This story starts two Fridays ago when I brought Agent Cooper in for a service appointment. The motor for the drivers side window stopped working and I needed an alignment but the main reason for going was I couldn't get my rain sensor wipers to work. The two closest dealers are both about two and a half hours away so my wife and I opted to visit Braman Mini in West Palm Beach (Florida.) At first I was excited and met with a level of professionalism I was not accustomed to. After signing papers and what not they shuttled us off to a rather nice consumer spot called City Place which we ended up walking around for 4 hours. I figured we'd be there for a while but the rep said 2-3 hours at the most. By the time they picked us up I was just ready to start that 2 and half hour drive home so I signed the papers and headed off. As we drive off my wife looks at the papers and notices they didn't fix the rain sensor as they had to order a part! Perhaps I should have looked first but I figured they let me in on this especially since they knew I was from out of town. Plus they didn't reset the flat tire sensor after doing the alignment and even though I knew this was the only reason the sensor was going off my wife got into a panic. :impatient So after a quick trip (2 miles) back to the center they confirmed I didn't have a flat and we finally went home.
So last week I checked to see if the part was in and made an appointment for Friday to have the part installed and to have a few new problems looked at; those being a slipping clutch, squeaking window and non-functioning power door lock. Things were completely different this time around. We sat in our car for 10 mins before anyone came out to get our info and waited around longer inside. When we finally got done talking to the rep we waiting around for at least 25 minutes for a shuttle ride. After another 4 hours at City Place we got picked up and this time I checked the papers before I signed away. Ready for the kicker?
My car was never built with a rain sensor. The previous owner must have had the windshield replaced and the new one has a rain sensor for some reason. They went to connect the part and realized there were no connections and only then looked up the car and realized the car was not manufactured with this option! Also they couldn't replicate the clutch problem so said they couldn't do anything about it and the door lock remarkably started working again when they tried it so they didn't do anything about that either. But in 4 hours they did fix the squeaky window.
Why they didn't check the sensor on the first trip is beyond me.

Anyways right now I'm disgusted at both my poor sentence structure and the whole experience.

 

I know ya gotta rant, day lost 'n stuff, but hey, you're the owner and you didn't know the vehicle wasn't equipped with rain sensors either. I doubt that a dealership with no prior knowledge of the vehicle will attempt to second guess what the owner tells them is wrong with the car. Put it down as a learning experience for both you and the dealership. Turn this into something positive and find out all you can about the specs of your car from your VIN with the dealer's cooperation.

 

sucks that you had to go through this, special agent cooper! not
only for you, but for your wife as well. They should've done more
research the first time.

plus, the long wait to get someone to say "we'll be with you" is not
acceptable. that is poor management and training. anyone with the
right mind who wants to do business will be willing to let you know
you aren't being ignored.

anyway, sleep tight, hope tomorrow's a better day for you. :smile:

 

This is what works for me at the dealership.

Talk to the SA and make sure he understands and writes down whatever I want done. Also, discuss any charges if there is something the warranty doesn't cover.

Very important, after the car is in the shop for a little while I walk up to the tech and introduce myself. I mention to the tech the things that are to be done and listen to their response. The techs at Roadshow have been very nice to talk to and I always have a better feeling about what is to be done. They have, on occasion, looked up things on their computer to see if maybe we are missing something that needs to be done.

I then leave them and go back to the customer area for a while. If the job takes, for example, an hour, I'll go back into the shop area a couple of times for a minute or two and check on the progress.

When the car is done I look over everything before I take it away from the dealership. As I drive away I pay special attention to the way the car sounds and drives so I can return to the dealer if necessary without driving another 225 miles.

The about may sound complicated and unnecessary but for me it works great.

I have been very happy with the work and attitude of the techs at Roadshow who worked on my car.

I've never liked the "leave the car and pick it up later supposedly fixed method".

 

Really? They checked the clutch when I told them it was slipping but they didn't check to see what the problem actually was with the rain sensor? Doesn't make much sense to me. Time is money as they say and my time was wasted by making another trip up there for nothing. I would not have made a second appointment if it weren't for the rain sensor.

 

Braman dealerships generally suck for service. I live only 3 miles away from Braman MINI in downtown Miami and yet I drive 30 miles north to Lauderdale MINI to purchase and services our MINIs. No comparison! Lauderdale MINI has the best sales/service in South Florida. The Miami dealerships SUCK (Braman and South Motors). Vista MINI in Pompano Beach is also owned by the South Motors group (Same crap). West Palm Beach's Braman MINI seems to be a so-so operation at best.

 

I might try the Lauderdale dealer next time around.