how to find your place in wait list

[Bob Allen]

Hi again. I forgot to ask you all if there is a way to find out where you are on the waiting list. Do you just call the dealer or is there an on line access to avoid pestering the salesman with the neurotic fidgeting of an otherwise sane person trapped in the driving status quo and a 14 year old car?
Thanks,
Bob

[Danny]

Pester your salesman - there isn't an online system available other than Priuschat

Your salesman deserves it anyway - make him/her earn their commission. Isn't that right, Dianne???? 8)

[tag]

Originally posted by AdminCoop
Pester your salesman......

Ever since I placed my order and started reading the posts on the YG I have wondered which applies:

a) squeaky wheel gets the grease.

dealers don't listen to a squeaky wheel.

[Dianne]

I hate being nagged.
I never mind someone staying in touch or updating me for color choices or package changes, but good god... if there are 20 people ahead of you for a silver BC car, and I have one allocation, use your head. I did not get 20 silver BC cars on one allocation!!!!!!!!!! It's pretty obvious I have no car for you... especially if I did not call or email you.

Rule of thumb:

1. eMail first. I have 700+ other models of Toyota here and another 200+ in freight or allocated status coming. My boss, patient as he is, expects me to sell a good percentage of those. Not to continue to process orders on cars we do not have and already have plenty of already promised off. I can respond to email after the stuff right in my face, going on in the here and now, is done. I am way more communicative that way. Less pressure.

2. If you are open to other packages, let me know. eMail me with any updates for color or package, if you become aware of other colors or packages that are acceptable. I will never offer you a car I am thinking that you are not open to.

3. Getting in my face about the wait doesn't work for anyone. Honest. It's out of all of our hands and not within my control.

4. If you buy a car elsewhere, email me and let me know. It keeps my list pure for everyone else.

5. If you get tired of the wait and want a different car -- call me!!!!!!! I fleet/internet sell tons of Toyota models annually. Prius is just a small percentage.

6. If you want the hybrid highlander in 2005, let me know via email and I will point you to the form to get in line. I will not guarantee pricing or details... just add you to a list so that I know there is interest, but do me a favor? If you are not going to buy from me, don't do this. You are enabling your own local state dealers to learn nothing about the cars and get they will get no advance info out of regions. When you have all the answers FOR them, they will never bother. If there looks to be no interest in that car where you live in your state, guess what? They will ship the cars to where there IS interest and loads of pre-orders -- CALIF!

Dianne

Originally posted by tag+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(tag)</div>

Ever since I placed my order and started reading the posts on the YG I have wondered which applies:

a) squeaky wheel gets the grease.

dealers don't listen to a squeaky wheel.[/b]

[tag]

Originally posted by Dianne
I hate being nagged.  
I never mind someone staying in touch or updating me for color choices or package changes, but good god... if there are 20 people ahead of you for a silver BC car, and I have one allocation, use your head. I did not get 20 silver BC cars on one allocation!!!!!!!!!! It's pretty obvious I have no car for you... especially if I did not call or email you.......

You're extremely honest and forthright, Dianne. You hate being nagged because there's not much you can do for someone who's 20th in line for a Silver BC other than to say, "there are 20 ahead of you so you'll just have to be patient". Hence, calls to you from customers would just be a waste of your time. Further, I'm sure you were frank about where the customer stood at the time the customer put down his/her deposit.

Now, assume a salesperson is dishonest and/or not forthcoming with information (for whatever reason). Would you recommend the same approach (i.e. hands off)?

I mean, it's one thing to deal with someone like a Dianne of Carson who says, "....you're 4th in line for a Silver BC, we're getting 2 of those per month, at best, so you might have your car by then end of March". It's quite another, IMHO, to deal with some guy who initially said (when writing up an "order"), "...you should have your car around the middle of February" but subsequently refuses to disclose how many other customers are ahead of you, how many cars have been coming in, how many have been delivered to date, etc.

[Dave]

Thanks, Dianne
What you say seems like common sense. I think we just get in the "little kid" mode sometimes and want to ask, "are we there yet?"
(I will let my sales guy know that I'm open to more colors.)

[Danny]

Originally posted by Dianne+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Dianne)</div>

[/b]

Dianne, while you provide great feedback for many of your buyers and those waiting in line by being online, answering emails, etc, you have to admit that a majority of car salespeople are not as 'on the ball' as you. Here in the South, it's hard to find email addresses for a dealership, let alone an individual salesperson. The only reason most of the dealerships in the SE have websites is because the SE Distributorship mandate them.

I can't even get an email response from my local dealership. The only way to electronically contact them is to use the "Contact Me" feature on their website, and that just puts your info into a database and an automated system spits back out the information on the car you're looking for. It's a crap system and I wish I knew who to contact to pitch a better, more buyer-friendly system to.

All I'm saying is that for some of us, constant contact with a salesperson who otherwise doesn't give a shit about you because you're not providing their commission check that month is the only way to get any sort of information.

[Dianne]

The only problem with what you say here is that no one knows how many cars they are getting till they get them. And, back in August, Sept, and nto October, even I was telling people "maybe Dec, Jan?" and many of them have not gotten cars yet either. None of us had any idea that the demand for these wouldn't be responded to quicker. Logic would have had a field day here... if they ere building 20,000 oldies and I was getting about 15-20 a month, then when they start building 36K of the new ones, you'd THINK that my supply would rise a ratio of that increase. That's what I thought! I had no idea that I'd start off with less than originally.. and that the Pioneers would eat up my first 48 cars off regular allocaions of cars -- and not be "extra cars" like they had been in every single internet ordering experience. Had I known THAT, I'd have stopped taking Pioneers' orders who wanted cars from out of the state and warned them that there towards the end, they'd possibly get a car faster local to them. I mean, who knew! I expected 48 cars that first month because they were Pioneers. It took me 4 allocations, every 2 weeks (2 months) to fill my Pioneer orders. Had I been a small dealership who usually earned 5 cars per allocation, I'd have been in huge trouble. And, I have only myself to blame. I did not ask how the cars would be counted -- I assumed that it would be the same as usual. Stupid me. That put me back 2-3 months in the lineup for everyone else wanting cars... and no one's getting them as fast as I predicted.
If a dealership is vague or clueless, it's because we all are. We have no idea what we'll get allocated next - no clue on color, package, or even how many we will get. :/

Di

[Danny]

All of what you said is very true, and having been a part of this whole 2004 Prius movement since very early in it I know that that's what's been going on. But my point lies in that there are dealerships across the country that aren't bothering to express what you just expressed to us to their own buyers and those on their waiting lists. Even if they have that information, I think that some are afraid of sharing it so as to not piss off the customer - instead they are ambiguous and vague and not being straightforward about hey, this is the deal: 'We ain't got no cars. Call me next month.'

[tag]

Originally posted by Dianne
....If a dealership is vague or clueless, it's because we all are......

Okay, I have a better grasp of the situtation now. But, of course, that's because I'm a member of this group and you, Dianne, have provided this information.

Is there any reason my salesman couldn't have been as forthright at the time I ordered the car (and thereafter) and provided me with the information you have provided in your posts? Instead, when I was at the salesman's desk and considering whether or not to place my order with the dealer, I got a "line" from the salesman about how his dealership could get me a car faster than any other dealer in the area. Subsequently, I haven't been able to get any information whatsoever (for example, I don't even know where am I on the list).

So, basically, I believe Danny nailed it; my salesman is, and was, afraid to share the kind of information you have shared so, initially, he could get my order and, afterwards, not piss me off. I maintain that approach is very shortsighted and tends to piss customers off even more than full disclosure.

So, what do you think about a salesperson telling a customer, who ordered a car in the middle of November, that delivery would be around the middle of February and thereafter refused to provide any further information?