It was only a 2,000 mile service!!

[Roger]

The Emira went into the dealer for the routine 12 months service with only 2,000 miles on the clock. Their service guy said it would be a few days as there was a few "updates" to do. Well that was 7 weeks ago and it's still there! I mentioned that the hill start assist was intermittent and the passenger seat belt kept sticking and believed this would only add a few hours. How wrong I was.
Lotus said that the car needed a new battery and traction control ecu. The unit arrived (after 2 weeks) and after fitting the issue was still there and still is! They won't change the seat belt because it works fine in the workshop. (Why would I lie? Am I a phantom seat belt collector?).
While the service was being conducted they noticed that the PAS pump was leaking ...another part on back order!
To cap it all, trying to get through to customer support was a joke. Eventually I emailed Matt Windle (CEO) and told him how shocking the customer support was. Things started to move a little and after 7 weeks they offered a curtesy car.
Well the work goes on and they now have the seats and carpets out looking for water ingress in the harness?? Don't ask.
I love this car and if it wasn't so good I'd have really lost it by now. May be one day I'll get to drive it again, who knows?
Roger UK

 

[OppositeLock]

Oh, that's terrible. In the US, that would be grounds for forcing a "lemon law" buyback of your car. You'd get almost all your money back with only 2,000 miles on it.

 

[RoryBellows]

I don't know if I should be impressed that the dealer is being thorough or just shocked that it takes so long to get parts from across the country. Whats the courtesy car? If its another Emira have fun and put some miles on it.

 

[Orchardbike]

The Emira went into the dealer for the routine 12 months service with only 2,000 miles on the clock. Their service guy said it would be a few days as there was a few "updates" to do. Well that was 7 weeks ago and it's still there! I mentioned that the hill start assist was intermittent and the passenger seat belt kept sticking and believed this would only add a few hours. How wrong I was.
Lotus said that the car needed a new battery and traction control ecu. The unit arrived (after 2 weeks) and after fitting the issue was still there and still is! They won't change the seat belt because it works fine in the workshop. (Why would I lie? Am I a phantom seat belt collector?).
While the service was being conducted they noticed that the PAS pump was leaking ...another part on back order!
To cap it all, trying to get through to customer support was a joke. Eventually I emailed Matt Windle (CEO) and told him how shocking the customer support was. Things started to move a little and after 7 weeks they offered a curtesy car.
Well the work goes on and they now have the seats and carpets out looking for water ingress in the harness?? Don't ask.
I love this car and if it wasn't so good I'd have really lost it by now. May be one day I'll get to drive it again, who knows?
Roger UK

Hi Roger, sounds like you have some of the issues I had. What dealer have you given the car to? My car went in after 6 days and stayed there for 4 months! Can you send me Matt Windle’s email address as he doesn’t respond to any of the letters I’ve sent to him. Having had mine back for a couple of weeks, it needs to go back in and the garage have caused 3 new faults and not corrected one of the issues. Hence the need to contact Matt Windle.

 

[Roger]

Hi Roger, sounds like you have some of the issues I had. What dealer have you given the car to? My car went in after 6 days and stayed there for 4 months! Can you send me Matt Windle’s email address as he doesn’t respond to any of the letters I’ve sent to him. Having had mine back for a couple of weeks, it needs to go back in and the garage have caused 3 new faults and not corrected one of the issues. Hence the need to contact Matt Windle.

Goodness that's mad! Matt email is MWindle@lotuscars.com
I've now got my car back and all seems OK . Lotus did give me a courtesy car in thd end .....a BMW x3 (no comment!). Worth pushing Lotus for a courtesy car as it does appear to speed up the process as I don't think they like spending the money! Good luck

 

[SimonT]

Courtesy car? What's one of those? Complained to Lotus last week about the delay from their engineers getting back to the dealers over non working armrest usb's and raised the lack of courtesy car for the time mine had been out of action, approx 6 months in 13 months. 'Will look in to it'.

They've had it 3 weeks now with no end in sight, it then has to go in for the replacement tailgate that has arrived.

 

[Roger]

Courtesy car? What's one of those? Complained to Lotus last week about the delay from their engineers getting back to the dealers over non working armrest usb's and raised the lack of courtesy car for the time mine had been out of action, approx 6 months in 13 months. 'Will look in to it'.

They've had it 3 weeks now with no end in sight, it then has to go in for the replacement tailgate that has arrived.

I wrote to the dealer stating that I had effectively lost road tax and insurance while the car was with them. I wanted £178. The Service people got £200 out of Lotus as a result. I know it's not a lot but it all helps. I also requested a courtesy car direct from Lotus Customer Service rather than through service. It came within a day. (BMW X3 ...rubbish)

 

[Roger]

I don't know if I should be impressed that the dealer is being thorough or just shocked that it takes so long to get parts from across the country. Whats the courtesy car? If its another Emira have fun and put some miles on it.

I hate to say it but I'm not sure it needed new parts. It appears that the Hill Start Assist only works on "steep" hills. Might help it Lotus had made a point of that in the handbook and told their technicians.

 

[geoffbland]

It appears that the Hill Start Assist only works on "steep" hills.

I can confirm this is correct. I did a lot of testing on this thinking mine wasn't working too. The slope needs to be pretty substantial for the hill hold to engage - needs to be a "hill" rather than just a "slope". So you absolutely will start rolling back unless you catch it on the clutch/throttle most times.

 

[SimonT]

I wrote to the dealer stating that I had effectively lost road tax and insurance while the car was with them. I wanted £178. The Service people got £200 out of Lotus as a result. I know it's not a lot but it all helps. I also requested a courtesy car direct from Lotus Customer Service rather than through service. It came within a day. (BMW X3 ...rubbish)

£85 pm insurance and £55 pm road tax and at least 6 months off the road, all this passed on to Lotus CS. JCT600 wanted £20 per day for a courtesy car, approximately £3k it would have cost me if I'd taken them up on it.