I'll 'advertise' our MA again. Peter at Sandia Mini was great for us and is also a Mini owner (as is his sister). I think the MA's are 'polarized'. They are either really, really good or really, really bad. From what I have seen at our dealer you can tell when you meet them and shake hands

You can also request another MA at the same dealer. Just because that one sees you first doesn't mean you have to deal with them.

charlie

 

You all might want post in the regional forums that are appropriate to let others in those areas your feedback on these various dealerships and salespeople.

 

After test driving a clubman in late June, two weeks later I emailed my configured clubman from the website to my MA. I was told that I could make changes up until September. When I emailed a newly configured clubman on August 21, I was told it was too late! I would have to wait...so i waited..not happily. Between that and the time of my Clubman's arrival (the first week of November) the communication between myself and my MA via emails was mostly initiated by myself and "honesty" from my MA was definitley lacking. When it finally arrived I was dissappointed in the mistakes that were made. So it was hard for me not to have a wierd look on my face when my MA showed me a copy of a survey and told me that a "yes" or blank answer would be great but a "no" would mean a certain dollar loss to the MA (a lot more than just $50!). hmmm. When the survery came, I first ignored it. When I was sent a reminder from the Sales Manager I replied saying that I couldn't fill it out truthfully knowing it might affect someone's financial income. Of course, within hours my MA emailed with apologies and questions. I finally told my MA that I am very happy with my clubman but just wished that the MA had ordered exactly what I had sent on August 21 from the website. I was able to print out a copy, couldn't the MA do the same?? Would that have been too terribly difficult??

Thanks too for letting me rant!! But like I said, I am absolutely thrilled with my mini!!

 

Your experience is eerily like mine. I tried to make a change/addition (by telephone and email) the very next day after ordering...no dice! When I finally took delivery the MA said: "Now we come to the part of my job that I don't like (I can't imagine why). In a few days you will receive a questionaire regarding the quality of your buying experience....etc.". I looked at my wife and she gave me a wicked smile. I could tell what she was thinking: "If you would've answered/returned at least one of my calls or better yet, if you had taken the trouble to actually call me with an update...anything! You might have a chance".

 

Well, that's better than I had hoped. If it is indeed true that an MA will lose money with a lower rating, then that's great. After a couple of those the guys/gals will start to pay attention.

And why should you feel bad about affecting someone's pay when you feel they didn't do their job? That's what this thread is all about is how do you get those folks to perform. If they keep getting rewarded for poor performance, they they will keep being poor performers.

charlie

 

Were you upset that he was unable to change your order for you or did he just not respond? There is a point in the order process that the order becomes un-changeable. Docking points from their score seems unfair if that was the only issue...

 

Well my comments were related to the fact that our buying experience(s) were very similar. But sure I was upset that the order couldn't be amended, after all....as I said, I called them with the changes the same day I ordered the car. And then I followed with an email when I got back home (150 miles from dealearship). This was the start of a bad experience. Once I left the dealership, after placing my order, the MA never iniated a single call or email.

 

Vix Club that stinks and, frankly, I think it's totally unprofessional for any salesperson/business person to tell a client/patron that how the client responds on a survey will effect their paycheck.

If this situation had happened to me I'd be unhappy, as well.

That said, I am glad you're "absolutely thrilled" with your MINI, despite the negatives in the buying/ordering process.

And rwilsonjr, if your MA didn't tell you that you had that miniscule amount of time to change your mind on the order, then he was truly at fault. I do hope the changes you were unable to make were not ones that have soured you on your MINI.

 

If you knew this before you dealt with an MA would you treat them differently? I would think the MA who cares about his salary will try to please his customers so he is assured a "full"% on his check. I still think it is best to treat people as you expect to be treated..

 

Kinda like the old "Golden Rule".

 

But do you know that it was the MA's fault? It's entirely possible that your order had already been fully processed, at which point your MA can't make any changes no matter how hard he/she tries. I don't see that as being any fault of the MA. Of course, if the ordered hadn't been processed and he just refused to change it that would be complaint worthy...

And are car salesman supposed to INITIATE phone calls and emails? They should definitely return any call or email that the buyer sends them....but what information (besides "Hello, your car is here") would require the salesman to call the buyer?

 

I would like to think if I were an MA and I knew my pay was affected by the responses of buyers, yeah I may initiate a call during the down times. I went by a dealer today and there were three MAs standing near the front door,"down time". But that is why I am glad I am not in the car game in such a position. I think survey responses should be evaluated but not used as a determining factor.

 

Rally you make good points, I was assuming that the MA in question just didn't tell rwilsonjr that the "window of opportunity" to change that particular order was about to slam shut.

Also true about initiating phone calls except to say that the car is there, ready and waiting. I think that maybe some people read some posts on here that display some folks' MAs as Santa Claus when it comes to "freebies" etc. Mine has never been Santa, but he's been polite and very helpful..and actually saved me this last time from ordering runflats which I really didn't want this time around.

If I were a manager, I would be interested in the surveys for use in discussions with my sales staff...and if I were a salesperson, I'd be interested in getting the feedback. In both cases, we all know there are always going to be some people who will never be pleased no matter what - and in writing this I do not mean it as an implication about anyone who has posted, just as a statement of fact.

 

My MA (Jill from Moritz Mini / Arlington Texas) has been super. She contacted me twice unsolicited to let me know that my Joshua went into production & when he got unto the transport ship. Every time I left her a message, whether e-mail or answering machine, she responded promptly with information at hand. And I don't expect anything less when I take delivery this week

 

Back to the original question aren't we? Just what is expected of a good car salesperson with regards to customer service (during and after the sale)? Especially when the buyer is then asked to evaluate the salesman, dealership and the buying experience...and to give a "very satisfactory" score.

Absolutely, a MA should initiate calls/emails if that's what it takes to make customers "very satisfied". If MINI/BMW is giving out bonus points to the dealership and sales staff for excellent customer service and all it takes is communicating with your customers...you gotta do it....easy money.

In my case, simply (proactively) advising me that the requested changes could (or could not) be made would've been nice. Also, at least one order status update and a "heads-up" call to let me know when the car was scheduled for delivery would've really been nice and probably earned a "very satisfactory" score.

 

Well for starters, since it IS a Mini, a call with the production number and instructions on how to track your Mini through the process and over the pond is a step in the right direction. It is a very unique and fun time - the MA is remiss in his/her duties to you if this first call after the sale is not initiated by them.

Secondly, another call/email when the dealership gets word (and they do) that your Mini has docked on US shores. Sadly, the OL is out of date and even the OL states to check with your dealership after this point.

Then, given the time frame, a follow-up call/email to say the VDC has released your Mini and it's on the way to the dealership. At that point, arrangements can be made for a delivery time.

If I just wanted to go in and buy a 'car', and not experience the distinct Mini experience, I'd buy a Honda. (And that never should be an option).

 

Hmmm.... Very spirited discussion here. What's really odd is how one persons experience with a dealer was good, and someone else's was not good.
I didn't buy a Clubman, but your post title caught my eye. I hope it's OK that I respond.
I saw a reference to two of the dealerships here in CT in this thread. One in Stamford, the other in Hartford. One persons experience was good the others not good.
I've been to the dealership in Hartford, the MA spent quite a bit of "our" time running down the dealership in Stamford, and at the end of our time didn't really seem too interested in helping us find/order a car. Nice guy though! Very personable and knew Mini's quite well.

I've been to the dealer in RI at Inskip, they were primarily focused on selling what was available on the lot, which I understand as these cars are eating into their lot financing. Once again though, they didn't seem too interested in finding, or ordering a car.

I don't know what Mini's marketing model is, but it has a slight flaw from what I've experienced, To make this point I would put forth that other car makers, Toyota for example, have a national registry of all of their cars sitting on lots all over the country, and I know that Mini does also.
A Toyota dealer can search the available inventory and pull from it a vehicle exactly like you want it, or very close from another dealer. I bought my Tacoma in RI, but the vehicle was sitting on a lot in Burlington VT, and was delivered to me in RI. How it changes dealers is not my concern, but it doesn't appear, from the outside, that Mini does the same thing.

Why do I say this? In my mind when we went into the two Mini dealers near us, the MA's should have searched the available inventory on the Miniusa website and found a vehicle(s) that we could have possibly been interested in based on our model, and then of course the fun could begin over haggling over the details.
This didn't happen. We searched the available inventory on MiniUsa, crossed it against Autobuyers, Craiglist, and also found some of the same vehicles for sale on eBay. Not hard work, took less than a day.
In the end we found a vehicle in Pittsburgh that was very close to what we wanted. Contacted the dealership, started going over all of the particulars, arrived at a price. Then got $500.00 in accessories and swag from them because their Autobuyer's add included it, but the Craiglist, and Miniusa did not reflect it.
The salesman called me numerous times over a two day period to keep me informed of progress, and to make sure that all of the appropiate financing and insurance on my end was ready.
My wife flew to Pittsburgh, took a taxi to the dealer and was on her way in an hour.
The dealership is P&W BMW, and Mini of Pittsburgh. The salesman's name was Deane Watson. He may not know a Mini Cooper from a Mini-bike, but he knows how to sell a car. I've never met Deane, or been to Pittsburgh, and he sold me a car over the phone. Facilitated arrangements with my bank,and insurance agent. Provided the necessary info for flying into Pittsburgh and getting to the dealer.
When we had a little trouble at the DMV with the nomenclature on the Certificate of Origin, we called P&W while standing in line at the DMV in CT. They faxed the required info to the DMV in CT, from Pittsburgh, and we were on our way in less that 10 minutes.
Products don't sell themselves, not even Mini Coopers, people do. You are not limited to the car dealer in your area, even to special order one. There are many, many new '09's, and leftover 08's for sale nationwide. Look through what is available, you never know what you might find.
A cross country trip is a great way to break in your new car.

 

Silkcut,
I agree 100% we're not limited to "the nearest" dealer, but most of us don't have the time or money to fly to another state to buy a car either.

 

All,

This post, as many seem to do, has taken on a life of it's own. My vent turned into a dealer by dealer review, which can be informative.

As initiator or the post, I would ask people to keep it to that level of experience sharing.

Mentioning MA's by name, for good or bad, doesn't seem kosher to me. I would hope we all could refrain from naming them personally as, despite their car selling abilities, they are, by all accounts, good people who have good jobs in these harder economic times. I never meant to hurt anyone’s job by this post which could just very well happen if we start naming names.

Thanks

Andy

 

Andy, I never ever thought you were trying to do anything except share your experience and look for a little sympathy from the crowd.

 

Time is always a factor, and oddly enough, in this case it was the reason that I didn't have time to "car shop" in the traditional sense, and had to use the phone and internet.
My schedule, at the time, was up at 4:30AM and get home about 7:00PM, with only sunday as a day off. No car dealers open on sundays around here.

The flying thing got me at first. I was like, no way we can afford to fly to Pittsburgh and buy a car, so I was looking into getting it shipped.
Getting it shipped was going to cost $1-2K, flying out and driving it back was < $250.00. I'll also admit that I am very fortunate that my wife could fly out herself and drive it back.

It sucks to have a negative experience buying a car,and these are somewhat expensive cars. Maybe not compared to Porsche's and Ferrari's, but $30-$40K for a car out the door and legally registered is still quite a bit of cash for most folks. Any dealer should expect to work for that sale. It takes so little effort to shoot off a quick eMail, or leave a voice mail for a customer.
Following up after the sale is a good business practice for any sale person, associate, MA or what have you. I know that when I need a new truck I'm going back to the woman I bought my current truck from. She was excellent.

 

I understand why you started the thread. Just confirming what you thought, you got a bad MA. I disagree with your comments on 'hurting' someone.

If a dealer or MA is bad then they should be pointed out, by name. And yes, it should affect their job. If anyone here thinks their MA is bad enough for them to post a bad experience then the MA should feel the heat. If they are good enough to be praised then they deserve anything that results from such comments.

Posting in public forums is not without consequences. If you don't want the consequences then don't post. I think that is something that is lost in these days of internet. People seem to think that their postings are confined to a limited number of people and they can post without affecting others. Not true.

charlie

 

Well said Silkcut!

 

I don't agree with this statement. I bought my car over 200 miles away from my home. I believe that constant highway speeds (not matter how you manipulate the car to vary engine speeds) are not good for run-in during the first couple hundred miles. I have run-in numerous other cars purchased closer to my home and I feel that cycles of properly warming up the car and then driving it at varying speeds (easier accomplished on a combination of twisties and short highway stints) followed by cool-down periods produces a better broken in car.

 

Actually, to have the car configuration all entered and in time for production slotted on the same day- it sounds like they worked hard to get it done ASAP.