Most surveys like this are BS anyway, and dealers should know that by now. One survey they gave me was as I paid for service, before I found out they'd overfilled my oil by 1/2 qt. Then the dude begs me on the phone "to be nice on the survey" because his job depends on it. Now how am I gonna give them all 5's when they goof something like adding the right amount of oil to a car they service every day, huh? I told him what happened and hopefully he got with the tech that did it and "learned him" good. Surveys are mostly for being able to brag that you have them. If some outfit touts that they receive superior service ratings how is one to know that's true anyway?

 

The unfortunate thing is that good quality – consistent service at a dealer seems to be hard to come by. Across all brands. MINI seems particularly bad, maybe it’s because BMW treats us as second class citizens, (I seem to hear that they treat their BMW customers the same way).

If you ever find a really good dealer service department hang on to them. And it comes from the top down; good management recognizes that good techs need time to fix a car correctly. The tech could be the most amazing troubleshooter or the most careful guy on the planet but if he’s got a service manager yelling at him to go faster, faster, faster things are never going to be good for long.

I guess dealerships are there for the lowest common denominator customer. The people who treat their car as an appliance. By definition, if you’re on a car enthusiast web site you are not one of these people. The first thing you do when you get your car back from service is pop the hood and check that it’s clean, or verify that there are no big dents (or small ones) etc, etc, etc. Dealership service is not geared towards us; it’s for the “masses”.

The real bummer is that all of those “free” oil changes, and “free” brake pads, etc are really added to the MSRP. They are pre-paid service not free. But they always seem to end up being more of a PITA then they are worth (either in worry, or having to return multiple times to get a headlight fixed). I did all of those “free” services when I had my Audi, but I’ve learned my lesson. I gave my local MINI dealer one chance two years ago, they blew it and I have all of my service done at a great local shop. The comfort and easy of service and the confidence I have in their work is worth paying for. So if you’re “That Type” of customer, and we all are, you sort of have to add that to the cost of ownership.



I do my own oil most of the time, but I have the scheduled maintenance done by that local shop so that a “real technician” actually sees it once a year so I don’t miss something and so that if a huge warranty item comes, up that I have to go to MINI for, I can show that I didn’t neglect the car.

I’m lucky, my MINI has been very reliable, but I don’t drive a lot anymore since I take it to Metro (I'm only at 30K miles with over two 1/2 years of ownership).

 

This is not entirely true at this level. Almost all corporate surveys are on the up and up. They are scrutinized at every level and heads do roll when things don't show right. A lot is based on these surveys, from bonuses to incentives for the dealer to allocations (I suspect).

Answer truthfully otherwise you'll be doing everyone a disservice.

 

I Dont Want That Responsibility !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!

 

As I posted before, I would answer the surveys if given the opportunity to do so anonymously. Last thing I need is a servive manager out to get me because I gave his shop all 1's for screwing up. Trust me, some dealers will bend over backwards to make things right, and some will instead ask you to bend over...

 

Been searching a little bit for more details. My MINI was recently overfilled the equivalent of 1/2 the distance from the "ADD" to "FULL" mark on the dipstick. The following link is somewhat interesting...

http://forums.roadfly.com/forums/bmw...8654865-1.html

Greg

 

Bought a siphon today and pulled ~ 1/2 quart of oil out, suggesting that it is as suspected relative to the MIN/MAX distances on the diptube. This was a pain in the butt, though; next time, drain plug. Hope to avoid all that after giving the mechanic an earful first - that is why I take it in, to have it done properly and not to have to worry about disposing of the oil, etc... How hard is it to fill an engine to the proper oil level? Unreal. Greg