Mini doesn’t want your business! It seems…
by Shane on 27/11/08 at 9:35 pm
18 comments
I have been allocated the task of researching and test-driving vehicles for the branded Yuppiechef vehicle (aka Yuppiemobile) that we are looking at putting on the road next year. Mini was our preferred choice of brand – it’s cheeky, sexy and brands really well (have you seen the Red Bull Mini?).
I set out to organise a test drive. My first stop… www.mini.co.za
Went to the TALK TO MINI page and filled out the form where “A dedicated call centre consultant will contact you within 24 working hours.”
Well, it’s been 168 hours and I’m still waiting.
And… it gets worse.
After the first 24 hours I decided to “speak directly to a consultant on (+27) 0800-666-555.” Phone this number and the friendly Telkom lady will tell you that the number does not exist. Was this just a dummy number that the web designers made up to fill the spot?
So, I gave up on the website, went over to the dark side and blew the dust off the telephone directory. I found an authorised Mini Dealer (BMW Claremont) and gave the sales guy a call to arrange a test drive. He told me they prefer to let you test the car for a 24 hour period. I liked this idea very much and we arranged a date the following week. Here’s the friendly confirmation:
The day before my 24hour test-drive I was phoned to be informed that they couldn’t locate a Cooper S. I ended up being messed around a bit, but to make up for it and to say they were sorry, they arranged to let me have a test-drive for this weekend.
Today they cancelled the weekend test-drive as they still couldn’t find a vehicle for me. What’s worse is they fobbed me off onto another dealership altogether.
The new dealer phoned me to arrange a test-drive… they don’t do the 24hour test-drive thing, and short of signing over a body part, you’re certainly not going to get one for the weekend.
I know I haven’t signed anything yet, but I’m feeling ripped off already. Not a good feeling.
I thought the auto motive industry was in crisis? I spoke to a car salesman a few days ago and he told me they haven’t sold a car in ages.
As far as the website is concerned, it’s a great example of how a website must be integrated into a brand’s overall marketing/sales strategy. Pry it out of the creatives/techie hands and let it sit firmly in the control of the marketing/sales team.
Now some homework for you – gather together your business cards, letterheads, e-mail signatures, brochures and your website. Phone every number, e-mail every address and fill out every form to make sure that the communications all get through to the right destination. If you want to be really thorough, do it under a pseudonym and see if your sales staff get back to you and manage to successfully organise a test-drive / send a sales brochure / return the call. You might be losing money every month without knowing it.
Oh, and if you know someone who works for Mini, send them this link. We haven’t given up yet!
Shane Dryden is the 'Maven' at Ideate. The driving-force of Yuppiechef, Shane loves to write on advertising and innovation. He spots the non-obvious stuff behind the obvious, which seems obvious, but isn’t really that obvious (obviously). View more articles by Shane.
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Guy Kilfoil
Nov 27th, 2008
Hi Shane,
I’m terribly sorry for your frustrations! We’ve just launched the second phase of our new website & thought we’d found all the glitches but it seems we’ve had to learn we didn’t the hard way.
I’ve already put measures in motion to rectify the issues & will do my best to ensure an immediate test drive in a Cooper S as soon as you contact me with an email address or contact number on my listed email address above.
Regards,
Guy Kilfoil
Marketing Manager: MINI
Bad Entrepreneur
Nov 28th, 2008
At a time when car sales are falling through the floor, you would think car dealerships would be bending over backwards to make a sale and get some exposure…
Well done to Guy for taking the time to respond
chris roper
Nov 28th, 2008
Nicely written article, without the bile that a lesser man would have vented (such as this
http://www.news24.com/News24/Columnists/Chris_Roper/0,,2-1630-1649_1947001,00.html)
Hoo boy, we’ve all been there. And why it has to take going public before they sort things out, I’ll never know.
Still, kudos to Marketing manager Guy for actually knowing how to comment on a blog.
naeem
Nov 28th, 2008
see that right there is the problem with bigger companies & agencies.
They jump ahead of themselfs, market the shit out of a product but the other side of the coin – the customer service, processes & nitty gritty stuff is neglected.
That said, Mini in JHB (Northcliff) was superb – ok, given that we bought 3 in one go as part of a marketing thing is besides the point.
oh Btw Shane – Most of SA Automotive industry is old school. G’luck working via email with any of their sales teams. You gotta pick up the phone/fax or go there in person.
Shane
Nov 28th, 2008
The weekend test drive is back on – Auto Atlantic will have a Cooper and Cooper S delivered to my office this afternoon. I’ll be taking the Cooper for the weekend and test driving the S this afternoon.
@Guy thank you for your early morning comment and phone call.
@Chris your story is a very sad story…no wonder the guys in Jozi think Capetonians are backward.
@naeem – I hear you re the email thing, I was wondering why the first sales guys never responded to my email.
chris roper
Nov 28th, 2008
Coincidentally, I’m thinking of buying a Mini. So maybe I’ll test the system as well next week.
Fred
Nov 28th, 2008
Me too actually, although it’s a toss up between a Mini and a new 3 series.
Mini / BMW: I got the weekend open in case you want to drop some vehicles off at my place…
chris roper
Nov 28th, 2008
Fred, Fred…. A BMW? I thought you were cool.
You deserve something better.
Fred
Nov 28th, 2008
Ha, you’re on to me… I’d never buy a Beemer. I’m just keen to see how much we can milk this.
Tell you what BMW, I promise not to say bad things on our blogs if you deliver 3 vehicles, a family-size pizza and a bowing, scraping jnr marketing exec to tell me how much you love me.
chris roper
Nov 28th, 2008
Now i know you don’t mean it. Milk this? Tsk. Unethical! But I know you’re joking.
does Mini want your business? | The thing about common sense...
Nov 28th, 2008
[...] filed in Cars on Nov.28, 2008 Ideate – Small Business in South Africa. [...]
Guy Kilfoil
Nov 28th, 2008
Hi all,
Thanks for the comments and the constructive criticism. We really do try to be at the cutting edge with regard to our website (which has actually won a number of awards)but this our IT infrastructure has let some of our customers and potential customers down and all I can do is apologise profusely.
We’ve tracked and traced the problem on the website and have found that although the customer service email address is working if sent to normally (via Outlook, etc), those same mails are not being pushed through from the website. We WILL have the problem fixed as soon as possible. If, in the interim, anybody needs to reach the MINI team please send an email to
customer-service@mini.co.za.
@Chris and Fred,
If you’re seriously considering MINI drop me line at our head office on 012 522 3000 and I’ll be happy to assist you. In terms of milking it for what its worth, the least I can guarantee is unadulterated driving excitement.
@Shane, thanks for your understanding and patience. I hope you enjoy your weekend with MINI and hope we can make you part of the MINI family.
PS: MINI also has another call centre number: 0800 MY MINI (69 6464)
naeem
Nov 28th, 2008
btw, we selling our Mini Cooper S (old shape)
can put you in touch with my bro if you interested.
David Donde
Nov 28th, 2008
I will say one thing for Mini and Guy in particular. No excuse making. Well done. Direct, engaging and to the point. I wish all manufacturers took ownership of mistakes and reacted that quickly
Fred
Nov 29th, 2008
@Guy – good recovery mate. Nicely done!
chris roper
Dec 1st, 2008
Very well handled by MINI, I must say. Amazing how this kind of thing works – suddenly, I’m sending the guys from Wheels24 to look at this notice board, to show them how good MINI service is – when in reality, this post is supposed to be about bad service!
Marketing – it’s an artform
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