The 'Smooth Over' Call

Dean Francis - Dealer Principal at the Midlands branch (where I placed the order) called this morning to discuss the issues I've been dealt with in more detail.  I explained to Dean that my intentions of buying, building and creating a blog about my experiences was (as you'd expect) supposed to be about the joys of the experience and ownership.  To be fair to Dean, he listened, apologised, and was understanding in the fact that CC have messed up.

Apparently the CC group has been split slightly with a new CTi (Caterham Technology and Innovation ) division added to help improve supply chain, parts ordering, communication and so on.  The previous supply chain manager wasn't doing their job properly and has subsequently left the operation, and the CTi group are trying to implement new procedures to stop things like what have happened to me from happening in the future.

Basically the fuel pump is still out of stock, and has been out of stock since January.  The part is a standard ford part which is then modified by another intermediary company to suit the demands of the R500.  However, CC cannot source the fuel pump for love nor money in the UK.  They've managed to find a dealership (or stockist) in the Netherlands, and have imported as many as they could get their hands on (how many this is, I do not know) the pumps are in the UK and have been sent to the modifying company, and are due with CC end of next week(ish), but still not definitely which is of concern.


The Caterham R500 fuel pump - quite possibly the bane of my life.

The car is being collected from Dartford and taken to the Midlands branch so they (the Midlands and Dean) have full control and can get on top of the problems.  Dean was understanding, has gone through all of the points I've raised, and in short said they will sort out every issue I've highlighted - perfect... It's just a shame I had to blow my top to get answers and solutions.
Now I'm feeling much happier about the state of affairs between myself and CC, but.... I don't want to be overjoyed yet, as actions speak louder than words... 

In the meantime it's back to EVO reviews, youtube videos and cuddling my small amount of carbon bits - and perhaps an order for carbon headlight bowls :-)

I'll keep you posted...