[dxb335d]

i dont even know what it is, would love to tho.. someone enlighten me.. i want BMW ASSISSSSST

[vivekk]

Originally Posted by BC4J

Viv:

Has BMW AG stated that the intention is that Assist should be free to 2010 both new and existing users? If so is this documented anywhere? I would want to use it when I protest (vehemently!) to them about having to pay come January.

I'm afraid I don't have anything documented for you.

My advice would be to send an email to BMW Germany's CEO- norbert.reithofer@bmw.de & BMW UK's MD (Jim O'Donnell) & see what you get back.
Tony (E92Fan) has got Jim's contact details.

Explain the situation you are in, with a lot of other UK Assist subscribers, & explain how BMW UK are charging customers like yourself, who have bothered to initiate their subscription before September 07.

Through no fault of your own, you now find that you are being forced to pay for a service, which other, later-subscribing customers, are getting for free until 2010.

Personally, I would describe this as customer discrimination. Pushing Assist free of charge, in order to increase it's popularity & acceptability is great, but not when you're one of the customers who took out Assist between March 2005 & August 2007.
Luckily, I was just too lazy & tight to bother subscribing over that period of time.

So, it looks like being a pioneering user of new BMW technology puts you at a financial disadvantage, through no fault of your own. Ridiculous.


I'd look forward to seeing the replies you get back.


All the best & good luck.


Viv

[LRS]

Hi All

I purchased by car in June 07 and activated the free 6 month subscription in July 07.

I then received the annual renewal for £120. This is where this email thread journey began.

Thanks to a number of You fellow forum members (special thanks to Vivekk) I contacted BMW UK, armed with important information.

There “official” response was as follows:

- Regardless of when you purchased your car, as long as you did not activate the free 6 month Assist prior to Sept 07, then you could now activate it for free until 2010.
- If, however, you did activate it prior to Sept 07, your only option for renewal is to pay £120 per annum. (My situation)

To be fair to the person on the other end of the phone, they even thought the official BMW UK standing was unfair to those people like me, but that they were only following what they were told.

I continued to politely and calmly insist that my situation was very unfair and that I felt very let down and disappointed by BMW, of which I have now owned 3. The person on the other end of the phone said that they would go and discuss this with someone to see if anything could be done and then ring me back.

True to their word, the person rang me back later that day and said that, as an exception, they would renew my subscription free for another year as a good will gesture. Obviously, something is better than nothing.

This whole experience has indicated to me that there is genuine confusion within BMW UK on this matter and that maybe BMW UK is only now just realising that they have a serious customer support issue that they are going to have to manage very carefully.

LRS

[vivekk]

No problem, LRS. I'm glad you're slightly happier now.

It all boils down to communication. There just isn't any easy way for customers to speak to those who CAN provide a practical & useful means of solving our problems.

I'd be quite happy to speak to Jim O'Donnell, as would Tony & James, I'm sure, about ways of improving e9x customer relations with BMW UK.

James, Tony, send Jim an invite to the restaurant for early February- I'll be there!

All the best.

Viv

[Serjames]

restaurant... scratch that, Tony has decided to stay in cardiff and farm rare breed sheep.

Seriously.. !

[NFS]

Originally Posted by LRS

Hi All

I purchased by car in June 07 and activated the free 6 month subscription in July 07.

I then received the annual renewal for £120. This is where this email thread journey began.

Thanks to a number of You fellow forum members (special thanks to Vivekk) I contacted BMW UK, armed with important information.

There “official” response was as follows:

- Regardless of when you purchased your car, as long as you did not activate the free 6 month Assist prior to Sept 07, then you could now activate it for free until 2010.
- If, however, you did activate it prior to Sept 07, your only option for renewal is to pay £120 per annum. (My situation)

To be fair to the person on the other end of the phone, they even thought the official BMW UK standing was unfair to those people like me, but that they were only following what they were told.

I continued to politely and calmly insist that my situation was very unfair and that I felt very let down and disappointed by BMW, of which I have now owned 3. The person on the other end of the phone said that they would go and discuss this with someone to see if anything could be done and then ring me back.

True to their word, the person rang me back later that day and said that, as an exception, they would renew my subscription free for another year as a good will gesture. Obviously, something is better than nothing.

This whole experience has indicated to me that there is genuine confusion within BMW UK on this matter and that maybe BMW UK is only now just realising that they have a serious customer support issue that they are going to have to manage very carefully.

LRS

It's not a bad response.

BMW have made a poor decision on the eligability for the free trial, so if I were an existing customer I would be complaining too.

[BC4J]

This morning my renewal for ConnectedDrive arrived in the post. My 6 months is up and they want £120 for a year. They can forget that b(ll-cks for starters! I spent serious money specing my car to the hilt and am not prepared to take this hit also. This weekend I will be composing a letter letting them know what I think about this nonsense. I'll let you know how it goes.

[Serjames]

You tell em BC !

[BC4J]

Originally Posted by BC4J

This morning my renewal for ConnectedDrive arrived in the post. My 6 months is up and they want £120 for a year. They can forget that b(ll-cks for starters! I spent serious money specing my car to the hilt and am not prepared to take this hit also. This weekend I will be composing a letter letting them know what I think about this nonsense. I'll let you know how it goes.

Result! My polite but firm letter worked - 3 years ConnectedDrive for zip.

[NFS]

Originally Posted by BC4J

Result! My polite but firm letter worked - 3 years ConnectedDrive for zip.

Nice work

It's a nice system really, I tend to use the 'send to car' function from google maps mostly, but I've also buzzed them a couple of times for destinations and phone numbers on the move. Works pretty well.

It's not worth £10 a month though.

[vivekk]

Originally Posted by BC4J

Result! My polite but firm letter worked - 3 years ConnectedDrive for zip.

Well done- perhaps you'd like to post a template of the letter on here for other unfortunate, 'paying' Assist members to make use of?

Viv

[dxb335d]

How can i get it for free?

[330cdsport]

Originally Posted by dxb335d

How can i get it for free?

If you have never activated BMW Assist/Connected Drive up-to-now (which i suspect you haven't) then you will be eligible for the free subscription. Check earlier in this thread for the download form which you need to fill in and fax off.

[BC4J]

Originally Posted by vivekk

Well done- perhaps you'd like to post a template of the letter on here for other unfortunate, 'paying' Assist members to make use of?

Viv

If it'll help glad to. In Germany at the moment but will post up when I get home on Friday.

[vivekk]

Originally Posted by BC4J

If it'll help glad to. In Germany at the moment but will post up when I get home on Friday.

Viv

[BC4J]

Originally Posted by BC4J

If it'll help glad to. In Germany at the moment but will post up when I get home on Friday.

As per a previous post, I wrote to BMW Customer Service complaining about their demand for £120/annum to continue the initial 6 month Assist sub. If you're interested, below is the content of the letter:


BMW Customer Information Service
Europa House
Bartley Way
Hook
Hampshire
RG27 9UF


Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing with reference to your recent letter, dated xx/xx/xx, regarding account renewal of BMW ConnectedDrive. My car registration number is xxxx xxx.

I am not happy that I am expected to pay £120 to renew this for the next 12 months. I spent a considerable amount of money purchasing this car from new last July. It is a highly specified model and includes almost every option. I also know that owners who bought their BMW at a similar time to mine but who did not register with ConnectedDrive until September 2007 onwards are not having to pay the £120 renewal. The same applies to cars purchased since September. This is not a fair and equitable situation.

Unless you can offer me similar arrangements I have no intention of renewing. Regarding the car itself I have found it to be fantastic in every way. However, your expectations regarding ConnectedDrive are to the contrary and impacting negatively on my view about the marque.

Yours faithfully..."

Adapt it to your reqs and have a go. Good luck!

[vivekk]

Thanks BC, although if I were in the same position, I'd have written far more 'brutally'.

Viv

[BC4J]

Originally Posted by vivekk

Thanks BC, although if I were in the same position, I'd have written far more 'brutally'.

Viv

I'm a big softie really But it did work, thankfully!

[SiBurt]

Originally Posted by BC4J

As per a previous post, I wrote to BMW Customer Service complaining about their demand for £120/annum to continue the initial 6 month Assist sub. If you're interested, below is the content of the letter:


BMW Customer Information Service
Europa House
Bartley Way
Hook
Hampshire
RG27 9UF


Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing with reference to your recent letter, dated xx/xx/xx, regarding account renewal of BMW ConnectedDrive. My car registration number is xxxx xxx.

I am not happy that I am expected to pay £120 to renew this for the next 12 months. I spent a considerable amount of money purchasing this car from new last July. It is a highly specified model and includes almost every option. I also know that owners who bought their BMW at a similar time to mine but who did not register with ConnectedDrive until September 2007 onwards are not having to pay the £120 renewal. The same applies to cars purchased since September. This is not a fair and equitable situation.

Unless you can offer me similar arrangements I have no intention of renewing. Regarding the car itself I have found it to be fantastic in every way. However, your expectations regarding ConnectedDrive are to the contrary and impacting negatively on my view about the marque.

Yours faithfully..."

Adapt it to your reqs and have a go. Good luck!

I've just sent off my copy.

Thanks BC!

Si.

[SiBurt]

Just a quick update on the above...

I got in last night to find a letter from BMW confirming that they are prepared, in this instance, to offer me a free three year subscription and have upgraded my account accordingly!

Once again, thanks BC!

Si.

[dxb335d]

i dont even know how to activate my assist thing!

[NFS]

Originally Posted by dxb335d

i dont even know how to activate my assist thing!

Carlos, read this thread again and do a search. If you haven't worked out how to do it by then, I would assume that you'll never be able to work out how to use it once it's activated.