I read great things on posts about how helpful their MA has been. Updating them without being asked. Super knowledgeable.

My guy is friendly enough. He answers a question when asked. But he's never volunteered anything. Never did anything but the minimum. And not too up on the Mini tech. He didn't even know if the S had an intercooler or not.

When building my order, he slowed things down more than helped. I felt I built more cars on line than he ever has.

And a couple times, I think he was outright deceptive. Do MA's really make no commission? He said he makes $50 a car. When I asked for some free installs on things, he said something about the techs work on commission. He doesn't but they do? whatever.

It's crossed my mind to cancel my order and go to a different dealership. If only there were more around.

Anyway...he avoided another email question this evening so I just wanted to vent.

Thanks for reading.

 

How much they make per car depends on the dealer and the number of MA's there....but it's true that there is no commision and the price per car is often VERY low around $50 a car.

Considering that, the amount of work they give to the customer helping with the order, checking the status, notifying you of the location of the car, answering emails, responding to tech questions, giving you the car tour upon arrival, etc should be greatly respected and appreciated

Your dealer may be different, but at the MINI dealers I've dealt with....it's not up to MA's to give you the free installs. All that stuff would be up to the tech department or the management. It's not your MA that is installing those things on your car. I'm not surprised he would decline that.

 

He's never lifted a finger to give me a status on my car. All the tracking I've done was learned from the First Gear board. I had to call him twice just to get my production number. The test will be to see if the one question he did answer turns out to be factual. Wont know untill my clubbie arrives.

Never left the table to ask the manager. Just said "no."

As far as I can tell, he's done nothing more than any other dealer I've dealt with (I've both ordered and bought off the lot in the past)

If the $50/car thing is true, oh well for them. There are other dealers that give commish. But then again, he probably makes salary and may infact be better off.

In the end, I guess I'm the real sucker. Even with junky MA I'm still spending $30k.

Just wish my experince was more like some of you alls.

 

That pretty well sums up my experience. My MA never initiated a single call to me during the entire 6 week process. And at the time I wasn't aware that I could track the progress of my MCS on-line. All in all, looking back, it was overall the worst car buying experience I've ever had (and at my age I've had a few). It took most of the excitement out of buying my new Mini.

You can't expect too much for 50 bucks but if I were selling them I would at minimum give each customer an periodic update on the status of his/her vehicle.

Take heart though! You will love your new Mini. Just don't recommend the MA to anybody.

 

Not saying you should find a new one but I had a bad MA in CO and found a new one. It's a long story but I got a bad feeling from my first MA and even gave him more than one chance. I then found on in NY and he has been great. Still to this day when I see the other MA in CO I get a bad feeling from him.

 

'Bout sums up my experience...Thought it was just me.
Although it's not really about liking my MA...he was personable enough but as far as advising me...did not happen....had to do my own homework...also no updates..email or call backs. If it wasn't for that MINI spell I fell under...I would of definately walked...ran away!

 

Thanks Guys. It's better knowing I'm not alone. LOL

in the mean while. I'm still on pins and needles. my clubbie should be available first week of December :-D

 

I think your expectations are too high - at the end of the day a MA is still just a car salesman. The exceptional ones are in the minority surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.

 

Hrach at MOP is great. I like him.

 

I think you may be right. Try to make the best of the situation, and lean on your fellow MINI enthusiasts whenever possible!!!

 

I had a good MA turned bad.

I dropped off a license plate relocator kit for the front, using the tow hook, so they wouldn't drill holes in my bumper. She took it, wrote a note on the paper work, and even left it with the techs a few weeks ahead of time. She did EVERYTHING she could short of watching my car come off the truck and guarding it.

Well, they drilled holes in my bumper. I know it wasn't her fault, and never said it was. They just didn't pay any attention. Even the manager apologized.

That mistake cost them a patched and repainted bumper, and some of my time dropping it off and picking it back up again.

So when it came to evaluate my experience, I gave high ratings for everything except my car's delivery. I figured that the MA knew why, the manager knew why.

But I come back to the dealer a bit later and she wasn't even acknowledging me. I came up and said hi and she got all defensive and said how she got in trouble because I didn't give my experience all high scores. I explained it to her and she didn't seem to feel better, but it's not like i'm going to give the dealer a perfect rating when they screwed up.

Not her fault, not my fault, but sure, take it out on her, dealer, and have her all mad at me.

I actually was kind of upset that she went after me like that, was kind of unprofessional.

 

That seems like the typical car-dealership half-truth to me. There's all sorts of ways to make that true and still keep a salesperson well compensated. Sales bonuses, salary, discounts, kickbacks and other incentives, etc...

I think that, bottom line, I'm spending a lot of money. Beyond the standard human decency stuff, I could care less about the salesman's wage. It's entirely between the company and the employee.

Their job is to remove every reasonable barrier to a sale, and part of that is establishing a clientele by not becoming that barrier. In my mind, the majority of that is providing excellent service. If they have taken the time to educate themselves about the product, communicate well with their potential customers, stay honest, and do that all in a reasonable time period they've earned my business.

On the other hand, if they rest on their laurels because they have a fantastic product that sells itself, rely on a community to provide the balance of correct information on their product, make uninformed guesses during their presentation, and limit their quickest level of service to collecting down payments and payment I won't be back.

Unfortunately, my experience was more like the second and less like the first. It wasn't bad, but when it (hopefully) comes time for me to buy again, I'll be looking for that exceptional minority; and at another dealership.

Also, MINI USA has buyer surveys. If they're asking, give them the truth. If the experience was mediocre, don't circle the 5's.

 

Well in this case it's a full truth. They really aren't that well paid considering what they do. I agree, it's between the salesman and the employer. I simply answered the question that the OP asked.

Especially with MINI owners who feel that the 4 month wait should consist of a bunch of phone calls with their MA's, email correspondence, free parts, and an overall great experience. The average non-MINI car salesman just talks to you for a while out in the parking lot, and fills out some paper work.

And spending "a lot of money" is relative. I bet you'd get LESS special treatment from a BMW salesman at that same dealership and then you could easily be paying 2 or 3 times more than you're paying for your MINI.

People expect far too much from a cars salesman....maybe it's because MINI gave them a silly name rather than calling them salesmen like every other company

That's the number one issues with this whole Poll concept. It doesn't ever give the MA's a chance. There are plenty of people along the way that could mess up your buying experience....and yet, any low score instantly get's the MA in trouble as if it was their fault.

 

I agree about that "poll concept". It is not set up properly...whether it's about the sales experience or the service.

 

The so-called customer sat surveys are a travesty. They appear to have next to nothing to do with the customer and more to do with the sometimes adversarial relationship between dealers and the manufacturer. I steel myself for them in much the same way I steel myself for surviving F&I packing pitches, etc. I really resent these surveys, actually, for the way they have been perverted.

 

I'm pretty sure I got where you're coming from- I didn't mean to imply that they're rolling in the cash or anything. Just that the level of service shouldn't be tied to their personal profit like that, especially not as part of the customer's experience.

I definitely feel that the overall experience should be great. I wouldn't try and put a number on the "correct" number of emails or phone calls- doing that would present the same issue the polls have. Everybody (customers and salesmen alike) is different, and one MA could provide better service with a single phone call than another that makes ten with a dozen e-mail besides.

It's certainly likely, but in this situation I wouldn't be a paying customer.

Most of my customers expect a greater level of service than this for a $20.00 internet order. You've got a business website, and I'd be surprised if you don't have orders that take five or ten messages to get the order completed.

The customers that recognize that service come back, or tell their friends/coworkers. Good and consistent service is good for business. Service that consistently exceeds expectations gets customers like many people here: stark raving frothing-at-the-mouth advocates.

I don't have an issue with polls per-se, but if there's a problem, the blame should go where it belongs, even if it's with the customer. There should be reasonable expectations set too, a four out of five shouldn't immediately be translated into a whipping for the MA.

 

Very well said, nicknbecka. And I happen to feel the same way.

 

+1

My buying experience got a whole lot better when my MA found out his fiancee's aunt is a good friend of mine.

 

 

nicknbecka: I don't think I could've said it better or any different myself.

I don't believe for a minute that my MA only made $50 on the deal. Too many MAs, too few cars going through the dealership for that to be a good enough level of earnings to keep people. My MA was building a custom house while we were in the order process...

As far as the survey goes, all you owe to MINI or the MA or the dealer is to be honest. If the dealer management hammers the MA over "4s", then the management is stupid. The correct answer in that situation is for the sales manager to be on the phone or email to the customer the day the survey result hits their desk, to find out where they (the entire dealership, not just the MA) fell short, and to look for ways to improve.

MINI has set the table. If you're insisting on full-boat retail, then the customer can reasonably expect the transaction to be flawless. If you're structuring the sale that some large percentage of buyers have to wait 6-10 weeks or sometimes more for the privilege of a fully tailored car (at full retail price), then it isn't unreasonable that there's some hand-holding during the process, and some cordiality after the sale. Honda and Toyota sells cars as conveyances. MINI sells an experience. It's unfortunate if you have to overcome the purchase process in order to begin to enjoy the ownership experience.

Having said all that, my MA was largely absent during the decision before the sale and while the car was on order. The car arrived built correctly, and the delivery process was very good. Haven't gotten a peep from him since.

Busy spending the fifty bucks, I suppose.

 

For what it is worth, my MA called me to let me know the car was in and would be ready in a couple of days. The ship docked today. Also gave me the answers to a couple of my questions. Not exactly the best answers...,but answers nonetheless. Thanks

 

Well, our MA was great. Peter at Sandia Mini in Albuquerque. He went through everything with us. He is also a Mini owner as are some of his family. We received an email from him about once a week and almost every day the week before the car was delivered. He was great explaining all the car's features to my wife and has emailed us after the sale as well.

It did help that we 'encouraged' him to try out a couple of neat roads in the area. He and I also had some 'chats' about old F1 drivers (the Phil Hill and Sterling Moss era).

Customer surveys by dealers are a bunch of ****. They are used by the companies to give awards to the dealerships. Ever see those "5 Star" ratings hanging on the wall. Ever wonder what they mean? Yep, it means they got a lot of max surveys. Did you ever go to a "5star" dealer instead of a "4star" dealer? Have you ever cared? Nope, me either.

charlie

 

i kept a copy of my narrative responses to the mini survey i completed about a week after i took delivery. requested a followup from both mini and the dealership, and have yet to hear a peep from either one. i replaced my ma's name w/ "MA" in the text below...

2. MA only initiated contact only once from the time I placed my order (08/25/2008) until the time I took initial delivery (11/04/2008). All other contact from MA was in response to contact I initiated. The original estimate for delivery date was 10/20/2008. I never received any indication from MA that date would not be met until after the date had past, and was in response to my contacting MA to receive a status report. The MINI Owner's Lounge estimated a delivery date of 10/24/2008. Again, I never received any indication from MA that date would not be met until after the date had past, and was in response to my contacting MA to receive a status report.

There are 2 "national backorders" associated with my order, neither of which were brought to my attention or acknowledged by MA until I made MA aware I knew about the anthracite headliner issue or until I completed all the paperwork for my order, and was then notified of the chrome scoop backorder. If both of these items are truly "national backorders", I find it hard to believe the dealer was not made aware of the issue at some point far in advance of when I was notified. While I believe this issue to primarily be a MINI issue vs. an International Autos issue, I do not believe International Autos was as up front about the situation as it should have and could have been. Upon taking initial delivery, I had specifically request the "WE OWE" form from MA for these two items. To date, I have still not been provided an ETA for either the anthracite headliner or the chrome scoop. Based on user forum reports, it also appears I may not have received the full "Chrome Line Interior" option, since the rims for the door speakers are not chrome. The MINI configurator clearly shows door speaker rims in chrome when selecting the Chrome Line Interior option, and does not change to black with the MINI Hi-Fi option. This is the type of issue I as a customer expect the dealer and sales staff to be on top of. This is obviously not an isolated case.

In addition to the phone call contacts I had with MA, I also sent several email messages, all of which were ignored, except to let me know they were received, but due to "problems with the email system", could not be answered and I should only contact MA via telephone. If it is company policy not to respond to customer emails, then (a) have the courtesy to inform the customer just that, and (b) don't post employee email addresses on your web site. If there were in fact problems with the email system the entire time of my order that prevented a response, then (a) you need to find a new IT manager and/or (b) you need to find a new ISP.

6. As a customer, I expect the dealer to initiate contact when issues and problems arise. If the dealer estimates a delivery date, I expect to be informed if that date can and will be met. If the manufacturer estimates a delivery date, I expect to be informed if that date can and will be met. If there are items on backorder associated with my configuration, I expect to be promptly notified. If the manufacturer does not provide a complete installation of all options, I expect to be promptly notified, rather than have to discover the shortfall through an online user's forum. If it is company policy not to respond to customer emails, then (a) have the courtesy to inform the customer just that, and (b) don't post employee email addresses on your web site.

14. I had a better customer experience buying a Mazda 13 years ago. My family has had better experiences buying a Honda, Mazda, or Toyota. With the exception of the cars offered, I did not find anything about International Autos "distinct" or "unique". Considering the vast majority of MINI's sold are custom configured and have long lead times, I expected more attentiveness and more initiative by the dealer.

 

I bought my two Mini's off the lot and my MAs were very cool.

 

These cars sell themselves. MINI NA messed by not setting up a bunch of convicted felons with cell phones and laptops so that they can spend 23 1/2 hours a day every day in prison waiting for your over-priced FWD econobox and communicating with you and making sure your "experience" is like a fairy tale.

I ordered my clubman as soon as they released the configurator last fall. I spoke to my MA once to confirm the order had been placed and once more to appraise me of the delivery date. When I got there It was like they never even considered that I ordered accessories along with my car.

Nothing was ready, installed, or even ordered. The order included thousands of dollars worth of accessories. For someone who travelled over 200 miles to pick up his new car for which he had waited 3 months, this was disappointing service.

I wasn't about to give my MA 5 stars. She royally screwed up my delivery.

If my MA had done her job, I would've had a very pleasant experience. Instead she ensured that I would find another dealer for future purchases. MINI NA would be better off letting us order direct off the internet.

If only you could buy a car without dealing with car salesmen.