Customer Service not answering phones or calling back

[Pugwash]

Maybe they are adding more people. The LCC team was split between somewhere in the West Midlands and the Volvo place in Maidenhead.

 

[Baldyash]

Dealing with Cs, its like pulling teeth. They have "answered" my emails. As my car was scheduled for October i4 build I thought I could have one of the "new" colours. Told no as my initial order was July 21. Configuration link provided, now its failed and evedently a known problem I asked if I could amend the colour at a later date. Ignored!
Really fed up now after waiting all this time.

 

[CAWood]

Has anyone tried to call UK CS this week? Simply not answering the phone or calling back despite sitting in the queue from opening time at 10am!

I have a car sat at the dealer I'd really like to pay for.

I’m having the same problem, car has been sat at the factory for weeks now while they are sending me texts everyday to arrange collection. Every time I call Lotus I can’t get through and they don’t give me callbacks, and have asked three times on live chat to send the invoice but nothing yet.

 

[JWJ9000]

Apparently all the previous CC staff have been moved on. There’s a new lot who seem to know nothing.

 

[BeHappy]

Apparently all the previous CC staff have been moved on. There’s a new lot who seem to know nothing.

So no difference then

 

[JWJ9000]

So no difference then

To be honest the first group I dealt with did answer the phone and were more helpful than I hear the new ones are. Not perfect by any means, but better

 

[Toomanyloti]

well so far I cant fault the service

 

[TomE]

I agree, the previous folks did try to help and would take queries and try to get answers. And generally you could get through to them.

The current folks don’t pick up the phone, call back or reply to emails.

Whether or not they can answer questions seems to be unproven, because no one has spoken to them.

 

[Toomanyloti]

well so far the CS and Finance have been proactive and when I have emailed i have had a call or an email back the same or next day. I honestly think they can only deal with info they have control over. if they need anything from the factory they cant make it happen.

 

[Captain Chaos]

As a recent depositor wanting to have a vague idea of lead time.......no luck on trying to call them.....as others have noted after half an hour you get a 'leave a message' message. And no call back.

Reading this morning in Autocar mag that Geely are pumping £1.2Bn equivalent into their new China plant for Electre production I would suggest they allocate a small portion of that to people at the end of a phone in working hours here in the UK. What is the point in having such a wonderful product if the customer service does not align? I cannot for the life of me understand that.

I did however manage to get hold of someone via their online chat in about fifteen minutes after trying calling but....someone to speak to is infinitely preferable.

 

[JWJ9000]

Geely and Lotus seem to have their focus on the Eletre. They don’t seem to be bothered by the frustration of the Emira owners or those awaiting delivery. They seem to be doing a good job at causing us frustration.

What they don’t seem to realise is that some of us also have a deposit on the Eletre and if this is the way they treat / communicate with customers then we will lose faith and not follow through with an Eletre purchase.

I love the Emira, and yes a few minor niggles, but if Lotus continue with the current level of customer service I will not be completing my Emira order.

 

[vision]

Geely and Lotus seem to have their focus on the Eletre. They don’t seem to be bothered by the frustration of the Emira owners or those awaiting delivery. They seem to be doing a good job at causing us frustration.

What they don’t seem to realise is that some of us also have a deposit on the Eletre and if this is the way they treat / communicate with customers then we will lose faith and not follow through with an Eletre purchase.

I love the Emira, and yes a few minor niggles, but if Lotus continue with the current level of customer service I will not be completing my Emira order.

I’ve been waiting now 5 weeks for my new car to be booked in at hendy Southampton for repairs due to no pdi checks on the car. Worse Ive not received my V5, turns out the useless nobs at lotus fucked up the registration with DVLA, DVLA won’t tell me what’s not right on the registration and got no chance of any comms from CS despite both dealer and lotus confirming they would get back to me today.
If no response tomorrow I’m going to park it outside blocking all access to their workshops lock it and fuck off. Maybe someone will then respond.

 

[Toomanyloti]

I emailed CS last night and got an answer to my question this morning.
I genuinely believe they can only deal with stuff they know about.
The journey home from factory is at least 4 hours so i asked if they could drive mine around a bit first. Not sure it will happen but no harm asking.

 

[TomE]

Geely and Lotus seem to have their focus on the Eletre. They don’t seem to be bothered by the frustration of the Emira owners or those awaiting delivery. They seem to be doing a good job at causing us frustration.

What they don’t seem to realise is that some of us also have a deposit on the Eletre and if this is the way they treat / communicate with customers then we will lose faith and not follow through with an Eletre purchase.

I love the Emira, and yes a few minor niggles, but if Lotus continue with the current level of customer service I will not be completing my Emira order.

It’s the same CS team looking after UK Eletre deposit holders. Unsurprisingly, they are also frustrated by poor comms and unclear processes.

This week’s issue is dates for test drives being delayed. Uncertainty over delivery dates too, but not on the same scale as Emira. First UK Eletres (demos and first batch customers) are on a ship en route from China to UK and the UK dealers are in France this week for training and test drives with final stage pre-prod cars.

I cancelled my Eletre deposit last year. I couldn’t face a repeat of the same buying experience.

 

[Captain Chaos]

I love the Emira, and yes a few minor niggles, but if Lotus continue with the current level of customer service I will not be completing my Emira order

This is depressing though not surprising to hear. I hope that I do not fall into this mindset in six months......just like a gambler who thinks it will all come right, what I am counting on is that by the time my turn comes around, many of the small design or production niggles will have been addressed and the customer service will have been corrected. In particular with CS issues if the Eletre is affected this might prompt the fixes that appear to be sorely needed. But this is no way to run a railroad.

What I want is a Harrys Garage experience, all joy of using the car and none of the downsides of what appears to be a very patchy, disjointed and poor customer service, if what one reads here is typical. What saddens me is that my local dealer (B&C) could not have been more helpful and responsive. They have been faultless. If only IF ONLY I could deal with them for the purchasing journey and not direct to a faceless computer chatbot............

 

[JWJ9000]

This is depressing though not surprising to hear. I hope that I do not fall into this mindset in six months......just like a gambler who thinks it will all come right, what I am counting on is that by the time my turn comes around, many of the small design or production niggles will have been addressed and the customer service will have been corrected. In particular with CS issues if the Eletre is affected this might prompt the fixes that appear to be sorely needed. But this is no way to run a railroad.

What I want is a Harrys Garage experience, all joy of using the car and none of the downsides of what appears to be a very patchy, disjointed and poor customer service, if what one reads here is typical. What saddens me is that my local dealer (B&C) could not have been more helpful and responsive. They have been faultless. If only IF ONLY I could deal with them for the purchasing journey and not direct to a faceless computer chatbot............

Indeed. Lotus have ditched the dealers using them as agents, and they can’t do much as they have to speak to CS …

 

[eriegz]

This is depressing though not surprising to hear. I hope that I do not fall into this mindset in six months......just like a gambler who thinks it will all come right, what I am counting on is that by the time my turn comes around, many of the small design or production niggles will have been addressed and the customer service will have been corrected. In particular with CS issues if the Eletre is affected this might prompt the fixes that appear to be sorely needed. But this is no way to run a railroad.

What I want is a Harrys Garage experience, all joy of using the car and none of the downsides of what appears to be a very patchy, disjointed and poor customer service, if what one reads here is typical. What saddens me is that my local dealer (B&C) could not have been more helpful and responsive. They have been faultless. If only IF ONLY I could deal with them for the purchasing journey and not direct to a faceless computer chatbot............

Well said! On that note, I would be interested to hear if any "regular customers" (i.e., not a YouTuber or a former-car magazine owner) have had a positive experience with Lotus customer service so far?

 

[jamesbxxx]

I just had a call back from an email I sent (from a different address to the one on file). In summary, when the old CS team was changed [sacked] to the current company, there was at least 700 unread mails they had to deal with (or not, as the case seemed to be). They now have 2 systems to deal with - current and before, so best send a fresh communication...
Chat history seems to be completely lost.
I asked about a new order of a FE car in the new colour as they told me this isn't possible. There are no new colours for FE cars (what??) I referred him to the current configurator, but he believes this is incorrect!! If I want a new colour, I'll be in the queue for 2024 or most probably 2025 base car. What a joke!

 

[Captain Chaos]

Well said! On that note, I would be interested to hear if any "regular customers" (i.e., not a YouTuber or a former-car magazine owner) have had a positive experience with Lotus customer service so far?

I second that question. For the sake of balance....

 

[Captain Chaos]

Indeed. Lotus have ditched the dealers using them as agents, and they can’t do much as they have to speak to CS …

Yes, so I understand. It may be that the Tesla style direct model works when CS is good and you are selling 4 wheeled washing machines/milkfloats by the many thousand but not for a specialist niche sportscar like an Emira. Speaking for myself if there was an option and it's a little more expensive to deal with a dealer I'd take that every time.