I have a good friend who recently got me into the whole Mini scene. I drove his MCS a couple times and was instantly hooked. "Go to the site like I did" he told me, "configure it the way you want" which I did. After several color/performance options, I choose my mini the way I wanted it. I headed down to the dealer with print out in hand. Ha! Why wait 4 months when I can go down to the dealer and get it now! Right? Didn't we all do that?

Now, I want to be professional in this thread. I don't want to name names or name the people I'm pointing at. Let's be cool about it. Like Fonzie cool.

So I head down to a Mini dealer in Irvine. "Hey!" I said as I pointed to my Mini Cooper S Config sheet in my hand, "this car should be $26,454." They blabbled something about "market adjustment" and quoted me a car that I configed online at about $29,500.

So I drove to another Mini dealer- I won't say the name but this one happens to be in Santa Ana right off the 55 freeway. They wanted the same price. I pointed to the sheet. "Well, we have to factor in blah blah blah, bling blah blah blah."

So I jumped in my car. Being as professional as I am, again, I don't want to name the dealer, but this dealer is in Long Beach. "Sir, just so you know, there is a $2000 mark up over sticker."



Sorry, but I don't feel the need to flush money down the toilet just for the sake of making some ridiculous car dealer owner rich. $2000 over sticker? Bah. I can find an MSRP dealer. I can put that money to rims, to fog lights...the list goes on and on.

So I find South Bay Mini. 18800 Hawthorne Blvd. Torrance.

Chris Yuseco greets me and is great to deal with and we have my mini ordered in a matter of 20 minutes- he even takes the time to explain why I should get whited out turn signals on my car (kick *** idea, thanks bro). And guess what? No $2k above cost, none of that BS.

MSRP dealer!

Chris rocks! If you want to deal with a straight forward guy, he's the man. His # is 310.939.7152

Now I have to wait like everyone else. But at least I can wait knowing I got a great deal and feel good about it.

Thanks Chris!!!


~Dwell

 

Nice job Chris!~~ It sure is nice to get compliments & be appreciated,huh?!

 

Chris is Badass.

 

In a good way, he's a great guy, if I had to buy another MINI no doubt it would be with Chris Yuseco!!!

 

I even took a pic of where it all goes down

 

Chris is awesome!!!!

 

Hahaha!!!! I remember sitting there after fully config'ing my car and looking at the guy in the gokart. I became really impatient after that!

 

Your car will be there in no time!!! I just happened to park there and I had to take some pictures!!!

 

My Car will be parked there soon!!!! Southbay rules!!!!

Chris, tell Philippe he should be involved in these forums even though he is a BMW guy... hey.. Im a BMW guy too but im showing love to its cousin MINI.

 

That is too funny Dwell. I pretty much followed you step by step. I'll even do you one better... I had set up an appointment with a sales guy at Irvine. He told me face to face, "WE HAVE NO MARK UP. WE WILL SELL TO YOU AT MSRP."

When I showed up a couple of days later to our SCHEDULED appointment, he drops the bomb and tells me, "MY MANAGER SAYS I HAVE TO SELL YOU $500 OVER INVOICE." So I ask him if he forgot what he told me and he said that there was nothing he could do.

A bunch of liars is what they are at IRVINE MINI.

Lets not even talk about the dealership in Santa Ana. What a joke. They charge $4,000 over MSRP and say that they are selling you LoJack and some paint treatment that couldn't cost thousands of dollars to justify the ridiculous mark up.

So this guy on the forums recommended South Bay Mini and I go down there and get exactly what I want with NO MARK UP OVER MSRP.

I met Chris when I first got there and he was a very cool dude. He even showed me a pic of his Mini. I had already been hooked up with a different sales person so that is the only reason I didn't deal with him.

All I have to say is South Bay Mini AND their sales staff are class people at a class dealership.

Every time someone tells me they are looking to buy a Mini, I tell them NOT to go to IRVINE MINI and I warn them about the one in Santa Ana. I tell them to go up to SOUTH BAY MINI and they will be taken care of!!!

I wonder how many thousands of dollars those dealerships have lost because of their horrible business practices? Hmmmmm...

 

Sorry to break up the happy thread, but Chris is the reason why i never bought my mini. I had originally ordered from him but needed to make some changes to my configuration but he never called back. After finally getting in touch with him, he said he'd find out about my requests and call me back. Never heard from him... so i ended up canceling my order and getting a refund on my deposit. It was just really unprofessional of him to not return calls for several weeks. Don't get me wrong, he was very helpful and friendly when i ordered the car... and thats where it stopped. Kinda like a "one-nighter", "wham bam thank you ma'am", "hit it n quit it"... well you get the idea... except i was the chick in this case... no bueno!

I ended up leasing an infiniti M35... got a great deal. After my lease is up, i plan on buying a mini, but not sure if i would go back to southbay... he left a really bad impression.

Does anybody have any experience w/ universal mini? do they sell at MSRP?

 

I wish you were the only person I have upset on in the almost 4 years I have been a motoring advisor, I try to be the best all the time and sometimes mess up - I'd love the opportunity to make it right.

What I am thrilled about is the fact that after all this time the MINI bug has yet to leave you, I know as I am a enthusiast 1st and foremost. Thats awesome!! I am a true believer in 2nd chances and turning a negative into a positive. I would love the opportunity to change your impression of me and our dealership.

Regardless of what you decide I hope to see you motoring on the road in the near future! Motor On bro!

 

Most of us have a customer service aspect in part/all of our jobs (unless you're a garbage man) and I understand not everyone can be 100% all the time. But you know what? Chris has pulled through for me bigtime. Helped with the configuration part, helped me with all my little jackass questions about rally lights, wheels (yes, he even helped me on what rims he likes dislikes), and even called me personally with a prod # (he came in 2 months earlier than what he originally told me).

Sure, he could have ignored all my panic questions about "oh! i should change my roof color now. bonnets? no bonnets!" all day long. But he didn't. And while he might have dropped the ball with you, he's smacked a home run with the last 10+ people who have posted praise about his services. So to me, I look at the # of times something good happens. Just not the 1 time something crappy does.

And besides, if I got a dire situation from him, I call him on his cell #. I'm sure Im not the mayor of Gotham and only I have that #. I'm sure all the people who have posted good things about him have it. That, to me, is outstanding. I believe 110% in good customer service. I always give mine out to my clients. They can always reach me in any situation, whenever it may happen.

So to me, Chris rocks.

 

Even though I have never bought a car from Chris, he has given me a very positive image of himself he's a truthful person that I'd buy a MINI from if I was to ever buy a 2nd MINI, but my euro taillights I bought came from Chris and I can tell you he's a honest person just by how he sold those tails to me.

I PM'ed him telling him that I wanted those tails and I told him I'd pick them up very soon, but I was having personal conflicts and I told him it would be a little bit until I could pick them up, he kept his word that he'll keep them, he had numerous other people that wanted them but not only did he hold onto them for me but he also met up with me halfway, of course he didn't have to do this, and this was the first time I met Chris.

Chris and I have developed a strong friendship, and if you believe that he didn't give you the proper attention the first time and you're not willing to go to South Bay anymore then that is up to you, but read the numerous reviews on Chris Yuseco or even South Bay itself, I think they are great people to deal with and to have a honest sales person such as Chris Yuseco is great, he's helped out many of my friend's who I directed them to Chris and they have all came back saying how great he was.

Sorry to hear you had such bad luck with Chris, but why not give him a second chance?

Happy Motoring

 

it is our hope that we make a good impression and give 100% awesome service to all of our clients I know that you were dissapointed initally and we truly apologize for that, but like Chris said we are happy that you havent lost your appreciate and excitement for the MINI! WE hope that you will give us a second chance to redeem ourselves.

 

Destron - I see your frustration over SouthBay MINI and I feel ya. But I would have done some reseach first (search: type Chris Yuseco ) before trying to destroy his character and lashing out like you did. You'll see that he's the #1 go to guy when purchasing a new mini.

He is a very active NAM'er and a respected Mini Advisor thats been praised with his excellent service. That, I can attest to having bought 2 minis from him.

For Chirs to actually respond to your rant and admiring your MINI fever hasnt "left you" says alot about him. Heck he even wants you to give them a second chance! So....get rid of your M35 and experience what the big fuss is about.

 

BlackX5 - Its not that i was trying bash his character per se.. it wasn't anything personal but more of a service disappointment of professionalism you'd expect from such a respected mini dealership. Everybody has their own opinion ("ranting" as you would put it) and not everybody gets the service they would hope to receive. This was just my experience i had with Chris that i wanted to share with the mini community. As much as people praise certain mini advisors... there's always a flip side to each story and experience. it's like they say, you'll never know until it happens to you...

Chris - thank you for your response. I am glad you are such an active member and hope that you will continually offer great service.

I know it was awhile back and i do believe in 2nd chances. I am still considering going back to Southbay for my next mini go around. i guess the 2nd time may be the charm... and if not... then its not meant to be.

Happy Motoring

 

Destron we too hope that we can earn a second chance. Trust me we want to give you the customer service that you deserve. We (like Chris said) are just happy that you have not lost the excitement for the MINI community and the vehicle itself.

 

Destron - I/we wish you all the luck on your next purchase. I'm positive your second time around with SouthBay MINI will be a much better one. Please do keep us on the loop once you get your new mini!

And last, famous words from Ari Gold..."lets hug it out b*tch!"