i ordered a 2010 ram 1500 with rambox at end of october. told 8-10 weeks. still havent gotten it yet, but have been getting up to dat shipping status. its in ny now and supposed to get it monday.....i hope.

 

I don't think the dealer really has any pull with the shipping company. They are not owned by Chrysler. That's why you see trucks on the road with all makes and models on them now. It sucks, but it does sound like your dealer is trying to work with you - at least on not worrying about the leased truck.

 

my wife worked for mercedes/daimler, we got a new car each year due to plans they offered you at certain levels in the organziation. I was really anticiapting the first one and we were told it was in. I went to the dealer and it was not there, gave them the VIN and they could only see it was en route.....basically you ship a letter through UPS you see it every inch of the way, ship a 60k car and you have no clue where it is until someone unloads it....does not make much sense but that is the truth and had my wife not been an employee of Daimler I would not have believed the story. For some reason, maybe cost they are lax on their shipping.

in your case though the dealership is screwing with you, they are not being 100% honest because they only know estimated dates, if they were up front and gave you a more vague delivery date you probably would have understood.

 

thats what i mean, dont tell me for sure - then nothing -- and definitely dont call me at 9am and say we are expecting it - then not call all day to say sorry. where do these people learn customer service -- bah! there is no use fighting it

 

It got half totaled and they are fixing it. Oh wait, no its shipping issues.

 

The VIN you could have gotten as soon as it was picked up for scheduling, I think I got mine a week after I ordered.
But I'm curious, why did you give them more money before you signed the paperwork with the keys in hand?
Seems some of the steps are a little out of sequence, I would have expected:
1. Dealer Order (stressful haggling on price, leave deposit $1,5000-$3,000 depending on the dealer)
2. Factory order (dealer places the order with Chrysler)
3. VIN assigned (Chrysler picks up the order and makes it ‘real’)
4. Production (sales rep keeps you abreast of the different stages of production)
5. Shipping (dealer can track every rail stop, every truck transfer and every destination. Chrysler customer service doesn’t seem to have this ability)
6. Truck arrives (lot manager unloads and inspects…pray for no damage, they HAVE to tell you if there is)
7. [optional] race over there and see the truck before anyone touches it, note the odometer reading.
8. Arrange delivery appointment
9. Call insurance (effective date is delivery appointment, they fax insurance binder to dealership)
10. Call Experian to unfreeze credit report.
11. Get bank check for remainder of cash portion (my dealer let me do up to $2K on my credit card, actually we went a bit over).
12. Delivery day!
a. Inspect truck with a magnifying glass
b. Get feature walk through from sales rep (I hate that part, but they like to do it)
c. Go back in to sign the papers (give them the balance of your money down, decline all extras, read and get copies of everything)
13. Drive home emotionally wasted and happy!
14. Keep your truck in the garage because you’re afraid to take it anywhere…

When mine was off-loaded from the train, it was all I could do to not drive 2 hours to the transfer yard and try to see my truck through the fence with binoculars. If yours is at a dealer I would take a joy ride and get the key and read the odometer. (That's a peeve of mine, I got my RAM with 3 miles on it (just ticked to 4 when they put fuel in it).

-John

 

this my 1st time ordering/buying a new truck - so im a noob at this. So when the dealer said it would be in on monday i got the money together to fast track the process. Not knowing it was a lie, also i signed some paper work in the beginning when i first placed the order. im gonna call them today and try to get the real story. I have a gut feeling something is sour here. Ill keep you posted

 

You can ask him/her to print (or let you see) the shipping tracking screen. Don’t give the dealer too much credit, often they lie, but probably more likely they are disorganized, distracted and not sure what’s going on themselves. Remember, they’re moving lots of vehicles, yours is just one. If I were a sales rep I’d probably prioritize getting new orders done over delivering yours. The time you’ve spoken to your rep has probably been equal to the time him/her have thought about your truck. I’d give them the benefit of doubt unless you catch them in deception, don’t make your experience more stressful than it needs to be. If your truck was delivered to the wrong dealership (I’ve heard that happens occasionally) I would either insist they truck it or go take delivery there; there’s no way I would allow them to drive my truck 2 hours back to me, I’d be getting a used truck.

I was lucky, I got a really nice sales person where I bought mine, I would get an email every day the truck status changed, and when it was being shipped I’d get a daily blow-by-blow of where exactly the truck was. I’ve never had this kind of attentiveness before and will probably spoil it for me next time.
That said, the same dealership dropped the ball on my financing, I unfroze my credit report for a week so they could run their credit check and they waited until the morning I picked up the truck to run the d@mn report; naturally I had to unfreeze the report again, more cost to me. I fault the finance person for this, but the rep could have been more diligent in tracking it. I filled out the credit application a week prior to head this off…like you trying to get ahead of the ball and streamline my delivery experience.

-John

 

Stop whining!

 

yeah i left 2 messages today asking if i can just drive to montreal myself and pick it up. To my surprise they didnt call back lol