I got my car May5 from Brian Harris MINI in Baton Rouge, LA. I am at about 10,700 m. now and the service counter says a bit less than 1400 miles. I scheduled a service on their website a couple of days ago but haven't gotten a response yet. Does anybody have any stories, good or bad, to relate about their warranty service at BHM?

 

Took mine in at less than 6k to have the clutch cylinder changed. They gave me a loner and told me that I would have my car back the next day, they called me back 6 hours later the same day and told me it was done. I need to take it back in because my engine mount is leaking I think but I could be wrong. I've heard that brian harris is @$$ holes but I haven't really seen it in person. I would say you need to call and speak to someone I had to wait a week before I was able to take my car in.

 

My old Solid Gold MINI came from Brian Harris. I took it in on many occassions to get little quirks fixed, or scheduled services done. Not one problem. Even when I had to leave it with them for a steering issue, they gave me a loner vehicle (2006 CR convertible), and I live a little over 2 hours from them. When the said steering problem came back, they offered to fix it out of warranty since it was a recurring issue while it was under warranty. Overall, I'd say their service is top notch. One more thing. I've had to oreder OEM parts, and I call them, pay for them over the phone, and they never charge me for shipping.

On another note, with my 2005 Cooper S, they told me over the phone they won't fix the mushroomed strut tower. I can't really say that's a bad on them. I have to go get a key reprogrammed and some other things programmed on the car, so I will have them look it over and give me a verdict, because it's easy to say things over the phone. But yeah, they've been good to me.

 

I had a small problem with BH not wanting to pay for the supercharger they destroyed; other then that they are pretty good, and they are the only ones around. It is hard to get them to call you back, don't know why... The service advisor is new.

 

Yeah, when Ron ran the MINI section things were good, then Doug took over, things were great. Now I believe they have a chick running things. She was the one that said they won't repair the mushroomed strut tower of mine. Oh, by the way, I made a mistake on the distance from my house to BH. It's a little over 200 miles and 4 hours away. So they look out for you. But we will see if I can get this strut tower fixed.

 

I live in northern Alabama and was in Biloxi during Mardi Gras back in 2004. We woke up and headed to the Casinos when my stock crank pulley decided to fail on my 2003. This was on a Monday and I had to be back at work on Thursday. MINI picked it up and carried it to Brian Harris for repair. They told me they would try to get it done as soon as possible.

They called Wednesday morning to tell me the parts arrived and for me to be there by 6pm. I got there and it was ready to go. Not much of a vacation out of the trip but after a 7 hour trip I was able to be back at work on time.

So I would say that has to be the best MINI service experience I have ever had.

 

My MiniS 06 is already 7 working days at Brian Harris,Baton Rouge,I living 70 miles away,no phone calls,no explains.When calling them getting only answering machine,My Mini got bad slave cylinder.Today I found out that they have only three technicians FOR 30 MINIS witch are front of me.

Going NUTS

 

I bought my car from Brian Harris in 04, and drove it to San Francisco where I was living at the time. I dealt with Eric Sisco (who is no longer there) and had a great experience. I called him several times from SF when I had problems, and he always went out of his way to help.

I moved home to Luling about a year ago, and havent had to take the car in yet (i've got a problem with my window that needs to be fixed, but don't have the time for the 3 hour round trip). I did call about a month ago to talk to ask the sales guy when the 08s were going to come out and the guy was a total @$$hole to me. Not that they really have anything to do with the service department, but it might be indicitave of the staff they have working there. I have called the service department several times, and was always transferred to voicemail and was called back only once, and thats after leaving about 4 messages in one day. I'm kind of dreading bringing my car in, and I'll probably end up waiting until the last minute before my warrranty is up (bad idea, I know)...i hope they behave better in person. I'd hate to have to give them another 25 grand when I go to buy my next mini


anyone on here know of any independent shops that work on Minis in the New Orleans area? (I know its a longshot, but I just had to ask anyway)...

 

Well, it seems as if the service department has undergone some major personnel changes in the past few months and things are pretty bad over there. My 05 MC was in for service back in February with no problems and wonderful service. I had it towed over there for a PS repair and we picked it up 4 or 5 days later after a trip to New Orleans.

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed a problem with the engine cooling fan and had it towed in several days before we were to be in New Orleans again. It is a 3.5 hour drive from Mobile, so I always try to work in any service visits where we are going to be in the area. I called to schedule it on Monday so that I could pick it up on Saturday. The SA was Christina and she ended up being quite unpleasant and rude. She even hung up on my husband when he was trying to get a definitive answer on the status of my car the day before we were to leave for Louisiana. After going over Christina's head and informing her supervisor of the problems we were having, they agreed to have it towed back to us when the work was done.

It did not get fixed on time and sat there untouched for an entire week. We received a phone call at 2AM last Tuesday from a tow truck driver who was lost trying to bring back the car. When it got here at 3AM, the battery was dead and the Check Engine light would not go off when we got it jumped. We made him put it back on the truck and take it right back. They determined that the battery needed to be replaced and put in a new one. I finally got my car back yesterday, 12 days after I sent it over.

Needless to say, I had a horrible experience this time, and I really don't want to ever have to take it back. There is no other dealership within a reasonable distance, so I am stuck with them. I just hope nothing else goes wrong. I love the car, but I can't say that I'll buy another. The hardship to get service and the poor quality of the service does not make for a good ownership experience.