Sasssin frassin....

[Julz]

piece of rubbish!! She's done it again!!:(:mad::disapprove: Didn't even get 4 miles from home when all my warning lights came on! She's now sitting at JC's waiting to be exorcised!!:evil: (mileage is also at 32,666:sleepy:) So my £1100 I spent at JC's last week to get the ecu replaced could all have been a waste!!:(:disapprove:

[Wul]

Sorry to hear that Julz - fingers crossed for you - look like that Evo VIII might be coming sooner than expected!!:eek:

[Julz]

I'm just miffed that I've spent all that money for nothing!! And see if it is the exhaist emmissions sensor like I thought it was, I'll be really really grumpy!!:mad:

[MartinSullivan]

Bloomin heck Julz, really sorry to hear that BabyB is still unwell. If JC's have pointed the finger at the ECU and it turns out to not be at fault can you claim back the cost of parts???

[Duncan Stewart]

If JC mis-diagnosed the fault the hopefully you will have some come back (is a ECU not a warranty fix?).
All the best getting it sorted out. (forget big ugly Evos ;))

[eddie 44]

julz , i had same problem with my last car ST 170 :( three times it was back for the exhaust emission sensor , only 10 months old :mad:
sold it bought a mini ...........:D

[Julz]

Unfortunately my ecu wasn't covered by warranty seeing as BBR had re-mapped it! But now the ecu that's in it is a standrad MCS one so there shouldn't be any probs! Hopefully JC's will offer some form of recompense and they have been excellent and really helpful, I'm just p'd off!!:dead:

And evo's, ugly, neverrrrrrr!!;)

[Julz]

Had JC's on the phone, they've replaced my spark plugs as apparently my irridium ones were all gunged up! This could be something to do with problems with the old ecu, or it could have been the problem in the first place! Either way, I'm no happy cause now I'm going to have to spend another small fortune replacing the IK22's!!:(

Besides that though, the guys at JC's have been very helpful and very patient with my little grumps!!;):clown:

[Big Col]

<blinks> They changed an £1100 ECU ebfore they checked the sparkplugs?

[Julz]

<nods with bottom lip sticking oot>:sleepy:

[Big Col]

Methinks I'd be going postal at them.

[monkimagic]

Besides that though, the guys at JC's have been very helpful and very patient with my little grumps!!;):clown:
[/quote]

Would'nt call em little grumps me sell ! seems like a lotta hassle from a little car.

[Julz]

And again.......:(

Picked her up last night, got 7 miles away and she died! Managed to limp back to JC's where I had a little tantrum! The guys at servicing were great, although they did try and fill me full of tea and coffee and a courtesy car is being delivered to me this morning!

So we shall see what happens this time!8)

[Big Col]

Aaaaargh!!! Stop saying the guys at servicing were great!!! They were crap! They weren't great just because they offered you tea and an apology! They should've made sure your car was fixed! There's only so much that tea and biscuits makes up for! First they charge you £1100 to replace an ECU that wasn't broken, THEN they decide to check the £30 sparkplugs and the problem STILL isn't fixed! They're not great they're friendly but incompetent! Nice but dim! SLAP THEM!!!!

</rant>

[Julz]

Aye, but they get a job card back that says the car is sorted, they can hardly go out and crawl over every car to ensure it works, they just have to trust the mechanic! Don't worry, if this ever gets all sorted, I'm going directly to mini with a copy of all my bills!:sleepy:

[Wul]

Julz - don't wait till it's sorted .... act now! the service "department" as a whole are takin the pi$$!! ok so the suits at the front desk are only trying to be nice to appease you but someone higher up should be kickin some technician butt for wasting an £1100 part in the first place - and i bet it took 4hours for them to decide to check under the bonnet first.

I'd be going supersonicallly mental at them by now!!:disapprove:

[Julz]

I'm waiting to find out what really was wrong in the first place then waft a load of wasted bills at them!:disapprove:

[Big Col]

"if this ever all gets sorted" <puts on best annoyed parent voice> Julia Anderson!

Why would you wait to go to MINI? By that time you could have forked out a whole barrel load more cash! If you complain now it'll get fixed quicker and far easier.

[Wul]

But Julz - you are relying on the "honesty" of the same department making the errors subsequently finding out the true fault and then admitting their VERY costly mistakes!! I'm sure they will be up-front all the way but call me a sceptic - been there had the sob story!!

I'd be very surprised if they somehow don't try and get back to blaming BBR and not BMW!!

[Julz]

quote:Originally posted by Big Col
"if this ever all gets sorted" <puts on best annoyed parent voice> Julia Anderson!

Why would you wait to go to MINI? By that time you could have forked out a whole barrel load more cash! If you complain now it'll get fixed quicker and far easier.




I ain't spending any more cash!!

And Wul, they can't blame BBR now, the re-map was removed!:(

Patience boys, patience! I need to wait til tomorrow when I'm back from edinburgh anyway!:sleepy:

[Moonshine]

Wasn't the initial problem that they couln't interrogate the ECU properly to find the route of the problem coz of the BBR Re-map? from the chat i thought that even once the map was removed by BBR, they still had difficulties in reading it? plz correct me if i picked it up wrong?

If it was the case, then i think that the initial outlay would probably be at your expense, however once a standard part was replaced, they should have been able to interrogate it correctly. But then you are into the murky waters of what caused the problem...oiled sparks plugs / sooted lambda sensor etc, etc and they might argue that the problem was as a result of non-standard parts or the modified engine and therefore not covered by warranty - i can see where they might come from.

Gerry

[Duncan Stewart]

Going "mental" will not help - I have to try really hard not to do it!
Cool, calm, collect the evidence if you want to sort them out.

[Julz]

quote:Originally posted by Moonshine

Wasn't the initial problem that they couln't interrogate the ECU properly to find the route of the problem coz of the BBR Re-map? from the chat i thought that even once the map was removed by BBR, they still had difficulties in reading it? plz correct me if i picked it up wrong?

If it was the case, then i think that the initial outlay would probably be at your expense, however once a standard part was replaced, they should have been able to interrogate it correctly. But then you are into the murky waters of what caused the problem...oiled sparks plugs / sooted lambda sensor etc, etc and they might argue that the problem was as a result of non-standard parts or the modified engine and therefore not covered by warranty - i can see where they might come from.

Gerry


You're spot on! My only grumble is that despite me forking out to replace the ecu, it's still not fixed, and I was given the car back even though it had exactly the same problem! There is also the case that if the same thing is still happening, maybe the old ecu was fine, even though they couldn't read the diagnostics!! Who knows, I'll just have to be patient and see what the outcome is!:sleepy:

[Moonshine]

However you look at it, it is not particularly satisfactory and the car should not have come back to you with the fault still there.

Gerry

[Julz]

Exactly! At least it makes the selling process alot easier on my part as I'm losing faith!:(

[ELFMAN]

Julz, really sorry to hear of all the CRAP you're having to deal with. It's gone from the sublime to the ridiculous and is a sad ending for a fine car.

If it's still crook with the same problem, they should give you back your £1,100 as it simply hasn't fixed it and you paid that sum on the genuine understanding (based on their advice) that the ECU was at fault. The fault may now turn out not to be in that area, so it could be argued that their initial diagnosis was incorrect. That's working on the premise that they're honest enough to let you know if and when they find out....Hmmm. For that money, Id be needing something a lot stronger than 'Tea with Sympathy'!

Don't go mad at them, but don't be too patient either. In my experience, "Softly Softly" sometimes gets you labelled "Soft Touch" which you're not.

I have to admit, much as it goes against my petrolhead tendencies, this is one of the reasons I'm keeping my car in a fairly 'lowly' state of tune. I won't fork out £4K for the "JCW 210" upgrade (good as it may be), and if things go wrong with non-BMW tuning, MINI have got you over a barrel re. Warranty etc. Although having said that, all good tuners provide warranties on their work, but it could still come down to arguing "which part caused what?" with no-one willing to carry the can. As a matter of interest, what did BBR say?

Fingers crossed for you and the B.

[Julz]

Well, I've got my credit card braced to fork out a further £500! The diagnosis this time is a selection of things (about 4 or 5, which I can't remember now). My main grump just now is why wasn't any of this fixed two weeks ago when the car was first in! The second grump is I'm forking out £30 a day for a hire car, wouldn't have been a problem last week, so I'm going to ask for some form of pay back for having to hire a car this week seeing as it should have been sorted last week.

The ecu is on it's way back to BBR as JC's say it won't run without it, BBR say that's crap as all the software is standard meaning the only thing they've changed is the cam and the supercharger pully, both of which run fine without their software. So at least my car should be back to it's original tuned self, if I ever get it back.

I'm a bit dubious that they haven't sourced the problem and are just replacing everything and hoping for the best. Don't worry elfman, I'm going to get a wee bit annoyed with them at me forking out £1100 for no reason, as it would appear. I still have all the original ecu bits and pieces, which I'm very tempted to get checked out elsewhere!

As for BBR, they've been more than helpful! They've even offered that if I can get my car to them, they'll get it sorted and give me a courtesy car! That would be fine if they weren't 443 miles away!

So, here's for a few more days in my wee Yaris!:disapprove: (it's a fun wee thing!:clown:)

[sh@z]

Awwwwwww so sad to read this :( i'd be going nuts at them right about now. Hope you will be demanding your £1100 back from them, as they are feeding you a load of BS .... car wont work with standard ecu blah blah blah ... and hoping that you are none the wiser, like 90% of their customers. Reading this sort of thing really ticks me off :(

I was gonna say, get BBR to do the repairs, i'd rather pay BBR to repair it as you know they will not screw you around (well i would imagine so anyway) as opposed to the dealership. TBH take this to the mini customer service ppl, they will get onto the garage and sort them out ;)

Hope this all gets sorted Julz :( ... hide your credit card!!!!!

[Gismo]

Julz, sorry, but, this is pure and absolute p!sh, every time your car breaks down then the previous work is null and void.
There is no way there can be a knock on effect, they have simply not been able to diagnose the original problem and are just making excuses and running out of ideas.
Time to see the MD methinks

I honestly think an independant garage (BBR) should be used to confirm, i know it's a hassle to get it there, but......

[macblob]

Sorry to hear about Baby B , you ever get it all sorted out Julz?

[Big Col]

<nods furiously at BS's comments but bites tounge>

[Julz]

quote:Originally posted by macblob

Sorry to hear about Baby B , you ever get it all sorted out Julz?


She's still sitting at JC's just now!!:mad: I can assure you, if and when this happens again (can you tell I'm not convinced it'll be sorted:evil:) she's going to Grassicks!! I have one rather grumpy letter drafted up to MINI, but I just need the receipt for the latest list of things I'm probably paying for without really having to cause I can't remember all that is being replaced this time round!!

I'm assured I'll have her back tomorrow, doesn't mean she's fixed though cause I've been told that twice already!!:disapprove:

[ELFMAN]

Next NMS Run to surround Julz's "JC" Dealership?

[Julz]

Oh it gets better!! Was supposed to collect her on friday, then 5 minutes after I phoned to check she would be ready, I was called back and told she wouldn't be ready until monday (today). Soooo, I phoned today to see how things were going, and now the mechanic is apparently saying he's having difficulty getting under the car because it's so low! Well d'uh!! Like it's become lower since friday, or infact, since 2 weeks ago when I dropped it off the last time, or infact 3 weeks ago when I dropped it off the first time!!:mad::mad: Useless, bloomin' useless!!:mad::mad:

[Tam1314]

Dae they no have ramps at JCs

[Wul]

Julz - sounds like the all too familiar tale of "we've not done anything to the car yet but will keep the customer hanging on" routine!:disapprove: You really need to get a hold of the top man at JC's - who are they owned by?

[Julz]

I have been assured that today is definately the day!! I'm convinced it's delaying tactics, ie they ain't found the real fault yet!!:evil:

[Moonshine]

Wul,

is the clue in the name of the garage???

John Clark????

;) (hehehe!!)

Gerry ;)

[Wul]

LOL! good one Gerry!! :I

[GAJ]

quote:Originally posted by Wul

You really need to get a hold of the top man at JC's - who are they owned by?


Registered Name:John Clark (Aberdeen) Ltd.

Registered Number:63352

Directors:
John H S Clark,
D.V. Clark,
Ian C Henderson

Registered Address:
The Autoplex
Abbotswell Road
West Tullos
Aberdeen
AB12 3AD

[macblob]

I cant believe how calm you seem to be about the whole situation Julz.
Id have lost it big time ages ago.
Think its time for you to kick some garage ass

[Julz]

AAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH

Got her back, and she made it home this time, after I had to pay a further £520 before they would give me my cars keys back!:mad: I offered to pay with my donor card seeing as I'm going to have to sell a few organs to cover this ever increasing bill!!!:(

Very, very grumpy letter being written just now!! Oh, but they did give me £20 an hour off of labour, still dearer than mitsubishi though!! Despite me having already paid £608 in labour for the first visit which apparently covered diagnostics!! My rear, diagnosing what, that the car's blue?? Two visits later and oh, maybe there is something wrong with it other than spark plugs!!!:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

[john]

Park it outside the garage on the street with a big notice inside the front screen tellying the story of your Lemon and see how long it takes for them to react;)

[Gismo]

I know how you feel, if it were me, i'd be taking all the bits they changed and drive down to BBR and pay to get them to refit and check as required.
Even after the petrol used and BBR's time i reckon you could save more money by proving the items they advised were duff to be in fact ok

Poor show all round me thinks :(

[ELFMAN]

Julz, this whole thing just SUCKS! If the car is now OK (fingers crossed), just what DID they do (for £520) to get it from "not going" to "going"? And can they reimburse you for all the "work" (£1100) which didn't work?

Puts you right off, it does.

Good Luck with the nasty letter. They should buy you a new shirt to replace the one they had off your back...........