Yeah, I have one TLC voucher left, and that's the last JC's will be seeing of my car!
Yeah, I have one TLC voucher left, and that's the last JC's will be seeing of my car!
MINI F56 Cooper in Deep Blue with black roof and caps.
Well done Neil, you fought your case very well. What a lot of hassle when they should just have carried out the recognised fix.
Hope you crucify them in the letter to Mini...
Well well, wouldn't you know it, started the car up this morning, and a'l give you one guess as to what happened....
Needless to say I was half temped to go over to JC's and demand my money back for the oil as it's clearly not fixed the problem, as this was their grounds for putting the damn oil in in the first place.
On another note, does anyone know the address of where I send me letter to?
MINI F56 Cooper in Deep Blue with black roof and caps.
email it Neil to MINI customer services. Link is available on mini's website. It's customer.service@mini.co.uk
Originally Posted by N16SHP
did you video it mate?
Your contract is with the dealer, so send a strongly (bu polite) letter to them.
No harm in copying it to MINI Customer Services and letting the dealer know you have done so.
Oh believe me, I have no problems sending a copy of this letter to the dealer, as it clearly outlines how appalled I am, and I also personally state that the service manager refused to come out and speak to me when I asked for him. Everything in this letter is fact, and would love to hear what they say.
Greig, I haven't video'd it yet, however I will do tomorrow before I put it back in to get fixed.
I should really post a copy of my letter on here too for everyone to read, but it is just that, a bit of a read...if anyone want, I will put it up.
Last edited by N16SHP; 26th February 2011 at 09:40 PM.
MINI F56 Cooper in Deep Blue with black roof and caps.
Defo neil be interested to see what you say and what their reply is.
There may be the odd grammatical mistake as it's not been fully proof read!!
Complaints BMW Mini UK.
Dear Sir/Madam,
I am writing to inform you of the appalling service that I received from my local BMW Mini dealer John Clark Mini Aberdeen. To begin with, I feel I must fill you in on all the details regarding where and when I bought the car.
I bought my R56 Cooper S (registered December 2007) from Blue Bell Wilmslow Mini in December 2010 with 24,064 miles on the clock. After driving the car home to Aberdeen, we realised there was a scratch that had not been touched up very well, so we contacted Blue Bell Wilmslow who were more than happy for John Clark to carry out the work re-spraying the whole door, and Blue Bell Wilmslow would pay for the work. They also posted out a new petrol filler trim part, which was not sitting right on the car. I must say before I go any further that the service we received from Blue Bell Wilmslow was absolutely outstanding, namely from our salesman Lewis Calcutt, and the saleman who was there in his absence when we picked up the car, Ollie.
However, after having the car home for a few weeks, I noticed that the car was making the ‘cold start rattle.’ At first I thought it was due to the extreme cold temperatures that we were experiencing, however when the weather turned milder, the ‘cold start rattle’ was still there. My fiancée is a member of Scotland’s largest BMW Mini owners club, New Mini Scotland, and experienced the same problem with his own R56 Cooper S (registered January 2007).
My fiancée took his car back to John Clark where he bought it in 2009, and spoke to the dealership about the rattle who were “not aware of any problems of a cold start rattle”. On his first visit to John Clark Aberdeen, they said that the car needed 2.5 litres of oil, and this what was causing the rattle. Believing the dealer to be right, after all they are the ‘expert Mini technicians’ he paid for the oil, somewhat curious at how a three-year-old car could lose 2.5 litres of oil without a patch on the driveway or burning blue smoke. Plus he’d only bought the car 4 months previous. On his second visit back they examined the car and said that it maybe the timing chain, but perhaps if he ran the car on V-Power this would solve the problem. Not happy with that, knowing full well that petrol would make no difference to the chain tentioner/timing chain unit he pressed for it to be changed. It was eventually replaced and the problem was fixed.
Move forward to February 2011, three months after picking up my own R56 Cooper S, I put my car into John Clark, reporting the noise coming from the timing chain/chain tentioner unit. I made sure they were aware that it was definitely the timing chain/chain tentioner fault as my fiancé has experienced it, plus knows of several cases with this same problem. John Clark requested for me to drop the car off the night before so that they could start the car cold in the morning. Upon dropping off my car they said there would definitely be no charge as this was to be done under warranty.
I received a phone call the next day saying that they heard the rattle, but the car was low on oil, so topped the car up with 1 litre of oil, as this should fix the problem. They also requested to hold onto the car until the next morning to start it cold again, and if the noise was still there, they would then replace the timing chain/chain tentioner unit. My fiancé again reminded John Clark that this is known not to fix the problem in any cases that he knew of, including his own.
We then received a phone call the next day saying that they had started the car and that there was no noise, so the car was ready to collect. However, because they could not find a fault with the car, we would have to pay £15 for the oil and £65 pounds for checking the car and not finding a fault. When my fiancé and I went to collect the car, my fiancée questioned why upon hearing the rattle, and putting oil in the car to fix the ‘problem’ we had to pay for a car check because they had not found a ‘problem’. They said that is was down to poor vehicle maintenance on my behalf. Not only is that rude, it’s also unjustified. The car is less than three months old. The day we bought it, the car was serviced and MOT’d therefore all oil, water and coolant levels would have been topped up by Blue Bell Wilmslow. They also tried to tell me that because of the type of engine the R56 Cooper S has, it’s very common for it to go through 1 litre of oil in 1500 miles. After a quick ask to my fiancé’s Mini owners club, no owner has reported needing to put in 1 litre of oil after 1500 miles.
As a good-will gesture, they agreed to pay 50% of the cost of the vehicle check, however we would still have to pay for the oil as this was down to poor vehicle maintenance and not that this was what was causing the fault they had claimed they could hear, then when questioned started to then hide from. After several minutes of questioning the reasoning for this charge, and failure to find a reason why the car was so low in oil after such little time, they reluctantly removed the charge for the vehicle check, but still insisted I paid for the oil, as this was a fix for the problem, and poor vehicle maintenance. I would also like it to go on record when I asked to speak to the service manager, he refused to come out and speak to me.
Two days on after my car being topped up with oil by John Clark, when I started my car, the rattle was still there. I am extremely annoyed, and not surprised that the rattle was still there, as I knew that the oil would not fix the problem. It’s well known that BMW Mini are on to their ‘third fix’ for the ‘cold start rattle’ problem, and there is even word that a fourth is now being used. We know from the car’s history that it has not received any of the ‘fixes’ issued by Mini, and how John Clark dismissed my fiancée’s knowledge of the fault considering his own experiences with the fault is disrespectful. I put my car into John Clark stating the fault, and believed that an experienced approved BMW Mini dealership would be able to find and rectify the fault.
It would be safe to say that my fiancé, myself, plus the whole of Scotland’s largest Mini owners club will no longer be giving John Clark Mini Aberdeen any business, as we feel that there is now no way that we can put trust into this dealer. I would also like it to go on record stating all the facts as they are, that my fiancé recently received a service under his TLC pack, and gave the dealer mostly a 5 star rating. However he now feels like he can longer stand by what he said, at how poorly we were treated by John Clark Mini Aberdeen and believes that because the car simply went in, was serviced and came out again, it would have been hard for them to get that wrong. I also feel aggrieved that I have paid £15 for oil that has made no difference to my car or rectified this fault.
My biggest concern is how many people are John Clark Mini Aberdeen coning by topping up their cars with oil, happily taking the money knowing full well this will not cure the problem they clearly know about, but refuse to actually let on they know about it when really pushed.
I look forward to hearing your response on this matter.
MINI F56 Cooper in Deep Blue with black roof and caps.
good letter mate, be very interested in seeing their response. I am actually really angry reading this TBH. I so hope they are made to eat humble pie.
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