Hi All,

With much regret, I have sent a message to my dealer (with a copy to Ford Customer Service) regarding my much delayed '05 GT Premium Vert as follows:

As you know. VOPC did not "pull" your order for "T85, Order Number 0001" Thursday for your Friday Report. Accordingly, tomorrow will mark the start of the third consecutive month that the order has been "clean and unscheduled" and not yet serialized (all of January and February without material hold, etc., and now March). As such, I have decided to do us all a favor and remove my name from the order. Actually it is a win-win-win situation, in that:

Ford wins because this will take a little demand away (albeit in a very small way) from a vehicle that Ford has had a problem supplying, and -
Your Dealership wins because they can now sell the car for more than originally anticipated, and -
I win because I can now address the consumer car market without the developed prejudice of brand loyalty going forward.

This followed my letter William Clay "Bill" Ford of February 22nd which included:

Congratulations on your receipt of your 2005 Mustang Convertible. Paraphrasing an earlier statement, it doesn’t get any better than that.

Sharing your taste in Mustangs, I ordered an ’05 GT Premium Convertible on November 1, 2004. Currently, that order is about to enter it’s third month of “Clean and Unscheduled’ while others of it’s ilk that were ordered after November 1, 2004 have been scheduled, produced and even delivered to individual buyers; some outside the U.S.

I realize there is a high demand for the new Mustang GT. I further understand there is an allocation / priority system within the sales network intended to accommodate Ford sales concerns while honoring dealer preferences. I am not sure, however, that Ford understands the impact upon individual buyers who are not perceived as privileged through these arrangements. I believe an appropriate word would be “dissatisfaction”.

I am sure Ford is aware that most individual buyers would not extend the courtesy of expressing their dissatisfaction; they would merely take their business elsewhere. Nevertheless, my formative years in Dearborn, as well as my previous experiences with Ford products (including my always remembered first car), have encouraged me to write.

As of now, I will continue to be an '05 Mustang fan, ...just not an owner. I will continue to ride "old Silver" for a while and spend more time in the appropriate threads.

To those of you much more fortunate than I, ...ENJOY THE RIDE.

 

Don,

Sorry to hear that you decided to give up but each of us needs to decide for ourselves, how long is too long to wait. I am a bit surprised as the first TMS member to get a vert just got his a couple days ago. Your wait was long but the car only went into production a few weeks ago. But we all respect your decision and wish you well. Hope there is a new Mustang in your future!

 

I can see people getting irritated with the wait some have endured in regards to some of the coupes people have ordered, but already being irritated about the wait for the convertible? Folks, for those who feel the same way you might want to wait until they actually start building a particular car before complaining that delivery takes too long. Amazing.

In all seriousness and with no disprespect intended to cancel a car within a month of the production start date because ford took too long seems odd to me.

 

Senior Stang,

Do you realize they are just starting to produce convertibles?

No one has been getting them until the last week or so. Coupes have been produced since Sept, but, verts just started.

 

SeniorStang,
Feel for you! Hope Bill can see what a mess this does for Ford.
Alot of dealers add to the problem too! They keep buyer that ordered
in Limbo land!
May your next ride, what ever you choose be the blast!
Happy Trails!!

 

I couldn't agree more.

In fact, if I could get the dealer to be honest about it, he would likely say he hasn't the allocation afor GT's at this time (he has previously taken a "mass" order from one individual for GT's to be sent to Europe).

I would likely be understanding if only reasonable discussion were possible. Each time I ask, FoMoCo gets blamed. I tend to be quite reasonable with people who are reasonable with me. Allocation and priority, however, are the only reasons feasible for an order sitting for four months, two consecutive months without hold, and over a month since "formal" production with still no signs of scheduling (and as previously mentioned, similar cars ordered well after "mine" have been scheduled and built).

Again, my problem seems to be with the dealer. I have nothing but congratulations for those receiving their GT Verts. Great cars.

 

Senior Stang,

No offense and I understand your aggrevation. However, as you know they just started production. In addition, if you have seen the new vert commercial it says at the end that the vert will be available this spring.

I am not a Ford man or nothing. I just so happen to like and own a Mustang. Now if you found a another car that you like much better thats great. Just make sure you dont regert what you are doing. A car is a huge investment and a mans favorite toy.

 

I haven't given up on Mustang, ...just the dealership. Thinking now I might just work with a TMS dealer when Cobra's appear.

 

Sorry to hear that, where did you go to order?

 

I'll PM you since it may be considered bad form to "knock" a dealer.

A big clue, however, I currently live in Gainesville, GA.