2009 Mini E: 3 Month Service

You've never met Magrath.

I think that you treated them as they deserved. You could have done worse and I'd still think it's ok. It's really time for "stealerships" to get their act together. If they say the car will be ready by 4, then it's by 4. It's not the next day and not 20 minutes later.

The lack of respect for your time is appalling. And what if you had to pick your kids up from school that afternoon?

You should have asked to see the manager.

I hope I don’t have the same issue with my local dealer. However, I did buy my car at a dealer 100 miles away b/c the local would not budge on the price at all… They service department is mostly BMW so maybe, just maybe, I will be okay.

I hate the lack of communication. When I had a Mercedes I experienced the same thing. (read: lack of updates, call backs, and not fixing the problem the first time).

Make sure to bring this up the next time Mini decides to HOUND you for the next service.

I would say, "Why don't you guys come pick the car up and bring it back... My schedule is book solid for the next couple of months."

Not making apologies for the service people, but if you really said what you wrote, then you acted like a jerk. Yes, yes, they were lethargic, but would it have killed you to be nice to another human being??

You could have been polite but firm & not be a dick.

"When we made the appointment, you said It'd be ready by 4 today. If it's just downloading data what's the hold up? Do you use floppy discs?"

That is just WOW!

Since it's electric, I'm can only assume they're trying to copy the Fry's Electronics service model.

So would you talk that same way if it were your own car you paid for? I understand they are idiots but being nice might payoff next time. I have always treated SA and mechanics in a polite manner and always get good service, maybe I'm just lucky.

This is why I hate pretty much all aspects of car dealers. The sales process and the service process. Car buying is the exception in retail these days. Usually these days, if you're buying, say a TV, you can get the salepeople to jump through hoops, but with buying and servicing cars, you are at their mercy. When I bought my newest A4 I did the entire process over phone/email/fax. I told the salesman straight up that I didn't want to see him or meet him in person. It worked well. walked in, signed two papers, and left.

Yeah maybe a little bit too sacharstic but I completely feel for your experience. I've been lucky enough to have great service form my Mazda dealership. They are the exact opposite of what you experienced at Mini.

What really irks me is how they waved off the TMPS light issue. I remeber having the same issue with a Nissan Armada I rented from a Enterprise rental. The TMPS light came on and when I called them on it they gave me the same excuse "oh it'll be OK". Really? More recently I've found that many renatal cars I've used are in horrible shape- more so than I'm used to. Yeah there rentals but having bubbles in tires and horrible mechanical sounds eminating from the transmission are all considered "OK".

As for their horrible service. I would sell the Mini in an instant.

Just a word to the wise: NEVER WRECK A RENTAL CAR!!

The Garmin Nuvi that came with my 2008 Murano Rental car confused me, and I ended up flipping the car on an interstate exit in Dayton, Ohio.

My insurance went through, and everything was fine, but Alamo harassed me for months afterward.

wobbyly_ears and jeepsrt, the bad service started *before* Magrath got sarcastic, not after. And if all they're doing is downloading data (not even remotely a labor-intensive task) then he's right, even if they're "backed up" there's absolutely no excuse for them not having it ready when promised. Twice.

Quote mini100 - "hope I don’t have the same issue with my local dealer. However, I did buy my car at a dealer 100 miles away b/c the local would not budge on the price at all… They service department is mostly BMW so maybe, just maybe, I will be okay."

When I first moved to Las Vegas 10 years ago, I couldn't get my car (a Honda) into a dealership for warranty work (brake issues) for more than a month unless I was a "preferred customer" or some other similar designation. The "preferred customer" was one that purchased their car from that dealership. I was not a "preferred customer" because I moved here from the Midwest and my car was almost 2 years old. I complained at the time, but they were totally unresponsive. I thought I would take the car elsewhere, only to learn that the dealerships in town were all related or had the same policy and the next town with a dealership was over 100 miles away. I ended up going to an independent service shop to find out the ABS controller was faulty.

Mini100, I just hope that dealers in your area don't pull the same BS they do here in Vegas.

If the dealership doesn't know what to do with a tire pressure warning light, I wouldn't have high hopes for them to perform actual services on your car.

ocramida and m_thrizzle, virtually any dealership (including this one) that has rental cars (and not loaner cars of the same brand they sell) outsources the renting to Enterprise, and Enterprise is responsible for staffing the rental counters, not the dealership.

No one I know would be surprised if Enterprise had a corporate policy of ignoring TPMS lights.

awesome post. love it.

@gregnv

Terrible story man. If that happens the mini will be traded for a 2010 Golf TDI 6spd.

Don't get me wrong I love the Mini, but I also love the TDI motor, just not the Jetta.

Shouldn't a BMW/Mini dealer have actual BMWs and Minis as loaner cars?

The last rental car I had from Enterprise was a Buick LaCrosse, which had the "change oil" warning light on and Enterprise told me not to worry about. When I filled up the gas tank, I checked the oil, and it didn't even register on the dipstick. Adding one quart got it about halfway up.

As far as I can tell, they do the bare minimum maintenance to get these cars to their retirement mileage. I'd never purchase one, that's for sure.

I recently had my WRXagon serviced at the dealer (60k routine).

The service included a rental, which in my head was going to be a loaner Legacy or something. Ha!

Got to wait 15 minutes for the Enterprise shuttle, another 30 at the rental office (surrounded by angry people) to be placed in an empty-tanked Caravan that I truly wanted to put out of its misery: shaking, pulling, scary tranny noises and a smell I couldn't quite put my finger on.

(It also had the "bubbling" rear bumper trim that yours did)

Esoterica

Luckily my dealership rents their own fleet of Mazdas. Yes I kiss the ground for having such a great dealership :-).

I just find it NUTS that rental agencies care little about the condition of their cars. You would think they wouldn't want a lawsuit on their hands. Ask my wife though, I'm notorious for returning rentals if they don't run well. We just returned from a family trip to Arizona where I returned 3 rentals. 2 were Mazda5's that had bald tires and balance issues (poor babies had over 50,000 rental miles on them each) and one was a "Brand New" Volkswagen (err, Dodge) Routan with 3,000 miles onj it that had electrical gremilins galore. Admittedly I can't blame the Routan on Hertz poor maintenance but the condition of the cars was deplorable. I was going to return for the fourth time and my wife pleaded me to do it. All in all I spent the better part of 4 hours of my vacation dealing with crappy rentals. I maybe a bit too obsessive but I'd hate to break down in an area I wasn't familiar with. A vacation is afterall meant to be relaxing not stressful.

I'm gonna side with Magrath here. The dealership was screwing him over long before he started with the sarcasm and snarkiness.

As for the experience itself...words simply can't describe how appalled I am. I guess this is a good sign to never buy a car that can't get regular maintenance at an independent shop or in your own driveway. When you have no alternatives, the power is fully in the dealership's hands.

@esoterica

Hey, I took my S class in for some MAJOR work at the MB dealer (it was out of commission for a week) and was given..get this, a FORD FOCUS. Who in their right mind thought that was an acceptable loaner??! The only bright side of it was that the extended warranty covered the nearly $3000 repair bill...

Also, I hate all dealerships. Just got back from my Toyota dealer and the bill is all but incomprehensible for what they actually did. And they had originally quoted TWICE what Edmunds' calculator said it should have cost. And of course, all the dealers in the city are of a similar scamminess.

I'm with Magrath. The service doods showed zero respect by basically ignoring his initial question and playing solitaire.
They are in the service industry. He was getting zero service. His response was fantastic.

They should, and often do, but those are for the "preferred customers." As far as I can tell, a preferred customer is someone who paid full sticker and bought every dealer accessory possible, and also comes to the dealership weekly for detailing. The only time I ever got a like-branded loaner was the "golden chariot" 2005 Mazda3 that was completely beat to hell when the dealer was fixing paint they scratched on my MS3.

Now that I have found a BMW dealership that treats me with respect (I did once buy a new MINI from them, so they kinda like me, but I wouldn't go so far as to say they "prefer" me), I will go 20 miles and 45 minutes (on a good day) out of my way to see them. Come to think of it, it's about time for an early oil change.

I'm surprised at the poor service given how this whole thing is a PR stunt and all of the owners are freaking bloggers... hello... if there was ever a group of customers whose asses they should be kissing...

we bought my car from the local Toyota dealership and the service is great. there was one time where i called and made an appointment and they were backed up, so they put me in the back of the line, but they gave me a loaner Highlander. at first they were going to give me a camry, but i had to go some places where i needed more space/clearance, and the camry wouldnt have worked, so they gave me a demo highlander to use. i was really surprised, but was also really happy. the service prices are outrageous (they charged me $130 for a battery) but i usually don't mind paying because of the level of service that they have.

i think it depends on the owner's of the dealership and how they manage it. some dealerships exist for the customer and make them happy and then charge them a little extra for it, while others piss off the customers and then are cheap, except for when they don't fix the problem the first time.

Mike your responses are the type that get stuff done by driving the fear of god into the service people I salute you.

Being in the rental industry I know I risk my job if the vehicle I'm sending isn't in the best shape I'm able to give. That said I still see vehicles coming from other places that seemed not to have even been inspected or cleaned.

Its people like the Mini dealer that give all rental vehicles a bad rap.

Mike, you are my hero. (Im)patience, wit, humour... and working for Edmunds.

I think your reactions were justified given the circumstances.

If this dealership cared at all about their reputation or the satisfaction of their customers, they would invest in some serious retraining or hire some competent employees who actually cared.

Or maybe I'm just spoiled by Rasmussen BMW/Mini.

And this is the way the dealer treats a customer from Edmunds running a long-term test car, and will broadcast its experiences to a wide audience.

I hope the entire service staff at Alexander MINI gets a royal reaming from the dealership's General Manager or Managing Partner sometime this morning. If they don't, the company should deliver a similar reaming directly to the store's top management.

@esoterica, I understand but i was making the point that would he do this if it was his personal vehicle? I for one would not be rude to people that had my say $40K car for the day, who knows what they could do in or to it. I agree they were rude but I would not have said it quite the same way.

I wonder if Mike realizes the reason it took so long to get a call back is he went in there acting like a jerk.

When you deal with the public long enough, you can always find ways to help the nice people better and even more ways to annoy the people with a bad attitude.