[paul e]

Okay so my car is in the South Atlantic on the Glorious Ace due in Brunswick GA 12/16.

The Track "service" shows my car is "in production". It was built 11/3-4 and shipped earlier last week.

BMWUSA acknowledges the service is not showing the correct status. Unfortunately they also say there are no plans to fix it.

I'm just b/tching about the obvious head in the sand attitude at BMWUSA, which I find completely unprofessional. As a (retired) 35 year career IT guy I also find this indefensible. A simple feed update would fix it. If this took me more than an afternoon I'd resign my position.

Is this an example of anything other than laziness?

[chiefneil]

BMW's website has sucked since pretty much forever. It's always been a head-scratcher for me, how a major company with a tech angle can be so horrible at their online presence. I honestly think they just don't care, have never cared, and never will care.

[goj]

Originally Posted by paul e

Okay so my car is in the South Atlantic on the Glorious Ace due in Brunswick GA 12/16.

The Track "service" shows my car is "in production". It was built 11/3-4 and shipped earlier last week.

BMWUSA acknowledges the service is not showing the correct status. Unfortunately they also say there are no plans to fix it.

I'm just b/tching about the obvious head in the sand attitude at BMWUSA, which I find completely unprofessional. As a (retired) 35 year career IT guy I also find this indefensible. A simple feed update would fix it. If this took me more than an afternoon I'd resign my position.

Is this an example of anything other than laziness?

Or you could just call the 1-800 number for an update, then after the automated status you can talk to a live person for the most up to date status.

[bimmercar]

calling and talking to live person is usually the best way

[ronanz]

Originally Posted by chiefneil

BMW's website has sucked since pretty much forever. It's always been a head-scratcher for me, how a major company with a tech angle can be so horrible at their online presence. I honestly think they just don't care, have never cared, and never will care.

+1 this... ^^

.

[BavarianFanatic]

I'm willing to bet that the lack of attention is due to the fact that a very small percentage of customers use it. I'm surprised they even offer it frankly. The percentage of ordered cars vs. stock deliveries is quite low.

[rolltidef32]

Originally Posted by BavarianFanatic

I'm willing to bet that the lack of attention is due to the fact that a very small percentage of customers use it. I'm surprised they even offer it frankly. The percentage of ordered cars vs. stock deliveries is quite low.

Exactly. There isn't a true business case for it, so why pay a Dev team to fix it?

At the track point, we've already signed the paperwork and are already an advanced customer.

I order all of mine, and have always found the update/track system to be funny. Even joked about it with a couple employees at the Performance Center earlier this year.

In the end I thought no big deal. One of them joked that since I order my Bimmers, I'm obviously patient, so no need to let me know what's going on with it, only the pick up date. I said it always makes me feel like a kid again awaiting Christmas toys, so it's like tracking Santa. :

[Goody4]

Originally Posted by chiefneil

BMW's website has sucked since pretty much forever.

This is definitely the case.

I was so excited to see my 2006 M3 released to the carrier, I called my salesman to tell him it was on the way. He said, "No, it's not. It's been at the dealership for 3 days."

Oops.

[paul e]

My real question then would be why do they have it at all? It would take a 10 year old about 5 minutes to modify the page and just delete the service. I just don't understand how or why any corporate entity would continue to have a terrible tool on its website.
This is my first BMW and I must say I'm really surprised. I wouldn't want corporate incompetence on display for paying customers, especially right at the front door.

[BavarianFanatic]

Originally Posted by paul e

My real question then would be why do they have it at all? It would take a 10 year old about 5 minutes to modify the page and just delete the service. I just don't understand how or why any corporate entity would continue to have a terrible tool on its website.
This is my first BMW and I must say I'm really surprised. I wouldn't want corporate incompetence on display for paying customers, especially right at the front door.

I don't disagree with you. It usually is pretty close (within 24-36 hours) of reality. Something must be up. I think part of the issue is that several different systems are in play. It's not one giant/cohesive package. For starters, the website is maintained by BMWNA. The production system is BMW Group.

Don't let this cloud your judgment of the brand. The cars righr all wrongs in this case!

[Brian_R]

This is one of those too many cooks in the kitchen moments. They had an update a few weeks back that fubared both the phone and online systems. I know they have US IT, Munich IT, and some contractors in between. They should at least put in a static content notice to acknowledge its broken.

On a side note their lack of care lets us crazies see the web updates on their internet exposed QA test websites before they go live.

[MomoM3]

My 340i was ordered on Nov 2 and has been sitting at Bremerhaven awaiting vessel assignment since Nov 17. Ever since Nov 2, my Track Your BMW still says "Order Documented - We are currently processing your order and will inform you once your BMW enters production" and the car config is all screwed up.

When I call BMWNA they say they know about the issue on bmwusa.com but don't have an ETA when it will be fixed. I call-in to BMWNA almost daily and speak to someone when I can.

It's nice to see status online but if it were working it'd be a few days behind anyway and I'd still be calling-in. Regardless, it's something that should just work. Unacceptable for it not to be working for so long.

[rolltidef32]

Originally Posted by MomoM3

My 340i was ordered on Nov 2 and has been sitting at Bremerhaven awaiting vessel assignment since Nov 17. Ever since Nov 2, my Track Your BMW still says "Order Documented - We are currently processing your order and will inform you once your BMW enters production" and the car config is all screwed up.

When I call BMWNA they say they know about the issue on bmwusa.com but don't have an ETA when it will be fixed. I call-in to BMWNA almost daily and speak to someone when I can.

It's nice to see status online but if it were working it'd be a few days behind anyway and I'd still be calling-in. Regardless, it's something that should just work. Unacceptable for it not to be working for so long.

Why do you keep calling in man? The car is coming from Germany, not just over in Detroit.

Your calling won't make anything move any faster, just shows the level of character you have. In case you don't pick up on subtleties; this means I'm not impressed...

If it's OCD, there are pills for that.

[paul e]

Originally Posted by rolltidef32

Why do you keep calling in man? The car is coming from Germany, not just over in Detroit.

Your calling won't make anything move any faster, just shows the level of character you have. In case you don't pick up on subtleties; this means I'm not impressed...

If it's OCD, there are pills for that.

And this helps how?

At least you aren't one of those judgmental people who feel they have to chime in even though you have nothing of value to add.

We do have something in common…I'm not impressed either.

[MomoM3]

Originally Posted by rolltidef32

Why do you keep calling in man? The car is coming from Germany, not just over in Detroit.

Your calling won't make anything move any faster, just shows the level of character you have. In case you don't pick up on subtleties; this means I'm not impressed...

If it's OCD, there are pills for that.

Who said I wanted to move it any faster? I actually want it to move as slow as possible so I can have time to add the yet-to-be-announced MPPK+MPE via PIA. BMWUSA.com is down so how else would I be able to check status? By calling-in. Was I complaining about calling-in? No, I wasn't.

When I pre-order a car, or anything for that matter, I will absolutely check status whenever I please. I had a custom home built which took months to complete - you think I just waited for the contractor to tell me when to move in? I called-in whenever I had a free minute to check-in.

As far as my character goes, yes, it's very telling that I actually maintain a good understanding of what my extremely busy schedule will look like weeks out and that there are no surprises. Thankfully, I don't need pills to cope with anything in my life, so thanks.

[MomoM3]

Originally Posted by MomoM3

When I call BMWNA they say they know about the issue on bmwusa.com but don't have an ETA when it will be fixed. I call-in to BMWNA almost daily and speak to someone when I can.

And to clarify on this bit, I call in everyday to check status and to confirm the status with a live person - not to complain about bmwusa.com. I submitted my findings about their Track Your BMW tool once to BMWNA. My point was that even if the tool was working, I'd still be calling-in since it's more up-to-date anyway.

[rolltidef32]

Originally Posted by MomoM3

And to clarify on this bit, I call in everyday to check status and to confirm the status with a live person - not to complain about bmwusa.com. I submitted my findings about their Track Your BMW tool once to BMWNA. My point was that even if the tool was working, I'd still be calling-in since it's more up-to-date anyway.

Are you really "that" busy if you can take the time to call any business, go through holds and prompts everyday? I can't call anything that much to check on anything.

How much update do you receive each business day? What are these conversations like?

Hope you're just joking about the everyday part, but it's an issue because it's disruptive to business and doesn't lead to any positive or even informative return.

So yes, I point out that it isn't normal or advised.

[MomoM3]

Originally Posted by rolltidef32

Are you really "that" busy if you can take the time to call any business, go through holds and prompts everyday? I can't call anything that much to check on anything.

How much update do you receive each business day? What are these conversations like?

Hope you're just joking about the everyday part, but it's an issue because it's disruptive to business and doesn't lead to any positive or even informative return.

So yes, I point out that it isn't normal or advised.

I don't even know why I'm entertaining a response since I really don't care to justify why I do things to a stranger...

800#, 2, Production number, 1, STATUS READOUT, 0, 30-second conversation to confirm status - done in less than a minute. What's the problem? If this bothers you so much that you need to post about your angst with my method you might be the one with OCD.

I'm not calling sales, I'm calling customer service - They are not selling anything so I'm not disrupting business. That is what they are there for - to inform.

You prefer me to just wait for my CA to call and tell me when to pick up my car around the holidays in the middle of Manhattan? If I call everyday or every week, I'm doing so to appease my own excitement. I'm not at all interested as to what you deem to be normal or otherwise.

[ipilcher]

Given that cars are essentially rolling computers these days, it's not totally unreasonable to judge the quality of BMW's vehicles by the quality of their other IT and software efforts.

Ouch!

[hollandog]

Im driving the car for few days already and the status still says production ended.

[bovino]

Totally agree. Ours is on a boat as well...online says in production. If the phone system has the correct information, then how hard can it be for them to get the online to synchronize? The answer is not hard at all. The reason, as others said, is simple: they don't really care. For the price it's pretty crazy. If it's not going to work, at least take it down, but for crying out loud just fix it.

[RoundelM3]

Originally Posted by ipilcher

Given that cars are essentially rolling computers these days, it's not totally unreasonable to judge the quality of BMW's vehicles by the quality of their other IT and software efforts.

Ouch!

Really? I'd say that assessment is total BS. You don't even know whether or not BMW is maintaining that tracking function or if it's being outsourced. The whole site may be outsourced and there could be some kind of breakdown in the communication link between manufacturing and the tracking function or a database issue, or any combination of a number of possibilities. When I ordered my 2013 F30 in late 2012, it was completely accurate right down to the "at your dealership" stage.

Software-wise, try using E-Sys to code the control modules in any F-chassis BMW. Definitely more sophisticated than an infotainment system or website by an exponential factor. I spent 44 years in IT, and worked with mainframes, minicomputers, and microcomputers from a hardware, software, and cybersecurity engineering standpoint both in-house and as a service provider. Judging a company's product quality by a perceived notion about their corporate website has no merit by any logical standard.

And really - is this something that needs this amount of bitching and moaning? Your CA should be the one to go to when you want to know what your ordered car's status is.