I thought that I knew how this worked. All things being equal (priority#, options ect)
the Retail order takes priority over stock. according to this write up, it does.
http://www.f150online.com/forums/arc.../127481-1.html
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That is only in the dealer system. Whatever order is next in line will be pulled by Ford, regardless of stock or retail or fleet.

 

Been waiting for someone to catch that.

 

Let me set this senario for you. You go to a new housing development and design a blue print for your new house. Contactor says it'll take 3 months to complete. You come back every two weeks and ground hasn't been broken. After three months you notice your house hasn't been started, yet three other house have been completed with "for sale" signs outside and the cost of the houses/lots have gone up. Then they say it won't get started for another two weeks because of "supply" problems. Are you going to be mad?

No, it needs to be first come, first served. TMS people or not, you put your order in, then you get you car before dealers get enough to let "sit" out on the lot.

I'm sure if you didn't have your Stang yet, you'd be singing a different tune.

 

It IS first come first served, IF your dealer has a spot to order it. This isn't a difficult concept to understand. Dealer sells a lot of mustangs, dealer gets a lot of mustangs. Works the same way no matter what you are selling. You think a clothing store in NYC gets the same amount as the same company's store in the boonies somewhere? No. You get supply where supply is needed the most. This is accrued over time, and doesn't change because of what happens with one product.

Your analogy is too flawed to even bother picking apart.

Some of you need to realize what a huge chore it is to ship 150,000 cars all over. Logisitics are completely ridiculous. For instance, lets say they build 10 of your cars, regardless of where they are or when they were ordered, or what they have. They are built, all 10 in a row. Now, they are all in different states, and need to be shipped by rail. Fine. However, they aren't going to ship a railcar with only one vehicle, so the cars get put into a lot and other cars come off the line, as they are ordered. Before long, you can't get to the cars in the front of the lot, and you have a backup. Now what are you going to do?

How bout this: Stop telling us what they "should do" and come up with a working way on how to do it. I'm sure you ALL can come up with a better way than Ford, after all they only spend $40 million a year on shipping infrastructure and research, and you are ALL so much smarter than that.

 

You're not getting the issue. People ordering in October, and still not having their cars when Jan orders already have their cars is the problem. Allocation, not shipping. A few weeks of confusion during shipping is one thing, 4 months is another. Their priority system has nothing to do with the end consumer, and everything to do with the dealer. That's the problem, end consumers are getting the shaft, dealers are turning out OK.

 

No, you are the ones that aren't getting the issue. THAT IS THE WAY IT IS SUPPOSED TO BE!!!! If the dealer you ordered didn't have allocation, that is the dealers fault. They should have told you they would not be getting it any time soon. Ford's system works perfectly. It is the dealerships you are dealing with that are causing the problem. This is a case where not being Ford's customer becomes an issue again. They cannot take a spot away from one dealership and give it to another, because that is the allocation they have earned. Ford also has zero influence over whether or not a dealership is going to tell you that they will have the allocation to get your car in a timely fashion. Since the dealership just wants your money, they probably aren't going to tell you that you are SOL if you go with them.

Look, I wish all you guys had your cars. But the simple fact is that you need to stop blaming Ford. It isn't their fault. On all of the other vehicles for 05 and every other year, the allocation works perfectly. It is because the car is so popular that there is this backlog for the 05 stang.

edit: How many of you that have been waiting since Dec have signed contracts with your dealer? I know I did when I ordered, and it said right on the contract that the car would have to be delivered with 120 days. It didn't say what would happen if it didn't, but I would have won in small claims court if it hadn't.

 

In the consumer products world the consumer is the customer, not the dealer. In the final analysis, dealers will only buy what they can sell.

Marketing on the most basic level has four factors: product, price, promotion, and distribution. Right now there is some terrific product out there, but the other three components of the mix are broken.

Ford knows who the customer is and they are not pleased with the situation. They don't like the additional mark up that dealers are putting on the cars and they don't like the way dealers are burning up the equity customers have toward the Ford brand name. Ford doesn't want you to buy one car, they want you to buy cars for life. To do this they must deliver to the customer on all four components of the mix.

The order situation is the way it is because the big dealers like it that way. It gives them an advantage over any new competition. The big get bigger, and the small accept the scraps. This is part of the distribution problem.

The order situation will change over time. Right now the UAW has Ford over a stump, and the Ford Dealer Council has Ford over a stump. It will take time, but the situation has to improve. In the long run, both the UAW and the FDC will die if Ford isn't healthy.

Things I think you will see:

Ford Direct taking consumer orders at some price level (MSRP), paying the dealer a commission based upon location, by region. Ask yourself this; are more or less products being offered over the internet? The answer is more. And this would effectivily put Ford back in control of the price and delivery times.

More uniformity in the dealership experience. What if every McDonalds was different? It works for every other retailer on the planet. The current dealer system was created before there were any retail chains.

Flatter pricing. It's either feast or famine. Cars are either heavily incentivized, or selling over sticker. This leads to consumer confusion about what value really means.

Advertising something other than price. Rebates are not the reason people buy cars, they are now the reason people don't buy cars. ("i'll wait until the incentives kick in"). Notice how few price adds Honda runs?

 

I see your point, but the end consumer still is the one that is getting the shaft, and Ford should do what they can to prevent that. People will be discouraged from ordering a Ford in the future, Ford does have an interest in correcting the problem. Oh well, hopefully this will all be over for me this weekend...

 

I did not bother with Ford Customer Service but I did talk to the salesman today. He has six customers waiting for six preordered mustangs and I am one out of six wanting to know the status of my order. The salesman advised that if his dealership cannot get a confirmation from AutoAlliance by the end of the month then he will be suggesting to his manager that the customers should get there deposits back. I told him not to worry about me as I will wait, but as we can clearly see Ford has an overwhelming problem that they cannot seem to get a handle on.

 

Wow, you just took me back to my college marketing classes... oh memories. But you're 100% correct IMO.

PS, Grantsdale... do you work for Ford?

 

No, but I own my own business and know how difficult allocations can be. What some of you are asking for is like someone going into a Best Buy, buying one of my products, and then complaining because Best Buy doesn't offer customer service on the product.

 

"At Ford Motor Company, we consider the satisfaction of our customers as
one of our most important objectives. If you have any other inquiries
or concerns, please feel free to contact us and we will be happy to
address them."


This is my favorite part of the Ford response email. Customer satisfaction may be ONE of their most important objectives...just below making as much money as possible regardless of who gets screwed.

 

Thats false. We stupid people have been told time and time again the we are not Ford's customers. How can they put that in the email if that were not true? That email was obviously sent to a dealer right as some poeple are never wrong. Its like arguing with my mother-in-law.

Bottom line - people still waiting after 3 or 4 months think the system is flawed. People with cars think it is perfect.

 

What do you mean, 20-30? You think they should put just some of the people on this board through because they are Mustang lovers? Can't do that. There are many, many more orders that are backed up just as much as the people on here. How would it be fair to them to push TMS members through and leave those other people who have been waiting just as long to wait even longer?
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30 or 40 per month would be just fine. I never mentioned that it had to be a TMS member to be included. I said "really old orders" not "really old TMS members orders only" Where do you get that? Do you make crap up so you can flex your internet-toughguy-I'm-always-right-now-I-will-come-down on you muscle? Does it make you feel powerful?

 

30 or 40 per month would be just fine. I never mentioned that it had to be a TMS member to be included. I said "really old orders" not "really old TMS members orders only" Where do you get that? Do you make crap up so you can flex your internet-toughguy-I'm-always-right-now-I-will-come-down on you muscle? Does it make you feel powerful?
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No, I just assumed (a mistake, I know) thats where you got the 20-30 number. You do know they have a backlog of some 6000 still unscheduled orders from 2004 and about 12000 from Jan 2005, right? I don't know what you consider an "old order". An order for a MY04, perhaps?

Numbers are from a simple email to customer service, btw, though I've seen them posted elsewhere.

 

Sorry to be in a fowl mood but I am at 109 days C/U...man....

I just hate that the little guy always takes it in the back side.

On a side note, if there is still some person waiting on a MY04, they must live a little further out in the sticks than I do....

 

Thats false. We stupid people have been told time and time again the we are not Ford's customers. How can they put that in the email if that were not true? That email was obviously sent to a dealer right as some poeple are never wrong. Its like arguing with my mother-in-law.

Bottom line - people still waiting after 3 or 4 months think the system is flawed. People with cars think it is perfect.
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Sigh. You only hear what you want to. The argument is NOT that you are not Ford's customer. The fact is that you do own a Ford, however, you do not buy it from Ford. You buy it from the dealership, who bought it from Ford. You are their customer, but until the car is sold from the dealership to you, you aren't, because technicall you don't own anything yet. I started making that argument because of people complaining about the lack of information on the ordering process.

Edit: Again, I wish you had your cars, but the fact is that if they changed it to the way you guys wanted it, it might work for the 05 Mustang, but every other vehicle distribution would be screwed.

 

How would a simple first in first out system for customer orders have any effect on other vehicle distribution? People aren't standing in line 20,000 deep to order fucuses (focii?). It wouldn't have any effect at all on other vehicles.

 

I guess I am just trying to say that for extreme cases it may be prudent for Ford to take other actions. 99.99999% of the time there isn't an issue, but for that .00001% it may make make sense to change how things are done.

I'm not tryign to argue, just speaking my opinion. This situation may never rear its ugly head again and I am dissapointed that Ford is handcuffed by the larger dealer.