defiancecp
Well-known member
Man, I'm frustrated, and gotta vent a little.
I'm in Arkansas right now, and I placed my preorder within the first days of preorder availability. I knew we weren't an initial launch state, and that's fine; I can wait a few months. Especially since all the initial rumors were that the final phase rollout would have been around march/april 2011 timeframes.
So welcome to July, when I received an email sayng that it was going to be late 2011 - over a year after launch. Again, a few months, staging the rollout, that kind of thing - fine, but a full year between phases??
That was pretty frustrating - especially since I've been holding off on retiring my old vehicle, and I don't think it's going to survive another summer. So I considered buying from a launch market - I'm just a short hop away from Memphis, so I called a couple dealers in that area, and they all told me it shouldn't be a problem ordering from them, so I chose one and set them as my preferred dealer, smiled a happy smile, and went on my way.
Fast-forward to yesterday - Ordering opens, but I still have no idea when I should be eligible. Web site still has me locked out, so I call the dealership to see if they've got any insight. They tell me I show up as the first order on their list, but that I'm not eligible because of the EVSE evaluation bug.
So I spent 2hrs+ on the phone yesterday trying to track down the EVSE waiver, which apparently doesn't exist. Whole other discussion about that going on, so I won't rehash it, but in the end, after talking with AV and agreeing to buy the EVSE direct from them, I just decided to schedule the eval for as far out as possible in order to get past the roadblock. Only it won't work - because of my Arkansas address.
Ok, fine, so I set up a memphis PO box (I'm going to cancel the home evaluation anyway), and called to change my address. Now the person I spoke to became downright combattive, accusing me of trying to "cheat" the system. But, in the end, after giving a huge speel about the disadvantages of buying outside of launch market (no infrastructure (don't care), warranty support (I'm fine dealing with memphis for warranty), transport (I can transport the car if needed)...), he finally agreed to change the address. With yet another roadblock taken care of, I felt like I was making some progress, so I scheduled the evse eval, but the site still wouldn't let me through.
So I checked in with the dealer again, and they said they believe it would be 24 hours until it updated in their system. hm... Great. Ok, let's confirm that - so I got on the online chat and asked if that was correct, and if I'd be able to order tomorrow (or if not, when), and the rep told me that it would be fall/winter 2011 before my account unlocked. I pointed out that the account had changed, and that I should be in the launch queue somewhere now, and asked if they would correct that - they agreed that it looked incorect, said they didn't have the access to, but they would escalate the question. I thanked them and expected to wait for a supervisor - but was shocked when they said the supervisor would contact me in 3-5 business days... WHA?? wow. Again, remaining polite, I told them I would try other means of contact, but go ahead and begin that process for me.
So I figured, maybe someone on the phone can help. I called and the guy I spoke to refused, saying it was impossible (Oh, come on, you can't tell me you've created a system that does not allow for correction of incorrect info under any circumstances), and that even if it was possible, he wouldn't do it. I asked what I could do to be able to go forward with my purchase as I had been told I could from the start, and he said it was impossible. Especially since I didn't even have a physical address in memphis. I offered to provide a physical address, and he said, well in that case we'd require a credit card billed to that address. I offered to provide a credit card billed to a physical address in Memphis, and he finally said, even that wouldn't work, you'd have to cancel your preorder and make a new one with that credit card. I pointed out to him that the CEO stated that all 2011 models were already preordered, so if I made a new preorder now, it would put me in the 2012 queue. His response was, well, those are your choices.
I spoke to the dealer one more time and they said they believed it would be fine, that the order would work tomorrow (today), but so far it hasn't (I got in earlier when the site wasn't down), and I see no reason to believe this problem is just going to fix itself...
So great - I'm just trying to buy the car as I was told long ago I could, and every time I make it past one obstacle, the reps on the hotline keep making up a new one. I know what I'm getting into with this car. I have the money, want to buy it, was among the very first people to preorder, and was told that in these circumstances I would be able buy in the tennessee wave somewhere. I have found a dealer that wants to sell it to me, and is eligible to do so.
Does anyone have any suggestions, someone that I could speak to that would be able to help?
I'm in Arkansas right now, and I placed my preorder within the first days of preorder availability. I knew we weren't an initial launch state, and that's fine; I can wait a few months. Especially since all the initial rumors were that the final phase rollout would have been around march/april 2011 timeframes.
So welcome to July, when I received an email sayng that it was going to be late 2011 - over a year after launch. Again, a few months, staging the rollout, that kind of thing - fine, but a full year between phases??
That was pretty frustrating - especially since I've been holding off on retiring my old vehicle, and I don't think it's going to survive another summer. So I considered buying from a launch market - I'm just a short hop away from Memphis, so I called a couple dealers in that area, and they all told me it shouldn't be a problem ordering from them, so I chose one and set them as my preferred dealer, smiled a happy smile, and went on my way.
Fast-forward to yesterday - Ordering opens, but I still have no idea when I should be eligible. Web site still has me locked out, so I call the dealership to see if they've got any insight. They tell me I show up as the first order on their list, but that I'm not eligible because of the EVSE evaluation bug.
So I spent 2hrs+ on the phone yesterday trying to track down the EVSE waiver, which apparently doesn't exist. Whole other discussion about that going on, so I won't rehash it, but in the end, after talking with AV and agreeing to buy the EVSE direct from them, I just decided to schedule the eval for as far out as possible in order to get past the roadblock. Only it won't work - because of my Arkansas address.
Ok, fine, so I set up a memphis PO box (I'm going to cancel the home evaluation anyway), and called to change my address. Now the person I spoke to became downright combattive, accusing me of trying to "cheat" the system. But, in the end, after giving a huge speel about the disadvantages of buying outside of launch market (no infrastructure (don't care), warranty support (I'm fine dealing with memphis for warranty), transport (I can transport the car if needed)...), he finally agreed to change the address. With yet another roadblock taken care of, I felt like I was making some progress, so I scheduled the evse eval, but the site still wouldn't let me through.
So I checked in with the dealer again, and they said they believe it would be 24 hours until it updated in their system. hm... Great. Ok, let's confirm that - so I got on the online chat and asked if that was correct, and if I'd be able to order tomorrow (or if not, when), and the rep told me that it would be fall/winter 2011 before my account unlocked. I pointed out that the account had changed, and that I should be in the launch queue somewhere now, and asked if they would correct that - they agreed that it looked incorect, said they didn't have the access to, but they would escalate the question. I thanked them and expected to wait for a supervisor - but was shocked when they said the supervisor would contact me in 3-5 business days... WHA?? wow. Again, remaining polite, I told them I would try other means of contact, but go ahead and begin that process for me.
So I figured, maybe someone on the phone can help. I called and the guy I spoke to refused, saying it was impossible (Oh, come on, you can't tell me you've created a system that does not allow for correction of incorrect info under any circumstances), and that even if it was possible, he wouldn't do it. I asked what I could do to be able to go forward with my purchase as I had been told I could from the start, and he said it was impossible. Especially since I didn't even have a physical address in memphis. I offered to provide a physical address, and he said, well in that case we'd require a credit card billed to that address. I offered to provide a credit card billed to a physical address in Memphis, and he finally said, even that wouldn't work, you'd have to cancel your preorder and make a new one with that credit card. I pointed out to him that the CEO stated that all 2011 models were already preordered, so if I made a new preorder now, it would put me in the 2012 queue. His response was, well, those are your choices.
I spoke to the dealer one more time and they said they believed it would be fine, that the order would work tomorrow (today), but so far it hasn't (I got in earlier when the site wasn't down), and I see no reason to believe this problem is just going to fix itself...
So great - I'm just trying to buy the car as I was told long ago I could, and every time I make it past one obstacle, the reps on the hotline keep making up a new one. I know what I'm getting into with this car. I have the money, want to buy it, was among the very first people to preorder, and was told that in these circumstances I would be able buy in the tennessee wave somewhere. I have found a dealer that wants to sell it to me, and is eligible to do so.
Does anyone have any suggestions, someone that I could speak to that would be able to help?
