New Country Mini - Hartford, CT

[bronwen]

I'm so very less than impressed with New Country's service department.

I'm curious to hear anyone's experience there - positive or negative.

[MiniCrazed]

My Mini is there for service as we speak. I had to bring it in on Saturday...had it's regular service scheduled. However, a part fell off my car (looks like some sort of cover), and my engine is making a noise when I start the car and shift gears. The service dept called me back after a few hours and told me to come get a loaner as they would need to look at the car on Monday (today). I'm still waiting to hear back from them as to the status. I tried calling but got voice mail. This is my 3rd time bringing my Mini in for it's routine service, and to date, have not had a problem. We shall see how this issue is serviced however.

[UberFisch]

Hey- I just started at New Country as a service advisor, hoping to alleiviate any problems that may have occured at this dealership. Some changes will be taking place here, and I hope we can work well together!

[Stiffed]

Quote: Originally Posted by bronwen (original)

I'm so very less than impressed with New Country's service department.

I'm curious to hear anyone's experience there - positive or negative.

Yeah, I'll let you know the usual details after I take the car in for the last time. I agree they haven't been the paragons of great business sense nor the most astute service department I've dealt with. Let's face it, they depend on their clients' complacency and downright ignorance about auto mechanics for them to stay in business selling so-called luxury cars. For the most part, they're right because we don't want to be hassled thinking about what's really going with our car when there's a service issue. Most of us would rather throw money at it and say fix the damn thing I don't care what it's called. On the other hand though, the managers forget or just aren't aware that some of their clients grew up fixing chevys, those 283's with Holley 4-barrels, making a lotta mistakes, but got the machines on the road in spite of them. On top of this, ain't it somethin' when they try to get over on us and we comply nonetheless, hate say it but I do - simply because it's too pointless to ask what's really going on , particularly when the manager simply may not know and your problem does not figure as an important element in his life.They with no remorse charged me $200 the last time I was there for a warranty service cycle, justifying the incongruity of what they really do by their spotless BMW labcoats. I showed up silly me, a few thousand miles past my scheduled window and they said they simply had to charge me for the oil change performed by their highly trained grease shooters and scanner jockeys. (This is absolutely true - not the titles but the story whether the guys who did the servicing may not be as decorated or evolved ( 'Mechanic-of-the-Week' ) as New Country proudly claims, having been hired the week before). I'll admit they did an excellent oil change and they swapped all the filters with no mistakes even under the pressure of lunch hour imminent. New Country owes me $200 and a few hours of my time where they performed a temporary fix but never followed up by ordering the part and then informing me accordingly. Was I supposed to have reminded them? Shucks, had I known this up front I would have gladly found the time to have gotten the part for them as well.
And when my wife and I first bought our car three years ago, the New Country sales department was clearly out to lunch as well or at best out of the loop - we got our car a week late (though it was plainly parked in their lot) because the people upstairs at New Country never cleared the check we gave them and failed to let us know as well as their own salesman of this slight complication. No apologies, no freebies, no discernible intelligence from them was forthcoming. Yeah I'm not looking forward to this last service appointment (it's a warranty thing) though I am definitely hopeful of a future without New Country. The service manager at New Country is courteous, responsive (he'll always call), and knowledgeable in what he says but I'd be surprised as to whether he has any input into the way most things are run in his department. He may be a service manager but it may not be his real job. I've had work done at Prestige in North Jersey as well as at another Mini outfit in Albuquerque (I go everywhere and still love this car ) , and both were topnotch, alert, and all business. (they send me emails with queries regarding their performance, and they know I'm in Massachusetts!). So don't blame Mini. I've heard good things about a dealer in Peabody which is great since my expectations in this neighborhood have long left town.

[bettehead]

Each time I go to New Country (I bought my MINI there), there are no familiar faces. I drive from New Haven and each time I ask for a loaner (which was a very important factor in me buying a car so far away) it's always a "gray" area. Geee...not sure if we have one...gee...we share them with BMW...gee....no one returned their loaner cars on time. What???! People don't return the loaners on time? Isn't that called THEFT? I am going tomorrow for my annual service and I'm fed up with the place. I feel like I'm being "played" by New Country. No one ever reaches out and tells buyers of any issues with the cars--I have to find out on the MINI boards about things covered under warranty. I wouldn't know about them otherwise (warping chrome hood scoop, intake manifold letting in moisture that freezes in winter, timing belt tensioner causing "death rattle"). Tomorrow I may have to get a rental car from a rental agency nearby instead of a loaner from NC. This is a major hassle. I don't care if NC reimburses for rentals. NC should have a supply of loaners just for MINI and not to be shared with BMW. The whole BMW/MINI thing is a sham anyway, as no BMW dealers will service MINIs, hence the captive audience that New Country has.
New Country knows how owners feel about them; I think they just don't care. They're one of only 2 MINI dealerships in CT but experiences like these drive customers away. I know I will not be a repeat New Country customer.