As you may be aware I had upgraded my front brakes a couple of months back and today got round to replacing the rears as well. The service light has been on for a while and Barons had advised me at the beginning of the month that just cos I had a service light on it did not mean I needed a service but in fact only the rear brakes changing. I had said not to bother as I was intending to change them myself. Well last week end during the Goodwood run the service light changed from Amber to red and a caution brake light came on...today I discovered that the sensor wire had made contact with the disc and therefore needed replacing (that serves me right for delaying fitting the brakes and cost me £17 for the part!) but as I was fitting the parts myself I enquired as to how I reset the service light as was told that as I was fitting non OEM brake parts and doing the job myself that the dealer would not re-set the indicator for me.

Disgusted I then spoke to the service department who advised me that if I booked the car in they would measure the thickness of the discs and apply the info to the cars computer and charge me £19.80 plus Vat! To reset the indicator.
What a rip off .... So many thanks to Will at TWG who when I spoke to him told me he could do the reset in less that 5 mins and not even charge for it!
So words of caution if you fit parts yourself the main dealers as so unhelpful!

As a main dealer, they can't reset the light without checking the brakes incase something goes wrong with the brakes later, or they've not been replaced as you're selling it but want the light off. Unfortunately dealers can't really do favours due to the compensation culture that's around now.

Good to know though that there are decent independents out there who aren't out to rob everyone blind!

I bought my JCW from Barons and it has been in for a few niggling issues. Most of which were resolved with a minimum of fuss and under warranty. Although I did have one problem with the door seals where the service advisor told me that they couldn't fix the problem of wetness on the inside of the windows. I went straight to the dealer principle who looked at the car, said it was unacceptable and said that he would personally ensure it was fixed and it was and i've not had an issue since.

I've not replaced any parts on mine yet so its good to know of the issue that you've had with replacing you discs and pads as that will be the next thing that I need to do. TWG worked on both my Cooper S and my wife's Cooper, so when the warranty runs out next year theres a good chance the JCW will be going there too.

You could let them work on it whilst it's still under warranty. Under EU law, as long as genuine parts - or parts to genuine quality, are fitted by someone who is suitably qualified to fit parts, the manufacturer cannot void your warranty.

Thanks.   Fortunately I doesnt need anything doing on it yet as its running like a dream, the only thing it really needs at the mo is a wash.