Lotus 3rd Phone Call

[TomE]

Tom I’m 11th July. I have already spoken to customer care all they say is they cannot tell you they are waiting for next batch to be released from h/o. I’ve bought many cars over the years and this way of doing it rather than going through a dealer is not a great experience. buying a new car should be exciting and fun this experience so far is far from that especially when your spending circa £80k

It's been a learning experience for all of us. Perhaps instead of us addressing our comments to Tom we should collectively sign a statement to be given to Matt @ Lotus.
I'd hope that by now Lotus we're learning the pitfalls of direct selling and addressing them, god knows what the 132 purchasing experience will be like.

I agree, the customer experience is still very poor. They haven't thought through how it could work much better for minimal extra effort with this direct model: better and more regular comms, listening to feedback, decent briefing to the customer care team, publishing info and FAQs on line, keeping promises about timing of updates.

A lot of it is down to how they are handling the still pre-production nature of things, so there are uncertainties and they'd decided (wrongly in my view) to wait for more certain info before providing it. It's leaving a void most of the time.

They're also not putting themselves in their customers shoes. Telling half the 11 July depositors they are Sept delivery and then pausing. That left the other 11 July people (and beyond) not knowing about delivery timings or when they'll be told about it. As I posted earlier, I suspect there's some re-planning going on - they just need to explain that and say when they expect to be back in touch.

But it's very apparent that a lot of decisions and approaches are still production-led rather than customer-led.

Feel free to email your concerns and feedback to Customer Care. I know there is a mechanism for them to raise that back to other departments. I can't promise it'll get addressed straight away (or at all), but it does get to people and get read.

 

[andrew6382]

I agree, the customer experience is still very poor. They haven't thought through how it could work much better for minimal extra effort with this direct model: better and more regular comms, listening to feedback, decent briefing to the customer care team, publishing info and FAQs on line, keeping promises about timing of updates.

A lot of it is down to how they are handling the still pre-production nature of things, so there are uncertainties and they'd decided (wrongly in my view) to wait for more certain info before providing it. It's leaving a void most of the time.

They're also not putting themselves in their customers shoes. Telling half the 11 July depositors they are Sept delivery and then pausing. That left the other 11 July people (and beyond) not knowing about delivery timings or when they'll be told about it. As I posted earlier, I suspect there's some re-planning going on - they just need to explain that and say when they expect to be back in touch.

But it's very apparent that a lot of decisions and approaches are still production-led rather than customer-led.

Feel free to email your concerns and feedback to Customer Care. I know there is a mechanism for them to raise that back to other departments. I can't promise it'll get addressed straight away (or at all), but it does get to people and get read.

You say it so much better...... Tom

yes this stopping ? whats that all about..... why not just finish 11th deposit...... lol kind of tells us all we need to know..... and how much they dont understand the frustration they cause customers... like you said "not putting them self in customers shoes"

Like you said before... they know mistakes have been made, etc .... etc

If asked today, would I buy an EMIRA..... yes I would still say yes..... BUT....

Most new Customers... that are not a Lotus fans..... will work away at a sniff of truble

 

[Lankan]

Must say that I too am disappointed that we still are not getting the full picture and more certainty, and it is down to one single word/action; communication, or the lack of it.

Perhaps it was Tom who informed us, as he was informed, that we were to expect an update from Lotus in January 2022? I took that to be Lotus updating all deposit holders (via email) on what the current status was and what we were to expect going forward. I don't know about anyone else, but all I got was an email stating that finance options have been published, which was of no interest to me...

 

[andrew6382]

Must say that I too am disappointed that we still are not getting the full picture and more certainty, and it is down to one single word/action; communication, or the lack of it.

Perhaps it was Tom who informed us, as he was informed, that we were to expect an update from Lotus in January 2022? I took that to be Lotus updating all deposit holders (via email) on what the current status was and what we were to expect going forward. I don't know about anyone else, but all I got was an email stating that finance options have been published, which was of no use to me...

Underwhelming much...... lets be honest finace option erm..... go to most bank, car wow etc you gat about the same information

You know ...... when ever I think of the car, a song starts play in my head...... you want to guesss what

 

[TomE]

Must say that I too am disappointed that we still are not getting the full picture and more certainty, and it is down to one single word/action; communication, or the lack of it.

Perhaps it was Tom who informed us, as he was informed, that we were to expect an update from Lotus in January 2022? I took that to be Lotus updating all deposit holders (via email) on what the current status was and what we were to expect going forward. I don't know about anyone else, but all I got was an email stating that finance options have been published, which was of no interest to me...

Yes, it’s almost all comms.

I was told in Dec we’d get a big update in Jan. We all assumed that would be more extensive, including the promised pictures of cars in the 6 FE colours.

We got the new configurator and info on finances and trade in. No individualised contact, for example to the people who in Oct/Nov had been promised contact “in Jan” about next steps.

In mid Jan I was told the big update would now be in March. That sounds like it will be a general release about i4 specs and pricing to coincide with press reviews. But no individual updates promised for March and seemingly nothing planned between Jan and March either.

The various explanations about waiting until more certainty on info, busy with more orders than expected, busy getting initial production sorted etc etc - they don’t cut it any more. One person on comms would make a difference.

Four of us took time to write our feedback and spend a day at Hethel talking about it. I still see no changes or actions as a result of that.

 

[andrew6382]

Yes, it’s almost all comms.

I was told in Dec we’d get a big update in Jan. We all assumed that would be more extensive, including the promised pictures of cars in the 6 FE colours.

We got the new configurator and info on finances and trade in. No individualised contact, for example to the people who in Oct/Nov had been promised contact “in Jan” about next steps.

In mid Jan I was told the big update would now be in March. That sounds like it will be a general release about i4 specs and pricing to coincide with press reviews. But no individual updates promised for March and seemingly nothing planned between Jan and March either.

The various explanations about waiting until more certainty on info, busy with more orders than expected, busy getting initial production sorted etc etc - they don’t cut it any more. One person on comms would make a difference.

Four of us took time to write our feedback and spend a day at Hethel talking about it. I still see no changes or actions as a result of that.

My partner and I came away from HETHEL, feeling quite bouyant about it all, hopeful things would improve.

Scott seemed to want to improve things

That and again as Tom said,........ they know.. misstakes have been made ....... etc

I personaly feel my order is not valued..... persons at Lotus dont not feel, they have to or need to improve.

You know the one thing that give me real concern is..... what if after getting the car.... there is an issue.... are Lotus going to be as helpful to sort things..... how will it all work with the agents/dealers..... Clearly am hoping for no issues... but ?

So close to pulling the plug

 

[Tonyshepp]

I have a philosophy, if the sales process is hard work to spend my money buying something then when things go wrong it’s going to be a nightmare.
The easiest thing should be to buy and feel valued through the buying experience.

 

[andrew6382]

I have a philosophy, if the sales process is hard work to spend my money buying something then when things go wrong it’s going to be a nightmare.
The easiest thing should be to buy and feel valued through the buying experience.

Well said sir

To be honest its taking the shine of the car....

I do feel for people that put depositd down afternoon of the 11th July..... what right minded person say ok, we got to 12:00 for The 11th..... we come back to it in two weeks.... leave pople hanging

They clearly have know thought for the customers.

Do they think we can all invest, pay 5K out , like its nothing... dont know about any one else, but I am saving to raise the rest of the deposit,

My partner is saving her tip. I bet other are not having holidays. Sold cars to save money..... because its there chance to have there dream car

If the press get wind of this, dont care how good the review is of the car. The public will be put off....

Now they asking 4k deposit..... more than Porsche. BMW and others ?

 

[Tonyshepp]

Well said sir

To be honest its taking the shine of the car....

I do feel for people that put depositd down afternoon of the 11th July..... what right minded person say ok, we got to 12:00 for The 11th..... we come back to it in two weeks.... leave pople hanging

They clearly have know thought for the customers.

Do they think we can all invest, pay 5K out , like its nothing... dont know about any one else, but I am saving to raise the rest of the deposit,

My partner is saving her tip. I bet other are not having holidays. Sold cars to save money..... because its there chance to have there dream car

If the press get wind of this, dont care how good the review is of the car. The public will be put off....

Now they asking 4k deposit..... more than Porsche. BMW and others ?

I think its in their gift to be able to tell people which quarter they could receive their cars and then nearer to that quarter be able to firm up the actual month.
Lotus can take comfort that Ineos, with their Grenadier, are struggling too with telling people when they will receive their cars or what price the options are.

 

[Den]

 

[Rollerskate]

I agree, the customer experience is still very poor. They haven't thought through how it could work much better for minimal extra effort with this direct model: better and more regular comms, listening to feedback, decent briefing to the customer care team, publishing info and FAQs on line, keeping promises about timing of updates.

A lot of it is down to how they are handling the still pre-production nature of things, so there are uncertainties and they'd decided (wrongly in my view) to wait for more certain info before providing it. It's leaving a void most of the time.

They're also not putting themselves in their customers shoes. Telling half the 11 July depositors they are Sept delivery and then pausing. That left the other 11 July people (and beyond) not knowing about delivery timings or when they'll be told about it. As I posted earlier, I suspect there's some re-planning going on - they just need to explain that and say when they expect to be back in touch.

But it's very apparent that a lot of decisions and approaches are still production-led rather than customer-led.

Feel free to email your concerns and feedback to Customer Care. I know there is a mechanism for them to raise that back to other departments. I can't promise it'll get addressed straight away (or at all), but it does get to people and get read.

Having had a Mark 1 and a Mark 2 Exige my previous buying experiences were all about great customer service from Graeme. Robertson (then at Murray Lotus Edinburgh) which made up in a large part for quality failures in production from the factory. In that era the dealers worked their backsides off; now the dealerships have been circumvented when at last Lotus (has hopefully) produced a far superior product. Irony?!

 

[Chadder]

My partner and I came away from HETHEL, feeling quite bouyant about it all, hopeful things would improve.

Scott seemed to want to improve things

That and again as Tom said,........ they know.. misstakes have been made ....... etc

I personaly feel my order is not valued..... persons at Lotus dont not feel, they have to or need to improve.

You know the one thing that give me real concern is..... what if after getting the car.... there is an issue.... are Lotus going to be as helpful to sort things..... how will it all work with the agents/dealers..... Clearly am hoping for no issues... but ?

So close to pulling the plug

Clearly things are not improving , sorry to put it this way , but they are really taking the Piss now , It's not the delays that happens , it's all about the communication , and the excuses that customer Services gave me !
For their business model to work , without dealers you need slick communications ,
Not feeling the love !

 

[Lankan]

I think its in their gift to be able to tell people which quarter they could receive their cars and then nearer to that quarter be able to firm up the actual month.
Lotus can take comfort that Ineos, with their Grenadier, are struggling too with telling people when they will receive their cars or what price the options are.

I know the above was posted in February, but to be fair, Alex (from Customer Care) has been quite consistent in his messaging (to me) whenever I have asked about delivery dates. Shown below is an excerpt from the response to my last enquiry, which was received on 1st April. I think this was before June 2022 deliveries slipped into July. FYI: my reservation deposit for an FE V6 manual was placed on 8th Nov 2021.

"To confirm a specific date we would need factory to provide a build allocation for your order. Based on current movement I would estimate your delivery to be from late 2022 leading in to early 2023. Rest assured as soon as we can be more specific we will be in contact with you."

So, it appears that no build slots have been allocated (yet) to those who have placed deposits after 12:00 noon 11th July 2021.

 

[roundincircles]

Repeating my other posts, car Manufacturers do not have the skills to communicate with customers. Traditionally their skills are transaction logistics with retailers. It's retailers who have customer management skills.

So ,what we are experiencing is the transition to an Agency model of distribution and the absence of customer management know how and /or organisation within Lotus. It does resides in the Geely Group, namely with Polestar.

Leadership is needed at Lotus to rapidly implement the change that is required.....it's currently absent as has been repeatedly pointed out. They will fail if they think £100k plus Electric model customers will accept current practice.

 

[Schumacher]

I had to drive to my dealership to see them in person. They had me down as the 52nd in line for a car when I was 12th. Glad I swung by to fix that. I still have not heard a peep from them and that was about two months ago. He said I would be placing my order around June or July. There is just zero communication. There is only one sales guy for Lotus at the dealership. I get that considering they have just one car to sell which is a preorder. It just seems like a shit show. This also might be my local dealership. I don't think Star Motorcars in Houston is held in high regard.