Below is the body of an email I received from miniusa.com. I have tried to get the so called customer service people to respond to real issues yet all you get is fluff.

My conclusion is I have received the same crap so often its time to try to reach a real decision maker in BMW if possible.

Any mini owner who knows a BMW/MINI manager should tell them that we would like a mantenance manual for the public and customer service that actually answers the question asked.


Original Message--

First name: James
Last name:

question/comment:
Suggest that MINI senior management read customer comments on minicooperonline.com concerning the confusion on maintenance schedule for the MINI.
1st real question: Can I get my 10000 mile oil change at 9950 miles or must I wait until 10001 or later?
2nd real question: At what interval are the major maintenance checks (45000 miles ? and what should the normal cost be)?
Since maintenance support is so poor for the MINI this site needs an area where customers can ask questions and receive answers on MINI maintenance.
MAKE AVALIABLE THE MAINTENAMCE MANUAL/S FOR THE MINI

Please show this email to a line manager

Please keep in mind that the first scheduled service is set for around 10,000 miles, depending on how the car is driven. This includes the oil change as well. You can get the oil changed anytime, but it will only be covered under warranty when the indicator indicates that it is due for it. Thereafter, service intervals are set around every 15,000 miles (again depending on how the car is driven). Again, this includes oil changes as well. These are the major maintenance checks and since the dealers are independently owned and operated, the cost may vary from dealer to dealer, depending on their labor rates. I hope this helps.

LET'S MOTOR.
Jen Schuelke
MINI Division
Customer Relations

--

 

Mini4usa...I'm not sure if I may have responded to a similar post by you on another thread the otherday, if so, pardon the repost...

The folks at MINIUSA are notorious numbskulls. There seem to be few knowledgable folks there, and those seem to be there totally by chance. Clearly BMW does nothing -- i.e., they do not care -- to encourage these folks to actually learn anything about MINIs or to gain an appreciation of customer service beyond psudo-hip attitude. So, as they say, LET'S move beyond MINIUSA

Talk to your dealer's service dept about the intervals and the mileage allowance around "O" on the indicator for oil changes. The dealer is the place that you'll get the work done...so talk to them directly. And if you're not happy with one dealer's answer, try another for collaboration. You'll have to put some work into this yourself and the folks at MINIUSA won't be much help at all. Have you discussed this with your dealer yet?

As for service manuals, sorry, you're fighting Munich on that one. BMW does not make its official manuals available to the public, period. This isn't a MINI thing. It's a BMW thing and has been the case for about 20 (model)years or so. They moved to microfiche, then online, then CD...eliminating paper and public/owner availability years ago. There are bootlegs avail. on eBay. Use/buy at your own risk. I'm sure that within a year or so (I know, that's longer than you want) an aftermarket manual will come out. Probably a european one first.

 

Ok, I'm not a car guy in the slightest but I'm confused here. It looked to me like your e-mail was answered.

You asked "Can I get my 10000 mile oil change at 9950 miles or must I wait until 10001 or later? "

The response was that you could get your oil changed at anytime, but the scheduled service is set for 10k miles, and because of that, your warranty covers an oil change at 10k. It's probably up to your service department if they will let you go a few miles one way or the other and still not charge you. Something tells me that if your off by a few miles you won't have too much of a problem.

As for major maintenence checks, they are at 10k, and then 15k thereafter according to the response they sent you.

 

>>Ok, I'm not a car guy in the slightest but I'm confused here. It looked to me like your e-mail was answered.
>>
Thanks, I thought I was the only one that felt his question was answered! Jen from MINI helped me before. She is a good lady, very conscientious! Don't sell her short. She can also point you in the right direction, especially if you treat her with respect.

Oh, and while MINI may lurk on MCO, I really doubt they would be inclined to officially reply to anthing here, for a multitude of reasons. If you have need to get their attention and reply then MINIUSA is the way to go.
>>

 

I've heard good things about Jen, and also about someone named "Sam"...but there's a lot of dissatisfaction with others at MINIUSA (check the threads on the boot release issue to get a sample of that). And I know that when I used to call them back pre-delivery, I was constantly frustrated with hearing entirely different stories from different people.

But my original point to mini4USA was as the rest of you have noted...that is, he (?) should really take the issue up with service, and not the manuf. He got the correct party line from MINIUSA, and beyond this he needs an interpretation from the people who will be actually doing the work.

 

I don't want anybody to think I'm pro MINIUSA, however I have found from over 20 years of dealing with help desk people in the computer business that most of the people that answer questions know nothing more than the book, terminal or script that the company puts in front of them. To make matters worse if you happen to get a person that has the answer to your question they may not be able to help you. Many help desk operations have strict rules against telling customers non-official information. I know none of us wants to hear this, but this is how all of these operations are run. It is the only way that the company can maintain a consistent quality level of information (even though most think it is rather poor). I would rather have no information than bad information any day.

I'm not saying to cut them a break, (the harder we are on them the better their system should get ) just remember how the information gets to you.

Flame on?

_________________

ly/b mcs all packages leather anthricite
dob 11/23/2002

 

Sorry for reviving an old thread, but I have had recent experience that relates.

Today, I just had my 10,000 mile service done at 9,575 miles. I was in anyway for an airbag fix (light on again!) and asked if they could do the 10K service since I was already there. The answer was -- without hesitation -- Sure!

Now, my service is done at MINI of Peabody (MA)....and these guys are great. They are one of the largest volume dealers in the Northeast and service the majority of MINIs north of CT, east of Albany, and south of Canada. My point is that, clearly they're not sitting around with nothing to do, and if there was any question but that MINIUSA wouldn't allow the warranty service, I'm sure they wouldn't have done it.

Anyhow, I'm feeling fine now that I have fresh oil and a new microfilter

 

Maybe this should be posted in one of the oil change threads, but here goes:

I was in my dealership (MINI of SF) over the weekend. I'm not putting enough miles on my Cooper and after almost 6 mos., I'm still about 6,000 miles from my first oil change.

My service rep. told me that if I go 1 year before the computer alerts an oil change that I can just go to the dealer and have the change done, free of charge. At that time, they would not reset the computer so I would still get my "10K" change included in maintenance.

Not a bad level of service. Of course, this positive attitidue was the dealer's not MINIUSA's. Though I've had pretty good response dealing with MINIUSA.

 

Thanks Kensmini for the good report from SF Mini. I purchased from them and expect my MINI in April. I was curious as to how their service was. I have been very pleased with their sales dept so far.

Andy

 

Seems strange that they would charge you money for changing the oil when it wasn't smack dab on 10k miles. We had a service plan with Saturn-boy did they make out like a bandit-once I was 3500 late for an oil change they didn't say that they couldn't do it because I didn't come in before they just (presumably) said o.k lady you are paying us thousands and you will only get 7 oil changes!!!!