You forgot the hundred grand part...

 

Good point.

Maybe its a ploy to help Dealers increase profits since they've been taking in the shorts the last few years...

 

Rick, i just got news from a good source that they're cancelling production of 2011 GT 500's to Canada. Not enough demand. Sorry fellow Canuck.














Kidding, kidding. Patience, it'll come.

 

Dealer just called and told me mine was still on track for 4/30, but I'm not sure. I hope he's right.

 

Well said Paul, totally agree. Talk to you Friday PM.

 

Ok, maybe they don't owe me anything, but there used to be something called Customer Service. you know where you tried to keep customers happy? I've signed contracts stating my commitment to buy this car once its delivered, so we do have a buyer/seller relationship established.

Maybe I expect too much, but a simple statement from Ford regarding the reason for the hold isn't asking that much. I'm starting to think eci may be right.

Hey everyone is allowed their opinion, although I'm starting to think that doesn't apply to TMS.

 

I don't think it is a question of not being allowed your own opinion, rather it appears that you are unhappy with other peoples' opinions of your opinion. See the difference?

 

You're overlooking the point that we don't need a regional lot to pull cars from, because we already do this via "dealer trades." Allow me to explain: There are 130+ Ford Dealers in my region. If a customer calls/emails/visits us for a specific car that we don't have, we simply pull up Ford's internal "vehicle locator" program to search for that specific car anywhere in our region. Takes just a couple minutes to find it! We trade inventory on a very regular basis and have a full time person here who coordinates all of that traded inventory. We can usually have a traded vehicle to our lot in a few hours (if it's close by), or 1-2 days if it's hundreds of miles away.

If the specific vehicle a customer wants doesn't already exist on another dealer's lot anywhere in our region, then we offer to special order it from the factory. The only drawback to a special order is waiting the typical 6-8 weeks for it to arrive. We tell our customers who special order that 80% of the orders are here in that 6-8 week timeframe. The other 20% come sooner or later than the 6-8 weeks. Newly introduced or updated vehicles often take longer, and we tell our customers that if they special order one of these. It helps to manage the wait with a customer if they are told upfront that an ETA is difficult on a new model year, new model, updated model, etc., as things may change from the beginning of production until the time the okay to ship is given.

Lastly, I disagree with you that "most people would be willing to wait a few days for the exact car they want." I've been at the same dealership for 11 years. We gladly fetch/order anything a customer wants and our salesman are NOT paid on commission so they don't ever try to switch a customer to something they didn't ask for, yet I'm amazed that about 2/3 of our customers end up buying something very different than they initially told us they wanted when they first contacted us. My vendors have data that suggests this is a nationwide truth that only about 1/3 of customers buy exactly what they first thought they wanted. Buying a car is a very emotional, impulse purchase for many people! They see something they didn't know existed and, wham, they buy it on the spot. Happens all the time!

 

Maybe my dealer just left me with unreasonable expectations. This was my first new car purchased, I figured with technology where it is today the process would be much more transparent then it appears to be.

He made it seem like they would be able to provide updates the entire time, which they haven't supplied. I've found more information on this site then they ever provided.

Live and learn I guess, this will probably be the last new car I order. I don't really take kindly to the whole "your car will arrive when it arrives, we can't track it and stop bothering us for details" even though we have your deposit.

Just poor customer service, maybe all car makers are like this when ordering new cars.

 

But how much is that influenced by the perceived hassle of buying something that isn't on the lot? Like that unpredictable 6-8 week wait? Or by the typical sales pitch to "make a deal" on what we have on the lot, versus straight-up sticker price on an ordered car?

 

You can certainly have your opinion, and the rest of us have ours. That's cool. What I'm saying is that if you special order something, the manufacturer shouldn't have to tell you the details of what's going on at their end of it as long as they deliver a quality product that you asked for. And, when you place a special order there is never an upfront guarantee of how long that product will take to build & ship. Ever special ordered other big ticket items instead of buying from the store? Furniture? Flooring? Tile? etc.

Even if Ford released a statement about what the holdup has been, would it really matter? Will your ownership experience be any better or worse in the long run? Isn't it enough to know that Ford is concerned enough to delay deliveries to make sure that the car is fixed and perfect before you get it?

 

I think some of this is a generational thing and some of it is a technology thing. It's obvious what field you're in and I'm in the same one (Systems Admin). In our work we've come to know what technology can provide and have come to expect those services from vendors we work with. In some cases we're asked to provide these detailed technical solutions and often fix them when they break.

That said, there's no techinical reason that Ford cannot offer a detailed tracking system. On the other hand there's probably a plethora of budget and staffing reasons why they cannot offer this to the public. The vehicle order tracking system is behind the technical times. However, it appears to be good enough for the vast majority of people in its current state. I'd wager that as the instant information, detail demanding generation moves into power that this will change. Until then it's a (not so) humorous reminder of the way all things were.

 

I understand - to a point.

No, constant updates aren't available yet in our 'I want in NOW!' internet age. Yes, I learned more from forums than my local Dealer. In fact, this forum (and Brian) helped me hammer the ADM out of my Dealer's greedy little mind. (Thanx again!!!) I had never heard of such a thing before...

All that aside, we're not talking about building a toaster in a sweatshop here. Jillions of parts & processes, a weakened supplier base from the great implosion, regulators up the butt... wouldn't stop me from ordering a new vehicle. Embrace the delay - they're building your car as we speak and doing their best to make sure its completed properly. Your first day behind the wheel and all your impatience will fade away...

 

Even if Ford released a statement about what the holdup has been, would it really matter? Will your ownership experience be any better or worse in the long run? Isn't it enough to know that Ford is concerned enough to delay deliveries to make sure that the car is fixed and perfect before you get it?

Actually yes, in my case it would make the wait easier. I am very glad that Ford is fixing them first. I've tried to have this discussion before on here and it seems to generate the same response each time. That I am an unreasonable customer and I should just be glad to be getting one. Not that with Ford needing our business that they should be the ones glad that I chose to get a Ford.

 

I guess that's just the misinterpretation of things for some of the members here. Ordering a new model year car with major changes is going to have its share of issues, that's almost a certainty. Like I mentioned earlier, Job #1 is often the first major manufacturing test of a product, and this is when the bugs get worked out.

There's a reason I haven't ordered a 2011 yet. I will most likely wait til Job 2 until all of the bugs get worked out and they seem to have the build process more dialed in. The nature of the beast when it comes to ordering a new car is that you get to be the guinea pig. Sometimes you know what you're getting, sometimes you don't.

Ford has done a good job of keeping the chaos down to a minimum. Face it, if you didn't have forums like this, you wouldn't know the wiser and wouldn't have any answers. There are going to be people that don't believe what the insiders say, and I don't really care. I say what I can when I can, it's that simple. I don't know any of you, and it would be pretty easy for someone to come back and find out who said what, and people's income/jobs aren't worth the risk. If you want, the insiders can go sit in a private forum where you can't see and talk about it there, that way everyone can complain and not know the wiser.

All I'm saying is relax and take a step back. Cars are coming, we'll see some here soon enough, and you'll all be satisfied with the product you receive.

 

Anybody ever use Dominos pizza tracker online? Why can't we have THAT for special order cars?!?!?

Just add pepperoni to mine, thanks.

The pizza, not the Mustang.

If a pizza joint selling $10 pizza's can do it, a manufacturer selling $30k and up cars can most certainly do it!

 

John, I work at a "one-price" store, so our price is very clearly posted on the window of everything we sell. We offer one-price on our special orders, too, so it's just as easy to buy either way here. There is no hassle to special ordering a car (at least where I work), because we do it so freely and offer it anytime a customer wants a specific vehicle that a) we don't have in stock, or b) isn't available to bring in from any other dealer in our region of 130+ dealers.

I'm the internet manager where I work, so I talk to customers all day long (typically via email). I can't tell you how often a customer that's been grillin' me for weeks on a specific vehicle out of the blue will email me back to inform me they bought something completely different. Leaves me blown away that they were so adament about a specific car only to buy something totally different. My favorite example ever was from 10 years ago when I used to be a salesman here. This lady shows up looking for a new, blue Ranger pickup. Had to be a SuperCab XLT 4x4 with the back doors and jumpseats. She tells me it has to be blue as that's the only color she'll consider - all of her cars have been blue and she won't budge on color. Had to be the "big" V6 and automatic (doesn't want to drive a stick). So I tell her that's no problem and we have several in stock just like that. So, as we're walking across our lot to the Rangers, she spies a bright yellow Mustang coupe and says she has to have it. I ask her about the blue Ranger, and she says the yellow Mustang is just too cool. It's a stick shift, too, but she insisted on buying it right there on the spot! I see people do this every day, and it no longer surprises me.

 

Wow. Comparing ordering a pizza to building a performance car by hand on an assembly line.

 

Very eloquently said!

 

I don't believe for a minute that you're an unreasonable customer, and I'm sorry if I ever suggested that you were. What I do believe is that your dealership did a very poor job of explaining the special order process, or explaining how there is always a bit of unknown that goes into each special order's status along the way. Had your dealer told you upfront that your order is in, not sure how long it'll take to build/ship it, there may be some delays with this substantially updated product, etc., then perhaps you wouldn't be so anxious right now.