Of course, not everyone with an interest in buying a 2024 Corvette ERay was able to wait in person to give MacMulkin Chevrolet their deposit. Do I feel blessed to live relatively close by the largest Corvette dealership in the world and be able to easily go there in person? Yes, I do!
But some people did come in from out of state. In fact, the two people ahead of me in line were there because they had flown in or driven there the previous day. I talked with people from Indiana, Maine, New York, California, Chicago, Maryland, Massachusetts, etc., but I never became aware of anybody else from the "Live Free or Die" state, New Hampshire!
As previously mentioned, MacMulkin had changed the deposit procedure because they were concerned that the original plan would have had people waiting outside their dealership in some very cold weather conditions. I'd say we had it pretty good the day/night we waited. A couple of days later, the temperature on Mount Washington in NH dropped to minus 46 degrees F, with 97 mph winds. That equates to a wind chill of minus 108 degrees! Even in the southern part of the state where MacMulkin is located, it was minus 40-50 degrees with windchill.
Apparently, harsh winter weather was happening in other parts of the country too because it was causing significant delays for many of the deposit checks people had overnighted using USPS, FedEx, UPS, etc. People were still waiting 8 days later to find out their place on the ERay Deposit List, and of course there was A LOT of discussion about it online. It got pretty ridiculous with people disagreeing with others' opinions about how MacMulkin should handle the late mail, wild stories about what they thought was going on behind the scenes with the sales staff, etc.
MacMulkin responded by posting this (click to enlarge):
Notice the date and time of day at the top of that forum post. In my experience, the sales staff are a hard-working and well-organized crew!
I was not closely following news about the mail-in deposits because I already had my number on MacMulkin's ERay list, and even though I cared that everyone was taken care of fairly, the thread on that forum got so bad that it was painful to read. I know from a short email exchange with one of the owners that fairness was extremely important to him, and ultimately, from what I could tell, people were happy with the way MacMulkin handled the entire process. This post was a typical response to MacMulkin's update about what was taking so long:
"I work with the public, I feel your pain. Taking into account the failure of the shipping companies is something you do not have to do. For that, I offer a thank you."
And the "E-Ray Order Verification List" that included the mail-ins was posted on their website later that same day!
By the way, I do not work for MacMulkin, they have not paid for any of the praise I've written (don't even think they know about it), and I do not get any special treatment from them. I'm just enthusiastic about Corvettes, and I've been happy with my Corvette purchases from MacMulkin so far.
They have an online database where you can look up and follow your Corvette build through the entire order and purchase process, and that's something I really appreciate. I don't think any other Corvette dealership has anything close to that level of transparency. Before my order was accepted by Chevrolet/Production Control, this is the result I was getting when I typed my email address into their website:
The next post in this series will follow the progress of my order all the way through until my 2024 Corvette ERay is delivered to me! That should be very interesting.
And then — once I get my ERay — the fun REALLY begins!
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