Hey Guys,

So.. I have my car in-transit and already paid $1,000 deposit with southbay MINI.

I got bored from waiting around for the car to arrive, so I did some dealership research on Yelp. And guess what...!! Southbay mini has way too many nagative comments. Majority of the comments were one star and some three or four stars..

Now my question is.. is this just a bitterness of those who didn't get the deal they wanted? How was your experience with Southbay mini??

 

nciiu, I got my 07 from Southbay in 07 (obviously). They were great back then! You may even have a better deal with them now that economy is not as good as '07. However, just word of warning, I am experiencing hard time with their service department.... Stay tuned.

 

We have been working with Alex Mansolino (fleet sales) at SouthBay Mini. Got a KILLER deal via the Costco Auto buying program thru SouthBay. Plus we 'stacked' the Motor-Tober $750 coupon on top of the deal.

Alex was very patient with us during the ordering process - the wife changed her mind several times. We finalized the order on 31 Oct. Had a VIN on 1 Nov and it was scheduled for production on 2 Nov and completed on the 14th!

Oh yeah, we did this all by phone & email since we are 150 miles away!

 

i didn't buy my car there - i bought it at nick alexander - and they wound up to be indescribably unethical. however, i was turned onto southbay mini after my maintenance warranty expired and a mechanic referred me to them (b/c my mechanical warranty was still in order.) they were great a few years back. but in the past couple years...FORGET ABOUT IT! they are just as bad, if not worst, then all the others. I think they were good back then b/c they were in some sort of International MINI contest for "best customer service." this is no joke. they were OBSESSED with being #1, and alas, they succeeded. they were either #1 or #2 at the time, only second to a dealership in england, if I recall correctly. so their priority was to take care of customers, at all costs...at the time. well guess what. THE CONTEST IS OVERRRRRRRRRRRR. they do not CARE. i, myself, will probably have to bring them to small claims court. and guess what else - before you buy your cool little mini (b/c they are so cool at first) consider the fact that corporate doesn't care AT ALL either. it's uncanny. never experienced anything like it at all. they lack all class as a company. and they simply do not care. it's bizarre. i guess it will only change when the demand for MINIs takes a huge dive. then suddenly they will "care." sad.

 

Wow, sorry to hear the horrible experience you had at southbay. I bought mine at Irvine Mini so I wouldn't know personally, but I'm sorry the treated you so poorly. It's weird, they're the child of BMW and yet BMW's overall service has been exceptional to me.

It's disheartening that Mini has been unwilling to help you.

 

yes, thank you, ra2fanatic. it has been shocking. not only could i have ever expected MINI to have such low grade customer service (given their association with BMW) but I have NEVER experienced such nonsense from any other dealerships - and I've been driving a very long time. I must say, b/c of these experiences with MINI, I would NEVER ever ever recommend someone buy their cars. I wanted to love my car so much. I was so happy when I ordered it. But their company, as a whole, completely soured my experience. I still "like" my car, but there are so many problems. Even the seatbelt is broken, and they won't even look at it for under 160 bucks. to "look." They just don't seem to have any care at all about the customer experience. I should sue them, on so many counts. And quite frankly, I could. And still may. But at this point, it may be more advantageous for me to ride out a couple more years, and then say goodbye to that company forever. I'm sure I've already lost them dozens of sales, based on vocalizing my experience. If they had half a brain, they would care a little more. Quite frankly, I find it to be a reflection on BMW as well. There's a lot of competition out there, and the hassle this company has put me through is not remotely worth the vehicle. Never again. In a time when customer service and integrity really stand out, MINI corporation is at the bottom of the barrel. And for the record, NOT ONE rep from that company has EVER taken note and shown me any effort whatsoever. In fact, South Bay GM even went so far as to throw a fit, over the phone, about the service manager not treating my case properly, and INSISTING that I write him an email repeating all the details. He basically used my discontent to support his own issues with the service manager, and then he completely bailed on me, failing to follow through with taking care of my problem. The company literally makes me sick. And you can enjoy your MINIs all you want, but I hope you don't ever have a serious issue that is MINI's fault - b/c that is when you will remember this message. Until then, best of luck. They suck.

 

I had a serious of multiple issues on my CPO MCS. Got a lawyer, lemon'd the car and won my case. As much as I hated going thru the ordeal and possibly not coming back to another MINI, I did. Hopefully this time around is better. Only time will tell. Sorry to hear about yours.

 

My '12 Mini is having problems with Blue Tooth. I called South Bay Mini to have it looked at but cant get a call back after over a week waiting. Left messages for Director of Service Jeremy Guenther, Service Manager Kim Kelly and even the owner, Peter Boesen. NOTHING! after looking at online comments about their service, I am not surprised what I am experiencing. these people don't deserve my business. In my 30 years in Customer Service, I can tell you two fingers of a worse experience. When I called the Director of Service, they told me he doesn't get in until after 10AM. Well Jeremy, that is one of your problems. If you worked for me and you had this many negative service related comments and you still came in after 10, I would throw your *** out the door.

 

Wow! Just now reading some of these messages, and wow. So sad. MiniBol, I can't help but wonder about the details of your horrible experience. And PissedOffMiniOwner - Guenther is the same guy who wouldn't call me back! He's the one that Drew, the GM at the time, threw a fit about and used me to email a complaint (obviously for his own purposes, since he completely dropped the ball on my situation.) Well, the situation has erupted again, b/c I am basically being forced to pay for a repair that they were supposed to make years ago, under the man. warranty. Long story, but I called them out several times, and Southbay handled themselves terribly. I even got the BAR involved, and I was shocked at how poorly they handled the case. I'm going to make an educated guess and say that the rep at BAR made some sort of deal with Guenther, and fortunately I kept every bit of correspondence, paperwork, emails and even a recording in my file. So now that I have Universal MINI doing my repairs (so far so good, and literally at less than half of what Southbay had quoted me), I have talked to a lawyer and will be contacting Southbay the "hard way." But here's what I found out, if anyone cares. Lino Serrano is back at Southbay - he was a service manager there when things were great! And while the mistake MINI made was under his service, I believe it would have been resolved properly and fairly, had he not been working at a different dealership when the issue was discovered. When I recently told him about all the chaos over the years, he seemed exasperated, and even alluded to hearing from many distraught customers since he disappeared for a while. Perhaps they are back in the saddle - who knows - but I will still have to sue them for justice. It's sickening. Btw, has anyone brought Southbay to small claims court, or sued them? Does anyone know their specific business code that is used legally? It seems mysteriously difficult to find. We WILL find it, but it would sure be a help if someone here was familiar with it.