So the story from this thread (https://themustangsource.com/f813/my...celled-494248/) continues.

The short version of that link is I got first in line for a Boss 302 last August, made an order for a black (the color is important in my story) Laguna Seca in December, then in April I was told they weren't getting any Laguna Seca's at all, that Ford cancelled the order.

A couple weeks ago things got interesting again, I called another local dealer who had a black LS on their website. They told me that one was already sold, and that I really should have gotten in earlier if I wanted one at all. I let him know I had placed an order at another dealer that got cancelled, he looked up some stuff and found that there were two Laguna Secas local, a silver one and a black one. The silver one was at my dealer, the black at their sister dealer. Imagine my surprise. So I stopped in the dealer to find out what was going on. Sure enough, there it was, a silver Laguna Seca. With an $89k price tag.

I tried getting some answers from my salesman. Why did they have the car they weren't getting? Why didn't they tell me about it? If it really was true they couldn't get black, why didn't they offer me silver? I thought it was a little strange how when they told me they weren't getting any Laguna Secas, they would let me know if they somehow got a black one, and if they did it was mine. Now here's a silver one with over 10 times the markup they were getting out of me.

Also, they did have a black one go through there. Bought from another dealer (with substantial markup), and I was never told about it (because they knew it was out of my price range).

So, he goes to talk to the sales manager, and almost immediately: "You want to drive it?". Well, sure, but that doesn't change anything. So I drove an 89,000 dollar Mustang (don't worry, I was nice, never got on it too hard or revved it very high, although I wasn't the first to drive this one).

I apparently live around a bunch of rich people, because this dealer is making a killing on these Boss 302s, they've been ordering them from other dealers out of state at above sticker, and selling them for even more almost immediately. Thanks to you guys and this board, I have been very well informed on the Boss 302, and was a little less impressed with the numbers the sales manager could quote me on how much they were going for. Did they conveniently push me out of the way as soon as they discovered how high they could go? There were people who warned me that maybe that is what happened.

The first draft of this post I was writing during all this, wondering what to do, hoping to get some advice. But during that time I was going back and forth on the phone with the dealer as they tried to make a deal with me. Finally we got down to the price we originally agreed on when I first ordered the car last year (above sticker unfortunately, but not a lot, I had voted on the poll here when I first ordered), for the black one at their other dealer (they swapped with the silver one). I told him I'd sleep on it.

I'm trying to keep this to a post length rather than a book, so the short of it is I went in the next morning and was there a very long time letting them know how I felt about the whole situation, and tried to get a little compensation on the price for the past 11 months of nonsense, but unfortunately they wouldn't budge.

The fact is what happened is I wanted to buy a car from Ford, and the dealer got in the way. This is a special car and I wanted it more than anyone else around, I know this because I was in the dealer first. To me that is a better metric and indication than how much somebody is willing to spend.

But in the end, right or wrong, for better or worse, I bought the car. It's been a long and exhausting journey, and it didn't end up perfect (see pic) but this is the one I fought for, number 308 is mine.

 

The other dealer had already installed the front splitter for some reason. Maybe so it would look cooler in the showroom (yet the did the front license plate ).

Anyway, here's the silver one.

 

Holy crud. Congrats and im sorry. Mixed emotions there. But! Be happy with the BOSS. Sorry your dealers were a holes.

How is it not perfect? Not w/ the options you wanted?

Or is that cuz its over MSRP?

 

Thanks, yeah it hasn't exactly gone as I was hoping.

Actually it did have the option fortunately, but mostly I didn't want them to drill holes in the bumper for the license plate.

 

Oh i see. Makes sense. Well anyways, congrats!!!! I hope youll learn to love it.

 

Ford doesn't sell cars.


Sorry for the awful experience. Unfortunately it's these instances that give us a bad name. Glad you got what you were after. Looks great.

 

Well, not to me anyway . I've been following this forum pretty closely, so I've seen all the talk about Ford vs Dealers and all that, and I didn't mean to sound like "stupid dealers keepin' me from my car". I understand this was a pretty unique experience with a particular group of people. Luckily, I have found what I think is a really good dealer around here, I wish I had gone there in the first place, but I plan on doing all my service and stuff there.

Thanks, I'm glad it's over with.

 

Oh really? How do they stay in business?

Yeah, I got it, dealers , sell cars. But unlike say a wheat farmer, who produces a product, but doesn't really have much of any influence on the satisfaction of customers who buy "Wonder Bread", a billion dollar company like Ford could. It's mighty convenient for Ford to manufacture a product, and then divorce themselves of any of the minutiae of John Doe, who has a problem like the OP. Is it practical or reasonable to expect the manufacturer to get involved in issues like this? No, not really...

That burden falls to customer service, which Ford does have direct control over. It's a tough job, as there are many folks who are having issues with their 6spd manual transmissions can relate. Those folks are already on the hook for a financial burden, whereas the OP was the victim of possibly shady/unethical business practices. Such are the pitfalls of a free market capitalist economy. Got taken for a ride by a shady dealer? Go find another one.

I'm glad the OP finally got his LS, maybe he'll appreciate it even more after all he's been through.

 

Rixter, I'm glad to see that you did finally get the car you wanted, and I feel for your unnecessary aggravation. When you get the chance, I along with 2012YellowBoss are putting together a registry for the new Bosses. There is a thread both here and over at bossmustangsonline. You can PM me if you don't want your info posted. Here is what we are looking for.

Enjoy your new ride!!

 

Landon, I'm sorry the purchase experience didn't go as planned, but enjoy driving the car! It's a great car, as you well know by now. For the bumper, you can probably get two small black grommet plugs to put in the holes they made.

If you think you're smiling now after driving it, just think what it will be like after the TracKey. Enjoy and big time congrats!!!

edit: Did they install the trans cooler scoop and orange brake ducts?

 

In your analogy, Ford would be Wonder Bread and the dealer would be the grocery store. The wheat farmer is more like a supplier such as Sony.

 

Think of the dealers as drug dealers and Ford as the supplier. The crooked dealer wants a bigger cut of the profits than the supplier will give him. It's all business. I'm sure if the dealer is selling hand over fist all month, he can afford to lower is deal price, just from moving more volume. If he's dealing less he has to up his price per piece to make up that lack of volume movement.

 

very sweet ride and worth the wait I am sure

 

Ford doesn't have direct control over Ford Customer Service? Please enlighten me, I'm all ears.

 

It's probably a outside company that they use for customer service, like UPS. When you call UPS customer service, you're not actually speaking to UPS, but a representative that forwards the information.

 

Phil Long?

 

Then we can put on our lawyer hats and all play semantics. What is this really boiling down to at the end of the day? I contend it's some form of accountability or responsibility. Perhaps others don't.

Let's play the silly game that "Ford doesn't sell cars, fine. Let's say then that Ford manufactures the finest vehicles the world has ever seen. However Ford decides for whatever reason to reward shady and unethical business practices to their most profitable (and guarenteed short term) underlings. Feel free to label it as you see fit, dealer network, supplier, etc... When the public decides it will not tolerate poor treatment, demand will dry up, and there will be a booming market for used vehicles of this type. Eventually, sales will suffer, and as a direct result, profitability.

When the shareholders demand action, and anarchy reigns at the board meeting, are they going to say "Oh... it was those rotten scumbag underlings that YOU hired/authorized/franchised/blessed with a sword that were responsible... We get it. We won't fire you incompetent twits, and we'll just sit back and watch the company burn under your bad decision making, poor judgment, and lack of vision. Keep churning out the best vehicles that the world has ever seen but sit gathering dust because nobody will buy them... Oh, and the fully independently owned, funded LLC that was created to provide Customer Service, they must have done a great job too, since sales plunged by 80% over the past 3 quarters... Keep up the good work, we'll go ask the Tooth Fairy or the Easter Bunny if they know who is responsible for this mess".

It is my sincere opinion that anyone who doesn't believe that Ford Motor Company isn't (and I'm choosing this word carefully) responsible for Ford Customer Service, is not capable of comprehending the true meaning of the word.

Our legal system is great. It insulates corporate entities and individuals from liability and blame, and it's all perfectly legal. That's the world we live in, and tolerate. I would like to hear any logical and cogent discourse from anyone on why any company, whether it be manufacturing or a service provider is not / or should not be responsible for it's customers satisfaction with their product or service.

 

I'll give it a try.
I do not work inside the car industry, and I am not an attorney, but I have some ideas about why there is sometimes a disconnect between a manufacturer like Ford and the ultimate end-user of their products. Here is what I think might be happening:
1) I assume that there is a contractural relationship between Ford and its dealers that says something like "As long as the dealer meets Ford's standards (whatever those are) the dealer can conduct business as it feels is best." That makes sense because someone in Detroit can't have much of a feel for what will work well in Georgia (where my Boss came from.) Part of the reason for this is that Ford sells (literally) millions of vehicles a year in the US. Without developing a structure as big or bigger than the entire dealer network they could not handle that volume of transactions, and that isn't even taking the parts and service business into account.
2) I know that Ford has surveyed me on my buying experience, and I know that Ford dealers take the results of those surveys seriously, if only because Ford does. I think Ford uses these surveys to identify (and hopefully correct) service issues with its dealers.
3) Ford has something like 2,000 dealers. The "bottom" 10% is still 200 dealers. That 10% probably cause the majority of the issues we are talking about here. As someone said earlier "If you have a bad dealer experience don't buy from them and don't ever go back." Eventually that bottom 10% will go out of buisness. Of course, as long as there are 2,000 dealers there will always be that "bottom 10%" of 200 dealers. It is up to us as consumers to avoid them. If we do decide to do business with a dealer that we feel is dishonest, or even just creepy, then I feel that we share in the blame for any bad experiences.
4) Supply and Demand still works. If nobody is willing to actually pay $89K for an LS them the price will come down until it sells. As long as there are buyers willing to pay huge mark-ups then someone will be willing to sell at those prices. As long as we live in a capitalist free-market economy (full disclosure: I am in favor of that continuing) then we will continue to see that buyers and sellers will jointly determine prices.
5) Sometimes buyers don't treat dealers fairly either. I know that "two wrongs don't make a right" but some dealers can use poor behavior on the part of past buyers to be unreasonable with the buyer in front of them. I have seen several posts on this site from people who planned to "walk away" from their Boss orders for various reasons. Some of the reasons may be legit, some may not.
CONCLUSION? I am not saying that any of the above is any reason for a dealer to treat customers poorly. The questions was (as I read it) "Why isn't Ford able to completely control the Customer Experience for each Boss buyer?" The reason (IMHO) is that we are very concerned about a few thousand cars out of a few million vehicles Ford will sell in the 2012 model year. The reality is that Boss Mustangs will be about 0.1% of Ford's volume in 2012. All of the Boss cars and the other 99.9% are going through the "normal" dealer channel. Many of us would like some sort of "special" handling because these are "special" cars. Some dealers will provide that. Some won't. Ford (I believe) is concerned about Boss buyers because this is a "halo" car, but they also have to worry a whole lot more about the 99.9% of 2012 Fords that are not Boss Mustangs.
Does any of that make sense?

 

End all dealer relationships. Build Ford stores much like Apple Stores. Control the entire product. Build happy zealot car owners.

I bought my first new Ford since 1987. The car was great. And the dealer I ultimately went with was OK but the whole experience basically sucked. In the market for a small car. Fully expected to by a Fiesta or Focus before finding out how Ford dealers operate. Now likely to be some other brand. Ford, the company as well as a Ford dealer lost a guaranteed sale. Greed is never good. Look at the US economy.

 

Thanks, I am really looking forward to the TracKey also .

The dealer did install all the stuff, so I'm wondering what to do about it. I plan on going to a new dealer to get my first oil change soon and I'm thinking about having them take some of that off. It's not a daily driver, but still not sure how practical it is for the street. Any advice?