Global Imports MINI

Before I begin, you should know that Global Imports Mini has an "F" rating (the lowest possible rating) with the Better Business Bureau. An "F". I wish I could give this place 0 stars. I bought my Mini here and trusted their advice about service for years. Now, after spending thousands of dollars on service, I have discovered how shoddy, unprofessional and suspect their service actually is. After spending $3k on service in 2017, in November 2017, I brought my car in for an oil change because I was going on a trip. I was told I didn't need an oil change by the service manager. He said the light will come on when I'm due but they will do a complimentary 24 point inspection (which I would think included checking the oil.) A month later, in December, the Check Engine light came on. I brought my car in the next day and waited all morning for a diagnosis. I went to lunch & the service manager called & said I had low oil (!) which caused a solenoid switch to warp. He advised I get I an oil change and replace the solenoid for $500. He said that would buy me time, but I'd eventually need to replace the oil pan seal for $1,100. I told him just to do the oil change and I'll think about trading it because I'm spending too much on service in one year. My Mini only had 70K miles. He said I really needed to do the solenoid too or it could further damage the engine. So I okayed the charge with the understanding this would at least temporarily fix the problem. Thirty minutes later, he called me to say the car was ready. I was surprised that $500 worth of work could be done in 30 min, but I said okay and picked up the car. Before I got out of the parking lot, the Check Engine light came back on, so I turned around, back to Service. After waiting another 2 hours, the Service Mgr. said I now need a $3k timing belt, in addition to the $1,100 oil pan seal. I reminded him that he said the $500 repair I just paid for would buy me time to think about trading. He said he would talk to his manager about refunding at least part of the $500 since the repair didn't fix the problem. The next day, he called to say, no discount. I told him that the $500 repair that was supposed to correct the problem took the technician 30 minutes and I would at least like a refund for part of the $330 labor charge. The answer was no. I traded the car immediately, and because the Check Engine light was on, I lost another $1,500 on the trade in. I wrote to Global Imports twice, once in Dec & again in Jan and copied the national Mini office. The National office was very concerned and responsive. They did everything possible over the past two months to contact Global Imports to solve my complaint, but Global Imports did not even respond to the requests for information from their National office. Last week, the National office rep said she finally heard back from Global Imports, gave me the name of the manager, said he told the Regional Mgr he had tried to contact me and had left me messages and was waiting to hear from me. I told her that no one had ever contacted me from Global Imports, no voice mail, messages, emails or letters. But I agreed to try again to call Mr. James Hall to resolve this conflict. Of course, when I called and left another voice mail he never returned my call. Nor did he respond to an email. I just filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and checked their rating for Global Imports Mini. Global Imports Mini has earned an "F" with the BBB and the BBB site states that Global Imports did not respond to any of their several customer complaints, thus they earn an "F" rating. If you expect professional service and expect a response if you have a problem--Do not use Global Imports Mini. Do not buy your Mini Cooper from Global Imports Mini--their are better, more professional dealers.  If you buy there or have a service problem, they will not respond to the problem, they will stonewall you, hoping you will go away. You will have to take them to court to get a resolution on your complaint. Think about it. "F" rating with BBB. Buyer Beware.