darex I'm SO happy it worked for East Coast shipments too. Now...you can start a new thread with your experience, so people can get that timing down too. You're lucky, you get your car A LOT faster than we do. When does yours come in?

 

ETA 7/2/14. Submitted order 5/31/14. Pretty fast!

KIAs hit the West Coast ages before the East Coast. Just how it is. :-)

D

 

Hi, my name is Kim, and I have Mini Mania.

I realized today, that you all are my support group, and NOBODY understands the excitement and anticipation of waiting for my car, like all of you do. I talk with my friends, and they look at me with frowd brows, and shake their head. You, homies, get me.

I woke up with a little less excitement today, because I had no ship to look for and stalk. I have no way to channel this 8 week behavior, into the next stage of delivery, and I feel empty.

Some of you have been lurkers on this thread, I see there's almost 1300 views since I started it, but not nearly as many posts. That's okay, I hope you all have enjoyed it. For those that have posted, and have become avatar friends, thank you for taking the chance to share your experience and thoughts with us. Knowing there are so many out there, feeling the same way, makes me feel, ever so slightly, less insane.

So today I sigh, not knowing what to do with my time, until I get the faithful call saying our car is ready. I guess I'll go garden, find a new hobby, or start shopping for products to improve and take care of our first new car. A car with so much personality, I can't stand it!

Again, thank you. My name is Kim, and I'm a Mini Maniac.

 

Just for the record, the Fedora left Port Hueneme this morning at 9:30am. Our cars disembarked at that port, and are now firmly on land.

 

Hi. My name is Becky and I've never cared about a car so much. Should I be worried about this? And I'm still "on order." I feel my condition will get much worse before it gets better. Well, you know what they say... the first step in solving a problem....

 

Hi Becky, welcome to the group.

Yes, it's a roller coaster of emotion. Watching the ship go through the locks was THE most exciting part of the trip...until it landed at the dock. Now? Nothing until they call.

In NC you won't have to wait as long, which will be a relief--yet still, a wait is a wait. Maybe you can whittle away the days, looking for port webcams. Start a NC group, look for BMW owners on the same ship. ANYTHING to support you through. In the meantime, we are here for you!

Why are we such morons?

Thanks for stepping forward, we are an insane bunch of Mini parents, but that's okay!

 

So I checked the status on the owner's lounge and the 866 number just for the heck of it and they are way behind. Owner's lounge still says en route and 866 automated response says it's at the port waiting for a ship. If it wasn't for this forum I wouldn't know that my MCS is already here. Ah well. Might have to stop by dealer today to see if they have an estimate on when they will have it.

Anyone got a call from their dealer yet?

 

Checked Wallenius website yesterday and my vin status was "discharged". Got a call from the MA an hour or two later saying it was on its way to the distribution center with 7-14 day delivery expectation. I would think most are in similar status.

95 days and counting. Last of the R55's represent.

 

Thanks Babydoll '14, I didn't even think of looking at Wallenius Wilhelmsen's website ( https://att.2wglobal.com/gstattweb/o...ckSearchResult ), but when I put my VIN number in, it says "discharged," too. Attached is what the manifest looks like.

What's odd is that it says that it got 'Liner released' and 'customs released,' the day before it hit port (25th), then discharged the day after it actually hit port (27th). It hit port on the 26th according to Marine Traffic tracking. So was it a typo, or do they clear the first two while at sea? Who knows?

We haven't gotten a call from our MA yet. Let me just go on record, that for all of you waiting on Mini Lounge to give you any type of satisfaction, you won't get it. It sucks, and is useless. We are now two days past the ship being in port, and they still haven't updated it. It took a little over a week to tell us it was 'en route.' I can't get no satisfaction...from Mini on this one. I mean, none of their video's work, nothing is up to date, it's just bad.

I WANT MY CAR!!!

 

They're pre-cleared before leaving South Hampton these days, from what I've read. Long ago (years!) it required physical inspection to get those, now its paper work filled out beforehand, so the release is a formality.

The order the stuff appears when unloading gets odd, for instance, mine was unloaded the 11th, but not until the 13th did the Customs/Liner release show up, dated the 12th, and then on the 14th, the Discharge line showed up, dated the 11th.

 

My owners lounge was updated with an expected delivery date! 7/2!

 

SeppTB, thanks for sharing your experience. It's really odd.

cwginac Yippy! I truly am excited for you. You ARE going to have a Mini 4th of July! Please remind me what part of the west coast you are from...Reno?

Nothing has updated itself on our Mini Lounge...what part gave you a date? "At distribution center" or "At Mini dealer?" Just so we know what to look for and where.

 

Your estimated delivery date will show up on the 'Review Order Details' tab of the Owner's Lounge. It is VERY estimated. My estimate was the 15th, a Sunday, my dealership is closed on Sundays... and the car didn't even get to their lot until the 19th. But that's where you can see the official computer guess

Also at this point the phone and web tracking become essentially useless. Maybe you'll get lucky and they'll update on time, but the phone line for me regressed and started saying my car was "at the port awaiting a ship" after hitting the VDC, and the web never updated beyond "At distribution center" before I took delivery.

 

SeppTB

You are an angel. Thank you for alerting us of your experience, it helps those of us that are antsy, at this new stage, to be prepared.

Who knew such a peerless company could be such Sadists? Why bother with the Mini Lounge and 866 number if you're just going to tick off your new customer, right from the start, with false info?

It took so little effort for the outside shipping company to sedate and feed our expectancy. Clearly the process of informing is not difficult for the ship, so it shouldn't be inside Mini's own website and branding.

I wrote the company telling them their links to video's didn't work in the "Owners Lounge," she wrote back saying it did. I checked on three different computers and servers, they didn't work. I wrote back saying they didn't, and she said they took them down...they're still there, not working. Okay. Clearly, they just want the illusion of great online customer service, but they don't follow through.

This scares me a bit, about how they're service is going to be when I need them to fix my car. I think I'll get an extended warranty, through my credit union which was half the price for the same services plus some; that will allow me to get the car fixed anywhere...not just the dealership. They're too far in between anyway, if something happens on a trip.

I wonder if BMW owners have the same problem with notification. They pay the big bucks, but Mini's certainly inching up, they're going to need to step up to the plate here, and get this worked out.

In the meantime, my excitement is slightly waning, which maybe is a good thing, it will let me look at this car a little more clearly when we see it. So far, I've been a little Moonstruck...ignoring some signs that will need to be addressed. They already put one thing on the car that we didn't want, and are giving it to us, no I see there's another, so we'll be getting that, too, for free.

For anyone out there that has already picked up there car, what sort of pressure did anyone get at the dealership to get various warranties, add ons, anything more we should expect to be bled of?

 

The link to video's in the "Owners Lounge" didn't work for me either with Windowns7/Fireofox. Maybe should ask her what OS/Browser worked for her if someone is still interested.

 

BMW tracking is essentially identical to our own, just the branding is changed but the underlying system is the same. Also takes them a few days longer as the German port is two stops before the UK port on most ship schedules, and the rail journey from factory to port is a good deal longer. But otherwise, same ships, same phone system, same strange delays and mismatches, same distribution centers.

I wonder what percentage of people bother with orders vs buying from stock, and then what percentage of those who order obsessively track the order like all of us here do Might be a matter of 'works good enough for that 2% customers that actually use it'

 

My owner's lounge review details tab still says en route :( cwginac you're lucky you have an estimated time!

I just want to get it before 4th of July. I have a family party on the 4th and I really want to show my new MCS off :P

 

It's hard to tell if all people that order, are as obsessive as us. Like minds to find each other, and we certainly did here! Being that there have been 1725 views of this thread in the last month, I'd say A LOT of people feel the same way, they just don't speak up.

I do know, however, when we were sitting in the dealership hammering out details (we are the first car our MA sold), the other MA nearby got 5 calls for status updates while we were in there...maybe 2 hours. He said he spends a lot of time following up.

I like that we got the exact color combo we wanted, and extras, yet I don't know if this anticipation is worth it. I've had kids, and I wasn't this bad waiting for them.

Being that I'm searching, looking for anything, I'm finding I'm getting annoyed with the haters taking over F56 forums. You don't like it, great, more for us that do. I'm happy with my extra 5" in length and 2" in width so I can feel safer in my car. It's better than being in a tiny midget clown car, because seriously...we were too tall for the other cars. Driving like Mr. Bean, with our knees by our ears just really wasn't an option for us.

I'm looking forward to it, but waiting is a whole painful process.

 

Tonight, before I went to bed, I checked the Mini Lounge, and the information was changed. Yowsa!

Mini Lounge updated to show "At Distribution Center" and the details section showed estimated delivery July 4, 2014. So...I guess we'll see, but at least it was a change! See attached example of what that looks like.

Maybe, just maybe, they'll be a little hope of a July 4th birthday. We'll keep you posted on delivery.

 

Thanks for sharing this information. I just checked mine and it says estimated delivery July 3, 2014!

 

Estimated delivery 7/14!? I'm only 6 hours away...if that holds true, that'd be day 111. Crushed.

 

Mini brothers and sisters.

I'll go ahead and say it, we're jealous and envious of others that are getting theirs first. Yet...we ARE truly happy they are getting theirs. We have to live vicariously through their excitement.

Alas, we ARE brothers and sisters...and there IS competition. What siblings don't want to beat each other down, when the other gets something before the other. We have to remember what we have been told by our parents, or in my case what I have told my children (as I am an only child). ZIP IT and be happy for your brother and sister. haha

My husband is whining because cwginac's estimated delivery date is two days earlier than ours, and his delivery truck has to pass our dealership in Sacramento on its way to Reno. "But...why can't they put our car on his truck?" Insert foot stomp here. Well, he didn't stomp his foot, but you get the picture. It just seems practical to slip our little car on the same truck, right?

As SeppTB said, they're only estimates, and we need to not put too much credence into it. I'm guessing we won't get them on those dates, so try not to get angry or anxious; and if we do get the cars earlier...it will just be a bonus. Otherwise, I'm going to through a hissy fit, and other's experiences have proven that we shouldn't expect those delivery dates; SO I'm on hissy fit prevention mode.

We'll sit back and wait patiently, like good little boys and girls. While sitting there not so secretly hoping we're the first to get our car. There's another shipload coming in next week, so they need to clear out the place and get them on trucks and trains rather rapidly, that's the best thing we have going in our favor.

 

My MA left me a voicemail while I was at lunch today and he said my car just got delivered and I can pick up my MCS either tonight or Wednesday night! I called him back but I got his voicemail so I'm waiting for him to call me back. I am soo excited, I can't sit still!!!!!!!!!!

 

Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh MiniJeanne, I'm SO excited for you...TRULY. It makes me all giddy. Really, I've got happy tears.

Are you getting it right now? Maybe? How dare he not answer your call immediately, after leaving that message. Hopefully you got him and you're there tonight picking it up.

I want you to post pictures ASAP, on this thread, of you hugging your new car. We're all on this journey together, Fedora/Mini family, so we want to share in your excitement. Just use the paperclip above, to attach your pic.

So...any news from any other Fedora co-passengers?

 

Thank you! Yes! I picked her up tonight! My MA was on lunch when I called, he called me right back as soon as he got back to his office. I am so happy right now! I'll post pics as soon as my phone gets some charged. It died from taking too many pictures.

I hope everyone gets theirs soon!!!