Dealing with BMW MINI

I Have had various bmws M3 M5 currently a 135i msport And always dealt with SYTNERS in sutton coldfield who have been ok.Granted the services are not the cheapest,you have to realise this before committing to buy one and yes a independent garage who specialises sometimes are cheaper but buyers like to see main dealer stamps on resale on top end BMWS.

I found out recently that dealing with another main dealer who also caters for the bmw mini was as the following.

My mini is a john cooper works not the old R53 R56 supercharged the newer R57 Turbo.A replacement engine doesnt bear thinking about costwise.
I have had simple things fail example door locking actuator and chose to repair them myself as at the time i wasnt aware the mini was still under a mini warranty.

Recently i get a whining coming from the front,no play in wheels but i changed both the front wheel bearings and no improvement.Then a few miles and trips later coming down The A5 the vibration through steering wheel extremely violent,time to pull over.Calls me mate who promptly recovers me to the unit.Once again Check Bearings all good.
I jack front end off the floor rev up and go through the gears.bangety clink.
Drop one wheel on the deck,jack the other side locking one side of the lsd spin it up the other side the gearbox on passenger side banging and clanging i suspect problem with diff.
I ring MINIMATT up a independent mini specialist i had a few dealings with who advises the boxes are pretty bulletproof we use them in the race series was his reply drop it down if you get stuck.
I ring my nearest bmw mini main dealer they take the reg and supringly inform me say it is under manufacturers warranty it as the tlc pack and extended warranty until october 2014.PHEW I THINK.

THE FUN BEGINS
After dropping it off at a certain bmw dealers i get a call a few days later from some girl on reception.Mr Turner we think there is a problem with the gearbox we need to remove the gearbox strip it and find the Fault.
I reply is this covered under warranty.The girl replies we are not sure until it is stripped.The cost £99 plus vat initial inspection plus £845 plus vat to remove gearbox inspect and refit.Now that cost does not suprise with bmw but the confusion is if bmw are going to cover it and if once i commited to letting them strip it if they decide it is not covered i am liable for the costs.
THE PLOT THICKENS
That is not to fix it,to simply strip it inspect and refit,so basically the fee over a thousand pound is just to find the fault that they are not sure is covered under warranty or not.
I explain initially using a diplomatic manner this is not acceptable and there explanation is not very transparent.
The reply was Mr Turner i am not sure what you want us to do for you.My reply simple a gearbox is under warranty or it isnt,which one is it so i can move forward without having to pay a £1000 and still have the same problem.Her attitude remains less than impressive so i ask for a service manager.

I will continue story later.

Stand your ground mate!!

Can't wait for the next installment!!! :pop:

Nice car by the way! :broon:

Speak to the main office / regional manager.
A car that new to conk out in that way is a bit dodgy. Product recall i think.

Yup.

Rings true with our experiences of MINI Dealers.

'£300+ for an oil service......
Yes madam you have the TLC pack ... no madam it doesn't cover the power steering fault..... .'

Carol is on her second Mini Cooper and swore when she got it that the main dealers could go take a flying fuck at a rolling doughnut!

Minis are great cars ..... BMW/MINI dealers are cunts!

Carols annual running costs are a third of what they were now she goes local .... one year pays for the 'premium' of having main dealer stamps and crucially no loss of warrenty should you choose to invoke it, so long as you use approved parts.


Like I said, BMW/MINI dealers are cunts.

Guess I should post a pic too,.... ooops.

Moving on a another member of staff from the customer services team call me back,granted he was much more polite probably the main spin doctor he sounded a slick one.
However i was having none of it ,if the gearbox wasnt covered fair enough i wasnt going to kick a fuss up,I am thinking i will take it out myself and have a butchers.it was the £1000 plus vat for a none remedy inspection i was having none of it.Even if i was daft enough to agree how could i be sure they had took the box off and i had a inclination to think they probably knew the fault anyway and are just trying to see how much cash they can relieve me of.

I inform the rep i will send a recovery truck to collect the mini and i will take it up with mini main warranty.

He says leave it with me i will speak to my manager.
INSULT TO INJURY.
I get a call back from yet another sterner sounding rep informing me the mini battery is flat.Now the mini like a few of my cars can stay in the garage a long time without use and i was aware the battery was low,it cranked admittedly after a jump start if left for a few weeks but after a good drive it did charge back up It was a genuine MINI battery and if it needed replacing at some point not exactly a crisis.
The insult was that i informed the rep if he left on the carpark my recovery guy would jump start ,his reply basically third parties not allowed to mess with cars on our premises i said can he winch on i explained i had my own car workshop it was my own signwritten truck and my own employee driving it.
His response we can only fit a new battery to remove car from the workshop as that too is not covered under warranty the cost £250 i repeated £250 for a new battery thinking my hearing was impaired he replied yes.I said how can you justify that.His reply its a special battery for the stop start function plus our engineers are bmw trained technicians.I said retrain them my model doesnt have start stop it is a factory option opted out of,the phone went quite.
It seemed like blackmail pay £250 to get your car out our alcatraz top secret workshop or it stays at this i decided verbal communication was out the window time for a physical visit.
On arriving at the dealer garage i noticed a difference in attitude,on my first visit the week before the garage called me to ask if the service had been kept up i replied yes FMDSH they said can we see the book i said can i email you the pages,no we want to see the original, i said you should have all the info stored in the keyfob,a brief silence before once again asking to physically view the book.
Off i toddle on a pointless 40 mile round trip wasting my afternoon dropping off the book into them.I was in the process of fitting a 1.4 peugouet engine in a car so looked a bit greasy and pulled on the MINI reception carpark in my trusty LDV MAXUS.
I handed over the book and off i went.
This time my 2nd visit i pull up in a nice car still looking a bit my usual greasy self but this time the car had obviously brought about a change in there perception.

The electric doors open on the reception straight away a polite lady asking straight away can i offer you refreshments sir,my reply no thanks please call me Glenn.
I am here to speak to(witheld) about my mini.Would you like to book in with (witheld) on reception.No thanks i tried that route before.My attitude was not at its best and bmw mini dont like these vibes transferred around there reception which is a extennded area of the showroom and with all those potential customers about they saw to it quick i was hurried into a sideroom where a meeting with (witheld) prevailed.
I had already prepared my mindset and knew my negotiating skills at to be at there best,after speaking to (witheld) on the phone i thought he was going to be a tough nut to crack.
The sideroom opened and a firm handshake was exchanged and i listened to a very long speech which made little sense in terms of helping the issue to which i listened said nothing to and at the end explained these are my terms if they are not adhered to the situation is not going to improve.

I said i want my car back push it out the workshop if neccessary and leave on the road outside so i can get collected and i cannot see how i owe anything when you have not done anything to remedy.

mogatrons wrote: Yup.

Rings true with our experiences of MINI Dealers.

'£300+ for an oil service......
Yes madam you have the TLC pack ... no madam it doesn't cover the power steering fault..... .'

Carol is on her second Mini Cooper and swore when she got it that the main dealers could go take a flying Sprocket at a rolling doughnut!

Minis are great cars ..... BMW/MINI dealers are Owls!

Carols annual running costs are a third of what they were now she goes local .... one year pays for the 'premium' of having main dealer stamps and crucially no loss of warrenty should you choose to invoke it, so long as you use approved parts.


Like I said, BMW/MINI dealers are Owls.

MINIMATT in telford shropshire a renowed good bloke with minis

We had the same trouble with our Mini it was for the water pump it was leaking so my dealer replaced it but 2 days after fitting the coolant had gone again, so took it back [3 times ] as the coolant kept going down to keep this story short I phoned BMW direct a 6series came to my house bleed the coolant system and all was OK
BMW dealerships :rant: :bat: :woowoo:

Yep, sounds about right from my experience of MINI after-sales care: in my case (R56 S) it was the cold start death rattle and then the fact after they fixed that the damn thing wouldn't pop or burble anymore... which after about 6 months ended up with an email from MINI HQ saying that this change was deliberate and not a fault because yank customers thought it was too noisy!!!!!! :omg:

Apart from MINI Stratford, who are dead sound and Marcus on parts is a legend, I wouldn't touch MINI dealers again if I went back to the fold (unlikely given the way the new 2014 one is looking! MUNTER! :nonod: ) but would use indies like MiniMatt, Lohen etc.

Nice cars both though! The power delivery of a Works is great fun

I am going on a bit here reliving the situation.
The long and short of it in the end after a lot of negotations i was wore out,the mini was fixed by main dealers total cost to me £250.00 and the car was jumpstarted by mini and valeted the valeter sat in car until i came out of reception & i drove home and as predicted it started back up,i have since changed the battery which cost me £65.00.
I had two minis prior A R52 cabriolet and A R56 Graphite ltd edition which i have since sold and they was okay i like the engineering side of bmw and there general after service i could not moan about prior to this incident but subsequently i have now sold all three the jcw very recently.
I am sticking to me bmws and now keeping away from mini side of it.