Is my MOC is a heap of junk?

5646 Views 19 Replies 12 Participants Last post by GBMINI, Oct 17, 2004

convertible

Discussion Starter · Sep 24, 2004

I think so.......

I have a Mini One Convertible which has be nothing other than trouble since I bought it. The problems started with the roof failing during the handover which delayed the car's delivery by a few days until it was supposedly "fixed" by Blue Bell at Crewe. Since then the roof has continued to be a problem failing at seemingly at random. The last time it was in the dealers to be seen to it had "historical faults" in the memory, but no current fault. Lately it was in for rectification to a paint defect and when I went to pick the car up it the roof again failed, this time becoming skewered as I attempted to lower it. The initail advice from the dealers is that it needs a complete new roof.

Other problems are that the paintwork was defective and needed rectification, the alarm goes off whenever it rains, and the steering required attention due to the car pulling to the left. The dealership have fixed the paintwork, but the roof and alarm problems remain. I have photographs of how it looks at present which I will post here when I find out how to do so, but if anyone would like to see them I will send them to you by email. Please send me an email to [email protected] and I will send them by return. Hopefully I will get some with Blue Bell BMW in the background on Monday. If anyone is in the Crewe area on Monday I will be at the dealership at 11am.

I have had enough of this car. I think that it is a lemon. I waited 6 months to take delivery and it is the worst car that I have ever had. The dealership is as yet unwilling to accept my request for a refund for the car, but I will be logging all events to build a case in the near future. Hopefully a satisfactory agreement can be reached before I have to go to court.

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Shorty

· #2 · Sep 24, 2004

convertible said:
I think so.......

I have a Mini One Convertible which has be nothing other than trouble since I bought it. The problems started with the roof failing during the handover which delayed the car's delivery by a few days until it was supposedly "fixed" by Blue Bell at Crewe. Since then the roof has continued to be a problem failing at seemingly at random. The last time it was in the dealers to be seen to it had "historical faults" in the memory, but no current fault. Lately it was in for rectification to a paint defect and when I went to pick the car up it the roof again failed, this time becoming skewered as I attempted to lower it. The initail advice from the dealers is that it needs a complete new roof.

Other problems are that the paintwork was defective and needed rectification, the alarm goes off whenever it rains, and the steering required attention due to the car pulling to the left. The dealership have fixed the paintwork, but the roof and alarm problems remain. I have photographs of how it looks at present which I will post here when I find out how to do so, but if anyone would like to see them I will send them to you by email. Please send me an email to [email protected] and I will send them by return. Hopefully I will get some with Blue Bell BMW in the background on Monday. If anyone is in the Crewe area on Monday I will be at the dealership at 11am.

I have had enough of this car. I think that it is a lemon. I waited 6 months to take delivery and it is the worst car that I have ever had. The dealership is as yet unwilling to accept my request for a refund for the car, but I will be logging all events to build a case in the near future. Hopefully a satisfactory agreement can be reached before I have to go to court.

Sorry to hear about your problems

I'd definitely try to reject the car if i were you

convertible

Discussion Starter · #3 · Sep 24, 2004

First picture

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Tonyt3

· #4 · Sep 24, 2004

Quite handy as a skip.

REJECT REJECT REJECT.....

Sorry. Made the office laugh out loud... thanks for cheering us all up on a Friday. Good luck getting it sorted.

Rooster

· #5 · Sep 24, 2004

Roof, definitely needs fixing/replacing. It will get worse if its not fixed.
Sorry to have to tell you this, you will have problems selling the car in the future.

Tonyt3

· #6 · Sep 24, 2004

Rooster said:
Roof, definately needs fixing/replacing. It will get worse if its not fixed.
SOrry to have to tell you this, you will have problems selling the car in the future.

nah, this is rubbish in my view. The car is NOT fit for purpose. Reject it. Talk to Mini directly, tell them (nicely) that if they don't replace it, think about the publicity.... make a nice photo for the tabloids.....

deco

· #7 · Sep 25, 2004 (Edited)

//

i thought you were exaggerating, until i saw
the pic. ack!

i doubt that even "sanford & son" (a '70's
sitcom about 2 junk dealers) would want
that car.

you have my sincerest condolences!

kthxbye.

b.

//

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convertible

Discussion Starter · #8 · Sep 25, 2004

2

more pics

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miniboyblue

· #9 · Sep 25, 2004

If this has been a problem since you got the car then as a Convertable "it is not fit for the purpose for which it was sold" therefore you are within your rights to request a replacement or a refund. Like others my advise would be that if you do not get any satisfaction with your dealer, then make sure that you tell all of us, as i am sure that we would think twice about parting with thousands of our hard earned pounds to a dealer who is not prepared to sort these sort of issues out.
Then if you do not get what you want go to Mini directly.

I have had my MCSC for two months now and not had 1 thing go wrong with it, and can say that it is one of the best cars that I have ever owned, and beleive me I have owned plenty.

Wish you good luck and hope that Blue Bell do the right thing

convertible

Discussion Starter · #10 · Sep 25, 2004

Is there anybody reading this who can authoratively say what my rights are? The dealer's line is that they have not had adequate opportunity to rectify the faults. They have had the car twice with roof problems to date. Is there a minimum number of thime that they have to have the car back before you can demand a refund?

My MINI me and me

· #11 · Sep 25, 2004

Reject Reject Reject

The car is not suitable for the purpose for which it was bought. Talk to BMW/MINI directly. Ask the sales manager for the name of the person at MINI UK that you should report them to and set up a meeting with the three of you - that usually focuses them.

I eventually spoke to MINI Customer Service about mine two years ago after suffering repeated problems and damage (both on delivery and from the supplying dealer subsequently) and got a reasonable compensation payment. A friend whose MCS kept losing the entire contents of it's it's coolant system got a replacement car on the grounds of not being confident of being able to use the car at any time. A convertible that has an unreliable roof mechanism is effectivley a roll top bath tub. Let them replace it and they can then fix their car and sell it to someone else, it's not your problem its theirs.You have paid a premum price for a premium product and should expect exactly that.

GBMINI

· #12 · Sep 25, 2004

I took the liberty of copying one of your pics and adding a short write-up to my weblog; this is a sorry tale and the dealership should be treating you with much more concern and respect than they appear to be doing.

In the first post you wrote "The initail advice from the dealers is that it needs a complete new roof" - did they install a new roof? If not, why not?

My experience of English law is 8 years out of date by now, but the "Sale Of Goods" act (presumably still in force) says that this car must do what it was intended to do - clearly when the roof fails like that, it is not doing what it should be doing.

Escalate your problem. Get in contact with the management/owners of the dealership. Get in contact with MINI directly (here we have "MINI USA" which provides some level of customer support - do you have a similar dealership-independant hotline in UK?)

Also, decide if you want this car repaired, replaced or refunded.

convertible

Discussion Starter · #13 · Sep 25, 2004

Video of roof action available

I have a short (15 second) clip of my roof in operation. If anyone would like a copy of this, please email me at [email protected] and I will send you a copy. I would be pleased to put it on this site if anyone knows how to do so. If it wasn't my car, I would laugh at it, but it is, so please don't laugh!

W800GEM

· #14 · Sep 25, 2004

Hi there,

i am so sorry to hear about all your problems. Just thought I'd mention that although my roof did not have the same problem, as reported a while ago on this forum, a cable snapped in my roof, and I had my roof replaced about a week after the problem was identified. The cable snapped on the right hand side of the roof, which was a design fault, and because i had been heavily using the sunroof position only, the cable frayed and snapped. The roof then twisted, very similar to what your car looks like and the chasey( excuse spelling) was twisted as a result. The roof would then not close properly. We called the assistance number inside my handbook, and then the car was collected an hour later and i was given a courtesy car for the time they had my car. The car was fitted with a newly modified roof and returned 9 days later. I also met with the area manager for Mini and he confirmed it had been a modified roof, as i was a bit unsure about this.
Although you are trying to get a refund and reject the car, maybe if you want to keep your car i would demand you get the roof replaced, If they do it for one client then they should do it for you too. I hope this helps you go back to your dealership and say that i have had a new roof after a week and you want this too.
Good Luck.

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marrsbar

· #15 · Sep 25, 2004

Contact your local council. Every council has a Trading Standards Department. If you want this cleared up quickly and you want to show your dealer you mean business this is the way to go. They will contact the dealer themselves and take whatever action necessary on your behalf. They will start with a letter outlining the situation and the allegation that the car is not fit for the purpose it was sold for, which is a clear violation of the Sale of Goods act. The letter will invite the dealership to reconsider their refusal to replace/refund your car before any action is taken. A few letters will be passed back and forward from the dealership to the Trading Standards department, all of which you will probably be copied in on. Then, hopefully you will get what you want.

Basically big companies, and some small companies, rely on the ignorance of joe public of the sale of goods act and exactly what their rights as consumers are. If you were BMW and a customer brought a car back wanting a refund, you would say no and hope that they give up. They've got nothing to loose by saying no and refusing to give a refund until they absolutely have no other option.

This whole 'we've not had a reasonable chance to rectify the fault' is a bit of an iffy one. I may be wrong, but I think the position is: if an item sold is not usable for the purpose it was sold due to a fault or damage that may be fixable, they seller has one opportunity to rectify the problem (ie one trip to the service department to fix the roof). If the first attempt to rectify the problem fails, the seller must provide the buyer with a full refund for the sale price at the buyers request.

I work in retail and have some experience with Trading Standards. I hope I've helped. Any questions feel free to PM me.

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GBMINI

· #16 · Sep 27, 2004

convertible said:
I have a short (15 second) clip of my roof in operation. If anyone would like a copy of this, please email me at [email protected] and I will send you a copy. I would be pleased to put it on this site if anyone knows how to do so. If it wasn't my car, I would laugh at it, but it is, so please don't laugh!

Darren sent me the video and I have put it up online for anyone that wants to see it ...

Lexuslover

· #17 · Sep 27, 2004

Put in writing to the dealer, and copy to BMW Customer Services, and copy to local Trading Standards Office that you are unhappy with the reliability of the roof and that it has been into the dealer to be 'fixed' without success ie: document what has happened. Include a photo of the roof in the 'broken' position - and insist that they replace the car - then give them a deadline by which to reply - 10 days should be enough time.

In view of the roof failure at hand-over and the inconvenience caused to you (plus the worry when lowering the roof, and wondering if it will ever close again when the next rain cloud appears), I would expect you will get a prompt reply from the dealer.

Good luck and let us all know how you get on.

GadgetGav

· #18 · Sep 28, 2004

Wow...
That is not a 'fit for purpose' convertible. If others (at least one) have had faults with the cable on the right of the roof, I'd say the least you need is a replacement cable. If the dealer has tried to fix it by replacing that, I'd say the next step is a complete new roof, after that reject the car. I think there are a few threads on here about how to reject UK cars if it comes to that.
I would think that since it's been happening since delivery, you have a very good case. Hope it works out in the end.

convertible

Discussion Starter · #19 · Oct 16, 2004

Update

I have had no success in persuading the dealer to accept the car back as they have not had "adequate opportunity" to fix the faults. So, they have put a new roof on the car and I picked it up from the dealers a couple of days ago and so far all has been well with the roof's operation. However, the alarm continues to go off at night when it rains. I have now had the car in my posession for about 5 days in the last month, the rest of the time it has spent at the dealers. I have also cancelled my order for a Cooper S Convertible next year.

GBMINI

· #20 · Oct 17, 2004

I have to say - it does sound like progress if you now have a working roof.
I would think that solving the alarm issue is a simple matter of either turning down the sensitivity of the movement sensors inside the car, or replacing them.

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