News! A Phone Call from Dave Schembri

[Old smart]

Originally Posted by kwagar

It's sat afternoon and I'm on the couch with a beer waiting for the start of the first NFL play off game and my cell phone rings. Guess who called? Dave Schenbri, President of smart USA!!!!!

On December 2nd I mailed a letter to Roger Penske thanking him for bringing the Smart Car to America but critical of the lack of info the reservationists were recieving after the initial announcements in the spring that dealers would be contacting us in the fall of 2007.

Apparently, Roger gave the letter to Dave and asked him to respond. Dave misplaced the letter until today and called me on Sat afternoon to apologize.

We chatted for a while and he provided the following information to me>>>

As has been reported here the primary holdup has been state licensing for the dealers.

There are a significant number of cars here at the ports and they are ready to roll. There are no issues with emissions or anything else.

They are using three ports, Baltimore, Jacksonville and Long Beach.

There will be an all dealers conference call on the evening of the 8th of January. That night Fed-X packages will go out to all open dealers that will contain the information of reservations and cars assigned to them. So they will have that info on the 9th or 10th and should start to contact the reservationists.

Cars will be dispatched from the ports beginning on the 14th to the dealerships.

Cars will be shipped to your dealer (assigned by zip code) if your dealer will have his showroom open before Feb 1. If your assigned dealer will not be open until after Feb 1 and you have an early reservation your car will be shipped and you will be contacted by the closest dealer to you that is open when your car is available.

For Central Florida folks there will be 4 dealers-Sarasota, Clearwater, Tampa and Orlando. Sarasota is open now, Orlando is scheduled to open Jan 20 and the others will be later this spring.

That's what I got from him and I have to tell you I was very impressed that he called and it gives me a very good feeling about Smart USA.

Notwithstanding all of the above, did you inquire of him why we (the long-standing $99 reservers) have been given so little ("no") information? If so what did he say? Did you even ask? If you presume to have this much personal accessibility, have you requested that he/they address all of us here at ACoA? Did you forget about us? Is all of this even really real?

[SMART]

Wow, that is great news. After hearing this I was also able to confirm that Tuesday is a very big day for dealerships where they will be having calls with smart usa and will be learning a lot about their allotment of vehicles that will be happening as soon as the end of next week.

This is really great news! I am very excited!

[StevenM1TX]

Originally Posted by fishrdnc

Notwithstanding all of the above, did you inquire of him why we (the long-standing $99 reservers) have been given so little ("no") information? If so what did he say? Did you even ask? If you presume to have this much personal accessibility, have you requested that he/they address all of us here at ACoA? Did you forget about us? Is all of this even really real?

Oh please...

[Carnut]

Originally Posted by fishrdnc

Notwithstanding all of the above, did you inquire of him why we (the long-standing $99 reservers) have been given so little ("no") information? If so what did he say? Did you even ask? If you presume to have this much personal accessibility, have you requested that he/they address all of us here at ACoA? Did you forget about us? Is all of this even really real?

Fish give the guy a break. Why don't you write a letter to Penske?

Chill man, chill.

[StevenM1TX]

Originally Posted by Carnut

Fish give the guy a break. Why don't you write a letter to Penske?

Chill man, chill.

If he is as rude to Penske, I don't think a letter would get answered anyway. Nice job kwagar!

[kwagar]

Originally Posted by fishrdnc

Notwithstanding all of the above, did you inquire of him why we (the long-standing $99 reservers) have been given so little ("no") information? If so what did he say? Did you even ask? If you presume to have this much personal accessibility, have you requested that he/they address all of us here at ACoA? Did you forget about us? Is all of this even really real?

fishrdnc,
I resent your last comment! Yes I spoke to Dave, yes he called me. I asked him a couple of questions he refused to answer because he did not have clear answers. I asked him another question that he said he would answer only if I did not turn around and post the answer and out of respect for the fact that he called me I agreed to that condition for the one question.

I did ask about the lack of information (that was the purpose of my original letter to Penske) and while it's not the way I would do things they did not want to provide info unless it was certain and there has been much uncertainty.

I even talked to him about this forum and they are familiar with it but they don't feel it is an appropriate vehichle for their communication with their customers for a wide variety of reasons.

They see the value of this forum to all of us but did not feel they should directly participate.

I sought specific information from a PAG official and passed on what I could.

Frankly I was so shocked and impressed that he would take the time to call me at home on a Sat afternoon that I did not want to abuse him by overdoing the questions or showing a lack of respect for his time.

I'm deeply sorry I didn't get answers to every question that has been posted on this forum.

[jwight]

Great news! All will be revealed on the 8th I guess and some will see their cars soon after the 14th. Since our Columbus dealer won't be open by 1 Feb who knows where the central Ohio cars will go. I'm on the road and will drop by Park Place in Dallas Monday morning to at least see a car in the flesh and see what tech details are available. Anybody in the market for a gently used 02 WRX wagon?

John

[teapots]

Originally Posted by fishrdnc

Notwithstanding all of the above, did you inquire of him why we (the long-standing $99 reservers) have been given so little ("no") information? If so what did he say? Did you even ask? If you presume to have this much personal accessibility, have you requested that he/they address all of us here at ACoA? Did you forget about us? Is all of this even really real?

Enough is Enough...Stop being so negative. This is 2008. THE YEAR OF THE SMART. Good work kwagar!

Teapots

[SAFE4NOW]

Originally Posted by kwagar

fishrdnc,
I resent your last comment! Yes I spoke to Dave, yes he called me. I asked him a couple of questions he refused to answer because he did not have clear answers. I asked him another question that he said he would answer only if I did not turn around and post the answer and out of respect for the fact that he called me I agreed to that condition for the one question.

I did ask about the lack of information (that was the purpose of my original letter to Penske) and while it's not the way I would do things they did not want to provide info unless it was certain and there has been much uncertainty.

I even talked to him about this forum and they are familiar with it but they don't feel it is an appropriate vehichle for their communication with their customers for a wide variety of reasons.

They see the value of this forum to all of us but did not feel they should directly participate.

I sought specific information from a PAG official and passed on what I could.

Frankly I was so shocked and impressed that he would take the time to call me at home on a Sat afternoon that I did not want to abuse him by overdoing the questions or showing a lack of respect for his time.

I'm deeply sorry I didn't get answers to every question that has been posted on this forum.

Very well handled! Kudo's

Steve

[2smart4u]

Originally Posted by StevenM1TX

Oh please...

I know, right?!?! Too funny. And some people think I'M a downer.