I think I must explain that I referred to the “victim mentality” as a fuel for conspiracy theories, such as the false claim that smart U.S.A. have provided “extra” cars to Long Island dealerships, favouring some customers at the expense of others. I did not at all mean to imply that frustration at a long wait for a car stemmed from any defect of character; and I apologise if my words were taken that way.
Jeepster55,
This is not a matter of “unfairness” to customers or “fairness” to dealerships. The relationship between dealers and smart U.S.A. is contractual. No-one with any sense would attempt to open an automobile dealership without a guarantee of sufficient cars to sell. smart U.S.A. must supply their dealerships a minimum number of cars per month. This can not be legally or morally changed, nor could a new car model be successfully introduced, and marketed in the long term, according to a business plan that would conform to your stated criterion. Furthermore, your plan could not have had the results you consider “fair” (customers throughout the country enduring similar waiting periods), because customers in a region of lower demand would not simply have had longer to wait—they would not have received any cars at all, since dealerships could not be opened nor sustained on basis of the small number of cars that could be delivered.
Private enterprises are in business to make money. While they must of course satisfy customers to maximise profit, they must consider their market as a whole. They can not cater to particular demands at the expense of overall profitability.
There is no question that, while the introduction of the smart car to the U.S. has been more successful than even the company anticipated, there is considerable room for improvement. I will say it again: the fundamental problem is insufficient supply to meet demand. A correction of this would eliminate excessive waiting periods altogether. And as rawlus® has pointed out, waiting periods could be reduced somewhat by making reservation, or at least configuration, a binding contract with substantial irrevocable payment. While it could be argued that smart U.S.A. have no reason to do this, since orphan cars sell rapidly, it is in their interest to cultivate a positive relationship with current and potential customers, and avoid rancour as much as possible. I conveyed both suggestions to smart U.S.A. in the customer satisfaction survey shortly after I received my car.
Despite my comparatively brief wait from reservation to delivery, I have had to wait a long time for a smart car. I decided I wished to own one in 1998, when they were introduced, and went so far as to obtain sales materials from Europe; I then contacted some-one who could arrange a purchase from Belgium. Immoral U.S. laws stood in my way. It would have been very costly to modify an original European smart to conform to U.S. requirements, and the originality of the car would have been destroyed. I waited through the years, as various plans for U.S. sales were announced but never materialised. By the time some smart cars were imported and converted (again destroying originality), the price was ridiculous and the “peanut style” headlamps, for which I did not care, had been introduced. In 2007, I was aware of the road show, and the reservation programme, but I failed to do internet research and wrongly assumed that I could purchase a car at a dealership in January of 2008. Had I realised the truth, I certainly would have reserved my car in March of 2007.
In sum, I have waited quite a long time for a smart car. It helps to have patience and a variety of interests, well as respect for reality. I can not say that I was ever frustrated at the wait, over the years. I knew I would ultimately obtain a smart, one way or another.
There are advantages and disadvantages to living at any place in the country. I can honestly say that my relatively short wait between reservation and delivery of a smart car has been the sole advantage I have ever experienced from living on Long Island, New York. This is one of the most costly and high-tax places in the U.S. It is a formerly rural region whose beauty has been utterly destroyed by grotesque over-development and over-population. There are vastly excessive laws and regulations, and tremendous corruption in massive and highly socialistic state and local governments. By my criteria, I can scarcely think of a worse place in the U.S. in which to live.
I never venture to NYC except to pass through on the highways, so can not comment on how many smarts are in use there. But I have seen many smart cars on roads, parking lots, and driveways here on Long Island, since it is a physically small place.
Being in the Dallas area, I understand the frustration all too well. My only alleviation was the availability of an orphan. And yes. I did have to pay for dealer aftermarket additions. I agree it is NOT fair to have to wait almost 2 years when some are getting theirs in 6 - 9 months. No one ever said life was going to be fair. However, I don't have a problem with those who feel cheated by the current system airing their thoughts. I was an early supporter for making the deposit non refundable at the time of configuration. I still think that would cut down on those who have no intention of purchasing from clogging up the system and leaving so many orphans.
smartUSA has made little or no policy changes from day one-
-Extra orphans benefit who the most? (dealers)
-The dealers would probably be last to advocate change
-The marketing plan seems to work well for smartUSA (causing considerable wait, and orphan, frustration)
-There is little incentive for them to change policy, or offer more attractive new model year options
Last edited by Orphan-Beggar; 08-21-2008 at 05:29 AM.
Being in the Dallas area, I understand the frustration all too well. My only alleviation was the availability of an orphan. And yes. I did have to pay for dealer aftermarket additions. I agree it is NOT fair to have to wait almost 2 years when some are getting theirs in 6 - 9 months. No one ever said life was going to be fair. However, I don't have a problem with those who feel cheated by the current system airing their thoughts. I was an early supporter for making the deposit non refundable at the time of configuration. I still think that would cut down on those who have no intention of purchasing from clogging up the system and leaving so many orphans.
thanks "Angel".....and that IS what we're doing; 'airing our thoughts'
it's got to be so frustrating to be waiting over a year for your smart and not to even have configured it, yet you see many who have reserved long after you, configured and may have even taken delivery. i'm lucky so far that i'm not in that group.
funny, all the 'bickering' back and forth and in the end, we DO agree on one thing: the 'process' needs to be re-evaluated. i said this before; i AGREE with "winnetou" and "angel" in that sometime during the process a NON-REFUNDABLE DEPOSIT needs to be required to not only speed up the process AND to help eliminate orphans.
also, again restating something i've already said; the smart centers need to be more involved from the get-go with keeping in touch with their customers. currently, someone can reserve a car online and the smart center has not even met them. maybe the 'online' reserving process has outserved it's usefulness and now that there are smart centers, customers need to go to the center to 'reserve' and even 'configure'. yes, this will cause some customers to drive a distance, but in the long run, both parties (the customer and smart) will be better off. i wonder how many customers have reserved, configured and maybe even taken delivery of their smart without a TEST DRIVE, all because of distance. maybe once they got it, they found that the smart isn't their 'cup of tea' and then sell it. these buyers would be weeded out as well if a trip to the smart center was REQUIRED to 'reserve' a car.
i've written a letter to Dave Schembri regarding this thread. i'll post it here sometime this weekend after we get back. until then, I'M OFF WORK AND WE'RE GOING TO WRIGLEY FIELD!!!!
Go Cubs Go, Go Cubs GO......Hey Chicago, whata ya say..Cubs are gonna WIN today!
smartUSA has made little or no policy changes from day one-
-Extra orphans benefit who the most? (dealers)
-The dealers would probably be last to advocate change
-The marketing plan seems to work well for smartUSA (causing considerable wait, and orphan, frustration)
-There is little incentive for them to change policy, or offer more attractive new model year options
actually, i think extra orphans benefit those who buy multiple ones, flip them for profit, invest it in another one, flip that, and so on....
At this stage, I wish to refresh my memory with some known facts, not assumptions.
If I'm wrong (probably am!), please share with us.
- smartUSA has only 13 people, including D. Schembri.
- PAG contracted IB to handle the whole process from reservation to configuration.
- Daimler (or its Contractor) handles the management of all smart's sites (and updates the Configurators).
Anyone knows better? It may help get some perspective.
this is an 'excerpt' (the 'fine print' if you will) from the response i received from smartusa following my 'reservation' i placed ONLINE:
"Please note that only an authorized smart USA dealer may confirm your order. We are asking for your driver's license number for security reasons. You will be asked to present your driver's license for verification purposes once you have officially placed an order for your smart fortwo with a smart dealer."
this may be the 'hang up'. how many people (including myself) have 'reserved' their smart online and didn't actually VISIT a smart center to 'confirm' their order. i thought by supplying my info online and by receiving my 'reservation number' that i was in fact 'confirmed'.
BUT if the 'confirmation' of your reservation doesn't take place until the person visits a smart center and THEY copy their drivers license, check address and phone numbers, then that 'may' explain some of the differences and delays in delivery.
say for instance that customer "A" reserves the same day as customer "B". "A" goes immediately to a smart center and is 'confirmed' by their staff while "B" may visit a smart center, does not actually contact anyone telling them they have 'reserved'. months later, "B" says something to the smart center product specialist that they have already 'reserved' one and at that point, the center 'confirms' them.
i would guess that this means "A" would get his car a couple months before "B", even though they 'reserved' the same day, live in the same area and possibly even the same zip code BUT were confirmed by the smart center months apart. MAKE SENSE?
if this is in fact accurate, then maybe SMART USA needs to make this process known more to the reservation holder.
i only say this because i may be customer "B". i 'reserved' on March 16 2008 and while i visited SCI several times, they didn't actually take my info, copy my drivers license and verify my address until MAY. unknowingly, i may have delayed my own delivery time by 2 months or so.
comments?
"jimbo" and others who 'reserved' last year and have not 'configured', how long after you placed your 'reservation' did you visit a smart center IN PERSON and have them 'confirm' your reservation by copying your drivers license and verifying your address and phone number?
"jimbo" and others who 'reserved' last year and have not 'configured', how long after you placed your 'reservation' did you visit a smart center IN PERSON and have them 'confirm' your reservation by copying your drivers license and verifying your address and phone number?[/QUOTE]
I reserved IN the smart center. Im gonna call and make sure they did that.
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It would have been very costly to modify an original European smart to conform to U.S. requirements, and the originality of the car would have been destroyed. I waited through the years, as various plans for U.S. sales were announced but never materialised. By the time some smart cars were imported and converted (again destroying originality), the price was ridiculous and the “peanut style” headlamps, for which I did not care, had been introduced. In 2007, I was aware of the road show, and the reservation programme, but I failed to do internet research and wrongly assumed that I could purchase a car at a dealership in January of 2008. Had I realised the truth, I certainly would have reserved my car in March of 2007.
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