MG ZS EV Shipping Updates

[steve401]

Which dealer is this if you don’t mind me asking?

FG Barnes of Maidstone in Kent

 

[Nutnut]

I can totally feel your frustration, I would be absolutely bouncing to be honest !.
I would be paying the dealer a visit and airing my frustrations to the sales manager, or above.
Ask the question how is possible to offer this car for sale, with the current huge backlog of customer orders, still waiting for their cars ?.
Was it a cancelled order, was it intended as a Demo model, was it a ghost order with no customers name allocated to it ?.
If the answers are vague then I have to say that this smacks of total profiteering and I would tell him / her so directly.
They are showing a complete and utter disregard to their loyal customers, who have placed deposits months and months ago in good faith, on cars that they had never even seen, let alone driven !.
And this is how they repay their loyalty.
If this practice is allowed to continue, then no customers are ever going to get their cars.
Any of the few cars arriving, are going to be offered to the highest bidder.
Not all dealers are doing this, it should be said.
I think they call this type of tactics "Supply and demand".
It is very quick to pick out the good guy's from the bad guy's in this game folks.

I called them up and it definitely wasn't the demo being advertised - that had already been sold.

Can only go by what I was told, which is:
They had unexpectedly received delivery of some cars, amongst which were a number that had the dealership/owners name against them. Instead of letting MG know these weren't customer orders, they've gotten around it hence why whomever buys will apparently be the 2nd owner although the car is near new. That it was better for them not to bother contacting MG to ask about applying these vehicles to the waitlist when they were delivered, since they'd risk the £1.5k fine for not cancelling those orders in the first place, and they can sell them at the higher price. I asked why they're on AutoTrader at well over the RRP on MG's website, and was told "it's supply and demand" and technically those waiting aren't affected because it doesn't change their original order number/placement on the build queue.

Who do you complain to if it's the dealership owner OK'ing the price gouging, rather than taking care of waiting customers?? I was asked if I wanted to cancel, but where does that leave me? MG simply don't care.

 

[Ozzie1989]

I called them up and it definitely wasn't the demo being advertised - that had already been sold.

Can only go by what I was told, which is:
They had unexpectedly received delivery of some cars, amongst which were a number that had the dealership/owners name against them. Instead of letting MG know these weren't customer orders, they've gotten around it hence why whomever buys will apparently be the 2nd owner although the car is near new. That it was better for them not to bother contacting MG to ask about applying these vehicles to the waitlist when they were delivered, since they'd risk the £1.5k fine for not cancelling those orders in the first place, and they can sell them at the higher price. I asked why they're on AutoTrader at well over the RRP on MG's website, and was told "it's supply and demand" and technically those waiting aren't affected because it doesn't change their original order number/placement on the build queue.

Who do you complain to if it's the dealership owner OK'ing the price gouging, rather than taking care of waiting customers?? I was asked if I wanted to cancel, but where does that leave me? MG simply don't care.

Shame you didn't have that in writing, you could have sent it to MG - you're right they probably don't care but it wouldn't have taken much effort to see what they really think

 

[mokey]

Surely to god if November 2021 was the earliest date you could order a MG ZS EV Trophy Connect Long Range via a dealer they should be rolling out the orders to these people first when they have all the elements to complete the model.
Followed by December orders and so on month by month.
I understand other models maybe ready earlier which is fair enough , but again rolled out on the same principle.

 

[Nutnut]

Shame you didn't have that in writing, you could have sent it to MG - you're right they probably don't care but it wouldn't have taken much effort to see what they really think

I can pretty much guarantee I wouldn't have gotten that in writing. Based on my experience so far, they do everything they can by phone.

Even if I drafted something and somehow got the dealer to acknowledge it, who at MG do I then fwd it to...? I feel like this practice shouldn't be allowed to go unchallenged, but have no faith that MG give a darn about customer service.

 

[Ukchris]

I wonder if they could be reported to trading standards

 

[Nutnut]

I wonder if they could be reported to trading standards

I'm not really sure how that goes. Normally dealers ghost order cars for the forecourt this way and put them up for sale at whatever price they deem reasonable, so I don't think they're really breaking any rules so to speak, given that they've not affected the waiting customer orders??

 

[Hobbyist]

I'm not really sure how that goes. Normally dealers ghost order cars for the forecourt this way and put them up for sale at whatever price they deem reasonable, so I don't think they're really breaking any rules so to speak, given that they've not affected the waiting customer orders??

If MG cared someone there could have called the dealer playing the role of an eager customer. But since they don’t, expect exploitative behaviours to be the norm.

Teslas and polestar’s dealerfree models just make more and more sense.

 

[farrells]

Cheers for that. We ordered in Feb and were told Oct from the get go.

Don't hold your breath!
Ordered in early Jan and currently being told November (with a giant maybe!).
I don't think its going to be delivered this year at all!
Dealer in Dublin is now telling potential new customers to come back in 2023 when they might actually be able to place an order again.

Truth is, nobody has any idea on when cars are going to arrive, its just a case of waiting.

 

[Emma829]

I called them up and it definitely wasn't the demo being advertised - that had already been sold.

Can only go by what I was told, which is:
They had unexpectedly received delivery of some cars, amongst which were a number that had the dealership/owners name against them. Instead of letting MG know these weren't customer orders, they've gotten around it hence why whomever buys will apparently be the 2nd owner although the car is near new. That it was better for them not to bother contacting MG to ask about applying these vehicles to the waitlist when they were delivered, since they'd risk the £1.5k fine for not cancelling those orders in the first place, and they can sell them at the higher price. I asked why they're on AutoTrader at well over the RRP on MG's website, and was told "it's supply and demand" and technically those waiting aren't affected because it doesn't change their original order number/placement on the build queue.

Who do you complain to if it's the dealership owner OK'ing the price gouging, rather than taking care of waiting customers?? I was asked if I wanted to cancel, but where does that leave me? MG simply don't care.

There rationale isn’t slightly off as those waiting are affected. You have technically dropped down the list 1, because rather than that car being offered to the person waiting for it the longest, someone has come in and will jump straight to the front of the queue as they get a car first. The whole point of closing the order book is to stop people who haven’t ordered one yet being able to get one until the existing orders have been fulfilled. MG saying you can’t transfer to another customer is to ensure that MG are satisfied the cars are going to those who have been waiting the longest, so surely selling it in the manner they are does risk the penalty. It appears other dealers have had the consent to switch cancelled orders to other customers, so I’m sure they could at least email and ask. If it’s a yes then they don’t get the penalty. At the minute with the cost of transport etc. I can’t see MG are going to want to lower their profit margins on the car by transferring it to another dealer if there is someone who has been waiting long enough on the dealers books and can take the car. I’d presume that the likelihood of them taking the car off the dealer is slim.

It sounds more like a case of a dealer who needs the cash and wants to sell it for an inflated price. Understandable with so few cars to sell, but to say it doesn’t affect those waiting is madness.

 

[AreFriendsElectric]

Apparently when the order book opens up again there will be a £500 price increase and the sun roof removed from all ZS models.

 

[Bodgerx]

I assume that the car was ordered many months ago for stock by the dealer and the price was as per the old list price. If they sell for the new list price then this will give them more than the £1500 fine profit. I wonder if you approached them and offered additional money for the stock car if they would be willing to do you a deal?

I'm leasing and have a current lease order.

 

[Bodgerx]

I received a email from Luscombes an hour or so ago, saying that if I was still interested in a lr they have a 'batch of them' coming in shortly and that I can pick it up in 6 weeks if I up a order in now!!!!! How come they can get hold of them when my dealer in Carlisle can't?

Interesting. Mine is through the same dealer and my order status reverted a few days ago from 'Delivery to Dealer' to 'On Order'.

It's madness...

 

[Nutnut]

Apparently when the order book opens up again there will be a £500 price increase and the sun roof removed from all ZS models.

Another £500?? That'll make it £1k more than it was at launch, as well as removing a feature.

 

[Miglegic]

Another £500?? That'll make it £1k more than it was at launch, as well as removing a feature.

A very nice feature as well. Better buy a Nero then.

 

[Nutnut]

There rationale isn’t slightly off as those waiting are affected. You have technically dropped down the list 1, because rather than that car being offered to the person waiting for it the longest, someone has come in and will jump straight to the front of the queue as they get a car first. The whole point of closing the order book is to stop people who haven’t ordered one yet being able to get one until the existing orders have been fulfilled. MG saying you can’t transfer to another customer is to ensure that MG are satisfied the cars are going to those who have been waiting the longest, so surely selling it in the manner they are does risk the penalty. It appears other dealers have had the consent to switch cancelled orders to other customers, so I’m sure they could at least email and ask. If it’s a yes then they don’t get the penalty. At the minute with the cost of transport etc. I can’t see MG are going to want to lower their profit margins on the car by transferring it to another dealer if there is someone who has been waiting long enough on the dealers books and can take the car. I’d presume that the likelihood of them taking the car off the dealer is slim.

It sounds more like a case of a dealer who needs the cash and wants to sell it for an inflated price. Understandable with so few cars to sell, but to say it doesn’t affect those waiting is madness.

You make some great points. Logically, I also can't see why MG would use more time and money to transport those cars to another dealership if they're so concerned about their current margins.

Something about the way MG are applying the £1.5k fine just isn't working though. It essentially encourages the dealer not to be honest if they do receive cars that are unallocated to customers. Clearly they also don't audit the dealerships they choose to be part of their network.

 

[Bodgerx]

You make some great points. Logically, I also can't see why MG would use more time and money to transport those cars to another dealership if they're so concerned about their current margins.

Something about the way MG are applying the £1.5k fine just isn't working though. It essentially encourages the dealer not to be honest if they do receive cars that are unallocated to customers. Clearly they also don't audit the dealerships they choose to be part of their network.

The same dealer suppling their waiting customers would be a start...

 

[ijk]

This thread is interesting and depressing all at the same time

I've contacted my lease company regarding my Feb order and have now been told-

"The dealership have come back to me and advised:

Unfortunately it looks like all previous eta's on MG have now been taken off the system and replaced with 'TBA' so at the moment we don't have an eta for this one nor an indication"

Anyone else come across this yet? This is a worrying development, I know that the previous ETA'S weren't worth a 'wotsit' but at least it gave some hope.

This is causing real concern over my current lease and the further costs of needing to hang onto it. I'm definately reconsidering wether waiting for my ZS is worth doing and starting to think about other options

 

[DanBoro]

I ordered ZS EV SE at the start of January and I got in contact with MG UK the other day to ask if my car had been built or if it had been shipped etc, I got a reply back saying that it’s expected at the dealer middle of August & I’ve had an update from dealer after this to say that my order has been brought forward, My last update I was expecting delivery end of October but now it’s end of August which is a plus

 

[MAJ]

Has anyone that has taken delivery of a LR Model got a build date in 2022 ???
I very much Doubt it.
I ordered Black Trophy LR Nov 2021 but have now cancelled and taken delivery of
Black Trophy SR build date was Jan 2022.