I work for an Italian (manufacturing)/German (stock warehouse) company, 3 weeks for a part is not uncommon. I have parts that cost over $200 USD for a small part, and 20-30K for larger parts and take that long. The problem getting them to the states is in thier thinking that parts of certian items are not going to have an issue. So they are "Piece meal" orders, meaning they are made as needed. Now if there was a sense of urgency, say you were the VP of BMW USA, then they would have had it the next day, taking it off the assembly line spare parts. but normal folk have to wait as they won't normally remove from build stock. And when August comes around our Italian site shuts down for holiday, we have to send out emails always reminding customers that if they want a spare part or unusual item for spare they need to order it either before mid-july or after mid-sept.
It drives us crazy over here!