The forgotten Sept/Oct orders

[cdub]

I think Nissan just hired some people to do the CS for them... but they weren't set up to deal with problems. They need to figure out how to do accurate tracking... it would save them and us a lot of heartache.

Hopefully they have it all figured out the next time around.

 

[FairwoodRed]

I just had a "conversation" with on-line chat. My car is still at port, scheduled for shipment. "Jacalyn" told me that it will be shipped "as soon as there are enough cars ready" to be shipped to my dealer.

EVCS told me that yesterday too. Since I had previously been told that I was waiting on 4 accessories to be installed, I asked if they showed all my accessories install. They don’t. Still waiting on all 4. I asked how it could be awaiting shipment and still need accessories. At least he had the stones to be honest and say that it made no sense to him but that is all the info he has access to. You might want to chat again and ask about your accessory status.

I don’t think that your car is waiting on a truck to your dealer, I think it is waiting on a train to Portland. It might wait in Portland for a trunk, but I don’t think you are there yet.

 

[SanDust]

I was stupidly, very stupidly, starting to get my hopes up. I have never in my life dealt with such an irresponsible, incompetent, and dishonorable company.

The frustration is understandable but take a deep breadth. You'll get it. All these cars being held at the Port for accessories or pollen issues or whatever are now being released. It's been a painful journey but it's close to being over. Next you'll probably get an email telling you your dashboard has changed to a date seven days out. Then you'll immediately get a call from your dealer.

 

[daniel]

What's the point of a customer service line when they clearly have no actual information whatsoever? Their only purpose is to offer meaningless reassurances and apologies.

Fairwood is probably right that the car is awaiting a train, not a truck, but it's been three weeks since they told me my car was released for shipping and would be shipped the following week. Am I supposed to believe that in three weeks there has not been a train to Portland? Meanwhile, people who ordered in 2011 are still getting cars. How are they being shipped? By magic carpet? There's stuff they're not telling us. (Obviously, since they're not telling us ANYTHING BUT LIES AND PROMISES!)

My dealer has told me that the only information he gets is an invoice, which sometimes comes two days before the car, and sometimes comes after the car. I got an email mid-April telling me my car was "almost there" and both my dashboard and CS told me week of April 22. Then I got an email three weeks ago telling me my car was "almost there" and CS told me it would "definitely" be shipped the following week. Then I got an email telling me my delivery date had changed to week of June 3, which ain't gonna happen if my car is still in port.

So in what way is the next email going to actually indicate anything at all?

 

[SanDust]

So in what way is the next email going to actually indicate anything at all?

I'm not focused on the email. I'm just suggesting your delivery date is close because: (1) your car is one of the so-called "pollen cars"; and (2) the "pollen cars" are now showing up at dealers.

I understand your frustration.

 

[leafkabob]

Fairwood is probably right that the car is awaiting a train, not a truck, but it's been three weeks since they told me my car was released for shipping and would be shipped the following week. Am I supposed to believe that in three weeks there has not been a train to Portland? Meanwhile, people who ordered in 2011 are still getting cars. How are they being shipped? By magic carpet? There's stuff they're not telling us. (Obviously, since they're not telling us ANYTHING BUT LIES AND PROMISES!)

The "waiting to fill a truck or a train" has never made sense to me. Wouldn't there be lots of other Nissan models to fill up the other spots on the trucks and trains? Seems like I've seen several photos of trucks coming in that had mixed loads - not just leafs aboard.

 

[cdub]

Got car. Charging in my garage. I'll have to clean it up more.. .it's tight! Pictures coming soon.

 

[Boomer23]

Got car. Charging in my garage. I'll have to clean it up more.. .it's tight! Pictures coming soon.

Woo hoo! Another long sufferer satisfied. Does my heart good!

 

[LALeaf]

Got my Leaf tonight as well!! Nov 4th order.

 

[DaveEV]

I sent a long email to Brian Carolin (SVP Sales & Marketing NNA) earlier today (Tuesday) with my thoughts of the Nissan LEAF order/delivery process and to my surprise got a call back from Brendan Jones (Director of LEAF Marketing & Strategy) a couple hours later. Talk about customer service - and what a contrast with the usual customer service channels!

Long story short - there have been multiple issues w/the LEAF rollout - but the biggest cause of out-of-order deliveries at this point is due to parts shortages and limitations in how Nissan's order fulfillment system works.

Brendan (and Brian) are well aware of the issues and working to resolve them. Here's a list of issues that have affected production and delivery sequencing in approximate order they happened (ignoring the pollen issue - didn't ask him about that as my car wasn't affected).

1. Order date - your order doesn't enter the queue until you have finalized your order with your dealer. Reservation date doesn't matter once the order has been placed. Due to issues with EV Project, Nissan could not open orders for potential EV Project customers until either approved or denied by the EV Project because if you are going to be in the EV Project, you need the special "SLe" build code to satisfy EV Project requirements. For me as a Sept order month - this delayed my order date until October 22nd. Unfortunately, the EV Project was very slow in getting ramped up initially. This has been resolved for 2012.

2. 60-80 "lost" orders - there were a small number of early orders that were lost due to a technical glitch. These were Sept/Oct orders - this issue didn't affect my order, but these orders should be resolved now.

3. Earthquake / tsunami - my car was originally scheduled to be built right after the quake - but the build was canceled - and apparently canceled a 2nd time due to parts shortages. This is where things get a bit confusing and I'm not quite sure I got it right but this is how I understand it so don't shoot me if I'm wrong!

Apparently there are a couple queues your order goes through as it goes into production.

A pre-build-scheduled queue - these are sorted based on when you get your order - in other words, the oldest orders always come out first.

Once your build has been scheduled (this is likely when you first get your "month of" date), it essentially becomes locked in place and can not be changed - only canceled.

The first 3 months of deliveries (late Dec-Mar) were very slow on purpose - a LOT of extra post-production QA was being done on these cars - with very few cars in the queue cars essentially came out in the same order that the orders were placed.

Some time in late Feb or early March Nissan started loosening up the flood gates loose and started scheduling large number of vehicles.

Had the quake not happened, these orders would have came out in the same order. But when it's a car's turn to be built and the don't have the parts on hand to build that car - that build gets canceled and then goes back to the head of the pre-build-scheduled queue to have production re-scheduled. And there's no way to re-order the build order once the build is scheduled for production - apparently that would cause all sorts of issues.

You'll notice in the spreadsheet that basically up until mid-April all the deliveries were pretty closely in order. Shortly after that post-quake cars started being delivered out of order. I'm guessing it's pretty much as random as it looks on the spreadsheet - if they had enough parts when your car was at the front of the build line it'd get built - otherwise it'd get canceled and you'd be stuck waiting another month.

If you're unlucky - your build could get canceled more than once. If you're not - it will sail through. It seems to pretty much be a coin toss - exasperated by the fact that Nissan is trying to schedule as many LEAF builds as possible - the fact that cars are assigned to customers before they are built - and the fact that parts shortages are unpredictable due to the quake and tsunami.

Hopefully that's informative - it seems to pretty much match up with what others have heard.

 

[daniel]

No explanation as to why a car would be assigned to someone, reported by the dealer to be in Portland, and then re-assigned to someone else? No explanation as to why a car would be reported as "released for shipping" but continue to sit in port for another month?

50/50 chance right now that if the car ever does come I'll let the dealer have it. Without assurances as to how the car was stored and cared for during those two or three or more months in port, I'm not sure I want it any more. And since Nissan refuses to tell us anything other than the usual lies, I cannot imagine them telling me anything reliable about that. If the EV Porsche does not pan out, I may just sell the Xebra and go back to burning gas. I am completely disillusioned with Nissan.

 

[Stoaty]

Had the quake not happened, these orders would have came out in the same order. But when it's a car's turn to be built and the don't have the parts on hand to build that car - that build gets canceled and then goes back to the head of the pre-build-scheduled queue to have production re-scheduled. And there's no way to re-order the build order once the build is scheduled for production - apparently that would cause all sorts of issues.

Very informative, and refreshing to hear a real explanation that makes sense. It sounds like their design would have worked fine if not for the earthquake and parts shortages. The delay likely would have been lost in the noise. Bottom line is that the earthquake not only caused a delay in the total number of cars, but also caused the screwed up order of deliveries.

 

[garygid]

Sounds like more "bovine exhaust" to me.

If Nissan had not done rescheduling well BEFORE the earthquake, the sept/oct orders would have been scheduled AND produced well before the 2011 orders.

Also, BEFORE the earthquake there would have been no lack-of-parts (or paint) issues.

 

[stanley]

It is good to see that Drees received a call from Brandon Jones to answer his questions about the delivery process. Life is not perfect and nor is Nissan. My order got caught up in the ordering process and i was enormously frustrated over not receiving my car as originally promised. However, in the end, I received my Leaf and it is a great car and it looks like all the orders between August and February will receive their cars by the end of June.

It is time to reflect a little. While Nissan is not perfect, they have done a great deal right and a lot better than their competitors. They have invested BILLIONS to create a maintream EV. I for one will now cut them some slack but will always point up where they can improve.

Bravo Nissan!!!

 

[lonndoggie]

For those of us with cars stuck at the port for over two months: I wonder if the "parts shortage -> back to the end of the queue" concept is affecting us (or me, in particular). I keep waiting for options--maybe if ALL your options aren't available, instead of installing what they do have, you go back to the end of the line.

This would help explain the interminable delays, and why some cars are being delivered with some options. Those of us foolish enough to have added more than one or two options (like me) are having the most severe case of Groundhog Day.

 

[HIOJim]

Those of us foolish enough to have added more than one or two options (like me) are having the most severe case of Groundhog Day.

Yes, if I had to do it over I would have ordered the car with no options and added them my self once the car was delivered.

As it is, I got the mats, splash guards, cargo organizer and protection package. I've since seen the protection package and it's a joke and regret ordering it. I'll be annoyed if this is what is holding things up for lo, these many months.

 

[SanDust]

Hopefully that's informative - it seems to pretty much match up with what others have heard.

Thanks for this. This seems consistent with what we've seen. I'll accept it.

However, it doesn't address the 4/22 delivery week cars which languished and are languishing in Long Beach. Any more insight about these? These cars were produced and shipped before the quake and nothing in his explanation would explain their delay.

Or have I missed something?

 

[xtremeflyer]

Hopefully that's informative - it seems to pretty much match up with what others have heard.

Thanks for this. This seems consistent with what we've seen. I'll accept it.

However, it doesn't address the 4/22 delivery week cars which languished and are languishing in Long Beach. Any more insight about these? These cars were produced and shipped before the quake and nothing in his explanation would explain their delay.

Or have I missed something?

I would say that if you want insight into your particular issue, email a polite email to Brian with your issues and concerns and it sounds like Brandon will call you personally (I'd say just email Brandon, but I don't have his email, unless its just like Brian's and you could figure it out.)

 

[Stoaty]

However, it doesn't address the 4/22 delivery week cars which languished and are languishing in Long Beach. Any more insight about these? These cars were produced and shipped before the quake and nothing in his explanation would explain their delay.

I emailed Brian Carolin Wed. nite about the long history of delays, promises and misinformation from Nissan CS about my 4/22 Pollen car. Less than 24 hours later, I had a delivery date on my dashboard (June 3, moved to June 10 this AM). He didn't reply, and I don't know if this change was a coincidence, but it is good enough for me.

 

[Stoaty]

Sounds like more "bovine exhaust" to me.

If Nissan had not done rescheduling well BEFORE the earthquake, the sept/oct orders would have been scheduled AND produced well before the 2011 orders.

Also, BEFORE the earthquake there would have been no lack-of-parts (or paint) issues.

Gary, for once I have to disagree with you. Large corporations are powerful, but aren't known for being nimble. Also, any time you make a change to a complex system, you risk breaking something that was working properly. With the glitches we already know about, perhaps it was judged to be either too complicated or too risky to make a change.