[DCDude]

This weekend I was thinking about compromising in buying another car locally that was already on a dealer lot. I saw that they had VINs so I decoded them and saw that all of them were built after my car.

That prompted me to write the mother of all bitch letters and I went an unconventional route to get it to a trigger puller at BMW Group. It seems my method worked. I got a call from BMW North America yesterday, saying that they were on it, that they’ve spoken to the factory and it would be going out as soon as possible. Today, it’s official.

Built 9/28/2022
Dispatched from factory 12/14/2022

I’m hopeful it will make it on the boat leaving on Friday. If not, there’s another one heading out on the 20th.

[BMW012]

[NateM15]

What is your destination port here in the states?

[Greywall]

Yaaay!

[DCDude]

Originally Posted by NateM15

What is your destination port here in the states?

Baltimore.

[DCDude]

Originally Posted by Greywall

Yaaay!

A wise men once said, “Don’t piss off the IT guy” 😂🤣

[Carmody]

Originally Posted by DCDude

This weekend I was thinking about compromising in buying another car locally that was already on a dealer lot. I saw that they had VINs so I decoded them and saw that all of them were built after my car.

That prompted me to write the mother of all bitch letters and I went an unconventional route to get it to a trigger puller at BMW Group. It seems my method worked. I got a call from BMW North America yesterday, saying that they were on it, that they’ve spoken to the factory and it would be going out as soon as possible. Today, it’s official.

Built 9/28/2022
Dispatched from factory 12/14/2022

I’m hopeful it will make it on the boat leaving on Friday. If not, there’s another one heading out on the 20th.

Congratulations! It looks like your message to BMW Group worked. I hope your car gets on a boat soon!

My car (built three weeks after yours) is still "awaiting carrier assignment". My dealer has finally managed to get a response from the factory. The response states that the car is ready to go, but they are waiting for shipping vessels; they have a back log of vehicles to be shipped to the US and a shortage of vessels. I would accept this explanation if they had not been shipping to the US cars built after my car!

[DCDude]

Originally Posted by Carmody

I would accept this explanation if they had not been shipping to the US cars built after my car!

Precisely. I hit the roof when I looked up the production dates of unsold vehicles similarly equipped vs mine. I don’t understand the business rationale for sending unsold cars before sending sold cars.

[Greywall]

Originally Posted by Carmody

Congratulations! It looks like your message to BMW Group worked. I hope your car gets on a boat soon!

My car (built three weeks after yours) is still "awaiting carrier assignment". My dealer has finally managed to get a response from the factory. The response states that the car is ready to go, but they are waiting for shipping vessels; they have a back log of vehicles to be shipped to the US and a shortage of vessels. I would accept this explanation if they had not been shipping to the US cars built after my car!

Carmody, make sure your car is set to Priority 1 - Customer Sold, so it jumps in front of the queue at every stage. Check with your dealer to see if they have set it correctly. I'd ask them to email you a screenshot of the "Vehicle Inquiry: Status" screen to verify.

[Hender46]

What's the name of the ship for this Friday?

[DCDude]

Originally Posted by Greywall

Carmody, make sure your car is set to Priority 1 - Customer Sold, so it jumps in front of the queue at every stage. Check with your dealer to see if they have set it correctly. I'd ask them to email you a screenshot of the "Vehicle Inquiry: Status" screen to verify.

I picked apart the JSON in developer mode when I was checking the pizza tracker thing that BMW has. That was what my status was set to in the JSON cargo.

Truth be told, I’d wager the new guy messed up and put it in the wrong parking lot when it came off the assembly line

[DCDude]

Originally Posted by Hender46

What's the name of the ship for this Friday?

If it’s Walnius and Wilhelmsen, the Arc Integrity.

[Carmody]

Originally Posted by Greywall

Carmody, make sure your car is set to Priority 1 - Customer Sold, so it jumps in front of the queue at every stage. Check with your dealer to see if they have set it correctly. I'd ask them to email you a screenshot of the "Vehicle Inquiry: Status" screen to verify.

Greywall, thanks a lot for the lead! I have asked my dealer for the status screenshot and am patiently waiting for his response.

I have just received a very informative response from BMW Genius to the request I made last week. Here it goes:

Thanks for contacting the BMW Genius Team. We can understand your frustration regarding the delay in your vehicle tracking status.

Your 2023 BMW M550i xDrive Sedan was produced on October 18, 2022. At this time, we have no new estimated dates to provide to you. Once it ships, new estimated dates and vessel information will be generated.

We understand how eager you are to take delivery of your new BMW, and we also can’t wait for you to get behind the wheel of your new BMW. Our apologies for your frustrations about the delivery timeframe of your vehicle. We are doing our best to get your vehicle to you as quickly as possible.

Unfortunately, industry-wide capacity limitations due to the ongoing global pandemic and continuing issues impacting the global supply chain are impacting automotive manufacturing around the world. Your BMW center will notify you when your vehicle is ready for you to take delivery. Thank you for your continued patience and understanding.

For your convenience, BMW Genius Team members can be reached via the BMW Genius Hotline Monday through Thursday from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., Friday 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time at 1-844-4GENIUS (443-6487).

[Carmody]

Originally Posted by Carmody

Greywall, thanks a lot for the lead! I have asked my dealer for the status screenshot and am patiently waiting for his response.

Just got a response from the dealer: it is priority 1.

[Greywall]

Originally Posted by Carmody

Greywall, thanks a lot for the lead! I have asked my dealer for the status screenshot and am patiently waiting for his response.

I have just received a very informative response from BMW Genius to the request I made last week. Here it goes:

Thanks for contacting the BMW Genius Team. We can understand your frustration regarding the delay in your vehicle tracking status.

Your 2023 BMW M550i xDrive Sedan was produced on October 18, 2022. At this time, we have no new estimated dates to provide to you. Once it ships, new estimated dates and vessel information will be generated.

We understand how eager you are to take delivery of your new BMW, and we also can’t wait for you to get behind the wheel of your new BMW. Our apologies for your frustrations about the delivery timeframe of your vehicle. We are doing our best to get your vehicle to you as quickly as possible.

Unfortunately, industry-wide capacity limitations due to the ongoing global pandemic and continuing issues impacting the global supply chain are impacting automotive manufacturing around the world. Your BMW center will notify you when your vehicle is ready for you to take delivery. Thank you for your continued patience and understanding.

For your convenience, BMW Genius Team members can be reached via the BMW Genius Hotline Monday through Thursday from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., Friday 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time at 1-844-4GENIUS (443-6487).

That's a pretty canned response, maybe try the method that worked for DCDude?

[DCDude]

Today I got a call from BMW NA to let me know the ship I’m sailing on and the estimated arrival date at port. I’m looking at ~2 weeks.

Any Baltimore peeps have experience with the Baltimore VPC wait. Curious how long I should mentally budget for it to get thru the VPC.

[NateM15]

Originally Posted by DCDude

Today I got a call from BMW NA to let me know the ship I’m sailing on and the estimated arrival date at port. I’m looking at ~2 weeks.

Any Baltimore peeps have experience with the Baltimore VPC wait. Curious how long I should mentally budget for it to get thru the VPC.

Mine was unloaded on the 22nd at Baltimore and I'm waiting on a radio module / stop sale.

I will keep you posted as to the turnaround time.

[Carmody]

Originally Posted by Greywall

That's a pretty canned response, maybe try the method that worked for DCDude?

On December 31, I did finally follow DCDude's method and write an angry email to BMW Group. On January 4, I was contacted by a nice lady from BMW NA who said that she had contacted the local BMW field representative in Germany; she also said that she had escalated the issue to her management. Today (one week after her call) I followed my morning routine of checking the status of my car and saw this: "Dispatched from factory"!

Finally, after almost 3 month of "awaiting carrier assignment", this has happened!!!

[Greywall]

Originally Posted by Carmody

On December 31, I did finally follow DCDude's method and write an angry email to BMW Group. On January 4, I was contacted by a nice lady from BMW NA who said that she had contacted the local BMW field representative in Germany; she also said that she had escalated the issue to her management. Today (one week after her call) I followed my morning routine of checking the status of my car and saw this: "Dispatched from factory"!

Finally, after almost 3 month of "awaiting carrier assignment", this has happened!!!

Great news! Glad to see it's finally headed your way.

[DCDude]

Originally Posted by Carmody

On December 31, I did finally follow DCDude's method and write an angry email to BMW Group. On January 4, I was contacted by a nice lady from BMW NA who said that she had contacted the local BMW field representative in Germany; she also said that she had escalated the issue to her management.

I didn’t write anything angry. I kept the tone neutral and asked the simple question why are there unsold cars locally that were built after mine with the the same features while mine was sitting in a parking lot at the factory.

Don’t convey anger if you follow this method. Just asked a simple question why are unsold cars shipped before sold cars. Also make sure there are cars with your features available, as there could be a legit supply chain issue.

Great to hear it worked for you. 😁

[Carmody]

Originally Posted by DCDude

I didn’t write anything angry. I kept the tone neutral and asked the simple question why are there unsold cars locally that were built after mine with the the same features while mine was sitting in a parking lot at the factory.

Don’t convey anger if you follow this method. Just asked a simple question why are unsold cars shipped before sold cars. Also make sure there are cars with your features available, as there could be a legit supply chain issue.

Great to hear it worked for you. ��

I did not swear or call anybody names, I just mentioned unfair shipping practices. To support this statement, I listed VINs of a few M550i-s available for sale from the local dealers that were produced after my car.

[DCDude]

Originally Posted by Carmody

I did not swear or call anybody names, I just mentioned unfair shipping practices. To support this statement, I listed VINs of a few M550i-s available for sale from the local dealers that were produced after my car.

Awesome. It’s frustrating to see some folks cars sail through while others get strung along for months. Hopefully folks reaching out via non-conventional means gets them to rethink prioritization of vehicles that get shipped.