a little concerned with sending my head and getting a used one back (that they will have already modded ahead of time and it is on the shelf, so to speak). The MINI head is aluminum and aluminum is subject to heat stress and warping, so anyone accepting someone else's used head needs to be careful -- you don't know how it was used (or abused). I'm not sure I would want that now, as I see this can be a problem if the supplier is not on the ball and checking things as has happened in your case. Good luck on all this! Keep smiling! :smile:

 

After finally getting everything together we were sharking it with tonight and lo and behold MM sent the wrong shark!!!

They new I had a 2004 car and it seems they sent a 2003 shartk . I got a 147 code. One more part going back!

Wait...not even done.

I drive the care home and boom! EML comes on. Fortunately, my mechanic was with me in the car and the EML seems to come on under lower revs and not higher revs and his opinion is a bad throttle body (guess where I bought this part!). In the morning it will go on the computer and we will know exactly what the issue is. I will confirm it then.

Guess what? Now I AM bitter!

 

This was Don Racine's post at MINI2.com and my reply...

Dear Mr. Racine:

Thank you for the reponse. I appreciate your concern. However, you can see I have had even more problems beyond what was originally posted (the shark and now potentially the throttle body).

I know MM has been in business for many years. I have a business myself and I know that remaining in business for a long time requires a certain level of customer service or it just wont happen.

But all that time in business and all that goodwill that you have built up means nothing to me based on my own experience. My experience has been poor customer service, bad parts over and over and overall I could not be more dissatisfied. I am sure you understand why.

On top of this the credit that was just given to me did NOT include my return freight for the two 28 lb heads I was forced to return. I had specifically mentioned to include this freight but I guess your returns dept simply ignored me.

I applaud the fact that you are willing to come here ( I also posted at NAM) and address the issue but simply saying your company couldnt operate further away from this type of thing does ME no good and, in a way, waxes rather condescending.

Tomorrow, I will be calling your company in the morning to return the incorrect shark and maybe the throttle body (after my mechanic runs the computer and gets the code and cause.

Sincerely,
Chris Bryer
Former Excellent Customer.



[font=Times New Roman, Times, serif]"[/font]Originally Posted by kenatMiniMania

To Rondorr; an open letter of response,

At Mini Mania, it is hopefully rare and always disheartening to read a customer’s story that begins with “My nightmare with Mini Mania.” It is contrary to everything we do here. As background on this particular occurrence, we recognized our failure and tried to accommodate the customer. Regretfully, it appears we were unsuccessful. We believe that our liberal return policy coupled with our recently announced product warranty on Mini Mania branded parts helps to illustrate our commitment to our customers, our leadership in the market place as well as our passion for the brand. No one in the MINI business knows more or is more fervent about this brand.

Whereas our 30-year history with the classic Mini is well established, the business model and infrastructure related to the aftermarket BMW MINI business is still young and maturing. Our business is growing exceptionally fast and we recognize that with this growth our systems are sometimes stretched to undesirable lengths. Errors occur. Problems arise. Rest assured, we are working overtime to achieve the kind of reliable customer service and attention to detail that has made Mini Mania the clear market leader for decades. It is a reputation we value and intend to keep. The rare failure that occurs will be promptly addressed, both on an individual customer basis as well as system wide. Our commitment is clear and on-going.

I welcome comments and value the patronage of every customer. On behalf of my company, I apologize to the customer who wrote this story. I understand the frustration and the inconvenience it represents. Nothing stands further from our business philosophy.

Thank you.

Sincerely,
Don Racine
President.

 

Rondor

Any time you want PM me and Ill stop by your house and we can discuss performance parts and upgrades. I also have a great machanic that has done all the work on my and my brothers CooperS. I'll share all the contacts I have made through the years and the great people I deal with.

 

Update...

Shark confirmed bad by MM after giving them the serial number. Also confirmed throttle body was bad via computer after last nights problem. However, in good faith I cannot blame MM as it looked perfect and this could happen to anyone.