Since receiving my production number approximately 10 days ago, I have visited the Owner's Lounge approximately 72 times. My order details have remained the same since Day 1 (which include a few discrepancies that are somewhat worrisome).

My MA faxed my order detail sheet to me and I was able to confirm that everything was ordered correctly (save one item, no biggie). Has anyone else experienced this kind of lag with the order details in the Owner's Lounge? Would avoiding the O.L. be wise as far as maintaining sanity is concerned? Every time I see my flubbed details it makes me panic a little.

 

Yes, OL in my experience waiting for my MINI's production lagged ASK-MINI by 2-4 days. My car was on a ship and "enroute" 2 days before OL told me it was enroute. Also, I think OL will not show VIN info until just 1-2 days before production actually begins. Probably best to talk to your MA or call ASK-MINI and talk to a real person. Good luck!

 

Sorry spy, you seem quite insane. The wait is long. I solved the problem by buying a car for my wife during the wait, in appreciation for her letting me order the MINI. Instead of visiting the owners lounge, I spent the time discovering the ins and outs of W rated tires.

I suspect the owners lounge and the rest are ramping up for the 07 introduction and the worker folks are probably stressed themselves. Your car will be built, shipped and delivered. Your delight will be complete. The wait will fade into the background, much like the time you yourself spent in your mother's womb.

 

BlueBonnet - It's not about the wait. I knew going into this process that it would take serious time before I received the car.

What made me paranoid were the mistakes in the order detail screen, i.e. things that were "on order" that I definitely didn't want and vice versa with the things I definitely did.

Also, the 72 O.L. visits was a bit of an exaggeration.

 

... You said you called your MA?

You said only 1 item was missing? Okay.. Then that is the item that is missing and thats it.

Quit relying on Owners lounge people! Its never going to have every little bit of info on it

 

I agree Spy. In any event the nature of the MINI dealership is that they will leave you satisfied. It is very difficult to track detail and corrections take some time to catch up.

I had an error on my order which the dealer could fix and they did.

As I remember I had a few weeks before the build to make adjustments. It will take time for the web site to catch up.

I know you are not insane, but just put into a stressful position. I'm not aware of any posts from owners whose cars didn't come as ordered. My mistake was a miscommunication with my sales guy about a change. . . and as I said he fixed it even after the car arrived.

 

I felt a lot better after I was able to review my MA's fax.

If I seem a little antsy it's because this is my first major purchase and I'm a major perfectionist. This may be one of those times when I should loosen up a little.

 

Jen, OL was missing several of my options including
Black Roof/Mirrors
Anthracite Headliner
Limited Slip Differential
--
and some JCW parts (maybe these just don't show on
build spec??)
Aero Kit
Leather JCW Sport Steering Wheel
JCW Roof Spoiler
Floor mats

I wrote to MINI.Assistance@askMINIUSA.COM and a helpful fellow named Patrick wrote me back with my full option list. It helped me feel a little more sure about my order. I can understand your concern with some folks now having to reorder cars.

 

Time to start calling ASK-MINI....usually they can tell you a little more than the OL will show...and from my experience I usually knew more than my MA as well by calling ASK-MINI.

 

1. We know the OL isn't up to date and lags. That's to be expected, really. The cost of implementing real-time tracking status vs. the benefit just doesn't work out at all. It's not like we've got to have someone at the dock to meet the car ourselves.
2. Most import, the OL doesn't ever seem to have have the full order detail.
3. Dealer-installed accessories will probably never show up there, because they're not on the order to MINI, they're on your dealer order. (Driving lights, floor mats, etc.) Whether this will change with port-installed options or not is anyone's guess.

For #1, expecting real-time updates is a bit much.
For #2, this should be fixed
For #3, there should be a disclaimer about dealer installed parts, like there is in the configurator.

I suggest that folks email MINI USA (not a concerted letter writing campaign) expressing your concerns over #2. There is a Contact section on the main site that allows you to send emails. There may be one in the OL.

After all, this drives calls to ASK-MINI, which costs them money. The website is cheaper for them than staffing a phone line. It also drives calls to the dealer, which disturbs them when they could be selling cars.

 

There is no reason that the OL should be any further behind than what the live people at ask-mini can tell us. Their info is already in a system, just put more of that where we can see it.

 

Looking at the OL is like looking at a clock when you can't wait to get out of work. Time seems to stand still, and it's torture. I would avoid it altogether.

 

Apparently ASK MINI doesnt know where the car is after it leaves Southhampton..

(Just called) and they have no idea if its at VDC or not .. Found that kinda funny =P

 

Ideally, but the website won't tie into that system directly. Usually you do things like that for security reasons among others, and real-time replication of data like that is expensive, from a maintenance standpoint and a performance standpoint on the main systems. So in designing this, it would make sense to have that info uploaded from the order system into the OL system nightly, after hours, to reduce the risk of that upload interfering with the ordering system. Same reason Exxon stations close at midnight to upload their register receipts into the corporate systems. You could do that real-time, but it would be risky and cost money.

Last thing you want is the OL bringing down the order management system, either because of a bungled update, or a DoS attack, or someone hacking in and getting into the back-end systems.

Still, there's ample room for improvement.

And yes, this kind of thing is part of my job (tho not at MINI).

 

Having been part of the group of buyers with the MF steering mix up I may be overly sensitive to problems involving incomplete, inaccurate, or plain missing information. My MA has never initiated a telephone call. When I try to reach him--he is seldom available, being away from his desk from Monday to Thursday--he was always "just going to call" me. I was able to reach him at the time my car's specs showed up on the OL because the MF was not shown on the steering wheel. He assured me that all was well.

The OL currently does not show LSD on my car. When I try to find out about that by email I'm told in Patrick's response that Meg will contact me. No telling when that will be. I have twice asked for a detailed copy of my car's build, but to no avail.

The MiniUSA website is loaded with bells and whistles; it looks cool and boy, is it ever cute! But when it comes to actual information, forget it. I could go on, but I think I’ve given posters a sense of my frustration. Let me hasten to add, that I am not mentally ill, just annoyed and frustrated. Whoever called the present the “information age” overstated the case.

I suspect my car will eventually show up, probably after the autox season is mostly past. . What features it will have are currently unknown, apparently to everyone. But, I’ll keep smiling and watch the adventures of Hammer and Coop.

Grumpy Joe

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I found, like others have mentioned, a call to askmini answered my order questions. I always spoke to a human and only on one occasion did I get a person that knew less about my question than I did. I found that resource great. I stopped following the progress when it was about to dock on this side of the Atlantic. I've found other things to obsess about in the meantime.
I haven't had to deal with my MA much, just to initially check that my order was compete after I made changes.
I sympathize with those who have been frustrated with the lack of assurance that their orders were correct, that would be frustrating.
Spy; I'm sure you've heard the definition of insanity is to continue to do the same thing over and over expecting different results. Don't rely on the OL -- it's a cute gimmick and really not up to speed for us obsesive people.
The technology they are using might work okay (speed wise) for a future Buick owner but not MINI people.
Use askmini, and speak to a human, if the person who answers can not help you they usually put you on hold and actually find out. Only once did I get inaccurate info. I called back in a few minutes and someone else gave me the right info. Humans can be quirky too.

 

Owners Lounge had my 2006 Mini Cooper headed to the wrong dealership in a different city. My MA assured me not to get worried about it, and he was right.

 

I would love to not have to rely on the O.L. for order information. Alas, my MA is so hard to get a hold of I once feared she had gotten fired, and I typically get home from work long after the ASK MINI offices have closed.

In any case, I've learned an important lesson.