Our 2020 Countryman SE arrived at the port of Baltimore on 8/3 and it's now more than a month later. We were told that a "stop sale" was placed on these vehicles and that it would be cleared up "soon." Our dealer indicated there was a problem with a charging cable on one of these vehicles and "the government" placed a stop sale, requiring all vehicles to be updated/tested in some capacity.
I've placed "the government" in quotes because my MINI salesman and the regional sales director keep referring to things that way, which I find ridiculous. There is a specific agency, staffed with specific people, who have placed this "stop sale," and there's an orderly way in which these issues are usually resolved. "The government" is people. Just people. I have pointed this out in an effort to push things forward, but my contacts are either so far out of the loop that they don't understand how to move things forward, or there is something they are not telling me, instead blaming this delay on "the government," as if it's some black box from which cars are never released.
Then from another MINI forum, I found out that what my dealer had been referring to as a "stop sale" was actually a recall. Apparently the welding beads may not have been removed from the battery pack, which could cause a potential fire risk.
![]()
I think my dealer is not, um, let's be charitable and say he's not proactive. (How folks like this make a living as salespeople is beyond me, but that's a conversation for another day.) He claimed not to know about this recall. In any event, I've been told I can have a loaner for two weeks, and then "hopefully" they'll have my car by then. Hope (of course) is not a plan, so I wonder if I should have hope for a car in two weeks.
I'm wondering (a) if anyone here knows more about this recall than I do, and (b) whether anybody can address why the car I was sold as a 2020 vehicle shows up as a 2021 vehicle when I search the U.S. National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration for my particular VIN. If that's true, I suppose it's not a horrible thing, but I actually didn't like the 2021 changes to the Countryman SE (digital dashboard display, black styling instead of chrome on the exterior, and Union Jack taillights), and I was told when I ordered in May that my order would be "one of the last 2020 orders" before the line was re-tooled for 2021 vehicles. So I'm confused as to whether I was misled. Again, not the biggest deal in the world, but just another point of terrible communication between my dealer and me (or perhaps evidence of the world's most clueless dealer).
I've placed "the government" in quotes because my MINI salesman and the regional sales director keep referring to things that way, which I find ridiculous. There is a specific agency, staffed with specific people, who have placed this "stop sale," and there's an orderly way in which these issues are usually resolved. "The government" is people. Just people. I have pointed this out in an effort to push things forward, but my contacts are either so far out of the loop that they don't understand how to move things forward, or there is something they are not telling me, instead blaming this delay on "the government," as if it's some black box from which cars are never released.
Then from another MINI forum, I found out that what my dealer had been referring to as a "stop sale" was actually a recall. Apparently the welding beads may not have been removed from the battery pack, which could cause a potential fire risk.
I'm wondering (a) if anyone here knows more about this recall than I do, and (b) whether anybody can address why the car I was sold as a 2020 vehicle shows up as a 2021 vehicle when I search the U.S. National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration for my particular VIN. If that's true, I suppose it's not a horrible thing, but I actually didn't like the 2021 changes to the Countryman SE (digital dashboard display, black styling instead of chrome on the exterior, and Union Jack taillights), and I was told when I ordered in May that my order would be "one of the last 2020 orders" before the line was re-tooled for 2021 vehicles. So I'm confused as to whether I was misled. Again, not the biggest deal in the world, but just another point of terrible communication between my dealer and me (or perhaps evidence of the world's most clueless dealer).
