Ferman MINI of Tampa Bay

I had a great experience with Ryan George. I found my Mini online and worked out everything with him. He was knowledgeable, friendly and professional. He spent a lot of time showing me all about my new Mini.

Fantastic experience! Great salesman (Ryan George) — knowledgeable, smart, thorough. I’ve never had as in-​depth an explanation of vehicle controls. Great experience — even in the dreaded Finance office! Dan Garcia made that experience quick and easy. Looking forward to many more years dealing with these fine folks.

AVOID. I had to have my car towed here for engine service on a Thursday. After no confirmation/​call/​check in about my car by Saturday late afternoon, I decided to call. I was never given a loaner vehicle and reached out to Aaron in the service department. He assured me he would try and get a loaner out to be on that Saturday and would call me back. Well, that never happened. I called Sunday to follow up and was assured again of the same thing, «let me call you back». Then again, NO call back. Clearly, people do not understand what it is like to be STRANDED, when Mini is obligated to give a loaner vehicle for leased cars. So, here I am on this Monday. I call first thing in the morning and leave a message. Aaron calls me back hours later, apologizes, and tell me he will have my car delivered to me and «will call me back». Well, its Monday late afternoon (6 hours have gone by) and still no call back. I highly doubt my car was delivered, but how would I know? I called multiple times today and got no response. The receptionist assured me that they are extremely busy, but is NORMAL service too much to ask? It is now my fourth day with no car, and the fact that I have to take an Über and PAY because of the lack of efficiency of this dealerships service department is beyond upsetting.
Drive the extra distance for Wesley Chapel. They always give loaner cars and are OVER-​communicative. This is beyond bad service. This is careless service.

Buying a car has never been easier. I found my car on Ferman MINI’s website and completed an online form. The sales team was very responsive and scheduled an appointment with me promptly. Jack Rowland was my sales representative and he was pleasant and knowledgeable. I negotiated a great price and although I came with a preapproval for finance, their finance team got me an even better rate with BMW finance. Easy process and I left with the car that I wanted for a great price.

After a few more visits to the dealer, it is clear that the service department here is TOP NOTCH. The dedicated people have gone to great lengths to keep my MINI going and have found ways to keep me from crying from high costs. Rather, I have left with extreme gratitude and relief a number of times. One time, Aaron F. even removed the massive amount of recycling (cardboard, etc.) that I had in my back seat when I dropped off my car. (I completely forgot that anyone taller would not be able to get in the driver’s seat with the back completely full of stuff!) I ***definitely*** recommend this place over the other in the area.

Only reviewing service since we purchased our Mini elsewhere before we moved here. The lounge is on the nicer side and have some nice amenities. We’ve had pretty good experiences overall with appointment times, wait times, etc. our last appointment we witnessed the car finished but sitting for nearly 45 minutes before our keys were returned. They appeared to be short staffed or something but a little inconvenient.

Avoid them at all cost. They are unresponsive and once they have your information you will get bombarded by telemarketers. Of course they don’t share that info with you up front, but their website has a «about us» section where they spell out that you can not stop them from sharing your info. Good luck trying to unsubscribe from their spam emails!
Do not go there and do not share any of your info with them!

I hate leaving any negative reviews, but I can’t get my latest visit out of my mind. Even my mom can’t stop mentioning how certain rude comments were said while we were talking to Jenny, our sale rep that was helping us.
We visited this beautiful dealership a few times looking, browsing and willing to find a new mini. It’s a car so there’s a lot of thinking to do, but our last sales rep might need some customer service touch ups. I get it that you gotta be pushy and of course there’s a lot of negotiations, but in no way is saying «oh maybe you should just look for a different car and a mini isn’t for you.» Whoa, are you serious.
I tried to ignore this, but I seriously was kind of disturbed that she would even say that. After discussing it with other people they also can’t believe someone would say that. I am very disappointed that such customer service exist at such a beautiful place.

If you are not local I would definitely recommend that you do not purchase there. I did most of the negotiation through email and phone and was given a reasonable quote as well as a stock # to look at the vehicle. I drove from Orlando there after work thinking this would be a straight forward transaction as I had already been approved through my bank and mini financial services. I was there until almost midnight because there was only one financing specialist. The next day I come to find out that the car in the website had some differences with the one I received (I had really poor coverage and my phone’s battery ended up dying and couldn’t check the website). I sent the dealer a message but he never answered my question. After I left I still had issues with the finance paperwork and went back and forth with them. The price was not the agreed upon price prior to tags, tax and title but they wouldn’t do anything about it nor about the fact that they sold be a different stock # vehicle. To be fair the motoring expert was extremely nice but I wish I would have just dealt with my local mini. I did not anticipate so many issues could arise since everything from price to financing had been taken care of.

I would like to preface this by saying I do not like to give bad reviews. With that being said, I was all set to purchase my first Mini Countryman that I have been eyeballing for over a month.
They had the exact car I wanted. After driving over 2 hours from Orlando a week ago I was all set to go do this drive one more time to get the car. Negotiations have been discussed and everything has been said and done via email over this passed week. All we needed was to place the deposit.
Waiting on the financial specialist to send over the paperwork to make the deposit a whole day ago, I come to find out they sold my dream car last night.
If a company has such terrible communication between associates, I would hate to see how they deal with simple issues.
I want to see the good in this, but it is very difficult. I spoke with the associate this morning telling him how sad I was and he said he would speak to the manager. I have yet to meet or hear from them to explain their excuse.
On a positive note, it is a very nice building. so, there’s that.

Skippy, my MINI, loves this place. Had a lot of maintenance stuff done recently requiring a loaner. No problem as I was able to sport a new MINI for a few days. The work was done quickly and I’m quite happy with them as a whole, both with service and the people.

I went to my local MINI dealer and told them what car I wanted, how much I was going to put down, what my trade was, how much I owed on my trade, what my credit score was, and how much I wanted my payments to be. They quoted me $ 100 per month above my requirements.
I gave Ferman the same exact information and did not share with them the «deal» my local dealer was offering. Ferman met all my requirements at a price UNDER my monthly goal. No haggling required.
Needless to say, I drove 4 hours one-​way to pick up my new MINI.
Their show room is spotless and we were treated very well. Even though they were running behind and we spent more time there then we intended to — remember this was an 8 hour excursion without the extra wait time — our experience was pleasant and we never felt abandoned or inconvenienced.
When it came time to sign the paperwork there were zero surprises. The numbers matched exactly what we discussed on the phone and via email.
This was one of the most pleasant vehicle purchases I’ve ever experienced.
Honesty and customer service are what makes or breaks a business and these guys seem to acknowledge and embrace this.

Love Love Love the new building! Just went to our first Unilocal/​/​MINI party and had a great time: D DJ was great, bar was themed but good. who knew I would like Pimms: D Food was very good provided by Eddies in Dunedin (I think) I loved the Scotch eggs: D Good Food Check, Good Drinks Check, Good Music Check, Great Location Check, Awesome party: D

Bought a MINI for my hubby, it was a surprise. The whole team was amazing, helpful and made the experience so pleasant, and fun. I was able to get a custom build, and it was perfect. Car buying was never such a good time, these guys are the best.

Great service! Lila (MINI) was well taken care of. She is sporting a new compressor and her sunroof is once again void of demons. Thank you MOTB!

Thank you to Jenny Glisch and the staff at Mini. It was a very relaxed experience dealing with my new purchase. I will tell everyone on the day that I came shopping that this was the only dealership in the pinellas area that would show us cars in the rain.

I took Simon, my Countryman in for his scheduled service. Having had such a horrible experience at Mini of Tampa Bay I decided to drive a little farther to give the Ft Myers team a chance. I was skeptical. I was so pleasantly pleased!!!
Unlike Palm Harbor these guys (Eddie) greeted me promptly and courteously. Since I had an appointment they took Simon right away and began diagnosis. PH guys didn’t even look at him four four hours and when I asked why since I had an appointment I was told the appointment was to get checked in. Not worked on. My two year old and I had to wait at the dealership for four hours before we just took Simon and left.
I was immediately offered a loaner since it would take hours to complete the work. No such offer in PH. My son and I explored Ft Myers for a couple of hours. We decided to drive the two hours home and go back the next day to collect Simon. Three year olds don’t like waiting around!
When we got back Simon was washed and ready to go. I told them I was their customer forever and had them change my license plate frame to theirs! So long Mini of Tampa Bay! You lose! I’d rather make the longer drive and be treated like a human.
:)
Mariah Cohen

My experience is solely for my experience with John C., a Unilocaler & Motor Advisor works at Ferman Mini. I had a blast of an opportunity to have a long extended weekend to drive a Mini Cooper, and go to Sarasota for a Unilocal event. This was so much fun.
I recommend if you are looking for a car to really ask if you can take it for an extended time to feel the ins and outs of the car. I don’t know if they do it, but I think it is really helpful.
After we dropped off the car, John C. was very helpful, showing us the different types of Mini’s that they had, and their whole background and stuff like that. They were in no way salesy.
Check out Ferman Mini, and maybe you will be driving home a new Mini in Style.

WOW! Stay away if you actually like service! I was delivered a vehicle without my Motoring Advisor even going over a single feature, without it being full of gas and without a decent detail job. I had even made an appointment for 5pm and when I got there, my vehicle was still sitting in the lot without the accessories I purchased being installed and without the detail as well.
After signing the paperwork, I waited for 3.5 hours (after they closed) and FINALLY my car comes up. However, none of the accessories were installed, the car wasnt gassed up and the detailer job was shoddy at best (and they damaged my bonnet stripe!). I waited for my Advisor to come back out to transfer the tag onto the new car and go over my car but it never happened. I finally got sick of waiting and had someone else at least switch the tag over so I could leave (now an hour after they closed).
I was left with an «I Owe You» for floor mats, a new bonnet stripe and the navigation and hood scoop installation that was already supposed to be done. I made attempts to get these things done and didnt receive return calls or emails. A week after (without resolution still) I decided to go in and talk to the GM of the dealership to give them an opportunity to hear about my issues and correct them. I understand things happen sometimes so I think people deserve second chances to make things right.
I waited another hour to talk to Pete Gulotta, the GM and Doug Opie the AM for the MINI dealership (Pete is the GM for both BMW and MINI). In that interaction, it sounded promising where they wanted to do whatever needed to make me happy. All I asked for was to redetail the car, replace the bonnet stripe, gas the vehicle and go over the features. On top of that, return the accessories they never installed and then give back the money on a «Protector» service they apparently performed on the vehicle.
Since it was bascially a wash for them since I wasnt asking for anything more than them than to give me the new car treatment and to return my unused accessories, they agreed that was fair. I left my car for more 2 more days when it was returned. They still didnt complete all the work so I had to go back again the week after for another 2 days.
Now, we are a month later, no one is returning my calls or emails about where my refund check was for the accessories (that was supposed to be here no later than a week ago). I really wanted to give them every opportunity to make things right before drafting a review and before filling out their survey, but they obviously do not care.
I would really recommend anyone that is looking for a MINI in the Tampa area to either wait for the dealership in Wesley Chapel to open or to take the trip to Orlando or Ft Myers. If you need a BMW, I would highly recommend Reeves in Tampa (have purchased 4 cars from them and they know how to treat their customers). At any cost, if you like service, I would recommend anyone other than Ferman. I have heard from many customers on forums and such that have had the same experience… if only I knew that before I made the mistake!

I just got home from our third visit to this dealership in less than a week trying to find a car that worked for me. Despite continued promises to help me find a Cooper S Hardtop that fit my needs, we continued to be pushed aside and were provided really no assistance at all. The salesperson also was not very tech-​savvy and – in this day and age – this is not a good sign.
We even called ahead and scheduled times to drop by on multiple days (both weekdays and on the weekend), but no one seemed truly interested in our business. It’s almost as though they think they have the sale in the bag no matter what, since they are currently the only MINI dealer in Tampa Bay, but with the new location opening in Wesley Chapel they will probably be surprised at how many of their customers head north instead of west to this location.
I will not be back to this location again and suggest you also go elsewhere if you are at all interested in appropriate – or any semblance of – customer service. As for me, I will be heading to Orlando or Miami to buy mine.