MINI Looks to Improve Service

Sections: In the Press Aug 26th, 2006 39 Comments

Service. Ask any MINI owner and you’re likely to hear both good and bad tales. For a brand new car and brand new company it’s certainly an understandable issue. However for BMW and MINI, anything less than good was unacceptable. This week’s Autoweek covers MINI’s effort to make the bad service good and the good service great. Here’s an excerpt:

“When we first launched, we knew we had had a good brand and purchase experience. But Mini owners felt they were second-class citizens in the service area,” says Richard Steinberg, manager of aftersales and product strategy for Mini, in Woodcliff Lake, N.J. “We were getting dinged by quality at the service level.”

The shared service areas were a fact of life Mini had to deal with, says Steinberg. “We knew we could not do brick and mortar,” he says. “So we looked at facilities, personnel and branding.”

Even the waiting area made a difference, he says.

“A lot of the Mini guys didn’t like waiting in the white-and-gray BMW area watching the BMW guys watching CNN, so they’d wander back into the Mini showroom.”

Tom Schwartz, owner of Cincinnati Mini in Cincinnati, says he has radically changed how Mini owners are treated. He started before Mini began its program and was the inspiration for some of the ideas.

“It is working very well — Mini is now 25 percent of my total business,” says Schwartz. “People who name their cars need to be treated much better than someone who throws you the keys and says, ‘I’m late for a meeting.’”

You can read the entire article below:

[ Special Service ] Autoweek

Written By: Gabe

Rob Saunders

AMEN to that, brother! Although my dealer, Niello Mini, is terrific, I sometimes get the impression that the MINI customers are not prized as well as the BMW customers.
Jay

I go to the corporate flagship dealer in Toronto, and although I feel “financially inferior” especially when in queue behind several 2007 BMW M5s and M6s, they still value my patronage.

Put it this way: You enjoy the expertise of a BMW tech, while he/she also has experience with the Minis.

That and also you can enjoy the perks that a BMW owner experiences: Espressos, coffee, an upscale lounge with plasma tvs.

In my experience, everybody treats me as if I were an M5 owner, not a mere Mini owner.

Because in an indirect way, I’m sure BMW would love to see me graduate to a 3-series one day.
MINI Fireman

MINI continues to impress. Let’s hope this initiative makes a difference and isn’t just a bunch of proverbial hot air. Frankly, I’ve always felt car dealers too often treat customers as a one time sale to be taken for all they can on the initial sale instead of as long-term customers. Considering the cost of a car and the fact that most MINI owners are enthusiasts, this just makes good business sense.

Now, if we could just get them to more reasonably price service, parts & accessories it’d be a real home run.
Pete

Let’s hope they mean business. My dealership of choice just built a whole new facility just for service. Problem is there is just one Mini SA, and he’s worked to the MAX. Not a good situation.
Andrew

My dealer is one of the eight stand-alone dealers. I don’t have the problem of a BMW waiting room, but i do have the problem of NO waiting room. I always end up hanging out in the showroom, or even the service bays.

Hopefully I see some of these new changes the next time the car is in for service. Little touches like those mentioned are always appreciated.
goonery

UK Dealers are investing heavily in custom built state of the art MINI only premises either on the BMW site or separately, in some cases the BMW and MINI dealership have moved to completely new sites. So dedicated MINI sales and service areas are becoming the norm here. Have to say though that a lot of the sales people still don’t get MINI as a car as much as I’d like, but where they do (and its improving) the whole experience is great. Service is similar in that its a bit patchy, but again improvements are noticeable.
Adam

This is really good news! I’d like to see a national policy on loaner cars for all warranty work. Having just moved, my new dealer has a sign that says they give loaners to people who bought their car there. Well, I just moved over 2,000 miles. So now I’m forced to rent a car anytime I need service over the next 3-5 years? Bad juju, and this is the only dealer inside the 50 mile free tow limit.
http://www.alldigitalnyc.com drew

they should all take a lesson from prestige mini in new jersey. very cool staff, mod friendly, honest folks…
Mike

One thing MINI can do without costing them a cent is to allow their regional service advisors to check out issues affecting MINI owners at BMW dealers. I am still trying to have my rust issue checked out-my MINI dealer is over an hour away and there is a BMW dealer 10 minutes away. One would think that since the same person visits each dealer, I could at least get clearance for a repair, which I understand would have to be done at the MINI dealer.
chows4us

I have never felt like a second class citizen at my dealer. We got all the amenities: Plasma, bagels, free sodas, Internet connection, free loaner if they need your car for more than one hour.

In fact, when I came in for a yearly oil change, the SA actually knew my name, knew the car, greeted us warmly … never had that done in any dealer before. I would never expect a service manager to remember my name.

This is one area that our MINI dealer excels!
Dave

Stand alone dealer (Washington State – Tacoma). Service here sucks… From what I understand the dealer has an exclusive territorial contract with BMW so little (nothing) can be done. There are many thousands of MINIs out here so the wait, even for serious issues, can be 6 weeks. If the rest of the country got a passing grade, ours would have been bad enough to pull the average down to “fail”.
Alan

I think the most amusing service item that has yet to make any sense to me is this one after service survey question:

Would you reccomend this dealer?

It seem simple enough except for the MINI only service problem. I’m fortunate to have a dealer 5 minutes from work, but the next closest 3 are 2 1/2 hours away in opposite directions. How can I not reccomend the dealership with mediocre service, 2nd class treatment, no loaners (even if you bought the car there), and a habit of causing new problems while fixing old ones when they’re the only ones in the area? Well, no I don’t reccomend them, I think you should drive 250 miles roundtrip (twice, because they never have parts in stock, and won’t pre-order even if you ask them to) just to get the chance of better service.

Clearly even the surveys haven’t managed to become fully relevant in 4.5 years of sales.
http://www.robclements.com Rob

I bought my 05 MCS from a ‘nearly great’ dealer in Colorado and since relocating my nearest dealer is a combined MNI/BMW dealership in Virginia Beach. The Service Advisor is a really nice guy ; unfortunately he has to front for some really mediochre guys in back. I give him a 4.5 our of 5 stars, but the actual serice group a two out of five stars, or a “D+”. In my opinion : MINI owners are second-class customers; parts counter guys are seriously un-helpful; little or no discounts on parts; reluctant to sell/install Dinan parts; refusal to install any other third-party parts; and general don’t-really-care attitude from more than one employee. I recommend taking your car elsewhere if you possibly can.
Ralph

I didn’t get a Mini Mint when I took my car in for service this past July. Hmmm. Overall my exprience with San Francisco Mini has been very good. I’ve taken my 04 Mini in 3 times (2 recalls and one 9,000+ mile Oil change and service) and have always been treated well. On the other hand, Mini sales has not been as good. If I want some stuff (valve stem caps, etc) I go to Mountain View Mini. Mountain View Mini were much better until SF Mini moved out of the BMW shared space.

SFMini ran the sales dept very loose and an unorgaznized operation. They lost the keys to the cabinet for t-shirts, caps, etc. You couldn’t find people, etc.

Now that SFMini has moved the service dept and accessory sales desk away from the BMW shared operations it’s a bit better.
Ralph

I didn’t get a Mini Mint when I took my car in for service this past July. Hmmm. Overall my experience with San Francisco Mini has been very good. I’ve taken my 04 Mini in 3 times (2 recalls and one 9,000+ mile Oil change and service) and have always been treated well. On the other hand, Mini sales has not been as good. If I want some stuff (valve stem caps, etc) I go to Mountain View Mini. Mountain View Mini were much better until SF Mini moved out of the BMW shared space.

SFMini ran the sales dept. very loose and an unorganized operation. They lost the keys to the cabinet for T-shirts, caps, etc. You couldn’t find people, etc.

Now that SFMini has moved the service dept and accessory sales desk away from the BMW shared operations it’s a bit better.
Harold

I wish there was a dealer within 50 miles to offer service. If I go to the dealer where I purchased the MINI, it is 189 miles one way. We have a BMW dealer so it they want to improve my customer relations, then offer service at the Birmingham BMW dealership. When that happens MINIs from Mississippi, North Florida, and Alabama would not have to go to Atlanta or Nashville. I knew about the service issue prior to buying the MINI, but IF you really want to make things better, open up a service bay in Birmingham.
snid

This shows how great my dealership (MINI of Peabody – near Boston Mass) is. Someone at work (car dealership service industry) showed me the same article from a industry news mag last week. I was surprised as I had seen most of these changes maybe 6 months ago… and MoP is one of the stand alone dealerships. Great staff, nice waiting room, although much time is also spent on the showroom floor.

They took excellent care of me last week as I needed an “emergency” repair just before a weekend on the track. they squeezed me in their very busy schedule, got the work done on time, and at a very reasonable price – I’m way out of warranty.

No mints, though. :) I guess they won’t get a “5″ on their evaluation for that mistake. ;)
Osmodious

Interesting…the waiting area at my MINI dealer is actually great (PC for web surfing, big screen TV showing Italian Job, lots of great magazines and huge windows so you can watch the work), but it is also a MINI only shop. Also interesting, my dealer happens to be about 15 minutes from Woodcliff Lake, and the service I have received has been uniformly HORRIBLE for over two years. Everyone is very, very nice, but it takes multiple trips to get simple things repaired and, even worse, EVERY time they work on my car, they damage it. My wheels are scuffed up and scratched, the paint is deeply swirled, there are multiple (DEEP) scratches on my car and the interior has suffered repeated damage…all dealer-inflicted.

This is why I am trading my MINI (at an extreme loss, because that whole ‘best resale value’ thing is a complete load of BS, at least in the Northeast) and walking away. I LOVE this car, but the constant problems and complete inability of my dealership’s service department to fix ANYthing EVER has forced me to do this. There’s no way I’m going to risk driving this thing after the warranty is gone.

Goodbye, MINI…hello, Acura!

Os.

P.S. Warning to other Prestige MINI customers…I don’t know what mods Drew is talking about, but Prestige is most definitely NOT ‘mod-friendly’. They are friendly about mods you buy from THEM (they have a few things other than JCW stuff, but not much), but NOT anything you get/install do yourself or from/done elsewhere. This is a dealer that tried to tell me that my Nvidia exhaust had something to do with my steering issues (they replaced the steering rack, finally, AND the steering column after another 2 visits). As he, and I, both said…very friendly and cool folks there, they just think that is the limit of what they have to do (between ‘nice’ and ‘competent’, I’ll take competent, thanks).
http://www.myspace.com/willjsoto William
Hi….

This is my first time posting a comment… So I’m gonna try to be as good as the more experienced mini-thers (as mini brothers) in this page….

Since 2005, when I got my 2005 MINI Cooper I have been login to this page every single day….

I own a 2005 Chili Red Solid / White Roof MINI Cooper and I love it… but I hate the service I get out of the BMW/MINI dealership service and parts department…

They took 3 days to check my dad’s MINI Cooper just to tell him that the battery was dead….

They took 2 days to reconfigure my MINI’s keys…

They took 3 days to fix my MINI’s “top of the dash sound” (that sound that every single MINI from that year had)….

They took 4 days to fix a front drivetrain problem….

They don’t take care of customers as their reason for business mentality….

They don’t make you feel like they are taking care of you….

I think they just have too many BMWs to take care of and MINIs are just the ugly little brother that no one takes care of…

By the way…almost every MINI owner that I know are
```
    NOT CONSIDERING BUYING A NEW MINI 

       (DID U READ THAT MINI USA???) 
```
just because of the EXTREMELY BAD service they get there….

I was so excited about MINI Coopers that my dad was going to buy a 2005 Mustang GT and he changed his mind and got the same exact MINI Cooper that I ordered but in different colors..but I feel bad about him just because of the bad service he’s getting from the dealership’s service department.

I love MINI Coopers so I can ignore the bad service just because I’m blind-in-love with them.. it’s like a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship in which you just ignore some things because you are in love..everybody know what’s going on except for you..

Just an FYI.. the name of the dealership is Autogermana MINI in San Juan, Puerto Rico…

Im now living in AZ and guess what??? I still have my MINI in Puerto Rico but I got the new VW GTI MkV just because I don’t want to EVER deal with a MINI dealership in my whole life….

Once the damage is done…. there’s no way back..

Thanks to my dealership, their people, their managers, and their bad service the MINI brand went from heaven to hell for me, my family, my friends, and my co-workers… and thats what you call bad marketing…

If someone from MINI USA wants to contact me or if there’s a good dealership out there that can bring the passion, the love, the adrenaline, and the good service back to MINI’s in my life contact me at willjsoto@yahoo.com

Thanks…

PS. I have read a lot of articles in this page… but this one is not one that I wouldn’t comment on… because this one is one of the main issues I’m having with MINI Coopers right now
Greg W

The UK market has separate MINI dealers – stand-alone MINI dealerships which can concentrate on their core business. It is my understanding is that MINI (read BMW) wanted it that way, separate showrooms from BMW. However, the dealer margin is significantly less than the margin on a BMW sale. So compromises obviously had to be made. A BMW and MINI customer are like chalk and cheese – even the brand philosophy is different. They target different people and markets. The reason most of you own MINI is because you want to own one – it about your passion for the brand. Some MINI dealers will reflect this passion, and you probably know which MINI dealers show support like the guys who advertise on this site, and show up at special events. The good news for USA is this is how it probably is in other markets as well. It takes years to establish a new brand in a market – especially for a british car in your USA market. There’s and old saying in the Motor Industry – the Sales Dept sell the first car – the Service Department sell the second one.
Robert

I’ve been back to the dealer three times. All but the first visit were great. The change happened after they changed the SA. The first one was a fast talking, what-can-we-not-fix-for-you-today, kind of guy. The current one is much, much better.

My biggest problem is it’s a 4.5 hour drive one way to the dealer, and it’s in a city that I would just as soon stay out of. There is a BMW dealership about 1 hour away and I keep hoping they become a MINI dealer. Not likely to happen.
http://stylizedfacts.com/coruscation/autos/mini/ dc

Osmodious, you should meet NoNo.
Jon

I have used both the Northwest mini in Washington State and Rasmussen mini in Oregon. I would have to say that Rasmussen excells at treating their mini owners well, while I have had no major problems with either of them I do prefer Rasmussen. I would deffinetly like to see them move to a little bigger site as currently they feel a little cramped but while I could see an improvment happening at their site their people are excellent.
John

Stop Changing the Window dressing! Cute stickers and seat mints don’t fix the problem of BAD service techinicians. Treat the CARS better and the owners will be happy – not vice versa.
greg

When I bought my S in 2002 the nearest dealership was about 2 hours away and for the most part in the heart of Los Angeles. An ugly drive most of the time. Bob Smith BMW/MINI then opened a new dealership a mere 45-60 minutes away and on the outer cusp of the great cement beast…a great drive most of the time. Perfect! right?…wrong!! I had never felt so much “the ugly stepchild” as I did here. It was clear and obvious that my first sin was not to have bought a BMW and my next sin was not to have bought it there. After the first trip for a scheduled service and a minor issue was botched I gave them the benefit of the doubt and gave them a second and third chance over the next few months, each time worse than the last. As a comparison, my son and I went to San Francisco to catch some ballgames a year ago and I made an appointment with San Francisco Mini to have some work done while in the city and couldn’t have received better treatment…what a difference! I have since talked to other Mini owners her in town and they tell me the same thing in regard to Bob Smith, usually ending with ” yeah, I don’t take my car there anymore”. So…as I contemplate the next generation Mini guess where I won’t be buying it. I went on far too long but thanks for letting me vent. I feel so much better now…and I still love my car.
Charlie

I’ve purchased five MINIs from an out-of-state dealer, so my experience as a “didn’t buy it here customer” should be an indication of how I get treated by my local dealer, right? Except that I don’t take it to the local (closest) dealer, which is just 10 minutes from my home. No, I drive 50 miles to visit MINI of Concord, CA because MINI of Mt. View cannot schedule me for any service or warranty work in less than 2+ weeks from when I call. But when I call Concord, they can see the car (multiple cars, in fact) within 2 days of my call.

MINI of Concord has a separate service facility for their MINI customers; and while you drop off the car at the BMW Service entrance and wait in their dealership, MINI has a separate, dedicated SA who is thorough (almost religious) in insuring that they’re aware of all the service issues.

I think it makes a difference at the dealer if they’re willing to invest in the future by having a separate MINI servicing facility.

If MINI is serious about addressing service issues, then they may want to see how MINI of Concord runs their MINI Service facility.
http://www.hrmini.com AprilWhine

I’ve had simply outstanding service from Checkered Flag in VA ever since Frank became the service advisor there. It’s the main thing I’m going to miss when I move out of the area.
Doug

I guess I am one of the lucky one’s I bought my 1st Mini in 02,a JB MC Morris was #77 into the US he had ALL of the 1st year build problems, and every time I had to take him into be serviced I was treated like a valued customer, all the work that was done was explained to me, loaner cars were provided free of charge usually a new 5 series BMW, I had one for over 2 weeks on a windshield replacement that went bad.He was replaced with a PW 04 MCS, Lucy hasn’t had ANY problems and has only been to the dealer for oil changes and wiper blades. Even with just going in for free service I am treated professonally and as a valued customer. I live 2.5 hours away from the dealer so I don’t see them very often, but they still know me by name and greet me like a friend. I can’t wait to place an order for a NEW 07 as soon as I can, at Cincinnatti MINI/ the BMW Store. They got it right the first time.
http://CENTRALCOASTCOOPERS.COM scott mcintyre

well, I have a great deal of business due to the local dealers poor service record. The only time my 05 went in for service, they npf’d 5 of seven problems, fixed the 2 bovious items and called me after 3 hours to say it was all done-when I carefully went over the list again, they spent another day not fixing anything. I went on to fix it all myself, which I could have done in the first place, but if a car is supposed to have a warranty, I shouldn’t have to. OH WELL, WORKING OUT GOOD FOR ME.
Im1hapa

My experiences with my MINI service has been a mixed bag.

My ’05 PW MCS (and my significant other’s ’05 HB MCS JCW) have both been serviced by MINI of San Francisco, and they seem to have one SA who is going above and beyond , there always seems to be one who is strictly by the book and a bit more “cold,” for a lack of better terms.

For both of our MINI’s, they do the work, sometimes they do it well, sometimes they don’t and we end up having to bring things back. My partner’s dash was one issue, where they had to remove/reinstall the entire dash just to get to a broken dimmer switch, and they just cannot seem to put the dash back together 100% (gaps in one side, tight fit at the other). They do, however deliver the cars as promised, and if not, they always have a rental car waiting and tell me exactly what is wrong and how long it will take to fix.

As for other bits of ranting…as we always seem to focus on the negatives…when we took our MINI’s in for the 9K servicing, they seem to consistantly forget to fill the winshield washing fluid, and they washed our cars when we had asked them not to. (kinda makes you think what else they may have forgotten that you would usually not think about) They also put a 2 inch scratch in my leather steering wheel while in for my last warranty issue (I didn’t realize it until I was turning the corner down the street).

One bit of a raw nerve that they struck was when my partner bought an official JCW strut bar by mail order from another dealer, and he wanted MINI of SF to install it (he has no confidence in me loosening/tighting nuts with my torque wrench), and they quoted an install price of…I kid you not…$1300!!!! They obviously didn’t want to work with 6 nuts/washers! They even took half a day to get back to us with a quote…they must have thought about it pretty hard! Needless to say, it wasn’t installed by the dealer and so he passed the strut bar on to me! = ) Good news for me, but takes good karma points away from MINI of SF for their lack of willingness to work with things not purchased from their shop. BTW, the SA for this particular visit was with one of the “cold” SA’s that seem to change every time we come in for servicing. We now specifically ask to deal with the Above and Beyond SA.

I do feel better now that the MINI service area is separate from the seemingly snooty BMW service area, and I seem to be treated better than when I was being mixed in with the BMW SA’s and customers.
http://www.myspace.com/willjsoto William

WOW….. please Gabe make a pie chart on customer satisfaction analysis……

I bet my MINI that EXREMELY BAD service is gonna win over Regular to Good service…..

Too bad for the MINI brand

Good product Good price Good advertising Good customers

EXTREMELY BAD SERVICE
Skiploder

I really hope that Mini sets it’s sights a mite bit higher than BMW as a service model – BMW is deplorable.

Maybe BMW as a corporation should set it sights on Lexus for some cues on how to treat their customers. But Mini trying to to rise to the level of BMW is laughable, it’s like rising out of the gutter with the grand target of standing on the curb………people are paying good money for your cars – aim a bit higher you clowns.

Earlier comments about Mini of Concord are true. The dedicated service advisor is top notch and he makes a heck of a difference. Unfortunately, it’s still a BMW dealership and until BMW NA gets it through their heads that the dealerships are less to blame than their corporate policies, all the stupid free Krispy Kremes, Plasma TVs and gourmet coffee isn’t gonna make a bit of difference to most of us.
Frank

Having been with the brand for 4 years now, I can say that quality of post-sale service way back in the beginning was less than stellar, but it did improve steadely over time. I have purchased 3 new MINIs from Lauderdale MINI in Ft. Lauderdale, FL and the quality of service I have received from them its excellent, although, there is always room from improvement.

They have either MINI loaner vehicles (Once I got to drive a fully loaded 2004 MC CVT with only 50 miles on the odo)or free Enterprise rent-a-car rentals.

Their techs are top notch are and are extremely curteous and knowledgeable.

But they still share service bays and waiting room areas with their BMW clientele.

Here in south Florida we have 5 MINI dealerships in a 75 mile radius.

Lauderdale MINI is ranked #1 in service/sales for this region. Dealers to avoid in terms of lousy service and lack of loaners are:

South Motors MINI – Miami Braman Motors MINI – Miami Vista MINI – Pompano Beach (Owned by the South Motors Group) Braman MINI of West Palm Beach

Now, I personally do know the service manager of South Motors BMW/MINI (A great friend and an Emeritus gearnut) and one of his service advisors which happens to be a member of our local MINI club. Nothing personal against them at all, but I have time and time again told them that if they want to beat Lauderdale MINI in the CSI scores they have to start providing free loaners and improve the quality of repairs/service behind the scenes. These 2 guys just recently started at South Motors MINI and they have a daunting task ahead of them.

The service manager at Braman MINI in Miami used to work for Lauderdale BMW imports several years ago. Greaty guy, but I think he is crippled by the Braman management’s “Old fashioned” mentallity of approaching the car business. These folks do not understand the MINI customer in my first hand experiences and neither do they in sales (But they are a terrific group of hard working people). Braman MINI shares showroom floor space with Rolls Royce Motor Cars and BMW.

I think MINIUSA has addressed most of the initial service complaints from its dealer network but there is still much work to be done. I also believe that MINIUSA’s “Hands off” approach when it comes to managing the internal affairs of their MINI dealers (And that impacts them in a very negative way day in and day out)simply does not work and it has proven to be a failed policy.

If MINIUSA genuinely wants to improve the CSI scores at each one of their 80 or so dealers in the USA/Puerto Rico, they must get FULLY INVOLVED with each dealer at the sales/service level. MINIUSA should prepare to punish dealers that fail or refuse to improve their quality standards and closely work with dealership owners and management to remove and tackle the issues that cripple the operation of the dealer and service as a whole.

The days of letting bad MINI dealers get away with “murder” are over.

Also MINIUSA, as they ramp up production numbers, needs to realize that they must be willing to heavely invest into its MINI dealer network in terms of building separate showrooms and service areas, train quality personnel, offer incentives to dealers that abide by quality standards and to support initiatives for perks such as loaner vehicles. Nothing pisses more the customer with a broken $20K+ MINI to hear that in top of the problems the dealer can’t or won’t give that customer means of transporting him or herself back home of their place of work.

Last but not least, MINI needs to address customers that live hundred of miles away from the nearest MINI service center. Either build more MINI dedicated service bays or allow select BMW dealerships to service MINI vehicles under these circumstances.

I think MINI has most other bases covered (Great product, great marketing, great sales experience, customer following, reputation, resale value, etc) but none of that is worth a grain of salt if their dealer network is uncapable of repairing a vehicle, timely, professionally and to the satisfaction of the customer.

MINIUSA: The writting is on the wall.
speed_racer

Well, this is a topic close to my heart. I have to say I despise my local dealer at times, although after reading this maybe I don’t have it as bad as I thought.

My most recent trip into hell involved warranty work on the flywheel squeal, regular interval service, and an alighment – that’s it. I must say that I did get a loaner car – three of them. First I got my car back without the clutch fixed (they needed parts), regular service done, alignment done, and two new runflat tires to the tune of $600. In case you didn’t read closely, my list of service items did not inlcude new tires. Then they put the wrong tires on my car to replace the runflats I didn’t want. To make a long story short(er) by the time I got my car back permanently three weeks, five service trips, and three loaner cars later my car had ten new tires put on as well as a complete new clutch installed. Oh, and they scraped the p*ss out of my wheels. Grrrrr…..

We have a new SA as well as an assistant SA and two MINI-only techs, so again we’re better off than most. But I just feel like sometimes they don’t listen to what the problems are or what we’re expecting. And isn’t this what it’s all about – owner expectations? I don’t care that I don’t have a seperate MINI waiting area, or that I can have free internet access or plasmas to watch CNN, I want someone to listen to my issues and fix them. My dealer is better, but as my recent troubles prove, they have a long way to go.
Vanwall

I’ve had good, bad, and indifferent service from a variety of MINI dealers, and in fact don’t use the nearest one because of numerous complaints by fellow motorers and poor impressions on my own few visits. I understand they have changed their entire service site and how MINIs are handled, as have the other dealers I’ve used recently, but good service and sheer, simple problem-solving should be put ahead of PR. I used a couple of different dealers on a recent mis-firing episode, and ended up changing spark plugs myself for the solution after getting the “We have done all we can” from them both. It couldn’t have been that hard, now could it?

In the 6th largest metropolitan area in the USA, it would be nice to have a second, or heavens! – even a third, MINI dealership, and maybe one of ‘em actually in the city itself and not a far-flung suburb, but I understand BMW refrains from shotgun weddings for dealerships who couldn’t, or wouldn’t, get off the dime, so I’m stuck with little or no options, something I’m sure no BMW owner has to put up with, to say nothing of other marques – this is appallingly bad planning. What happens when the gradually larger numbers of owners come calling for fix-me-ups? I’ve had no real serious run-ins with the dealers over service – yet – and hope never to have one, but they all have a case of the bottom-lines, which the new approach may mitigate, at least on the surface.

I hate to hear the “We can’t duplicate that problem”, (lemme hold your ear to the dashboard, fella) or “This microscopic grain-of-sand strike, let me hold this ball-point pen pseudo-scientific instrument thingumabob to point it out, caused your windshield to crack”, (yeah, right! – how piss-poor is the glass?) or “Hmmm, don’t know about that problem, it’s new to us”, (when a service bulletin pops up about that right after) it just tees me off – they’ve heard it all before, and should admit to it. MINI Smints is all well and good, but at the end of the day, I’d like my MINI back all fixed, please and thank you, because it actually costs less, in man-hours, parts, and above all customer satisfaction, than having more than one go-round with a specific problem. Do It Right First Time, not CYA.
http://www.stoked.cc Dave

I have had nothing but excelent expieriences with taking my MINI in for Service. I have come to know both of my SA’s, and they patently continue to answer all of my (almost incesent) questions. I have always been able to wait with the car, and they are done with the car in an hour or two. While I wait they have a comfortable waiting room with WiFi, free coffe etc.. I’ve had it in for all of the scheduled maintence, plus two unschduled oil changes, a flat tire, coling fan, and O2 sensor. My Only complaint is that they don’t provide loaner cars, however I have been told if I need serious repair they will provide me a rental car.

I bought the car From MINI of Peabody in Peabody, MA. That was after I visited the Boston MINI dealer to buy my car, and they sales guy couldn’t tell me how much the note wouls be on the car without first purchasing the car, and having it delivered. After he told me to come back with my parents, I went to the other dealer. I hear the Boston dealer has problems with service too, hwoeve rthey do provide loaners.
tickled pink

Sorry this sentance is still making me giggle:

“However for BMW and MINI, anything less than good was unacceptable.”

As if BMW or MINI service has such high standards, lol.
bavarian racing green

…the bitterness and cynicism are bringing me down…

…compared to the kind of service experiences my family had over the years with our domestic products, even the worst thing i have experienced (3 hour drive) is plenty worth it…

…i’ve i bought a ’03 MC from MINI of Stlouis/Autohaus of Clayton and have a 06 MCS on order from there as well…

…friendly people, always a loaner (one was an S-conv), very timely service, wash, and a couple of capri suns to boot…

…also when the battery died 2 months ago MINI in indianapolis had it towed, fixed, and returned with multiple friendly updates as to progress all within 48 hours…

…i think we, as mini owners, need to realize that we put $50,000 worth of love into a $20-25,000 car…

…no car i know of in that price range has this kind of service behind it…
Osmodious

Just a quick note to Bavarian Racing Green… “ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã‚Â¦i think we, as mini owners, need to realize that we put $50,000 worth of love into a $20-25,000 carÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã‚Â¦” Um…my Cooper S was a $30,000 car, and my expectations are precisely in line with that pricepoint. They have not been met. That yours are is fantastic, I am both happy for you and ‘green’ myself, with envy!
The reason I dumped my Audi was because my dealer failed to meet my expectation for a $30k car (which another dealer had met, and sometimes exceeded, with my previous A4).

A lot of people bring up the whole ‘what do you expect for a small/cheap car’ line with me and I find it, well, somewhat insulting. The MINI is marketed as a ‘prestige’ brand. Why else would someone pay $30 for a 12 ft long car (that is not a purpose built vehicle, so don’t anyone say ‘Lotus Elise’ to me!)?

If you are going to position yourself as a premium brand, you have to provide premium service. Period. End of story. This is one of the things that has killed Cadillac over the past decade or so (hey, their product has improved substantially, but when you get treated like a Chevrolet owner at Mercedes prices, it gets to you). There has to be substance behind the price.

The fact that they acknowledge there is an issue is heartening to me. It also points out how bad the problem actually is (if only a small percentage of owners had an issue, they’d never acknowledge it, there’s little gain to be had by doing so…so their admittance of the issue means it is widespread, which all the forums will support).

I’m not looking to have my feet kissed (or even massaged, like my GF gets when she spends a mere $15 on a pedicure!)…I just want to be treated fairly, with respect and have my damned problems fixed when I bring the car in!

Os.

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