Quote:
Originally Posted by jrm_at_bimmer
My experience in all of this: I have a 2013 328i, purchased in December 2014 as a CPO. At the time, I also bought the extended service contract and the maintenance program (I tend to hold onto cars for a long time, so...)
A couple of months ago, when I discovered that the networking services had stopped working, I poked around this site and some others, got the basic story, and called the dealer's service department, who told me to come into the dealer and talk to a Genius, which I did. I just said that my services had stopped working, and that the service guy said that my contract had ended and that the Genius could get me hooked up again (all of which is true, even if I was maybe playing it a little stupid.)
She dug into it and came back with the explanation about the 2G service going away and that there was nothing to be done, etc. I got a little cranky (but politely so) about the value of the car being decreased, images of my bleeding out after an accident because some beancounter had killed my SOS service, etc. She, to her credit, dug back into her website, talked to people in the service department, and, kind of to my surprise, came back to report that they *would* be able to do an upgrade to the new radio. Once they had my car, it took them a week and a half (!) to get the proper approvals from BMW Galactic Headquarters and to find a replacement box that would work, but, in the end, the radio was put in, and I'm now back on line. So, yay.
Minor notes:
* Looking at the paperwork, there's a reference to the work being done "under goodwill", so I may just have gotten lucky. YMMV.
* It seemed to matter that I had gotten the service contract and maintenance program.
Anyway, good luck to all!
|
Yes, you got lucky. Under the terms of the retrofit, your car has to qualify as being able to have the retrofit applied and you have to have current service. The cut off was not due to BMW's fault. It was due to AT&T shutting down the 2G network. A letter was sent out to all people with current service and have cars which can be upgraded. You had to respond back either before your service ended or the network shut down. The letter provided 3 options: 1) get the retrofit done, 2) get a $300 credit for purchases at the BMW accessories store, or 3) $200 Visa card. The network has long been shut down and the fact they did this for you at this point...you should be counting your blessings.