Ordering my New Sonic… and how it all started
Well, I'll try and give the "Reader's Digest Condensed Version" on what's going on.
When I first approached my dealer back in May, he told me "a handful" of dealers on the West Coast and a few on the East Cost were selected by GM for a test in a new ordering process (I still don't fully understand it).
My dealer was one selected for this program and they would get an allocation as early as June. Even though production wouldn't start till August, the "theory" was our orders would be one of the first to be built.
Well, lucky me! I was thinking I'd have my car sometime in September… Wrong! There were constraints on the paint (Japan Earthquake), then the Sunroof (supply problem), then the Turbo 1.4 on the LTZ (Certification issue).
So effectively, my order went into a "hold" since June 1, 2011 and hasn't seen daylight since.
Being prior military, I tried the 'chain-of-command' in inquiring about when will my order get some fresh wind in its sails and move out of the 'Doldrums'.
Nobody had an answer. I called GM, I wrote E-mails. They had reps return my call telling me they'll have an answer, only to return weeks later empty and referring another "rep" that would take over.
Three different people later, I finally wrote a 'snail-mail' letter to Mark Reuss (knowing full well it'll be intercepted, I figured I'd get a higher profile person to finally get to the bottom of this mess. It just may have worked too!
), and a few days ago, I got a call from the Pacific Northwest Sales Representative.
Here is the latest…
The constraint on the turbo engine for the LTZ has been lifted. GM is going to try and fast-track my order into the system by using an allocation for the next cycle (November 3, 2011).
As it stands, the rep told me I can expect December to be my month for Delivery of my Sonic. He apologized for the delay and is working on some sort of compensation for my long wait, especially when originally I was told I would be one of the first customers that would be taking delivery.
So it appears there's a light at the end of this long tunnel, and hopefully it won't be an oncoming train. I'm not mad at GM, more like frustrated. I just happened to order everything that would eventually be constrained on the Sonic (lucky me! LOL!).
GM can be so compartmentalized that information never flows between departments with the customer not knowing where they stand in the ordering process.
Bottom Line: The second week of November I should see a lot of movement on my car. I'll post something as soon as I see it too. *fingers-crossed*
-Tom
