Sorry for the long post. I wanted to let the dust settle on this a bit before I posted it. My story is that I actually ordered my x5 35i at the end of May, with a July production, for an early August delivery (to coincide with my lease return).

So, I test drove a few different 2011 35i’s in the month of May and they all had the Cargo Cover installed as standard equipment. My defense was that at the time I placed my order, the vehicle that I used as a benchmark of standard options included the cargo cover so it was not a representation of the vehicle I would be getting in the same model year for the same exact model.

Hence begins my journey of back and forth with some of the most inept and non-responsive customer service representatives I have dealt with. I’m not saying the entire group is like this, but this is just my experience with the few reps I happened to deal with during this process.

In the end (if you make it that far), it was my CA who actually pulled through and not BMWNA customer service. After about my 2nd or 3rd run-in with them I knew I better start documenting specifics in case this got sticky later, and indeed it got very sticky.

The names have been changed to protect the (not so) innocent.

Timeline of Cargo Cover discussions with BMWNA Customer Service:

June 4th - Went to bmwusa.com and filled in the form explaining my situation with the cargo cover and asked for a customer representative to contact me.

June 8th - Received an email that George would be my customer service rep handling the issue, and included a phone number and extension for me to get a hold of him.

June 9th - Called George, no answer - left a voice mail asking him to return my call, never heard back.

June 11th - Called George, no answer - left a voice mail asking him to return my call.

June 14th - George Called! He left a message on my home machine at 1pm, obviously I was at work. At this point I didn't want to give my cell phone number to him as I thought it wouldn't be a problem to catch him in the morning as I had ~2 hr window from when I wake up to when I go to work.

June 15th - Called George in the morning, no answer - left a voice mail asking him to call me tomorrow anytime between 6:30am and 8:30am Pacific Time.

June 16th - No call from George, neither in the morning nor the remainder of the day.

June 20th - Called George, no answer - left a voice mail asking him to call me tomorrow morning anytime between 6:30am and 8:30am Pacific Time.

June 21st - No call from George

June 22nd - George left a voicemail for me at home at around 1pm Pacific and he said that the time window I gave him wouldn't work because he might be busy on the phone during those hours. Thought to myself “Really, you don't have a free 5 minutes to call me any time, any day within those 2 hours?”

June 23rd - Gave up on George, I hadn't even spoken to him since this whole ordeal began - called customer service and asked to be re-assigned to another case manager. They put a lady on the line named Mary and I gave her all the background and she said she will talk to her supervisor and get back to me with a resolution next day. Great I thought, now we're getting somewhere.

June 27th - No call on Monday from Mary so thought I would call her and check up. No answer, left a voice mail and asked her to call me back between 6:30am and 8:30am Pacific Time, any day.

-- A couple weeks pass without any word, thought about giving up --

July 7th - Received a call in the morning from Mary, she said she had good news. She has contacted the Sales Manager at my dealership and informed him that BMWNA would assist to provide the part and installation due to my situation. I reconfirmed with her, "so BMWNA will incur all costs and the dealership will provide the part and installation". She stated yes and they know how to handle all the paperwork as this happens often.

July 7th - Later same day, spoke to my CA who talked to the Sales Manager, he (sales manager) said he had at first received information from BMWNA to provide and install this, but then they opted not to and sent him a follow up saying they could not support it. My CA informed me of this and it didn't make sense to me after my morning conversation with Mary.

July 7th - Later same day, called Mary, no answer - left voice mail explaining to her what had happened, and did not hear back.

July 8th - My CA tried to call Mary, left a voice mail for her and also did not hear back, finally reached her via email but her response was very confusing in the email saying that this will be done for me as goodwill provision but it's not authorized. It's like one statement contradicts the other.

July 8th - Called Mary, no answer - left voice mail to call me urgently, did not hear back.

July 9th - Called Mary again, no answer - left voice mail, did not hear back.

July 12th - Called Mary again, no answer - left voice mail, did not hear back - at around 1pm I called to talk with any customer service rep, got a hold of a gentlemen named David. He said he read her notes on the case and that everything was clear that this would be paid for by BMWNA to the dealer. Said he would call them and straighten things out and call me back ASAP.

July 13th - Did not receive a call from BMWNA, my CA contacted me and stated that neither she nor the sales manager had heard from BMWNA.

July 13th - Called Mary, no answer - left a voice mail asking her to contact me. Went back to the operator, spoke with Samantha. Explained everything once again and she said that she would have to relay this information to Mary and have her get back to me and that she wouldn't be able to personally assist me. Told her to put my cell phone number in the notes once again to have her contact me directly.

July 13th (evening) - When I got home, I found that Mary had left a VM on my home phone even though I had asked her to contact me on my cell phone. Her Voice Mail said that she has told the dealer that they can provide this cover and install as goodwill but they (the dealer) have chosen not to do it, and she cannot force them to do it, only recommend it. This is complete opposite of what my CA has said.

July 14th - Called Mary to try to get a resolution on her message last night. No answer - left VM.

July 14th - My CA finally was able to speak with Mary. Now she says that BMWNA is saying that they support this installation meaning that they feel it is a suggestion or a "good idea", but cannot authorize it. For that they have to get approval from a Regional Rep who I have no idea how to contact. My CA said she will contact him and get back to me. Wow, this is almost like starting over.

July 15th - My CA pulled through for me big time, she contacted her Regional Rep and explained to him all the turmoil run around that I had been given with BMWNA customer service and he agreed to include the Cargo Cover at BMW’s expense.

Finally, the saga concludes with a happy ending after a month and a half: