May Deliveries! Or... May(be)?

[supernoman]

Sadly, it's back up and no change to my MOM status.

 

[BlueSL]

OK, so ttweed has been "fixed". What about the rest of us? Nissan just "oiled the squeaky wheel".

This is a fair comment. My buddy who ordered before Ttweed is still "month of May." What about the September orders, Nissan?

The way I look at it right now is:

1. I have been "month of May" since late February
2. The earthquake and tsunami were more than two weeks ago and I am still "month of May," so I assume my delivery projection is accurate
3. As long as (a) I do not get sucker punched by a change to "Pending" and (b) the wrongly allocated car problem is corrected, I will be satisfied
4. Still, I think Nissan should explain what it is doing; this reading of tea leaves and spreadsheets is for the birds and it is hurting a process that should be nothing but joyful and celebratory

 

[Leggedo]

Still showing delivery in month of May.

SL-e
QC-Mats, glacier pearl
reserved 5-10-10
ordered 12-13-11
delivery Month of May(be)

 

[Coffee_Slurry]

Meanwhile, Nissan saw fit to spend $$ on a huge BillBoard on the freeway advertising the new 100% Blah blah LEAF.

What the hell is the point of that? They won't take another order any time soon, don't know where the existing orders are, and have no idea what cars are where. Good thing the leadership is prioritizing billboards over communication with pissed-off customers.

Every time I drive by that thing, I want to spit. 100% BS.

 

[davewill]

Meanwhile, Nissan saw fit to spend $$ on a huge BillBoard on the freeway advertising the new 100% Blah blah LEAF.

What the hell is the point of that? They won't take another order any time soon, don't know where the existing orders are, and have no idea what cars are where. Good thing the leadership is prioritizing billboards over communication with pissed-off customers.

Every time I drive by that thing, I want to spit. 100% BS.

It's called building a brand, and needs to go on. The marketing people/budget have nothing to with the production/delivery process and the notion that this is anythiing more than a mistake, exacerbated by the disaster is silly. Could they have communicated better? Sure, but that billboard has no effect on it, either way.

 

[leafkabob]

I don't know if this will help at all, but here is my "take-away" of the phone call I received yesterday (I believe from someone at Nissan-USA Telematics):

-they acknowledged that there was a software (or human) error in allowing a batch of Jan/Feb orders to be filled early (HIOJim might notice that I refrained from using the term "leap frogged") and they are well along the way toward fixing the problem (meaning it won't happen again, but they are not intending to pull VINs from anyone that has already received one)
- the cars for those with a "static" status of May(be) were indeed likely on one of the last boats out of Yokohama
- it is too early to tell for the folks that moved from May to Penduary (which probably means that some will make the cut and others won't, but they won't know until they get further along with processing the multitude of cars currently in Long Beach)

I sent an e-mail to CS a couple of weeks ago asking why 2011 orders were being assigned VINS and mid-April delivery dates, ahead of 2010 orders. I received a response about a week later from Meg. Her response was so much double-speak that I immediately replied back and said that wasn't going to cut it and I wanted a real response. Just now I got a call from Jesse in CS. She was very nice and seemed to be trying to give me an answer but unfortunately all she could do was give me "it may be because of this" type info. I pointed out that her speculation didn't make sense and asked to talk to someone who could give me hard factual info. She said her supervisor Keith was in a meeting but she would talk to him and call me back today with answers. She said if her answers don't satisfy me, that she will transfer me to Keith.


She did say that if you have a month of may estimate, that "she" whould not worry at all. It is her opinion that month of may means the car made it out of Japan. She also said that the "linejumpers" (apologies to HIO) could be orphaned cars that the dealers had the descretion to sell to a 2011 orderer. When I tried to pin her down to say that was in fact what was happening, she wouldn't say it.

Finally, she said that some peopel are posting information on this forum that is not completely accurate. :roll:

 

[BlueSL]

She also said that the "linejumpers" (apologies to HIO) could be orphaned cars that the dealers had the descretion to sell to a 2011 orderer. When I tried to pin her down to say that was in fact what was happening, she wouldn't say it.

There is no way this happened. Look at the narrowness of the order dates, the spread of car types and colors, and the spread of dealers. Dealers only control orders cancelled within 30 days of delivery. Nissan did this.

Finally, she said that some peopel are posting information on this forum that is not completely accurate. :roll:

This can be fixed by Nissan. What do they expect? People are trying to make sense of a situation which, from the outside, seems almost beyond explanation. I wonder how mwalsh is doing on getting some sort of official communication out. It would be so beneficial.

 

[leafkabob]

She also said that the "linejumpers" (apologies to HIO) could be orphaned cars that the dealers had the descretion to sell to a 2011 orderer. When I tried to pin her down to say that was in fact what was happening, she wouldn't say it.

There is no way this happened. Look at the narrowness of the order dates, the spread of car types and colors, and the spread of dealers. Dealers only control orders cancelled within 30 days of delivery. Nissan did this.

Finally, she said that some peopel are posting information on this forum that is not completely accurate. :roll:

This can be fixed by Nissan. What do they expect? People are trying to make sense of a situation which, from the outside, seems almost beyond explanation. I wonder how mwalsh is doing on getting some sort of official communication out. It would be so beneficial.

So Jesse just now called back and was able to tell me . . . . (wait for it. . .) bupkis.


As to the "linejumpers" she said they don't have a definite answer as to why that happened. Said they are trying to find out. She implied that the problem is in Japan, and that the reason for the out of sequence orders is because of something in Japan. I would not read too much into this, as it is my impression that I am just being given a line of BS.

Also, because of one of her weak explanations as to why the orders may be out of sequence was because of various accessories needing to be installed on specific batches of cars, I pressed her on that. She said that if a vehicle is ordered online, the accessories are installed at the factory in Japan, and NOT at the port at Long Beach. If a customer later wants to add accessories , they will be installed by the dealer. None of this information helped support her statement that the reason for some of the out of order cars was because they build them in batches by color and accessories.

Bottom line is that I feel that I got more doublespeak. I insisted that her supervisor call me back with either an answer to the question of why the linejumpers, or give me the name of someone at Nissan that I can pursue.

Sorry for a long post that in the end offers no real info.

 

[Fishleafer]

you should try [email protected], instead of the CS on the dashboard. Those people are clueless to say the lest.

 

[Beachcliffs]

you should try [email protected], instead of the CS on the dashboard. Those people are clueless to say the lest.

Fishleafer - Did you have any luck with that e-mail address?
FWIW - Out of four e-mail messages to [email protected], I have only received a reply to either the first, or second. I am also of the opinion that anything that goes to that address is routed to Maritz.

 

[Coffee_Slurry]

She did say that if you have a month of may estimate, that "she" whould not worry at all. It is her opinion that month of may means the car made it out of Japan.

Conversely, I had a Live Chat CS tell me the exact opposite -- that my "Month of May" car had not actually been built yet (for certain) and would probably be rescheduled. So that brings us full circle.

Chat has nothing but BS on tap.
Help yourself to as many servings as you would like.

 

[lisaleaf]

Last week I sent an email to [email protected] and received the same generic, no new information that I received when calling CS. Meg said "by looking at your online account I can see that your delivery is scheduled to occur in May". I've given up trying to get any credible information from Nissan. :roll:

 

[smkettner]

If you are month of May, I would take that at face value and check back on May 1 to see if it has changed.
Try to trust the system.

 

[Fishleafer]

Yes, I did have Brendon Jones (?) from Nissan called within 3 minutes that I sent my email, in which they did stated that they were aware of the problem/frustration, linejumper will be very few and they are trying to fix them, and some (~50%)of the information posted in the spreadsheet might not be as accurate as the reality, since folks did not update them real time.

Yeh, i did feel better after that phone call, but reading everything on the board for the past 3 days, it is SOOO apparent that NISSAN needs to provide a PUBLIC and consistent explanation about what went wrong about this delivery date snafu.

 

[stanley]

Fishleafer---When did you speak with Brendon Jones?

Stan

 

[BlueSL]

some (~50%)of the information posted in the spreadsheet might not be as accurate as the reality, since folks did not update them real time.

The spreadsheet, updated as of yesterday according to column "AC," shows many "linejumpers" whose deliery dates are holding steady. Not one linejumper has reported losing a delivery date, nor have there been any meaningful reports of Carwings openings since the Luna Spirit and Andromeda Spirit were unloaded.

I submit that the spreadsheet is a vastly superior source of information when compared to Nissan CS.

 

[Glenn]

I submit that the spreadsheet is a vastly superior source of information when compared to Nissan CS.

I agree, Blue, and so far Turbo's spreadsheet should be making the early orderers happy.

As I read it, of the first 98 actual deliveries, only three do not have August or September order dates, and those three are all from October (one each from WA, HI, and CA.) I realize there are a lot of deliveries, even many from MNLFers, which are not reflected in the spreadsheet, but overall I see very little evidence of actual line-jumping, even though there's a lot of angst about what might happen. Perhaps Nissan really is taking care of things in a proper fashion.

Though I was sad to see my delivery go from April to May to Pending, I'm convinced I'm right where I belong in the grand scheme of things.

Glenn

Edit: On further review, I see 5 October orders and one December order have reported actual deliveries. There are also a number of entries with obviously incorrect entries (April order date, incorrect year...) so it's not perfect data, but it's still a pretty darn nice piece of work! Thanks, Turbo!

 

[Beachcliffs]

I realize there are a lot of deliveries, even many from MNLFers, which are not reflected in the spreadsheet, but overall I see very little evidence of actual line-jumping, even though there's a lot of angst about what might happen. Perhaps Nissan really is taking care of things in a proper fashion.

Glenn - you are absouletly right about a) actual deliveries to date and b) about the angst being about what might happen. That being said, however, the angst would not need to be there at all if Nissan would just be a bit more forthcoming about any number of issues regarding the delivery queue. Also, specifically about what might happen, just yesterday a Nissan rep directly told me on the phone that folks who ordered in January and February with delivery esitmates currently in April will be receiving their cars as scheduled (ie within reasonable proximity of their "week of" date), while many people with Ocotober, November or December order dates are still relegated to either May(be) or Penduary. There have been, and will probably be, a select few late September/early October orders that are allocated demo models or orphans. But, my guess is that there are not likely to be enough such vehicles to take care of all the fourth quarter orders.

 

[Beachcliffs]

Yes, I did have Brendon Jones (?) from Nissan called within 3 minutes that I sent my email ...

Wow - that must have been one heck of an e-mail! Good job.

 

[TimLee]

I realize there are a lot of deliveries, even many from MNLFers, which are not reflected in the spreadsheet, but overall I see very little evidence of actual line-jumping, even though there's a lot of angst about what might happen. Perhaps Nissan really is taking care of things in a proper fashion.

Glenn - you are absouletly right about a) actual deliveries to date and b) about the angst being about what might happen. That being said, however, the angst would not need to be there at all if Nissan would just be a bit more forthcoming about any number of issues regarding the delivery queue. Also, specifically about what might happen, just yesterday a Nissan rep directly told me on the phone that folks who ordered in January and February with delivery esitmates currently in April will be receiving their cars as scheduled (ie within reasonable proximity of their "week of" date), while many people with Ocotober, November or December order dates are still relegated to either May(be) or Penduary. There have been, and will probably be, a select few late September/early October orders that are allocated demo models or orphans. But, my guess is that there are not likely to be enough such vehicles to take care of all the fourth quarter orders.

I think you're right Beachcliffs. I'm not very confident that all fourth quarter orders will be filled in the next 6 to 8 weeks with Leafs manufactured prior to 03-11-2011.
Of about 444 orders on the spreadsheet that have been delivered or are still awaiting delivery (saw one order that showed canceled), ~50 of these are people that got a really quick delivery projection somewhere in the range of 1.4 to 3.9 months from time of order. Most of the rest of the orders have deliveries in the range of 5 to 8 months.
I think what the Nissan rep told you is right. They're not going to back away from those delivery projections, even though it was a Nissan mistake to give them. They will all receive Leafs in the predicted delivery time frame from those that were off loaded on the west coast last week. Depending on the % of people reporting order information on the spreadsheet, thats probably 150 to 300 vehicles being delivered earlier than Nissan should have delivered them.
If 1500 Leafs did arrive last week, there's a chance that all the fourth quarter orders will be filled in 6 to 8 weeks. But I think your guess is more likely correct that some number of people will end up waiting for Leafs manufactured after 03-11-2011. They'll possibly be deliered in June / July / August, with their delivery having went horribly wrong and become 8 to 11 months from time of order. Maybe Nissan will offer a special price break?

I disagree with Glenn's use of the term "line jumping". There's not any "line jumping" occurring. The people that ordered in January / February that got really quick delivery projections got a huge break due to the Nissan (or their subcontractor as someone was told) big mistake.

In my opinion, Nissan makes excellent vehicles. I own a 2009 Altima that I'm very pleased with. First I ever owned, but after careful review, I'll probably always look at Nissan first prior to any other brand from now on.

But if Nissan made such a hugely incompetent mistake in not being able to deliver vehicles in some semblance of the sequence in which they were ordered or reserved, what other mistakes have they made or will continue to make in the roll out of this first of a kind mass produced electric vehicle? I hope its the first and last, as I hope Smyrna, TN has more demand for them than they can produce. But some open information from Nissan to all customers with pending orders about the mistake on the sequence of order filling would help restore customer confidence.

Tim Lee
Chattanooga, TN

Res: 4/20/10
Order: 11/19/10
Dashboard Delivery Projection: Month of May (Since wave of changes in Feb 11)
No change in dashboard or notification yet from Nissan post 03-11-2011
Ocean Blue, eTec