And Now The End Is Near...........................

[jaybeeonline]

Due to the fact that the build quality of The MINI is so poor, I have made the decision to resign from ownership of said pile of crap.

At least 20 odd visits to the dealers for squeaks, rattles, trim and paint defects in 11 months has just gotten too much for me.

I cant stand driving the bloody thing anymore.........................

MINI's were supposed to be fun, youthful, iconic and Premium Brand. My experiences proves otherwise.

Having complained to the dealer on many occasions and ultimately BMW Customer Services, BMW said that they would "contribute" £1000.00 towards a new MINI for Mar 04. Fine, I thought....One D....All the toys.....£16k......here we go.

Dealer: Hum, haw, errr, headscratching, paper shuffling, teethsucking.....Mr Bruce, due to excessive mileage (19000 and counting) your car is really only worth £8000.00 (coff,coff) and BMW ARE giving you a nice goodwill gesture of £1000.00.....We think that this is a good offer......

(Glass Guide: MINI One Salt 12000 miles £9800.00)

Me: But I am prepared to buy a £16k MINI, the offer is derisory considering the problems I've had with the car.

Dealer: We cannot improve our offer, we have margins to consider.

Me: Aaaaaarrrgggggghhhhh.

I get penalised, someone gets their profit margin (twice), cause I buy a car that has developed many faults......Who are they kidding.

I would rather give my hard earned to someone who values my custom, and responds sympathetically to the customers issues and complaints.

So Mr Dealer and BMW.....You have lost the potential sales of me, my family and my friends due to irreverence on your part.

MINI'ers take note. The car is good, but not as good as they want you to think. They want the cash but not the hassle.

My experience has been badly soured and I hope that your experiences are better than mine.

Keep up the good work.


Cheers m'Dears

[Wul]

John - That absolutely sucks - my Cooper goes in tomorrow (11th warranty visit) for Steering column No 3 - drivers seat no 3 and passenger seat no 2 - as well as other recurring faults - second letter to BMW cust services sent 5 jan 04 - still no reply as yet! Who are they kidding - we are efectively their own R&D department by putting up with the poor build quality and letting them know where they need to improve the car yet they still cr@p on us!

Sorry to hear of them taking the p1ss when you went back in to order the oneD - that is mince and is making me worry about the resale value of my coop with 25k on it at present and 6 months older!

So...what's the next car gonna be then?

[jaybeeonline]

Wul.

Mine is in today and tomorrow for new seats (4th set), dashboard rebuild (3rd time), steering column, door trims (2nd time), grease running down back of dash (lost count) and various other issues.

I phoned BMW directly, kicked up a stink and threatened to go to the Motoring Press. They gave me a file reference number as part of the complaints procedure. I told them what I thought of the car and what I was looking for in terms of recompense. I was advised to go back to the dealer and formally reject the car.

The dealer sh*t themselves at my request and in conjunction with BMW came up with the "Excellent" offer, which I flatly refused.

Phone BMW Customer Services and worry them.....It may just work.

I agree that we (the customer) have been R&D, but I have been told so many times that from late 2002, the quality was so much better.......Aye right. Who is kidding who here?

Someone ultimately has to take a stand. It appears that too many people are just accepting the faults as teething problems, and are too scared to voice their complaints. The MINI thing is huge.

BMW cannot continue to ignore the issues for too long.

Finally, I have bought an Alfa Romeo 147 Lusso in Red, all the toys including leather, cruise, CD, climate control, alloys etc. Its ex demo, 3k on the clock, saved myself nearly £5000 on new.

Decided that speccing a MINI to this level was daft,as it would've cost me at least £16k. I really need a bigger car and do 25-30,000 miles per annum to and from Edinburgh for work, so depreciation wasn't that important. Comfort and initial cost is.

As for the reliability of Alfas, I have a Spider which has been really good, and a few mates have been running 147's and 156's with no problems whatsoever.....Here's hoping.

Good luck in your quest for satisfaction and sanity.

[seany]

i have 2 mini one is a cooper 1year 2months no problams at all, the other cooper s jcw kit 3months no problams, i am sorry to read about the problams yous have and hope you get your problam sorted.

[r15col]

Sorry to hear about all the stuff you have had to put up with. I know what it is like I had similar problems with my first Audi TT, the garage had it more than I did. Give them there due though they did treat me well and I bought Audi's again.
So far so good with the Mini though, touch wood.
Hope the Alpha performs better.

[Gismo]

Your car should have been rejected long ago and should still be able to be, same goes to Wul, reject your car guys, the law is on your side and the many rejected cars showing in MINI2 are testimony to this fact :(

Bonnie Scotland

[bazza]

Bonnie Scotland can you give me the run down on rejecting a car as my partner has just bought a peugout 206cc(convertible )and it is leaking like a siv from all corners of the roof any help appreciated.

Bas:cool:

[KenL]

There is info on the whatcar website, www.whatcar.com
Hit the "advice" tab and then select "know your rights"

There are guidelines and even a sample letter of how to pitch it.

Good luck.

On MINIs, I've had a few wee probs with mine but nothing that will prevent me buying another.

[weefossy]

Sorry to hear of the problems guys. We had the same with our first Cooper. Well documented on previous occassions. The replacement Cooper S has to date had no problems. Hope I haven't spoken too soon.

Bonnie Scotland is correct; you have rights under the "Sale of Goods Act". first stance is to refuse to let them fix it and demand a replacement. Document every detail of faults and treatment by dealers and send it to as many people at the highest level you can. How long you have had it doesn't matter. Speak to your local Citizens Advice bureau, they were a great help to us. In the end we got a fair trade in from Dunedin and the new Cooper S at trade price. I know it's frustrating but don't give in.

[Willie M]

Sorry to see you departing the scene John, but can fully understand your frustration and disgust. We had a few, relatively minor, problems with our first Cooper (early 02 build) but must admit our dealer was really good with us. Car had to go back 3 or 4 times for various faults but all were fixed without any quibble. I must say I was annoyed though as these were all faults that should never have left the factory (so much for BMW 'quality' I thought at the time).

My 2nd Cooper however (03 build) has been like night and day. Only had one fault (Christine syndrome) in over a year. Really a different, and much better car than the first.

I must confess though. If I'd had to go through what you and Wul have had to go through I think I would have abandoned the marque long ago. It simply isn't good enough :disapprove:

All the best with your new Alfa and don't be a stranger :cool:

[GAJ]

I've had one 'major problem' which was something to do with the engine wiring loom which affected the throttle and ended up causing the car to go into 'limp home' mode. Of course it fixed itself as soon as I drove into the dealers carpark! The problem was logged in the OBC though and it was all fixed promptly. I have had a few wee squeaks and rattles and the dealer has looked at these and generally sorted them out.
I think if I had had your hassle I would feel similair to how you do. It is a shame that so many (even though I have no doubt that it is a small fraction of the cars sold) people do seem to have recurrent problems with their cars that the dealers are not able to resolve satisfactorly. All the best with the new car, it sounds like a cracker.

[Krusty]

Bazza,

My last car was a 206cc and it leaked badly. Had it in the garage a few times but all they do is play with the seals that run across the top of the windows - they're moveable and that's all they'll do - oh, and they'll stick some grease on it so as it wont leak for a while! Bought it brand new and traded it in after 9 months for my MCS - the car looks nice but it's got too many other faults that just put me off completely.

Tell your girlfriend to buy a MINI;)(That's what my bloke told me:clown:)

[Duncan Stewart]

Sorry to hear of your problems Guys. I've only had a couple so far - Ciggie lighter not working (not fuse) - serious when I got a puncture (non-run flats) but I wired the pump direct to the battery but the white gundge did nothing anyway! And by f**king stereo - this is REALLY putting me of driving the car - what will I have today? - skipping CD or crackling radio - an I paid the f**kers over £200 extra for the CD player. Rant over :dead::evil::blackeye:.
Can't wait to get my classic back on the road - it has a tape player and spare wheel :D

[Wul]

Well dropped my coop in to easterns this morning - steering column is STILL on back order so getting the seats sorted again, their gonna look at the morning stumble and the jumping out of first gear problem! So unless the column arrives tomorrow it's gonna need booked back in again!:(

AND to make matters worse all the MINI courtesy cars were out so got a new 318 - and had to pay £10 for the insurance - gits! (my insurers wanted £22 to cover it! - double gits)

Sigh - time for another snotty email to BMW methinks! [X:(]

[KenL]

Wul,

I've had the same problem with insurance at Eastern. As you know I've got a ONE so the insurance is dirt cheap. Once when they had my car for a week it cost me £30 for insurance for the courtesy BMW they gave me, I've had to fork out a coupla other times. The £10 or so I had to spend to get the S for 2 days was worth it though :evil:

I did get a ONE once so my insurance didn't cost any extra that time.

I wrote a letter of complaint to the service manager and he gave me a £50 voucher to use in parts which almost covered the amount I had spent on extra insurance costs.

[silver son]

Yep,
Had the same thing at Eastern too , i suspect its a ploy to put Mini owners a courtesy car. Had my second steering column fitted two weeks ago only to discover that the drivers seat is now coming apart !!
Its two years old now so think im going to tough it out and get a 05 build next Jan. Cant Wait !!!!!!

[KenL]

quote:Originally posted by silver son
Its two years old now so think im going to tough it out and get a 05 build next Jan. Cant Wait !!!!!!


Me too, though my mini ONE great for ages. More than a year since the last piece of warranty work I think.

[silver son]

Mine's only done 10,000 miles in 2 years!!
Dont suppose that will help when it comes to the trade in though.
Cant be bothered with all that MOT nonsense & dont much fancy having an early build car thats outside the manufacturers warranty:dead:

[bazza]

Cheers for the info Krusty will try and convert her to a good car, I know of a lovely Black Cooper that she could buy,owner wopuld love to upgrade to S.
Bas:cool:


quote:Originally posted by Krusty

Bazza,

My last car was a 206cc and it leaked badly. Had it in the garage a few times but all they do is play with the seals that run across the top of the windows - they're moveable and that's all they'll do - oh, and they'll stick some grease on it so as it wont leak for a while! Bought it brand new and traded it in after 9 months for my MCS - the car looks nice but it's got too many other faults that just put me off completely.

Tell your girlfriend to buy a MINI;)(That's what my bloke told me:clown:)

[Wul]

Eastern just called - car is ready to collect but steering column still on back order so will need to re-book again! AARRGGH!! :(

[Wul]

Update:

Picked the car up from easterns - the invoice amount was £800!! :eek:

Whilst they had it the air bag warning light fault re-appeared so now on my second replacement side airbag cables. Also they replaced the power steering reservior as the fluid was leaking out the top of it!

Also got updated ECU(don't know what version) software to remove the morning stutters - will see if it works tomorrow.

Still waiting on a reply from MINI Cust. Services and the steering column though :(

[jaybeeonline]

Wul, you deserve a medal for what your going through. I thought my experience was horrendous, yours beats mine hands down.....................You must have the patience of a saint.

You have my sympathies and I hope that BMW get their finger out and resolve this for you double quick.

Best luck with your dealings.

[KenL]

Wul,

How did you manage to see the invoice? I was never privvy to that when the car got warranty work.

[Wul]

Ken - the service advisor went through the work done on the typed up invoice rather than the workshop job sheet - being a surveyor i instinctively looked directly at the total at the bottom - eek! :eek:

[Steve74]

Have to say just had my first bad experience with Mini warranty work. I had a relatively minor rattle in the lower dash/A-pillar which was just enough to be annoying as it only occured at 2000 revs. Also had a rain sensor issue as it only works in heavyish rain and experienced a bad stumble or two.

I was told that there was no problem involving stumble and thats the charecteristic of the car (crap - it's an ECU software issue with the ASC/DSC but they deny this). Secondly the rain sensor cant be fixed but finally, the best of all I now have a really bad new buzz all the time from behind the dash! The warranty sheet detailed roof panel removal and steering column removal to fix a dash/A-pillar rattle? Is this a ploy to increase their warranty returns as this simple rattle was charged out at £200? The car is great to drive but the stumble and rattles are not what I would expect on a car costing the best part of £20k.

[KenL]

Name and shame your dealer !!!

[Steve74]

Ken - it starts with an E and ends in astern.... ;)

[KenL]

quote:Originally posted by Steve74

Ken - it starts with an E and ends in astern.... ;)


Oh Dear :disapprove:

[Steve74]

Thats what i thought Ken! It's a pity as the car is truly the most fun I've ever driven. If they can fix the minor issues that detract from what is otherwise maybe one of the best cars to drive of any price then they will have a winner. I hope they realise this and are looking into web sites such as this one and Mini2 which do a lot to help the situation!

[KenL]

They (and all dealers) have been fixing minis for 2.5 years. It's pretty bad that people are still reporting bad service.

[john]

Sorry to hear so much ill feelings,BUT
I am on my second mini and have covered more than 40,000 miles these cars in my veiw are FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!!

[Steve74]

Ken, it's even worse as I used to work for another BMW dealer about 10 years ago and it seems like there are issues that we used to face there. I have to say that the service manager was very nice but the service staff were unfriendly and not very keen to help. I noticed that there was a job card for a 316 on the desk and happened to see a very long list of warranty work on that so i don't think it's confined to the mini. Apart from the build quality and dealer service issue I think the car is fantastic as others have said and i hope the aftercare sorts itself out.