My Rant but I don't feel better

[Ken Boothe]

Why all the reluctance in letting reservation holders know where they stand in the long line of people
waiting for their cars? When early 2007 reservations were made there were no dealers announced and
people were led to believe they would get their cars in the order they were made. It’s understandable
that all dealers must receive some cars every month or they can’t afford to be in business . This means
there’s going to be some difference in delivery times in different parts of the country which is understandable. The disparity in delivery times has become a disgrace for smart USA.
When someone orders a car in May of 2007 and over 14 months later has no car and then reads in this
forum another person in NY walks into a dealership in late Jan 2008 orders a car gets their configuration
notice 10 days later and receives their car (not an orphan) in June 2008 two days shy of 5 months total time this cannot be good for customer relations. Maybe in NY but not in Texas. I’m not in the automobile business and don’t profess to know all about it. It looks to me like someone at smart USA should be able to at least try to solve this problem. Since there’s no transparency in smarts reservation list and no communication on this issue from smart I see a company that either doesn’t see a problem or likes it since it generates orphans which makes more money for dealers who load the cars up with two to three thousand dollars worth of extras. I like the smart car and have wanted one since they came out in 1998. I’ll wait as long as it takes to get mine but I don’t have to like how deliveries are handled.

[Fredvon4]

Sounds like you are another victim of Internet Brands insanity and unfortunate to be in the Dallas metroplex zip code area

I am serviced by smart center Round Rock

My original reservation was 30 April 07 car delivered 377 days later on 12 May of this year...Second reservation 9 Jan this year (1470) and I should be delivered in late Oct early Nov...if DDE and my dealer can be believed...10~11 month wait

Not much help and I understand your rant fully...I made the same several months back

They do not seem to care.... and truth is with 26,000 units to sell and 55,000 paid $99 reservations, they are not ever going to be motivated to make it "fair"

Best you can do is game the system a bit with the info you get here... tell smartUSA you want scR.R. or scS.A. to be your servicing dealer

[jediknight36]

Originally Posted by Fredvon4

Sounds like you are another victim of Internet Brands insanity and unfortunate to be in the Dallas metroplex zip code area

I am serviced by smart center Round Rock

My original reservation was 30 April 07 car delivered 377 days later on 12 May of this year...Second reservation 9 Jan this year (1470) and I should be delivered in late Oct early Nov...if DDE and my dealer can be believed...10~11 month wait

Not much help and I understand your rant fully...I made the same several months back

They do not seem to care.... and truth is with 26,000 units to sell and 55,000 paid $99 reservations, they are not ever going to be motivated to make it "fair"

Best you can do is game the system a bit with the info you get here... tell smartUSA you want scR.R. or scS.A. to be your servicing dealer

Can you do that even if you have not configured yet?

[Duckhunter]

385 today and DDE says 8/25 so probably at least another month. The NY stuff does kind of make you angry. Not at the buyer but the system.

[MB DNA]

My friend, Economics 101 - Supply and demand.

The distribution of smarts throughout the U.S. from order to delivery seems to be disproportinate to any logical calendar driven time and may be region (port?) driven.

Because demand continues to outstrip supply smart doesn't really don't have to deal with the WHY?

And, if smart USA did communicate more often with all people holding a reservations there would be a cost (additional employees and equipment) related to that which could increase the price of a low cost commuter vehicle - Economics 101.

Guess you could call smart USA Customer Service but it is likely staffed relative to the 20,000 DELIVERED U.S. customers so you could be on hold for a while. Oh, and if you do get through I am certain that their script would not have a response to your rant.

I personally doubt that anyone has taken delivery of their smart in 5 months deposit to delivery. If they did I would characterize it as a very rare exception and the equivalent of having won the lottery!

Our experience in the Carolinas, 12 months and worth the wait!

Top back, gotta go.

[JanetMermaid]

I'll end up with about a 14 month wait by the time I get mine. It is VERY frustrating, but nor surprising for a new "product" coming into this country with high demand build-up before the first product ever arrived.

[Ken Boothe]

My expriance in Dallas 14 months and waiting
Don't know if you don't believe me or the gentlemen
in NY but his post is on page 28 of the official delivery thred
next to the last post on the page.

[DFWehman]

I haven't thought through all the issues, but what if those wanting a car that live in "slow delivery areas" stated on their reservation that they lived in a "faster delivery area". Agree they'd have to go pick it up, but for a few hundred for airfare, and a fun road trip back to see America, it might get them a car sooner?

[Thru the Eyes of Ruby]

I'm sorry Ken. I was in a similar boat if it makes you feel any better. The dealer told me March/April delivery, so I put my car-at-the-time on craigslist. I thought my boyfriend and I could share for a week or two until my car came in. 2 months later... I was sick of filling is Lexus Soccer-Mom SUV gas-guzzler with gas, and I was sick of paying for him to use Philly Car Share whenever he needed a car and I had his. Plus I was spending all of the money I made selling my car (someone offered me more than I was asking) on keeping the boat afloat so-to-speak.

In the mean time I had been checking in with the dealer every week to see if there is A-N-Y-T-H-I-N-G they could tell me. They did their best... but they really don't have much help.

So one particularly awful day (after putting $95 into the Lexus POS) I called Smart of Devon on the verge of tears. Seth, one of the Smart Center Employees I had been speaking to, could sense the frustration intensifying in my voice. I literally broke down on the phone with him. We hung up, and he called me back 5 minutes later to offer me an Orphan. He had pushed me to the top of their list. They had a little red passion/black tridon that had pretty much everything my car had, except my ordered car was white.

I picked her up the next day after I called out of work. I didn't even have to say I was sick. I just told my boss that my car came in and she was like "GO!!!"

My story isn't intended to brag... but give you hope. It really pays to get to know the dealer-peeps. In my particular case, they really went out on a limb for me, and I'm forever gracious to them. I hope you have a similar experience (or your car just gets here already!)

PS- I went to the dealership to get my sunscreen fixed, and they told me that my car was in... so I got to go see my car. What a weird feeling. I hope she went to a good home.

[MB DNA]

Originally Posted by Ken Boothe

My expriance in Dallas 14 months and waiting
Don't know if you don't believe me or the gentlemen
in NY but his post is on page 28 of the official delivery thred
next to the last post on the page.

Ken,

I have no reason to not believe you or anyone else regarding delivery time lines. Our experience was 12 months almost to the day.

Again, if one person in the NY area beat the long 10 - 14 month wait then he truly did hit the SMART lotto.

At the end of the day, if there was no wait, no anticipation, no SCOA - smart would be just another car.

We are enjoying the novelty and the smiles per mile that it brings - so will you.

Have a smart day!

Tom