Why are Deliveries from Long Beach Slow?

[uwskier20]

So I just called again and was told that even though my car is ready to ship since 4/19 (VIN 1485) it is on hold at Long Beach until cars that are also headed to my area (Seattle) are ready. Nissan is not releasing individual cars for shipment as soon as they are ready, they want to bunch up cars headed for the same area. I can understand that, but at the same time this doesn't explain a 4 week delay.

So possibly my car was one of the first ones fixed, and say there are only 10 cars heading for Seattle out of the bunch, I will have to wait until car 9 and 10 are done, and if these are the last two cars fixed, I am out of luck.

'

I got word today that mine is fixed as well. Maybe ours are waiting for the same carrier?

 

[LEAFfan]

So I just called again and was told that even though my car is ready to ship since 4/19 (VIN 1485) it is on hold at Long Beach until cars that are also headed to my area (Seattle) are ready. Nissan is not releasing individual cars for shipment as soon as they are ready, they want to bunch up cars headed for the same area. I can understand that, but at the same time this doesn't explain a 4 week delay.
So possibly my car was one of the first ones fixed, and say there are only 10 cars heading for Seattle out of the bunch, I will have to wait until car 9 and 10 are done, and if these are the last two cars fixed, I am out of luck.

Mine was 'released' Apr. 15th and put on hold to be delivered to WA, so I've been waiting since then for yours, and who knows how many others. But I'm glad that at least, thanks to you and that knowledgeable rep, I know what actually happened. Let's hope all these LEAFs leave before Apr. 27th, before the new ones arrive.

 

[idunk]

Based on what I see on other threads and my own situation my assessment is the following:
- all cars that got out of Japan on or before 3/10 that have not been delivered are in Long Beach either awaiting the AC issue fix, accessories installations or shipment;
- if you have a VIN your car is either in Long Beach or on its way to you (you can find your VIN by clicking on Own -> Nissan Owner Portal). Customer service will be able to tell your manufacturing date
- the AC fix created a mess, so cars are getting out in random order (normally they would get out more or less in sequence). Customer service can tell you the date the AC software fix was applied to your car
- after the AC fix is applied, your dashboard will not be updated
- one night the dashboard will suddenly update with a more or less reasonable date in the future (one or more weeks depending upon your distance from Long Beach)
- within few days (next day in my case) you will receive the "seven days" email; this means that your car is getting close to shipment (some cars have been delivered on the same day in the LA area);
- your dashboard may change another couple of times (by one or two days, occasionally by one week);
- finally your dealer is invoiced (your dealer will know when this happens, especially if the dealer is paying attention); your car is on its way and it should be at your dealer within few days (even hours if you are in the LA area); The dealer hasn't received my car yet, so I don't have a direct experience on this yet;
- your dealer calls you and you are happy

Obviously, there will be exceptions and the people with an early April date or even late March may be mighty pissed off by now, but everybody who has been caught in the AC mess is in the same boat. Follow my timeline in my signature and on the spreadsheet once I get the car.

 

[stanley]

idunk, Your description of the process is well done and accurate. Nissan should draft you to manage Customer Service. One question, do you believe that you will receive your leaf by April 29.

 

[idunk]

idunk, Your description of the process is well done and accurate. Nissan should draft you to manage Customer Service. One question, do you believe that you will receive your leaf by April 29.

Stanley, if my description is accurate it means that I am spending too much time on this forum I feel for the poor customer service folks, I am sure they are trying to do their best, just they don't have the information that we'd like to hear.

Anyhow, remember that the "week of April 29" normally would mean "in the seven days starting April 29" (i.e. between then and May 6). Based of what others in my area have reported, my sense is that the dealer will get my LEAF in a couple of days from invoice, maybe 3, so i might even get it before April 29. I don't have an understanding of all the steps that a car goes through at the port (one step per date change?), so it's hard to say conclusively what's gonna happen. Others have speculated that they bunch cars together and send them at the dealership (not necessarily all LEAFs, but probably all Nissan cars). Then it depends on how far you are. They could go by truck or train. Again, without a real understanding of the logistics involved, it's hard to speculate.

Nissan (like every major automaker) are in the business of delivering millions of vehicles per year in the shortest (average) time, so I am not surprised that the AC issue, the earthquake and all other problems have completely wrecked their plans. In essence, they have tried to personalize the delivery of the car (t-shirts, stickers, dashboard), but their logistic departments are very inflexible (that's how you deliver millions of cars quickly, nothing wrong there), so it's really hard to get it right with all the disruption. Try getting all the information and attention from a dealer we got if you are trying to buy a Honda Civic, a Nissan Versa or a Ford Focus!

 

[stanley]

I agree with you that the Customer Service folks are doing everything possible to help us with the limited information they have available. My comment about the Service Center was not a shot at them but meant as a compliment to you. As a matter of fact ,I have had several conversations with Mike N. at the Center and he is exemplary in his efforts to help me sort out what is happening with my order. I too have probably spent too much time on this forum. Now if only we can receive delivery sooner rather than later. That would be great!!

 

[scharlj]

So I agree with everything that's been said, and I thank idunk for the process description. However, I am really interested in finding out (because I am curious, and pissed), what information/events trigger dashboard updates. I had asked this simple question to CS yesterday. They told me my car was released 4/19 and that they have no new information available to them since then. Yet my DB moved 5 times in 2 days AFTER 4/19 and then again 2 times within the week after (as late as yesterday). To me this means the system that manages ETAs for the DB is responding to new information. So I was asking CS why humans at CS can't see this information? What system is giving information to the DB ETA system to update itself so frequently. You can't tell me that it's randomly triggered. It must be triggered by some information, and I should be able to know (through CS) what this information is.

Well it looks like at least three other cars are destined for WA in the bunch. That's good news. My dealer had told me that cars destined for Seattle take a train to Portland then a truck to Seattle. So I hope this means we'll be bunched up with cars to Portland as well.

I am still very pissed that it would take close to a month for a car to make its way from Long Beach to Seattle, regardless of the volume the handle, etc. I really don't think in the 21st century there are any mitigating circumstances for this. This is the era of "just in time delivery". This concept is a big deal, especially to the Japanese, who are quality and process driven. I still wonder how Nissan ever will be able to have 20,000 Leafs delivered by September (last week's press release) given my experience. I guess maybe they mean 20,000 vehicles delivered to Long Beach, but certainly not in hands of customers.

 

[idunk]

Stanley, didn't mean to imply at all that you were taking shots at customer service. I was just making a general comment.

My dashboard between last night and tonight went from the 29th to the 28th again. Still waiting for the call from the dealer.

scharlj, customer service will never know what the steps are. Based on my experience in the old days when I was programming, here is what I think the setup is.
Customer service is sub-contracted to a third party company. Nissan logistics know everything there is to know. Periodically, every third party system pulls (e.g. customer support company, eTec, and even the dashboard system) a summary from the logistics guys. So, none of third parties really know why, they just see a little more than we see. Nissan is not telling all the details to the customer service folks, so they don't know. They only ones who know more are supervisors or Nissan America in Tennessee who can either contact the logistics guys or have direct access to the logistics system. This access is probably on a need to know basis, so only few folks may have direct access to logistic info. Again, this is pure speculation based on having coded similar systems at my previous company (not even in the automotive business).

 

[scharlj]

scharlj, customer service will never know what the steps are. Based on my experience in the old days when I was programming, here is what I think the setup is.
Customer service is sub-contracted to a third party company. Nissan logistics know everything there is to know. Periodically, every third party system pulls (e.g. customer support company, eTec, and even the dashboard system) a summary from the logistics guys. So, none of third parties really know why, they just see a little more than we see. Nissan is not telling all the details to the customer service folks, so they don't know. They only ones who know more are supervisors or Nissan America in Tennessee who can either contact the logistics guys or have direct access to the logistics system. This access is probably on a need to know basis, so only few folks may have direct access to logistic info. Again, this is pure speculation based on having coded similar systems at my previous company (not even in the automotive business).

So are you saying that the logistics system is feeding the dashboard but not the CS system directly?

 

[idunk]

So are you saying that the logistics system is feeding the dashboard but not the CS system directly?

No, I am *speculating* that the logistic system is giving info to both (and all others). Either the logistic system might be pushing the information to the other systems or the other systems might be pulling information (no way to know which one, it's an implementation detail anyway).

 

[smkettner]

I think CS just views the same dashboard and says that is all the info they have :lol:

 

[twingo]

I have never called CS and my DB has been steady for around a month now at "week of April 15". My wife said she received a call yesterday from our sales guy at the dealer and he said my car was due to arrive either today or Thursday. I'm north of San Diego in Escondido.

 

[Coffee_Slurry]

From all the evidence I've seen in my own process and that of others posted, I've learned one thing:

CS (Live Chat, phone, whatever) has NO additional information over and above what you or your dealer can already see.

Anything additional they provide is total 100% made-up-on-the-spot bullsh!t.

Any callback I've ever received has been preceded by a dashboard update with the same material.
Anything they've said to me that wasn't on the dashboard has been proven to be totally incorrect.

I agree with the analysis that says all these systems are feeding off the same batch updates, and Nissan continues to be tight-lipped with any accurate or useful information.

From what I've heard from dealers, they're just as pissed and confused as we are. Some more vocal than others, but all in the dark.

If someone has an "in" at the Port of Long beach, go buy the guys there a beer and see if you can find out more about why the "1500" parked cars are trickling out of there instead of stacked 20 on each truck. There's an answer here nobody knows, but I bet the boots on the dock do.

 

[scharlj]

OK so if the information from the logisitics system gets to both, then CS should see it. That was my point.

 

[scharlj]

CS (Live Chat, phone, whatever) has NO additional information over and above what you or your dealer can already see.

I am not sure this is true because I had called my dealer for info and he had none, then I called CS and they told me my car had the AC fix on 4/19. So either my dealer didn't know where to look for this, or CS truly has that KIND of info, but not the dealer.

 

[Coffee_Slurry]

CS (Live Chat, phone, whatever) has NO additional information over and above what you or your dealer can already see.

I am not sure this is true because I had called my dealer for info and he had none, then I called CS and they told me my car had the AC fix on 4/19. So either my dealer didn't know where to look for this, or CS truly has that KIND of info, but not the dealer.

I did offer an alternate explanation. :twisted:

 

[smkettner]

CS (Live Chat, phone, whatever) has NO additional information over and above what you or your dealer can already see.

I am not sure this is true because I had called my dealer for info and he had none, then I called CS and they told me my car had the AC fix on 4/19. So either my dealer didn't know where to look for this, or CS truly has that KIND of info, but not the dealer.

Still what does that really say? Nothing much to me.

 

[cdub]

CS said my AC flash was done on 4/15 and they don't know when it will be leaving port. Yippee.

 

[idunk]

OK so if the information from the logisitics system gets to both, then CS should see it. That was my point.

Customer service and others get a summary of the info in the production system. Just the bare minimum, not the whole thing. They (CS) certainly have more than us since they knew my firmware update system. That's where the difference is.

 

[Coffee_Slurry]

OK so if the information from the logisitics system gets to both, then CS should see it. That was my point.

Customer service and others get a summary of the info in the production system. Just the bare minimum, not the whole thing. They (CS) certainly have more than us since they knew my firmware update system. That's where the difference is.

And you know it's true, how?

Whatever -- CS also told me that my car was not started, built or shipped on 3/10.
They're making up A/C dates now too.
Standard issue for a Nissan CS desk is a Magic 8 Ball, etch-a-sketch, two dice, and phone headset.
The dart-board is a shared resource.