Luscombe Leeds - MG Dealer Discussion, Opinions & Experiences

[PonteMG5]

Recently had my birthday and nice touch to receive a birthday card from Luscombe’s. Thank You ?

 

[DB Go Rex]

I ordered a MG ZS EV through Tusker (Fulfilled by Luscombe) back in January.
Was given a 22 weeks wait - which I was happy with, as having done the homework on wat times my current lease ends in June, so was all lined up.

Back in March Luscombe contacted me directly and said the car is here. As my current lease was way off finishing I ask to delay it by at least 2 months. They refused and said the car had to go to someone by the end of the month...

Fast forward to now and I'm at the back of the queue and no firm date as to when it will arrive. Can do without for a month or so but 100% need it in August.

Don't think this is fair really to give such a long date, offer it way before it was due and then punish you for not taking it up.

Tried to get something firm on the date but they can't.

Not impressed.

 

[Sam Luscombe]

I ordered a MG ZS EV through Tusker (Fulfilled by Luscombe) back in January.
Was given a 22 weeks wait - which I was happy with, as having done the homework on wat times my current lease ends in June, so was all lined up.

Back in March Luscombe contacted me directly and said the car is here. As my current lease was way off finishing I ask to delay it by at least 2 months. They refused and said the car had to go to someone by the end of the month...

Fast forward to now and I'm at the back of the queue and no firm date as to when it will arrive. Can do without for a month or so but 100% need it in August.

Don't think this is fair really to give such a long date, offer it way before it was due and then punish you for not taking it up.

Tried to get something firm on the date but they can't.

Not impressed.

Hi Bodgerx,

There's a fairly simple explanation behind this which I apologise hasn't been passed on to you from our Fleet Dept (Via Tusker).

Your car was ordered in January and the 22 week wait time was expected around that time. In March, we agreed to take some extra cars from MG which were allocated on the proviso that they went out that month. We then offered everyone who had already ordered the chance to take one of these cars sooner than their own order (rather than sell these cars to new customers).

Customers not in a position to take the car that month simply passed up the opportunity and continued with their original order. Delivery dates have always been estimates and until the car is physically built, the lead time can drop back and the dealer is then in the same boat as the customer with limited visibility.

The situation is worse now than it was in January, but we are liaising with Tusker on a daily basis to fulfil orders in the sequence they were placed.
I can assure you that you are no further down the queue than you were when your order was placed, you simply passed up on the opportunity to get it sooner. The fact that the 22 weeks has slipped back is a symptom of the shortages that we're all facing I'm afraid.

Hope that helps?
Sam

 

[DB Go Rex]

Hi Bodgerx,

There's a fairly simple explanation behind this which I apologise hasn't been passed on to you from our Fleet Dept (Via Tusker).

Your car was ordered in January and the 22 week wait time was expected around that time. In March, we agreed to take some extra cars from MG which were allocated on the proviso that they went out that month. We then offered everyone who had already ordered the chance to take one of these cars sooner than their own order (rather than sell these cars to new customers).

Customers not in a position to take the car that month simply passed up the opportunity and continued with their original order. Delivery dates have always been estimates and until the car is physically built, the lead time can drop back and the dealer is then in the same boat as the customer with limited visibility.

The situation is worse now than it was in January, but we are liaising with Tusker on a daily basis to fulfil orders in the sequence they were placed.
I can assure you that you are no further down the queue than you were when your order was placed, you simply passed up on the opportunity to get it sooner. The fact that the 22 weeks has slipped back is a symptom of the shortages that we're all facing I'm afraid.

Hope that helps?
Sam

Thanks for clarifying on the queue situation, that helps.

Just need to work out options to cover between June and when it eventually arrives

 

[guymc]

Thanks for clarifying on the queue situation, that helps.

Just need to work out options to cover between June and when it eventually arrives

Pretty certain Tusker offer stop gap vehicles on a month by month basis....
*Sorry a bit off topic

 

[DB Go Rex]

Pretty certain Tusker offer stop gap vehicles on a month by month basis....
*Sorry a bit off topic

I have asked them to do this last week via email and I've had no response. It ain't cheap - 500-600 per month.

You'd have thought after spending so much money with a retailer you'd expect customer service that matches what you'd get when you buy a packet of crisps. But it seems not.

Right now I have no car at the end of next month, and a two week holiday in August in France where I need some sort of car. It ain't looking promising.

 

[guymc]

I have asked them to do this last week via email and I've had no response. It ain't cheap - 500-600 per month.

You'd have thought after spending so much money with a retailer you'd expect customer service that matches what you'd get when you buy a packet of crisps. But it seems not.

Right now I have no car at the end of next month, and a two week holiday in August in France where I need some sort of car. It ain't looking promising.

Hope you get it sorted, I have to say I had no idea it would be that much. There must surely be a market for a cheaper option, the car may a tiddler but short term that would be fine by me. A car is better than no car!

 

[Dr Robert]

@Sam Luscombe, if I use your 'New Car Stock Locator' it shows several ZS EV Trophy Long Range cars. Are these cars actually in stock?

 

[AK OK]

@Sam Luscombe, if I use your 'New Car Stock Locator' it shows several ZS EV Trophy Long Range cars. Are these cars actually in stock?

& 23 days later???
Did Sam reply?

 

[Dr Robert]

& 23 days later???
Did Sam reply?

No. @Sam Luscombe did not bother to reply. And I'm sure he won't bother to explain how they can still (today) offer a Long Range Trophy to new customers within 1 month while they can't even give a date to those of us who ordered this model nine months ago. Maybe the price (above MRRP) answers the question.

 

[DB Go Rex]

No. @Sam Luscombe did not bother to reply. And I'm sure he won't bother to explain how they can still (today) offer a Long Range Trophy to new customers within 1 month while they can't even give a date to those of us who ordered this model nine months ago. Maybe the price (above MRRP) answers the question.

Apparently that's Autotrader's fault!

If the cars don't exist I assume there is no hurry to remove the ads if they drive traffic to the dealer...

 

[Dr Robert]

Apparently that's Autotrader's fault!

If the cars don't exist I assume there is no hurry to remove the ads if they drive traffic to the dealer...

No. These are on Luscombe's own website.

 

[Sam Luscombe]

No. @Sam Luscombe did not bother to reply. And I'm sure he won't bother to explain how they can still (today) offer a Long Range Trophy to new customers within 1 month while they can't even give a date to those of us who ordered this model nine months ago. Maybe the price (above MRRP) answers the question.

Sorry, hadn't seen these messages until now. As you probably know, my mobile number is plastered on the website and I'm very accessible on social media or via direct message so I don't think its fair to suggest I've been ignoring these comments.
As I've said on numerous forums, the MG new car stock locator is just a reskinned version of AutoTrader's new car platform which started as a physical stock locator before Covid. Since, no cars are in stock across the industry so dealers use it to advertise what you can get (albeit AutoTrader still persist with the 'Brand New - In Stock' label which we cannot remove). If we removed what wasn't instantly available, how would we ever fill the pipeline and take orders for cars to be delivered next year?
In answer to your other question - no I cannot offer a Trophy for delivery in a month and this one single car on our website you've managed to find across all the others which clearly state 6+ months was an error which has now been remedied.... As has the MRRP of the Silver car which was showing at £34,540 and not the £35,040 it should have been, making it appear that a £300 discount was actually a £200 price premium.

 

[Dr Robert]

Sorry, hadn't seen these messages until now. As you probably know, my mobile number is plastered on the website and I'm very accessible on social media or via direct message so I don't think its fair to suggest I've been ignoring these comments.
As I've said on numerous forums, the MG new car stock locator is just a reskinned version of AutoTrader's new car platform which started as a physical stock locator before Covid. Since, no cars are in stock across the industry so dealers use it to advertise what you can get (albeit AutoTrader still persist with the 'Brand New - In Stock' label which we cannot remove). If we removed what wasn't instantly available, how would we ever fill the pipeline and take orders for cars to be delivered next year?
In answer to your other question - no I cannot offer a Trophy for delivery in a month and this one single car on our website you've managed to find across all the others which clearly state 6+ months was an error which has now been remedied.... As has the MRRP of the Silver car which was showing at £34,540 and not the £35,040 it should have been, making it appear that a £300 discount was actually a £200 price premium.

Funny how these Autotrader errors keep repeating @Sam Luscombe and are sometimes confirmed by email and chat.

For example, your colleague confirmed to me today that you have some Long Range SE's available for September delivery if I placed a new order today. Does that mean that you have nobody on your books waiting for an SE Long Range?

And what about the 'black editions' which you had in stock earlier this year and according to your website, can still be delivered in 1 month? Are they real? or is that also an Autotrader glitch?

 

[DB Go Rex]

Funny how these Autotrader errors keep repeating @Sam Luscombe and are sometimes confirmed by email and chat.

For example, your colleague confirmed to me today that you have some Long Range SE's available for September delivery if I placed a new order today. Does that mean that you have nobody on your books waiting for an SE Long Range?

And what about the 'black editions' which you had in stock earlier this year and according to your website, can still be delivered in 1 month? Are they real? or is that also an Autotrader glitch?

??

 

[Sam Luscombe]

Funny how these Autotrader errors keep repeating @Sam Luscombe and are sometimes confirmed by email and chat.

For example, your colleague confirmed to me today that you have some Long Range SE's available for September delivery if I placed a new order today. Does that mean that you have nobody on your books waiting for an SE Long Range?

And what about the 'black editions' which you had in stock earlier this year and according to your website, can still be delivered in 1 month? Are they real? or is that also an Autotrader glitch?

The errors don't keep repeating. I don't know how clearer I can be. We list everything on AutoTrader. They are not errors - it is simply Auto Trader's wording to say they are 'in stock'.
We do have a couple of ZS EV LR SE's available via a cancelled order which I am making available for retail customers under certain conditions. We also have lots of these coming to existing customers in September. I'm very happy to have a phone call on the situation to explain the reasoning behind why a very small number are available to sell... and it is far more complex and logical than you'd imagine (government grants, cash flow implications, logistics of end users and intermediaries, the timing of contracts ending for leases etc). And no, it's not driven by pure greed/profiteering. My mobile is always on, and I'm happy to explain this to anyone who'd like to call - 07741293460.

The Black Editions are done to customer order, they do not just sit here waiting to be sold. The website lists pictures of how they look, but it would be done fresh. They are available at the same time as everything else, it comes as the same car and then gets wrapped.

@Dr Robert, you may have a poor view of car retailers across the board... the Arthur Daley character lives long in the memory etc, but I can assure you that customer experience is paramount to the longevity of any retail business, hence why I find myself spending more time than I should engaging in forums to try to provide answers/context/insight.

I sense you have plenty of frustration over how long your order is taking to come, and I can sympathise, but as I say, my phone is always on should you like to discuss it.

 

[Dr Robert]

We do have a couple of ZS EV LR SE's available via a cancelled order which I am making available for retail customers under certain conditions. We also have lots of these coming to existing customers in September. I'm very happy to have a phone call on the situation to explain the reasoning behind why a very small number are available to sell... and it is far more complex and logical than you'd imagine (government grants, cash flow implications, logistics of end users and intermediaries, the timing of contracts ending for leases etc). And no, it's not driven by pure greed/profiteering. My mobile is always on, and I'm happy to explain this to anyone who'd like to call - 07741293460.

Just a couple of weeks ago you claimed you were supplying your oldest customers first and asked 'why would it make sense not to?' If you now know the answer to that question perhaps you or one of the other dealers doing this could go onto the next podcast and explain all of us.

An order placed in 2021 makes dealers not a penny more or not a penny less than one placed today. The £2500 government grant isn’t profit, the increase in OTR price isn’t our profit. I’d much rather supply my oldest orders first… why would it make sense not to?

 

[AlexB1988]

Hi

Just sorted me a fantastic deal on a new ZS Hybrid Plus, picking up next Friday and can't wait! Never had a new car. I wont reveal the exact price and perks but so glad these were recommended to me.
Absolutely fantastic service so far, not at all pushy, very knowledgeable, responsive and friendly.
Would highly recommend Luscombe Leeds.
And this is my first post, looking forward to reading and contributing to the forum