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New 14 plate Mini Cooper SD Coupe Nightmare

6K views 7 replies 6 participants last post by  xslx 
#1 ·
Any advice greatfully recd :(make yourself a cuppa it is a long one!!

Saturday March 1st.
I purchased a 2014 Mini Cooper SD Coupe automatic and had arranged to collect it from Wellsway Mini Bath on Saturday 1st March. On walking out to the car my husband noticed a mark on the chrome surrounding the front grill but we thought this was just a mark which would rub on. We left the garage and I said to my husband that the car felt as though it was pulling to the left slightly, we tried the car on different roads to make sure it was not just the camber of the road but my husband drove it and said it was not pulling to the left but it felt like that as the steering wheel had not been aligned properly if you held the steering wheel straight the car went off to the right. We checked the car over and noticed it had marks on the plastic piece behind the seats (photos available) which I can only described as looking like snail trails. The interior of the car had several small marks including a scuff on the bottom of the driver’s door. Also there were two small scratches on the outside on the roof at the front on the nearside. I rang Lizzie the manager straight away to report these faults she advised she did not have any technicians on site but if it was pulling badly to one side to bring it straight back and have my old car back. I explained it was not pulling but the steering alignment was out, she suggested I put the car on the driveway with the steering wheel straight then got out and looked to see if the tyres were straight! My husband explained it was only out slightly so you would not be able to see it by doing that. I explained if it was pulling badly I would of brought it straight back as I know it would wear the tyres due to the previously Mini I had from them and the problem I had with its steering (see below *). She said she would speak to the service manager on Monday 3rd March to see when they could have my car in and would ring me. Over the weekend we had a little rain and the sheen came off all the outside black plastic trims wheel arches, under doors, around indicators, wing mirrors etc and all the plastic had white marks on it as though someone had gone over it all with wax.

Monday 3rd March.
Lizzie rang on Monday to say they could not have my car in until the Thursday 5th/Friday 6th. If it was something they could do there and then they would if not it would have to be booked in another day-bit poor for a brand new car I thought. I explained about the marked/faded plastic trim and was told acid rain could cause that, I questioned the fact I had only had it two days but was told this could happen!

Friday 7th March.
I had to take time off work to take my car out to Wellsway on Friday 7th March, Luke the finance manager looked after me as Noel the salesman I have dealt with for the past three years was not in. Luke and I went over the whole car and I showed him every mark/problem then a technician came out with me so that I could show him the steering he said on the way out on the test route I do not need to drive it back I can see what you mean. He said it would need to go on their machine to check alignment but he didn’t know if it was available this annoyed me as they knew it was coming out with a steering problem so it was very likely it would need to go on this machine. I went into the waiting area to wait to see if this machine was available. Rob from the service desk came up and explained the machine was available but it would take around four hours but I was welcome to wait! I said I could not wait there for four hours and that they would need to give me a courtesy car-he said he didn’t think they had one available but would go and check then went downstairs and starting seeing to another couple who came in. After waiting a while I went downstairs to speak to Luke as I was not happy being kept waiting whilst other people were being seen to as I had to make up the time I was away from work and certainly could not stay there four hours. I told him Rob said he didn’t think they had a courtesy car but Luke said he could sort me out a car. Rob then came back to say he had one for me he took us outside to it and told me I had to return it with same amount of fuel. I explained I had just bought a brand new car from them that I had to bring back with faults within the first week so I thought it was rude to ask me to do that as I had to wait to bring it back on the Friday and I was kept waiting around. I was only using it to drive to work then back to them later that day, I told him I would not be putting fuel in and if that was a problem to get the manager to ring me. I waited over four hours and had not heard from anyone so rang Rob to see when my car would be ready as it was now 3pm and I had an appointment in Bristol at 5.30pm so needed to get out to them in Bath and back in time for my appointment. He said my car was in another building so he would go and check and come back to me. I had to ring back again as no response and it was now too late for me to get there and back I spoke to Luke and explained this and asked if I could come out first thing in the morning to collect my car he said he would ring me in the morning to check it had been done before I drove out to them.

Saturday 8th March.
Luke rang me at just gone 11am on Saturday 8th March to say it was ready-not a four hour job then-glad I didn’t wait in the garage. I went and collected my car from Lizzie, she said the steering had been sorted out and that they had removed the scratch from the chrome surround on grill (which none of us thought would be removed we all thought it would require a new part) and the scratches on the roof. Lizzie took me through to the workshop and the scratch had been removed from the chrome. The scratches from the roof had been removed but where they had buffed the roof it looked worse than before as looked as though someone had buffed it with a brillo pad-big swirls marks. I showed this to Lizzie and she apologised and said it would have to come back in again. I told her this should have been checked before telling me it was ready-she agreed. All the marks inside the car were still there didn’t look any different-pointed this out to Lizze also and she apologised but could not explain why they had called me out to collect it without checking it, she then drove my car outside where I noticed the brillo pad buff swirl marks were also on the other side of the roof! I was so upset I would have been disappointed if they had rung me to say they needed the car longer to rectify the faults but would have been better than going out to collect my car thinking it had all been sorted out only to see it now looked worse than it went it. Hard to believe that they did not check what it had come in for had not been done and still rang me to come out I thought as Lizzie is manager of dealership she would of make sure this was done before I was contacted. Lizzie said she would have to rebook it back in again with the body shop and would ring me. I advised her a Wednesday is best for me as it is my day off.


Tuesday 11th March.
Rang Lizzie on Tuesday 11th March as sheen had worn off plastic trim revealing splash marks all along the length of the under door trim and over the wheel arches and paintwork both sides looks like it has been sprayed with something like wheel shine. . (Photos available) I emailed the photos across to Lizzie and my car was booked in for Wednesday 19th March as they couldn’t have it in that week. I went over the car in detail to note everything down for when it went back to them and I noticed a mark on the edge of the driver’s door when open that looked like someone had opened it and hit the door and the inside on the piano trim that looked like a scratch. I spoke to Lizzie again who said I could have hit it without realising as she has done it when she parks in supermarket car parks! I explained to her that I had not been anywhere in the car as was so disappointed with it I had left it on my drive and used my husband’s car and I was then in bed for a week with migraines as I suffer from chronic migraines & thunder clap headaches and this bout was probably triggered by all the stress of this!! You do not expect this amount of stress when buying a new car this was my first ever brand new car. I have had to give up driving instructing as my health has got so bad and my husband decided to treat me to a brand new car to cheer me up. We decided on an automatic as it is easier for me to drive if I am recovering from an attack and have had to inject into my left arm or am left with any weakness down that side.

Tuesday March 18th.
I decided it was not good enough the service I was receiving and the stupid comments I was getting from their manager, I was not being dealt with properly and had spent a lot of money on this car so I was advised by a friend in the business to speak to the dealer principal. Wellsway had also contacted my husband in the middle of all this going on to ask if he was ready to place his order for a Mini Cooper S Paceman that he had enquired about, we both could not believe it. I contacted Martin Reid the dealer principal for Wellsway Mini & Wellsway BMW on March 18th and told him all the problems I had had with this purchase and that I was not happy and at this stage I did not want the car anymore (I had already told Lizzie this and had told her not to sell my car I had traded in as at this point I did not want the new car and would probably want my old one back). I told him I was not really happy for my car to come back in to them again tomorrow as the people working on it do not seem to know what they are doing and have made the situation worse. I also said we could not believe they had to cheek to ring my husband about the Mini Cooper S Paceman he was considering buying from them whilst they knew we were experiencing problems. Noel who I always deal with had rung him and when he said I am not ordering anything until Kelly’s car is sorted out Noel said oh Lizzie is dealing with that-my husband thought that was poor as we have always dealt with Noel and he felt he was passing the buck. He said he thought Noel would have been asking what was happening as I was his customer and he knew my husband had an order for a Mini Cooper S Paceman on hold. He said he needed to speak to Lizzie and I advised him to look at the photos I had sent her. He came back to me and asked me to bring the car on Wednesday 19th as previously arranged to give them the chance to put everything right. He said he would not be on site as he was at meetings but he would arrange for the body shop manager to be there so I could show him all the problems and he would liaise with him later and look at the car himself. He asked if I was offered the paint seal product at time of purchase, I said I was not he said as a goodwill gesture they would do the repairs call me out to the dealership to check I was happy with the car then get the car sealed inside & out.

Wednesday 19TH March.
I took the car out on Wednesday 19th March and saw Lizzie and the service manager Ian Bird. I asked Lizzie where the body shop manager was and she said she had the service manager there. I told her Martin said the body shop manager would be there to look at it and she said she could get him if I wanted and I said well I am only going by what Martin told me she rang him and asked him to come over. We all went over the car Ian found the mark on the driver’s door edge which I was told I could of caused, it was actually a lump of wax which Ian said would not of been visible to start with and it was also wax inside the door on the piano black trim and he did find an actual scratch as well. He agreed with me about the white marks over all the black trim and said it looks as though someone has been over zealous whilst waxing and got it everywhere so they would need to strip it all back. He did not know what the snail like marks were. The body shop manager said to get it washed and over to him that afternoon. Ian listed down all the marks/faults etc and they all assured me that they would be rectified this time. Ian said he wanted to get the car right this time so when I collected it we could start over again with the car being as it should have been on 1st March when I initially collected it. I said I would not pester Lizzie, I would wait for her to update me and Lizzie said she would keep me updated. I was given a manual 2013 Mini Clubman as a courtesy car with some fuel in it which Lizzie said I did not have to replace she said Rob had previously treated me as customer bringing a car in for service not a customer who had just purchased a new car.

Tuesday 25th March.
A week later I had not heard from anyone but received a text from Wellsway stating my car was due to go into them on Wednesday 26th March & to ring them if I could not keep the appointment. I rang Martin and left a message on Tuesday 25th @ 2.30pm for him to ring me as it seems no one there knows what they are doing there. I also spoke to citizens advice at this time who took down all the details and said I should be due compensation because of all this but I would need to speak to Mini finance as I brought the car on a hire finance agreement. I spoke to Mini finance they were very unhelpful to the point of being rude, the advisor told me I wouldn’t get anything from them it is nothing to do with them. I explained I was paying them for a car that I do not have he said you need to speak to the dealer nothing to do with us and you have been given a courtesy car. I never heard back from Martin that day.

Wednesday 26th March.
I rang Martin again on Wednesday 26th he apologised and said he would need to speak to Lizzie to find out what was going on (I did think at this point that he would of been keeping an eye of this and would of been being updating as to what was happening as it had been escalated to him) I told him I had spoken to citizens advice and what they said and my conversation with Mini Finance, he said let us get the car sorted out then we can talk compensation once we know the timescales that were involved. Ian the service manager rang me back, he listed all the things that have been done but said the driver’s door and trim needed to be replaced as the scuff & scratch could not be removed. Also the part behind the seats with the snail marks also needed replacing as they didn’t know what it was and after being cleaned numerous times was still there. He also said he had found a scratch on one of the wheel arches so that needed replacing too. He said they were waiting for an update on parts I asked him to list everything we had just discussed and email me with that and dates for parts. (Email available). The email I received stated he would hope to have my Mini repaired around the 18th April but will confirm nearer the date! I will then need to go in and check it all then it will take another day for them to put the seal on it. I was very surprised it would take this long and not really happy that a brand new car had to have parts replaced already. I said to Ian that I was worried about having the big part behind the seats replaced as it would be difficult to get it in and I did not want the windows scratched as I have paid to have the windows tinted and voiced my concerns about the car being marked whilst new parts being fitted inside it as I had had this problem with a previous car that had new door trims fitted and was also worried that replacing such a big part if not done correctly could cause rattling. He assured me this would not happen he would test drive the car himself once it was fitted to check for rattling and he said he was going to wait until all three parts had come in then was going to get them fitted at the same time to minimise the amount of people going in and out of the car. He said he was checking each part himself when they came in and keeping them in his office then he would get his best person at fitting parts (Rachel) to fit them all as he said some people were better at some things than others.
I started paying for my car on 28th March first payment went out along with the additional insurance from Mini that I was advised to take by Luke the financial manager, as well as my own insurance on the car. So I am paying for a car I do not have in my procession and have not been given a like for like replacement. I only had the car in my possession for 16 and a half days, I didn’t even get to drive it for that long as all the stress has made me ill, it has been in the garage longer than that 38 and a half days today (24/04/14).

Monday 24th March.
I rang Wellsway today as 18th March is Good Friday so cannot see much happening over the bank holiday weekend. I spoke to Ian who advised that they are still waiting for the door panel it has been chased today and he will email me when he receives a response. I told him this is unacceptable time scales for a new car he agreed with me and he said he would feel exactly the same if he had just purchased a new car. I said I was surprised Martin had not rang me since my complaint and asked him to telephone me. Martin rang me and said he had not rang as he would only be repeating what Ian had told me. I explained that I was not at all happy with all of this; he basically said he has given me a courtesy drive to drive to keep me mobile and he cannot get the part any quicker. I explained I understand that but do you think it is acceptable for me to be paying for a car I do not have. He said I am asking him to do the impossible he cannot get the part any quicker. I explained that I am paying for a £28000 car but driving around in a car that if you go on to we buy any car.com is valued at just over £10000. He said it is worth more than that and if I wanted another car I could have he asked what car I wanted I said a Mini Copper SD Coupe and he said they do not have one. Also I am paying insurance that Mini advised me to take out as well as my own car insurance. I was told it was me that wanted the car sorted out and made perfect- yes as it is a new car and should have come to me in perfect condition I do not think I am asking for the impossible. He said I could have been driving my car all this time and it could have gone back in to have the door panel fitted when it was in but that is different to what Ian the service manager said. Ian told me when I took it in to them on Wednesday 19th March he wanted to have the car in and did not want me to have it back until they had sorted everything out so it would come back to me like a brand new car as it should of been when I first collected it on the 1st March-I did not expect it to take this long though. I told Martin I had had enough, I have been more than patient and done everything they had asked me to, and given them another chance to put it right where others would not have but now did not want the car as this is taking too long. He said they would not take it bad for refund as it is driveable but would consider doing a part exchange. This is not acceptable to me it is a new car and therefore should look like a new car not been covered in swirls, scratches, scuffs, unexplained marks-as if I would ever have another car from them! And they expect me to take a part exchange price from them after only having the car for 16.5 days I said that it was not acceptable and I would need to take advice on it all.

Wednesday 23rd April.
Lizzie rang me to advise that they still do not have a date for the door panel and she was struggling with a place to keep the car she had today put it in the showroom. She asked if I would consider coming out to look at what they had done so far and if happy they would seal the car so I could have it then they would contact me when the door panel was in and seal it and fit it for me, she said Martin was not on site. I explained I was not well so could not drive but would ask if my husband could come out of work and drive me out there, he agreed to do this. We got out there and looked at the car I could see straight away that the swirl marks were still on the roof but were now also over the whole of the car along with some new scratches and scuffs. The part with the snail marks had been replaced and looked ok but by this point I was so upset I did not even look closely inside the car. Lizzie came over and asked if I was happy I told her no and that I could not believe it was worse again and that she had asked me to come and look at it like this at which point she said she did not know what to say she did not think they could get it to how I wanted it, I explained I just want it to look like a new car without scuffs and scratches on it she said they must of happened in the last hour or so it was in the showroom, she said she could not keep it in a bubble and this was marks caused as it was in the environment! At this point I had to walk out as I was so upset and crying. I went back in and Ian the service manager then came up to me and asked if I was ok I said I was lost for words as cannot believe it is now worse. I asked if he could see the big greasy mark inside the car, he could, I said how noticeable it was, he agreed so I asked why that was so visible yet they deemed it ok to ask me to come out and view the car do they not check it? He said he agreed with Lizzie that the scuffs and scratches were not there earlier so must of occurred whilst it was in the showroom. He said something about someone having too much of something on the cloth-not the point. At this point I said to Lizzie have you still got my car I traded in she said she had sold it I said I asked you not too she just looked at the floor. I said the only way I would accept this car now is with money off she asked how much and I said I do not know I will need to go through everything. She said could I email her that afternoon I said she knew I was ill and I would do it when I could, I had waited for them long enough. We will have to take it to a car detailer to put right the mess they had made of it Lizzie then told us her body shop is a step above car detailers! My husband said they would need to pay the cost of putting it right. We left the dealership saying we would get back to them. I spoke to Mini customer service again and explained that we were still having problems with this dealership and getting nowhere she said she would come back to me.


Thursday 24th April.

Mini customer service rang me back said she had spoken to Lizzie but we would need to deal with the dealership. My husband is now taking over this as again the stress is triggering my migraines. He emailed them this afternoon stating what we will accept (copy available) Lizzie emailed back to say she has to speak to Martin who again conveniently as not on site. He then emailed back later to advise we would be collecting the car from them Saturday 26th around lunch time as we need to start getting quotes from car detailers but have received no response to this email.
I previously purchased a Mini Cooper D in 2011 from Wellsway which I had problems with due to the steering pulling to one side it took a few visits to get this sorted out and it had to be collected from me at one point as the tyres wore through to the wire and when car was returned to me the steering wheel had not been aligned properly. On another occasion it was returned to me after them washing it but was covered in muddy smear marks. I spoke to Ian Service manager about steering he asked me to email him the wheel alignment I had paid for over to him to have a look at this was in 2012- I never heard back from him.
I am so disappointed with this whole experience I trusted this garage, but all they have done is caused me stress and upset. I have sent business their way in the past and my friend’s parents in Law Mr & Mrs Price have placed an order for a new countryman a few weeks ago as I recommended Wellsway to him for them. When I was instructing I even asked them if I could put a link to their website on my driving instructors website which I did. I thought as a previous loyal customer I would have been treated better and the way I feel at the moment I do not want the car that I was so looking forward to having and that I would never use Wellsway again or recommend them to anyone.
 
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#3 ·
LOl well basically I had the car 16 days it has been in the dealers for 40 days it has marks inside and out which they are incapable of removing infact it now has more marks on it than it started with and I am of course already paying for the car through finance
 
#4 ·
I think I would be inclined to take it back and ask for my money back, its just not good enough on a brand new car, it should be perfect, but I know a lots of marks get on them from being in storage (my MINI dealer stores the brand new cars on the same car park visitors use) so they are asking for dints in my opinion or when they put them in the showroom and little kiddies with there parents try them out jumping in and out of the things.
I had white marks on my black plastic trim and its because the car cleaner technician uses Autoglym polish which is white and dries white on the plastic where they have caught it, why they cant use a polish that doesnt leave the marks I dont know as they are available.
 
#5 ·
Finally they have agreed to take the car back and give me a refund-result! I will never use that dealer again and treated so poorly by them after being a loyal customer. I have ordered another mini from a different dealer and will be checking it over with a fine toothcomb before it leaves the forecourt
 
#8 ·
I've only just read this post even though it was from ages ago - hope you got everything sorted out. I know a few people who have used Wellsway in Bath and have nothing but bad things to say about them, so I've avoided them for that reason.
I always use Dick Lovett at Cribbs Causeway in Bristol - I know it's a little further away but they are always spot on with everything, big or small. My last trip there was only to ask them to fit my pre-made number plates to my new car. They did it nice and quickly even though they were busy, and even gave my car a nice clean inside and out which I was not expecting considering I only went in there for something so minor. Definitely worth travelling the extra few miles if you want the great service.
 
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