Who here has dealt with Momentum Mini in Houston? I have a couple bones to pick and need a place either to vent... or some place where I can officially log a complaint.

 

Folks in Houston seem to like MINI of the Woodlands alot. To complain I'd call the ASK-MINI line for starters.

 

I boughtmy car from Momemtum MINI, off the lot.
I have not had a bad experience yet... I have heard good things about Mini of the Woodlands also.

 

My problem is the complete lack of professionality from the Sales Manager... i wont mention her name... but it is worth going out of my way to help others. She easily wasted over a week of my time and then lied at the end.

I am sure the rest of the staff there is fine and service dept... but unfortunately, if you need to have management make a decision... it is a bad place to go.

 

What was the issue? Build slot? Credit/Finance?

 

I went to Momentum to order and was treated great until the order was placed and deposit was in their hands. Then it's like I fell off the face of the earth. A couple of weeks later, after checking the website as they suggested I found out that pretty much everything I had been told was not true. My "car in your driveway in six weeks" turned into "it might be there in four months". I never had a single phone call returned. I never received a single reply to any of my emails. Since they didn't return my calls I went out looking for a car elsewhere. I found one meeting my specs at Moritz in Dallas. I called Momentum and cancelled my order and asked for my money back (law says they have to give it to you in Texas). That is the ONLY phone call they returned but by then it was too late. I'm afraid the lack of customer service in the sales department made me not even want to look at their service department.

I've been taking my car to Mini of the Woodlands and had excellent service there. Even though I didn't purchase the car through them they have given me excellent service and excellent advice. Very friendly folks. They are closer to me anyway.

 

Need a place to ask questions or vent? Go here.

 

I've had good luck and great service in the Woodlands thus far. They've been patient with me despite the number of test drives I've taken while waiting on my own to arrive. The manager there is a really nice guy, and a fellow iPhone user (our discussion veered off into iPhone land during one meeting).

 

My situation was a little different. In fact, she screwed over not only me but another dealership. She agreed to a 3-way trade on a car that was not claimed at port... which was my exact car I was going to order anyway. She agreed to the 3 way trade for this car OVER A WEEK ago. Two other dealers went thru with the deal... and she refused (and I mean outright) to even return an email or multiple calls a day to anyone. This includes other sales managers. Talk about burning bridges.

In the end, she decided to just lie to us and say the car was sold where in fact it still sits unclaimed at port.

Probably the most unprofessional person I have dealt with in a long time... and this is the Sales Manager. No one could approve it without her.

 

Report her to the owner of the dealership.

 

I ordered mine from Momentum. I configured it online and sent it to the dealer. A salesman called and set up a meeting. I went down and ordered it and left a check. I kept track of progress in the owner's lounge and it was delivered 5 weeks later. I picked it up the next day.

I dealt mostly with one salesman and have to say he was the most personable and professional salesman I have ever dealt with. I spoke casually to the sales manager a couple of times and found her pleasant enough.

Bummer your experience was so unpleasant.

 

When I finally get my car... I will.

 

I've had my issues with momentum but they held up their end of the deal (they tried to change my lease terms but they ended up doing it anyways: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...d.php?t=110673)

The service dept has been pretty good, I've purchased and serviced 2 minis from Momentum and I havent had any problems in that area

 

I have a car on order with them right now (delivery scheduled in the next 1 1/2 weeks) and so far my experience has been very good. I've not talked directly with the sales manager (but have seen her) and have only dealt with one sales guy... who, if i must say, until now has been great.

sucks that she bailed on you guys, hopefully it works out well. Like others have said, escalate this up to her boss/owner/miniusa.

good luck

 

We only dealt with one sales person at Momentum and he was the most personable and (to my knowledge) honest sales person that I've ever encountered. The entire process went exactly the way he said it would and he did everything he promised. At times, I had difficulty getting him on the phone but he always returned my calls and called when he said he would. I originally looked at a pre-owned MINI at the Woodlands that I had found online and I had to deal with the pre-owned department of the MINI/BMW sales (not the MINI side of the dealership). I really don't have much good to say about them. The sales person came across very snobby and acted as if he couldn't care less about our bussiness. We ended up telling him and his manager exactly what we thought of them and their MINI (it fell on deaf ears, though -- they didn't care). I've heard much better things about the MINI side of that dealership.

So far it's been a good experience at Momentum but we haven't dealt with the service department yet. Hopefully that goes as well.

 

If you don't like the person that much, then why are you not posting their name here? If you want to warn other potential MINI buyers to avoid her, they really do need to know who she is. Maybe one of them can even confront her about the issues you've stated here on NAM.

If it was me, and I felt that I had been mistreated, you can be darn sure that I'd be name dropping left and right. I'd also write a nasty letter to the owner of the dealership. It may never amount to anything, but if enough folks complain about her, maybe the dealership will do something about it.

 

When I was considering what car to buy last year, I did a couple test drives at Momentum. They never did any follow up, even when I said I wanted to buy. The salesman never let me know when it was time to order an '07. Needless to say, I contacted someone at Mini of the Woodlands, handled the transaction entirely by email, including the deposit, and took delivery without a hitch. They were fantastic, and have continued to be great with their service department. I will never go back to Momentum. It was like they just didn't care.

 

We bought Percy at Mini of The Woodlands. Aka was professional, friendly, and helpful. We test drove 3 in all and then handed them our print out from MINI USA. He looked it over, added a few freebies, and then put Percy on order. No deposit required.
Percy has been in rehab (paint and body) for 2 weeks. Everything is done except for 3 parts. We have been waiting for 1 exhaust tip and 2 rear fogs. I have been standing there while the parts lady at the body shop dials and dials and dials Momentum. Nobody answers.
Maybe Percy can come home tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

 

This isn't the first time I'm heard this sort of thing about Momentum, although my children have bought both their MINIs there. In my case, I'm close to MoTW, so there never was a chance that I'd go elsewhere, but I have to say I had a very good experience. I ordered in December, and delivery date was forecast almost to the day. No problems with them at all. Only bad thing is my MA is now with Saturn. Bummer!

 

I have dealt with Momentum Mini on several occasions, my visits went something like this.. ( a bit long for understanding purposes)

1st time- Parts department, ordered accessories for my mini rearend trailer. Other then the fact that they caused me 2 trips, 1 to order and prepay (wouldn’t accept CC over the phone) and 1 to pickup.:impatient

2nd time- Service department, scheduled maint. in over night for oil, fluids and what not. went in to pick up car, service tech noticed a crack in the strut supports, replaced at no charge (warranty) Great service experience!

3rd time- Parts dept. same as 1st time, 2 visits to get parts, service was extremely slow, like they really didn’t want to help anyone, phone rang the whole time i was there and they just kept walking by it (very annoying! especially if I was that caller) :impatient

4th time - Was considering trading in my 03'cvt on an 07', was treated very well by the salesman, took him awhile to get to us (40 mins) but very friendly and knows his Minis. While working out the details of a purchase, we were directed to work with the sales manager. She was very snobby to us and the deal fell thru in under 20 mins. She way under priced our trade in and made the car we wanted sound unaffordable to us. Pretty much wasn’t willing to work on a deal for us at all. (unpleasant experience and a waste of an hour and half)

5th time - parts dept. went in to purchase a 26$ quart of power steering fluid. other then I finally got something with one visit to the counter, the attitude of the counter help was no better then last time. and that annoying phone just rang as usual!!

Ok, those are my experiences with Momentum Mini, Think I'll make that 30 min drive to woodlands next time!

 

Sounds like the same person I dealt with... and the reason I didnt mention her name is because of possible legal slander.

However, she is the only Sales Manager there and her name and picture is on their website (about us section).

 

Legal slander... Huh??? How about freedom of speech!

I have no problem whatsoever posting her information. Here it is:

MARIANNA BRASEL
Momentum MINI (Houston Texas)
Motoring Sales Manager
Phone: 713-596-3451
Marianna.Brasel@momentum-mini.net

I'd of posted her picture too, but I can't find one on the web site for her.

If she's a bad MA (and/or sales manager), then folks should indeed be forewarned to avoid her AND the Momentum MINI dealership until something is done to correct the problem (i.e. she is reprimanded or removed from her position).

Remember folks, the squeaky wheel gets the oil!

 

Most dealerships have issues. Some have good service and bad sales and some vice-versa. I've heard good and bad out of both dealerships. My preference is MOTW since I get all my oem parts from them. We have bought 2 new Minis from them also. The service has been iffy in my opinion. They did fix and take the time to smooth out all issues that i had with them.

If anyone needs parts you can call the MOTW parts and ask for motoringspeed/David. He gives great club discounts and I believe takes all forms of payments over the phone. If you dont want to drive up there i think he offers free shipping too!

Since I will be leaving the MINI industry shortly I will still get parts etc from David at MOTW!

As far as the sales manager goes, take it up with MINI USA and the owner of the dealership.

 

I work at Momentum MINI as an MA and have some detail about this situation that may clear things up a bit. From the first conversation between the manager at Momentum and your dealer, our manager said that she was pretty sure that we had some customers locally that were interested in the car you wanted. She also stated, and rightly so, if we had local customers that were interested in the car we would not be trading it to your dealership. This is not only common practice, but accepted as the norm between all dealerships.

I was not privy to the conversations between you and your MA, but I can only guess that they did not inform you of the status of the car sufficiently. As for me, whenever I am in the situation your MA was I always try to make it abundantly clear that I have no right to demand the inventory of another dealer. Another dealer can refuse to trade cars with me for any reason at all, and they frequently do.

There was only one (1) car like this available anywhere and the manager of a dealership has a responsibility to service their own customers before doing favors for another dealership halfway across the US. In the case of this particular car it is reserved for a customer who has had a mechanical issue with their new R56. If MINI cannot resolve that issue to their satisfaction, they would like to take that MINI as a replacement.

As for the time it took to actually resolve the issue completely, it was due to the fact that our manager had surgery that week, and while she was recovering, had her MINI carjacked.

Here’s a link to the video of when they caught the criminals that stole her car: http://www.khou.com/news/local/stori....68ef1327.html. I personally like to think the MINI was the reason they got caught.

You can see some shots of her MINI'S aero kit and R90s. Not a very inconspicuous car to use in robberies, is it?

 

All I can say is, I would NEVER do business with Momentum Mini/ BMW in Houston TX again if my life depended on it. I can say that my M/A...is a good guy. That's as far as it goes. As far as customer service, pre-delivery preparation, and general courtesy, they fall flat on their face. Lets just say that my whole experience with Momentum as well as the general manager of the dealership has soured my interest of my once new Mini Cooper. Unfortunately for them, I won't be sending any potential customers to their location when they are ready for purchase.