Finally Got Build Date!

(25-01-2012 12:15pm)broady43 Wrote:  This is true.I first went to a dealer in York and the delivery time was 10 months so I went to a smaller dealer in the countryside and the wait was only 5 months.Placed order!

Very similar experience to me.....

I know for a fact the X3 is not done on a dealer allocation basis as I just went for a test drive in one and asked. Their other cars are, but due to the high demand for the X3, the allocation is done on a national basis, so no matter where you are in the country, if you place your order with your dealer 5 mins before someone else in the country, it's placed in the queue there and then and you will get you car before him.
Smart move as it avoids this sort of frustration from forums, and the negative feeling generated about the marque.

Well done BMW.

Time for my two pennies worth.

I understand the JLR system, that point has been made clear on a number of occasions on this forum.

What I believe is wrong is the allocation process, not all of us are or were LR/RR owners, we have come across in the way JLR hoped we would from other Prestige Marques and therefore were not familiar with their system.

We went in some time after the Launch date because of an overseas holiday, by the time we had our test drive, then took a few days to contemplate what we were ordering, it was October before we placed our order, it was at that point we were told that they had already taken over 110 orders.

It is at that point we discover on here what that really means.

Not being a previous owner/forum member we would not have considered looking elsewhere.

Also to source/order and collect a car from a dealer over 100 miles away is not always as straightforward to some as it is to others, planning PEx, or taking time off to visit dealer on probably more than one occasion, hence the annoyance and frustration, which is made worse for many forum members long waiting for their delivery when along pops up Mr or Mrs Happy on here having placed an order and being given a delivery date ahead of said forum member. Nothing personal it's not their fault.

It just seems to be a very unfair system.

I'm sure a LR/RR dealer is not going to post a sign in the showroom window on on their website advising you that they have a waiting list of x months long but if you choose to go elsewhere you would get a car sooner.

The JLR order/allocation process is flawed.

So if unscrupulous BMW dealer A places an order for 100 dealer specced cars with the intent of selling them on a first come first serve basis and you ordering from dealer B is number 101 in the queue as a result you would not look at that and say, "BMW order process is flawed and they should work on an allocation basis" ??

Point is every process has its pros and cons, I have sympathy with those who were caught on the wrong side (ordering from a dealer whose allocation does not meet the demand) whilst also sharing the joy of those who've gotten their cars early. The flaw is not the order process itself it's in the allocations being doled out by JLR not aligning to individual dealer demand - and even that may not be a flaw in itself but rather an explicit decision to achieve a certain coverage / market penetration etc.

We can go around in circles all day on this one, but many of us will still all be waiting for our cars and I've seen and read the frustration of members here long before they got their cars.

I'm in a long queue, I know that, but it is the perceived queue jumping that frustrates, don't you think that if I had of known I could have ordered my car from another dealer elsewhere I would have done it. I have considered on more than one occasion buying off of the speculators, but the spec is not there so I wait.

Some members who ordered prior to launch haven't got theirs yet, is that a right and proper way to deal with customers.

This is not a personal thing, I'm raging against the machine like others have done in the past and will no doubt do in the future.

I wonder how it looks from the factory perspective, are they only interested in production figures or do they think about the process and the effect on customers.

Come to think of it, I wouldn't want to be a big dealer, if I couldn't satisfy my demand well enough, perhaps they are tearing their hair out too.

Now back to the more important task for now of decorating, it won't do itself.

(25-01-2012 03:47pm)berlin2011 Wrote:  So if unscrupulous BMW dealer A places an order for 100 dealer specced cars with the intent of selling them on a first come first serve basis and you ordering from dealer B is number 101 in the queue as a result you would not look at that and say, "BMW order process is flawed and they should work on an allocation basis" ??

Good point, I hadn't thought of that.....

I suppose the allocating could be to do with how much business a dealership does for Landrover in the long term?e.g. A rural dealership with a longterm track record in selling tons of traditional Landrovers/Rangerovers would get a higher allocation, for new vehicles, than a more urban one that might have been selling on a less regular basis in the past. Just a thought/guess....

(25-01-2012 04:03pm)Evo-king Wrote:  We can go around in circles all day on this one, but many of us will still all be waiting for our cars and I've seen and read the frustration of members here long before they got their cars.

I'm in a long queue, I know that, but it is the perceived queue jumping that frustrates, don't you think that if I had of known I could have ordered my car from another dealer elsewhere I would have done it. I have considered on more than one occasion buying off of the speculators, but the spec is not there so I wait.

Some members who ordered prior to launch haven't got theirs yet, is that a right and proper way to deal with customers.

This is not a personal thing, I'm raging against the machine like others have done in the past and will no doubt do in the future.

I wonder how it looks from the factory perspective, are they only interested in production figures or do they think about the process and the effect on customers.

Come to think of it, I wouldn't want to be a big dealer, if I couldn't satisfy my demand well enough, perhaps they are tearing their hair out too.

Now back to the more important task for now of decorating, it won't do itself.

Well Put and Very True!

Well I for one am going to try and keep from Torturing myself and winding myself up. Good luck to everyone waiting for their cars

(25-01-2012 04:03pm)Evo-king Wrote:  Some members who ordered prior to launch haven't got theirs yet, is that a right and proper way to deal with customers.

That's the bit I didn't understand, someone must be at the beginning of a dealers list if they ordered that long ago... I'm not sure we'll ever get the answer on that one.

I went around some dealers with my father as he a bit of a car geek. He dragged me into a BMW dealership although I don't like their vehicles in general.
We were asking around if they did discounts for the Brussels motor show last month. The dealer didn't give a discount on the X3 as they weren't even able to give a delivery date, due to high demand.

(25-01-2012 04:18pm)THEMACS Wrote:  Well I for one am going to try and keep from Torturing myself and winding myself up. Good luck to everyone waiting for their cars

I share your frustration and can understand how you feel. LR have a great opportunity with this forum for communication. They could post general updates which would go a long way in pacifying in particular those whose dealers are non-communicative. Such a step would be more than beneficial to them in the long term, given the number of members and potential future spend.

Good luck to you also - I hope you get good news soon.