MINI OF SAN FRANCISCO

On July 31, 2014 I purchased a new 2014 MINI COOPER HARDTOP off the showroom floor from San Francisco Mini and paid $23,637.80 in cash. I received the plates and stickers within a week from California DMV. They also sold me this car with a 1' scratch in the windshield which I am sure their detailing shop should have noticed.

This car was bought off the showroom floor not a used car. San Francisco Mini put my car in Lien and they refuse to remove it, all they could say was it was a human error and were sorry. Like that does me any good. They refuse to talk to me nor would they discuss it with the DMV . They continued to hang up on me. My title remained in limbo. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, I have read reviews on this dealership that has done this sort of thing to others. All I got from them when I told them the day I took it home was well bring it down and we will see if its our fault, but I was told that it was in the glass and a manufacture defect.

I have emailed the person who put me in lien to find out that she is on maternity leave and the woman that is taking her place refused to take my calls and if she did I have logged 6 calls. Out of 40 days still without a title to my car I received 6 communications with this person. In addition, I attempted to contact the General Manager of BMW, Mr. Greening who also refuses to correspond except he did send one email to me, a one line sentence saying you now need to deal with BMW not Mini.

I have never been treated so badly and rudely from a dealership in my life. I can't understand how a company can do this to someone and get away with it. They have been in business since 1960 so I think they could have just went down to DMV in person and fixed this in a week but they didn't. I had to go to DMV and wait for hours to do their job. And it still wasn't done right due to the lien that they placed on it.

Due to my inability to drive the vehicle for health reasons [stick shift vehicle], I have someone that is willing to purchase the Mini from me but required the title which again I did not have until 40 something days later.

Just to let you know, when I realized that I was unable to drive the stick shift, I purchased back my original trade-in [2011 Mazda 2] from San Francisco Mini for $11,800 resulting in a profit to the dealership of $1,800. Total spent with the dealership in excess of $35,000.

Last week I was told if your Mini is under warranty you can take it to ANY Mini dealership. Well I did and that is not the case. I took it to Stevens Creek Mini in Santa Clara Ca. which is closer to me and after 6 men looked at the car they said it was in the glass itself but if I wanted it fixed I would have to go back to San Francisco Mini to have it fixed. I explained its under warranty and you assured me that you could do something about it so I drove all the way down there for nothing. Then I asked if they would like to buy it back. Now this car only has about 120 miles and its all from driving back and fourth from mini dealerships to dealerships. They came back to me with an offer of $16,000 on a Brand New $23,683 car. Might as well just slapped me in my face. I could not believe the nerve of this place.

NOTE: STAY AWAY FROM MINI/BMW DEALERSHIPS. I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND EITHER TO ANYONE LOOKING TO BUY THEIR CARS. They don't honor their warranty as they say so now I am out of pocket to pay to have an OEM windshield put in my car. I have emailed the correspondent of BMW and all I got was and quot;except our apologyand quot; or and quot; were sorryand quot; Are you kidding me? 45 days of h*** and everyday its something else with this car and you expect me to except an apology? I am taking a $7,000 loss and they want me to be okay with this. Just a suggestion think about what your going to get into before making a decision on this.

C.Dallara

It's gotten a lot better in the last year. It used to be quite bad. On my car, there's a light that your car needs service. So when the light comes on, you give them a call and they don't have any availability for 3 weeks but it's much better now. I think they have new manager who can turn things around. Now, when you call them, it's a little more reasonable and they do things without charging you for everything. They are a little more service oriented.

I like that they have online appointment scheduling feature that is really reliable. On the website you can choose your appointment and then when you get there they are ready for you, because they know you are coming. The car will tell you the code and you put it on the form or you put scheduled maintenance. If you need additional service you put it in the notes section and then they definitely know when you get there. They are also very professional, I always feel the place is clean, they are well dressed, are informative, and have a real professional manner about them. They are expensive, but they have done really good work for me. When they tell me they are going to call they always do. They have never left me hanging.