Quality service?

Wow, this is a real bummer, Stephen.  I just took my car in last week for its first service inspection and I didn't have any leak problem.  The car wash could have been better -- the front was really covered in bugs from the Stonehenge drive and they didn't get them washed off very well.  But other than that my visit was okay.

Gotta let them know about the oil leak and get it fixed.  Also, tell them about the dirt inside.  I think everybody has a story about the dealer, but they really are pretty good people who want to do the right thing. 

The service advisors have what can be a pretty difficult job.  They really become the face of NW Mini after the sale, and sometimes folk can be pretty unhappy (like you rightfully are now).  I know that if they have time, they will check the car before you get it back to make sure things like the vacuuming have been done correctly, but like everybody else, they get behind.  I don't think they have supervisory duties over the wash rack folk, but they need to know how your car was presented so they can surface the info to the wash rack boss.

Anyway - you will be dealing with these folk for a while on warranty stuff.  I know it is a pain to go back to their dealership (right John? - he who lives in Ephrata), but it is what it is.

Regarding the stain on you floor - is it bare concrete, or painted?  If bare, Griot's concrete cleaner works pretty well.

Oh - once they find the leak (oil filter?), ask them to take a few minutes and clean off residue so that it won't drip on the floor and make you think the leak is still there.

Hope this all works out well for you.

Pat

Yes one oil leak for me, my filter was not torques spec. I fixed it my self I was not going to drive 300 mile to have it fixed but I did tell them. But alway a clean car.

John

Leanne:

I might resort to Rasmussen if I get anymore hickups with MiniNW.  So far I tried to bring in Soggy-1 to get its sunshade cover for the sunroof replaced because it got jammed and tore.  Lord knows how.  I made an appointment to get that replaced and was told they had the sunshade in stock.  Of course they did NOT put my name on it so when I made the appointment to replace the shade and brought it in they nolonger had the shade!  A 2 hour drive for nothing. 

Another instance was when I called to see if they had wheel locks for my rims.  They said yes so I drove right on over, one hour each way, to find that they did not and had to order them!  They said that "They would ship them to me but I had to pay the freight" sooo rather than drive another 2 hours to puck up the wheel locks I had them shipped to me at MY EXPENSE!  Thos eare very pricey wheellocks, and after using them I doubt they are the correct ones because they failed to torque down properly, as if they were mushrooming something, and required several re-torqueing sessions to get them to take a set.  I maked the wheel to located the position again so it won't mess with the other lug holes.

At this point in time MiniNW is not high on performance, but they do score high on being polite and "Trying to help".  Sort of like the old saying "I am from the government and I am here to help".

Stephen

Kristin:

I am sure they will "Make it right" and I know they will be polite and courteous at the same time.  It is just a shame that something simple like a drain plug gasket or improper torque on same causes another 2 hours of not fun driving.   The Service Manager is good guy and I am sure he feels beset upon 1/2 the time but somewhere in the hierarchy of their system one would think that dripping oil after an oil change should not even be on their radar.  Hire people who really know what they are doing!  For a $113 oil change it should be perfect and my wife should have been sent a bouquet of flowers!

Stephen

Kristin!

Well, I was just blown away today when flowers showed up for my wife from MINI NW!!!!!  I still have a smile on my face and that is a pretty tough thing to do.   My dealings with other car dealers has never lead me to even remotely think that flowers would arrive at my door when I make an offhand remark about the price of an oil change and not being pleased with the results.  I can honestly say that Mini has really gotten my respect and now maybe my wife will not think negatively about the Mini experience.  I REALLY would like to get her into one and this will go a long way into convincing her that you folks really try.

A thousand thank you's to Raychel  for being so patient and to Steve for having such a positive attitude.  You folks are waaaay up on the positive side of the equation!

Stephen

I'm SO glad it turned out ok.  THAT's the level of service I've come to expect in the past 20 or so years from BMW/MINI in Fife.  Good luck getting your wife into a MINI.  

Wow, I'm impressed!

Harbor Freight has a couple nice lifts. I don't see any thing wrong with them for personnel use.

I should explain more for me to dirve 300 miles plus miss a day of work to bring my car over to have a part replaced for free is stupid as I explained to NW. When all I wanted was to have them send it and I could or would have it installed here. Nope can't do that even though it is a well know fact the these engine mounts are Crap. So to me the mount was cheaper then 2 tanks of gas . BTW the first NW adventure cost Me 2 days of work and a hotel room outside that I got charge for work that was not done, that was fixing my mushroom problem and a alignment which I never got a print out for and my car drove bad it pulled to the right all the at home. I have been to NW 3 times and only once I was taken care of properly. I am just stateing the facts but I do bite my tounge when I use the words NW Mini. I choose to do this because things seem to be hit and miss with them and I try to chalk it up to a young dealer ship.

John

Pat:

Yep, the old age maladies have been around for a while with me.  Vietnam left me with the knees and hips and lower back of an old man and a mind that still wants to have fun in spite of the past.  My wife understands, so if I sell a kayak or two a lift would fit in nicely into the picture.  I would only break a mirror practicing on it cause ugly is hard to fix!

 The "I've fallen and can't get up" cell phone thing is possible, although pinned under something might make it tough to get to the cell  phone!  I've only been knocked out once in 62 years and if you knew what has happened to me over the years you would be amazed.

I can't recall my wife ever laughing at me.  Shaking her head, yes, unbelieving, yes, happy, yes, and I learned 20 years ago never to laugh at her because she does not know the difference between laughing with or laughing at her.  Preservation is important!!  If I fix her car with a lift she might think its pretty cool that I did not have to mess around with a dealership or some local teenager that changes oil and never gets it right.  She has her hobbies and I have mine and rarely do they cross unless each of us needs a hand doing our hobbies.

Pat, I hope you have as loving a wife as I do and one that watches over you like an angel covering your back.

I'll let you know how the lift project goes.

Stephen

It would seem that there has been a consistent something. All is good these cars are easy to work on you just need to find the parts. If I had one word for NW "Communication" .

John