You know your in trouble, when your dealer's coworkers recognize your name.
I'd ordered my Volt from the dealer over the phone and had never actually been there, all my conversations had been by email or on the phone. As the start of Volt production has gotten closer and closer, I've heard from a few people that their orders had advanced in GM's tracking system, while mine had not. i'd also been unable to get a firm price from the dealer, and was convinced when the car did come in they would ask me for thousands over MSRP, which I was unwilling to accept. So I'd call the dealer trying to get any update in my status and the price, when that didnt work I tried contacting GM's social media representative, anything to push the order along.
Finally I decided I was just going to cancel my order and reorder from another dealership, I contacted a few and went to visit Englewood Auto Group, which was selling the Volt for MSRP. I had a very informative talk with them, turns out their initial allocation was all booked, but I could be first on a waiting list if anyone dropped out, but none of the cars where the color and options I most wanted. I did put a fully refundable deposit down though, and they could place a new order for a car with the options I want but not till January.
I also learned that most of their customer orders where at the same stage mine is, and this made me realize maybe my original dealership wasnt so bad.
There was only one way to find out, so we drove to Chevrolet of Jersey City, where Mike Rivera's co-worker recognized my name. At this point I was thinking maybe I'd been too hard on Mike, when I finally meet him, he assumed I was there for a refund of my deposit, and looked a bit sad to see me. I told I didnt want to cancel the order just yet, and he directed me to their Ordering Specialist John Sucato who showed me how their ordering system worked, and show me what he sees for my order, I also learned they have an allocation of 4 customer Volts for this quarter, plus their orders for the dealership, they cant even place the their first dealer until November 11th.
Afterwards John and Mike looked up the price for the options I ordered and wrote up a formal order with the price I'd be charged which was $530 over MSRP, which I'm ok with.
Mike and I were smiling as we shook hands, and I made a point of apologizing to him, he'd been getting the brunt of my anxiety over the ordering process.
I'm feeling much better about things, I wont be one of the very first people to get a Volt, but I will be getting it soon.
