Glad to hear you're FINALLY getting a car - sorry your dealer has been an absolute Ford Pinto Quality POS. Believe me - not all dealers are like that. Mine has been A+. Wish yours had been too and this would have been a much different experience for you (though still frustrating and long, I'm sure). Of course you'll pan them on their survey (which MINI really does pay attention to). I suggest you also find yourself a MINI district manager type and provide them with a detailed account of the HORRIBLE service you've gotten. Inexcusable from what I've read...

Hope all goes well with delivery (I'll keep my fingers crossed for you). After that, it's a wonderful thing.

 

thanks... how would I find out who the district manager is? Do I call the 800 mini number? or is the info available online?

 

I suggest you start with the 800 number and see what they'll give you - explain that you've had a really bad service experience with a local dealer and you'd like to talk with a manager at MINI USA about it. Might work, might not.

If that doesn't work, go to (or call) a different dealer in your area (make sure they're not owned by the same company) and ask to speak with the general manager. Be very polite - it's not their fault that your other dealer sucks. Explain that you have had a bad experience at another dealership and that you'd appreciate it if they could tell you how to contact a district or regional manager with MINI so you can provide feedback on this other dealer. If you KNOW that this dealer is competitive with the other, you could even drop their name. But I wouldn't do that unless they initially refused to help. You never know - they and your dealer from hell might be buddies. If that doesn't work, call ANOTHER dealer in your area. Just be polite and persistent until you find someone who will give you the name and number you're looking for.

Once you get the info, again, place a very polite but very serious call to this person. Tell them it's a good thing you REALLY wanted this car because this is the worst service you've ever received from anyone pretending to want your business. Tell them that from your point of view you can't tell if the problem is with the dealership, or if MINI doesn't care how their dealers treat their customers. But that it's not acceptable and that you want to be sure they understand they have a problem and you want some assurances that they're going to take some kind of action to rectify this or else they're going to start losing customers, starting with you. Again - be polite, not threatening. Be prepared to go through the chronology of the experience. Do the best you can to separate in your mind stuff that's no one's fault (shipping time to your location) vs. MINI's fault (the VIN issue?) vs. your dealer's fault (extremely poor customer service and lack of communication). You're doing this guy a favor by bringing this to his attention. Don't act like you're "angling" for something out of the deal (though that certainly would be nice).

I've had good experience in the past getting attention taking this approach. Not with MINI - I've had not problems with them - but with other companies.

Good luck.

 

well it looks like this long journey will be finally coming to a close tomorrow (Tuesday) at 6pm when I take delivery. Or at least attempt to take delivery. Im not holding out much hope that I will actually be driving out of the dealership in a new car but we shall see.

Since its been a few years since my last new car purchase, anything I should do or look for with a new mini while at the dealer? obviously I will be taking it for a drive and all that but anything else? does someone know all the locations of the vin #'s? Does the salesman need to know anything before hand in order to set up personal preferences?


thanks

Carl

 

Some delivery checklist with discussion:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...very+checklist
Some of this is maybe overkill - but you'll get some good ideas as I did.

Programming options:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...amming+options

Good stuff - I emailed a list of programming instructions to my MA before delivery day - then tested everything and found some tweaks that needed to be made while I waited.

Good luck tomorrow!

 

thanks... that really helps me out...

 

well so far today the dealer has taken it upon himself to change my insurance and add the car and coverage...Is it even legal for the dealer to change my insurance policy? anyone else want to call and change my coverage? Seems to be easy..

This is going to be a long night..

 

That's happened to me EVERY time I've bought a new car in NC - about 8 times so far. In some states if they don't confirm you have coverage on that vehicle before you drive off the lot, THEY can be held liable if something happens.

In my case, my insurance agent always calls me to confirm. Just a courtesy on his part.

 

well I got it.. delivery actually went quite smooth and I was in and out in about 1.25 hours... cars rides great, not sure whats up with the top but since it is 29 degrees I wasnt going to mess with it in the dark...Dealer was very professional and appologized several times for the mix up and delays..

Going to do some driving tomorrow just to break it in.. 1200 miles seems like forever before the spirited driving can begin!

thanks to everyone for the help..

 

Glad delivery went well. Enjoy your MINI - you've earned it.

And that 1250 will go by before you know it. 5000+ RPM is a WONDERFUL thing... it's a different car when you get there.

 

Only about 1000 more miles to go and then I can play.. Ive had it up to about 4400 and you can tell its just getting started..

 

So, has your wife gotten to drive her anniversary gift yet???

 

a few times.. Ive put probably 2/3 of of the almost 500 miles on it since we bought it a week ago.