I am posting from Bob Smith MINI in California where I have been patiently waiting close to two hours for my MINI. I made an appointment for 9:30am and arrived about 10 min. early. I live about 80 miles away so I was preparred to wait for the car to be serviced. The person helping me is the Assistant Service Manager Eric Nickle. After printing out my service order he asked if I would be waiting and then told me it would be about an hour. He never asked me if I wanted them to check anything or how the car was holding up or anything he just said here you go it will be about an hour.

Then I told him about the MFSW controls not working and that I wanted the options I selected to be programmed and that I wanted the front plate installed. He said he didn't think they had anyone to check the steering wheel controls.

I waited an 1 1/2 hours then went to inquire about how much longer it would be. Eric looked at me and asked 'you're going to wait for it?' Then I reminded him I live in Santa Barbara and told him yes I was waiting unless they were going to take me home and also reminded him that I already told him I'd be waiting and that he said it would only be about an hour.

He goes outside to check on my car and about 5 min. later I see it being driven up out of the parking lot into the service bay. He comes back about 10 mins. later and says it will be another 30 mins or so. They had not even started to serice my car.

So I'm pissed and can't believe the incomptentness of this guy, the Assistant Service Manager.

Thanks for listening.

 

I just got back to the dealership because I broke down on the way home. The car overheated and there is oil all over the engine compartment and oil is leaking from somewhere under the car. I had to wait over three hours for a tow truck.

Even though nobody has posted I'm sure you are all wishing me luck.

Thanks.

 

o man! that is terrible!! if i were you, i would go up to the guy and yell at him. sorry to hear the bad news. goodluck!

 

You have had the most horrible of experiences. Hopefully the dealer and service department will, somehow, make things better. Do get a customer comment card or the customer service survey and blast them away in a diplomatic and informative manner.

 

You're not alone in this matter, I guess all(not all but mostly) BMW service dept. are alike, I took my car for diagnostic check I waited 7hours, another
instances just change oil I waited 4 hours. Just because we don't pay them
they'll take their time and do the other cars first someone who owns a 700
or 500 series Beemer and maybe next time you showed up with 3 piece suit and attache case they service us first.

 

Sorry to here about your experience. They definitely screwed up. Probably left the oil cap off or something.

One thing I can say is that you probably would have avoided the problems if you had told them the other items you needed done when you scheduled your appointment. That way they would have had someone there to look at them. I recently had mine in for service and advised them I'd wait. They already knew what was wrong with my Mini since I let them know and had someone on it immediately. They also came back several times and updated me on the timeframe. all very proffesional. This was Mini North Scottsdale.

Chris

 

holly crap! sorry to hear about your frustrations. Lousy customer
service on top of lousy technical service. how bad does it get
over there?!

Hope your car's finally taken care and you get to go home with
your car + some serious back rubbing.

 

You're making me afraid to take my MINI in for it's 1 year oil change and check up this Wednesday. Sounds like you had to deal with Curly and Larry. I hope you don't have any Moe trouble.


Alright, that was bad,,,,,,,,,,,,,

R.E.

 

I am also getting a little nervous. My one year service appointment is this Friday. Keep us posted with updates. Fire away at MINI USA. This is unacceptable.

 

Oh dear, sbgobig! This is a rotten situation. I am so sorry you had such a crappy experience. I suggest that you contact MINIUSA and describe today's experience. Please let us know what's going on with your MINI. Best wishes, sweetie.

Clover

 

:smile:

Thanks for all your comments. They really help right now because I just got up to post in the insomniac thread cuz I can't sleep I'm so mad.

The thing is my car was fine when I brought it in for service this morning. All it needed was an oil change and whatever else comes with the 10K service. They said it would take an hour but it took three no big deal, I did not yell or scream or call anyone names. I was just disapointed.

Then on the way home about 25 miles from the dealership my MINI overheats and the temp gauge is pegged in the red. I've got smoke coming from under the hood. I pop the hood and there is oil all over the place and no water in the radiator bottle.

I call the dealership and the service dept. won't answer the phone, the receptionist says 'I don't know why they won't pick up, I know they're there' so I ask for the manager and he won't pick up and all she can tell me is too call roadside assistance.

It took over three hours for them to send me a tow truck. By the time the tow truck arrived the puddle of oil had run from beneth the engine to about two feet behind my car.

Right now I'm in a rental car (Ford Focus) and I spent a total of ten hours dealing with this today.

 

That's GOTTA suck. Let us know what went wrong. Best of luck with the MINI, and high blood pressure (mine would be through the roof!)

Note to self: After service, look under hood.

 

exactly E. ^^

I looked under the hood but did not check the vital fluids. Silly me I thought they did all that for me. I mean why do I have to use an Authorized BMW/MINI service facility?

I just read about the assult weapon ban expiring and got some great ideas/fantasies. Imagine going hunting late at night for 745i and other exotic German big game.

 

Distastorous!!! What's up with THAT dealer? Reminds me of a Toyota dealership situation where I bought a new '86 Supra. First oil change, the kid forgot the gasket, all me oil drained out on the road and they had to replace the entire engine! Better days!

Godspeed.

 

That's awful! I truly sympathize with you. I think we all have some unpleasant auto service stories to tell, but that one seems particularly troubling. (I'm getting an MC soon, so all these horror stories really get me.)

If you stand back from the situation for a moment though, I hope that you'll notice that this is the sort of thing that could have happened nearly anywhere, anytime, and that you just got stuck with the short straw in this instance. Now comes what's important, how they handle taking care of this problem for you. They seem to have dropped the ball on responding to the problem, but they still have a chance to set things right, as it were.

I take my car to one particular chain of tire store for tire service, because when they screw up (which they've done twice, destroying a wheel on each occasion) they take care of what they've done. (I have two new wheels, because of this, at no extra charge to me.) I sincerely hope these guys recover your business by taking proper responsibility for their actions. If they don't, then they not only don't deserve any of your business, and they certainly don't deserve any of OUR business as well.

So, please, let us know how this goes. Especially how this all turns out in the end. (Sometimes, the steps along the way to recovery are unpleasant to hear, but happy endings can be uplifting. :smile: ) I hope you have a happy ending to tell us, real soon. Good luck.

 

I have had horrible techinical service from BMW dealerships in general. Not just one, mind you, but all three that I've had my cars service at.

Before we offloaded our trouble-prone X5, my wife took it in for the 10K service. On the way home, the temperature gauge shot up and the idiot light went on.

My wife called the dealership who promptly told her that she would have to bring the car in - when? - well, they didn't have an open slot for three days! Never mind that they apparently screwed up the car. When she brought the car in, the Service Manager called to say that they hadn't refilled the coolant reservoir after flushing the system. I went with my wife to pick the car up the second time. As she exited the dealership, the temp gauge shot up again.

Guess what they forgot to do for a second time? (despite that we brought the car in specifically to have the coolant system refilled). You got it - the reservoir was bone dry.

When I owned my M Roadster, they installed the oil filter wrong, resulting in oil sprayed all over the engine department and a horrible leak on the drive home.

I service my MINI as much as I can on my own. We have a good family mechanic who owns a MINI and he does what I am unable to do.

 

In light of the absolutely horrible customer service that many MINI owners have received at BMW dealerships, isn’t it time that MINI USA either develop separate service facilities or begin licensing independent service agents to do warranty and factory authorized work? As much as I love my MINI, I probably wouldn’t buy another for the same reason that I swore off BMWs several years ago – their customer service and service facilities are the absolute worst in the business (not to mention the ****-poor BMW quality.) With the popularity of MINIs in the United States, I hope MINI USA begins rethinking their customer service strategy because I am due for a new car in eighteen months and it will not be a MINI at this point. Not to mention the fact that BMW wants to use the MINI as a platform to "upgrade" people into BMWs in the future and yet treat the MINI owners like second rate customers.

 

We recently bought my wife one of the new Hemi Durangos. I have had Dodge Ram Cummins Trucks as work vehicles off and on for the last 12 years and have had excellent experiences with them.

During the first week of ownership we found a flaw in the driver's door paint. The local Dodge Dealer, realizing that we have two young children, offered the following:

1) A service rep was at our house, yes house, the next morning to pick up our Durango and take it back to the Dealership for the repair.

2) The rep brought out a new, yes new Durango, the exact same model as ours, and installed both child seats in it for my wife. He also assisted her in transferring all of her belongings to the loaner.

3) When they were finished with our car (2 days later), they returned it (to our house) with a full tank of gas and detailed inside and out. They then re-transferred the kiddie seats and her junk from the loaner back to our Durango.

4) The rep apologized for any inconvienence and gave us a coupon for a free oil change.

In over eight years of BMW ownership I have never had service approaching this level.

I love my MCS, but when it's gone, I will never own a BMW product again. Other manufacturers apparently want my business more than they do.

 

I have had similar good experiences with Lexus and even VW. I have NEVER heard ANYTHING good about BMWs service.

 

Hmmm. I wonder if that's what _really_ happened to winechic's first MINI--the one that was irretrievably damaged by "random vandalism" while it was waiting for her at the dealer.

 

it seems to help if you have a standalone mini dealer... as i go to in ramsay, NJ. they seem to be a bit more competent than the bmw/mini ones. at my last appointment (for the computer upgrade) they apparently never wrote down that i was coming, but they took me anyway, within 10 minutes.
they also hand wash your car if you'd like when they're done, which is pretty nice.

 

If you ever saw how some dealers wash cars, you might reconsider. I wouldn't even let them wash my car before delivery if I could help it!

 

That is brutal sbgobig. i hope you rip them a new one
There is NO excuse for a dealership of any sort to screw-up a simple 10K checkup and oil change. the whole reason you don't take your car to a quickie-lube joint is to avoid these types of problems.


i just hope THEY didn't irreversibly screw up YOUR engine. they probably made some rookie mistake like not tightening the drain plug or cross threading the oil filter housing and your car bled-out, overheated, and then blew all of the coolant.

i'm sure you'll be writing a nice letter to MINI USA and noting to them that if you even hear the slightest ticking or grinding sound that you will DEMAND an engine replacement, due to the incompetence of the dealership in question.

keep us posted. i'd be interested to hear their explanation for this debacle

 

OK - your dealer/BMW partner is screwing you.

Took my 02 in for 12 month service on Friday.

(12 month = 12 month since fluid service but I'm still not up on the car's clock)

Checkered Flag (VA Beach) took it in, gave me a loaner (that's a dealer thing...not a MINI thing) {OK so it was a rice burner and not a Mini or BMW....why *****?}

In addition to changing the oil they rotated the tires - no charge - and washed the car.

.......

Took my 79 to the dealer for kicks on Sat... took a sales rep out for a "classic ride" and sales manager took me for a ride in his "amazing ride", how do you spell Ferrari?.

Bottom Line?

Some dealers look for repeat customers; and some don't.

 

The BMW dealership experience is something I'm not looking foward to doing again with my MINI.

I purchased my M coupe when I was 17 1/2 (ok I was one of those internet kiddies that sold a business before they hit 18) just after my dad bought a 740, and my mom got a Z3. On all 3 BMW's we have seen about a 20% success rate on services the other 80% where either: the car was not ready on day specified, the car was not fixed properly, or both. Not to mention a 2+ week wait list for appointments even after they screwed up the first time.

While we still have the 3 BMW's we have also purchased a Ford Excursion, GM Yukon, 2 Mercedes M clases, a Lexus, and a Range Rover.

The range rover died in <10k miles & bad service. Love the cars our family won't be buying another one of their products again due to service.

BMW has usually been a nightmare. They seem to constantly screw up simple jobs. The amount of time getting appointments is horrible. We have had wheels damaged with "we didn't do it" refusals to take responsibility. My M has had at least 4 trips that required 1-2 second chance appointments each. The time to pick up and drop off the cars is usually horrid with it taking well over an hour to just drop the car off. This also has not varied with dealer.

GM has been good, not great, but they have at least met expectations. Quick in/out processing and never have to return. Never great service but a really good average.

The Ford dealership is great! They get you in and out quick. We even had a service tech come out and show us how to program new keys so we wouldn't have to pay for it. Cheap, quick, and efficient. Not to mention that the Excursion has had NO problems (except a outside temp thermometer that died) despite being on constant tow or cargo hauling trips and even around town driving.

Mercedes... also fabulous. If they screw up or you schedule an appointment far enough in avance they will pick up cars and leave Mercedes loaners. They also go the extra mile to cover as much as possible under warranty where BMW is always cheaping out.

Lexus... no problems, scheduled service quick prompt and easy. If this thing ever broke I might be able to comment on service... then again isn't the best service department the one you never have to real with?

Point is four years ago we bought 3 BMW's in 4 months. Since then we haven't bought another. In 2 1/2 years when I finish law school and either "replace" the MINI or add another car to the stable, it will not be a BMW.

Bummer to hear about the service issue. Too bad this level of ineptitude is what I have come to expect from BMW dealerships.

Patrick