After 3500 miles here's what I got. Picked the car up and on the way home noticed a slight pull to the left. Checked the tire pressure. Found the front to be 38 on one side and 32 on the other. Found 30 on both rear. Now I had the upgraded wheels put on and it appears that they just slapped it back together without a tire gauge.

Still noticed an even slighter pull to the left. Called in and they told me to bring it back down the 50 mile trip. Sat 3 hours and waited for the alignment. Much to my delight, they washed my car. On the way home I had to re-adjust the seat in all directions, the stereo was adjusted to the mechanics liking and the steering column had to be put back to where I had it. The car drove without a pull.

Pulled into the grocery store at night and under the lights it had looked as if they dried the gloss black roof with steel wool....I mean it was serious. Got right on the phone the next morning and they told me to send digital photos. Pulled out the camera and took pics. Sent them to blahblah@ottosmini.com . Mon, Tues, Wed, no one responded. Called and they made excuses for not responding to me whatsoever. But they wanted me to drive another 50 miles down there to take a look.

In the mean time my winshield took a stone and got the famous L shaped crack. My insurance company said no dice on their labor rates. Otto's didn't want to hear about the stress crack conspiracy theory and they wouldn't even consider a warranty call. They had the nerve to tell me that the glass should be replaced there because they are the only ones who are qualified to do it. $250 out of pocket on a questionable piece of crap windshield. Why would I believe that they would do it right when their attention to detail is virtually non-existent. I'm doing it at my local glass place...screw it.

The bottom line is: First, don't let ANYONE wash and dry your black paint.

Next, it was interesting to observe the Mini role play go right out the window the minute I brought up the cracked windshield. In a flash, the special treatment morphed into stone faced, monotone, and very stern one liners. "I've been here since Dec '05. We have 5000 mini customers. You are only the 5th one with cracked glass since I've been here. You should probably call the mini hot line", she (the service attendant or whatever) said.

That's only 3 months, you knucklehead.....sheese.

And last but not least, I'm beginning to wonder about their foreknowledge of customers living out of comfortable driving range for these warranty calls. They keep reminding ME how far I have to drive. They usually start out by saying, "I realiize it is a long drive for you, but...."

Our relationship is definitely off to a bad start.

 

Your experience sounds all too normal for trying to get something done most anywhere. A typical reaction to a customer request is to say something to get them off the phone and then never follow through.

Let them know about your post on NAM. Have a person to person talk with the person who set up the loaner car and made the appointment. Give them very low scores on the rating survey. Call the MINI hotline and tell them very specifically what happened.

Wish I had a 50 mile drive to the nearest dealer, it's more like 225 miles.

 

Hmmm.... My gf is taking her mini into Otto’s on Saturday for them to look at the brakes. She bought it there in October and only put 3k miles on it but the brakes squeal like the pads are gone. Hope our experience is a little better than yours but I will let you know. At least its good to hear some feedback on our local dealer.

 

Black paint specifically because it shows the imperfections so easily, but any color if you want to keep the glass shine. The car is small... wash it yourself. And never trust any machine: brushless or not.

 

Sorry to hear that you're having problems with Otto's. I haven't had any serious issues with their service department, but I wouldn't call the service superior. I did get the "they all do that" answer about certain problems. And I also suffered a stress crack that "they only have seen once or twice". Since I have $0 deductible for glass, I didn't push it.
I guess that since I had such fantastic service on the sales end, I expected the service department to be comparable.

 

I have $50 deductible on glass. My insurance company pretty much laughed at their labor rates. Most of the labor would have had to come out of my pocket......like 250 bucks!

What gripes me is that they claim that no glass shop can do it like they do. My insurance company is glad to do do business with B&G glass in Reading. They will pay for the whole thing. They are using OEM glass and following the same procedures that mini does. They specifically told me that the car has to be left at their shop so the adhesive can set properly.

And guess what? The stuff Otto's sells to treat your windshield for $595 goes for $200 at my preferred glass shop.

 

Just explain to them that you don't want to have to make any calls to them for any reason after you leave. Watch their face while you say that.

 

Yeah I hear what you are saying....I have yet to even touch the roof myself. I blow dry it with my air compressor. I didn't expect them to wash my car.....it was already clean....never even thought of telling them not to.