Sorry for the long post. Just wanted to warn everyone out there
NOT TO GO TO LONG BEACH MINI!!!
I bought a Cooper S from long beach mini last year and went back on October 18, 2004 for the following:
1) oil service
2) front license plate bracket installation
3) inspection of the passenger window because it sometimes didn’t roll down when using the convenience feature on the remote control (also when that happened, the power window switch inside the car wouldn’t work either – sometimes for days)
4) alarm installation
Here's my experience at the service department:
1. I had been told and had expected for the job to take half a day at the most. Instead I had to wait 2 weeks because of problems with the alarm. They had me come in twice to pick up the car and the alarm malfunctioned both times when I asked for a demo.
2. I was told that my one year-old car which I always keep garaged had corroded wires and that was why the alarm wasn't working. (The "service advisor" didn't know what she was talking about. It clearly said on the job summary that the corroded connection was at the alarm siren.)
3. The technician who worked on my car the day I brought it in was “too swamped” to even look at my car the following day and to try to finish the job.
4. I had to call the service advisor to find out that my car was ready to be picked up. I always got the "it's been ready response." If it's been ready, why didn't thay call me?
5. The service advisor (STEPHANIE HURSTROM), assistant service manager (only introduced himself as "GK"), and owner/general manager (RYAN AUTRY) were very poor at returning calls. The latter two never did.
6. After putting $600 into an alarm system, no one was there to demonstrate its features to me until I asked for one. The service advisor herself was unsure of and unfamiliar with the features. First she insisted that all that information was in my owner's manual. Only when I actually showed her that it wasn't there did she believe me. She sent me home with a BMW accessories catalog, saying that they were the same. The first time that they had me pick up the car, she said that it should beep whenever the car was locked by remote and that it didn't have an interior motion sensor. The second time that they had me pick up the car, she said that it wasn't supposed to beep and that it did have the motion sensor. When she first saw the blinking red light at the tip of the wiper switch, she asked if I had it installed somewhere else. I had to educate her that it was part of the alarm system.
7. I left the dealership with no assurance that the alarm was working as it should. (e.g. should it beep or not?)
8. The problem with the passenger window still persists and wasn’t addressed since they were too preoccupied with the alarm.
9. The technicians showed lack of respect for personal property when they arbitrarily drilled the holes to install the front license plate bracket. They didn't follow the pre-marked indentations where the holes were supposed to go. The right side was drilled 1 inch below the mark so that the bracket was installed with a cant. I had to drill another hole in the right spot and reinstall the bracket when I got home.
10. My repeated requests for removing the alarm (since they couldn't get it to work) and a refund were disregarded.
11. To top everything off, on the last day as I was talking to STEPHANIE, she answered a call and reassured the caller that because of all the inconveniences that had transpired, she would give him a discount on the cost of the repair on his vehicle. I just wonder how much more inconveniences I should have needed to endure to be offered a discount as that caller was.
Sorry for the long post. Just wanted to warn everyone out there
NOT TO GO TO LONG BEACH MINI!!!
NOT TO GO TO LONG BEACH MINI!!!
I bought a Cooper S from long beach mini last year and went back on October 18, 2004 for the following:
1) oil service
2) front license plate bracket installation
3) inspection of the passenger window because it sometimes didn’t roll down when using the convenience feature on the remote control (also when that happened, the power window switch inside the car wouldn’t work either – sometimes for days)
4) alarm installation
Here's my experience at the service department:
1. I had been told and had expected for the job to take half a day at the most. Instead I had to wait 2 weeks because of problems with the alarm. They had me come in twice to pick up the car and the alarm malfunctioned both times when I asked for a demo.
2. I was told that my one year-old car which I always keep garaged had corroded wires and that was why the alarm wasn't working. (The "service advisor" didn't know what she was talking about. It clearly said on the job summary that the corroded connection was at the alarm siren.)
3. The technician who worked on my car the day I brought it in was “too swamped” to even look at my car the following day and to try to finish the job.
4. I had to call the service advisor to find out that my car was ready to be picked up. I always got the "it's been ready response." If it's been ready, why didn't thay call me?
5. The service advisor (STEPHANIE HURSTROM), assistant service manager (only introduced himself as "GK"), and owner/general manager (RYAN AUTRY) were very poor at returning calls. The latter two never did.
6. After putting $600 into an alarm system, no one was there to demonstrate its features to me until I asked for one. The service advisor herself was unsure of and unfamiliar with the features. First she insisted that all that information was in my owner's manual. Only when I actually showed her that it wasn't there did she believe me. She sent me home with a BMW accessories catalog, saying that they were the same. The first time that they had me pick up the car, she said that it should beep whenever the car was locked by remote and that it didn't have an interior motion sensor. The second time that they had me pick up the car, she said that it wasn't supposed to beep and that it did have the motion sensor. When she first saw the blinking red light at the tip of the wiper switch, she asked if I had it installed somewhere else. I had to educate her that it was part of the alarm system.
7. I left the dealership with no assurance that the alarm was working as it should. (e.g. should it beep or not?)
8. The problem with the passenger window still persists and wasn’t addressed since they were too preoccupied with the alarm.
9. The technicians showed lack of respect for personal property when they arbitrarily drilled the holes to install the front license plate bracket. They didn't follow the pre-marked indentations where the holes were supposed to go. The right side was drilled 1 inch below the mark so that the bracket was installed with a cant. I had to drill another hole in the right spot and reinstall the bracket when I got home.
10. My repeated requests for removing the alarm (since they couldn't get it to work) and a refund were disregarded.
11. To top everything off, on the last day as I was talking to STEPHANIE, she answered a call and reassured the caller that because of all the inconveniences that had transpired, she would give him a discount on the cost of the repair on his vehicle. I just wonder how much more inconveniences I should have needed to endure to be offered a discount as that caller was.
Sorry for the long post. Just wanted to warn everyone out there
NOT TO GO TO LONG BEACH MINI!!!