When logging on to the Connected Drive website today, I was prompted "If you want to, why not change your User ID to what your ID is on MyBMW ?". Always a supporter of simplification, I clicked on "Continue" to do it, but the site logged me out again, which surprised me. I then tried logging on again and got the same message. I noticed that changing my user ID was not a choice at all. BMW forced me to it. Meanwhile, I had no access to my car anymore from the web interface. I checked the iRemote app, which still worked (but probably not for very much longer, I gathered).
Suddenly, changing user IDs wasn't such a great prospect anymore. However, I did it anyway. "I'd have to bite the bullet at some point", I thought. When I used the myBMW user ID (email address), ConnectedDrive told me that it didn't recognise the User ID/pw. So I reset the pw it and managed to log on, only to find out that my vehicle wasn't registered against the "new" user ID ! Fancy that.
Whilst making a coffee, I received a text message from BMW, telling me that my car had now been de-registered from my (original) account and that I would not be "able to use any personalised BMW ConnectedDrive Services" in my i3 anymore. Great, this was getting better by the minute.
I sent out a frustrated tweet to BMWi, which obviously went unnoticed - as usual with these marketing accounts, which only pump out "Happy News". I was almost ready to call my BMW dealer, but then noticed that the ConnectedDrive website now offered me to re-register the car again (there must have been a time-delay) by entering a code which was sent to my i3. Thankfully, my car was on the drive and I was able to look up the message for the 5-digit security code.
In the end, I managed to re-register the i3 under my new account and got access to it via iRemote again. But: What looked like a small account change, advertised as an option, turned out to be a nerve-racking 1h episode of a forced account merger by BMW.
All in all, a pretty poor experience and not very well managed/guided at all. I can understand that it is in BMW's interest to merge accounts and keep data like this tidy, but a user should be made aware of the consequences and time involved.
YMMV, but beware if you get this message when logging on to ConnectedDrive - it might not be as simple as it is made out to be.
Suddenly, changing user IDs wasn't such a great prospect anymore. However, I did it anyway. "I'd have to bite the bullet at some point", I thought. When I used the myBMW user ID (email address), ConnectedDrive told me that it didn't recognise the User ID/pw. So I reset the pw it and managed to log on, only to find out that my vehicle wasn't registered against the "new" user ID ! Fancy that.
Whilst making a coffee, I received a text message from BMW, telling me that my car had now been de-registered from my (original) account and that I would not be "able to use any personalised BMW ConnectedDrive Services" in my i3 anymore. Great, this was getting better by the minute.
I sent out a frustrated tweet to BMWi, which obviously went unnoticed - as usual with these marketing accounts, which only pump out "Happy News". I was almost ready to call my BMW dealer, but then noticed that the ConnectedDrive website now offered me to re-register the car again (there must have been a time-delay) by entering a code which was sent to my i3. Thankfully, my car was on the drive and I was able to look up the message for the 5-digit security code.
In the end, I managed to re-register the i3 under my new account and got access to it via iRemote again. But: What looked like a small account change, advertised as an option, turned out to be a nerve-racking 1h episode of a forced account merger by BMW.
All in all, a pretty poor experience and not very well managed/guided at all. I can understand that it is in BMW's interest to merge accounts and keep data like this tidy, but a user should be made aware of the consequences and time involved.
YMMV, but beware if you get this message when logging on to ConnectedDrive - it might not be as simple as it is made out to be.
