Mini Of Montgomery County

Update -- I spoke with the Service Manager. He was very polite but his response basically amounted to, well, she signed for it.

He emailed me the invoice to show she signed for the work. Here is my reply: Mr. ____ Thank you for sending this. My wife just returned from work and I have asked her about it.

She says that she made it clear to the woman in your shop that she only wanted to have done what was necessary for the car to run without immediately breaking down. She said the alert on her screen said she had to take it to a mini-deaership immediately or there would be severe engine damage. She said she told the woman she spoke with that was why she was there and that she only wanted to do what was necessary to keep the car from the catastrophic fate described on the warning. She says the woman who scanned her key told her that these things “needed to be done.” My wife said she reiterated that she only could afford what was absolutely necessary to keep the car running and that the woman again told her that the car indicated those things needed to be done.

The woman never told her or in any way indicated that this was scheduled maintenance and may have nothing to do with the oil pressure light and the warning. My wife was then presented with a paper with the work she was told needed to be done and she signed it. My wife says she was given the clear impression that the work she agreed to was what she had asked for — solely what was necessary to prevent the car from breaking down on her way to her next appointments. It sure sounds to me like my wife was deceived — or at least things were worded in a way that allowed your service person to take advantage of her ignorance of auto mechanics.

She says she made it extremely clear that she only wanted you to do whatever work was needed to prevent catastrophic failure — both in the online appointment request and verbally — and that she was told that she needed to do these things. And we both know that flushing the brake system and changing the spark plugs had nothing whatsoever to do with the warning she had been getting. As such, we do not feel she should pay for anything but the oil change.

(And even paying for the oil change to me is generous on our part, as she had just had her oil changed in May and it seems that all that actually needed to be done was topping off the oil.) We hope you will honor this request so that we don’t have to take this further. Thank you for your prompt cooperation with this matter.