New Lucid paid for, was promised delivery but no communication from Lucid

DrDirk

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We ordered and paid for our new Lucid as of Tuesday last week. Were promised a Sunday delivery and supposedly communication from the Houston Delivery team by Friday. Finally Saturday a lady called from her car and told us the car is in California, even though we were told initially it was in Phoenix and should have been in Houston by Friday the latest.

Since then we have tried to text and call to get clarification and speak to a delivery supervisor but as of 10AM Tuesday no response either by phone email or text.

Hope everyone else has a better experience! Looking forward to a more positive review when or if we ever get out new $165k car!
 
We ordered and paid for our new Lucid as of Tuesday last week. Were promised a Sunday delivery and supposedly communication from the Houston Delivery team by Friday. Finally Saturday a lady called from her car and told us the car is in California, even though we were told initially it was in Phoenix and should have been in Houston by Friday the latest.

Since then we have tried to text and call to get clarification and speak to a delivery supervisor but as of 10AM Tuesday no response either by phone email or text.

Hope everyone else has a better experience! Looking forward to a more positive review when or if we ever get out new $165k car!

Sounds like a major screwup. If the car really is in California, they sent it backwards as the plant is east of California and Houston is east of the plant.
 
Yes, it is all very strange and surprising. The Houston person blamed our "Advisor" for not looking into the system correctly. This morning I called at 1030 Texas time the California office number and a gentlemen answered. I asked to speak to the delivery supervisor and he said that that person would not come in until 0900 California time. I then requested that he or she call me on my cell phone. Gave him my name and phone number. He said "ok" and hung up. I very much doubt that he even took my number.

So as of today, zero reply to text, voicemail or the courtesy of a return phone call.

We were early adaptors and had a 2013 model Tesla S since new. The process was night and day. Tesla was organized, on time and always has treated us well. I am now spending twice as much on a new Lucid and so far my experience of the interaction is far worse than Tesla at the time.

Come to think of it, I have never bought a car from any dealer, paid in full, and then had a week without the sales rep or management team providing ANY communication!
 
I’m very disappointed to hear this, @DrDirk. I tried to DM you but your profile does not allow that. Could you send me a private message with your reservation number? That will allow me to dig in a bit. Thanks!
Well, not sure how to do this best but no secrets from my side. The attached shows it all. Just called again since I will be tied up this PM and was told that the "delivery manager" has been in a meeting all morning. Not the way I would run my department but what do I know.
 

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I’m very disappointed to hear this, @DrDirk. I tried to DM you but your profile does not allow that. Could you send me a private message with your reservation number? That will allow me to dig in a bit. Thanks!
New members are unable to use the conversation feature until posts/time have lapsed.

I have upgraded this user and you can message them if needed.
 
Final update for today. Call back at 1300 again to see if the delivery manager is finally available. The answer was no. I advised them that I will be tied up as of 1400 and requested a call before that. To her credit, she did call exactly at 1400 which is when I was in another meeting and asked her to call me back asap anytime after 1430. That did not happen and as we are getting to the end of the day I called again and finally spoke to her. Supposedly our car is being shipped to Texas through third party delivery and it " should " arrive by the end of this week and we "should " be able to have it by Sunday. I told her that " should " and " maybe " is not good enough given the lack of communication and prior delays.

In summary Lucid was not willing to provide a firm delivery date. I then asked if Lucid was willing to refund and cancel our order which she agreed to. So I am hoping that Lucid will promptly refund the $165k we paid in good faith on Oct 11 based on the verbal promises made by our delivery advisor at the time!

While the Lucid Air may be a nice car and the specifications are intriguing, given the high price point I expect more and better service with better communication so happy to cancel and buy from a company that is maybe more established.

No hard feelings, Lucid is to be commended on what it has accomplished and I hope that other customers will have a better experience with the order process and future support.
 
Very sorry to hear about your experience. I had something similar and actually meant to hop on here and warn everyone not to pay too early.

I got my VIN assigned on Friday, Sept 23rd and was told 2-5 weeks for delivery. A week later, I was surprised when told it could be delivered the following week.

I still needed to sell my existing car and I wanted to make sure I had payment ready to go. The DA told me I could go ahead and sell my car and she'd send over paperwork along with the payment link 'so my payment wouldn't delay my pickup.'

Well, I had been reading this board carefully for months and after reading the horror stories of Goose Island delays, I did not want to be sending Lucid $150k and then waiting another month for my car. I already thought it was wildly optimistic that she thought Goose Island could turn the car around in a day and it would arrive in Tysons a day after that.

I checked in 4 days later and sure enough, not only had Goose Island not turned it around, they didn't even have it! There was a 'delay in transit' getting there.

Good thing I hadn't sent in payment yet (or sold my car). If I had, I probably would have been as mad as you.

3 days later, the car did make it to Goose Island and she expected it into Tysons the following week. I was going to be up there on Wed and weirdly, at this point, she hedged and said that might be too early. She'd put it down for Wed but also scheduled me for home delivery on Friday if Wed didn't happen.

At this point, I sent in a test payment through Plaid to see how quickly they would get it. Same day it turned out.

The following Tuesday (3 days later), they said the car had passed the PDI and they were told it would get on a truck that day and arrive into Tysons on Wed and if all went well, I could pick it up that day or Thursday.

Originally, I was not going to pay until the the car was actually at Tysons but since the timing was working out for me to be there, I went ahead and paid the balance on Tuesday.

I share all this to say, I think it's a major flaw in Lucid communication that they're actively encouraging people to pay that early. Sure, if everything goes smoothly, you'll get a car in a week after that communication. In my case, it was likely only an extra week after that first week. But I'd argue even that first week is already much worse than a normal car dealership experience where you pay and walk out with your car. So two weeks to me is absurd. Never mind a month or more.

All that said, the major difference between my experience and yours, however, is that I had very good communication throughout. When my DA didn't answer her phone, whoever answered at Tysons was always helpful. They'd ask if they could help and then would look up my order and give me accurate status updates and helped keep the process moving.

I'd say the 1.5 week delay started my ownership experience with a slight negative. If I had paid and had that delay, I would have been very upset. If I had a delay, paid, and no one was telling me what was going on, I'd probably be exactly where you are now.

Since getting the car, I do love it. I'm very much looking forward to the software update. The current version has many glitches but they're not so bad it's affecting my enjoyment. Knowing it's a short window before improvements come certainly helps.

Again, sorry you had such a bad experience. I will add, we were a multi Tesla household. My initial interactions with Tesla for the first few years was overall positive. My recent interactions with them have been less than stellar. Happy to be moving on to the Lucid family.

Sorry for the very long post.
 
Definitely not the best experience. In Lucid’s defense, Texas bows down to the car dealer’s lobby and makes it illegal for car manufacturers to sell directly to consumers. As a result Lucid is, by law, required to ensure the car is paid in full before it even enters the State.

Sounds like Lucid could definitely have handled this a lot better, especially on the communication end, but sometimes issues come up during (or just before) transporting. In the end this is what Texas politicians want: as many barriers as possible to prevent direct sales to consumers.
 
That is terrible, please keep us posted. Interested to see if they pay your quickly or can win you back.....
 
Final update for today. Call back at 1300 again to see if the delivery manager is finally available. The answer was no. I advised them that I will be tied up as of 1400 and requested a call before that. To her credit, she did call exactly at 1400 which is when I was in another meeting and asked her to call me back asap anytime after 1430. That did not happen and as we are getting to the end of the day I called again and finally spoke to her. Supposedly our car is being shipped to Texas through third party delivery and it " should " arrive by the end of this week and we "should " be able to have it by Sunday. I told her that " should " and " maybe " is not good enough given the lack of communication and prior delays.

In summary Lucid was not willing to provide a firm delivery date. I then asked if Lucid was willing to refund and cancel our order which she agreed to. So I am hoping that Lucid will promptly refund the $165k we paid in good faith on Oct 11 based on the verbal promises made by our delivery advisor at the time!

While the Lucid Air may be a nice car and the specifications are intriguing, given the high price point I expect more and better service with better communication so happy to cancel and buy from a company that is maybe more established.

No hard feelings, Lucid is to be commended on what it has accomplished and I hope that other customers will have a better experience with the order process and future support.
Don't know what to say. This would definitely sour my feelings toward the car and the company as well. Its too bad that the communication wasn't great. I hope that that site is able to come through and get your car to you soon, if you decide to move forward with the purchase. I've never really equated how much something costs to how I expect to be treated though. I've realized, it just doesn't happen. I've gotten better service from the target than I have at some expensive designer boutiques. I can say that having owned the car, much of the pre delivery interactions have been forgotten and all the interactions with the service center that I go to and customer service has been stellar fwiw. The car is really a great car and its continuing to improve.
 
I also think it speaks volumes that higher ups at Lucid such as @Firstto520 tried reaching out to dig into it. Sure, the lack of communication from the DA would be frustrating, but you can see they care. Especially since this is simply a forum and not reaching out to them directly..good luck either way you decide to go! The car is amazing as has been my post-delivery experience.
 
Unfortunately, this isn’t just a Texas issue. I’ve been waiting here in Atlanta for nearly a month. Car supposedly is in Florida awaiting PDI. I keep getting told that it should go through by end of week, and schedule “probably Monday or early next week.”

This has happened 2 or 3 times now. I have to keep calling to get an update, but it’s always vague and absolutely no idea what’s going on. Car is paid for. Insurance is paid for. Literally paying for a car that I haven’t seen, and no idea when it’s arriving.

At the bare minimum, my DA should be sending me regular updates… overcommunicating when possible, even if the update is that there is no update. That’s better than me trying to hunt him down.

Disappointed.
 
Unfortunately, this isn’t just a Texas issue. I’ve been waiting here in Atlanta for nearly a month. Car supposedly is in Florida awaiting PDI. I keep getting told that it should go through by end of week, and schedule “probably Monday or early next week.”

This has happened 2 or 3 times now. I have to keep calling to get an update, but it’s always vague and absolutely no idea what’s going on. Car is paid for. Insurance is paid for. Literally paying for a car that I haven’t seen, and no idea when it’s arriving.

At the bare minimum, my DA should be sending me regular updates… overcommunicating when possible, even if the update is that there is no update. That’s better than me trying to hunt him down.

Disappointed.
This doesn’t give any excuses for the lack of communication, and I hope that clears up for you and you get your car asap! But doesn’t Georgia also have laws like Texas that prevent direct to consumer sales from the likes of Lucid, Rivian and Tesla? Again, they should absolutely let you know what’s going on.
 
This doesn’t give any excuses for the lack of communication, and I hope that clears up for you and you get your car asap! But doesn’t Georgia also have laws like Texas that prevent direct to consumer sales from the likes of Lucid, Rivian and Tesla? Again, they should absolutely let you know what’s going on.
I don’t believe so. When I bought my Tesla, it was from the Tesla center in Decatur (here in GA). We just don’t have a hub for lucid yet, so they go to Fl for PDI, then trucked up to Atl for delivery.

They were able to buy some time with me due to the hurricane… “We’re catching back up on deliveries from the hurricane…” but now that doesn’t seem like a valid excuse any longer. Seems like that should be cleared up by now. And who knows, maybe there are quality issues with my car that require repair, but I’d like to know that and a timetable so that I can adjust my expectations.
 
The most important thing is, I’m trying to coordinate a ppf installer as close to delivery as possible, and they all seem to be about two weeks out. I’ve had to cancel multiple appointments, so it’s not just about being over excited about taking delivery (which i am)! There are downline considerations that Lucid needs to be mindful of.
 
I don’t believe so. When I bought my Tesla, it was from the Tesla center in Decatur (here in GA). We just don’t have a hub for lucid yet, so they go to Fl for PDI, then trucked up to Atl for delivery.

They were able to buy some time with me due to the hurricane… “We’re catching back up on deliveries from the hurricane…” but now that doesn’t seem like a valid excuse any longer. Seems like that should be cleared up by now. And who knows, maybe there are quality issues with my car that require repair, but I’d like to know that and a timetable so that I can adjust my expectations.
Interesting, I know Rivian is building a plant there and was introducing a bill to get around the direct to consumer sale ban!
Either way, perfectly reasonable to want to know what’s going on with your expensive vehicle. I hope it’s not damaged and that they truly are still catching up (still doesn’t stop the sting of paying for a car you don’t have yet and are paying insurance on).
I’m sure you have already, but reach out again to your DA and ask again. If that doesn’t work, you may try reaching out to Zak Edson (VP of sales) or even @Firstto520 who is extremely helpful and a higher up at Lucid to look into the matter further.
 
If they are following the threads, what would really help is to improve the UX for the My Account portion of the Lucid website.

Ordering a custom built Mini over ten years ago, they had a very detailed timeline showing you were your car was in the process, an updated delivery “range” based on current status, etc. It was all very impressive back then, I could literally track my car as it hit the water, and when it was offloaded in port.

I know the data in the Dominos delivery tracker was deemed to be fake, but it’s an incredible experiment in helping to set proper expectations and provide just enough info to keep customers happy.

The My Account page on Lucid is outdated, doesn’t show any of my updates, vin, etc. Not sure if that’s just me, or if mine just never got updated…
 
This post sums it up politely for me:
"Ordering a custom built Mini over ten years ago, they had a very detailed timeline showing you where your car was in the process, an updated delivery “range” based on current status, etc. It was all very impressive back then, I could literally track my car as it hit the water, and when it was offloaded in port."

My real complaint and frustration is the complete obtuseness and obfuscation by Lucid in reservation priority, production schedules and estimated deliveries. Whether I receive my Pure in January or June is not the issue, I can wait. It's the uncertainty that's disturbing. For some of us who are not wealthy, there are numerous hurdles to jump and plans to make to afford this car. For example, we will sell my partner's nearly new Honda Insight for some of the funds. We currently have someone interested in that car at a very good price. While the buyer might wait until January, she might not wait until June. My financial advisor must free up liquid assets, which takes some planning. I have to buy and install a charger in my garage. I'd rather not spend that $1,000 now if the car is not arriving until June (or later).
Only Lucid knows where I stand in the reservations list. I reserved in September, 2021 and converted to a non-refundable deposit this past August before Congress changed the EV tax credit (which I am not counting on receiving, on the advice of my tax attorney). The least Lucid could do is tell each of us where we stand on the wait list. Will I be in the first tranche of Pure production or the tenth?

Frankly, Lucid is being anything but Lucid.
 
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