I had a terrible terrible service experience at nick alexander mini this morning, I don't know this is common there or what.

my MC is having this loud resonance noise when I get to around 2400 RPM and 40-50 MPH, the seats feel shaky when this happens. It has only 1500 miles on it when it happened for the first time. I first went to Long Beach MIN, where I bought the car from. A technician spend about 2 hours with me study the problem. We test drove my mini, also drove two new minis for comparison. We identified the noise, it is from the exhaust system. but they couldn't fix it even after they put a new exhaust for me.

well after reading few posts on MINI2 and NAM, I though maybe it is because technicians of Long Beach weren't not experienced enough; so I called Nick Alexander, it surprised me that I can only have the appointment a month later, coz they are all full for a month. I said to myself NIck Alexander must be good.

This Monday morning I drove my mini there, a service representative named Jose told me that he would call me if they couldn't identify the problem, so I left the car there. But I hadn't get any call for two days. This morning I called them, a guy said " Jose said he talked to your brother about it, you need to come over and test drive with our technician."

My brother??? I have no brother, and they only have my cell phone number. come on. you don't need to lie to me on this, do you?

I drove there right away after I hang up. They had done nothing, they only listened to the engine when car parked, while I clearly described it is a noise when driving, hello!!!!! After two hours waiting, I finally met this technician Eddie, who Jose referred as the sharpest guy they ever have. All right, we drove my mini on this bumpy road around the dealer for like 5 minutes, he floored gas everytime he accelerated, I almost begged him to stay from 2000RPM to 2400 RPM gently in order to hear the noise. Thank god he heard it, "oh, it is a normal engine noise!" he said, "normal? but how comes other cars don't have it? my seats are shaky, don't you feel?" I asked. he answered "I don't know, nothing is abnormal."
I am speechless!

I rememberd a post in MINI2 Faults and Fixes section, the guy had the similiar noise, and his dealer found out it was the front wheel bearing's problem. So I asked his at least check the front wheel bearings for me, he refused and said "It is not the noise from front wheel bearings, why should I look at it?" So he left, I told Jose, the representative, that I want to talk to Eddie again. Jose went and came back few minutes later, "Eddie said your car has nothing wrong, he doesn't want to talk to you any more" he said. I am shocked, really. Apparently Eddie doesn't want to spend time on my problem, later Jose told me coz they have about 4 scheduled maintance a day, and they have big big commission on this.

well, Eddie maybe very experienced, but as to the unknown faults on your mini, he is not willing to spend time on studying your problem; while Long beach serive may not as experienced, but they will study and try to solve it.

Overall, after this bad expereience at Nick Alexander, I guess I probably won't come down there again simply coz I don't trust them.

 

well i recently bought my car form them 2 months ago, and i realized that i had the yo-yo and the ba da dump idle a month after i had the car. so when i called to make an appointment i was shocked when they said to bring it in in a month! so i did not make an appointment and basically lagged for a month and called back, i talked to jose and said to bring it in on monday, and it was thursday when i talked to him, so i was like yay, sure ill bring it in on monday. when i got their, jose was nice and set everything up, and they said it would be done the next day. so i went to pick it up, and theysaid they updated the software, v38 im assuming, and the car is still having the problems. i hope that they actually worked on it after hearing your story
the thing that sucks is that it is the closest dealer to me aside from assael, which are a-holes, and i refuse to go there due to their sales reps attitudes towards me. the motoring advisors at alerxander however, are very nice and cool, but i was very upset when i was told to wait a month for service, maybe i will try a different dealership

 

I'd say service representative like Jose is fine, he can't do anything about it, and I was sorry to put him in an awkward position. I felt very bad when the technician Eddie is not willing to help me out. Isn't it what they suppose to do? or It's like others said on the MotoringFile.com that "BMW service departments treat the MINI as the irritating new stepson", you know I am just sad to understand that is indeed the fact!

 

My first dealing with Nick Alexander's MINI Service Dept. was less than satisfactory. I made a Saturday appointment for the Inspection #1. When I mentioned that I had a few warranty issues, in addition to the Inspection checkpoints, I was told that they'd have to book an additional weekday appointment, in case they needed to speak with the MINIUSA/askMINI techs. Anyway, I had an appointment for 10:00 AM on June 5th, for the Inspection only, and when I arrived, Jose said, "Oh, I called your cell at 7 AM this morning to cancel and reschedule the appointment. The tech's wife is sick and he couldn't come in." Of course, I didn't have my cell on that early, AS I WAS ASLEEP! No apology for my taking the trouble to show up on time was given, either. I went ahead and re-booked for the following weekend, June 12 at 9:30 AM. After being told that the appointment should take about 90 minutes, I had to wait about 90 minutes to 2 hours LONGER than that. Then when the inspection was completed, I was told to pick up my keys at the cashier. No follow-up, no comment about the check-up, no nothing. Since I was running so late, I left and didn't look at my copy of the tech's checklist until later at home. That's when I noticed the brake pad readings: 7s rear 9s front. I would have liked to have had that explained to me. I later found out that 11 is highest, so I don't have much wear on the pads.

I made an appointment for the warranty work for Aug. 5 (the first available weekday appointment after the June 12th one) , and after discussing the work to be done, asked about a loaner and one was reserved for me. Got there so early, the shop hadn't opened yet. They were very nice, invited me in for coffee, and got me hooked up with the Enterprise rep quickly. I upgraded for $5 to a Chevy Trailblazer (what a couch!), and drove home. Got a call about 3-4 hours later that she was ready. Drove down, picked her up, and everything was done to my satisfaction. A very pleasant experience, this time, from start to finish. BTW, I dealt with Chad, who had a top-notch attitude.:smile:

I bought my MINIs at Long Beach MINI and wondered if perhaps such people bringing their MINIs to Nick Alexander would be treated well. While the Inspection #1 experience sucked , the second appointment was fine. I would go there again. However, I am looking forward to checking out the new MINI dealership in Hermosa Beach, which is supposed to open this fall! YAY!

Clo/Wanda

 

Unfortunately, these stories are pretty common in SoCal. And BMW's attitude: If you don't like it, tough. They're not about to discipline any dealers. A MINI USA rep told me as much.

That's OK with me though. There will be no more BMW products in my future.