Robert418

Earlier this month, I placed a special order for a metallic blue, manual transmission, technology package 09 TSX.

Yesterday my dealer came back and said that Acura did not include my car in the next month build (which means my car would arrive around the end of the year). The reasons were not comprehensible to me (it can't be because demand is so high). But apparently the combination that Acura doesn't want to build. But there may be issues that Acura is playing games trying to get my dealer to take more inventory.

The sales rep tells me this means a one month delay. But I have no confidence that we won't be having the same conversation in a month with me being told the dealer place the order but Acura didn't put it into the build plan.

I can't believe that Acura doesn't want my money. I'm about to cancel and buy a Lexus. Where can I escalate?

MMsTSX

go to a different dealership.

Robert418

Yes, but that is still at least a month delay as Acura only takes orders once a month (every dealer that I shopped told me this). And I don't know the real issue -- whether this is a dealer issue or an acura issue -- so I might get the same answer from another dealer a month later.

What I want to do is email the CEO of Acura America or of Acura World Wide or Honda World Wide, but I haven't found an email address. I did call acura support, but they were useless.

LuvMyTSX

Well, they do make runs of certain colors and whatnot, and your blue might not be in the schedule for next month. I wouldn't jump to conclusions about them not wanting to make money or whatever. Obviously, they are going to make more of the more popular color choices. Unfortunately, I think the blues are less popular so you will have to wait longer.

On the other hand, have you asked your dealer to look around and see if another dealer has your combo? They do swaps all the time and can truck it in for you if possible.

nj2pa2nc

I just went on the acura website-the blues offered were glacier or vortex blue pearl. Which one did you want. If I could special order a color I would love a Milano red (not offered.

thefish

Hey man I'm pretty sure you if visit a dealership and you specifically say that you want a certain color etc.. I'm pretty sure they can search dealerships and find what you want and have it shipped.

godfather2

if acura wants to put itself in the same sentence as a bmw, benz, or audi they better start taking more of these custom orders! most european makes welcome individuality and can even paint their cars in discontinued colors. customer satisfaction ftw

Robert418

They have searched their computers for swaps. Per three different dealers, there is only one car available in this configuration in the whole U.S. and that is in southern california. They offered to get that for me, but said it would be an extra $400 to get it to the San Francisco area.

I wasn't in a big hurry and, frankly, didn't want a car that was in the first month or two of production, so I did the special order route.

Obviously, the GLACIER BLUE METALLIC is a small volume color and manual transmissions don't sell as well as automatics, but we're talking ordering in October for delivery around the end of the year (could be January). This is not a custom configuration or anything -- it is just low volume.

You would think when the auto market is in the tubes, that getting a car that is pre-sold manufactured wouldn't be that difficult.

Does anyone have an email address of top Honda/Acura execs? I'd like them to clearly understand why I'm going to buy a Lexus.

godfather2

going for is250/350? if you're into simple mods check out lexus's new f-sport product lineup

thefish

http://www.acura.com/index.aspx?init...stomerServices

That has the acura client services contact information.

I was looking at the Lexus IS250 as well and didn't buy it because the closest one with a manual transmission was in St. Louis. And it was accessorized out of my price range. So I found the TSX and couldn't be happier.

kingkong222

here is how it works...your dealership or any dealerships does not have the ability to preorder a car ahead of time. What happens is Japan release a number of cars with the model/trim per month or whenever. So let say you live in Calif the dealerships there will get x number of car for the month of November and will not get any more shipment until 3 months later. So the November shipment can be 5 blue cars with Nav and none without nav. Then the dealerships have to live with it until the next shipment. In other words, Acura dealerships do not have the authority to 'pre-order' or build the car according to your command. It doesn't work like BMW or Mercedes. I had to wait 3 months for my car to come from Japan, ABP with quartz interior and nav/6mt. They just don't have too many of these in the west coast. The point is if the car is not on the list for the dealers to have. There's nothing they can do for you except to tell you to wait. That can change from 1 month to 3 months. They however, can do a database search from other dealerships through the country to see if anyone has the combo that you are looking for. They are not obligated to do this if it costs them too much money for shipping and such. Hope you will understand this.

kingkong222

P.S please don't get too upset over this. After all, you're buying a $30K car, not a $100k car. Customer service will be excellent to a certain degree. Don't get too worked up over this like emailing the CEO or the owner of the dealership. I think they would love to have your business but at the same time it doesn't hurt them much if you decided to buy a lexus or go elsewhere. The bottom line is, just have to be patient and you may get the car that you want maybe some place else.

elezam

Tell them to give you the nav package for free or else you'll leave. I'm sure you can get a better deal now anyways with acuras 20% drop in sales...

Robert418

I've called the customer services contact -- they were pretty useless. Said they'd file a dealer complaint. I don't think that will do much good.

The primary reason that I went with the TSX is that you can actually get the manual. But apparently only in a few colors and usually not with tech package.

Robert418

I would think that the upper execs would want to know. I know that I work for a big company (very big) and that things like this can happen. I like it when customers do end-runs to execs (like me) so that I can get the team doing what we should be doing -- creating satisfied customers. Offering products for sale but refusing to build them is not the way I would want my company treating customers.

PACman

3-4 month waiting period for a custom order sounds normal to me. I did that when the TSX first came out. Hop on over to BMW forums and see how long they have to wait for their custom orders.

Robert418

I understand the 3-4 month wait. That was my expectation. However, yesterday the dealer told me that Acura wouldn't make the specific config I ordered. They said they placed the order on 10/21 and yesterday they got their confirmation for their January receipts and the car was not on it. They can try again with next months order, but they have no idea whether Acura will build it then.

PACman

Understand. Have you thought about waiting for the V6 TSX to come out?

aaronng

WTF? This is more of an Acura problem and not a dealer problem. How could they dare shift the blame to the dealer? Dodgy Acura......

Robert418

This is where I'm not sure who to blame. The original communication from the car sales rep was that the dealer "declined the entire move allocation". Later I talked with the owner of the dealership who admitted that they did turn down part of their allocation, but insisted that wasn't the reason that the car wasn't being built. He also told me that he escalated to Acura USA and got no where.

So I have no clue whether this is Acura not wanting to build a low volume car or a problem that they are punishing a dealer for decommitting on volume. I know I could go to another dealer who would place the order in mid-November (for the next "production move") and then find out later in November whose problem that was. But I'm getting irritated at the whole thing.

Colin

Dealers have an allocation, sometimes this is restricted to 10% or 15% of one model/trim. Maybe your dealer didn't get any MTs allocated in the month you tried to order. Maybe they only got 2 MTs and there were 3 pre-orders (you being the 3rd)? Sometimes they actually don't make a color in a given production run (as kingkong222 said).

You must be looking for an Ebony interior because there is a Glacier Blue/Taupe Tech 6-MT sitting outside my window right now. Problem is you'll have to come to Hawaii to get it....

Robert418

Isn't this a beautiful color -- Glacier Blue. Why do you think it sells so poorly?

And how did you get the Taupe interior? I thought Ebony was standard with Glacier Blue? I like the Ebony better personally, but am surprised that Acura made one with Taupe.

Colin

We actually ordered it for my wife, but changes in the residuals, sales forcasts, made us decide not to buy it. She had a Suzuka Blue S2000 and she really likes the light blue color. Personally, I think it does poorly because it's not terribly 'masculine' and thus eliminates 50% of the buyers off he top.

nj2pa2nc

When I was shopping for my 06 Milano red/eb 6MT w/nav in Nov. 06, the dealer had 2 glacier blue 6MT w nav in stock which they tried to sell me. I said no I wanted red. They did a dealer trade so guess what car went to that dealer.
We were interested in getting a 09 Mazda6V6 with MT. The sales brochure shows that they have it. Trying to get one is probably impossible.
Can you get the lexus you want? Which one?

Colin

I found two Glacier/Ebony cars on the west coast:

ACURA 101 WEST (818)222-5555 CU2569KW KA BB/EN
ACURA OF SEATTLE (206)433-1000 CU2569KW KA BB/EN

Robert418

Yeah I know. I got over my anger and the dealer made good for me. The car at Acura 101 West is now mine. Will be here end of next week.

miner

When I orderd my wife's '08 Milano red 6MT with Nav I ordered on June 9, '08. Picked it up Sept. 20, 2008. No problem with my dealer. Just had to pay a $500 deposit to order.

visuelz

So are you still going to buy a Lexus?

Colin

Thats good. Believe me, they do want you business, but have no control over what or when the factory builds (and paints) certain colors. HMC is all about efficiency, if they can't make a production run of a color, they'll wait till they can make a full batch. It keeps costs down, quality up, and allows a lot of value (goodies) for customers.

Robert418

So yesterday I did all the paperwork at the local dealer to get the exact config I wanted from southern california. Dealer checked and the car was in pristine condition, had less than 20 miles on the odometer, and was only in the lot for 60 days.

I was getting quite excited about getting my car at the end of the week.

Today I got the bad news call from the dealer sales manager. The car was in an accident at the dealer's lot in southern california -- damage to bumper and side.

Talk about being PISSED. Not sure what I'll do now. If I order, I have no clue whether it will be 3 months, 6 months, or never. I wrote an email to the owner of the dealer suggesting that they provide me with a loaner until it comes. I suspect he'll come back with a "let's share the cost of the loaner", but we'll see.

Any suggestions?

kingkong222

My advice is go drink a beer and be patient..it's only a car. You are getting worked up over this and where did that get you? no where. Nothing you nor the dealer can do about this except to wait. Anyways, good luck with the search.

nj2pa2nc

i agree. How long do you think you should have the loaner car for. The dealer does not have an exact date for getting the combo you want (maybe never). I am sure they want your business and seem to very helpful. They did not try to hide the fact that the car was in an accident. Most customers want automatic (black, white, gray) so that is what is made.

Colin

I've been helping you via PM but I want to ask that if/when you buy your car you don't take out your frustrations on the guy who helps you. If you get a survey, answer it without bias for your sales consultant. He doesn't deserve a poor survey because of your frustration with others. Use the comments to make your feelings known, but give him scores appropriate to his (and only his) performance.

LuvMyTSX

And maybe write a separate letter to Acura Client Services or something about your frustrations. That way at least you get to voice your issues, without taking it out on the wrong person.

Type34

Nice work Colin, having you on AZ is a benefit to all. Hopefully your efforts are being appreciated here.

And Robert, I'm confused on "I wrote an email to the owner of the dealer suggesting that they provide me with a loaner until it comes. I suspect he'll come back with a "let's share the cost of the loaner", but we'll see." Did you trade in your existing car for the transaction? The dealer is not giving back your trade-in?

Robert418

The saga ends.....I couldn't wait. So yesterday I bought a brand new Grigio/Ebony, Manual Transmission, with Technology package. Not my first choice color, but one heck of a car. Thanks for all the advice. And thanks especially to Colin for some help with trying to find the car at in inventory somewhere.

Catman

Mine was the first TSX my dealer sold two days after the introduction....I initially wanted the Vortex blue I thought it was the same as the 08 TL-S, but they did a search and there was nothing to be found anywhere. I thought that was strange because the Vortex blue was what was shown when the car was first introduced and it is the color of the TSX on the Accessories brochure.

When people were signing in with there car on the sign in page there was no Vortex blue to be found for months. I finally saw one at my dealership about a month ago and I was told that it was only the second one they had received. Ends up the color isn't anything like the TL-s and I'm glad I didn't get it.

By the looks of the who has what color thread no many do have the Vortex blue. I think like anything else they wait to see what kind of demand they are going to get for a specific color and that is what they decide to build.

PittIsIt

reading other threads, looks like you want to wait for a 2010 anyway with all the problems of the 09

TS_eXpeed

It's not necessarily that they aren't trying to get you your car, they just either can't allocate one, or they simply aren't making that combo at the current time.

Before I got my TSX, I had considered a Civic coupe. When I was talking with the dealer, he said that they don't do custom orders, so if I wanted a blue, manuel, and navi, I may not get one right away. I'm guessing acura is the same, except they would not come out and explicitly say "Hey, we don't do custom orders" being that acura is seen as a little higher up on the scale of luxury, and wouldn't want to turn away potential buyers from saying they don't do custom orders; only that it may take a while to get your order. Make sense?

Either way, it looks like others beat me to it.

AustinJay

^^^ You can order anything you want at a Acura / Honda dealer. I'm a Internet / Fleet sales manager, and I had to order a few customer cars. Depending where the assembly point is will determine it's delivery date. It takes about 3 - 7 months. We try to keep customers away from doing that. For many reasons. 1. We usually can locate one at another dealer. 2. We would like a sale before 3 - 7 months. 3. During the wait time, most customers get impatient and go and buy something else and we are stuck with some car we didn't want. The list goes on...