I've had nothing but bad service at this dealer too, here's a few things i went through:

1) When I was looking at buying a mini I lived 4 miles from this dealer, I went in to talk to a sales guy, I was being treated nicely, and I told him another dealer in the midwest had the car I wanted in stock, and that I could get it in three weeks. A sales guy next to mine interrupted angrly and declared you can't even get one from england in under six weeks.

I got mine ordered and delivered from Mini of Monrovia in exactly four weeks.

2) I went through a car wash, touchless, and my check engine light came on. I imediatly booked an appointment to have it looked at. After having it an entire day they said this was a false alarm (turns out its a known issue with my model year, a bad catalytic converter)

3) I stopped by on my way to work to have them fill the windshield washer reservoir, I paid good money and I'm under warranty, they can take two seconds to do this. I was treated rudely by a service tech. The same time I was there they told a lady she had to pay $300 for an oil change, even though she put $0 on the sheet and they never called here.

4) Just before leaving for a vegas trip my check engine light came on again. I dropped it off at this dealer when they opened in the morning. I called from 1pm to 3pm without getting an answer. I drove to the dealer to find two service people sitting at the service desk not picking up ringing telephones. cute. I asked on the status of my mini and they said "ooh, it's not going to be ready until 5". I asked if they knew what was wrong and they didn't. I told them to get it off the lift for me, I want it now. Turns out it's just sitting in the parking lot. I had to ask the service guy several times if it had even been looked at. After the third time of interrupting him to ask the same question he finally addmited "NO."

That was the last time I dealt with this dealer.

I've had nothing but great service at the mini dealer in irvine, they replaced my catalytic converter, and a radiator, all under warranty, all in the time frame they promised. They even offered up a rental car, which is not standard from a dealer you didn't buy your car from.

AVOID SOUTH BAY MINI.

 

Ive had VERY similar experiences there lately. They used to have a service tech there named Jay Moore who was a very nice & honest guy, never had a problem when he was there. Since he left about 1 year ago, i have been met with nothing but attitude & resistance from this stealership, and thats IF the service dept answers the phone. After my warranty expired, I called to see how much an oil change was. I got the standard "we need you to bring your car in so we can see what service you need" response. I had to ask 5 times before she would give me an answer and they wanted $190 to change just the oil & filter, if i needed a "total oil service" it would be $430!!!!!! I did the oil change in 30 minutes at my house the next weekend for $45.

 

ok people, gotta chime in here. I am having a hard time translating both of your issues as "crappy service" especially posting it where it could affect many potential customers.
JJ Shoe, you need to read your warranty, washer fluid is NOT covered, it would have taken you less time to put some in yourself. Seriously, that is considered crappy service? C'mon now. #2 isn't even the dealers fault, they didn't manufacture the car. #4, I can see being a little bothersome and not being there can only say that my local dealership is extremely busy and you would be considered seriously lucky to ever drop your car off and see it back on the same day. Next time you call a service department and no one answers, call the dealership manager. Simple.
Minipitt, I too would get irritated at the fact that I had to ask three times to get a price, and once they gave me the price I could take it or leave it. That simple. Doesn't translate to crappy service to me. Sorry.
I'm not trying to bag on either one of you. I know we pay a lot of money for our cars, but it doesn't come with a crown and a demand for being treated as royalty.

 

I'm having trouble following your post, but I'll do my best to address what I can.

2) How is it not the dealers fault that they had my car for the entire day and couldn't detect a KNOWN issue? I called the dealer in Irvine, and talked to a tech over the phone, he told me what it was without seeing the car. Irvine +1, South Bay -1

4) Bothersome? That doesn't count as poor service? When's the last time you called a place of buisness and not gotten an answer? I don't do buisness with companies that can't answer their phones, it's that simple.

 

Having had a few BMW's and Mercedes i know all about check engine lights but how can speaking to a tech over the phone diagnose a car??? We can all tell horror stories about dealers,golf courses or dept stores but seriously do you walk into best buy and yell at them for the prices of thier TV's ??? There's soemthing to be said for good service and you should get it but comparing them doing an oil change to yourself is just a bit misleading. My plumber wont show up with out a $50 fee with out doing anything .. doesnt mean im going to bash him and start fixing toilets

 

He was probably able to diagnose it over the phone due to the MASSIVE re-call going on related to the catalytic converter. The same recall with the TSB that had all the symptoms I listed.

I never compared them to best buy or an oil change myself, not sure what you're going on about.

 

lol... im new to the forum and i already put my foot in my mouth, i saw the post of someone saying they were over charging and i quoted you..My bad!

I find all these posts helpful and just trying to collect as much info as i can but i guess im just noticing everyone bash on service and the few threads with people saying that had great service and there's little to no remarks on them then i see people upset at service they recivied and there's tons of posts all saying more and more negative stories so im just making the point that we can say that about all places we go to. Thats my rant..lol

 

For the record my mini now qualifies as a lemon in california.

 

mines a lime

 

For the record I succesfully got a dealer buyback.

 

for the record I hope I never sell a vehicle to you.