Dealer and MINI network frustrations

[Simon Syddall]

Have started a new thread for this, as it concerns at least two dealers, mentioned elsewhere. Not naming names, until I have hard evidence, for obvious reasons.

My personal experience with MINI is that the people on the ground - showroom staff, are clearly chosen for their boundless enthusiasm for an excellent product and are, without exception in my dealings, very nice people .

It is not until things go less than right and you start to go up the chain of command - sales managers, dealer principals and on into the MINI/BMW customer "service" side of things, that you realise, quite quickly, that they are out to make a profit. Nothing wrong with that, but it has to be done ethically and with the culture that, without the customer, they have no business, no profit, no food on the table.

What has opened my eyes , is the poor communication vertically within the organisation and the inaccurate information, that is given to customers. Also, the fact that MINI seem to keep dealers in the dark. Why is this? Despite loving the product, the shine is taken off that, by the fact that I feel they are out to screw me over, if they can and that has destroyed any trust.

The latest debacle - on parts, surplus when dealer fitted ones are fitted at PDI, I have placed in the appropriate thread, because it epitomises what is not right and I thoroughly intend to go very public, on the facts and to name names .