Complaint letter submitted

[Tony]

hello folks,

just home from me holidays, and dennis aint feeling too well. which is a shame for a 5 week old car.......

anyway, a 3 page letter is sitting here about to be posted on my lunch break.

got a flat whilst we were on holidays. ive got the 17" runflats,...but it didnt work. the sidewall collapsed, and the rim was VERY close to hitting the road. no indication that this was going to happen either as the runflat indicator didnt make a cheep (or flash!!) emergency services didnt want to know, local doncaster dealer didnt want to know either. eventually called my own dealer who managed to perusade the emergency services to tow me to a tyre fitter...and then i paid for the replacement. the tyre fitter had a replacement in stock,..but couldnt find anything wrong with the flat tyre except for the collapsed sidewall (ie,..no holes or signs of puncturing).. the tyre had only done just over a 1000 miles.

door rattle is worse than ever!!!! just by the red reflector.
both seat belt holders are banging and rattling like mad too!!!

cd player skips with EVERY cd which is placed in it.

alternator and water pump belts are also squeeling like a pig.

and finally, i found a screw in the drivers foot well this morning which had fallen from the dash (from where, i dont know).

what do you guys think of this?
i used to love my car,...now i dont want it back until its all fixed.

[lightbody]

Glad to hear, as my dealer told me this morning, that the new ones are so much better...

The 17" tyres are so low profile, that the Tyre defect thing must not work as well as on my much higher profile 15s with softer sidewalls.

[Wul]

Tony - that's crap about your MINI!

Did you keep the faulty tyre? i know it might have been a squeeze with luggage etc but on a 5 week old tyre with no obvious signs of third party damage - i'd be looking for a refund!

The fact the run-flat indicator never went off is a worry too! on my 16's even a slow puncture sets it off when the tyres get below 20psi! it chimes and the yellow light flashes until it is reset.

My year old car had the door and seatbelt surround rattles too - they are both fixed now.

Keep on at them Tony, hopwfully you should get some satisfaction.

[Tony]

yeah Wul, i kept the tyre.
its sitting, smelling in my garage!!!!

the tyre fitters just looked puzzled. they even suggested that the wheel itself was to blame, as maybe the tyre and wheel werent seating properly.
who knows, but, yeah your right, a brand new tyre with slightly over 1000 miles on it shouldnt be acting the way it did.

and as for the indicator, well, we HEARD the tyre long before the car decided to tell us.

just makes you wonder.

the new cars are so much better,......that'll be the daewoo

[GAJ]

I had a similair problem when I bought my car. The week I got it I got a screw through the tyre tread and the pressure dropped to 6psi. The warning light never came on. The dealer checked the car out but said everything was working fine. I think te moral is don't rely on the light, keep checking the tyre pressures with a gauge.

[Tony]

got a phone call from JC yesterday, and so the car is booked in for next tuesday. we are getting a courtesy MINI, whilst its in, which they reckon could be a couple of days to make sure everything is right.
anyway, very apologetic of the treatment we have recieved and sympathetic about the way our car is behaving, as its so new.
they are already ordering parts on the basis of what was said in my letter,...seat frames, etc, to cut down on time, so looks like a bit of a result.

lets hope everything goes away soon....

[Tony]

Ok,....

Just thought id update you guys on the progress of my car, and it getting fixed.

Ive now been driving round aberdeen for the past 4 days in a rather nice brand new MINI One, gold colour, all the toys (im amazed to see that you can now spec a One to look like a cooper nowadays...)

anyway, the dealers, JC in Aberdeen, have been fab.

they have phoned every day to tell us what is happening. thankfully the service manager has heard and witnessed all of the rattles so he knows what to look for on my car, and we arent getting back until he and his techs are satisfied,..which is nice.

so far, they have replaced the cd player, the seat belt holders (cause they were rattling), they are fixinf the buzzy door, replaced the drivers seat sliding mechanism, and as the seat backs were scratched they are replacing them as a gesture of good will.

the tyre is being sent to pirelli along with my recipt for the new one and a sh*togram from JC. so hopefully things will work out soon. :approve:

all in all i couldnt have asked JC to have done anymore. i appreciate that sometimes the service guys have to take the flack for poor design and build quality from the factory.

god, i cant wait to get dennis back, i was just getting used to the 'run-in' feel, and now im back to driving a way tight gold nymph (oooh err):I:evil:

well guys, im keeping my fingers crossed