Went to Nick Alexander Mini today for brake fluid service and casually mentioned my concern about the cam chain tensioner although my MINI has been running perfectly and the SA had it replaced, no questions asked. Louis is awesome. I hated driving like I didn't want to break anything and now I can drive it as it should be driven. Peace of mind. :fingerscrossed:
Unfortunately, these days you must be very proactive and armed with knowledge to have a good dealership experience.
When I bought mine (2009, 30k miles, MCS) I need to return a couple of weeks later for some follow up. Nothing major, thought. While it was there, they had it overnight and called me the next morning and said 'hey, it's a little noisy. We're gonna take a look at the tensioner, so just keep the loaner an extra day, ok?' I said 'no problem' and didn't worry about it. When I picked it up, they had done the tensioner replacement, timing chain and a few other misc. parts in there. Turns out the old tensioner had broken and little bits were banging around inside the cover. I was glad the mechanic had good ears when he started it up!