[zoooooom]

I\'ve had my cooper since mid september and I can\'t help thinking that the BMW dealership is the wrong place to go with a mini.
How many mini owners feel the dealer is looking down their nose at you because you car is not £50 grands worth and you are a normal working person like the person on the service desk?
If my fuel gauge did not work but it was on an X5 I\'m shure the story would be very much different.



There got that off my chest,feeling better now.

[Marsh]

Hi Zoooom,
Couldn\'t agree more. I am looking around for a dealership that I can trust to purchase the car from.

I now live in north London and haven\'t managed to get a working relationship with any of the dealers I have come across as yet. The BMW dealers at Hexagon in north London don\'t seem to like the MINI at all. I was at the garage, there wasn\'t a MINI dealer free, and I asked one of the BMW guys would it be OK if I sat in the display Cooper. The bloke replied, \"You can dismantle the sodding thing for all I care.\" I was pretty surprised and it left a nasty taste in the mouth.

My home town is Leeds and I am thinking of getting our car from MINI at Scotthall. All of 200 miles away. There is a bloke there, one of the MINI dealers, who doesn\'t ******** if you mention teething problems with the car. He is pretty upfront about them and it makes it more likely people will trust him. All the dealers I have met so far in London have denied any problems with the car, none have ever heard of it pulling to the left, or having battery problems etc. The only problem is that it is a hell of a trip if something goes wrong with the car, although I suppose I could get it serviced at a local garage, even though it was purchased in Leeds.
Sigh. I really wish BMW could improve the dealer side of things. I know there are good dealers out there, but the service is patchy.

cheers
Marsh

[Johnboy]

Couldn\'t agree with you more - I actually got chucked out of one London dealership midway through filling in the purchase details and with my credit card literally on the table - because they wanted to close bang on 1730HRS!
I had to virtually beg my way round 3 dealerships.
I have heard from a guy at work who bought a 3 series, that BMW Park Lane are very good - I have spoken with one of their dealers on chat, and he seems pretty helpful - also one of the guys got a loan Mini from them for the Gaydon meet - It may be worth the trip.

J.

[smiffy]

Ive had nothing but briiliant service & customer relations with RYDALE OF CARDIFF. They know me know personally(but then again i call in every week 8)7)& they always have time to chat over coffee etc & I havent even got my car yet. I would recommend them to anyone thinking of buying a MINI. my next MINI purchase in a few years time, I might travel up to see NEO & place an order up north with him 8D 8D 8D 8D

[julian]

LLOYDS OF COCKERMOUTH, have been excellent, anything bad has been out of their control, like delays on seats. Heather in servicing is great and Andrew Thomas in sales shows a real knoledge and love of his product, not just a love of commision. I was suprised at how snobby they were not.

reccomended

[Bad Manners]

Quote:

On 05-11-2001 20:13 Johnboy wrote:
Couldn\'t agree with you more - I actually got chucked out of one London dealership midway through filling in the purchase details and with my credit card literally on the table - because they wanted to close bang on 1730HRS!
I had to virtually beg my way round 3 dealerships.

Barons stayed open later than their advertised opening times to take my deposit :). They also made me feel welcome to hang around after closing time for a chat a couple of other times too -- times when I was getting MINI withdrawal symptoms and felt the urge to pop in after work (45 minute drive away)

[MiniCooperS]

Well I haven\'t been too impressed with either of the dealers near me- Lind Maidstone and Newmans Canterbury. Didn\'t even acknowledge that I was there for 10-15mins. The BMW salesmen just seem to leer at you and seem disgusted that you are in THEIR dealership! As a classicmini fan this just plays into my anti hun feelings! Prob is that I like to buy british made things so car choice is very limited! I now know why John cooper are not allowed to sell unmodified cars, the huns in the area wouldn\'t sell any! BMW learn about customer service and visit this dealer yourself!!!!!!

[dinger]

All the dealers we visited before we bought our MINI seem to have an air of self importance{arrogance} howerever when I use Lind I go to see Tony in parts{when my door mirror got smashed}he\'s really helpfull.
But L&C at Tunbridge wells are just another matter all I can say about them is NO COMMENT.

[David_Graham]

Whitehouse MINI in Sidcup have been fantastic. They are really enthusiastic about the car and are genuinely pleased to see you (no matter how many times you go back just to have another look). I collect my MINI on Monday and can\'t wait.

[camel]

I find it very sad to hear that people are having problems with other dealerships. I do understand and sympathise with you. As customers you all have the right to be treated as equals whether your buying a £50k 7 series or a mini one, unfortunately most BMW salesmen have their head so far up their own arse that the messily commission that mini offer doesn’t seem to make it worth their while, their more interested in the big cats.
I on the other hand (never having been in car sales before, ( BMW parts for the last 10 years) look at my customers as though I was buying a new MINI. Im not loaded, I have bills and a family to support and if I were purchasing a new car it would be a big deal. If a salesman was treating me like others are treating you guys I would tell them to stop being such ********s and take my business else were.

[Jakx]

Quote:

On 06-11-2001 11:06 dinger wrote: . . . . .when I use Lind I go to see Tony in parts{when my door mirror got smashed}he\'s really helpfull.

Sorry dinger, but surely to goodness . . . . if he`s really in parts you`d be able to help him more than he could possibly help you ?

:+



(I couldn`t help myself.)

[dinger]

Quote:

On 06-11-2001 19:26 Jakx wrote:
[...]
Sorry dinger, but surely to goodness . . . . if he`s really in parts you`d be able to help him more than he could possibly help you ?

:+



(I couldn`t help myself.)

Jakx I was never any good at jigsaw puzzles anyway the poor fella could\'nt even play a game of cards without chunking his hands in.boom boom

[monsta]

MiniCooperS, I got my MINI from Newmans and I have to say that I they weren\'t as good as I was expecting. I went over the week before launch and the guy was trying to get me to put my deposit down! Without telling me anything.

Call me an anorak but I reckon I know 100 times more than any of their salesmen which didn\'t boost my confidence at all.

I know sales are important but surely they understand the whole \'good customer service brings business\' idea?

I did get a free tank of petrol out of them though!

[RedMini]

We found Stuart at New Central, Cobham, Surrey to be excellent. He even offered to sit in the back on a test drive while the two of us and our dog were in the front.

His background is Rover Mini, but always keen on BMW too, so a promising mix.

My brother-in-law, with a 520i and Z3 warned us off Victoria at Bromley, Kent as being a bit too yuppie. Goodness knows what they think of Minis then.

[ricardo]

Quote:

Originally posted by Marsh
I am looking around for a dealership that I can trust to purchase the car from.

I now live in north London and haven\'t managed to get a working relationship with any of the dealers I have come across as yet..... I know there are good dealers out there, but the service is patchy.

Have you tried Milcars, Borehamwood? I dealt with Paul McConville and found him to be down to earth and enthusiastic about the MINI. I travelled all the way down to London to collect the car after lousy service locally.

[Mickey Gem]

I was put off by the BMW dealership thing,I'd been to Blue Bell and been ignored, then I went to the Williams "Mini only" showroom in Manchester.

Great little showroom, friendly, Mini enthusiastic staff, Mark & Gino were brilliant with my order and didn't seem to mind the amount of times I "popped in for coffee" before delivery, changed spec etc etc

Worth a look if you're having problems...

[zoooooom]

I started this thread in November and I was very disapointed
at the response from the service dept,But the sales staff were always excellent.
This is now the end of jan and I have had several occasions to visit the service dept since,and the attitude of the service dept has changed a great deal for the better.Well done JOHN CLARK ABERDEEN I am so pleased with the service now that when I ordered my 'S' I did not hesitate to buy it from the same dealer.

[Figleaf]

I just wanted to add my comments about Williams MINI in Manchester. I dont live in Manchester, but I am working up there, so decided to go in a take a test drive. They stayed open late for me for the test drive and when I placed the order. (They close at 6, I arrived at 5:50 and then I had to spec the car. You can image how late I kept them )

Nathan kept me informed for things and generally was pretty good.

Try them .... I was very pleased.

[FONTAL]

I have to say I have never had a bad experiance with a dealer, Claterdon in Inverness is where I bought the car and they even opened up on a Sunday so I could take delivery of it, then moved the servicing to John Clarks Aberdeen and they have been excelent to me always helpfull and civil.
Richard

[Bad Manners]

Update: One car later...

After buying Cooper from Barons (back in 2001), I let Cooper Thames Ditton service it and perform warranty/insurance work. I was not happy with Coopers at all. Only once had a courtesy car all the times I went there.

I bought the S from Barons, have used them for servicing and warranty and they're good to me. The only time they didn't have a courtesy car was when I insisted on being booked in ASAP for a brake problem, and left the car with them to sort out without having given them notice. (I didn't have my driving license with me that day anyway). The other time was a pre-arranged while-u-wait service. Took less than an hour, and they surprised me by cleaning the car too

It's worth the 45 minute drive to Barons, even considering I have to get up an hour early two days running to use them.

I dunno if Coopers are generally bad, or if it's just coz I didn't buy my MINIs from them?