Ok, so I am not one to traditionally complain, or to even go as far as to write a letter, but I wanted to share my experience with you guys just as a warning. I have heard numerous stories of excellent experiences with MINI dealers, so I think you should know where customer service is bad. I wish that i would have gotten a warning myself.

After submitting my survey results, I got a letter from my MA telling me that she was very disappointed and could no longer help me, referring me to her manager. In a previous email she had mentioned that if i could not issue 5s on the survey if I would avoid answering, so that she could win some trip. Before she even told me this I had already gone ahead and filled out half of the survey, and because 5s are for exceptional service there were some areas where I did not vote 5. Below is the response email I wrote after she refused to be of service any longer.



Needless to say I am less than shocked that you are soooo upset over a
rating that is not a 5, looks like you care more about winning a trip than
you do about the satisfaction of your customers.

<quotes where here in the original message but I have removed them since they may be too personal>
Summary: She told me that BMW only considers a 5 as passing and the rest of the scores as a failure, so if i couldn't vote 5, don't answer the question. She then asked me in 2 other emails if i gave her all 5s so that she could have a chance at winning the trip, and that i could issue comments but the number rating was appreciated.


I find it quite disappointing that when a customer of your dealership is
dissatisfied that you just throw your hands up and refer that person to your
manager for future problems. We are both grown adults here, and as such we
should be interested in self improvement. Given your attitude I can see that
you don’t agree with me.

I gave you the rating I felt you deserved, after all that is the purpose of
giving customers a survey to begin with, so that you can receive honest
feedback on your performance. I would however like to clarify that I never
completed the last half of the survey, as I was waiting for our transactions
to be completed (i.e. my front grill arriving), and was unaware that there
was some time limit. That being said… the first half of the survey I had
completed prior to your even mentioning it to me in email, and prior to me
being told “if you cannot issue a 5 on a particular question, please do not
answer it”. Does BMW and Motorwerks support you when you are telling your
clients this? If you are padding your stats to win some trip how is that
fair to other hard working MAs? And as a pointed out before, isn’t the POINT
of a survey to get feedback NOT to just get all 5s? I think that you are
very lucky that the MINI sells itself, because you surely couldn’t sell it
with an attitude like yours.

Getting 5s on that survey has NOTHING to do with the time it took for you to
get me my car, as a matter of fact I don’t even remember a question that
remotely pertained to how satisfied I was with the wait time for my MINI.
You really have nothing to do with that at all, rather it just so happens
that your dealership has a shorter waiting list. As for the fact that I am
out of state, all that means is that our correspondence is through email and
the phone, and this is where a lot of my dissatisfaction stems from. I don’t
feel that corresponding with you through email was very efficient or
effective. I had to contact you in order to get any status updates, while I
was being told by other fellow MINI owners that their MAs were keeping them
informed throughout the entire process. I asked for only a few things to be
taken care of, like not installing my front license plate, and my car
arrived with the bracket drilled on. I only order one accessory, the chrome
grill and that didn’t even arrive correctly (I know that you say this is not
your fault, but it’s still disappointing for the buyer). But worst of all
you didn’t take the necessary precautions to ensure that when my car arrived
I could legally drive it. I had paid weeks in advance for you to take care
of the paperwork regarding registration and then you decided to take the
chance using standard mail to mail my the temp license on Monday when you
know my car would be arriving on Tuesday or Wednesday. Granted you did send
me another license using DHL, but that shouldn’t have been necessary if you
would have just done this correctly to begin with (the first license you
mailed did finally arrive on Friday of that week). You should be able to at
least sympathize with me on this one, here I am waiting nearly 3 months for
my new car to arrive, and when it gets here I can’t even legally drive it,
talk about ruining the moment.

The above reasons are why you didn’t get all 5s, 5s are meant for
outstanding performance, and this is not what I felt I received. I am sorry
if what I rated you is considered a ‘fail’ by BMW just because it’s not a 5,
I think this is something you should take up with them, not me.

 

Give her what she deserves. It's not fair to the other MA's that
are good.

 

Thats my point exactly I have heard of so many good experiences here on the forums, that when someone is just outright selfish I think others should know.

 

I purchased my Mini from them as well and was not that impressed either. Service has been OK since and my MA no longer works there. I was told the same thing about the 5's as well. However I either didn't get a servey or my wife may have done it. I certainly didn't plan on giving all 5's though.


Tim

 

I would suggest that you send you message to MINI USA as well. I had a long conversation with them about these ludicrous pleas and extraordinary pressure you get at the dealership and service bays for "5s". I also noted that it was odd that I was only contacted for feedback after a "good" service experience and not after alarmingly awful ones. After this conversation, I was contacted by MINI USA to indicate that they were investigating the coercive "give me 5" practices of the dealer in question. Did it help? I don't know, I had the luxury of being able to try out another dealer in the area and never returned to the problematic one.

In any event, I always recommend that bad customer service experiences be communicated up, as far as you choose to go (Manager, Regional Manager, MINI USA customer service and, of course, James L. McDowell Vice President - MINI USA) and the same should hold true for exceptionally good ones!

 

Ah yes, the eternal BMW (and now Mini) customer survey that has nothing to do with real service. It amazes me that this travesty continues on and that sales and service advisors still get to strong arm/guilt/berate/beg us poor customers into this false ratings sytem that does nothing, ever, to improve any service. I'd like to know what geniuses at BMWNA decided this was a fitting way to treat people - to get their sales/service people angry at them personally if they dare report a true issue on a survey and are not honestly satisfied at the 5 level Its icing on the cake that they telemarket and annoy you for the valueless info; I'm sure glad the price of the car is probably raised to support this worthless marketing

I'm sorry that you had to learn about the survey charade in such an unpleasant way - your SA should be reprimanded and at least apologize to you in writing for her rude and unprofessional behavior. The survey being used by sales/service to extort customers is ridiculous and they know its being abused. If the company really cared about the quality of customer treatment the origin would at least be kept anonimous and only the truly good MAs and SAs and dealerships would be rewarded.

Argh, the whole thing makes me so , has not been fun to deal with for over 5 years with the bimmers, and I was so pissed to find they use it with the Mini

 

I Am Sorry For The Bitter Experience And I Hope Things Get Better For You. First Of All, Burning A Dealership Worker On Survey Is Not Going To Help Solving The Problem. There Is Thousands Of A...holes Out There That Will Mark 1 Or Dissatisfaction Just Because. There Is A Difference Between Addressing An Issue And Taking Revenge. What You Did Was Taking Revenge, Personal Satisfaction. I Totally Disagree With The Way They Handled Business During Your Purchasing Experience, But You Should Have Taken Immediate Action And Forwarded The Problems To A Manager Or Even General Manager. Trust Me, They Would Take Care Of You, I Can't Name A Single Dealership That Would Enjoy Dealing With Manufacturer Over A Customer Complaint.

Look At It From Her Perspecive, Maybe This Is The Only One She Screwed Up, All That Work Is Gone, Why, Because You Are So Important. Come On Man, Give Me A Break.
Do You Know The Worst Part? They Will Keep Selling Minis, They Will Have Happy Customers, Dissatisfied Customers, In A Couple Of Weeks, You Will Be History, Forgotten, And I Wonder What Kind Of Face You Are Going To Have When You Go Back To That Dealership? If You Do So....

Again, I Am So Sorry For Your Inconvenience, I Feel For You, Because I Had A Terrible Experience Before Also. But I Directly Dealt With The Key People Instead Of Messing With Salespeople Or Service Advisors. You Are Nothing But $ To Them.

Finally, I Find It Very Immature To Post That Lady, And Play With Her Career. I Strongly Suggest You To Delete This Post.

Good Luck

San Antonio Tx

 

ariercetinberk,

Not that this really matters but in the interests of full disclosure, I notice from your profile that you work in sales. You wouldn't happen to work at a MINI dealership, would you?

 

My thoughts, as well! Interesting typing-style, too, with the capital usage.

The last time I took Wanda in for some warranty stuff, I tried to get Inspection II done, as I was within 100 miles of going out of warranty and due to my long roadtrips and gentle driving style, the prompter still showed 3500 miles till service (and we are talking about having first official oil service at 13,200, Inspection I at 28,000+, and then not another service due until 51,000?) Well, I'd had Inspection I done June 12, 2004, and felt that on June 13, I was owed Inspection II. The service writer said "no, you are entitled to an oil service once a year." So, I wondered why I had purchased the extended warranty at all....

When my car was done, the SA comes over, tells me to sign his copy of the work order, that he'll send me a copy of the work order in the mail and I'll be notified by a postcard when the replacement auto-dimming mirror comes in. That was on June 15, and I've received NOTHING. PLUS, never got the phone call for the survey, either. Gee, I wonder why?


Clover

 

this all seems to familiar. bad service doesn't get a review for a month and with good service you get a call in a few days. my brother who's a bimmer owner says the same thing. we both get our cars serviced at the same dealer and it's obvious this happens.

my last service i got paint repair, brakes replaced and a leaking hatch fixed. the paint was done off site and i live out of town now so i didn't know what to expect. the hatch was a service issue and the brakes i thought would be easy.

let me start by saying i didn't pick the car up, my brother did. he had no idea what was being fixed nor did he care. his job was to drop off the loaner and get my car.

the paint after "they" fixed it looked great from the outside. from inside of the door you could see where it was poorly fixed. seemed to be chiping away around the corner on the inside front edge of the door. i just assumed the dealer would look at the work that was done when it got back from the paint shop. guess not.

i had an appointment to have the paint fixed. i knew this would be more than a day job so i wanted a loaner. months earlier at a service i mentioned the paint and they told me when the bmw guy was in town agian they'd have me bring my car in for him to look......and have him see if they'd cover this under warranty, he said they would. the brakes and the hatch were almost an after thought. when i dropped off my car i was unloading it and saw my drip catch. when it rained hard my hatch got really wet so i'd put a rain coat down with a towel on top of it to absorb water. as i was unpacking my car to the loaner i asked if they could look at this. they said sure, anything else? "yeah, my brakes are terrible and they shudder".

since in live out of town and had to come to town for this i really should have had a list of things i wanted looked at but didn't. my bad. i assumed yet again they'd look at all the brakes and not just the front ones that could make the car shudder. as it turns out they only replaced the front pads and rotors. my rear brakes are and were thinner than the backing plates. why would they not replace them? on that note. my oil change was less than 1000 miles. why didn't they go ahead and do that? my brother the bimmer guy tells me that the SA at the same dealer i go to will go ahead and change the oil if it's in a 2000 mile window. mine was 900 miles, WTF.

i digress, i saw my car a week after when it was back home. thought it looked fine. i wash my car on sundays and noticed the brakes where only new in the front and that the paint repair wasn't ok. i don't live in town so i blew it off. still po'd they didn't change the oil.

when the call came to evaluate my service i was nice as i could be. they got a couple 3's. i know how important the 5 is to them. the paint got them one and the brakes got them one.

i'm happy to say the repair only took 3 or 4 days. i was expecting a week or more.

sorry for being long winded. insomniac here.

 

No, I do not work at Mini sales at all. It just does not sound fair to post somebody specific. Nothing wrong with sharing the difficulties that we experience in the dealerships, it will help the others act more careful.

 

I was also asked to give all 5's so "she" could win a vacation. I thought that was rather odd. My problem was after I agreed to buy the car there was no follow up and she would never return my calls. Then I get a call from Mini USA and did the survey over the phone. I gave an honest and fair survey which did not include all 5's. I never heard back from her.

Ford does the same thing, all 5's or you failed. Its a completly useless system. A survey should be nothing more then to point out your weak points and highlight your strong points so you can provide better service in the future.

I assume your talking about Amy????

 

Reading your post and living in MN I am embarassed that this happened to you. Especially as we're supposed to be "Minnesota Nice or Friendly" or something.....

At the time I purchased my MC, things were different. I guess the novelty of the dealership just being built has worn off!

I don't frequent the dealership much anymore as the staff has changed since they opened and I don't know many MAs any longer. I don't agree with the rating system they have, but I've always given my honest opinion and I think we all pretty much agree that that is the correct thing to do.

 

The unfortunate thing, from what I've read and heard, is that the surveys are absolutely not anonymous and in fact, the SAs can pull up your account and see what you said and how you rated them! Food for thought......


Clover

 

I bought my car from MINI of the Hamptons and have visited Motorwerks three times for the same problem in the last year. My last visit was scheduled for 7 am (slight problem since I live 200 miles away) and when I walked in the door at 6:55 am I was told that they weren't open yet and I had to wait in the car until they were ready for me. OK I can handle that as long as I have no where to go anyway. What got me was the fact that a 7 series BMW pulled up after me, yet when to doors finally opened, guess who was greeted like a long lost relative and who was ignored like the ugly stepchild. I was then informed the MINI service tech wasn't due in until 8 am so would I like a ride somewhere. When I was called by MINI, I told the rep the problem was still there after three visits and he apologized and accepted my low rating without question. No followup from Motorwerks, but Kansas City is only 220 miles away for my next service.

 

Yep my MA was Amy, suprise suprise.

 

I got a phone call yesterday from someone doing a survey on my service experience. Ironically I had just dropped my car off for the 3rd time to fix the same problem. I tried to give them a 1 on satifaction with the service and was told only 4 or 5 exists...4 being not good and 5 being good. Was this person lying? If not, why would anyone develop a survey with a rating system of 4 or 5 rather than "good/bad" or "satisfied/not satisfied."

 

I think the "minnesota nice" thing is over rated I've been to a lot of places, and I don't think Minnesotans are any nicer (or meaner) than any other people.

I didn't have a particularly good or bad experience with Motorwerks. If I buy another Mini, I would go back.

 

I've had surveys (non-MINI) get mysteriously lost in the mail after having bad experiences with a dealer.

Personally, I can't imagine giving anything or anyone the highest possible ratings in all categories. I guess I've never seen anything THAT good.

 

For those that have purchased at Motorwerks, what kind of extra fees can I expect to be tacked onto my final bill?

Brian G.

 

Are you referring to the purchase of a new MINI? Shouldn't be anything. There's new management over at Motorwerks MINI and he's pretty cool. He seems pretty proactive at helping out the local club. I would imagine that they would continue their LIST selling - I haven't heard otherwise.

 

The only extra "fee" I had to pay at motorwerks was a MASSIVE chunk of Minnesota State sales tax


I thought they were honest and straightforward.

 

Is this a serious post or some sort of bad joke?

 

Well, my mini is being built as I write this, so I can only relate my BMW experience. The dealer that I worked with the most back in the 90's would always ask me for 5's, but I was there so often that they stopped asking, they knew that I knew the drill. And I gave them 5's, because they did a good job; it wasn't their fault that the cars are all POS. One time I told the survey person that I was busy and couldn't answer the survey. This caused a "customer refuses to answer" result; the service department knew that it was me and actually asked me about it on my next visit. Nothing is confidential.


Now, I agree, to say that "anything other than a 5 is failing" is not the proper way to conduct a survey, but that's how BMW does it and so that is how they have to deal with it. If the MA (or SA) wants a 5, then by God they should earn it. If they do a good job and everything is done to my satisfaction, then sure, I'll give them a 5. If they don't, then they get a fair score. There is nothing wrong with that, it is not vindictive, and we should not be afraid to say so.

Please remember this people: you are the customer. Those folks would be out of a job if not for us. Yeah, you all love your mini, and you want to keep driving one for ever and ever. But if they stopped making them tomorrow and you had to drive a Ford Crown Victoria the rest of your life, sure, you'd be miserable, but you would survive. They need to make us happy, and continue to make us happy. If you're not happy, say so. Tell the service manager. If that doesn't work, tell the general manager. If that doesn't work, tell mini NA.

Michael

 

I had to take Sting in for the dash rattle. When I got him back, I was cruising the Atlanta Autobahn and rolled down the passenger window. The weather stripping cam off and I couldn't roll the window up again. I turned around and went back and was pissed, (anyone know about Atlanta traffic on the Northside at 4:00 pm?).

It took them 30 minutes to get the stripping back on. On my way home, I got the call. I gave them failing marks on Quality of Work. I got another call form my MA about 15 minutes later. He was crying about not making 5s on the whole thing.
I told him if they had fixed the car right the first time, I'd be home 2 hours sooner than what I was facing.