BMW - What a joke

nheather

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I recently had an email that my BMW Connected Services (stuff like map updates) was coming to an end.

Not particularly bothered, wasn’t going to renew it but intrigued why it is ending two months earlier than expected.

So just spoke to them, saying I was intrigued as I thought the service lasted for 36 months.

The answer could only have come from BMW. Only in the wibbly, wobbly world of BMW could this be considered okay.

The response,

”yes sir, you are correct, the service is for 36 months, but that starts when production begins, so when you took delivery two months had already elapsed”. 😲😲😲

Not just for this, but for other reasons too - never again BMW, never again.

Cheers,

Nigel
 
I’d argue. I got 12 months free out of them for a website issue.
 
I recently had an email that my BMW Connected Services (stuff like map updates) was coming to an end.

Not particularly bothered, wasn’t going to renew it but intrigued why it is ending two months earlier than expected.

So just spoke to them, saying I was intrigued as I thought the service lasted for 36 months.

The answer could only have come from BMW. Only in the wibbly, wobbly world of BMW could this be considered okay.

The response,

”yes sir, you are correct, the service is for 36 months, but that starts when production begins, so when you took delivery two months had already elapsed”. 😲😲😲

Not just for this, but for other reasons too - never again BMW, never again.

Cheers,

Nigel

I had to do retraining because of Audi and VW's recent fudge ups and they were comical to say the least.

I'm sure they are not the only bullshitters in the motoring world though.
 
They also wanted to charge a small fortune to activate wireless CarPlay in my car, a mate with a laptop, ENET cable and £35.00 paid to some dude on ebay soon resolved that dilemma in a KFC carpark.
 
As a long life BMW driver, now driving an Audi...next car will definitely be a Skoda I believe.
Sad how these big manufacturers treat customers...
 
How are you supposed to use it while the car is being built? For the sake of 2 months worth of something that will cost them nothing, they are happy to risk losing goodwill and future business.
 
They also wanted to charge a small fortune to activate wireless CarPlay in my car, a mate with a laptop, ENET cable and £35.00 paid to some dude on ebay soon resolved that dilemma in a KFC carpark.
I have a carplay enabled head unit in my Golf, but they want £250 to switch on. Bastards.
 
How are you supposed to use it while the car is being built? For the sake of 2 months worth of something that will cost them nothing, they are happy to risk losing goodwill and future business.

Yep you’ve got it. And yes it seems that they would rather that I never buy another BMW than get those 2 months back.

To be fair, I don’t think it has been done deliberately. Some software developer has not understood the business and done a shoddy job of the system implementation. The crime, is that those in charge, whilst they are happy to agree that it does seem strange they don’t seem be able/prepared to do anything about it - classic case of computer says no.

Cheers,

Nigel
 
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Another example, in the first year the car came with a Deezer subscription. I used it a little in the first year, it was quite nice and I knew it was coming to an end. My first thought was that I didn’t use it enough to justify the £90 for the full price Deezer subscription. But I saw an offer for Deezer for £70 and thought “what the hell”.

Luckily before buying I checked how you would add it to the BMW and guess what I found - you can’t. You can’t even use a full price Deezer account, you have to buy the special BMW Deezer account for around £180 I recall.

Cheers,

Nigel
 
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You purchase a premium product and therefore expect to pay premium price for various services.
You buy the Deezer service that also includes the data connection via the BMW network. Thats not free is it.
Tesla is another example.
You can always use other services via your phone Bluetooth.
I have no issues paying for a service thats integrated into the vehicle.
 
I agree 100% with @nheather's annoyance as the same happened with my wife's car this summer.
We weren't even allowed a 1 month extension to cover us for real time traffic which expired whilst we were driving in Europe. Fortunately we could use Waze via Car Play.
Incidentally I believe it's only recently that BMW stopped charging an annual fee for Car Play; the fact they charged at all still irks me, when it is often included in the cost of most cars.

I can't agree with @stblob about paying a premium price for services. We paid a premium for build quality and driving dynamics not to be over charged for a third party's music streaming service. Fortunately, as I already stated, there is a suitable work around for Deezer if you have an apple phone. If you have android then forget about it. Android integration is awful!
 
You purchase a premium product and therefore expect to pay premium price for various services.
You buy the Deezer service that also includes the data connection via the BMW network. Thats not free is it.
Tesla is another example.
You can always use other services via your phone Bluetooth.
I have no issues paying for a service thats integrated into the vehicle.

As I said I wasn’t that bothered about Deezer, just showing how a £90service suddenly doubles in price. Though there are many services that use the BMW data connection so I have a feeling that you are being charged several times for it. My main issue was the 2 months of service elapsing while the car was being built in Germany - give me a rationale explanation for that.

Cheers,

Nigel
 
I've just checked mine and they all run out well past the 3 years since I took delivery, I got it on 14-7-18 and they run out on 30-7-21 or 30-9-21.
 
2 months sounds a long time between production and collection? My old man's G30 services ran from when the car was first registered, which I think is probably the best way to do it? But yes, sounds like a sharp word with BMW CS is needed

I'll be honest, they're all much the same. Had similar fun with Audi when they decided my Google Earth overlay for maps was coming to an end... 2 weeks after I'd just renewed it. After explaining to them that no, I've just paid for it, the answer was 'i paid for it in the wrong way'. Clearly, buying the service through the dealer is the wrong way', instead of doing it online? Computer really said no, so I had to contact my dealer for a full refund and then rebuy it online.
 
2 months sounds a long time between production and collection? My old man's G30 services ran from when the car was first registered, which I think is probably the best way to do it? But yes, sounds like a sharp word with BMW CS is needed

I'll be honest, they're all much the same. Had similar fun with Audi when they decided my Google Earth overlay for maps was coming to an end... 2 weeks after I'd just renewed it. After explaining to them that no, I've just paid for it, the answer was 'i paid for it in the wrong way'. Clearly, buying the service through the dealer is the wrong way', instead of doing it online? Computer really said no, so I had to contact my dealer for a full refund and then rebuy it online.

I’ve rounded up, it was just over 6 weeks.

Cheers,

Nigel
 
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I’m not sure I agree that it is ok for the maker to add cost to a third party service either. That’s how built in satnav map updates became hundreds of pounds/dollars s they use the map data available for less and multiply by 5 or 6 when the data is used exactly as is. They can change their bespoke firmware that displays stuff and it costs nothing.
 
The extra cost is because it doesn't use your mobile data it uses the cars own data connection.
 
The extra cost is because it doesn't use your mobile data it uses the cars own data connection.
Which is simply an expensive data connection then that you can’t put a cheap SIM in for?
 
The extra cost is because it doesn't use your mobile data it uses the cars own data connection.

I know but so do a lot of the services and they add that charge onto every one.

Not only is that an expensive data charge but it is charged multiple times, once for each service that uses it.

Cheers,

Nigel
 
Which is simply an expensive data connection then that you can’t put a cheap SIM in for?
Not possible to use any other sim as it is embedded into one of the communications module chips, also the imei number of the communications module is locked to the sim and BMW servers. You cannot use any other devices to connect to their system.
BMW run their own Connected drive servers for the services they provide, this also includes emergency calling (automatic SOS in the event of accident) and vehicle tracking.
 
Not possible to use any other sim as it is embedded into one of the communications module chips, also the imei number of the communications module is locked to the sim and BMW servers. You cannot use any other devices to connect to their system.
BMW run their own Connected drive servers for the services they provide, this also includes emergency calling (automatic SOS in the event of accident) and vehicle tracking.
I guess my point is I get that they offer a service that they can rightly charge for. The next step to make the car and their systems offerings the only offerings is a bit off to me.

It’s the ultimate walled garden and manufacturers have been guided away from such closed ones for a few years now. Here we are talking about spending a heap of money and then you can’t connect a phone to the systems to use them only in the car. They put their version of apps where you must pay and then justify it by saying they pay tk set up servers and systems etc.

I don’t buy that - setup and charge for systems and servers that offer something different or a true choice by all means. You buy a car with BT and other connectivity to use your things in your car. If you don’t want to connect to their servers and the offerings there, your stuff that works on the connectivity the car offers should work.
 
Not possible to use any other sim as it is embedded into one of the communications module chips, also the imei number of the communications module is locked to the sim and BMW servers. You cannot use any other devices to connect to their system.
BMW run their own Connected drive servers for the services they provide, this also includes emergency calling (automatic SOS in the event of accident) and vehicle tracking.
That sounds impressively anti-competitive to me - like locking a mobile to a network but on steroids with a 10yr+ expected gravy train. I'm surprised there haven't been ambulance chasing class action suits already :eek:
Wow!
 
It sad the these companies have missed IT age completely, may they have not seen a Tesla.

VW/Audi a few years ago gave me so much BS, which could easily be disproved by googling. I moved to BMW and they have been better and fix the only issue I have had in the last 5 years.
 
I will be switching back to VW I think when I hand my BMW back. It went for a software update recently - they did a "free" health check and tried to sell me 2x new tyres as i "only" had 5mm tread left to go.
I paid for an extra year of Napster which whilst annoyed me was double than if I purchased separately it does sound better native to the car than Spotify. I haven't renewed again and not prepared to give them more than I need to!
 

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