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- 2020 Hellcat Redeye (Maybe)
Update 10/16/2020:
The ETA for delivery has been pushed back to the 30th of October. This is the 4 or 5th time the ETA has been pushed back (last I checked it was the 15, which was yesterday), which seemed strange to me. It has shown in transit since the 23rd of last month I believe (with the first ETA of the 28th of last month), and that it was going by truck and not by rail. Again, this is just what I have been told (by both the SRT operators and by the Dealership). I think the words the SRT operators used was, "The good news is it looks like your vehicle will be shipped by truck, so as soon as it is finished at the up fitter, it will be delivered straight to the dealership by truck and skip having to go by train". This wasn't a single operator, but was said to me multiple times.
It seems there has been some confusion though. It is awaiting pickup by truck - but to the rail yards. They don't actually ship the cars to the rail yards until they have a full load - so it is still at the up fitter waiting for enough cars to be ready before it will be picked up and brought to the yards.
That makes MUCH more sense on why the ETA on the shipping date keeps being pushed back, and why it is taking so long in this status. It also explains why I keep being told it will be traveling by truck as opposed to train, as in the system it is awaiting shipment by truck - but to the yards.
That's all good. I have a much better picture of what is going on, and what is happening. I am sure it will take longer then normal for them to get a full load as well, so it will probably sit there longer - and add in however long the train journey will be - I am sure I won't see the vehicle in October. That is understandable considering.
It is certainly nice to have that information, and I will give Dodge the credit for eventually surfacing it. Still going to note it took more effort then I think it should have, but I will give credit where credit is due.
TLDR;
My main complaint is Dodge hasn't communicated very well throughout this process, not the time the order has taken. As this was my first order with Dodge, I don't have any perspective as to how long it should take, and I have relied on feedback from the SRT operators and the Dealership, who have both said it was taking longer then expected (even with COVID). To which, when asked why, I was given no further information.
Based on feedback from forum members, it isn't unusual for it to necessarily take this time. The point still remains I feel Dodge could improve on the quality of information they give, and perhaps the wording of the updates as well.
Original Post:
This has been my experience with Dodge when ordering my 2020 Challenger Hellcat Redeye.
As a prelude:
This is my first time dealing with Dodge. I have ordered many cars from many different manufactures in the past, which certainly has had an effect on what I expected.
Your experience may vary. If you are considering ordering a vehicle from Dodge, take this as just a single data point (or not, either way). If you have ordered from Dodge and seen similar treatment, I can say from ordering cars from other manufactures I was treated a far cry differently. This may not be typical, and I certainly hope this isn't the experience they are going for, but it also seems they are satisfied with a customer having this experience.
I offer this both as a tale of what you might experience when ordering a car, and also as feedback for what I felt like could have been done differently to make this a much better experience (should anyone who cares read it). I will, for the sake of comparison, list an examples from other manufactures I have ordered from in the past where the same or similar situation was handled differently creating a better overall customer experience.
I understand these are unprecedented times. I feel that I am a pretty tolerant and reasonable man. Most of my complaints center around the complete lack of communication or insight as to what is going on with this order.
My experience with the dealer I ordered the car has been phenomenal. They are as perplexed about this as I am, and have been (as far as I can tell) genuinely been trying to get answers from Dodge as well.
It is, as the time of writing this, over 120 days from order and the car has yet to be delivered to the dealer. My complaint is not about the time - the car isn't for a daily driver. I have other cars to drive. I am not hard up for a vehicle. If they needed another 120 days I would be sad (as I would like to drive the car!), but I wouldn't be upset. The problem is I have no explanation as to WHY it has taken this long - but more on that later. Further, there seems to be some strange stuff going on with this order, and no one from Dodge wants to give any sort of explanation (in fact they seem to be avoiding giving me any sort of explanation). I don't believe they are required or owe me an explanation (just like I am not required to purchase a vehicle from them) - I do however believe it would be nice given the circumstances, and don't think it is too much to ask for.
With that out of the way, let's get into what happened.
Normally I order all my vehicles, but this time, knowing production might be an issue I started searching for inventory that was in stock. I contacted a dealer about a 2020 Hellcat Redeye that was nearly exactly what I wanted, and while we were discussing pricing someone came in and put a down payment on the car to purchase it. Being as that was the only one I could find that was close to what I was looking for (and not having some outrageous ADM), I asked if they were taking orders for 2020's. He said yes and on 06/13/2020 I placed an sold order with a down payment.
Three days later the order was accepted and had a VIN, which (after some research I found out) meant I could track it through the SRT hotline. From doing my research, I noticed Dodge had much fewer status codes then I had seen with other manufacturerers. This meant there would be a lot of steps I wouldn't get to see, which I was fine with. I was also familiar with having a manufacturer hotline to call to get updates (as opposed to a dealer) from BMW. I would call every few days, and generally knew the status even before the sales person did (which meant when he called I would answer and ask if he was calling to inform me it was in this status or that status). Again, I wouldn't get the same sort of granularity - but I figured that out early and was okay with it.
Initially there was little to report on from the SRT hotline (beside the fact they really liked the spec - which was nice). All the people I talked to were polite. There was no ETA on when it would get produced, which I understood. Everything was fine here. I expected once it got within a production cycle or two out from where it would be produced, they would have some more info. I also knew it was a seldom ordered color, so it would either be faster to get in (as it might get a cut in line) or much slower depending on when the next cycle of that color came up (due to binpacking of colors).
So, I was pretty surprised when I got an email on 06/30/2020 from my sales person stating the car had been produced and was pending final inspection - particularly when I had called the 26th and told there was no update nor was there an ETA. I called the SRT hotline and they said it was in JB status.
Just seventeen days after placing the order, the car has rolled off the assembly line, and yet over a hundred days later it has yet to be delivered to the dealer. At this point in time, the car enters a quagmire or blackhole or something, and no one seems to know what is going on with it - which, I just have a really really hard time believing. Personally, I am sure one or more people know, they just don't feel that I need to know and don't feel the need to tell me. Perhaps that is because if they truly don't know, it is a level of incompetence my brain just isn't equipped to deal with. The problem is that what I can imagine is probably much worse than what has actually happened, and it just leaves me more and more upset with Dodge, the whole process, and ultimately more and more paranoid with what could be wrong with a car I haven't even seen yet as time goes on.
I digress. At this point, everything is fine. I am calling every few days. No ETA of when it will be done. This is all fine. About two weeks passes (so we are in mid July) , and talking to the person from the SRT hotline, it looks like it is finally being shipped out to an upfitter. It is going to an upfitter in Michigan. I am told this means that once it finishes with whatever work the upfitter is doing, it will be put on a truck and delivered to the dealership, avoiding the rails.
Great. Sounds wonderful. Everything is fine.
It spends a month at this upfitter (so now we are in mid August). This seems like a long time, but again - I understand what is going on and I am willing to be patient. One of the persons from the SRT hotline asks how long it has been in the JB status, I am not sure so they look it up. They note that after a certain amount of time they can create a case number and a brand advocate can reach out and see what is going on with the vehicle.
Then, something strange happens. I call and they tell me the car got shipped to another upfitter. It was almost at the time when they would have opened a case, but since it has been updated it sort of resets the clock so they opt not to open a case. This is sort of odd, but I am okay. No expectation as to what happened or why it just sat there for a month, and so I am left with speculation. Maybe they were just overworked and couldn't get to it, so they are shuffling orders around to try to get stuff through, etc. It is unfortunate it has just sat there, but again, I am understanding.
Everything is pretty ok. It seems to be making at least some progress.
The end of August comes around, and it is still in JB status. The SRT hotline finally decides to open a case. They are supposed to call us within a few days. We wait a few days after they are supposed to call, no one does so we call the hotline back. The case has been closed, and the updates just state that there is no additional information at this time. So, we are 80 days out from order, and 63 days out from when the vehicle rolled off the assembly line.
Now is when things start to spiral downwards. We call the SRT hotline about twice a week. Each of the operators open a case. All of them are closed with no information about the status of the car or why it is not making progress. Some of them we get a call back, and talk with someone who doesn't give us any info, most of them are just closed. Each time they check how long it is in the status and offer to open a case, we mention cases have been opened and they state all of them are closed so they open a new one.
At one point one of the operators escalates it to the brand advocates and copies their manager on the escalation. Still nothing. I am in communication with the dealership at this time, and they are trying to find out what is going on through their channels to no avail.
Let me just state that I am super happy with the personnel at the SRT hotline. They were, in all but one or two cases, an absolute pleasure to deal with. I get they were just doing their job and couldn't give me information either they didn't have or weren't authorized to give me. I don't expect them to lose their jobs over this. I don't believe they are part of the problem here.
The dealership as well has been great. Super happy with them. No complaints there. They seemed to be going to bat for me on this, and that is appreciated.
So, what am I expecting at this point? Just some information. Is the car waiting on a part that is on backorder? Is there some issue with fitment from the factory that needs to be corrected? Is there some gremlin in the wiring that is causing the car alarm to go off constantly and drain the battery? Was the car stolen from the upfitter and now has 300 miles on it? Was it abducted by aliens and is now in CIA custody while they lobotomize all the witnesses (I kid ... Or do I?).
Eighty days out from order, and it would be another twenty two days before we would be informed it was shipped from the outfitter for the first time. Yeah, the first time it was indicated as shipped, as it seems to be indicated as shipped several times. The window sticker comes up on 09/03/2020, 83 days after order, but it wouldn’t be shipped or scheduled to be shipped for another 20 days, with an ETA to the dealer on the 28th. And a day later, it would show as shipped again with a new shipping date and ETA of 10/07, and at 113 days after order it would show shipped again with an ETA of 10/12, and later it would show as shipped on 10/06 with an ETA of 10/15.
In each case I called the SRT hotline, and then the dealership to confirm that they were both seeing the same information.
I honestly have little expectation that the car will actually arrive before the 15th at this point in time. It is now 122 days out from order, and 105 days out from rolling off the assembly line and the car hasn't been delivered to the dealership.
My problem with this is there has been no explanation to me or to the dealership for that matter as to why it has taken so long. Building a car is a hugely complex process and coordination of precisely tracking inventory and scheduling. They can accomplish that but as soon as the car rolls off the assembly line they seem to wash their hands of it and shrug and just say "I don't know".
In comparison, when I ordered my BMW, they knew what day it was scheduled to start production, what day it would roll off the line, when it would be inspected, when it would be picked up and taken to the ship yard, when the ship would depart, what ship it would be on (which I was able to track through a third party site that tracks shipping cargo ships). A hurricane hit when it was scheduled to make port. As soon as stuff settled from that, they were able to get me an estimate on when it would be able to make port again (within a window), when it would get through customs (once it made port), when it would put on a truck (once it cleared customs), and finally they gave me a two hour window of when it would be delivered to the dealership. I literally pulled into the dealership as the truck was unloading the car. They didn't even know it had arrived yet. All of the dates they gave me days/weeks ahead of time, because they (like all manufacturers) don't plan stuff out a day or two ahead of time - but weeks ahead of time.
In no way do I think BMW has some magic or process that Dodge doesn't have. I use them as an example, but the same could be said about several other cars I have purchased. I believe they are fully capable of this in all but the most exceptional cases, and for their own reasons choose not to expose this level of detail to the customer. Which is fine - I suspect they have some idea what most of the customers want. Not asking for Dodge to be BMW. Don't expect that.
The level of information I have been provided is unfathomably sparse to me however. Some consideration has been given to the fact this is the first time I have ordered a car that has had to go to an upfitter center to finish the construction of the vehicle, but even then there has to be scheduling and communication and some sort of recourse Dodge has with these outside vendors that are the final responsibility to deliver the vehicle to the customer. On top of that, it was at a Penske upfitter - not some small mom and pop shop. I am pretty sure they employ the same sort of scheduling and manufacturing process, in close communication with Dodge about what their work loads are and what they can handle and when. I seriously doubt Dodge just drops a bunch of vehicles off that they don't know what is coming and what needs to be done (and when).
All of this is to say that it should be possible for Dodge to know what is going on with the vehicle throughout the entire process, and that in exceptional cases they should be able to inform those who wish to know what is going on with their order, and I don't believe this level of effort should be required to get that information. What the actual level of effort is, I can't actually say as I still haven't gotten that information.
So what am I left with? My speculation, doubt, and uncertainty about a purchase. A very large purchase. A purchase I am no longer sure I am going to make honestly. I don't say this as a threat, but just as an honest appraisal of how I am feeling. This isn't a car I need. I honestly doubt any one NEEDS a car with 700+ horsepower (no matter how much we convince ourselves otherwise).
I had tempered my expectations quite a bit as to what I thought this experience would be - and despite that Dodge has GREATLY undershot. I figured most of the cost would be in the powertrain and not in a super nice interior or a spectacular ownership experience.
What would make it better now? Honestly, just a discussion with someone as to what happened, with some reasonable account or explanation. I have looked for a way to give Dodge feedback on this, and what it seems to boil down to is the SRT hotline. I have had a few discussions with the operators stating my consternation is not centered around the delay, but the lack of information. This has been met with the appropriate response of that is what the brand advocates are for, and they will dig in and get me the answers - which has never happened.
If it had been an issue with some of the options I ordered just take longer in the upfitter because of the nature of them, and that would have been explained fine. I have ordered options that have caused the manufacturing process to take longer because it was hand laid carbon fiber or some custom stitching they don’t do ahead of time so it just makes the car take longer. Or, if they were just waiting on parts and had just said so. Or if the upfitter was at reduced capacity (though other cars seemed to be flowing through there without trouble). Whatever it was, I am pretty sure I would have been understanding.
It seems they have some processes in place to deal with this, but they are woefully underwhelming, and in this case has led to much less than ideal customer experience. I will leave with the fact that at no point has anyone been rude, or combative, or outright disrespectful to me, so that is good. Not all aspects have been bad, but the overall experience has left a bitter taste in my mouth.
The ETA for delivery has been pushed back to the 30th of October. This is the 4 or 5th time the ETA has been pushed back (last I checked it was the 15, which was yesterday), which seemed strange to me. It has shown in transit since the 23rd of last month I believe (with the first ETA of the 28th of last month), and that it was going by truck and not by rail. Again, this is just what I have been told (by both the SRT operators and by the Dealership). I think the words the SRT operators used was, "The good news is it looks like your vehicle will be shipped by truck, so as soon as it is finished at the up fitter, it will be delivered straight to the dealership by truck and skip having to go by train". This wasn't a single operator, but was said to me multiple times.
It seems there has been some confusion though. It is awaiting pickup by truck - but to the rail yards. They don't actually ship the cars to the rail yards until they have a full load - so it is still at the up fitter waiting for enough cars to be ready before it will be picked up and brought to the yards.
That makes MUCH more sense on why the ETA on the shipping date keeps being pushed back, and why it is taking so long in this status. It also explains why I keep being told it will be traveling by truck as opposed to train, as in the system it is awaiting shipment by truck - but to the yards.
That's all good. I have a much better picture of what is going on, and what is happening. I am sure it will take longer then normal for them to get a full load as well, so it will probably sit there longer - and add in however long the train journey will be - I am sure I won't see the vehicle in October. That is understandable considering.
It is certainly nice to have that information, and I will give Dodge the credit for eventually surfacing it. Still going to note it took more effort then I think it should have, but I will give credit where credit is due.
TLDR;
My main complaint is Dodge hasn't communicated very well throughout this process, not the time the order has taken. As this was my first order with Dodge, I don't have any perspective as to how long it should take, and I have relied on feedback from the SRT operators and the Dealership, who have both said it was taking longer then expected (even with COVID). To which, when asked why, I was given no further information.
Based on feedback from forum members, it isn't unusual for it to necessarily take this time. The point still remains I feel Dodge could improve on the quality of information they give, and perhaps the wording of the updates as well.
Original Post:
This has been my experience with Dodge when ordering my 2020 Challenger Hellcat Redeye.
As a prelude:
This is my first time dealing with Dodge. I have ordered many cars from many different manufactures in the past, which certainly has had an effect on what I expected.
Your experience may vary. If you are considering ordering a vehicle from Dodge, take this as just a single data point (or not, either way). If you have ordered from Dodge and seen similar treatment, I can say from ordering cars from other manufactures I was treated a far cry differently. This may not be typical, and I certainly hope this isn't the experience they are going for, but it also seems they are satisfied with a customer having this experience.
I offer this both as a tale of what you might experience when ordering a car, and also as feedback for what I felt like could have been done differently to make this a much better experience (should anyone who cares read it). I will, for the sake of comparison, list an examples from other manufactures I have ordered from in the past where the same or similar situation was handled differently creating a better overall customer experience.
I understand these are unprecedented times. I feel that I am a pretty tolerant and reasonable man. Most of my complaints center around the complete lack of communication or insight as to what is going on with this order.
My experience with the dealer I ordered the car has been phenomenal. They are as perplexed about this as I am, and have been (as far as I can tell) genuinely been trying to get answers from Dodge as well.
It is, as the time of writing this, over 120 days from order and the car has yet to be delivered to the dealer. My complaint is not about the time - the car isn't for a daily driver. I have other cars to drive. I am not hard up for a vehicle. If they needed another 120 days I would be sad (as I would like to drive the car!), but I wouldn't be upset. The problem is I have no explanation as to WHY it has taken this long - but more on that later. Further, there seems to be some strange stuff going on with this order, and no one from Dodge wants to give any sort of explanation (in fact they seem to be avoiding giving me any sort of explanation). I don't believe they are required or owe me an explanation (just like I am not required to purchase a vehicle from them) - I do however believe it would be nice given the circumstances, and don't think it is too much to ask for.
With that out of the way, let's get into what happened.
Normally I order all my vehicles, but this time, knowing production might be an issue I started searching for inventory that was in stock. I contacted a dealer about a 2020 Hellcat Redeye that was nearly exactly what I wanted, and while we were discussing pricing someone came in and put a down payment on the car to purchase it. Being as that was the only one I could find that was close to what I was looking for (and not having some outrageous ADM), I asked if they were taking orders for 2020's. He said yes and on 06/13/2020 I placed an sold order with a down payment.
Three days later the order was accepted and had a VIN, which (after some research I found out) meant I could track it through the SRT hotline. From doing my research, I noticed Dodge had much fewer status codes then I had seen with other manufacturerers. This meant there would be a lot of steps I wouldn't get to see, which I was fine with. I was also familiar with having a manufacturer hotline to call to get updates (as opposed to a dealer) from BMW. I would call every few days, and generally knew the status even before the sales person did (which meant when he called I would answer and ask if he was calling to inform me it was in this status or that status). Again, I wouldn't get the same sort of granularity - but I figured that out early and was okay with it.
Initially there was little to report on from the SRT hotline (beside the fact they really liked the spec - which was nice). All the people I talked to were polite. There was no ETA on when it would get produced, which I understood. Everything was fine here. I expected once it got within a production cycle or two out from where it would be produced, they would have some more info. I also knew it was a seldom ordered color, so it would either be faster to get in (as it might get a cut in line) or much slower depending on when the next cycle of that color came up (due to binpacking of colors).
So, I was pretty surprised when I got an email on 06/30/2020 from my sales person stating the car had been produced and was pending final inspection - particularly when I had called the 26th and told there was no update nor was there an ETA. I called the SRT hotline and they said it was in JB status.
Just seventeen days after placing the order, the car has rolled off the assembly line, and yet over a hundred days later it has yet to be delivered to the dealer. At this point in time, the car enters a quagmire or blackhole or something, and no one seems to know what is going on with it - which, I just have a really really hard time believing. Personally, I am sure one or more people know, they just don't feel that I need to know and don't feel the need to tell me. Perhaps that is because if they truly don't know, it is a level of incompetence my brain just isn't equipped to deal with. The problem is that what I can imagine is probably much worse than what has actually happened, and it just leaves me more and more upset with Dodge, the whole process, and ultimately more and more paranoid with what could be wrong with a car I haven't even seen yet as time goes on.
I digress. At this point, everything is fine. I am calling every few days. No ETA of when it will be done. This is all fine. About two weeks passes (so we are in mid July) , and talking to the person from the SRT hotline, it looks like it is finally being shipped out to an upfitter. It is going to an upfitter in Michigan. I am told this means that once it finishes with whatever work the upfitter is doing, it will be put on a truck and delivered to the dealership, avoiding the rails.
Great. Sounds wonderful. Everything is fine.
It spends a month at this upfitter (so now we are in mid August). This seems like a long time, but again - I understand what is going on and I am willing to be patient. One of the persons from the SRT hotline asks how long it has been in the JB status, I am not sure so they look it up. They note that after a certain amount of time they can create a case number and a brand advocate can reach out and see what is going on with the vehicle.
Then, something strange happens. I call and they tell me the car got shipped to another upfitter. It was almost at the time when they would have opened a case, but since it has been updated it sort of resets the clock so they opt not to open a case. This is sort of odd, but I am okay. No expectation as to what happened or why it just sat there for a month, and so I am left with speculation. Maybe they were just overworked and couldn't get to it, so they are shuffling orders around to try to get stuff through, etc. It is unfortunate it has just sat there, but again, I am understanding.
Everything is pretty ok. It seems to be making at least some progress.
The end of August comes around, and it is still in JB status. The SRT hotline finally decides to open a case. They are supposed to call us within a few days. We wait a few days after they are supposed to call, no one does so we call the hotline back. The case has been closed, and the updates just state that there is no additional information at this time. So, we are 80 days out from order, and 63 days out from when the vehicle rolled off the assembly line.
Now is when things start to spiral downwards. We call the SRT hotline about twice a week. Each of the operators open a case. All of them are closed with no information about the status of the car or why it is not making progress. Some of them we get a call back, and talk with someone who doesn't give us any info, most of them are just closed. Each time they check how long it is in the status and offer to open a case, we mention cases have been opened and they state all of them are closed so they open a new one.
At one point one of the operators escalates it to the brand advocates and copies their manager on the escalation. Still nothing. I am in communication with the dealership at this time, and they are trying to find out what is going on through their channels to no avail.
Let me just state that I am super happy with the personnel at the SRT hotline. They were, in all but one or two cases, an absolute pleasure to deal with. I get they were just doing their job and couldn't give me information either they didn't have or weren't authorized to give me. I don't expect them to lose their jobs over this. I don't believe they are part of the problem here.
The dealership as well has been great. Super happy with them. No complaints there. They seemed to be going to bat for me on this, and that is appreciated.
So, what am I expecting at this point? Just some information. Is the car waiting on a part that is on backorder? Is there some issue with fitment from the factory that needs to be corrected? Is there some gremlin in the wiring that is causing the car alarm to go off constantly and drain the battery? Was the car stolen from the upfitter and now has 300 miles on it? Was it abducted by aliens and is now in CIA custody while they lobotomize all the witnesses (I kid ... Or do I?).
Eighty days out from order, and it would be another twenty two days before we would be informed it was shipped from the outfitter for the first time. Yeah, the first time it was indicated as shipped, as it seems to be indicated as shipped several times. The window sticker comes up on 09/03/2020, 83 days after order, but it wouldn’t be shipped or scheduled to be shipped for another 20 days, with an ETA to the dealer on the 28th. And a day later, it would show as shipped again with a new shipping date and ETA of 10/07, and at 113 days after order it would show shipped again with an ETA of 10/12, and later it would show as shipped on 10/06 with an ETA of 10/15.
In each case I called the SRT hotline, and then the dealership to confirm that they were both seeing the same information.
I honestly have little expectation that the car will actually arrive before the 15th at this point in time. It is now 122 days out from order, and 105 days out from rolling off the assembly line and the car hasn't been delivered to the dealership.
My problem with this is there has been no explanation to me or to the dealership for that matter as to why it has taken so long. Building a car is a hugely complex process and coordination of precisely tracking inventory and scheduling. They can accomplish that but as soon as the car rolls off the assembly line they seem to wash their hands of it and shrug and just say "I don't know".
In comparison, when I ordered my BMW, they knew what day it was scheduled to start production, what day it would roll off the line, when it would be inspected, when it would be picked up and taken to the ship yard, when the ship would depart, what ship it would be on (which I was able to track through a third party site that tracks shipping cargo ships). A hurricane hit when it was scheduled to make port. As soon as stuff settled from that, they were able to get me an estimate on when it would be able to make port again (within a window), when it would get through customs (once it made port), when it would put on a truck (once it cleared customs), and finally they gave me a two hour window of when it would be delivered to the dealership. I literally pulled into the dealership as the truck was unloading the car. They didn't even know it had arrived yet. All of the dates they gave me days/weeks ahead of time, because they (like all manufacturers) don't plan stuff out a day or two ahead of time - but weeks ahead of time.
In no way do I think BMW has some magic or process that Dodge doesn't have. I use them as an example, but the same could be said about several other cars I have purchased. I believe they are fully capable of this in all but the most exceptional cases, and for their own reasons choose not to expose this level of detail to the customer. Which is fine - I suspect they have some idea what most of the customers want. Not asking for Dodge to be BMW. Don't expect that.
The level of information I have been provided is unfathomably sparse to me however. Some consideration has been given to the fact this is the first time I have ordered a car that has had to go to an upfitter center to finish the construction of the vehicle, but even then there has to be scheduling and communication and some sort of recourse Dodge has with these outside vendors that are the final responsibility to deliver the vehicle to the customer. On top of that, it was at a Penske upfitter - not some small mom and pop shop. I am pretty sure they employ the same sort of scheduling and manufacturing process, in close communication with Dodge about what their work loads are and what they can handle and when. I seriously doubt Dodge just drops a bunch of vehicles off that they don't know what is coming and what needs to be done (and when).
All of this is to say that it should be possible for Dodge to know what is going on with the vehicle throughout the entire process, and that in exceptional cases they should be able to inform those who wish to know what is going on with their order, and I don't believe this level of effort should be required to get that information. What the actual level of effort is, I can't actually say as I still haven't gotten that information.
So what am I left with? My speculation, doubt, and uncertainty about a purchase. A very large purchase. A purchase I am no longer sure I am going to make honestly. I don't say this as a threat, but just as an honest appraisal of how I am feeling. This isn't a car I need. I honestly doubt any one NEEDS a car with 700+ horsepower (no matter how much we convince ourselves otherwise).
I had tempered my expectations quite a bit as to what I thought this experience would be - and despite that Dodge has GREATLY undershot. I figured most of the cost would be in the powertrain and not in a super nice interior or a spectacular ownership experience.
What would make it better now? Honestly, just a discussion with someone as to what happened, with some reasonable account or explanation. I have looked for a way to give Dodge feedback on this, and what it seems to boil down to is the SRT hotline. I have had a few discussions with the operators stating my consternation is not centered around the delay, but the lack of information. This has been met with the appropriate response of that is what the brand advocates are for, and they will dig in and get me the answers - which has never happened.
If it had been an issue with some of the options I ordered just take longer in the upfitter because of the nature of them, and that would have been explained fine. I have ordered options that have caused the manufacturing process to take longer because it was hand laid carbon fiber or some custom stitching they don’t do ahead of time so it just makes the car take longer. Or, if they were just waiting on parts and had just said so. Or if the upfitter was at reduced capacity (though other cars seemed to be flowing through there without trouble). Whatever it was, I am pretty sure I would have been understanding.
It seems they have some processes in place to deal with this, but they are woefully underwhelming, and in this case has led to much less than ideal customer experience. I will leave with the fact that at no point has anyone been rude, or combative, or outright disrespectful to me, so that is good. Not all aspects have been bad, but the overall experience has left a bitter taste in my mouth.
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. I am questioning if you possibly qualify to be part of the Forum and a true Hellcat owner based off the quote I inserted. Hmm well yeah and uh what are you crazy this is the most awesome powerful affordable production car you can possibly own. I mean this car will push your balls back or should I say adjust to the incredible Torque and neck snapping experience you can have without breaking the bank. No need to question the power since for me I'll take even more power and we are talking RE 797 aka Demon motor power. I understand the total frustration and yeah that really sucks but and huge BUT most here are long term Hellcat owners from the 2015 Heyday. The original production of the Hellcat back in 2014 was so frustrating being they couldn't make them fast enough and you had to wait forever and I mean FOREVER. I waited for a year and half for my first one and Damn well worth the wait and some had to have them instantly and paid huge I mean huge ADM like 25k-50k ADM no lie. And some even took whatever color and options just to get one like right now. Which to a degree you could bail on the order and just find one to make you happy to have one like yesterday. As far as the delay well yeah sounds like its screwed up but guess if I was in your shoes I would look around options in the market and hell if saw something that grabbed my fancy than move on. And or just sit it out and get what you want and the ICE AGE is not forever which eventually they will stop making these cars which you will look back and think was I part of the Baddest Ass Production Hellcat? And or you talk about it to your grand kids on what you wish you would have done so many years ago.
