March Deliveries

[palmermd]

The Hawaii order looks like an outlier, so I will ignore it for the purposes of this post.

Seems to me most of the outliers are from states that do not have many orders. It looks like they are trying to get some cars into each state, and the states that do not have many orderers are getting cars a little sooner. I have no problem with that, where I feel betrayed is where people from the same state are getting deliveries of the same car (model, color, options) earlier. In Richard's case somebody from the same dealership with the same car jumped passed him (at least I think it was Richard...but somebody here had that happen).

 

[Fabio]

Nissan doesn't seem to get that if you enter a restaurant, sit down, and place your order, it's reasonable to expect that your order will arrive before those of the people who do this after you.

Nissan made the (so wrong) assumption that it was not like restaurant, but like a home delivery, where the customer is not aware of the other orders timing.
They forgot that we live in a very connected and social age, where secrets like that are very hard to keep.

 

[charlie1300]

Nissan doesn't seem to get that if you enter a restaurant, sit down, and place your order, it's reasonable to expect that your order will arrive before those of the people who do this after you.

Nissan made the (so wrong) assumption that it was not like restaurant, but like a home delivery, where the customer is not aware of the other orders timing.
They forgot that we live in a very connected and social age, where secrets like that are very hard to keep.

Well, in fact, it isn't like a restaurant. Once the order is placed into the production process there is no sequencing overlord who is tracking every Leaf to make sure it "stays in line". There is a production process at the factory that is based on manufacturing efficiency. There are multiple transportation processes that are based on moving ALL the new Nissan vehicles to their destinations at the least cost. There are issues of dealer preparedness and ability to handle incoming deliveries. None of these processes are concerned about any pre-determined order. Next car ready for the next process gets processed.

If the Leafs were being manufactured at full production levels, the discrepancies would even out to a few days. The fact that the early orders are placed against a much smaller production level allows the differences to reach weeks or months.
As the production levels have been rapidly ramped up, later orders catch up and even pass earlier orders. This is actually a good sign that production ramp up is going smoothly, and the time from new orders to delivery is shrinking.

 

[richard]

Well, in fact, it isn't like a restaurant. Once the order is placed into the production process there is no sequencing overlord who is tracking every Leaf to make sure it "stays in line". There is a production process at the factory that is based on manufacturing efficiency. There are multiple transportation processes that are based on moving ALL the new Nissan vehicles to their destinations at the least cost. There are issues of dealer preparedness and ability to handle incoming deliveries. None of these processes are concerned about any pre-determined order. Next car ready for the next process gets processed.

If the Leafs were being manufactured at full production levels, the discrepancies would even out to a few days. The fact that the early orders are placed against a much smaller production level allows the differences to reach weeks or months.
As the production levels have been rapidly ramped up, later orders catch up and even pass earlier orders. This is actually a good sign that production ramp up is going smoothly, and the time from new orders to delivery is shrinking.

This is all very true, and well put. The numbers are pointing to a logjam being freed up. However, in this volatility, people's orders appear to be all akimbo.

We're used to the days of 0.4 deliveries per day, so having our order sorted right was critical. Moving into hundreds of deliveries per day, as it appears we're doing, this may seem less important soon (I hope)

It would be nice if Nissan came out with a statement like what you've said, charlie1300. It would help bridge the gap between customer expectations and the logistics reality.

 

[smkettner]

Nissan doesn't seem to get that if you enter a restaurant, sit down, and place your order, it's reasonable to expect that your order will arrive before those of the people who do this after you.

I have been at a restaurant and had a busy wait person so my order was late. I have also had my order go to another table and had to wait for the remake. I have also had my order dropped on the floor and it needed to be remade. And once in a while the food seems to arrive very fast and we eat before others that sat first. I have also had poor made or undercooked food served and I sent it back.

All this and perhaps more is going on with the Leaf delivery. 30 days early or late would seem reasonable max variation
to me.

 

[richard]

I have been at a restaurant and had a busy wait person so my order was late. I have also had my order go to another table and had to wait for the remake. I have also had my order dropped on the floor and it needed to be remade. And once in a while the food seems to arrive very fast and we eat before others that sat first. I have also had poor made or undercooked food served and I sent it back.

All this and perhaps more is going on with the Leaf delivery. 30 days early or late would seem reasonable max variation
to me.

So how many of these experiences increased your customer loyalty? I bet none of them, save maybe the accident and possibly any cases where the waitperson made an attempt to make up for it.

30 days early or late doesn't seem reasonable to me. Not in the age of computers where, having guessed that supply would be constrained, Nissan could have made an attempt to keep things orderly.

Nissan successfully revolutionized the ordering process. They need to bring their fulfillment process up to the same level.

 

[mgoleta]

I just saw VIN#405 at the Santa Barbara Nissan. It was a SL with QC, Glacial Pearl. This one is not in the spreadsheet. It is the first one in this area.

 

[EVDRIVER]

I just saw VIN#405 at the Santa Barbara Nissan. It was a SL with QC, Glacial Pearl. This one is not in the spreadsheet. It is the first one in this area.

Mine is within 10 digits of that one and I got my car on the 8th in Nor Cal.

 

[hill]

I just saw VIN#405 at the Santa Barbara Nissan. It was a SL with QC, Glacial Pearl. This one is not in the spreadsheet. It is the first one in this area.

Not hard to guess . . . obviously dealerhhip employees lucky enough to have already purchased/taken possession would be reluctant to advertise THEIR good fortune (by posting on the spreadsheet). I can imagin at least 40 or more cars in CA alone, going to employees. But ... advertising that fact? That's all it'd take to set the thin skinned cuctomers on the wait list into a tizzy.

 

[Azrich]

Whoo Hoo!!! This morning I got THE email:

"Your Nissan LEAF is scheduled to arrive at your local dealer within the next 7 days."

Two days ago my dashboard moved from March 22 to March 28!! I figured I had a couple more weeks, at least. No Blink installed yet. No installation date either, even though I have called and complained to them a lot!!

But, good news!!!

 

[JasonT]

"Your Nissan LEAF is scheduled to arrive at your local dealer within the next 7 days."

Great news - congrats. Good to know that there will soon be some Leafs driving around Tucson.

 

[LindaK]

She's home. Sally pulled into my garage about 1:30 this afternoon. Sorry to all those I seem to have jumped ahead of as my reservation was on 9/15. No idea how that happens, nor does my dealer. Now to learn all about navigation/carwings/charge scheduling....and all the rest.

Had two people on the road (a 45 mile drive home) give me the "look" that said they knew what I was driving. Fun!!

 

[DaveEV]

She's home. Sally pulled into my garage about 1:30 this afternoon. Sorry to all those I seem to have jumped ahead of as my reservation was on 9/15. No idea how that happens, nor does my dealer.

Glad you got your Leaf - but it appears you ordered on 9/15 according to the spreadsheet and had a Sept month - you must have reserved on 4/20. In which case I don't think you jumped ahead at all.

Either way, enjoy your Leaf and share your experience!

 

[azdre]

Whoo Hoo!!! This morning I got THE email:

"Your Nissan LEAF is scheduled to arrive at your local dealer within the next 7 days."

Two days ago my dashboard moved from March 22 to March 28!! I figured I had a couple more weeks, at least. No Blink installed yet. No installation date either, even though I have called and complained to them a lot!!

But, good news!!!

I got that email on the 6th and no word yet on the car, but I anticipate delivery to my Phoenix dealer this weekend hopefully. ETEC will most likely be notified of your delivery and will have the contractor schedule your install with just a few days notice. The contractor tried to call to schedule me for the next day, so sounds like they probably have electricians ready to go for these things. Unfortunately, part of my job includes a whole new panel so we had to push it out until late next week when the utility was available to shut us down. We will probably be charging on 110 for a few days, but it shouldn't be a problem for my 20 mile one-way commute. One of the issues of being an early adopter is having to babysit the process a bit to make sure that the planets align, but I think it's coming together and I hope all of our anguish will help future LEAFers.

 

[Fabio]

Congratz! I will be driving mine home tomorrow ...

She's home. Sally pulled into my garage about 1:30 this afternoon. Sorry to all those I seem to have jumped ahead of as my reservation was on 9/15. No idea how that happens, nor does my dealer. Now to learn all about navigation/carwings/charge scheduling....and all the rest.

Had two people on the road (a 45 mile drive home) give me the "look" that said they knew what I was driving. Fun!!

 

[gascant]

My date is now back to April 1. It has been like this April 1 -> March 30th - > March 25th - > March 30th - > April 1 in the past 1 week.

You'll still get it in time for our local LEAF Enthusiasts meeting on the 2nd

 

[csriram45]

My date is now back to April 1. It has been like this April 1 -> March 30th - > March 25th - > March 30th - > April 1 in the past 1 week.

You'll still get it in time for our local LEAF Enthusiasts meeting on the 2nd

I definitely hope so. Will be nice to be able to show up with my leaf.

 

[DeaneG]

Oops, my former w/o March 25 delivery estimate, after moving to Mar 28 and Apr 1, just slipped this morning to April 6. Guess I'll have to switch over to the "April" thread! It'll be me with the Italian gasser at the April 2 get-together.

 

[csriram45]

Oops, my former w/o March 25 delivery estimate, after moving to Mar 28 and Apr 1, just slipped this morning to April 6. Guess I'll have to switch over to the "April" thread! It'll be me with the Italian gasser at the April 2 get-together.

Ditto with mine too. I suspect the dates will keep moving. I think the dates are estimated by some system and I have a bad feeling about our cars. It's possible that they were in port and could have been destroyed or stuck. So every day there is delay in them leaving port the dates are going to continue to slide.

 

[DeaneG]

...It's possible that they were in port and could have been destroyed or stuck...

I'll bet our cars are on the Andromeda Spirit, if not already landed in the US:
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=2091&start=255