Contact from Brammo

[FreepZ]

Brammo hasn't been all that communicative in the past, so when they do say something, it's worthy of note. The latest news I have from them is an email that said:

Hello,
 
The wait is getting shorter and shorter for your Brammo Empulse!  We are in the process of working with dealers to get you your motorcycle, but need a little more information from you.  
 
Please reply to this email with your phone number so we may contact you regarding your Empulse.
 
Thank you,

Sarah Red-Laird
Marketing Assistant

Since I'm still 595th in line, the fact that I'm getting this email could mean several things:

• They are contacting all their pre-orders now, regardless of how soon their bike will be ready.
• Most of the 594 people before me didn't choose to get an Empulse R.
• The Rs are being churned out at breakneck speed, and the wait will soon be over for us all!
• They have realized that keeping silent isn't helping retain customers, and so they are making an effort to reach out.

Whatever the reason, it's nice to have some kind of contact. A firm date (that they can live up to) would be even better, but I suspect that the future is still somewhat unclear at this time.

I've sent in my phone number. Let's see how long before I get a phone call...

[protomech]

All the email really says is they need your phone number to contact you.

[FreepZ]

True, but I presume that they intend to contact me soon!

Yeah, so I may be getting excited about nothing, but at least it makes waiting a little less painful. It's like those lines at the Disney parks: As long as you're moving, the wait isn't so bad. It's when you're a dead stop that things become frustrating.

[Brammofan]

All the email really says is they need your phone number to contact you.

Buzzkill.

Wild supposition is what we do here.

[Richard230]

My guess is that you will be receiving a call from your nearest Brammo dealer.

[protomech]

Wild supposition is what I do best : )

FreepZ - are you looking at the R or non-R? (you've probably said earlier, pardon)

[protomech]

Yeah, so I may be getting excited about nothing, but at least it makes waiting a little less painful. It's like those lines at the Disney parks: As long as you're moving, the wait isn't so bad. It's when you're a dead stop that things become frustrating.

Brammo really has 3 options:
1. Declare a future date, deliver bikes on that date.
2. Declare a future date, don't deliver bikes on that date.
3. Don't declare a future date, deliver bikes when they're ready.

They've done #2 in vague terms (sometime 2011, then sometime 2012) and then more specifically at the May Empulse launch party. It hasn't really been working out.

If they can do #1, awesome. Otherwise I'd rather they go to #3.

I'd also like to see them deliver on their monthly newsletter. Repackaging PR and racing news is all well and good, but the people on the preorder list are specifically interested in when the bikes are being delivered.

If they can't give us specific information at this time, at least give us what they can now and give us a hard date when they will update us again.

It'd also be nice if Brammo acknowledged, even if in a small way, that its would-be customers have been waiting for more than two years now and that the prices have changed rather substantially. It feels like they invited us all to a party, and then simply forgot to show up. A simple "we're sorry, here's what went wrong, here's how we're improving in the future" would go a long way.

[860]

When I got my email a month ago saying "you will need to take action before October 1st 2012" I thought things were heating up.  But after confirming and being told a dealer would contact me for a demo, here it is October 1st, and I've heard nothing.  Even worse, it doesn't even look like the demo rides are even coming to Colorado, or that there are even any dealerships at all in Colorado to contact me.

So I blew all my Empulse cash on a great end-of-season deal on a Trek Fuel EX 9.9.  In the immortal words of Kramer:



Maybe I'll have saved up more $$ by the time Brammo is ready to sell standard non-R Empulses in Colorado.  But for now, if Brammo calls me and asks about putting down a deposit, my answer will be for them to wait patiently by their phone, and I promise I'll call them right back.....

[implovator]

I'm #527 and I haven't received an email yet. Maybe they already have my number? Maybe there's no hope of adding a dealer in North Carolina so I'm being passed up? Probably not, but this is an example of the crazy things one mind thinks of when he's in solitary confinement for 2.5 years!

[ttxgpfan]

They have advertised twice in the past week for assembly technicians on twitter. Sounds like things are gearing up.  But I have applied for the 3rd time with no word as of yet.  So I guess it's time to apply the rule I made while dating.  If you call 3 times and they don't call back, don't call them any more.

[7racer]

I got the email to verify my contact number and still haven't received a call. I think I am #66.
Wonder if they are basing it on dealers and the ability to distribute?

So annoying

[FreepZ]

FreepZ - are you looking at the R or non-R? (you've probably said earlier, pardon)

I'm getting the R. I don't really need or want to pay for  all the extra fancy gear, but I want to wait even less!

I think that Brammo is trying to connect the dealers with their future customers, since the reply that I got from them mentioned getting on the dealers list. When I said that I was a fair distance from Euro Cycles (the only official Florida dealer), I was told that other dealers were in the works, but that Euro Cycle was a sure thing.

We'll see...

[flar]

I just got my phone call from Scuderia West looking for a deposit.  The amount of the deposit seems to be up to the dealer.  For those who were sure they were going to get it "unless something major turned up in the test ride" and were planning to finance it they might ask for the financing down payment to hold it (refundable, of course), but otherwise it depends on what you work out.

The only news/confirmation info I got was that there would likely be a demo truck coming around later in October with deliveries starting next month.  Fairly vague and no word on whether a test ride would depend on a deposit or how your order number is honored in the presence or absence of a deposit at the time they call (i.e. if you wait until the test ride to pay the deposit, do you keep your place?  What if you wait until the end of the year and then decide and want to put down a deposit?  etc.)

[implovator]

I was feeling a little nervous down here south of the Mason-Dixon line, so I reached out to Brammo today. I got a very prompt response to my email. I get the impression that they're still in the midst of trying to establish dealerships, but that they'll definitely work with the pre-order customers to make sure they get their Empulse R regardless of dealer status. The email response was understandably light on details, but it did give me a solid feeling that they'll be putting their customers first just as they have with their current Enertia owners. It might be the case that I end up with a Empulse before there's a local dealer. Who knows, maybe once the dealers get a load of my Empulse they'll be fighting each other to carry Brammo.

[FreepZ]

Some quick response from Brammo would be a good idea considering a new Zero will soon be available, and it's looking very compelling. I think that if they delay much longer, many people who wanted to buy a 100 mph / 100 mile bike are going to go with the cheaper and available Zero, rather than wait for a perfect but more expensive and much delayed bike.