OK, this is our first MCSC; mostly my wife drives it and I make sure all mechanical/electrical are operational. I recently took our 05 MCSC in for some warranty work and encountered some of the worst service I've ever experienced. Basically, the new service manager (prior manager had recently quit for a better job) told me 3 half-truths in less than 15 minutes, e.g. since I have only had the car for <3 weeks, I asked to know as much as possible about my car's service history;

1. He stated that my car's service history shows that it has basically only been in for it's 10,000 mile oil change (when asked to produce the report he acknowledged it had been in for a total of 8 service appts from 2004-2006);

2. When asked to explain the purpose of the other service visits, he stated that all Mini service depts use different service codes. So, he can not tell from my cabrio's service history report what service was previously done. He could only tell me that the car does not have any open campaigns at this time (he later acknowledged what some of the service codes were likely about, e.g. codes that start with a 51 are usually a suspension issue, etc...). After further questioning, he looked up a service bulletin about convertible top upgrades and saw that my cabrio's service report had one of the service codes from the bulletin, so he was sure this upgrade had been performed on my car;

3. When asked if he could contact the prior dealership to get detailed information on the car's service history, as the dealership ID number for all prior service was on the history report and all prior service had occurred at the same dealership, he said he had no way of finding the name or contact information for that dealership; when he was told that I planned to call MiniUSA myself and ask for name/contact info for the prior dealership, then about 10 minutes later he brought me the requested copy of the service history and he hand wrote the name and telephone number of the prior dealership, so I could call them myself and inquire about the past service visits.

The other issue was that, despite that I had read many posts on NAM about early wear on convertible tops and folks getting replacement tops under warranty (and I read the service bulletin posted on NAM about this issue too), the mechanic inspected the top with me and told me the white spots on my blue top were "like a blue jean effect that is supposed to occur."

Suprisingly, after all of this POOR service, as I'm leaving the dealership the service manager tells me "I just want to ask you to do me one favor, when Mini USA calls to inquire about the service appointment, please rate our service a 5 out of 5."

I'm new to the Mini Co., so I don't know the rank of an SA vs a MA vs the guy who stocks the product shelves. But I expected a lot better service than what I received from this service manager and mechanic. The blatant nature of the half-truths, and no acknowledgement of the obvious contradictions in what I was told and then what I was told AFTER I pushed/doubted/or presented additional "I know something" information gives me the impression that this dealership is not "fixable" or worth the time to talk to the service manager's superior; although I do feel sorry for the folks that live near this dealership and are in for a rude awakening when they return to the heretofor "great service" reputation dealership and likely receive the same POOR service that I did. Personally, I'm 120 miles from three Mini dealerships, so I'm inclined to just go to one of the other two dealerships next time in hopes of finding one that is better staffed. However, I chose the dealership I went to because it HAD a very good reputation of excellent service and is located in a town that I frequently visit. Sorry for the lengthy posting, but I'm curious to hear what the Mini veterans on NAM would suggest as a course of action if they were in my shoes.

 

Sorry about the crappy service. It's a shame that you have to act like an alpha dog to be treated right!

One thing you should be aware of, though: when you are called and asked about the service, the score you give will be available to the service department! They don't tell you that, but it is the case. So, if you give low marks (anything less than 5 is low to them), you can figure out how you will be received when you make an appointment at that dealership, again. :impatient

 

if you have problems later, get in touch with the managers boss. OR better yet, call him now and say you don't feel comfortable giving 5s because of blah blah blah and you'd like to give them a chance to resolve the issue. They get graded and the only time you have leverage is before you give the rating.

Matt

 

Also, you can decline to give them ratings. I like Matt's suggestion. I'd go over their heads if you aren't satisfied. Their comment about the ragtop's wear is really BAD!

 

Thanks for the good advice. It's very helpful to know all the options. At this point, I'm inclined to plan on using a different dealer and give this one the rating they earned at the time of service. I'll also let me MC friends who commonly use this dealer know that "times are a changing" (not for the better) in the service dept at Downtown Mini in Orlando. Hopefully, they will be able to help this service manager be more cognizant of what he says and does.

 

Good to know! Yikes!