Delivery experience

I bought a new car. Yes, I did. My very first brand new car. Earned the money myself. After much thinking, I took the plunge. I chose an electric car. A beautiful Volvo XC40. I ordered it at the end of October, and they promised me it would be delivered by the end of December. There was a lot of waiting, and as I was looking forward to the 27th of December, I heard the delivery would be postponed. No worries, but the communication was poor. Functional and very reactive. I had to call three times myself and found out the delivery date would be January 5th.

I was looking forward to the first meetup with my new car. Unfortunately, there was nothing fun in terms of delivery due to corona, I was told by phone. So, on the 5th of January, I took the train and waited behind the station in the parking lot for the sales rep to show up with my Volvo. In the pouring rain. Then I saw my car coming. So many thoughts went through my mind: what a cool car, what a machine, what a good decision I made.

The salesman got out, I walked up to him, and he handed me the key. My heart danced; this was my car from now on. He asked me if I wanted to sign the delivery form. Was it okay if I did that in the car, given the pouring rain? Sure, only he couldn't sit next to it. Corona, you know?! Of course. I signed, gave him the form and he wanted to walk away.

Hey, hey, wait! Would you like to explain me a few things about the car? Because I was suddenly in some kind of cockpit with a big screen and had no clue. Yes, that was possible, but he had to stay outside of the car. Corona, you know?!

He pointed at the large touch screen. Showed me some functions in high speed and five minutes later he got into his colleague's car and drove out of the parking lot.

There I sat, for the first time in an electric car. Totally overwhelmed by all bells and whistles. The first half hour, I researched functionalities via the board computer. Suddenly I realized: this is not how I had expected the delivery. Of course, I didn't expect an exciting unveiling with a large sheet (because of corona and rain). But just a hand over of the key and then a runaway by the guy?! Perhaps there was a present in the trunk; I must have overlooked something.

But how to open the trunk? I found out, pushed the button and in a smooth way, the trunk opened. I quickly ran to the back of the car, through the rain, to find… a charging cord and danger triangle.

Everything in the delivery was functional. No fun to be found.

Of course: due to corona, little was allowed. But there was nothing festive about the delivery at all. So, I put the car in Drive and took off from this sad wet parking lot.

From this blog, I have distilled a number of CX lessons. Curious? Read them here!