Greetings all,

I just wanted to post about a crappy experience I had with Long Beach Mini's Service Department.

<disclaimer>
I'm probably just being a whiner (this I know) but I believe that if I spend hard earned $$$ on a new car with a well-established *luxury* car manufacturer, I expect a certain level of service...
Yes I'm sure I'll *get over it*
</disclaimer>

So I made my appointment with a friendly girl on Thursday of last week via phone to have my car's 10,000 Mile Oil Change/Checkup set for 9:45AM.

I was expecting to wait for my car while it was being done, I had thought I was being generous in expecting to wait for an hour or slightly more... having an appointment at Long Beach Mini's service department is a bit like having $18 in your checking account and going to the ATM. It's nice... but effectively useless.

I arrived at 9:30 in hopes of getting the ball rolling a little early... no-go. Another rude, slack-jawed troglodyte informed me (whilst holding the phone to her ear so she could be rude to both myself AND the caller on the line) that the wait was over 2 hours long and that they'd kindly call me when it was done.

I also informed them that I would very much like to have my daytime running lights turned off. I did so when I made my appointment via phone and the girl at the other end said it'd be no problem. She failed to mention (and I failed to ask) that it would cost $50 for a 1/2 hour labor to turn them off.

Again I was under the impression that being a factory feature that someone had opted to put on this Mini and not one that I explicitly asked for, that it could be turned off (free of charge) at any dealership. I thought that the 10K mark was a good way to kill two birds with one stone. I was also under the impression that they'd be putting my car on a computer to at least reset the computer or punch in the fact that it'd been serviced and then set the next interval to 15,500 or thereabouts.

Apparently I was wrong in assumptions... they only turn the lights off for free if I'd bought the car from that dealership. That's fine, but I wish they could've volunteered that info over the phone... it seemed kinda convenient of them to forget to mention that and only bring it up when they've got my keys in hand.

So my gripe is that it cost $50 for the lights to be turned off, the girl doing the paperwork was extremely rude both in tone and demeanor and the girl @ the cashier's desk (I don't remember her name) should be fired for being the rudest of them all. Also if I make an appointment (and I don't give a rats @*& if it's for *free service*) for 9:45 I expect them to start working at that time and have the car done in a reasonable amount of time. For an oil-change and quick checkup or whatever it is that they're supposedly doing, I think an hour is more than enough. I wasn't expecting Jiffy Lube times of 15 minutes or less... but something a little less than the two and a half hours.

Far and away the worst customer service I'd received anywhere and I've been to the DMV... and the Post Office @ closing time... in two different states (Mass & California).

Next time I'll take it to the dealership I bought the car at... no harm in that... and I'll also be sure to go with absolutely no expectations of good service.

Last but not least... the *free* or *courtesy* car wash... my car has been dirty (it's black) REALLY dirty since the rain we've had here over the last week or so. My gripe with them is that, if you're going to clean it, don't do a half-arsed job... and that's exactly what they did. Effectively scratching the finish and making the car look beat when it wouldn't if they'd taken a little time to do a decent job.

If they're not willing to take the time on a dirty car, don't do it at all... I wouldn't have been offended in the least if they brought out my car as dirty as it was when it went in... it's my responsibility anyway, not theirs.

(end of rant)

 

When I took my MINI back to the dealer I bought it from, (250 miles one-way), about a month after I bought it I got the same feeling you've described. The SA I was assigned job was apparently to **** people off by being rude and pushing everything as "my responsibility".

Me, could you please turn on my DRLs and follow-me-home light option. SA, that'll be fifty dollars. Me, there's a white spot in the paint of the drivers door that needs fixed. SA, you should'da said something when you picked the car up.....well OK we'll hit it with a buffer but that might not fix it. Me, could you please make sure my car has the latest ECU upgrade. SA, I don't have a clue what your car has.

Bascially he was 100% jerk. Took the car, returning in a few minutes with the lights progammed. Follow-me-home lights were set to 90 seconds, which turns out to be too long. There is a 30 second and 60 second option and I know I should have specified, but you'd thought he could have ask what I wanted. He said a pressure test had been performed on the cooling system and they had tightened a hose. My most significate problem was a low level in the coolant bottle. Anyway, the spot on the door was still there.

I talked to my MA who introduced me to the service manager. He looked at the spot on the door, instantly agreed that it was a problem that needed fixing. Took the car, brought it back in a few minutes and the spot was gone. Also, after talking to the SM the programming was free and he apologized for the SA.


Bad new is, I called back early last week and ask about getting my rear fogs turned on. The SM said that DOT doesn't allow them to do that. When I told him it's done all the time and is a factory option for 04s he said he'd look into it and call me back. He hasn't. This is at one of the highest rated MINI dealers.

This was my first experience with the service department. nothing like starting off on the right foot.


Apparently the only way to be happy with MINI service is to have verrrry low expectations.


R.E.

 

Thanks for sharing Res, I'm glad I'm not the only one that's experienced crappy service.

It's not so much that they're charging for all this (as they're a business and that's what they're supposed to do) but rather, that they're sneaky, underhanded, and misleading as well as condescending and rude.

I'm not there for my health, I'm there to have the car worked on... I wonder if this is a stigma that follows for other *just* BMW dealerships or if it's typical of service departments at any dealership... I don't seem to remember **** poor service at other dealerships but that may have just been luck.

And yeah, no expectations from here on in...

 

Charging to reprogram the lights is bull. Long Beach MINI is not know for great service although I have never been there for service myself I have friends that have.

Earl

 

So who has the best service in SoCal? I bought my MINI from LB.

 

LB MINI is generally agreed to have the worst service dept. in SoCal. They had my car for 41 days there, I will never go back. I use Nick Alexander now, They are picking my car up tomorrow for my oil change and dropping off a loaner all for free to make up for the bad service at LongBeach MINI. That's what I call service.

 

" So who has the best service in SoCal?"

That question implies that any BMW dealer offers even half-way decent service in SoCal.

The more appropriate question is "So who has the least offensive service in SoCal?".

For whatever reason, customer service at BMW dealers is uniformly pathetic. And BMW appears not to care, as long as they sell cars.

 

I've never had any problems with Crevier. They had my car for 2 weeks last time it was in waiting for parts. They kept me informed the entire time and let me drive around in 3 series, no charge.

 

hi all. bought my car in east bay mini. liked the sales people and they got me what i wanted. then moved to so california. had some problems with the black trim. long beach mini said i would have to have the manufacture look at it. they did and said i would have to take it back to mini east bay. 700 miles round trip just to get new black trim on the whole car. and even there it was the sales dept that got the service dept attention. then the factory recall on the rear struct bold. took it to long beach mini they said they fixed it and i had the oil changed. two months later moved the car to my seattle home and took it in for the 36 update and a oil change again. during that time i was treated fairly and all work was done quickly. then the following weekend i put in the short shifter. during the removal of the under car items it was noted that the bolt was never even tightened at long beach motors. so i had driven many miles and could have maybe had a bad accident. they are loser find another dealer. mcs

 

Don't even get me started on Long Beach MINI. Their service department really s*cks! I've heard their sales are good, but only because they sell at MSRP; and only if you're one of the lucky ones who bug them a lot, otherwise the wait is eternal. Lately I've heard even from some former 'fans' of LB that the service has been crappy!

Find another dealer for service in SoCal.

I've been quite happy with Brecht's service, which is great because I'm in SD and they're the closest dealer. If I'm ever up in LA and need service, I'll avoid Long Beach like the plague!

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My MINI makes me want to do the happy dance!

 

MINI service sucks, whenever I go in for service I get the run around treatment...Assael MINI is the worst dealer in CA. Don't ever go there unless you dont mind being ripped off.

 

>>I've never had any problems with Crevier. They had my car for 2 weeks last time it was in waiting for parts. They kept me informed the entire time and let me drive around in 3 series, no charge.

hmm... pretty cool, pretty cool. Long Beach is way closer to me than Crevier, but crevier is where i bought the car... looks like those extra miles just might be worth the avoidance of the long beach crap most of you are talking about. thanks for the heads up

 

Yeah, Crevier in Santa Ana has been awesome everytime. Dan in the Mini Service Dpt. is really cool.

 

I have had MINI service at three different dealers. I have been to each dealer at least twice, and based on personal experience would rate them in descending order:

North Scottsdale
Long Beach
Brecht

Long Beach had the best car wash. Scottsdale runs the cars through the Hertz/ multi-dealer wash in the back and did not quite remove all the west Arizona butterflys.

 

MiniCD, I've been to all three as well. I bought my car from Scottsdale and their sales dept was great! Their service department leaves a little to be desired, however. They overwork the Service Advisors so things slip through the cracks; and both times I've been there for service I've had to wait hours longer than I was originally told. While that's not the greatest thing in the world, they are still head an shoulders above Long Beach! I've never had a problem at all with Brecht's service.

What are you basing your ratings on? (I hope it's not the car wash...)


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My MINI makes me want to do the happy dance!

 

Write a letter of complaint to the owner of the dealership. State the facts, employees names, date and time of service, and most of all be professional. When I complain, I followed an outline on how to write a letter and get results. Found it online somewhere. I have only done this 3X, (latest, Mazda RevItUp class, a joke) but got results every time. Good luck!

 

I bought my MCS at Crevier, driving past Brecht and Irvine, and I go there for service. So far so good. I have no complaints with sales or service. And if you want a BMW see Judy Rae(spelling) in sales at the BMW side.

She is a lot of help with info on driving also.

Earl


>>>>I've never had any problems with Crevier. They had my car for 2 weeks last time it was in waiting for parts. They kept me informed the entire time and let me drive around in 3 series, no charge.
>>
>>hmm... pretty cool, pretty cool. Long Beach is way closer to me than Crevier, but crevier is where i bought the car... looks like those extra miles just might be worth the avoidance of the long beach crap most of you are talking about. thanks for the heads up

 

Sorry to hear about LB MINI and poor service. I appreciate reading your posts because we tend to see similar things over on our end sometimes, not specifically from the SAs but problems do occur. Thanks for your posts. Strange how LB has a long wait list to order, has low/ MSRP charges and trouble with quality of service. Interesting.

 

Ratings are based on ease of scheduling an appointment, timliness of completion of the work, SA's attitude, knowlege in the parts department and customer followup.

As an example, the last service was an Airbag light, Brecht needed at least 2 weeks for an appointment, Scottsdale was 'Bring it in anytime.' Scottsdale also provides a loaner, which neither Brecht nor LB does.

For a warranty item Brecht said they had never seen the problem, and may be our fault, said they needed to order parts and never followed up. LB said - seen it before, ordered parts, called when the parts came in and the problem was solved.

 

North Scottsdale is obviously a several hour drive for many of you in Cali. Forutunately only 5 minutes for me. I'm very happy with them. Mike Reeves is a very good service advisor. They're mod-friendly, always provided a loaner, and the car is professionally detailed (including all the brake dust on the wheels) when I go to pick it up.



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When I went in to Long Beach MINI for an off-schedule oil change, they washed my car extremely poorly. They left patches of dirt on it, then dried it off, effectively covering the brand new paint in swirl marks. When I came back to talk to the assistant service manager, at first he refused to acknowledge the swirl marks at all, then he admitted that they did a poor job washing it and left dirt on it. After I explained to him that if you dry a car with dirt still on it, it covers the car in swirls, he still refused to acknowledge that they had caused them. I called and spoke with the service manager later that week, and he offered to have their detailer polish the car for me. I thanked him and ended up polishing it myself. Who knows what kind of damage they would have done with an orbital/rotary buffer!

 

While I am no fan of LB MINI's service, you should remember that the car wash is done as a courtesy, they don't HAVE to wash your car. In fact, I decline the car wash for the very reason you experienced. Besides, if I'm waiting for the service, I'd rather not wait any extra time while they wash the car that I keep clean from day to day anyways!

 

Yeah, I understand it's a courtesy, but if they can't do it right, they shouldn't do it at all. *shrug*

 

I'm glad I read these posts. I have taken my car to Crevier and to be honest, I don't think I'll service it anywhere else.. I got a free car wash (since I bought it there), and when I dropped it off on Saturday morning, then lent me a 330i for the whole weekend! Why? The service crew doesn't work on Mondays.

 

Thanks for the feedback; good to know. Brecht does have a long appointment list, but that's because they only have a small number of service bays. I was there the other day and found out that they are expanding quite a bit. They are building a new service facility with 60 bays (I think that was the number) and about 12 of them will be devoted exclusively to MINIs. Unfortunately, it'll be another year and a half until it's complete... It's something to look forward to at least!

I've had good service and lousy service at Scottsdale, and nothing but lousy service at LB. I did get a loaner at LB though...