Customer services

[Markc]

Whenever I have spoken to customer services they are always very nice and polite. However, they aren’t empowered to action anything. They are always noncommittal. I feel sorry for them as they don’t seem to be fed any information from above. It always takes several requests to get anything done.

They must only have about 30 UK customers that have received their cars I think these issues are only going to get worse the more customers they have to deal with.

It’s all very frustrating!

 

[Tonyshepp]

Is that the route back for problems with the car Mark?
Have Lotus been proactive in trying to sort the issues out you have raised or is it frustrating trying to find when your issues might be resolved?
My worry is about getting issues fixed quickly on the car and the fact the nearest dealer is an hour away.

 

[Leonard]

I've said it before but not empowering your CS team to solve problems is a massive waste of time and only creates frustration in your customer base.
As Tony said be interested to hear what the path is to raising a complaint/issue with a vehicle. Doesn't seem right that it is directed to a general CS team

 

[emiraspain]

Firstly, good morning.......
Secondly, they are polite yes, but they are inconsistent and almost none sensical in that they will still say "you are still on for October build" when it is perhaps November. Its as if some of them leave the common sense, logic, reality at the door..... I would expect a "Well, the system hasnt been updated so it still shows you as October, but clearly thats not happened. Im afraid we have to wait on production for them to update the systems, I will put a note on file for you, thats all I can do."
So while I agree they are powerless, 100%, they are also leaderless as they dont have consistent information across the board, which is crazy, but they themselves MUST realise this by now. For my money, there are 3 or 4 at best that have some overall knowledge and "care", the rest are just almost like temps, reading off a script and thats not good enough.
Thirdly, I would have thought with a fault in the UK, it would be better to go through a dealer direct as "surely" they have a route set up to report faults and get them looked into asap. It would not surprise me in the slightest if this is NOT the case, but it SHOULD be.
I can certianly imagine their direct sales and CS path is not set up or working well and fault reporting is going to be as big if not a bigger disaster through CS than sales / production updating has been.
So @Tonyshepp, imagine a 7hour drive to your dealer and NO current customer service for Europe at all, as she left her post for "pastures new"... and I cant say I blame her. If this is a worry for you, its a cardiac arrest situation for me and it 100% makes me think about whether this car/company are going to give me more pain than pleasure, and that then makes me question my purchase, which is a shame as I am sure most of us here could organize things better to solve these issues.
There clearly needs to be an AFTER SALES TEAM, which is nothing to do with CS as we know them for pre delivery and this after sales team needs links into engineering etc.... This is really childs play and Lotus are failing at every turn it seems..... soooooooooo xxxxxxxxxx

 

[Forlorn]

Firstly, good morning.......
Secondly, they are polite yes, but they are inconsistent and almost none sensical in that they will still say "you are still on for October build" when it is perhaps November. Its as if some of them leave the common sense, logic, reality at the door..... I would expect a "Well, the system hasnt been update so it still shows you as October, but clearly thats not happened. Im afraid we have to wait on production for them to update the systems, I will put a note on file for you, thats all I can do."
So while I agree they are powerless, 100%, they are also leaderless as they dont have consistent information across the board, which is crazy, but they themselves MUST realise this by now. For my money, there are 3 or 4 at best that have some overall knowledge and "care", the rest are just almost like temps, reading off a script and thats not good enough.
Thirdly, I would have thought with a fault in the UK, it would be better to go through a dealer direct as "surely" they have a route set up to report faults and get them looked into asap. It would not surprise me in the slightest if this is NOT the case, but it SHOULD be.
I can certianly imagine their direct sales and CS path is not set up or working well and fault reporting is going to be as big if not a bigger disaster through CS than sales / production updating has been.
So @Tonyshepp, imagine a 7hour drive to your dealer and NO current customer service for Europe at all, as she left her post for "pastures new"... and I cant say I blame her. If this is a worry for you, its a cardiac arrest situation for me and it 100% makes me think about whether this car/company are going to give me more pain than pleasure, and that then makes me question my purchase, which is a shame as I am sure most of us here could organize things better to solve these issues.
There clearly needs to be an AFTER SALES TEAM, which is nothing to do with CS as we know them for pre delivery and this after sales team needs links into engineering etc.... This is really childs play and Lotus are failing at every turn it seems..... soooooooooo xxxxxxxxxx

This really worries me if we have to go through CS for warranty or indeed servicing requests and booking. It’s been a farcical from day one with online purchase, let alone test drive and now to here that they (CS) could be involved with booking your local agent for anything.

I have this with Volvo (there is a link there) servicing controlled from central booking procedure. Always get details wrong. So I have returned to walking into the Volvo garage and talking to the service desk direct. Much better.

The more we deal with faceless useless people the worse it gets. The model May suit the supplier, but it doesn’t suit the client.

 

[Tonyshepp]

Lotus want to be a brand that appeals to everyone and that everyone is used to having local dealers and local servicing. I admit Lotus can't have a dealership everywhere. I don't see Porsche, Audi, Aston Martin , BMW moving quickly to direct selling and there's a good reason for that - customer intimacy and loyalty in the brand.
For this very reason I'm seriously considering delaying for an I4 - waiting to see how this all plays out.

The nearest Aston dealership is in Nottingham too, like Lotus. When i enquired about servicing they said they'd pick the car up or lend me (at no visible cost) another Aston for the day. Does Lotus do that, do we even know??

 

[Leonard]

This really worries me if we have to go through CS for warranty or indeed servicing requests and booking. It’s been a farcical from day one with online purchase, let alone test drive and now to here that they (CS) could be involved with booking your local agent for anything.

I have this with Volvo (there is a link there) servicing controlled from central booking procedure. Always get details wrong. So I have returned to walking into the Volvo garage and talking to the service desk direct. Much better.

The more we deal with faceless useless people the worse it gets. The model May suit the supplier, but it doesn’t suit the client.

Have no doubt that Lotus are ultimately building the same Volvo business model

 

[Leonard]

Lotus want to be a brand that appeals to everyone and that everyone is used to having local dealers and local servicing. I admit Lotus can't have a dealership everywhere. I don't see Porsche, Audi, Aston Martin , BMW moving quickly to direct selling and there's a good reason for that - customer intimacy and loyalty in the brand.
For this very reason I'm seriously considering delaying for an I4 - waiting to see how this all plays out.

The nearest Aston dealership is in Nottingham too, like Lotus. When i enquired about servicing they said they'd pick the car up or lend me (at no visible cost) another Aston for the day. Does Lotus do that, do we even know??

It's unlikely as the dealers won't have their own stock vehicles

 

[emiraspain]

Lotus want to be a brand that appeals to everyone and that everyone is used to having local dealers and local servicing. I admit Lotus can't have a dealership everywhere. I don't see Porsche, Audi, Aston Martin , BMW moving quickly to direct selling and there's a good reason for that - customer intimacy and loyalty in the brand.
For this very reason I'm seriously considering delaying for an I4 - waiting to see how this all plays out.

The nearest Aston dealership is in Nottingham too, like Lotus. When i enquired about servicing they said they'd pick the car up or lend me (at no visible cost) another Aston for the day. Does Lotus do that, do we even know??

no Tony come on, I think you know Lotus wont lend you an Aston for the day hahah...
Yes, this conversation we shouldn't really need to have, but its there..... Lotus have work to do.... and all this crap wont be sorted out for a few years I would say. Us early customers will be the ones to sufferrrrr

 

[Forlorn]

Lotus want to be a brand that appeals to everyone and that everyone is used to having local dealers and local servicing. I admit Lotus can't have a dealership everywhere. I don't see Porsche, Audi, Aston Martin , BMW moving quickly to direct selling and there's a good reason for that - customer intimacy and loyalty in the brand.
For this very reason I'm seriously considering delaying for an I4 - waiting to see how this all plays out.

The nearest Aston dealership is in Nottingham too, like Lotus. When i enquired about servicing they said they'd pick the car up or lend me (at no visible cost) another Aston for the day. Does Lotus do that, do we even know??

when I had my Aston Vantage in 2008, The service manager would pick the car up from my house and deliver it back after service. It was exceptional service here in the North East of England.

 

[ADC]

I typically don't have an issue with driving to a dealer and waiting around during a service (as long there is somewhere to sit, a supply of caffeine, and internet connectivity), but if it's a "not sure how long this will take, leave it with us" type situation, a courtesy car should be the standard... brand aspirations are worth nowt if you attract the "Porsche buying" crowd, and then ruin things by skimping on the after-sales experience (assuming they survived the pre-sales experience, of course ).

 

[Tonyshepp]

I typically don't have an issue with driving to a dealer and waiting around during a service (as long there is somewhere to sit, a supply of caffeine, and internet connectivity), but if it's a "not sure how long this will take, leave it with us" type situation, a courtesy car should be the standard... brand aspirations are worth nowt if you attract the "Porsche buying" crowd, and then ruin things by skimping on the after-sales experience (assuming they survived the pre-sales experience, of course ).

I can imagine a permanent fixture in the Lotus dealerships will be bus timetables.

 

[Captain.Kirk]

I typically don't have an issue with driving to a dealer and waiting around during a service (as long there is somewhere to sit, a supply of caffeine, and internet connectivity), but if it's a "not sure how long this will take, leave it with us" type situation, a courtesy car should be the standard... brand aspirations are worth nowt if you attract the "Porsche buying" crowd, and then ruin things by skimping on the after-sales experience (assuming they survived the pre-sales experience, of course ).

After my initial enthusiastic response to the Emira the delays in production have given me time to look deeper into the warranty that Lotus offers. I’m now comparing warranties between the Emira and the other car I have a deposit on, the C8. They’re very different cars and warranties and at this stage it has to be a factor as I’m in Canada and have to deal with a Lotus dealer that is 90 minutes away (in good traffic). (Warranty details are from the respective manufacturer’s websites)

Lotus Cars Warranty (Canada)

• 3 years/58,000 KM base warranty
• 3 years/58,000 KM powertrain warranty
• 8 years cover against perforation on the Lotus DNA designed chassis

Chevrolet Corvette C8 Warranty (Canada)

• 2-year/24,000 KM w/2 complimentary lube-oil-filter changes
• 3-year/60,000 KM base warranty
• 5-year/100,000 KM powertrain component
• 5-year/100,000 KM Courtesy Transportation
• 5-year/100,000 KM 24/7 Roadside Assistance

 

[Tailslides]

Is that the route back for problems with the car Mark?
Have Lotus been proactive in trying to sort the issues out you have raised or is it frustrating trying to find when your issues might be resolved?
My worry is about getting issues fixed quickly on the car and the fact the nearest dealer is an hour away.

One of my concerns was my closest dealer being two hours away

 

[Jimblob]

Whenever I have spoken to customer services they are always very nice and polite. However, they aren’t empowered to action anything. They are always noncommittal. I feel sorry for them as they don’t seem to be fed any information from above. It always takes several requests to get anything done.

They must only have about 30 UK customers that have received their cars I think these issues are only going to get worse the more customers they have to deal with.

Hi Marc, re you saying that you have to contact LCC for all/any teething issues? Can you contact your local dealer direct for anything? I was hoping to talk to my dealer should anything arise and then let have the conversation with LCC - much like BMW and Audi do with warranty claims… you contact your dealer and they sort the rest…

 

[Markc]

I think you can go via the dealer directly. I’ve just requested Lotus post me a replacement gear knob and a keyring that fits the key

 

[Tonyshepp]

I think you can go via the dealer directly. I’ve just requested Lotus post me a replacement gear knob and a keyring that fits the key

I found the gear knob rough too. It's been machined out rather than Lazer cut. I wanted to get some 500 grade sandpaper on it

 

[Captain.Kirk]

I found the gear knob rough too. It's been machined out rather than Lazer cut. I wanted to get some 500 grade sandpaper on it

You forgot to wear your driving gloves? Although, it sounds like you might have needed Kevlar gloves.

 

[Lolub]

I found the gear knob rough too. It's been machined out rather than Lazer cut. I wanted to get some 500 grade sandpaper on it

Regarding the gear knob, what if that's the only one that Lotus makes for the Emira? I'm not sure they would have two types, laser cut and machined out, or they would have just put the best one in the car, right? Or if not, then why not? Perhaps there are other knobs for other Lotus vehicles that they have made in the past that I'm not aware of...

 

[Tonyshepp]

Regarding the gear knob, what if that's the only one that Lotus makes for the Emira? I'm not sure they would have two types, laser cut and machined out, or they would have just put the best one in the car, right? Or if not, then why not? Perhaps there are other knobs for other Lotus vehicles that they have made in the past that I'm not aware of...

All I know is the Porsche Knobs are different to the Lotus Knobs .. there's a joke in there somewhere