[SigmaPiFSC]

I'm a new owner of a used 530e. Only 10k miles.

BMW has converted me in the system and told me I am all set. I had to send in proof of ownership.

But when I goto add the vehicle in the connected drive app it verifies the VIN but then I get an error message "adding vehicle failed'

My car appears on the connected drive website. But I can't add the vehicle in the app.


I called support. They said, the problem was on their end. On the "back end". They said when they went to submit my application to be a subscriber it got stuck in the cue.

They created a support ticket and said it will take a week before tech support will get to it.

I called back a few days later to just check the status and they told me it takes a month and that tech support needs to add my name manually.

They said there is nobody to call and no manager to escalate to.

Anyone have thoughts, ideas, experience? I'm concerned that I'll wait a month only to find some other glitch and go another month.

Unless this is normal for bmw tech support.

Anyone have a number to call tech support directly? This felt like I was getting front line people with limited info.

Is there anyway or anyone to escalate Idrive service issues to?

Thanks!

[SteveinArizona]

Did you buy it from a BMW dealership? If you did, I would speak with the general manager and ask her to intervene with BMW. The 530e uses the connected drive more than an ICE model as you can turn on the HVAC with the app. So you aren't getting what you paid for.

It is garbage for the rep to tell you there is no one else to call. There is always someone else to call!!!

[SigmaPiFSC]

Thanks Steve. I did not buy it from a BMW dealer. IT's a used car dealership. I suppose I could go into the dealer and ask them to help me.

I will say, I called again today. They were very nice, and what they said was the following:

"Your in the system and set up properly, however, it's a different system that uses the connected drive, and your profile has been sent to them. But, we've been having problems connecting the two systems. So, the ticket that was submitted will alert IT to look at your profile and enter it into the other system manually. It can take up to a month, however your ticket has been escalated, so that should give it higher priority.

That's pretty much where we stand. In the mean time, I'm loving the car....
Expect for this obviously....

[SteveinArizona]

Originally Posted by SigmaPiFSC

Thanks Steve. I did not buy it from a BMW dealer. IT's a used car dealership. I suppose I could go into the dealer and ask them to help me.

I will say, I called again today. They were very nice, and what they said was the following:

"Your in the system and set up properly, however, it's a different system that uses the connected drive, and your profile has been sent to them. But, we've been having problems connecting the two systems. So, the ticket that was submitted will alert IT to look at your profile and enter it into the other system manually. It can take up to a month, however your ticket has been escalated, so that should give it higher priority.

That's pretty much where we stand. In the mean time, I'm loving the car....
Expect for this obviously....

Unfortunately, the used car dealership likely has no juice at BMW and BMW has little incentive to help you as you didn't purchase it from one of their franchised dealers.

I am assuming that your car is under warranty. You could go into a dealership and ask them to help but they are more likely to want to help their existing customers unless they see you as a new and continuing customer.

I think you are going to have to wait this one out. You could try calling BMW genius every day (or every other day) and nicely inquire on the status. Emphasis on "nicely".

Ultimately, I think you will like your car. In the long run this is a small annoyance.

[SigmaPiFSC]

Problem solved!

So one support guy told me it will take a month before tech support can review the support ticket to begin to troubleshoot it. He also said call back every couple of days.

So a few days ago I called and the support rep asked me if anyone tried to resubmit my application. I told her I asked 2 other reps to do that and they told me they could not, that I had to wait.

She said, we'll let me try that for you. And a few seconds later it worked! Wow! It's like a whole new part of the experience.

My advice for future people with this problem. Keep calling back until you get someone who knows a bit more about their system.

Basically, there were what they call "outages". At the time someone submitted my application. So it was sent to IT. Once the outages were fixed, they could resubmit my application and it worked like normal.

The problem was that other customer support reps were not able or willing to try resubmitting my application.

At least this is what my impression was from what was explained to me.

I hope this helps someone in the future.