Unbinding App from previous owner - Painful MG customer service but happy ending

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chrisp

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Location
Shrewsbury
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MG ZS EV
Hi folks,

Just wanted to relay my experience in getting my ZS EV Trophy Long Range (late 2021) unbound from a previous owner's iSmart App. I know there are several posts about this but my experience, and the responses from MG, seemed slightly different to what I've read so hopefully this is useful.

In summary - it is possible for MG to remotely unbind the previous owner but they will repeatedly tell you it's not.

Longer version:

Was pleased to see a Facelift Long Range ZS Trophy with low milage pop up on Cazoo and jumped on it rather than wait months for new.

Cazoo service was good and very pleased with the car when it arrived a couple of days later.

Noticed the car was bound to a previous user. Called Cazoo who suggested calling the local MG dealer (Budgens Shrewsbury). Dealership weren't aware this was a potential problem and promised a callback. Callback never happened but a couple of days later, Cazoo told me they had arranged an appointment with the same garage on my behalf. The appointment was a few weeks away and Cazoo were happy to extend their 7 day no questions return period and drive-away insurance.

Eventually took the car to the garage, they had it all day but could not do anything. Apparently being bound to the previous owner meant they couldn't reset it or even do a software update. They said they'd spoken to MG Head Office who advised them I should get in touch and they would be able to remotely remove the previous owner. The number they gave me is 01217 564 864.

Called MG, slightly annoyed the garage couldn't have told me this weeks ago. MG said it's a known problem and it happens all the time. They'll have the old owner removed within in 24 to 48 hours.

The next day I got an email from some-one called Gary at MG saying 'I apologise if you have been misled previously, however MG Motor UK Ltd. are unable to unbind a previous owner from the car.' They cited issues with potentially exposing the previous owner's data.

Called the 01217 number again and spoke to a third rep. She said they were aware of several customers with a similar problem but had only just found out that there was nothing MG could do.

I replied to Gary's email saying this was ridiculous and not only did I not have the full functionality of the car but some random out there could track the car and even get in it and drive off (I think).

Gary's reply the following day was really annoying and left me feeling fobbed off. He maintained there was nothing that could be done and it was Cazoo's fault for not ensuring it was unbound when they bought it. He said being able to unbind the car would leave it open to abuse

I asked Cazoo if they could contact the previous owner and they said not, due to data protection. That sounded like nonsense to me but I couldn't get past them, and to be honest I don't hold them, or even the previous owner, responsible for MG not having a means to reset their vehicles. Also - if MG were telling me this wasn't a known problem until yesterday, how were Cazoo to know?

So back to Gary at MG on email (he refused to speak on the phone) to more forcefully make my case that none of this rang true and refute his nonsense. I also pointed out Tesla have perfectly secure ways to transfer cars between user accounts.

Gary replied the next day, forwarding an email from an un-named superior that said I should send copies of the V5 and my Driving License to prove ownership and identity. I did so and half an hour later the car was unbound!

This all took nearly a month and MG's lack of knowledge at the garage and dismissiveness from Customer Services has made me think hard about returning the car (Cazoo have still kept the return window open). However - we really do like the size, range and features on the car and it's so hard to actually find a reasonably priced EV at the moment - so we've decided to keep it.

I don't understand why the car can't be unbound by the user as long as a physical key is present - be interested to anyone's thoughts on that.

Thanks for reading this rather long account - hope it's helpful if others find themselves in the same situation.

Best,

Chris
 
Hi Chris a pain indeed but glad you got it finally sorted hope mg head office will look in to getting this problem sorted but have to wait and see I have a mg5 so not connected with ismart but new mg5 be able to 👍😁
 
This “un-binding” issue use has been a problem for a few facelift owners on the forum.
I remember one person who purchased a X Demo model having this same issue.
It turned out, that somebody who had taken a test drive in the car, thought it was a good idea to bind his own phone to the car !.
Miles Roberts ( Chorley Group ) was able to contact MG Tech Team and get it un-locked from that persons phone.
Some salesmen / ladies had there phones locked into the Demo cars also.
A lot easier to get these cars unlocked !.
 
The whole issue of identity theft (in this case, presumably unintentional) is a huge one. I lost my gmail address to some hacker. I foolishly had a relatively weak password, and it never seemed to be the right time to change it. Google has one facility for recovering your password, and it involves sending a special number to your phone via SMS. They absolutely refuse to have any human involvement in this process at all. I took all the appropriate actions, but the SMS never came. The hacker must have changed the phone linked to the account first thing after the attack. There was nothing I could do. I ended up starting with a new address, and changing the many, many accounts that are linked to your email address. I still occasionally find accounts that I can't access because they are linked to the old email address, and some of them refuse to change that link. I'm particular about using different passwords for every account. But then that means I have to store them somewhere, and that makes that storage a weak link.

That was harrowing enough for me. I've since read chilling stories about people having much worse outcomes from identity theft, losing all their life savings for example. At least, I didn't lose any money, only time and hassle.

This issue of binding a car to an owner strikes me as a similar problem. You really need ways to transfer ownership, but those ways absolutely must not facilitate fraud. I'm not surprised that Tesla has this all sorted out; they seem to have thought these issues through very thoroughly. I guess they have to, with every Tesla being essentially able to be modified remotely (via OTA firmware updates, unlocking features, and who knows that other ways). There must be a huge database somewhere of millions of Teslas, what variations of hardware, software, and features they have, the current owner's details, etc. If they lose that data, it suddenly becomes difficult to repair them. Some Tesla models change a design detail potentially every few days. That's innovative, but it also implies great responsibility. Imagine if some hacker could gain access to that database!

So far, Tesla seem to be able to handle that responsibility. Other manufacturers, including SAIC/MG, perhaps not so much. But it seems to me that they all have to start improving their ability to resolve issues like this, as the cars become more and more complex.
 
Sorry to hear about your experience.

I don't get MG's data protection argument in relationship to unbinding the car, though, and what information it might reveal about the previous owner - particularly as that previous owner would have been able to find the car (and me) very easily.

From memory, Tesla lets the car owner do the equivalent of 'unbinding' as long as the physical keycard is present. This seems about right - after all you could do far worse if you've got the key. However I suppose that does mean some-one could nick the key and remove the owner's ability to track the car.

I just hope MG can get their internal communications sorted out and be consistent.
 
I have had the same problem with an ex demo Trophy Connect. Car is currently back with MG and I have a loaner. Nothing seemed to be happening until I said that I would reject the car under the sale of goods act. That seemed to concentrate their minds and I have had several updates over the previous few days saying that the software has been updated twice to no avail. The most recent call advised me that they had located whose phone had been bound and were now trying to get MG to unbind it. I was also informed that they have four other vehicles with the same problem. Possibly a mass rejection by all owners with this problem might lead to some resolution.
 
What I find a little hard to understand here is this.
The supplying dealer who has intended to use this car as a demo model, should have a single sales persons phone bound to the car for demo purposes.
When they decide to sell on that car, at the point when the car has been sold and funds have been transferred, the sales persons phone should be unbound from the car ?.
If this happened, then this problem will never be an issue surely ??.
If a car with Ismart features is offered in part exchange, then the dealer should ensure that the previous owner has unbound his / her phone from car on trade in day.
It’s not rocket science really.
This would avoid the situation of having a line of cars that needs unlocking ?.
 
I am having a (possibly) new iteration of this problem...

Being forewarned of this problem prior to purchase (used veh private sale), I asked the previous owner to unbind prior to my arrival.

Unfortunately (and he demonstrated this in front of me) the unbind process didn't work - at the point of pressing unbind etc on the app it stated "successful" or something similar on a pop up notification... But remained bound. Repetition resulted in same result. He says he contacted MG who said take it to a dealer. I plan to do this in due course but not wildly confident they'll fix quickly going off this thread. (Probably just refer me back to MG 😂).

Any thoughts/advice before I approach them?
 
So it's booked in for them to look at on 6th March. "Could be £85 diagnostic fee if not covered via warranty" ... Not sure how she worked that out but I figured to leave that battle for another day! It also fell on deaf ears when I told her it could (apparently) be done remotely, as per pfev posts on here. Oh well! 🤞🤞🤞 watch this space...
 
chrisp said:
So back to Gary at MG on email (he refused to speak on the phone) to more forcefully make my case that none of this rang true and refute his nonsense. I also pointed out Tesla have perfectly secure ways to transfer cars between user accounts.

Gary replied the next day, forwarding an email from an un-named superior that said I should send copies of the V5 and my Driving License to prove ownership and identity. I did so and half an hour later the car was unbound!
Click to expand...
From original post on this thread. Sorry pfev was a typo of prev (previous).

My understanding/interpretation of this is that it is not an OTA full software update but basically just a deleting of a permission on a database somewhere (on a server, not in the car itself). The software of the infotainment system would remain unchanged. I'm no IT expert just my best guess!
 
All's well that ends well.

The previous owner, who reportedly had been trying to unbind on a daily basis since I bought it off him (10 days ago, as per previous post). He stated that randomly, today, he got the unbind SMS required to complete the process in the app, and was able to therefore complete the process. The code had simply not appeared up to today.

Therefore if you find yourself in a similar situation, ask the "unbinder" to keep trying and eventually, for seemingly no rhyme or reason, it will work!

Dealer visit cancelled 🎉🎉🎉

Reasonably pleased with the app. A bit clunky but does what it needs to do!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
frb123 said:
All's well that ends well.

The previous owner, who reportedly had been trying to unbind on a daily basis since I bought it off him (10 days ago, as per previous post). He stated that randomly, today, he got the unbind SMS required to complete the process the app, and was able to therefore complete the process. The code had simply not appeared up to today.

Therefore if you find yourself in a similar situation, ask the "unbinder" to keep trying and eventually, for seemingly no rhyme or reason, it will work!

Dealer visit cancelled 🎉🎉🎉

Reasonably pleased with the app. A bit clunky but does what it needs to do!
Click to expand...
I wonder if it was to do with the MG computers being down?
 
Gadget Geek said:
I wonder if it was to do with the MG computers being down?
Click to expand...
We had our car serviced the other day and it also required a software update.
I was concerned that the link to server would be down and therefore it could not be done.
I explained this to the receptionist when we collected our car.
She said the link to the maintenance server to carry out updates is very rarely down anymore .
Which was nice to hear.
Maybe maintenance link for the tech’s at the dealerships has its own dedicated server ?.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
chrisp said:
Hi folks,

Just wanted to relay my experience in getting my ZS EV Trophy Long Range (late 2021) unbound from a previous owner's iSmart App. I know there are several posts about this but my experience, and the responses from MG, seemed slightly different to what I've read so hopefully this is useful.

In summary - it is possible for MG to remotely unbind the previous owner but they will repeatedly tell you it's not.

Longer version:

Was pleased to see a Facelift Long Range ZS Trophy with low milage pop up on Cazoo and jumped on it rather than wait months for new.

Cazoo service was good and very pleased with the car when it arrived a couple of days later.

Noticed the car was bound to a previous user. Called Cazoo who suggested calling the local MG dealer (Budgens Shrewsbury). Dealership weren't aware this was a potential problem and promised a callback. Callback never happened but a couple of days later, Cazoo told me they had arranged an appointment with the same garage on my behalf. The appointment was a few weeks away and Cazoo were happy to extend their 7 day no questions return period and drive-away insurance.

Eventually took the car to the garage, they had it all day but could not do anything. Apparently being bound to the previous owner meant they couldn't reset it or even do a software update. They said they'd spoken to MG Head Office who advised them I should get in touch and they would be able to remotely remove the previous owner. The number they gave me is 01217 564 864.

Called MG, slightly annoyed the garage couldn't have told me this weeks ago. MG said it's a known problem and it happens all the time. They'll have the old owner removed within in 24 to 48 hours.

The next day I got an email from some-one called Gary at MG saying 'I apologise if you have been misled previously, however MG Motor UK Ltd. are unable to unbind a previous owner from the car.' They cited issues with potentially exposing the previous owner's data.

Called the 01217 number again and spoke to a third rep. She said they were aware of several customers with a similar problem but had only just found out that there was nothing MG could do.

I replied to Gary's email saying this was ridiculous and not only did I not have the full functionality of the car but some random out there could track the car and even get in it and drive off (I think).

Gary's reply the following day was really annoying and left me feeling fobbed off. He maintained there was nothing that could be done and it was Cazoo's fault for not ensuring it was unbound when they bought it. He said being able to unbind the car would leave it open to abuse

I asked Cazoo if they could contact the previous owner and they said not, due to data protection. That sounded like nonsense to me but I couldn't get past them, and to be honest I don't hold them, or even the previous owner, responsible for MG not having a means to reset their vehicles. Also - if MG were telling me this wasn't a known problem until yesterday, how were Cazoo to know?

So back to Gary at MG on email (he refused to speak on the phone) to more forcefully make my case that none of this rang true and refute his nonsense. I also pointed out Tesla have perfectly secure ways to transfer cars between user accounts.

Gary replied the next day, forwarding an email from an un-named superior that said I should send copies of the V5 and my Driving License to prove ownership and identity. I did so and half an hour later the car was unbound!

This all took nearly a month and MG's lack of knowledge at the garage and dismissiveness from Customer Services has made me think hard about returning the car (Cazoo have still kept the return window open). However - we really do like the size, range and features on the car and it's so hard to actually find a reasonably priced EV at the moment - so we've decided to keep it.

I don't understand why the car can't be unbound by the user as long as a physical key is present - be interested to anyone's thoughts on that.

Thanks for reading this rather long account - hope it's helpful if others find themselves in the same situation.

Best,

Chris
Click to expand...
This was most helpful to me as I’ve had my MG ZS EV a couple of days and I’ve been trying to bind the car in the iSmart app and had the exact same problem. After reading this I contacted the garage I bought the car from which wasn’t actually an MG garage and they immediately contacted the previous owner and they did the unbind my car from their phone so it all works now thank god 😬
 
I had a similar problem but found that when I suggested that I return the car under the sake of goods act that it became magically unbound😁.
However broken coil corroded coil spring since being discovered at time of software update means that car has been deemed “unsafe to drive” by my local MG garage which is closing down today. Still waiting to hear from MG UK if they will provide courtesy car until new spring arrives from China in late July. Not happy about being one car down for over six weeks and still paying finance🤬
 
Just got logged in with email... when phone number said it want registered. I thought it used to be I had more luck with phone number.... but maybe not
 
a master factory reset will unbind someone elses phone. its fairly simple to do. done mine on a brand new car that the dealer denied had been tethered to sales rep
 
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