[2KWK4U]

First of all, congratulations to every forum member (especially the old-timers) who got their names in the mix for one of the first 1,000. I truly am happy for you all, and wouldn't take one away from any of you if I could. Not even the guy who got two. You and your mother should hang on to those cars. Do you really want to snub your own mother to make some stranger on this forum happy? This rant is in no way directed at anyone who got in yesterday, be it from luck or whatever other factors there were in play.

:rant: My beef is with the program itsself. I never liked the idea to begin with. The server problems were just the floaters in the sespool (as opposed to icing on the cake).

The biggest problem, as I see it, with the program from the beginning has been its potential to $h*t on enthusiasts who have had good-faith deposits on the books with their dealers for months. Even before the whole first 1,000 scheme was cooked up.

Sure enough, that's exactly what happened to several of us. Why could there not have been provisions for those who have been so enamored with the car that they were willing to plunk down their hard-earned cash with any dealer who would take it? As Latin Venom (among others) has so eloquently pointed out several times, we are the people GM would want to get these cars to first! Word-of-mouth advertising is the best advertising you could dream of. Potential customers get good information from trusted sources, and best of all, it's free!

Instead, they've left some of those most excited about the car with a sour taste in our mouths.

Hindsight is 20/20, but who didn't see this coming? I'm pretty much just venting, here, and I can't really offer a good solution. All I can say is it would have been easier to get the Exxon Valdez captain into some AA classes than it was to clean up the massive oil spill.

I guess if I look at from their perspective, this program was a major success, and they know that most of the folks in my situation will pony up for the car anyway. Maybe the money they made off the buzz is more than they will lose as a result of the fallout and bad PR they will receive. Really, even if this gets bad press, it's still going to be good for sales and keeping the buzz going. What can the press say? The servers crashed because of the overwhelming response of 5,000 people vying for 1,000 cars. Think articles about that won't create more curiosity about the car? Think again! :rant:

As the esteemed Forrest Gump would say:

"That's all I have to say about that" (don't freakin' tell me life is like a box of chocolates!!)

 

[lepiane]

well said...

Its all about the $$$ , not the service. Once again, thanks GM... from a disappointed future owner.
:agree:

 

[Small Dealer]

The biggest problem, as I see it, with the program from the beginning has been its potential to $h*t on enthusiasts who have had good-faith deposits on the books with their dealers for months. Even before the whole first 1,000 scheme was cooked up.

Why could there not have been provisions for those who have been so enamored with the car that they were willing to plunk down their hard-earned cash with any dealer who would take it?

Here is the answer I gave to Todd a few moments ago on the other side on the enthusiast angle. The feelings apply for you too.
http://www.solsticeforum.com/forum/showthread.php?p=29501#post29501

 

[2KWK4U]

Here is the answer I gave to Todd a few moments ago on the other side on the enthusiast angle. The feelings apply for you too.
http://www.solsticeforum.com/forum/showthread.php?p=29501#post29501

Todd, First as I have stated elsewhere, I feel your pain and anger. You and others talk about how long you have been watching and waiting. I see members here with spring 2004 join dates. And you say the GM should have identified these enthusiasts and accommodated them. How could GM have identified them? Should GM have come here and picked out the 65-75 or so that replyed to the pole that they would order and give them cars?

Let me tell a story form Friday. When I arrived at work, sitting in my office was a man that I have known for many years, on a first name-hi how are you passing in the supermarket basis. Turns out he was a closet Solstice fan. We talked about it from birth to now. He read all the articles (saved them in fact), seen all the pictures, had pictures of his own with the car at auto shows (an not the local ones). He had actually gone to see the car during his vacations if a show was in the town he was in. He was deserving. How was GM to find him? Produce a February 18th, 2002 copy of Autoweek or the April 2002 Car & Driver and get a car?

I believe with all that is left of my heart, that the idea behind the EOP offered more people, including the Solstice enthusiast, a better chance of getting a car earlier in the build proccess then any other system GM or Pontiac has ever used and that I have seen in 35 years.

Keep the faith.

The first time your closet fan sat down with you on the deal was yesterday? Are you trying to suggest that money on the car is no better than having a copy of the April '02 issue of C/D? I have both, by the way.

Can you at least concede that the system was a bit flawed in that it didn't even attempt to make provisions for enthusiasts in Todd and my situation? The program was good for sales, but bad for the enthusiast community. Looks like it's even driving a wedge through this forum!

 

[Small Dealer]

The first time your closet fan sat down with you on the deal was yesterday? Are you trying to suggest that money on the car is no better than having a copy of the April '02 issue of C/D? I have both, by the way.

Can you at least concede that the system was a bit flawed in that it didn't even attempt to make provisions for enthusiasts in Todd and my situation? The program was good for sales, but bad for the enthusiast community. Looks like it's even driving a wedge through this forum!

So you believe the difference between my closet fan and you and Todd is that you two found this site and the other guy didn't, therefore you deserve the car and he dosen't? You aren't reading close enough. My point was, how was GM to know who was an enthusiast and who wasn't?

I could have taken money from some one back the day the 2002 Detroit Auto Show openned. There still would be no way that person would have been getting a car until 6 months or more into production. Money down on a car that hasn't been announced for production(2002-2004), then isn't yet in production(2004-2005), that the ordering rules haven't been published for(2004-3/4/05), and that the allocation formula(3/05) and amounts haven't been given dealers(4/7/05), unfortunately means nothing. It only places you in the dealer's line, not GM's. Sold order distribution has never worked for GM. It just asks for fake orders. The dealer assumed things and took chances and didn't manage expectations.

This program was still the best chance any one person on average in the whole group had of getting one of the first 1,000 cars built.

I am sorry if you think I am not sympathetic and that it is creating sides here in the forum.

The biggest flaw in the system, and I pointed it out to Pontiac people, was multiple log ons.

 

[Salamander]

deposits

Just my take: some people gave deposits to dealers upwards of a year ago. The EOP was announced on March 4, 2005 (correct my date if I'm wrong on that). Those long-standing deposits were not paid to secure an EOP car, how could they? The EOP didn't exist yet. The deposit was paid to secure an early car from the dealer's regular allocation. Those deposits still do just that.

The EOP was primarily a marketing ploy--Pontiac got tens of thousands of potential customers' information. The buzz created by *The Apprentice* and the EOP is a secondary effect.

Having said that, I'm heartbroken more of the forum regulars didn't get EOP cars. In many cases they provided better information here than was available from dealers but that wasn't the criteria for EOP. It's been said before but bears repeating: the only real difference between an EOP car and a regular allocation car is going to be a few weeks.

 

[skyhigh]

what I hate about this is that someone like me (and most on this forum, knowing about the car since 02, knowing all of the specs) was there and didn't get one, while someone in front of me had never even heard of the car until his wife saw it on the apprentice and told him she didn't care what it took, get her one!! What's even worse is that I was #4 at my dealer. #1 came in that morning and dropped off his id and left to go to work, never came back, #2 did basically the same thing, while me and a couple others waited for hours there. #1 & #2 didn't get anything, because the server wouldn't accept their #'s, while #3 was the only one at my dealer that got one. I'm glad 1 &2 didn't get one since they left, but it's not fair since they were first. I don't know why their #s didn't work, they had the same printout that I did.

The guy that did get one, I'm glad he did, he's a real nice guy, I got to know him well during the wait, but he didn't even know what options to order, what color or anything. I was there telling everyone else (including the dealer) what the option packages included, how much each option was, etc... If I had been #1 and my id didn't work, I may have gone postal. But I was 4 because I had to work a little longer than I planned. I just wished that GM could have posted a EOP that only we true enthusiasts would have known about, say 2-300 cars, then the apprentice 1000. That would have been fair to us.

 

[MarkZ]

Just my take: some people gave deposits to dealers upwards of a year ago. The EOP was announced on March 4, 2005 (correct my date if I'm wrong on that). Those long-standing deposits were not paid to secure an EOP car, how could they? The EOP didn't exist yet. The deposit was paid to secure an early car from the dealer's regular allocation. Those deposits still do just that.

The EOP was primarily a marketing ploy--Pontiac got tens of thousands of potential customers' information. The buzz created by *The Apprentice* and the EOP is a secondary effect.

Having said that, I'm heartbroken more of the forum regulars didn't get EOP cars. In many cases they provided better information here than was available from dealers but that wasn't the criteria for EOP. It's been said before but bears repeating: the only real difference between an EOP car and a regular allocation car is going to be a few weeks.

Well put.

I’ve just been on this forum a few weeks. I have been following all the threads on EOP closely and was on the forum, lurking, all day yesterday. Allow me to give my .02.

I have been through this before with other cars. Most recently with my current ride, a 350Z, back in 2002.

Salamander was correct on 2 points that need to be well remembered:

• 1. The EOP was primarily a marketing ploy. It worked and is still working, dealers are more than happy to take your money today & order you a Solstice. And you will get one.

• 2. The only real difference between an EOP car and a regular allocation car is going to be a few weeks.

Next year this time, when you are out in your Sol, with the top down on a spring day, you won’t even remember all this stress you guys put yourselves through yesterday. This is not good for your health, it is not important if you own the 21st Solstice every built or the 9,721st .

Relax everyone. No need to give yourself a stroke and not be able to enjoy your car. :lol:

 

[LatinVenom]

I think this is what GM needs to do if the marketing arm wants a lasting hit in their hand. Make sure that everyone of the people in this forum that want to buy a SOL get to order one, and that for them is easy to do since it seems were are talking about less than 150 people. The worst thing a marketing person can do is to look at the short term, and the EOP was just that, now is the time to keep your momentum alive, by unlishing your BEST sales force (for free) around the country, keeping this car in focus and infront of the buying public.

 

[sebgib]

Just my take: some people gave deposits to dealers upwards of a year ago. The EOP was announced on March 4, 2005 (correct my date if I'm wrong on that). Those long-standing deposits were not paid to secure an EOP car, how could they? The EOP didn't exist yet. The deposit was paid to secure an early car from the dealer's regular allocation. Those deposits still do just that.

The EOP was primarily a marketing ploy--Pontiac got tens of thousands of potential customers' information. The buzz created by *The Apprentice* and the EOP is a secondary effect.

Having said that, I'm heartbroken more of the forum regulars didn't get EOP cars. In many cases they provided better information here than was available from dealers but that wasn't the criteria for EOP. It's been said before but bears repeating: the only real difference between an EOP car and a regular allocation car is going to be a few weeks.

I completely agree. After watching this forum for a long time, not only did all of you guys know a hellalot but you knew 99.9% more than the dealers.

So I thank you guys for that.