UK New 94Ah delivered at dealer, but they can't register it

[terminus]

MY FURTHER UPDATE (Wednesday evening, 10th Aug)
The dealer did come up with a loan car for me last Saturday, for four days.
That was under their optimistic asumption that my new car would be working by today ....
But not the case! The replacement part from Germany arrived but it has not cured the problem. I'm sad (sad and angry), but by now, I'm afraid, not in the least surprised. My feelings about BMW have changed from confident to sanguine but now I rate them as quite incompetent. Can it really take them a fortnight to diagnose a fault? On a new car?
Well, they're having another go, and have ordered yet another part. I have told them (frankly my friends are telling me I have already been much too long-suffering and indulgent) that I am giving them 7 days to get the car working or I will reject it.
I will follow up on the advice given by the links kindly given by MikeS earlier in this topic, when he advised me to reject. Thanks for the advice, MikeS, and I would appreciate any other help on the process from any others here.
I have spent the afternoon diddlin' around on the internet (a process which I notice is nowadays pompously termed "research"!) to identify a model of car that most closely appraoches my ideal - that would be a small EV REx with an electric range of 100 miles and a petrol range of >200 miles on top. The next nearest to the I3 REx for that seems to be the Golf GTE Nav. It's power/speed exceeds what I need, but it has the possibility of all the fancy boystoys gizmos, which I fancy as a once-in-a-lifetime indulgence. Has onyone got any suggestions other than that Golf?
As far as price is concerned, for a similar spec. to the i3 it is a couple of thousand pounds more, and I think the OLEV grant discount is less. They are quoting a similar delivery time to what BMW quoted for my i3. I notice that they give a "track and trace" system to follow the production delivery process (which is what US customers of BMW seem to get but here in Britaiin BMW does not offer this.)
By next Wednesday I will know which way things are going. It looks like a German car, either way.
Any thoughts, about my predicament, anyone? I'd be interested in comments from non-UK readers, too.
More anon .......

 

[I33t]

My suggestion is to escalate the issue to BMW head office.

Each BMW dealer has a level of competence but we don't know what it is. Has your dealer sold many i3's and do they have i3 specialists on staff? Is the BMW dealer you are with an actual i-dealer? Maybe they don't have the required expertise?

If you give BMW head office a good summary and let them know you have waited too long for your dealer to resolve a problem on a new car sitting in the workshop, and you are about to back out of the deal, then I would expect BMW to pay attention and get the required support to get your car on the road ASAP.

Once the car is hooked up in the workshop, and connected via the internet then assessment would be done. There could be a wait for parts, but the correct parts should have arrived, not the wrong parts. Something is not right here.

Good luck!

 

[terminus]

Thanks I33t, for your post.
I have escalated it to BMWi Head office. Well, I believe I have: I have been copying them, BMWi UK, (they have the same postal address as BMW UK Head office (Farnborough)) with relevant emails and have spoken to them on the phone a couple of times. They make "positive noises", but as far as I can tell (?) have not physically intervened. There has been absolutely no reaction to my eamil telling them that I will be rejecting the car if still not working next week
The dealer in question is indeed an "i" specialist and is a very big outfit. As well as the Leicester branch they have 100 sites across Europe - UK and Italy, Germany and Spain (you'll see I've looked at their Corporate Website!).
I am told by the dealer that they have been confering with other technicians about the problem, whether that includes BMW in Germany I'm not sure, but I would assume so. But then I would assume that the problem would have been fixed within a few days at most, of course! I might have been more tolerant but for BMW's original cock-up by failing to register the new model with OLEV causing the intial 7 days' delay.
I33t's phrase "something is not right here" could not be more apt.
I admit the loan car is a delight to drive - pity it's not a REx as I can't make the dutiful trips to visit my sick Mum in Wales; a 300-mile round trip I normally do every month.
It's been interesting looking at what I shall get if I have to reject this order. The nearest alternatives are the Golf GTE Nav or the Audi A3 Sportback e-tron: delivery would be Dec and Jan respectively. Both larger and more powerful than I need, and having only tens of miles on battery. Surprisingly, hardly more expensive for comparable packages/accessories.

 

[terminus]

Well, I got the car as finally arranged last Monday so have had it for a week, now, so I think I need to report.
It is certainly a delight to drive, very responsive and direct - as I remember it, not unlike the original BMC Mini in the 1960s.
I love the high ride & good visibility. I've yet to feel comfortable with all the electronic gizmos, but it's going to be fun to learn. I can't imagine what it'll like with the lane-control and clever cruise control. As for the park-assist!
This weekend will invlove a 300 mile round trip in one day, so I can experience how the public charging and petrol refuellling goes.
My bad experiences with the BMW dealer so far are still tainting my enjoyment of the car, which I really resent. And I have a deep-seated fear that something horrible is going to go wrong at the most awkward moment.
But I must say that in practice it is behaving beautifully, so no complaints about the car itself.