Has anyone had any issues with MINI of St. Louis?

 

I've been dealing with MINI of St Louis for 5 years & 2 MINIs now. I think we've all had an issue or 2 but overall they have treated me well.

Lois

 

great. thanks.

 

like what?

your thread title and your post don't give us much to go on.

 

I was just asking folks opinions.

 

I had one pretty bad one, but it worked itself out.

 

Nothing but great sales and service. The parts department has been wonderful too.

 

I've always had great service.

They seem pretty serious about always getting 5 stars from customer evaluations.

And I agree with Adam, the parts guys are really nice.

 

I've had one really good experience with St. Louis MINI repair shop which just absolutely amazed me (the first one) and another experience which was truly awful (the second one). The first time around they did a TON of warranty work on Lucy, including replacing the clutch! And they were really good about it, I gave them 5 stars all the way when MINIUSA called. (I also got to drive a MINI Cabrio for a couple of weeks, and that was pretty neat too.)

The second experience - Lucy's door handles froze shut! Turns out a design flaw with the original handles allows some water to seep in under the handles, so if weather conditions are right, the handles will freeze solid. I did a search here on NAM and confirmed that other MINIs had this problem (search terms - door handles froze). So I took Lucy to the MINI repair shop (still under warranty) and I was treated like a DUMB GIRL. I was so shocked with my treatment, compared to how well I was treated the previous time, I just left, instead of trying to resolve the situation. When I got home, I did some Google searches and another search on NAM, and quickly found out (again) that this is a common problem, and that there is even a technical service bulletin. I called the repair shop back and told them this, and I was still treated like a dumb girl. They eventually replaced the door handles, but apparently this is not covered under warranty (which is probably why I was treated like a dumb girl), so they made a big deal out of doing it for free to keep me happy, but it's not like it's a real problem or anything. The quality of the work was bad, but I could at least use the new door handles, and I just didn't feel like fighting the dumb girl treatment any longer. Not surprisingly, I did NOT get a call from MINIUSA afterwards, asking me my opinion of that service experience.

Moral of the story - do your homework thoroughly before you take the car in.

I am lucky - here in Quincy, we have a great BMW repair guy, and now that Lucy is out of warranty, he will be taking care of all of Lucy's service needs from now on.

 

I have had nothing but good experiences with the service and parts departments. They always do a great job! Things will improve even more once the BMW and MINI service is separate, which should happen next year. My car is almost out of warranty, but I will continue to take it to them to fix what I can't fix on my own.

Aaron

 

What types of loaners does Mini of STL give you to drive, while you are under warrenty work? I am actually thinking of buying a 3 series, and the car is going to be in the shop over the weekend, I would love a 2 day test drive, but I wonder if they frown upon that?

 

It has always been an MC (not the S) automatic---either hard top or cabrio.

 

I have had Maxine in twice for warranty work - first time I got a Jeep Liberty and the second time a Dakota pickup truck. I've always been told "no MINI's available"!

MsBrit

 

If you want a loaner, plan an appointment early in the morning. They run out quick. If they have no more MINIs they have to put you in a rental. Besides more paperwork, it is not a MINI.

 

To the point of the original post: I've only had my MINI for a few months, so I've just seen the sales side. But, in general, they don't seem to value customers. I think its too bad that they are the only show in town and have a great product to sell...

 

I've always been there between 7:30 - 8am - and specified a loaner at the time I made the appt, but still no MINI loaners

MsBrit

 

I always specifiy that I need a loaner when calling, and they have always provided a MINI loaner for me. If they don'tm let them know that they need to make it right and that it is important to your rating of their service. They'll make it right. Things should improve more once the BMW side moves to Hanley, so we'll get a focused experience.

 

That'll do it!

 

I've always had a MINI for a loaner even with last minute problems. Had to go to Enterprise once. MINI of St Louis always treats me well even when I've ranted to them about the problems my MINI has had. A BIG to Matt, Rich, & Dave

My brother just purchased a new 07 about 1 month ago. He had some strange stains on it. They sent him to the body shop & took care of it right away. No charge

There will be a new MINI in our future just not sure when or which MINI will go

Lois

 

The shop guys are ok, as far as dealers and repair shops go. I am in a 2008 Chevy Impala from Enterprise. It is ok, as far a rentals go.

RT

 

Just got my MINI back from the shop. They did a great job and the service and parts guys were wonderful.

 

Not to keep reviving this thread, but I got my car back a few days ago. My car has been to the shop 5 times since I got in in Late August. This last time, it stalled and would not start again(towed to the dealer). Several parts have been replaced, including the transmission, with remanufactured parts. My car is less than 6 months old, and has less than 10,000 miles on it. I am passed upset at this point, but i'm not sure what to do. I opened a case with MINI USA, but haven't heard back yet, I didn't necessarily want reman'ed parts on this car, and the warrenty never states that such parts will be used, at the discression of the manufacturer; concerned to say the least.

 

Well, had my other MINI in yesterday and had a bad experience. Won't go into details except to say I was told by the service advisor that something would be done so I scheduled an appointment and brought my car in. Once the car was in and after I reconfirmed what I wanted and was told no problem. After the car had been there all day, I called to get the status and I was told they wouldn't do it. I got in huge argument with the service manager about it.

Long story short, don't expect to get them to install anything (even if it's an official BMW/MINI part) they didn't sell you EVEN IF YOUR SERVICE ADVISOR SAID THEY WOULD.

I've got to say, I've been a huge supporter and advocate for MINI of St. Louis in the past and yesterday's experience has me reconsidering everything. I'll be discussing this issue with MINI USA and upper management at MINI of St. Louis and will report any thing I find out.

 

Good Luck! I have a bad taste in my mouth so to speak. I was out of town last week, and had some work done at Baron BMW in Kansas City, and they treated me very well, so I may consider taking my car the 250 miles to have them work on the car from now on.

RT

 

Well, after a few calls back and forth with the General Manager of Autohaus/MINI of St. Louis, and fullfilling a bunch of requests by the service manager so they could inspect all the parts, I finally got my issue resolved, parts installed and they didn't charge me a penny to boot. As far as I know, the policy of not installing parts that they don't sell is still in effect.

As for the future of the policy, I don't know but I do expect a lot of things to change when the service department splits up this spring and we have our own MINI service department.