On the odd chance that a bunch of folks who, like me, are awaiting finally actually SITTING in the thing, I offer the following, current to this morning. I wasnt going to do it, but it might help relieve (or cause) some more angst amongst people in similar statuses...I'm leaving out some of the gory details in the interests of brevity. It'll be long enough anyway.
I ordered a 2014 Ram 1500 SLT Quad CAB with the BigHorn trim upgrade on 6/28. I started calling DODGE shortly thefreafter. (I make no apologies for the number of times i called...until it finally started to sink in that it was a waste of my time.)
It took over a week for me to actually GET the VON number. (My fault, their fault, i dont know and i dont care...I didnt know it existed..some folks reported walking out of the dealership with it..) It took several attempts (days) once I got it to actually get it to "work".
I discovered there are SEVERAL phone numbers that will get you to a CS REP, or, as i now call them, telephone answerers. Depending on who you actually get, they may not be "branded" RAM...they, generally speaking, know virtually NOTHING about the "thing" you ordered, nor what the screen is telling them. They are however, quite good at inventing things as they go along. A poster in here once remarked "they were blowing smoke up my A.."...i refused to believe it... i believe it NOW...
Incredibly, these TA's, CANNOT, repeat CANNOT access the VOTS system. Most of them cannot, or will not, access the build and/or ship systems that provide additional information.
Even now, its even money, if i was to call, and provide the last 8 of the VIN (as an aside I have the COMPLETE VIN courtesy of my build sheet which I acquired along the way) that someone will tell me they cant locate a vehicle with that number, nor the VON number, nor my phone number. It happened as recently as yesterday.
Further, about 10 days or so ago, my SLT Bighorn morphed into an OUTDOORSMAN, per the VOTS system...at that point i refused to accept the drivel these phone answerers were telling me (see all of the above)...the dealer was insistent it WILL be what i ordered and had no idea why it said what it said either. I demanded, and was assigned an actual case number, and the issue was "kicked upstairs" to a "specialist"..their words not mine...I actually received a phone call from the woman I spoke to who assigned that cae number...(she told me she was an old hand at this, and had been woth DODGE for a long time, and was curious herself why the VOTS system was showing the wrong vehicle......she called me back early this past SAT AM!...unfortunately, even she couldn't be called back or tracked...because she was the first person I spoke to, out of perhaps more than a dozen who seemed to have a grip on reality.
She told me...and im paraphrasing it, to ignore the VOTS system...it doesnt happen in real time, its only updated periodically, perhaps once a week or less, and doesnt accurately represent where your vehicle is in the process, or even WHAT your vehicle is. She assured me that i was indeed getting what I ordered, was to be shipped o/a 8/6, and was to arrive in the railyard a few hundred miles from here (Memphis) o/a 8/14...thanking her profusely, i decided to not call anymore to anyone or even post here until I was "further along"...i did call the dealer, who told me that DODGE had indeed called him (which I knew) and confirmed the order. and he proceeded to confirm the shipping dates, and said allowing for truck delivery etc i would be sittting in the thing a few days to a week afer 8/14.
Despite another thread elsewhere with all the build/status codes listed, and indicators of when i would receive emails, and actually being told BY DODGE telephone answerers that i would only receive emails when the build was commenced, and then shipped, I noticed several people in here were posting about emails at other stages. they didnt sound crazy to me....
I was in the notorious D1 stage for several weeks...magically, THIS AM, the VOTS system now tells me Im in TRIM...(of course it still says the wrong vehicle) AND I received an email saying the same. Skipped all the other steps, and whether i was supposed to be notified or not. Please dont ask the obvious...is it in TRIM "now"?? how could it be shipped 8/6 if its in trim? mebbe it WAS being built weeks ago..mebbe not....
Conclusions...the VOTS system is inaccurate, to say the least...doesnt happen in anything reasonably close to real time, and is clearly way behind (pick the number of days/weeks yourself) the actual physical location/stage of build of your(?) vehicle.
Something is being built for me, mebbe, possibly.....it will be delivered when its delivered...mebbe/possibly...
Why did i put myself thru this??? why not?..its alot of money...they put the system in place specifically to address these questions from people who ORDERED a vehicle...I owe no one any excuses or explanations for my phone calls, either here, or at DODGE.....as a matter of fact, I can make an excellent case that DODGE owes ME an explanation. Suffice it to say, I omitted (yeh I know "thank gawd") some of the stupider, dumber things that were told to me along the way...I began to recognize them early on in the conversations....
At some point..I "think" I'll get get...mebbe y'all will get yours too...but i would not base ANYTHING on ANY info the VOTS system shows, or what the "telephone answerers" say, or, what the "dealer" is saying eiher...AND THAT sportsfans, is the truth.....
I ordered a 2014 Ram 1500 SLT Quad CAB with the BigHorn trim upgrade on 6/28. I started calling DODGE shortly thefreafter. (I make no apologies for the number of times i called...until it finally started to sink in that it was a waste of my time.)
It took over a week for me to actually GET the VON number. (My fault, their fault, i dont know and i dont care...I didnt know it existed..some folks reported walking out of the dealership with it..) It took several attempts (days) once I got it to actually get it to "work".
I discovered there are SEVERAL phone numbers that will get you to a CS REP, or, as i now call them, telephone answerers. Depending on who you actually get, they may not be "branded" RAM...they, generally speaking, know virtually NOTHING about the "thing" you ordered, nor what the screen is telling them. They are however, quite good at inventing things as they go along. A poster in here once remarked "they were blowing smoke up my A.."...i refused to believe it... i believe it NOW...
Incredibly, these TA's, CANNOT, repeat CANNOT access the VOTS system. Most of them cannot, or will not, access the build and/or ship systems that provide additional information.
Even now, its even money, if i was to call, and provide the last 8 of the VIN (as an aside I have the COMPLETE VIN courtesy of my build sheet which I acquired along the way) that someone will tell me they cant locate a vehicle with that number, nor the VON number, nor my phone number. It happened as recently as yesterday.
Further, about 10 days or so ago, my SLT Bighorn morphed into an OUTDOORSMAN, per the VOTS system...at that point i refused to accept the drivel these phone answerers were telling me (see all of the above)...the dealer was insistent it WILL be what i ordered and had no idea why it said what it said either. I demanded, and was assigned an actual case number, and the issue was "kicked upstairs" to a "specialist"..their words not mine...I actually received a phone call from the woman I spoke to who assigned that cae number...(she told me she was an old hand at this, and had been woth DODGE for a long time, and was curious herself why the VOTS system was showing the wrong vehicle......she called me back early this past SAT AM!...unfortunately, even she couldn't be called back or tracked...because she was the first person I spoke to, out of perhaps more than a dozen who seemed to have a grip on reality.
She told me...and im paraphrasing it, to ignore the VOTS system...it doesnt happen in real time, its only updated periodically, perhaps once a week or less, and doesnt accurately represent where your vehicle is in the process, or even WHAT your vehicle is. She assured me that i was indeed getting what I ordered, was to be shipped o/a 8/6, and was to arrive in the railyard a few hundred miles from here (Memphis) o/a 8/14...thanking her profusely, i decided to not call anymore to anyone or even post here until I was "further along"...i did call the dealer, who told me that DODGE had indeed called him (which I knew) and confirmed the order. and he proceeded to confirm the shipping dates, and said allowing for truck delivery etc i would be sittting in the thing a few days to a week afer 8/14.
Despite another thread elsewhere with all the build/status codes listed, and indicators of when i would receive emails, and actually being told BY DODGE telephone answerers that i would only receive emails when the build was commenced, and then shipped, I noticed several people in here were posting about emails at other stages. they didnt sound crazy to me....
I was in the notorious D1 stage for several weeks...magically, THIS AM, the VOTS system now tells me Im in TRIM...(of course it still says the wrong vehicle) AND I received an email saying the same. Skipped all the other steps, and whether i was supposed to be notified or not. Please dont ask the obvious...is it in TRIM "now"?? how could it be shipped 8/6 if its in trim? mebbe it WAS being built weeks ago..mebbe not....
Conclusions...the VOTS system is inaccurate, to say the least...doesnt happen in anything reasonably close to real time, and is clearly way behind (pick the number of days/weeks yourself) the actual physical location/stage of build of your(?) vehicle.
Something is being built for me, mebbe, possibly.....it will be delivered when its delivered...mebbe/possibly...
Why did i put myself thru this??? why not?..its alot of money...they put the system in place specifically to address these questions from people who ORDERED a vehicle...I owe no one any excuses or explanations for my phone calls, either here, or at DODGE.....as a matter of fact, I can make an excellent case that DODGE owes ME an explanation. Suffice it to say, I omitted (yeh I know "thank gawd") some of the stupider, dumber things that were told to me along the way...I began to recognize them early on in the conversations....
At some point..I "think" I'll get get...mebbe y'all will get yours too...but i would not base ANYTHING on ANY info the VOTS system shows, or what the "telephone answerers" say, or, what the "dealer" is saying eiher...AND THAT sportsfans, is the truth.....