Mini Of Reno

I initially wrote a 5 star review because I was pleased with the service when I took my car in for some regular scheduled maintenance and an alignment check. The service manager was very friendly and I felt I was getting good value for money. However, they told me that there were three engine oil leaks, one of which I should repair right away and two of which could wait. I initially thought this was an honest recommendation, so I scheduled that for the next week.
Not two days after this service, my engine malfunction light came on. I got conflicting advice so I ended up bringing it in, but they refused to look at it. This was a friday morning. They said they wouldn’t be able to look at it until «sometime next week» because they were busy. I told them I didn’t feel safe driving it because it had done a sputtering thing, and I have a forty minute commute that I didn’t want to be stranded in the middle of the desert. They still said nothing could be done until a Tuesday appointment at the earliest and i should just «try to drive as little as possible». WTF. I said I was really frustrated by all the repairs and costs of maintenance for this car and that now I didn’t even feel safe to drive it – they responded by asking if I wanted to talk to the sales people about buying a new car. ARE YOU SERIOUS?
I ended up going to Autobahn specialists first thing monday morning where they not only looked at my car right away (for less than half the cost of what the Mini dealer would have charged) and got it back to me within 1 hour, but they diagnosed the oil leak as something completely different, MUCH easier to fix (only replacing one part instead of 3), and did a complementary engine check 1 week later to make sure there were no further leaks. I am never taking my car to the Mini Dealer ever again and unless your car is under warranty, I would recommend going to Autobahn instead for cheaper, better, more trustworthy service.

I’m sure sales is excellent, but the service department is terrible. I’m also sure some people are satisfied, but wow this experience was the worst I’ve ever had.
So here is the story about an experience I had at at the Bill Pearce, Mini of Reno. By far, the worst experience of my life and I hope no one else has to go through this.
First, I call in ahead of time at 7:30am on Friday, Sept 05, 2014, to ensure that I can have my car towed there because the battery was dead and I needed a replacement. The symptoms were that the car lights were on but when I would try to start there car, there was just a clicking sound.
It arrived at the dealership around 8:45am that same morning. Kris Collins, the team service manager, had told me he would be with me in just a minute after telling me that it was the battery and that the key was now locked in the ignition and then wanted me to sign paperwork saying that it would cost me $ 125 dollars for an oral estimate. I had more questions before signing that paper, and stood at the counter waiting while he assisted other customers. I waited a little while knowing my appointment was at 12:15pm and that there were other customers ahead of me. But then I ended up waiting for 3 hours for him to answer a few questions because I insisted. I only got his attention when I said I would sign the papers because it was taking to long for him to attend to me. There is only one man working and he explained that he was backed up and still would not be able to get to my car until the afternoon. So I accepted with the 125 oral estimate and 321 dollar battery replacement fee and thought they would have loaner vehicles, like in my other experiences with mini dealerships, but instead they had a shuttle.
So I waited, and waited. I called around 4:00 (late afternoon) because I hadn’t received any updates. I kept calling, Kris Collins was rarely available and nobody could help me. I did not get an answer until 4:17pm and he had told me that they did not replace the battery yet because they are backed up, but they did notice something else that broke and may have gone into the motor (unsure) so that they will have to charge me 426 $ to diagnose it. I have a 3^rd party warranty and asked if they can call the warranty to see if it would be covered but they said they can’t because they do not know what’s wrong with it beside a chain being broken. So again, I asked if they can call to see if that part can be covered but they had insisted that they can’t. Kris Collins also said that no work will be done until Monday because they are so backed up. I approved for work and charges to be done Monday.
About an hour later, I had called back a few times before I got an actual response, retracting my approval. Kris Collins had explained that they have already started some work immediately after I called, even though they had from 9am to 5pm to work. He said that it will cost $ 207 dollars for the labor they had already done, without even switching out my battery which was why I was there in the first place. We went back and forth on the phone about the issue and I explained to him my concern about the issue. He kept trying to explain, but nothing really made sense. I’m sure it all makes sense to him, but in my experience, I have never been charged like this, or have ever waited so long for service to be done. I have had 3 mini coopers before and NONE of this has ever happened. After the back and forth conversation, he said he will continue to replace the battery on Monday with my approval and not continue to do any work. This would cost me 516 $. I said okay, continue replacing the battery on Monday without any work.
I ended up without a car for the weekend, including Friday. I also missed a total day of work.
I show up Monday morning, and they still haven’t replaced the battery. This whole ordeal has forced me to take the car somewhere else. I still had to pay $ 237.11 for some sort of labor and another towing fee to move my car.
I will never ever go to that mini dealership again, or any bill Pearce dealership.
A bill Pearce dealership was also going to charge me $ 40 dollars per tire to fill it up with Nitrofill (nitrogen). When I bought the car, I bought a Nitrofill membership, which entailed that I can get my tires filled at any authorized nitrofill dealership. One of Bill Pearces franchises were one of them, but charged me. So I called a different place, went there with no charge.
I am considering getting rid of my Mini for a different car because this is the only mini dealership where I am.
Other options are places like autobahn specialities. They are 5 stars, and specialize in Mini. $ 60 dollars for a diagnosis (versus Mini at $ 426 for me) and $ 45 for an oil change for a Mini Cooper (verus $ 115 at Mini) as advertised on their website.
I personally took my car to Infinite Velocity. They are very nice, friendly and helpful. They will do whatever to help you.

I took my 2007 Mini Cooper in because the brake light wouldn’t go out. It ended up needing something to do with the car’s computer. The total bill was over $ 1000 and I was upset because the car only has @ 23,000 miles on it. I spoke with Mark who said he’d speak with the service manager to see if they could do anything. The next day, Jim Leathers, the service manager called me personally and said they wanted to work with me on it. The whole job only ended up costing me $ 410. I was so grateful to them for helping me. They are totally there for the customer and were absolutely wonderful! I want everyone to know that these guys are there for you and do a wonderful job. I can’t recommend them enough and will buy my next Mini from them! Once you go Mini, you never go back!