[OllyH]

Just a quick post to let you all know how fantastic the service at Sytner Nottingham is. Bought my car from there 2 months ago and took it in today to have some minor niggles looked at, including a brake fluid change. Seeing as I'd bough tthe car from them so recentley they didn't charge me a penny and had even given my car a wash, telling me to pop back any time if I still wasn't totally satisfied. Just what you want to hear!

[Vicki2]

I've had a lot of dealings with Sytner Notts as its my local dealer.

They were great with me at first but after a while the seemed to not care about the car ..... told me lies after lies, telling me my brake needed changing after they'd been changed the week before going in.

they also told me a lot of other things too which made me seek advice directly from MINI UK as i was going to take things a lot further.

I found Sytner Nottingham great until i had a problem with my steering, it went in 5 times and every time they said it was something else wrong with it, then the last time i went in they told me it was the tyres i had on my wheels what was causing the steering problem .... it turns out it was just a money making sceme.

All in all they were ace for the first few months but after that they never returned calls, mucked up gettin me a curtesy car, told me lies and untrue statements and i had enough of them so much that i now drive an extra hour to the dealer in Stafford (radford) to get my car looked at as i know they ownt mess me around.

[OllyH]

Cheers for the heads up. Will have to see how things go the longer I own the car. I think part of it was because I'd only bought my car off them 2 months ago so they perhaps didn't want a cross customer so soon!

[Serby]

I've been to Sytners a fair bit since having my One and now the Cooper, and I can't actually remember going and having a job done satisfactorily or correctly.

1. I first took my One in for a service and a wiring loom recall, when I received the car there were still clippings of wires on the floor and a scuffed interior trim.

2. Then took it in for a weird steering noise, they couldn't find anything.

3. Third trip was for the exterior B-pillar trim, which was falling off. Having booked the car in for the work, we left it with them for an hour whilst we went to some of the nearby shops. After about an hour had passed we returned, only to be told they couldn't do the work as they had not ordered the part in (all this time they had our mobile number and could have rung us).

4. Fourth trip was the second attempt to hopefully get the loose exterior B-pillar trim fixed/replaced. We left the car with them overnight, picked it up the next day only to find they had replaced the entire left hand side rear interior panel, and not touched the B-pillar trim which literally stuck out like a sore thumb.

5. Fifth trip was when the gearbox broke - to their credit it was fixed within 48 hours.

Had a similar run of luck with them since I got my new car. We took it in to get a loud knock from the front fixed and a wobbly mirror sorted out. They replaced the mirror cap, it still wobbles. They also said they had fixed the knocking noise, it still knocks, despite the mechanic going for a test drive and hearing the noise.

As Vicki has said they never return calls, having been told they would ring us back I cannot remember once when they have. The staff are friendly and helpful, but jobs just never seem to get done.

Overall thats just my personal experience with them. It has been pretty pants, I always get the feeling that if you are there spending money, or with a 'proper' BMW the treatment is somewhat different.

Although my 80-year old MOC driving granny does seem to be treated like the queen whenever she goes in!

[Simon Syddall]

I used to deal with Sytners, years ago when I had an M5. All of the (bad) experiences you guys list are deja vu, but I am afraid are typical of complacent main dealer customer care. I refuse to use them now, for our two Minis and instead use Sycamore, Peterborough, whom I cannot fault.

Years ago, in a previous life, I ran a 75 vehicle mixed fleet. They are all as bad - BMW, VW, Rover (RIP), Ford and Vauxhall. Your only real hope is to find a decent, genuine group, who care (not one with the arrogance of Sytner, who only care if you have bought a brand new 5 series or above and change it every month).

The problem you will then face is, however much they do for you, they will be s*** on, from a great height, by poor manufacturer support, as exemplified by BMW's support of the Mini network, with poor technical backup, poor parts availability (why do parts , made in the UK, for a car made in Oxford, have to go to Germany?!)and patchy British build quality (what a surprise Ryton is closing) marring what has got one the best and most enjoyable driving experiences money can buy.

Look at it this way, the customer base of Mini is huge. It has huge buying power and clout and I believe forums of this sort can unite people together, to make the likes of BMW sit up and take notice. Keep up the good work! Some of the dealers mentioned by name, in various threads, should also be put out of business.

[Adrian_T]

Sytner

All you need to know is the fact that they have a fleet of very flash showrooms.

Allegedly and please let me know if I am wrong, they make no money at all from selling cars so they must fund their multi million pound emporia somehow.

Lets see, how do you think they can do that then???

Had a Golf Gti repaired by them once. admittedly they did a good job but they let me know in no uncertain terms that they thought that the car should have been written off when they failed to deliver on time and finally dropped it back 3 days late.

Apparently knocking the crease out of a door and a slight respray was not worth their time on a car over 5 years old and they could not understand why the insurance as bothering..........


My advice is................................................ .........................