The poor guy at Lotus Cars US customer service

[Newguy1354]

Like many of you, I've been quite annoyed with the whole Emira rollout. Having many questions and frustrations in the past with lack of information about US cars and so on. I had called customer services in the past but never heard back.
I called again today after receiving the new email update from Lotus. It saying almost the same thing as the other emails over the last few months. "Just a few more weeks..."
He answered. I started off with a polite yet professional explanation for my call and started to ask questions about delays, why we got more of the same, and why Lotus can't send us more accurate information. Good or bad. He replied in a defensive and short way.
I've worked in the automotive customer service side my whole life. I understand that yelling at the guy that just answers the phone isn't going to solve any problems. When I let him know that, he relaxed a little bit and offered more info. He's had a lot of... negative calls.
Moral of the story is this guy unfortunately can't do much and feels like a punching bag. But he's still answering that phone knowing there's probably nothing he can do. If you're having bigger than normal problems with your dealer (and you've reached out to that Dealer's upper management about it) and feel like you still have not been given the service you deserve, he might be able to help. Otherwise I would suggest you save yourself a call and maybe we give that poor guy a break.

 

[LuckysDad]

Lotus + customer service = oxymoron

 

[VL3X]

Like many of you, I've been quite annoyed with the whole Emira rollout. Having many questions and frustrations in the past with lack of information about US cars and so on. I had called customer services in the past but never heard back.
I called again today after receiving the new email update from Lotus. It saying almost the same thing as the other emails over the last few months. "Just a few more weeks..."
He answered. I started off with a polite yet professional explanation for my call and started to ask questions about delays, why we got more of the same, and why Lotus can't send us more accurate information. Good or bad. He replied in a defensive and short way.
I've worked in the automotive customer service side my whole life. I understand that yelling at the guy that just answers the phone isn't going to solve any problems. When I let him know that, he relaxed a little bit and offered more info. He's had a lot of... negative calls.
Moral of the story is this guy unfortunately can't do much and feels like a punching bag. But he's still answering that phone knowing there's probably nothing he can do. If you're having bigger than normal problems with your dealer (and you've reached out to that Dealer's upper management about it) and feel like you still have not been given the service you deserve, he might be able to help. Otherwise I would suggest you save yourself a call and maybe we give that poor guy a break.

I get that. I also know how easy it is to set up a simple email drip campaign to keep customers informed throughout the process.

It's been 2.5+ years of being kept in the dark for many early deposit holders. I believe there is some justification for the majority of buyer frustrations here. The Emira launch has been handled poorly (to put it nicely) and has resulted in tons of frustration, cancellations, and some vowing to never order a new Lotus again. Stating delivery estimates and then not informing customers of further delays until just weeks before expected delivery (or not at all) is unacceptable. Especially when that happens numerous times and especially with a ~$100k product. Lotus of USA should have made some decisions themselves and better communicated with customers and their dealers (who are also clearly frustrated).

Last year, I personally reached out to the head of US sales and left polite voicemails and emails asking to kindly discuss the current state of production for US orders. I got no response except from my dealer a week later saying he got reamed out for not communicating with customers, which wasn't his fault at all. My dealer was great and doing what he could to get updates. So what was the end result? I still got no news but I did get a clearer understanding of how Lotus corporate operates. Passing the blame around and still failing to properly communicate with paying customers. I love these cars, but the company is ran poorly and I'm tired of the excuses. It's totally unacceptable in 2024 for a company that's been selling cars for ~75 years.

 

[EZcheezy]

im always overly polite to anyone that interacts with customers after my experience working in fast food as a kid.

most customers are fine but it only takes that 1% of awful shit heads to ruin your day

 

[VL3X]

im always overly polite to anyone that interacts with customers after my experience working in fast food as a kid.

most customers are fine but it only takes that 1% of awful shit heads to ruin your day

Same. I feel like everyone should work a customer facing retail or service job at some point to gain some empathy for those workers.

 

[kratedisease]

I actually also called LOTUS last week , wondering if service parts like oil filters and wiper blades are available and in stock, .......

 

[kratedisease]

hey, its better to have customer service that sucks and not a car that sucks. Good cars can overcome horrible (or even controlling with an attitude) customer service .... (aka Ferrari corporate)

Hopefully the USA cars will be released and all the tension will melt away and turn from frowns to smiles with all the miles.

 

[EspritGuy]

I actually also called LOTUS last week , wondering if service parts like oil filters and wiper blades are available and in stock, .......



View attachment 37266

Throw in a litre of 30 weight blinker fluid too.