[DerekH]

John Clark Mini were very helpful and was out in a car in minutes and had time to look at cars with different options in the compound, Trevor was very good. I bought my new BMW in dec 06 from Harry Fairbairn Giffnock as Paul Millar the sales manager is very good , as for there Mini side at Giffnock no return of 3 calls and bad attitude not impressed.

[eggtruck]

Wood of Bournemouth unwittingly sold my mate a stolen Hyper Blue MCS in January. Was reported stolen after they did the HPI and there was even a possibility that it may be cloned. My mate only found out when he was surrounded by 4 motorway patrol cars on the M23 and hadcuffed!!

It took a strong letter and a call from the police to get them to take the car back.

[crofty136]

I bought mine from Williams manchester... As i'd driven from Leeds she was in a strong position to sell me the car (knowing i had gone quite a long way to see it). but decent service however and got a good price for my trade in, aswell as a good price on the car

had good experiences with Sandal mini (wakefield) but they didnt have the right car at the right time

Lister park had no staff in there, or customers, or mini ones for sale.... i wouldnt recommend that place at all

Richard Croft

[SeldomSeen]

A quick word in favour of Elms BMW/Mini in Bedford.

Very smooth and professional through the sales process, and so many of the employees smile when greeting customers!

Also gave me a better trade in than their competitors.

I've not had any problems with the car so can't comment on that aspect of the service.

Very nice to do business with.

[jezmendo]

Had to take my wife's 52 plate MCS in to the Maidstone dealership for a fault on the cooling fan, with it staying on a draining the battery. Had to wait a week to get it in the workshop and then took 2 days to fix. Not that I have a gripe with the time to fix and order the parts moreover the hidden charge of diagnosing the fault!
Maybe I am naive but in all my years of motoring I have never had a charge for investigating a fault. This came as a bot of a shock which I explained to the service person who served me. I pointed out that at no time during booking the car in and dropping the car off was there any mention of a charge just to lift the bonnet. Apparently this has always been so and it is ASSUMED that everyone knows about it. I pointed out that I thought it was a bit rich to assume that they can just do whatever they like with someone else's hard earned cash!
This certainly has tainted my view of the dealers given the total bill came to £680 (had the airbag warning light sorted at the same time) of which £125 was just to get the tools out!! Maybe they are taking a new precident from other service companies Hope i dont have any trouble with the plumbing.
So in short check when you book it in if they are going to charge you for the privelige!! The dealer in Farnborough never used to!!
Fortunately I have a third party warrenty who are covering the majority of the costs but the investigation is under contention......

[Irish Monkey]

Based in Cork, Ireland and did a good shop around with the 2 dealers in Cork as well as one in Waterford and one in Tipperary (both about an hour or so from Cork).

Ended up buying in Bolands in Waterford City as I got the best deal, free servicing and Michael Rowe down there was fantastic to deal with. He couldn't do enough for me. Collected the car in Jan 2007 (ordered in October 2006).

This was my 5th car all of which were both at main dealers but this was 5 star customer service I never received before.

Will be knocking on his door again when I want to change..........might go BMW next time we'll see

[billericaymickey]

Had 1st inspection done on TLC on Saturday, car in at 9.00am out at 11.00am - no problems, good service, did offer to valet car afterwards but must have forgot.

Always nice to pick up a 'nothing to pay' garage receipt anyway.

[minimike7]

Would like to thanks Marie and John of Murketts MINI in Huntingdon, Cambs.

Brilliant customer service from all involved in the sale including the after sale guys in the parts desk who provided a great service in ordering a couple of extra retro fit bits for the new Cooper.

I will be making the longish journey back up to your dealership again.

I was shock to receive the gift pack containing a Car, Keyring and disposable camera, never had that from Specialist Cars.

I'm almost looking fwd to my first service to go back to visit Murketts again

[supa-dupa-cooper]

Quote: Originally Posted by minimike7 (original)

I was shock to receive the gift pack containing a Car, Keyring and disposable camera, never had that from Specialist Cars.

Should've gone to the right Specialist Cars


Murketts were very very good, very thorough (almost to much so though for me!), oh and they were doing a good job of cleaning all the new 57plates, the S cabrio was immaculate

...but i'll still be going back to Specialist for the next one!

[Hickster]

I'd like to recommend Broad Oak MINI in Ashford. Excellent service and customer care - very enthusiastic and offered a reasonable P/X on my Cooper S and a discount on my Cooper D

Only downer was the fact I had a German MINI/Clubman Handbook (mind you I do know how everything on the Clubman works now ). Have since recieved an English handbook (without the Clubman bits though).

[willc38]

Williams Rochdale what a total JOKE!!!!!!

[dlpruk]

Soper, Lincoln, Sytner, Nottingham and Stratstone, Chesterfield - recent experience please.

I'm equidistant between Nottingham, Chesterfield and Lincoln and would appreciate help.

All three dealers will be quoting on a cost-to-change basis for a fully-specced Clubman D and all have suitable build dates available. But cost isn't everything so I'd like to factor in a confidence rating as well.

Marks out of 10 for Sytner, Stratstone and Soper would be most helpful from anyone who's used any of these recently please?

Thanks.

[dlpruk]

My experience trying to order a Clubman D from Stratstone was woeful as they cancelled a prebooked demo without warning - so wasting our time visiting Chesterfield - and haven't bothered to suggest an alternative date. And their current facilities on a back-street industrial estate are old, cramped and seriously lacking in parking spaces.

But they offered the highest part exchange allowance.

Both Sytner and Soper offered a buying experience of a totally different order, with large and modern facilities and sales staff who couldn't have done more to help with demos.

Soper ranked second in terms of the part exchange, just ahead of Sytner, and won our order on that count - but we'd have been just as happy buying from Sytner otherwise.

(Soper's offer better coffee too!)

[ricky1981]

I bought by current R53 MCS from Robert Stern and have just ordered a new MCS from them as well! The whole team are very friendly and helpful, John (sales) and Maxine (finance) were both great despite my constant tinkering with the spec! Good advice as well on what extras were worth taking and the whole process has been v smooth. Now I just have to wait for my new toy to arrive!

[zack726]

Brecht Mini is Escondido, California -

I told them exactly what I would like replaced, and the service I needed done. They did the wrong thing, and a service I did not ask for, and charged me for it.

Ex. "I know the brake pads are low, but do not replace them because I'm doing a brake overhaul soon and putting new rotors and pads on." - they changed them out for crap pads and charged me 100$ per set.

ZERO OF TEN

[NeuroBeaker]

Quote: Originally Posted by zack726 (original)

Brecht Mini is Escondido, California -

I told them exactly what I would like replaced, and the service I needed done. They did the wrong thing, and a service I did not ask for, and charged me for it.

Ex. "I know the brake pads are low, but do not replace them because I'm doing a brake overhaul soon and putting new rotors and pads on." - they changed them out for crap pads and charged me 100$ per set.

ZERO OF TEN

Hang on a minute... surely they can't do that! If I were you, I would have said "I told you not to do that and I'm not paying for it. Put my old pads back on immediately."

[goonerij]

I have bought 2 mini's from Sytner Nottingham and have always used them for servicing, parts, etc and have always found them to give good service. 9/10 from me.

-Ian-

[ClubbyHeaven]

I am new to all this so i hope i posting the reply in the right box! I just wanted to say that i purchased my R56 from Specialist Cars, I had gone to Elms at Bedford previously i got a very poor trade in and was treated like a second class member of the public! I had a very poor test drive, basicly drove me for two miles then let me drive for about 2 seconds!!.

After that i went to Specialist Cars Stevenage, i drove two cars a new cooper and a cooper s, i decided that i would sell my car seperatley and asked for £200 off to clinch the deal. The Sales Manager explained "i would not ever even get a fuel tank of fuel" and found him to be very arsey when speaking with me. That same day i drove over to Specialist Cars in Luton! which is actually my local dealer, they had a smaller sight, but all of the cars were properaly on display and had many colours to look at, they were very busy, but one of the sales guys took the time out to come and chat to me and got me a drink, after about ten minutes he became free and sat me down, he was the first person who actually took some interest in what i would be using the car for and showed me many of the new extras, like the follow me home lights, DSC, interior switch lighting. I then told them my story of the "crap" service elsewhere and they gave me a TLC pack and some vouchers to spend on bits for my new car.

I am now going back to see the same guys this weekend hopefully to order a new Clubman, i cannot wait, i was driving home tonight passed the Luton garage and they had a clubman driving into the showroom!!! i popped in but the had a car cover on it will have to wait 3 more days

THUMBS UP LUTON MINI

[Mini_Flower]

Quote: Originally Posted by LUTONMINI (original)

After that i went to Specialist Cars Stevenage, i drove two cars a new cooper and a cooper s, i decided that i would sell my car seperatley and asked for £200 off to clinch the deal. The Sales Manager explained "i would not ever even get a fuel tank of fuel" and found him to be very arsey when speaking with me. THUMBS UP LUTON MINI

I went to Specialist Cars in Stevenage and the guy I was dealing with was OK. Mind you I did go in expecting an arrogant sales guy of the BMW variety (generalised, I know but just going from previous experience. He couldn't have been nicer and was quite happy with me taking the Clubman apart in the showroom lol.

However, delivery and post sales service is still in the balance - I don't get delivery until the end of the year.

[Pops Racer]

Our experience goes something like this. We were given a complimentary wash, at day 5 while having a lo-jack installed. Our cars finish was scratched from the wash. Immediatly brought it to the attention of the 1st Serv. Mgr. He assured me, after an hour of crying at the scratches to our finish that it would never be washed again. ( Also at my insistance!!) Even though we made SEVERAL boisterous complaints about the swirl marks in our new finish. We were even figuring how to repair all the swirl marks in our new Jet Black paint. The service manager after the second wash on the 3rd visit, explained it was our fault because we didn't have him make a note on our File!?! Tell that to somebody who owns a $100,000 six series. A note on my file, indeed. This Advisor quit for bigger and better things, thank god
If this had been our only issue I would have laughed off his ineptitude. But since 1 visit in 3 our poor little car would come home with a completely unrelated issues, that had nothing to do with the reason it was in for service, I would have to rate San Francisco BMW as one of the worst. Then they had a bit of an employee shake up, Service started to get good and wham
All I have to say is thank god for the Ca. Lemon Law!
The only ray of light was just extinguished. I have no grudges against the new Service Manager. But to replace the 2nd Srvce. Mgr. with a kid who doesn't have any experience with Mini Coopers is a giant Diservice to all of us Loyal Mini Owners!!!
The fact of the matter is the CSI scores were low! And is it any wonder, when there are only 3 people running the whole of the Mini Service Dept. And at least 10 Service advisors and a dedicated phone staff managing all that is BMW! They even have a concierge or 2 who home deliver BMW's when there finished, and it's inconvenient for a pick-up.
Alittle nearsighted by upper management. A cheap solution for their Mini division, A fix that will take a year or two for the new Srvce. Advisor to get up to speed. All at our expense and not that of Mr. Schmitts. He's the only Dealer in San Francisco, and he's riding the coat tails of BMW, and giving nothing to his customers, NOTHING.
I think he's partly to blame for the fears at BMW, That their losing the male owner base, down toabout 40 percent. And go ahead and replace the senior advisor to the Mini Brand, and watch your male base shrink even MORE!!!