I just called to schedule my annual service appointment and was informed that they will not be able to do it until October. OCTOBER? Seriously? A two month wait for a ****ing oil change? Absolutely ridiculous.....their excuse was that some of their service techs went on vacation causing a backup. Give me a ****ing break. Hire more service techs if you can't handle the load!

 

When I scheduled my appt for warranty service, it was a 5-week wait. Now with the Alexandria dealer open, perhaps the wait time at Sterling will drop a bit. It'll take a few months for that to happen, just a guess.

-Jim

 

I just scheduled an appointment at the Alexandria dealer for next Saturday. Now I get to drive an extra 30 minutes out of my way (I live out in Haymarket).....awesome. Thanks for nothing BMW/Mini of Sterling.

 

MoS's Service has been well known to have horrible wait times, how does this surprise you?

 

those seem like ridiculous waits. Now i do not live in the VA area but up here ins Boston where I do live I called my dealer on Wednesday at 10 am to make an appointment (figure a few days away) and I was told to come in that afternoon at 3pm. This was a warranty issue. they also would have scheduled the appointment for the next day or three days away.

 

I'd just be curious how long I'd have to wait if my car broke down....would I still be waiting 2 months just to get it in the shop? Ridiculous.

 

30 minutes extra drive time, or 2 month wait for an appt? Sounds like it's worth it to me.

I live 18 miles from MoS, and I'll gladly drive the extra distance - and pay the toll fees to do so - if I can get in for service in ~1 week vs 5-6.

And Mini of Alexandria is a stand-alone dealership. Should make the entire experience better, IMO.

 

Wow, I thought my 2 week wait was long. October seems ridiculous.

 

My car did break down and it took two weeks for me to get it back. 11 days of that it was sitting waiting for someone to look at it. Then they had to order a part.

I'm sad to hear this and am hoping that their backup does decrease with the new dealership, as I've been pleased with the folks there and the actual service itself.

 

I feel your pain, but for very many of us an extra 30 minute drive to another dealership pales in comparison to our 2 or more hour drive to our nearest dealerships. I only wish I had another choice.

 

No, in my experience MoS has proven to be very good at getting me for things that make the car non-op.

The two month wait for service is just nuts. I think that the only solution is to hammer them on the survey.

 

Wow, i don't think i have ever waited longer than 3 days for non-emergency service.

 

Ya, those surveys are your ticket to the squeeky wheel club. From what I am learning over the years, there are phenominal dealerships (Tom Bush MINI of Jacksonville, FL) and a lot of not so great ones like MoS.

The most effective tool for me in the past month has been the hand signed letter sent to the Director of Marketing, explaining the bad customer tells 10 people rule. Only problem is it takes them forever to read them!

Gluck, tell us how it goes!

 

Honolulu BMW/Mini has a night shift during the week to accept and work on cars and are open Saturdays too. Makes appointments a breeze.

 

Sad thing is, Sterling does the same, but they still can't keep up with demand.

 

I called for routine service to N. Scottsdale Mini on a Tuesday and they said come Sat. and they'd work me in no problem (and they did), even washed it. Took about 2 hours total. I live 100 miles away. They are pretty easy to schedule with.

 

This must be the result of having one dealer in a major metropolitan area. In the DC, Northern VA and Md metro area, there has only been MINI of Sterling. The only other option for people was to go to Annapolis, MD and that generally meant making a day of it, touring the marina area, etc.

However, MINI in Alexandria, VA just opened this summer. As people start to discover this new MINI dealer, it should help relieve the congestion with scheduling mtn at MINI of Sterling. The fact that they opened up a second MINI in the area is proof that the area needed it. I am sure that MINI of Sterling would like nothing better than to service as many as they could since the more you service the more moolah you take in. But they must be maxed out, hence MINI of Alexandria opening.

How about checking with MINI of Alexandria. I would think there would be not much of a wait there. many probably do not even no they exist yet.

 

I was there this morning. Nice facility. Not sure whether they are 'open for business' yet, but if not it won't be long.

 

x2

 

Same here, I was about to send a nasty letter (since I had 20,000 miles and they rejected my annual oil change in June); but my wife insisted with one more call and we got an appointment for Sat Sep 5th.
I don't know why I went there yesterday (Sat Aug 22nd) I must have been really hanged over, anyways, I made the mistake of showing 2 weeks early, and I was prepared to leave, but they did take the car, and did a great service.
The only "mistake" is that computer now shows next oil change 08/2011 20,000 miles. So they'll have a better excuse not to service my car next year.

 

oil changes come when the computer says, or once a year. it's in the manual ... they shouldn't be given you sh*t for it.

 

People calm down, I know it might be frustrating but the dealer would gladly take you if they could; you would be more mad if they said "Sure bring your car in next week" and then kept it for 11 days to do an oil change because they are so backed up. A lot of people in the DC Metro area drive MINIs for 1 (now 2 dealers) to service.
The dealer does not control how many people call for appointments, and a lot of people to wait until the end of the summer/school stating up again to get stuff done, so it is normal to have a longer wait this time of year.
I do know that BMW/MINI of Sterling knows it's a problem and is trying to find a solution:
They have MINI and BMW techs working about 22 hours a day to try and keep up with the amount of cars that people need service. They have also been trying to get more service bays/expand the current dealership. But adding on to a building takes a lot of planning and time and in the current economy banks can't be thrilled about giving a car dealer a loan to make the dealer bigger. They can't just hire more techs if they have no place for them to work; they can't do oil changes in the parking lot.
Another part of why they have to schedule so far out is so they can keep a slot or 2 open each day for cars that are towed in and provide good service to those people who can't actually drive there car.

Slamming a dealer on a survey because they can't look at you car for a month or two is kinda stupid. Especially if you are happy with how you are treated and the service performed once you get there. It is not your SA or Techs fault that more people than they can handle in a timely manner are making appointments. They know there is a problem but you still slam them on the survey, they call you and ask how they can make it better and you say, I don't want to wait as long; they say sorry but we can't give every customer that does not want to wait an appointment sooner because no one wants to wait and we only have a certain amount of resources. And now you SA who did a great job once you got there get a lower rating for something completely out of there control. I would bring up your concerns to them the day you get there and see what they have to say instead of blindsiding them on the survey.

Yeah it sucks but try and understand that this problem is not as easily fixed as it may seem.

 

"The dealer does not control how many people call for appointments, and a lot of people to wait until the end of the summer/school stating up again to get .."
Really? "x" amount of cars sold in a month = "x" calls a year later for an oil change or "x" calls around 12,000 miles later for service. Am I missing something? - Please let me know...
You state that you know the dealer, this makes me more nervous since you are implying that the can't do this simple math.


"adding on to a building takes a lot of planning and time and in the current economy banks can't be thrilled about giving a car dealer a loan to make the dealer bigger. They can't just hire more techs if they have no place for them to work; they can't do oil changes in the parking lot."
Sir, nothing is free. The service charge was added to the value of the car. And again, they can predict the service demand of the following year by the amount of sales.


"Slamming a dealer on a survey because they can't look at you car for a month or two is kinda stupid. Especially if you are happy with how you are
treated and the service performed once you get there. It is not your SA or..."
Agree. And I haven't done any survey.
I'm trying to contact who ever supervises Mini to let them know that:
- Rejected oil change after the car was one year old although it had about 14,000 miles (I was told call back when the computer says "0" or negative)
- I was told that 22,000 miles on the oil is not a problem
- I have tried to contact the service manager several times, and my voice mail has been ignored.
This does not please me at all, it's the way the handle the problem by just ignoring it.
Somebody needs to f&6ing now that there are Minis with 20,000 miles without an oil change. And it all comes down to a $ 50 oil change.
Think on the re sale value of your car. I would never buy a certified pre owned bmw (+20k on the oil ??? are you kidding me??)

BTW, I changed the oil in my car about 4 times, and I use oil analysis to do so, not an internal computer.

Please, how would you respond to a survey after trying to contact the service manager for 3 times?
Note that I'm just experiencing this. I don't really care changing my own oil. What bothers me is the way Mini service handles it, but basically telling you "call back when your computer says 0 or negative" when they should change the oil after a year; how it's not only a receptionist, it's also the service manager ignoring voice mails. ... and keep on advertising free service for 36,000 miles / 3 years (and they are hitting hard on the radio...)

 

We have the same problem down here in SE VA. Checkered Flag is pretty good. Always done me good on both of my MINI's. However, wait time is pretty bad. A couple of weeks for simple service. I will sometimes drive up to Richmond for something I need quicker. They have also been great, AND I can get in within a couple of days instead of a couple of weeks!

As for fixing that problem, it ain't as easy as it sounds. I own a body shop, and I can tell you, just by adding square footage, solvers nothing. Finding competent staff is a real pain! That's probably the issue to begin with. But I agree, it's called SERVICE for a reason!

 

NM.