I had the day off of work today to attend MacWorld Expo Boston this morning. (The highlight of which was sitting in the new 3-series in HK’s display for its new iDrive for iPod)
With some hours free in the afternoon, I decided to head up to MINI of Peabody. I needed to pick up new wipers and touch-up paint, and it’s been hard for me to get there during business hours. I also had Bryan in service have a look at a small click that has been annoying me in the last few months that sounded like something loose in the left driveshaft, as detailed in this NAM thread. He was familiar with the the issue and said it was nothing to worry about, most likely some lube needed in the CV joint. I decided not to schedule a service appointment unless it became a problem or to combine it with any others in the future.
I chatted with many MOP employees as I haven’t stopped by in a while, including with Martin on the status of Keith Polischuk (Keith is an MA at MOP and recently injured his spinal cord). We were interrupted by Bryan who said they had a free bay, and they could fix the issue immediately if I had an hour. Why not.
Instead of an hour, in only 15 minutes they had swapped in a whole new driveshaft. I watched every step, they made it look easy, no doubt thanks to having the right pneumatic tools, but I laughed as I imagined myself attempting the same task, and taking a whole weekend to do so. Sure enough the clicking sound is now gone.
This is exactly why you’ll find myself and so many others online recommending MINI of Peabody. You would expect a normal dealer experience to be completely different: As if they would even bother with you walking in without an appointment, they would shrug off such a small issue, or possibly blame it on my aftermarket brakes or tires. If they were to fix the issue, you would suffer a long boring wait while they did the minimum possible to stop the problem.
Yet at MOP, everyone knows your name. Cheerful greetings from all staff; sales to mechanics. Candid conversations. Despite their constant lack of staffing, they are more than happy to look at your problem immediately–and truly care about the issue. And most importantly, a service department that goes above and beyond to completely eliminate the problem by replacing the whole component instead of just repair it. Without a second thought. I was even able to watch them work on my car, while another tech literally scrubbed the floor of another bay–the secret to why it’s always as clean as a kitchen! Not to mention a manager such as Martin who will chat with you for 15 minutes on any topic, including their upcoming MINI event plans and fundraiser ideas for Kieth.
Afterwards I headed home and gave the MINI a wash, and touched up those paint chips and scratches.