My Lotus

[Porter]

Interesting...wonder what criteria Lotus used to move orders around since the dates don't reflect reality.

I haven't yet questioned why these dates are being played around with, seemingly in a random fashion. Need to first understand who else is affected by this.

Likely due to US regulatory delay, so they are pulling UK and EU builds forward by 3-6 months.

 

[Lankan]

Likely due to US regulatory delay, so they are pulling UK and EU builds forward by 3-6 months.

Understand that, but the Order Reserved date has been moved forward by a year (5th Nov 2022 instead of the actual of 8th Nov 2021) without any explanation.

As such, this completely blows the reservation order and delivery timelines, which perhaps explains why I was pushed out to Q1 2024, when first delivery was confirmed, shortly after the second payment in Feb 2022, to be Spring 2023 (at the original price). Now it is July 2023 at the higher price.

So, this course of action has had a negative impact, and all without any explanation.

 

[Porter]

Understand that, but the Order Reserved date has been moved forward by a year (5th Nov 2022 instead of the actual of 8th Nov 2021) without any explanation.

As such, this completely blows the reservation order and delivery timelines, which perhaps explains why I was pushed out to Q1 2024, when first delivery was confirmed, shortly after the second payment in Feb 2022, to be Spring 2023 (at the original price). Now it is July 2023 at the higher price.

So, this course of action has had a negative impact, and all without any explanation.

I think you're jumping to conclusions. It's more likely an artifact of data import to this new system, not an intentional change of your position in queue. You may even have been in a batch of early orders that were imported that all ended up displaying the same date.

You should call LCC for info on this, they should be able to clarify.

 

[Lankan]

I think you're jumping to conclusions. It's more likely an artifact of data import to this new system, not an intentional change of your position in queue. You may even have been in a batch of early orders that were imported that all ended up displaying the same date.

You should call LCC for info on this, they should be able to clarify.

I fully understand that human error is a possibility (as the saying goes "garbage in, garbage out") and will confirm with Lotus CC once I have more info.

There is much that I have not shared, but suffice to say, my order has been messed around with before this discrepancy came to light, and I already have confirmation that even though my order has been pulled forward by 8 months (due to possible delays with US approvals), and my build scheduled for June 2023 (around the time window and price originally quoted), that I will still have to pay the higher price. That is not right.

 

[Porter]

I fully understand that human error is a possibility (as the saying goes "garbage in, garbage out") and will confirm with Lotus CC once I have more info.

There is much that I have not shared, but suffice to say, my order has been messed around with before this discrepancy came to light, and I already have confirmation that even though my order has been pulled forward by 8 months (due to possible delays with US approvals), and my build scheduled for June 2023 (around the time window and price originally quoted), that I will still have to pay the higher price. That is not right.

I mean it's not right, but you're in the same boat as everyone else in the UK that ordered from August 2021 onward.

 

[Lankan]

I mean it's not right, but you're in the same boat as everyone else in the UK that ordered from August 2021 onward.

Let's just say that I have my reasons, and end this conversation.

 

[nelly111s]

I'm the same - June this year for build, which means post-increase. I asked LCC (via the chat) if there was any chance of bring my production forward if there were any cancellations.
Their answer
"Unfortunately, the productions schedules have now been locked until June. If there will were to any cancellations, it has been confirmed to us that the production schedules will remain as is."
I took this to mean "we've made a decision on price rises from June production onwards and aren't about to alter that".
It's strange though - I don't know what's driving them at the moment. If it's cash, you would have thought that delaying US and UK Auto production (due to Type Approval delays) and producing UK manual cars would bring the most cash into the business. I'm guessing that their financial forecasting is "a little bit out" due to all the production / delivery delays and the costbase increase due to extra staff. Even if Geely are bankrolling them, cash is still king in any business.

 

[TomE]

Interesting...wonder what criteria Lotus used to move orders around since the dates don't reflect reality. I was first promised delivery in Spring 2023, then moved to Q1 2024 before receiving the email to confirm (lock in spec) by 8th March 2023 (not 16th March as shown in the screenshot above). Utter chaos!

Is yours being built and delivered before the end of June, at the original price?

I haven't yet questioned why these dates are being played around with, seemingly in a random fashion. Need to first understand who else is affected by this.

So far, looks like those who reserved in 2021 are affected.

Understand that, but the Order Reserved date has been moved forward by a year (5th Nov 2022 instead of the actual of 8th Nov 2021) without any explanation.

As such, this completely blows the reservation order and delivery timelines, which perhaps explains why I was pushed out to Q1 2024, when first delivery was confirmed, shortly after the second payment in Feb 2022, to be Spring 2023 (at the original price). Now it is July 2023 at the higher price.

So, this course of action has had a negative impact, and all without any explanation.

Lotus seem incapable of maintaining the accuracy of data in their CRM system. All those people with pre-reveal deposits who had their sequencing messed up. People who never received emails because they’d apparently set a “no emails” flag. So another inaccuracy is no surprise.

 

[Porter]

Lotus seem incapable of maintaining the accuracy of data in their CRM system. All those people with pre-reveal deposits who had their sequencing messed up. People who never received emails because they’d apparently set a “no emails” flag. So another inaccuracy is no surprise.

This is honestly the most shocking thing about the whole sequence of events with the launch of this car. It's not even that many people or entries involved from a data perspective, at the very maximum it might be 8,000 or 10,000 now? But in the first 6 months I can't imagine it was more than 5,000 deposits. They could have managed that in a damn Excel spreadsheet.

And in what crazy scenario would an organization not separate their transactional email lists (which don't require explicit consent) and marketing email contact lists (which do)?

 

[Lankan]

Lotus seem incapable of maintaining the accuracy of data in their CRM system. All those people with pre-reveal deposits who had their sequencing messed up. People who never received emails because they’d apparently set a “no emails” flag. So another inaccuracy is no surprise.

Indeed, and knowing what is involved in how to commission/set up and run such an operation, and if necessary migrate such a small number of leads/contact points between platforms, the level of incompetence really shines through. This is further exacerbated by the lack of communication within the organisation - Lotus CC appear not to know, or are not briefed on, how to respond to customer queries, which is probably why emails go unanswered or conflicting/confusing responses are received when one phones in.

Issue is once inaccurate data (garbage) gets into the system, and people start working off that data, then chaos rules, especially when reconciliation mechanisms are not used to identify the source of truth, fix inaccuracies and mitigate any risks.

 

[Lankan]

I'm the same - June this year for build, which means post-increase. I asked LCC (via the chat) if there was any chance of bring my production forward if there were any cancellations.
Their answer
"Unfortunately, the productions schedules have now been locked until June. If there will were to any cancellations, it has been confirmed to us that the production schedules will remain as is."
I took this to mean "we've made a decision on price rises from June production onwards and aren't about to alter that".
It's strange though - I don't know what's driving them at the moment. If it's cash, you would have thought that delaying US and UK Auto production (due to Type Approval delays) and producing UK manual cars would bring the most cash into the business. I'm guessing that their financial forecasting is "a little bit out" due to all the production / delivery delays and the costbase increase due to extra staff. Even if Geely are bankrolling them, cash is still king in any business.

Very similar to my circumstances. I had already decided that delivery in Q1 2024 was fine, and confirmed to Lotus CC months ago saying so (as I had already made plans for 2023). The response "if you miss this slot (i.e. lock in on 8th March 2023) then we cannot guarantee when in 2024 yours will be built", which implied that I will also lose my build slot in Q1 2024!

Now if they had said, okay if you lock in your spec and take delivery in 2023 at the original price then I would have taken that into consideration, but, No...

 

[action_turtle]

I'm the same - June this year for build, which means post-increase. I asked LCC (via the chat) if there was any chance of bring my production forward if there were any cancellations.
Their answer
"Unfortunately, the productions schedules have now been locked until June. If there will were to any cancellations, it has been confirmed to us that the production schedules will remain as is."
I took this to mean "we've made a decision on price rises from June production onwards and aren't about to alter that".
It's strange though - I don't know what's driving them at the moment. If it's cash, you would have thought that delaying US and UK Auto production (due to Type Approval delays) and producing UK manual cars would bring the most cash into the business. I'm guessing that their financial forecasting is "a little bit out" due to all the production / delivery delays and the costbase increase due to extra staff. Even if Geely are bankrolling them, cash is still king in any business.

This is 100% what’s happening. I got told the same thing around the time of price hike. They will not move people out of the hike, only into it. Which is why new depositors are getting unwanted cars before existing, as they won’t have to deal with random people being “given £6k off” buy being pulled forward. I would just accept my fate and pay them the 6k and have my car tomorrow. But no, have to wait until June 1st, then pick the car up by June 5th, probably, as it’s just sat in storage with all the others they have been building for months!