The "when I placed my deposit thread"...

[Evotion]

Hold on...  what if I get a call and they say "due to demand, you can only have one Emira"

Agh, ok, I am off for a massage with some whale music. I need to chill TF out. ⛱️

[Emiralust]

“One is my wife’s, please change the name to hers. Ta”

[Evotion]

Ha, funny you should say that.  That is what will be happening,. Discussed it earlier. Looks like I will be after 2 V6 cars.

[TomE]

10 hours ago, James DG said:

"April dealer deposit with B&C. No call as yet..."

Scratch that. Just had the call. Placed Lotus deposit on 7th July JFYI.

They appear to be working through the pre-launch dealer deposits list based on dealer then date.  Mine was an April B&C deposit and I got my call at 1.15pm today, similar to you. 

[TomE]

Back in April when I placed my deposit  with B&C I got an assurance from them and from Lotus about how slots would be allocated.  I got messed about over Evora launch deposits/build slots and wasn’t going through that again.

When Lotus announced at the reveal that all deposits were being handled centrally there were concerns from many of us about what would be done with the dealer depositors.  I was told Lotus had asked all dealers to submit lists of pre-reveal deposits with dates. This was to ensure fairness in sequencing us in ahead of post reveal depositors.

I have this in writing and an indication of where I was in the queue.  Other early depositors do too.

If Lotus now change the allocation basis there will be several very pissed off people.

I’m leaning towards cock up rather than conspiracy.  There are other things the call handlers have got completely wrong, so I think they’ve been given incorrect info.

A couple of key Lotus people will be at my roadshow session next week, including the one who assured me about a fair allocation back in April.  So hopefully they’ll be able to sort this all out.

[TomE]

On 21/09/2021 at 21:33, 697OK said:

My order & deposit at dealer was 11th March and no call yet.

I have been told that the calls are being handled outside of Lotus and not to worry that they haven't called yet.

I wondered when someone earlier than me was going to come forward, Jamie told me there were a handful 

[Claymore]

The Emira is meant to be a new dawn for Lotus and about bringing new customers into the brand. Claims are they want to build 4800 of them a year.

I wonder how many new to the brand customers have now dropped out the way this is being handled?

If you’ve got deep pockets and the financials are no concern then I bet those people are used to dealing with other marques that would be better organised than this.

If like I suspect a huge number were drawn in by the thought of an amazing sub £60k car and they maybe want to finance part of it, want to understand what they would get, and we’re expecting it in middle to late 2022, I imagine very big second thoughts are being had.  We don’t even know if the pricing for the cars is a set OTR price, or if they are subject to change eg linked to inflation.

Launch Edition cars I understand on the basis of start building them before the first deliveries so that you have stock and get cars being delivered quickly at the start rather than in small drips as they come of the line.  This doesn’t seem to be the Lotus plan though.

I just feel the Lotus Brand doesn’t have anything close the the power for new to the majority of new to the brand customers to put up with the shambles currently going on.

Even a simple email from the factory prior to public announcements saying here are your options A V6LE B I4LE C own build - here’s the pricing here the full spec here your finance options here’s how the process will work including configuring your cars at roadshows with samples there to see and finally if you select A B or C hers the time window you will get your car subject to your approx position in queue to be confirmed after x date that’s cut off for deciding.  Instead it appears as have a V6LE, gives us more of your money, we will build it when it suits us, guess about what trim and colours will look best for you from a broken Configurator that you usually can’t get into, and if you don’t want the V6LE then we don’t care but give us some more of your money to try to keep you locked in until we do care.

Shambles!

 

 

[Emiralust]

Personally I don't think it's that bad, I think speculation and lots of communication between depositors on the forum can lead to the anxiety which some people are having(me included). If I wasn't on the forum and was fairly relaxed about the whole thing then when you look at it on the surface we put a deposit down, they said they would send more info in September which they've done and that cars will be delivered starting with FEV6 in Spring 2022 and FEi4 later in the year. None of that info has changed and we just have to wait for a new car. Anyone who was expecting the first edition cars to be £60k were naive to put it bluntly, it was no secret the cars would have £15k of options as a first edition and that wasn't going to be free. I really wouldn't be surprised if other manufacturers launches don't have forums saying the exact same thing as we are now. Come April 2022 i think we can be more justified to say it's a shambles but it's pretty early days for that give them a chance 🤣

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

Good post. This is a whole new world for Lotus. Pre-internet, I don’t think early adopters for newly announced cars were writing letters to each other to moan about the communication with the dealer or factory.

[KennyN]

This morning I received my call and the URL to save my spec and pay my £3k, both of which have now been done.  I guess it's just a waiting game now, roll on next spring!

[Evotion]

Y A Y !!!

My phone rang...

0330 726 7864

I answered with excitement and glee:

"Ah, Mister Bond. I have been expecting you!!"

Reply:

"Hello?  This is Samsung Support about your Television"

🙈

 

[Techyd]

1 hour ago, KennyN said:

This morning I received my call and the URL to save my spec and pay my £3k, both of which have now been done.  I guess it's just a waiting game now, roll on next spring!

Exciting times @KennyN...well brief excitement before settling down for a long winter!

[neilread]

V6 £3k order placed 😁 

placed my original deposit on the morning of the 7th July, I’d echo the comments from others very slick process, there is I’m told a problem sending email confirmation of orders so there may be a delay in getting an email back from them with order summary etc.

Now for the roadshow and the winter wait

[Claymore]

9 hours ago, Emiralust said:

Personally I don't think it's that bad, I think speculation and lots of communication between depositors on the forum can lead to the anxiety which some people are having(me included). If I wasn't on the forum and was fairly relaxed about the whole thing then when you look at it on the surface we put a deposit down, they said they would send more info in September which they've done and that cars will be delivered starting with FEV6 in Spring 2022 and FEi4 later in the year. None of that info has changed and we just have to wait for a new car. Anyone who was expecting the first edition cars to be £60k were naive to put it bluntly, it was no secret the cars would have £15k of options as a first edition and that wasn't going to be free. I really wouldn't be surprised if other manufacturers launches don't have forums saying the exact same thing as we are now. Come April 2022 i think we can be more justified to say it's a shambles but it's pretty early days for that give them a chance 🤣

People will always have different views specific to their circumstances. With hindsight I imagine the majority of people on this website will be die hard Lotus fans very eager to get their V6LE ordered and absolutely nothing wrong with that..

I’ve had my phone call (deposit paid just before Goodwood) and will be going for the I4.  Will see what the process is like and will look on no doubt envious at those lucky ones collecting cars this Spring.

[freefall_junkie]

Just had my call (deposit placed 9.30am on the 7th July). Asked specifically about the 5th November date and there is definitely no risk of loosing places in the queue as long as the configuration and 3k payment is done by this date.

[DarrylV8]

"you only need to make the deposit before the 5th November if you are going for the V6FE. If you'd like to wait for the i4, this configurator will be available in the new year."

[PhilCP]

Not had my call yet. Deposit placed on 7th July. 

The deposit and configuration required by 5th November is frustrating as that is the day I view it in Manchester. Doesn’t leave much time!

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

I for one am not happy about the roadshow. I wanted to book my Evora in for its service at Silverstone on Monday 1 November, but apparently the Emira is in town, so all service work will be suspended to make room for the hordes of new Lotus customers. 👋

[aEdMIRA]

Haha! You said you always wanted  a little sister. Our love won't be shared between you both, it will be multiplied. Now come on, let's go to McDonald's and you can have anything you want from the Happy Meal menu.

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

Well, since I posted the above, I’ve just booked my other car in for its service at another Silverstone specialist on 1 November, so I might just mosey on over to Lotus Silverstone whilst I wait. Hopefully they’ll let me in.

[Cathalm]

Returning to the Lotus fold here after quite a while. I put down a deposit with B and C in February- and I haven't had a call. Took the advice on here and used the online chat function to chase it up and I got a very concerning answer. 

The chat rep told that the early dealer deposits are not being honoured for places in the queue and that your place in the line is determined by when you placed the deposit with Lotus after the reveal. Apparently if you're not happy about that then you need to send your confirmation numbers for each deposit to customer service and ask for them to be linked. They will consider moving your place in the line after that. Seems like cobblers to me. 

Needless to say I am going to make a stink about this and hope that the chat rep miss-spoke. The fact that I haven't had a call with a Feb deposit isn't encouraging though. 

Maybe that's useful for somebody else on here anyway. 

[Emiralust]

I would be fuming if i was you, i wonder what Matt Windle would have to say about this. I hope that is not true, the live chat gave me different information than the phone line so hopefully the chat people are just wrong

[ramjet]

I would say the chat person got it wrong. Much earlier information has said that everyones dates would be honoured.

On 23/09/2021 at 21:48, Evotion said:

Y A Y !!!

My phone rang...

0330 726 7864

I answered with excitement and glee:

"Ah, Mister Bond. I have been expecting you!!"

Reply:

"Hello?  This is Samsung Support about your Television"

🙈

 

So what spec did you ask for on your tv? And no. There is no need to start another thread. In here is fine.  

[Bibs]

@Cathalm, that's incorrect. You should be added into the Priority Build list based on the date of your deposit. I'm sure someone will be in touch soon for a chat

 

[Evotion]

I am now unlikely to get my call until the roadshow event on Tuesday.

I won't 100% know I even have one Emira, never mind both.

As I am on one email, of course, I have only ever had one email apart from the very first time when I did get two different deposit confirmations after each payment (identical apart from the ref number).

As said above, I will send these two ref numbers into Lotus to make sure they know I want two and that I am still in that first 100 deliveries - which I assume makes me a mid-May owner at best.