Car delivered but missing an option I specced?

[Deleted User]

Today I received delivery of a new MINI I purchased at a dealer here in New Zealand. Unfortunately, I just realised it is missing the heated seats which are meant to be as standard with a pack I specced.

Context: When I first visited the dealership, I was given a price list for all the options you can get on a mini. I went home and decided I wanted heated seats which were a $600 extra. When I actually went in to place an order, I was pleasantly surprised when my dealer told me MINI just released a new pricing structure. It turned out that heated seats were now standard as a part of the Chili Package. This meant I would save $600 as I was already getting the Chili Pack because it includes lots of other stuff.

The dealer and I used this new updated pricing sheet to spec up my order for manufacture of the car. The order was placed with everything I wanted (so I thought!) I assumed I had saved money and got my heated seats.

The day arrived today, I went into the dealer to pick up the car, it looked great and I paid the remainder. I get home and realise, NO HEATED SEATS. Dealership was already closed and didn't want to make contact just yet.

I realised its likely my dealer still had the old pricing structure in their configurator. How do I know this? Because I had also selected a safety option which he discounted $500 on, because the new pricing structure made this option cheaper. So he was ordering my entire car, using an old configurator, with the wrong options! :mad:

It's blatantly the dealers fault, and a sloppy one at that. How should I approach this? NZ has similar laws to other countries, except we can't just immediately reject it in the same way. We have to try resolve with the dealer, and if they don't help we have to file a $50 claim with a court and tribunal. There is some fine print which says the manufacturer reserves right to change specifications at any time, however this wasn't a change of specs that I wasn't aware of. I priced up my car with these new specs and he gave me a car with the olds ones!

My car was manufactured after MINI's price structure change, so it absolutely should have included heated seats with Chili Pack. It's the weekend now so I am thinking of ringing MINI head office first thing on Monday and seeing if they'll send me the price structure sheet because I dont have a copy!

Any other advice of what to do?

askmeaboutsofas

I don't know how well anyone on here will be able to advise you, as this site is based in the UK and I don't know how many people here will know about New Zealand consumer rights. I found this on google?
https://www.consumerprotection.govt.nz/


If you have a copy of the spec the car was ordered with, I expect that would help. But the very first thing you need to do is inform the dealer that they've made a mistake on your order. Until you see their response to that, you can't really decide what to do next.

[Deleted User]

No problem. The copy of the spec I ordered with doesn't specifically say "heated seats" because it was meant to be included in the Chili Pack. Essentially I've lucked out in a way because my own contract does not say it will be included. However, the MINI price specification we used DOES say it should've been included on all new orders.

maninthestreet

In the UK, the chilli pack isnt' available on minis any more. When did you order your vehicle?

maninthestreet

Just checked the UK Mini brochures, and can find no reference to heated seats either as an option or standard.

marcarm

But the OP is not in the UK, so it's not relevant what is available here or not surely?