Tiny Ray of Light

Right. So Mr. Q, by my estimation, should have arrived at the dealer about 5pm. You would think someone from the dealer, oh say the service advisor I’ve been working with for over a month, would have called to let me know the car did indeed arrive. But no.

Mr. Always-Here-to-Help-You-MINI-Service-Advisor at Global Imports never called and claims he didn’t get a voice mail from me. “I have 85 voice mails.” Uh huh. I’m willing to put money down that there’s a voice mail from me dated November 20th still waiting to be heard. This guy never returns calls. Today he has said he’s washed his hands of it all. Fine you do that, after you let me know how I am supposed to get back to Atlanta to pick up the car. I do believe in his admission of “not having thought things through” has been a bit of a major screw up. He did not even consider the idea of using Hertz simply because they are not authorized to do business with them. Well mister fact is, I made you an offer to save your ass $140 in charges, and not to mention man hours in addition. I tried to take you outside the box and you refused to go. Fine, I can play hardball with the big boys.

I asked if he would let me know what the service technician will be doing to the car to fix it, before the work starts. I didn’t think this was an outlandish request since when you wait at the dealership they come out and tell you what’s wrong, how much it will cost, explain things, and ask if you want them to move forward with it. Oh Thomas tells me “we have a ton of cars, he won’t let me know that.” WTF?! So I ask if I can speak directly to the technician. I get a number from him, and call it.

Lo n Behold someone who speaks in logical terms. I briefly explained who I was, (“Oh sure, I’ve been coordinating the communication and progress on your MINI”), and what I wanted. What I got was more information in a 15-minute conversation than I have gotten in a month of phone calls between the service advisors, the dealership, ask MINI and BMW North America. I’m told they can’t get the problem to happen. But they know rough idle can be an issue. He explains to me why, what the challenges are, that my problem is definitely software related, what the car is trying to do, and what he wants to do. Without my asking, this motoring fix-it guru says to me, I’m trying to get New Jersey to send me the original software that was on your car. I want to get the OK to put it on and make the recall work never have happened to it. (oh thank you Jesus! I only asked for this very thing 4 weeks ago). I tell him this is lovely news, that every one kept telling me they can’t do that, but having been a software developer I know it can be done, although sometimes there are risks involved. Know what? Know what? This motoring fix-it guru tells me “Nah, there’s no risks involved, I just need to get a copy of your software.” I can’t help but think, “there has got to be a catch here.”

And that is where I shall leave it for today. One brief phone call and I have a bit more confidence that the work I want to have done, and that needs to be done, will actually get done. A ray of light, however tiny, seems to have appeared at the end of this long tunnel.

Just as Thomas has “washed his hands” of this issue, I too have washed my hands of dealing with him. After of course, I do the dealer survey and speak to the next two levels of management. After this, I ‘m not sure I’ll be returning to this dealer … if I do, I will definitely be using a different service advisor. More to follow ...

Back to the Dealer

roadtrip: Knoxville to Atlanta
odometer reading: 14,000 n holding

After spending way too much time in airports these past two days, it came time to call MINI roadside assistance and have Mr. Q transported back to the dealer. The original agreement was that I would call the service advisor after the car was picked up, give him the name of the nearest Enterprise car rental, and he would arrange for a rental. I would then pick my car up in Atlanta on the 31st.

The tow truck came, and Mr Q left strapped down to the flat bed. I called the service advisor and got nothing but attitude. Apparently he remembered nothing ouf our conversations so I had to run through the whole thing again until the lightbulbs came on. Rental had been arranged and off I went to get the substitute car. I tell the gal it's a one way rental since I'll need to drive to Atlanta to pick up my car at the dealer. This becomes a huge problem. Enterprise doesn't do one way rentals. The service advisors asks to speak to me, and he is quite pissed off. Oh well, it's his fault. How did he expect me to get my car if it's in their shop? He says MINI will not pick up the $200 cost for doing this. He then tries to make it my problem. I have to have someone drive down with me to return the car. I have to have someone from the dealer follow me home. How long will I be in town, what will I be doing. Well, you know what? That's none of his damn business, and no I am not going to put upon someone to drive down to Atlanta with me on a holiday weekend. The service advisor admitted he just didn't think things through. Hmmm, ya think?

I took the rental while he is figuring out exactly how I will get the car back. I did call and leave a message for him, I offered to use my corporate account for rate at Hertz , told him the price for a one day rental, and said I would not have a problkem dropping it at Hartsfield since I can get to where I am staying via Marta. I did also offer to split the cost, but added I do not feel I should. I figure I have to be somewhat nice about it sine I gave him in no uncertain terms what I expect to be done with my car should they continue to claim there is nothing wrong with it.

I am quite certain MINI/BMW will say nothing is wrong with the car. The problem does not show up in diagnostics, and is sporadic. However, I did place a BMW service bulletin on my front seat that outlines the same problem in BMW's and the solution, with a note saying perhaps this might be something to investigate. I was clear if I get that car back and it's not running right, they will downgrade the computer system. (an upgrade started this whole mess). The service advisor is telling me they can't do that, even the factory couldn't do that. As a former software developer I know no one likes to downgrade, I know the risks involved, but I also know it is possible. Can't isn't an option here. I also talked with BMW North America and got confirmation from them that the computer can be downgraded, they just don't like to do it. There's a lot of things I don't like to do. Tough tacks. This car needs to be running right again.