Nick Alexander Imports

I have an 02 mini cooper that was in perfect condition; everything was fine except for the airbag light on the dash that would not turn off. I brought it to Alexander mini dealership on a Saturday since it was the one closest to me. Ivan **, the service supervisor, suggested a free service inspection. I agreed and immediately said that it was Illegal for any repair shop to have a customer drive off when the airbag light is on, so they gave me a loaner. On Monday, they notified me of a thermostat leak and a faulty airbag wiring and that my extended warranty from Carmax would only cover a part of the repair which amounted to $441. Four days later, I end up paying $278.42; I did not mind paying that amount thinking "it must be good since it's your own car's certified dealership."

When I started the car and turned on the AC, I noticed that it was not getting cooler. Worse, it was churning out hot air. Disappointed and disgruntled, I immediately called back Alexander Mini Service and spoke with Ivan; he then put me on hold and a few minutes later, told me to come back the next day to have it checked out. And I'm sure you could only guess what that means. I looked at my receipt again and noticed there was a note that stated "Declined additional repairs: Brake fluid, tires alignment, fan switch (fan runs all the time). I'm dumbfounded; that's why I bought the extended warranty, to help out when repairs as such occurs.

I cannot begin to tell you the issues I've had with their integrity. I bought a 2006 MINI Cooper S at the end of 2006 and it was delivered to me in January 2007. The sales person made all sorts of promises that were never carried out - and then he was supposedly fired. He insisted that my car was covered from bumper to bumper, under their 3 yr maintenance/4 yr warranty, even when I questioned tires, paint, etc. Obviously, it was a lie and certainly not something MINI had any intention of honoring.

Then, they wouldn't take my car in for it's first oil change (over 1 year after I bought it) b/c they said that the computer didn't indicate the need yet. I've since found out that this is crap - they need to honor it if it's been 1 year. Then, the next year, they made me wait for weeks to honor their "flat bed pick up/loaner" policy because they said I had to reserve it over a month in advance. Another scam.

So let's skip all the other stuff and cut to the multiple bogus offers they made me regarding an extended maintenance agreement, all of which they negated. The new kid there offered me a 4 year extension for $1,300. I spent a couple of days researching my options, as I have only averaged 7,500 miles/year. When I went in to execute the offer, the kid told me he made a mistake and that it was only 3 years. Naturally, I was disappointed that they would not honor the offer, but I let it go. He assured me that he could get me the $1,300, even though I pointed out that it was stated as 1395 on the internet. I did some more research, and when I called him, he said "oh, that's $1,395, not $1,300." Imagine my annoyance. I went to the sales department and sat down with the manager, giving him my 3 year history of disappointments at this dealership.

This was his solution. He assured me that I could get my car services one last time before Dec. 31, even if the computer didn't register my car as being due. He knew I was concerned with getting my full coverage before it expired, and that I had been mislead and manipulated in the past. So I agreed to the offer, and I wrote down his directions, i.e. call the service department in early December, make the appointment to have my car picked up with a loaner dropped off between Christmas and New Year, and he wrote it on his computer. I even joked about "what if you're no longer here and they don't honor it? " He laughed and assured me he wasn't going anywhere.

In the meantime, I contacted corporate (don't bother, they are completely worthless) and told them about the repeated offers that were made regarding the extended maintenance agreement. Not only did they not figure out a way to get Nick Alexander to honor their offers, but they called me at 8:30 am on Christmas eve to inform me that they weren't going to do anything. Unbelievable. So I decided this was a company I no longer wanted to do business with, and started researching other mechanics and companies.

So cut to my car's last service - remember the "good will" offer the sales manager came up with? I followed all my instructions and they picked up my car yesterday. As promised, they dropped off a loaner. So far, so good. A couple hours later, I get a call from the dealership, from the kid who makes all the dopey false promises and is never held accountable. He says they can't service my car because the computer doesn't register it being ready. Funny, right? That's nothing. He then calls back and tells me that the sales manager needs his memory to be jogged, and that I must call him. When I call him, he admits that he remembers talking to me about it, but that his notes only say that he agreed to honor my service agreement until the day I got the car (which means zero to me and certainly wouldn't have benefited me in the least, let alone compensated for all the crap I'd been through.) Naturally, I threw a fit because he had lead me down the garden path, and this was a royal slap in the face. He had the audacity to tell me that it was an $800 job, which was not my concern. He then said that he would have to call me the next day, mid-afternoon. Oh wait, and here's the good part. He then said "But, we will give you the 1300 service extension!" This is after dealing with corporate for weeks, over the $95 discrepancy, and they emphatically said there was nothing they could do. Now, with 2 days to decide, after I had already thrown in the towel on this option and their way of doing "business," they flippantly say, hey, no problem!

The next day rolled around and I heard from no one. When I called, no one was available to speak to me, so I called corporate (that place that does zip to make the customer feel like they're not being scammed.) As predicted, corporate took it lightly and didn't seem all that concerned with the dealership making verbal agreements that they were continually not upholding - can you say illegal? And for the skeptics out there who will inevitably say "get it in writing!" yes, you are fully correct. But in fairness, some of these agreements were over the phone, and I had no reason not to trust the sales manager (he had been the fix-it guy for 3 years - I was surprisingly disappointed that he turned out to be a putz.) And I just may have something in writing - I have to do a little looking around. That will be especially fun if I find it!

At any rate, I had to call back a couple more times today, just to find out that they were not going to honor their OWN OFFER!!! He tried the good cop/bad cop crap and blamed it on BMW - which is hilarious, seeing that BMW doesn't seem to mind. And now I have this loaner for yet another day. I don't even know when they are going to return it, but I went through all this ridiculous hassle for them to take my car for zero reason.

VERY DISAPPOINTED. They have tarnished MINI's cool little reputation.

UPDATE: I reported them to the better business bureau and they lied in their "response," claiming that they had only made one small error and that they made their policy clear. It's all a bunch of rubbish. They are officially a crooked company. I have never personally experienced such atrocious "customer service. " If I take this into a courtroom, they will lose. Their lack of ethics are embarrassing, and the fact that BMW would associate themselves with this kind of bad customer service is beyond mysterious to me.

I loved my Mini Cooper S, convertible 2006 at first, even though it is really loud and rough to drive, but I got quite nice muscle-tone in my upper arms, from steering this cute, little car. It looks sexy, and gets me a lot of attention. Since I am already married, that doesn't make up for the nightmares I had with this car. This car is always in the shop. Parts were broken and was fixed like the gasket ring, wishbone bracket, fans, power steering fan, faulty Kombi, can break in all can modules, wheel-hub with bearing, which damaged the brake-pads.

In addition, the tires cost $370 each, and blow out or wear out at least once a year. I complained about transmission slipping, and noises since 40,000 miles, but was told every time, that the problem could not be reproduced, and that I was getting cheap gas, that it's normal for Mini Cooper S to have slippery transmission, and to smell burned when driving uphill. Their barely concealed contempt and anxiety every time I brought the car in (which is a 1 hour drive under good conditions), ranged from "you are so cute, I'm happy to see you, but that often?" to "this car was in a heavy accident and is a total mess". I have never even had a speeding ticket in my whole life, and have never been in an accident. So far I had more than 10 repairs, since I bought the car.

The new transmission will cost $9,000 and that does not fix the problem of stalling in the middle of intersections. I have contacted several "lemon law lawyers", who all suggested to sue the dealership, and Mini Cooper USA, since they have knowledge about this problem, specially the transmission, for a long time. They say that I have a good chance of getting a new car. I am waiting currently for results from a request I filed with NHTSA-ODI, about previous recalls and complaints.

All in all, the damages incurred amounted to $6,060 in repairs, $2,400 in tires, $900 in rental car fees, $9,000 in anticipated cost of transmission replacement, 50 hours spent driving to and from dealership, and getting towed. It also caused constant fear in intersections, and well, a good upper arm muscle workout.

In short, I've taken my car there 3 times and it wasn't fixed properly. The first time, I had brake and warning light on. They topped it with brake fluid. It came on again, but htis time, my clutch wouldn't go into gear. Took it in and they said it was my brakes, slave cylinder, flushes, etc. and it would cost $4,000. I couldn't pay for that asked them to do what they could. I paid $1,200 for rear brakes and a slave cylinder which costs around $450.

When I picked it up, it didn't feel right. I took it back AGAIN and they then told me I needed a new clutch for ANOTHER $2,400-$3,400. I couldn't afford that and finally found a MINI mechanic. They told me that day (Friday 12/11) that the slave cylinder NA replaced was leaking all over and I DIDN'T need a clutch. I was in Ventura in a rental car for the night and called Kevin at NA. He told me to bring it in or another dealer could work on it, but their policy wasn't to reimburse. I asked him about brining it in the next day (Saturday). He said they were booked.

Sunday they are closed. I explained my car is on the brink because of something THEY didn't fix right and I didn't trust them at this point. He said he would have a supervisor call me back. No one did. I left a message with Ricky on Saturday morning. Ricky is the person I was dealing with the entire time. Have not heard back from anyone. I have the invoices, the actual slave cylinder they "fixed," and could provide a declaration from the mechanic that actually fixed it and told me I didn't need a clutch and 1/3 of the things they told me I did. I have filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau.

I went in to Nick Alexander to make a trade in on leased car I had and the saleman told me that he could work a deal with me to get rid of my old leased and put me in a new car no problem. So I trusted him and leased a new car form their dealer not knowing that his whole intetion was to confuse me to make a sale and make a commission disregarding my needs and best interest. Now I find myself with a 6,000 debt on my previous lease, when the dealer was supposed to work a deal with me and buy the car off and take it as a treade in. However they didn't do that they just acted as an agent to return my car to the lender.

Anybody in the right state of mind wouldn't use a second party to return a veichle if that was what I wanted to do,obviously I wanted to get rid of it as a trade in so I didn't have to deal with any excess charges and fees that apply to any end of term leases. I contacted the dealership to see if they could do anything further to assist me and at this point they told me nothing can be done anymore.

So my point to this claim is so that whoever is thinking about buying a car form Nick Alexander really make sure that they type the contract with the same deal you spoked about, dont be the next person that they take advantage of. Specailly being a first time buyer and a woman in my case, us girls we are the perfect target to get easily talked into by what the salespeople say and their pushiness. My Experience with this dealership was a total nightmare.

February of 2007 i paid in full (up front) for a two year lease. Right away the car started having saftey issues. (passenger restraint malfunction-saftey belts, transmalfunction-saftey issue, any many other problems). I have taken my car back to BMW over 20 times to fix various problems and they have been unable to fix the malfunctions. Recently BMw Agreed to buy back my car from me and give me back $35,000 out of the $44,000 i paid up front for the car.

When i took the car in for the inspection they told me that i had to repair the car and bring it back to the condition that most cars are in after 1 year of driving (I had lowered the car and put custom wheels on it). Since the car had scraped its undercarriage a few times they are trying to make me replace every single part that has any type of scratch on in underneath the car. (although some underbodying is possible and normal with all cars). I then agreed to fix the car (even though i believe they are taking advantage of the fact that i didnt use an attorney and therefore are trying to give me as little back as possible) as i do understant that me changing some things did cause problems. BMW then told me the repairs would be $36,000!

The next day they offered to take my car back without the repairs and said that they would not give me any money back! I took the car to my mechanic about a week and a half ago and told him to fix everything (he was only charging me $26,000 which would allow me to recoup some of my loss). 5 days or so later i got an email from NANCY MACDONALD from BMW NORTH AMERICA saying that i could ony fix it at NICK ALEXANDER BMW (this is where i leased the car). At this time the mechanic had already started fixing the automobile.

I continue to get threatening emails telling me that i need to have the car back to them by the seventh or they will not accept the car back ..this would leave me stuck with the repair bill of the car without receiveing my cash back settlement from BMW for the lemon they sold me. They are continually harassing me and making threats after they leased me a 130k lemon which is completely undrivable due to the nature of its saftey malfunctions.

Also, the day they did the inspection. Nick Alexander BMW (Nicolas Alexander--Service Manager and Team) refused to service my car even though my service due light was on and he was the dealer that I leased the car from. They are trying to get away with murder and I need help. Please call me as soon as possible to help me resolve this issue. I have already lost huge business accounts because of the 40 plus I had to deal with taking my car to and from BMW.