Have Lotus Customer Care gone to ground?

[lion shf]

FFS

 

[firstedition]

I got the impression that they worked from home as I’ve heard crying babies in the background

I have also heard crying babies and a tearful woman. They have no interest or knowledge in lotus cars and the customer service is shocking. Promised callbacks and misdirection. I've got my car now though and it's great.

 

[TomE]

@TomE or others may be able to confirm, but I understand current Lotus Customer Care is in the Midlands (Wolverhampton ?).

I think they were Volvo employees moved across to handle Lotus direct sales.

Given they are not co-located with any other Lotus staff, engineers, production people etc that can’t help with communication.

But I think this is changing soon and they are setting up a new LCC somewhere else nearer to the factory or engineering center.

Yes, they are ex Volvo but I think based around Southampton.

They've all had Lotus training, been to Hethel and been taken round the test track in an Emira by one of the development drivers. Most of them have been on the Lotus stand at Goodwood, so have met customers face to face too. I've met four of them (hi to the LCC folks who read the forum).

I think it's a bit unfair to say they don't know much and don't care. They've tried to be helpful for me but are limited by what info Lotus give them. Lotus also seem to do comms in a way that creates big peaks of inbound call and email volumes without them considering the impact on queues and response times.

 

[Superman]

I got the impression that they worked from home as I’ve heard crying babies in the background

That is not babies, it is the other CC reps crying about the number of calls from irrational deposit holders who dare to believe they are entitled to some information!

 

[Cachaco131]

She’s selling and getting a M2 like the rick

Why would she be on the phone with Lotus customer service?

 

[Hell4Leather]

In this day and age, and other firms having a customer-centric focus, how can a rebranded Lotus not put adequate resources into customer-facing staff?
Last time I checked, sales revenue fuels operations of viable businesses.

It’s Lotus, this is part of the ownership experience

 

[Cachaco131]

It’s Lotus, this is part of the ownership experience

I've said it before. Lotus is and will always be small, borderline bankrupt or a non core business for its owners. Like it or not, customer service is unlikely to change meaningfully and will never be comparable to some other manufacturers. If you like Lotus products and can live with the customer experience (or lack thereof), the Emira should be in your radar. Otherwise, folks should look into other alternatives.

 

[FlashingBlade]

I dropped them an email a week ago...

Tumbleweeds.

 

[Hethel Merman]

How will they cope with 150,000 Eletre owners emailing them every year?

 

[Lotustoronto]

I've said it before. Lotus is and will always be small, borderline bankrupt or a non core business for its owners. Like it or not, customer service is unlikely to change meaningfully and will never be comparable to some other manufacturers. If you like Lotus products and can live with the customer experience (or lack thereof), the Emira should be in your radar. Otherwise, folks should look into other alternatives.

I dunno about that - yes the Emira is the bridge between old Lotus and New Chinese Lotus. Geely invested billions on billions not to keep the marque a small brand. They have grand ambitions for it, that will most likely take another decade to fully realize. As Emira enthusiasts we are fond of Lotus because of the old Lotus ethos, F1 heritage and what the brand represented. It really is an old world brand with fantastic history. Geely made a very smart purchase, however they are determined on EV being the path forward. The Emira was a passion project for the remaining team at Hethel and got green lit by Geely, not because the business case was solid. The way I see it, Hethel was provided just enough to get the Emira built and just enough CS to keep it all together. Clearly more being done would have been much much better. With the EV's I believe it will be treated very different. Factory is in China and the main teams working on the EV's are in Germany. They will be doing ring times not Hethel test track times for the EV's. It will be a different ambition and different set of goals. The Emira is the test run for all things "new Lotus" and us early Emira purchasers are the test rats for them to get all the data and details right for the EV side of things. From new sales models to CS, they are taking notes and looking on long term solutions to all the problems we outline. I think CS, sales and production will get much better, just not anytime soon... we are years away from them fixing all the issues we have seen over the last 24 months.

 

[TomE]

I dropped them an email a week ago...

Tumbleweeds.

A week is nothing! Still waiting for replies to mine sent in mid February and early March.

 

[EspritGuy]

I dunno about that - yes the Emira is the bridge between old Lotus and New Chinese Lotus. Geely invested billions on billions not to keep the marque a small brand. They have grand ambitions for it, that will most likely take another decade to fully realize. As Emira enthusiasts we are fond of Lotus because of the old Lotus ethos, F1 heritage and what the brand represented. It really is an old world brand with fantastic history. Geely made a very smart purchase, however they are determined on EV being the path forward. The Emira was a passion project for the remaining team at Hethel and got green lit by Geely, not because the business case was solid. The way I see it, Hethel was provided just enough to get the Emira built and just enough CS to keep it all together. Clearly more being done would have been much much better. With the EV's I believe it will be treated very different. Factory is in China and the main teams working on the EV's are in Germany. They will be doing ring times not Hethel test track times for the EV's. It will be a different ambition and different set of goals. The Emira is the test run for all things "new Lotus" and us early Emira purchasers are the test rats for them to get all the data and details right for the EV side of things. From new sales models to CS, they are taking notes and looking on long term solutions to all the problems we outline. I think CS, sales and production will get much better, just not anytime soon... we are years away from them fixing all the issues we have seen over the last 24 months.

Well said. Interesting that this perspective arose from the Forum in as much as it could have been a Journo piece.

 

[Cachaco131]

I dunno about that - yes the Emira is the bridge between old Lotus and New Chinese Lotus. Geely invested billions on billions not to keep the marque a small brand. They have grand ambitions for it, that will most likely take another decade to fully realize. As Emira enthusiasts we are fond of Lotus because of the old Lotus ethos, F1 heritage and what the brand represented. It really is an old world brand with fantastic history. Geely made a very smart purchase, however they are determined on EV being the path forward. The Emira was a passion project for the remaining team at Hethel and got green lit by Geely, not because the business case was solid. The way I see it, Hethel was provided just enough to get the Emira built and just enough CS to keep it all together. Clearly more being done would have been much much better. With the EV's I believe it will be treated very different. Factory is in China and the main teams working on the EV's are in Germany. They will be doing ring times not Hethel test track times for the EV's. It will be a different ambition and different set of goals. The Emira is the test run for all things "new Lotus" and us early Emira purchasers are the test rats for them to get all the data and details right for the EV side of things. From new sales models to CS, they are taking notes and looking on long term solutions to all the problems we outline. I think CS, sales and production will get much better, just not anytime soon... we are years away from them fixing all the issues we have seen over the last 24 months.

I don't disagree, other than Geely having invested billions and billions. I do feel my comment holds true for the ICE Emira ownership. ICE are dead, ICE customer experience is lacking and ICE is non core. And I'm totally fine with that and my expectations are very low so I don't get frustrated like most in here .

Maybe the customer service will shift dramatically since EVs are the new core business. I don't care about EVs but I wish them luck. I am fine being the legacy customer.

 

[TomE]

The customer care for Eletre deposit holders (at least in the UK) is the same team as for Emira, with similar issues about comms. Post sale care will be the same dealers and central teams and processes. So none of it is different for EV customers.

 

[Lotustoronto]

It's true that the current situation is bleak, including EV CS. I don't think Geely fully appreciated how far behind the CS, warranty/aftercare and sales issues are. That's why I said we are years away from seeing any significant improvements. If they continue the current course and try to sell 100's of thousands of EV per year (not 5K niche sports cars) with the same level they are at, it will fail miserably. I would like to see it succeed, still want parts for my Emira down the road!

 

[Whitey]

My 2p from today. I phoned them twice, firstly at just after 10 to request a towing eye plug for the front grill which was missing when I picked the car up. 2nd call was to get the paint code for my Nimbus grey car. Sorted in 2 mins

 

[Tailslides]

Lotus customer care, sadly that could be an oxymoron

 

[JasonR]

My 2p from today. I phoned them twice, firstly at just after 10 to request a towing eye plug for the front grill which was missing when I picked the car up. 2nd call was to get the paint code for my Nimbus grey car. Sorted in 2 mins

What is that supposed to look like? Mines seems to be a rubber pointed thing inside the gap?

 

[Drlonline]

A week is nothing! Still waiting for replies to mine sent in mid February and early March.

Interestingly, I have had great response from the USA Relationship Manager, Tammy McKenzie, who I understand is based in Hethel. I've had a couple of emails replied to within a day, and in one case, within minutes.

 

[TomE]

Tammy is great and very helpful. She's not part of LCC so not having to deal with the daily volumes of inbound contact about deliveries, deposits, cancellations and owner's issues with their cars.