Woohoo!! Nice glad it has shown up

 

Yay! It must be nice to get some concrete news about your baby and its production!!!

When I log into the OL, mine still says "Scheduled for Production". I called my dealer and Ask-Mini this morning and was told. "Your car is (wait for it, wait for it --- that's right, you guessed it) IN PRODUCTION".

This makes a total of 6 weeks my vehicle has been IN PRODUCTION.
Today I got pissy . I've been so patient and today I kinda lost it and gotta tell you, it got me NOWHERE. They know NOTHING. ASK-MINI and my dealer (Crevier of Santa Ana) are CLUELESS and there is absolutely no REAL communication between the factory, ASK-MINI, the Owner's Lounge and my dealer. None, Zip, Nada, Zero!

I begged both to just tell me WHY my car was stuck "In-Production" just tell me so I can get over it. Tell me it's the red stitching for the leather seats and it's being spun by Rumpelstiltskin with particles of gold throughout it, but tell me something. Yep, you got it...I got NOTHING.

ASK-MINI explained my dealer is using all the resources available to them by staying in touch with the factory. Yet my dealer tells me they can't talk to the factory, that the factory does not allow dealers to talk to them otherwise they would have dealers calling them every day. Really people, get your stories straight before you pacify me further with Mis-truths. Hell, let's be honest, it feels like LIES!

6 weeks of being sweetly patted on the head and told...."I know you are anxious for your Mini to arrive and you just can't get it soon enough.Well, your Mini is in production and should be through the plant shortly. You'll be driving her soon enough with the wind in your hair". Seriously ASK-MINI, and Crevier of Santa Ana, stop treating me like a child and tell me WTF is going on. At least then I could chillax (a little) but I wouldn't be constantly looking for some kind of update or checking if today production had completed! The lack of attention to their customers is really SHOCKING!!

See, I'm on a BIG soapbox today. Cranky, pissy and just overall OVER it today!!! I'm allowing my positivity to be drained and I'm succumbing to bitchiness. 6 weeks in production and almost 10 weeks since I ordered her and still no end in sight.

I know you all know this but for some reason, being able to come on here and rant helps me to let it go and move on for the day.

Ok, I feel better. I'm going to put a smile on and be happy for those of you that just ordered or those that are getting their MIini's in the coming days!!!

Thanks for the support!
GG

 

Some things never change... MINI#1 was a 2003 BRG/BRG MC that we ordered in Oct '02 from MINI of Sterling and didn't take delivery until the end of Jan '03. That one was extremely painful - it sat at the VDC in Bayonne for two weeks... We showed up at one of the first ever DC MINI events in our GMC Jimmy and placed a sign on the windshield that said "Have you seen this car? Last seen at the Bayonne VDC..." with a photo of the MINI - ok so one of the reasons we did it was because our MA and the MINI Sales Manager were there.

MINI#2 was a 2005 HB (HyperBLue)/W MCS that we ordered in Dec 04 from MINI of Towson. Possibly one of the worst delivery experiences ever... After spending 4+ hours at the dealer we were sent home with a 3 Series and the car was flatbedded to our home that evening. There's actually a thread on NAM with pictures of that experience...

And yes, I've done the pre-delivery accessory shopping with the other MINIs, this time I probably won't do as much as there's only two things on the list - a shortie antenna and driving lights...

 

Good! Maybe then I won't be the only CMS All4 at DCminimetro's anymore!! Mine is getting on the boat today (hopefully)

 

I see "OC" does that stand for Orange County California???
Welcome to the Board You are such a seasonsed veteran, maybe you can help us novices (2nd Mini but first time ordering) out with some much needed advice

 

Woo-hoo! Just called ASK-MINI and was told that they started building my MINI at 7:46am this morning! That's a heck of a lot better news than the Owners Lounge status of "On Order". Got my VIN #, too.

The automated system said my car was scheduled for production with no date, but the live operator gave me the happy news.

So it's true what they say in the "Track Your Mini" thread: the live operators have more up-to-date info that any of the automated systems.

-Brett

 

Actually as of right now you will be... We moved out of the DC area back in '05 to Northern CA, and in '09 moved to Northeast OH... There may be another move in the summer, but I don't know yet... I've still got a lot of friends from DCMM and haven't broken the news to them (or to that many other folks) that we've got another MINI on order...

We're so experienced with this that we've been to Plant Oxford and taken the tour... And we've been Southampton where the cars are loaded onto the W&W ships. There's a few photos of the car park the MINIs wait in prior to loading in Southampton over in my gallery. Those photos should be from 2004...

 

BTW somebody mentioned that they though that a vehicle was delayed because the convertible batch wasn't being run... Actually they don't batch produce cars at Plant Oxford. What gets run is what is up in the order hopper - so a Euro spec Cooper may follow a US spec Clubbie, which may follow an Japanese spec Convertible. MINI's just in time logistics supports this almost flawlessly. The same goes for the paint booth - they don't do a color run and can handled multiple different colors and color combinations coming through one right after the other.

I don't know for sure, but I'd bet the CM plant in Austria works the same way...

 

I obviously didn't have my glasses on -- I see now that it says DC.

 

I was trying to figure out where you got OC from!

 

Wow! 6 weeks in production is a really long time...

The only way I can even see that this is possible...is if the factory shutdown happened while your car was on the line, and when it started back up - your car was only, say 4 or 5 days in to the 8 day production process (Dec 17th maybe the 18th to the 21st). So you still would have 3 or 4 days of production after the 21st when the factory operations resumed.

So maybe! Hopefully! On the 25th or 26th you'll get the status changed to waiting for transport....

 

Grats,

I ordered on the 15th had a production # about a week later but called them yesterday and they said it should start production late this week or sometime next week. Maybe I will call your rep as I like his/her info much better.

 

I'm in NE Ohio too! Did you order yours at Classic Mini also?

 

Been saying that "None, Zip, Nada, Zero!" is basically the way it works.
None of them seem to be able to talk to the other at any real level which I get part of that but there should be some common ground for them to communicate.

 

My first post here. Ordered my JCW hardtop on December 17th and the OL has been showing "ordered" ever since. I called Ask MINI tonight and they say it started production this morning. The dealer said in December that I should expect it in February. I wonder if that's still reasonable.

 

8 days for production, then however long it takes a boat to get to the east coast - lucky you on shipping time, since you don't have to pass through the Panama canal like mine does!

 

Yup... Dealt with them for parts and used to hear lots of good things about their sales folks way back when, so I'm hopeful that this will be better than our last experience...

 

Thank you everyone for sharing. I just called Ask-Mini and they told me my JCW also went into actual production earlier today!

 

Looks like we are all neighbors on the production line this week. Cool!

 

I ordered my car from Mini of Baltimore from a English guy by the name of Benn Edwards on 12/22/12. Moved from order status to production status 01/07/13, by week of 1/14/13 was in production , 1/17/13 went to paint shop and on 1/18/13 went to Quality. released for transport by 1/21/13 and now is awaiting being loaded on a cargo ship in Bermanan DE. Pretty much exactly as Benn discribed it should happen.

Now the information breaks down except that I can put the vin # into the carriers (which I got from Benn) website to see if it got loaded. My vin ends in 999, so far the last vins on the ship that left 1/17/13 are 648 so there are a couple hundred cars waiting to be loaded on the next ship. Its really trial and error as no one can tell you anything other than its sitting in the parking lot. You put in the vin and if no record found you know your car is not on the boat yet. You can go to the Ports webcam and see a sea of cars waiting to be loaded if that make you feel better. Anyway once they load the car, I should be able to search for it, find the ship name and track it. Also the ships manifest will tell you the exact route, ports and date of arrival to my port.

Sorry to hear so many horror stories, except for the long delay around the holidays , my experience has been without incident. I can tell you I live in Pittsburgh and was not happy with the way the sales department at Mini of Pittsburgh treated us. I had approached Benn this past fall about a leftover 2012 CM and he was a very straight forward upfront guy. We hit it off right away and when we decided not to use the Pgh dealership, I called Benn and he was great. He continues to be as well as Ray the Sales Manager. Worth the extra effort to pick it up just to deal with them. If you guys from Mini of Baltimore read this, your the best

 

I hope so too! We've been working with Neal, he's been pretty good so far, and a real nice guy too.

 

1-866-ASK-MINI said my MINI went into production today! The completion and corresponding cargo schedule has been updated in my signature...

 

That's a mighty long boat ride according to your signature line...your Mini is taking an extended cruise of a few months to cross the pond!

 

Not sure what a CMA44 is?? Is it a convertible? Maybe next time I will order from Baltimore. I surely feel like Crevier Santa ana has given me a load of BS from day one! I can't help but think the sold me a line when the said the had a production slot.

It's nice to hear that some Mini's are going through without a hiccup!!!!

 

You just have convertible on the brain...

My guess is Countryman Auto All4 (with an extra 4 added in just for good measure)