[pats Pontiac]

Share your EOP experience. I live in NJ. Lots of angry people with no EOP cars due to computor problems !! Who's to blame ??

 

[cyberdoc]

Probably not a good topic for post. Why Fuel the frustrations??

 

[pats Pontiac]

if we make some noise , maybe GM will listen

:grouphug: :cuss:

 

[cyberdoc]

I doubt it, GM is a Corporation one thing rings true in all corporate America the Bottom Line. Their bottom line is they SOLD the CAR to the public. they had such an overwhelming response to it, the average is an 8% response to advertising. 22000 people signed up and a litttle over 5000 people tried to order a first 1000, out of that list te ones waitlisted 10% will continue to purchase the car. So in just 2 days of television hype they sold 1500 cars at Approximately $24000 each. :lurk:

 

[Salamander]

Listen to what? And to what end? Aside from the frustration of seeing a web server error, ~6000 people were trying to get 1000 cars. Do the math.

I agree that someone somewhere didn't prepare well. Could be the IT department but since I work in IT it was more likely some PHB* telling them "what web traffic? It's only going to be 1000 hits--use that 100MHz Pentium in the store room."

It sounds to me, and I've read every post here, that the problems were mostly on the dealer end, "I'm guaranteed 5 EOP cars", "Your registration number is a lottery number", entering multiple customers at once leading to #3 guy through the door getting a car but not #1. Those dealers are the real problem. Even without crashing web servers and clueless dealers though, there still would be 5000 disappointed people.


* PHB = Pointy Haired Boss, see Dilbert

 

[pats Pontiac]

alot of refunds and angry people

That bites !!! How can you put a contest up and bale out with no problems ?? :willy: :willy: :willy:

 

[general]

They probably sold more than the 5000.....since the system only allowed max EOP and waitlist of 5. From the stories I've heard here there were some dealers that had 10-15. Pontiac probably would have had orders for 10K. The dealer I was at had at least 10 spec'd out in VOM and tried to put the first 5 through the EOP.

There's no one to blame...the contest is over. GM and Pontiac need to focus on manufacturing now.

 

[RichSol]

Putcha' ears on GM

I think they WILL listen. After all, wasn't their purported purpose to use the Sol as a "halo" car to draw people in to buy other cars as well? And wasn't it part of a bigger purpose, i.e. to bolster their sagging public image? Well, angering the 'mob' with the inept execution of the 'contest' is probably not the image they were looking for. I anticipate some kind of an effort to pacify the losers.

Image=$$

 

[pats Pontiac]

How can they get away from cheating the public??

I think the press will have a field day if this is leaked out . Trump might even have something to say about this ! :yesnod:

 

[AeroDave]

I think the press will have a field day if this is leaked out . Trump might even have something to say about this ! :yesnod:

Who are they cheating? They never, ever promised everyone that walked into the dealership an EOP car. They offered 1000 cars and sold 1000 cars. Turns out there were at least 5000 buyers. What are they going to do, make the EOP the first 5000 cars?

As to the people that had deposits in a long time ago, and were first on the dealer wait list but still got nothing, well they weren't promised anything by Pontiac either. Those people knew (or should have if they were paying attention) that the odds were against them getting a car. I do think that Pontiac should have thought this through enough to better prepare the dealers for what was likely to happen, and they should have given out a warning to buyers that being a first depositor or first at the dealership on 4/15 would not guarantee getting a car. Even if they had, people still would be pissed. That's the nature of a contest or lottery.

 

[achieftain]

:agree: what he said

 

[brian carpenter]

GM did exactly what they wanted to do

GM accomplished its goal by getting the 1st 1000 cars into the hands of the general public. The fact that we were out there helping create the "buzz" and excitement about the Solstice was certainly not in their game plan. The commercial alone on the Apprentice was a very low key promotion, and I am sure that GM did not expect this much attention. Had we not been following the car for a long time, we would not have been parked out at the dealer on Friday. Now we have to move on, congratulate those that are in the 1st 1000, and hope that every one eventually gets their "dream machine".
:willy:

 

[Toyota4ever]

I think they WILL listen. After all, wasn't their purported purpose to use the Sol as a "halo" car to draw people in to buy other cars as well? And wasn't it part of a bigger purpose, i.e. to bolster their sagging public image? Well, angering the 'mob' with the inept execution of the 'contest' is probably not the image they were looking for. I anticipate some kind of an effort to pacify the losers.

Image=$$

I always loved Pontiacs, but for the last 6 years I have driven & purchased Toyotas (& 1 Honda). All along swearing that I would never buy another GM again. Until the Solstice. After what happened at my dealership, I could not care if GM "Oldsmobile's" Pontiac.

I was the first to arrive at the dealer. My salesman repeatedly refreshed the screen until we made it to the Confirm Order screen @ 2:41:05. At that point he printed the page and proceeded to Take Another Order for the 2nd person. (He was told that only one log on meant one computer per dealer). After placing the 2nd customer on the wait list, he went in to place my order and associate to the unique ID number, only to not have an order.

I find out today that I was dumped out of the system. I am not getting a EOP car nor was I ever placed on the waiting list. I was offered the first car that this dealership does get, but I have refused it. GM will not see me in one of their dealers again.

 

[LUVnSOL]

Toyota4ever, I am very afraid what heppened to you has happened to me. The dealer could not print my EOP confirmation and was so worried about getting my car order in that it never got done that day. I have a paper saying Retail sold/SOLSTC but nothing else. My sales person promised to fax me my EOP sheet today and she did not nor did she answer 2 emails from me. I bet I am not on the wait list or EOP. I was #1 at my daealer. but we did not get all of the order including the VOM in until 2:49:24 which I think should have put me on the wait list at least--I am very fearful---Like you I am considering looking at other cars instead of waiting for the regular orders to get out after all of this--- I love the Solsice but part of it was the fun of being one of the first in O town with it. Since the two main dealers did not get any of the 1000 I still had a chance but looks like I may be one of the last---

 

[vermontster]

i'll tell you who there cheating,people who's zip started with 0
still waiting for my file to be worked by j wayne

 

[Small Dealer]

I find out today that I was dumped out of the system. I am not getting a EOP car nor was I ever placed on the waiting list. I was offered the first car that this dealership does get, but I have refused it. GM will not see me in one of their dealers again.

So you went from being first on the dealers list to getting the first car the dealer is allocated. Just as if the EOP never existed. So because your not getting a toy, you are swearing off Pontiac.

 

[Salamander]

Some people just enjoy being angry. Several of those people seem to have found an outlet here. Have you noticed that most of that group also lack large avatars? Just an observation.

I myself don't have the energy required to keep up the requisite level of fury. Well, not any more.

 

[heismybooty]

Who are they cheating? They never, ever promised everyone that walked into the dealership an EOP car. They offered 1000 cars and sold 1000 cars. Turns out there were at least 5000 buyers. What are they going to do, make the EOP the first 5000 cars?

As to the people that had deposits in a long time ago, and were first on the dealer wait list but still got nothing, well they weren't promised anything by Pontiac either. Those people knew (or should have if they were paying attention) that the odds were against them getting a car. I do think that Pontiac should have thought this through enough to better prepare the dealers for what was likely to happen, and they should have given out a warning to buyers that being a first depositor or first at the dealership on 4/15 would not guarantee getting a car. Even if they had, people still would be pissed. That's the nature of a contest or lottery.

:agree:

 

[Crimson Avenger]

Great Expectations... TOO GREAT!

Toyota4ever, I am very afraid what happened to you has happened to me. The dealer could not print my EOP confirmation and was so worried about getting my car order in that it never got done that day. I have a paper saying Retail sold/SOLSTC but nothing else. My sales person promised to fax me my EOP sheet today and she did not nor did she answer 2 emails from me. I bet I am not on the wait list or EOP. I was #1 at my dealer. but we did not get all of the order including the VOM in until 2:49:24 which I think should have put me on the wait list at least--I am very fearful---Like you I am considering looking at other cars instead of waiting for the regular orders to get out after all of this--- I love the Solstice but part of it was the fun of being one of the first in O town with it. Since the two main dealers did not get any of the 1000 I still had a chance but looks like I may be one of the last---

Unfortunately, you fell victim to the confusion that plagued many dealers.

The procedure did not require a VOM number prior to starting. The communications from GM prior to 2005-04-15 indicated that the time sensitive part of the EOP 1st 1000 first come first served program was the entry confirmation by the dealer using the EOP registration number obtained by the customer.

There were four steps:

1. Customer registers on apprentice web & receives an EOP unique ID # (no time sensitivity here)
2. Customer visits dealer, dealer verifies deposit and eligibility prior to 2005-04-15T14:00:00-04 (eligibility question in next step, but in reality minimal time sensitivity)
3. Dealer logs into dealer secure web site at 2005-04-15T14:00:00-04 and enters his information, customer info & registration ID#, and verifies deposit & eligibility. (<--Time critical piece)
4. Dealer has until end of EOP program period (2005-04-24) to associate a VOM order # with the entry.

Note well, that the only truly time sensitive "contest" portion was the entry of the registration number in step 3 above.

Many dealers, including mine were not clear on the exact process. Some tried to access the VOM system first, starting at 14:00, and they overloaded it. That was a side show to the real drama of >2000 dealerships trying to get into the EOP registration web site.

The problem that I observed was that the dealers did not take advantage of enough of the communications that GM tried to distribute to them. My dealership missed BOTH conference calls (March 23, and April 6). Other dealerships (such as those where Conejo148 and Small Dealer work) stayed on top of it. At my dealership, the Fleet manager was not getting all of the communications because of missed (didn't know about them) conference calls, and a failure to read the rules in the packet sent to them with the Marketing materials sent by Pontiac.

Worse, the other sales persons at the dealership didn't seem to be interested in understanding what was going on until people started showing up about 90 minutes before the gate time asking about it. Further, they quickly scanned and misread the rules and truly thought they could get 5 cars. One sales person (one of the more senior ones) completely missed the point that they could ONLY be ordered by customers, not by the dealership itself. The amount of misinformation I overheard from the other sales persons was disheartening, but quite common from my experience with other car sales persons. Most often, I have had them try to speculate, guess, or worse fabricate information they don't know, rather than saying, "I don't know, but I will find out!" In point of fact, I narrowed my search of dealers by listening for that frankness and humility in the face of ignorance.

Folks like Conejo148 and Small Dealer are unique and conscientious folks who really tried to help us understand. My hat is off to you and the other folks who have helped us understand and brought information to us through this forum. It was I who helped explain to the folks at my dealership how it would all work, but I would not have known had we not had the wonderful members of this forum. Again thanks.

In the end, as has been said many times before in other threads, there was guaranteed to be fewer 1st 1000 cars than there were interested parties with deposit in hand. A recipe for disappointment if the dealers fail to set appropriate expectations.

For myself, I was hopeful, but fully expected to just wind up with one of the first from my dealers regular allocations. Unfortunately, many approached the 15th with unrealistic expectations.

Was it GM's fault? Well.... what I saw was a company trying to get the word out to the dealers in multiple communications with a fairly consistent message. Yes, small details were clarified, but the basics remained the same from the beginning:

• No GM folks allowed
• No dealers
• Customers watch apprentice on 2005-04-14
• Customers register night before
• Dealers enter registration numbers in special web site starting 2005-04-15T14:00:00-04
• First come first served

Could it have gone better? Sure. How? Better dealer education. Was that likely? I'm not so sure--GM did have a fair amount of communications on this one.... Harsh as it is, the hard feelings are more a function of Dealers failing to properly set customer expectations.

 

[Goat Man]

Playing the Blame Game

I personally would blame Bill Gates. One of the richest dudes in the world and he still can't get Windows right. He sells us the most infested, infected, and unstable Operating System in the world. Add in the crummy Internet that is in bad shape and needs a serious updating for good connectivity as well the crummy backbone we poor non-corporate saps have to connect with. I'm blaming Bill Gates for all this. It's his fault! :yesnod: