Quality job 1, customer is job ... zero times infinity

[Max_Focus]

So I ordered a 2011 Mustang V6 Premium Coupe on 4/3. The dealer takes 10 days to place the order. The car gets built 31 days after the order is placed. As of today, it has been 35 days since the car was built and the car has still not shipped and the initial ETA has been missed with no update.

 

Repeated calls to customer service are met with "Your dealer is the best person to ask about your car." And, "We can escalate this and get back to you within five business days".

 

Neither option has proved fruitful except that it lets the CSR take other calls that they may get rated better on. No callhas ever been returned. Emails to Ford have also been responded to with canned responses. The gist of all Ford's responses is, "Go away, your problem is typical not anything special. We don't need to do anything."

 

In the end, I'm left with Ford Customer Service being useless, the dealer being less than useless, and stuck with no idea when I'll get a car I custom-ordered but knowing it has sat in a parking lot in MI for more than a month with no expected delivery date.

 

So I would ask Bill Ford, Alan Mulally, Dave Pericak, etc. . . . where is my Mustang? Mr. Pericak tells one Mustang buyer to his face that there are no holds on Mustangs. But, in fact, there ARE holds. Mr. Ford is probably just worried that the company is going to be a Blue Oval with a weird looking H in it in 5 years (Hyundai). Mr. Mulally is likely just wondering why his Audi was replaced with some silly over-priced Taurus.

 

I've been a HUGE Ford fan for years. I've owned many DIFFERENT Fords crossing the entire product line (Ranger, F150, Focus, Escape, Taurus, T-Bird, Escort Mustang, etc.) and now I'm left feeling that Ford doesn't even care about the customer. Marketing touts 11,000 pre-orders but fails to address the THOUSANDS of cars sitting on the lots at AAI with quality issues. Management counts their profits today but fails to acknowledge the harm they're doing to customers by failing to keep them informed. The dealer network has become nothing more than a joke and a place to get free warranty service.

 

Tomorrow I will attempt to cancel my order. Any company that can build a car in 2 days but can't fix it in 35 clearly has a problem. First with poor manufacturing and second with the inability to address quality problems.

 

If Ford would like to FIX this issue, look no further than my VIN and the history: 1ZVBP8AM5B5116799.

 

Thanks,

A dissatisfied Ford owner and former customer

Edited June 11, 2010 by Max_Focus

[RangerM]

I'd think with the VIN, the car would be easily tracked to it's location, assuming it's still in the Ford system.

 

Are you sure the dealer didn't sell the car out from under you?

[akirby]

So I ordered a 2011 Mustang V6 Premium Coupe on 4/3. The dealer takes 10 days to place the order. The car gets built 31 days after the order is placed. As of today, it has been 35 days since the car was built and the car has still not shipped and the initial ETA has been missed with no update.

 

Repeated calls to customer service are met with "Your dealer is the best person to ask about your car." And, "We can escalate this and get back to you within five business days".

 

Neither option has proved fruitful except that it lets the CSR take other calls that they may get rated better on. No callhas ever been returned. Emails to Ford have also been responded to with canned responses. The gist of all Ford's responses is, "Go away, your problem is typical not anything special. We don't need to do anything."

 

In the end, I'm left with Ford Customer Service being useless, the dealer being less than useless, and stuck with no idea when I'll get a car I custom-ordered but knowing it has sat in a parking lot in MI for more than a month with no expected delivery date.

 

So I would ask Bill Ford, Alan Mulally, Dave Pericak, etc. . . . where is my Mustang? Mr. Pericak tells one Mustang buyer to his face that there are no holds on Mustangs. But, in fact, there ARE holds. Mr. Ford is probably just worried that the company is going to be a Blue Oval with a weird looking H in it in 5 years (Hyundai). Mr. Mulally is likely just wondering why his Audi was replaced with some silly over-priced Taurus.

 

I've been a HUGE Ford fan for years. I've owned many DIFFERENT Fords crossing the entire product line (Ranger, F150, Focus, Escape, Taurus, T-Bird, Escort Mustang, etc.) and now I'm left feeling that Ford doesn't even care about the customer. Marketing touts 11,000 pre-orders but fails to address the THOUSANDS of cars sitting on the lots at AAI with quality issues. Management counts their profits today but fails to acknowledge the harm they're doing to customers by failing to keep them informed. The dealer network has become nothing more than a joke and a place to get free warranty service.

 

Tomorrow I will attempt to cancel my order. Any company that can build a car in 2 days but can't fix it in 35 clearly has a problem. First with poor manufacturing and second with the inability to address quality problems.

 

If Ford would like to FIX this issue, look no further than my VIN and the history: 1ZVBP8AM5B5116799.

 

Thanks,

A dissatisfied Ford owner and former customer

 

If you didn't understand that this was a possibility when you ordered a new vehicle that was not even in full production yet then either your dealer misled you or you have unrealistic expectations.

[PTRocks]

If you didn't understand that this was a possibility when you ordered a new vehicle that was not even in full production yet then either your dealer misled you or you have unrealistic expectations.

 

He ordered in April, the car was already in production for two weeks. What does "full production" mean in your view?

 

I also believe that if he had received timely and accurate information about the status of his car, he probably would be much more willing to wait it out. This is probably more about the customer service than it is about the QC.

Edited June 11, 2010 by PTRocks

[ibinubu12]

I'd check on the dealer side of things first. We had that happen when we preordered the 1989 Probe. The dealer knew he had a sale to us, so he put our order off, selling the car when it arrived to someone else. We ordered the car in June, didn't get it until the following May. We had to write to Petersen himself before we got a response from the dealer. The resonse? ANGER. They couldn't imagine we would complain to corporate that it took 9 months to get an order when the dealer down the street had 14 Probes sitting against a fence! They thought they were doing us a favor!

[PTRocks]

I'd check on the dealer side of things first. We had that happen when we preordered the 1989 Probe. The dealer knew he had a sale to us, so he put our order off, selling the car when it arrived to someone else. We ordered the car in June, didn't get it until the following May. We had to write to Petersen himself before we got a response from the dealer. The resonse? ANGER. They couldn't imagine we would complain to corporate that it took 9 months to get an order when the dealer down the street had 14 Probes sitting against a fence! They thought they were doing us a favor!

 

Well, he did note that the dealer took 10 days to submit the order. The dealer could also have screwed him by giving the order a low priority, though the one month wait for the car to be built seems quite reasonable. After that, it's mostly Ford's Customer Service that caused most of the problems.

Edited June 11, 2010 by PTRocks

[ViperPilot]

1. A ten day lag between when you finalized with your dealer and placing the order is a little long but we don't know if there is any backstory here. Was the sale "conditional on financing? Then they would have to run a credit check before placing the order. Deposit by cheque? Wait until it clears. Not sticking up for the dealer necessarily but it is possible that the dealer wanted all the "i's dotted and t's crossed" before submitting the order -- he may be using his only allocation or may be getting it from somewhere else.
   
2. Did you change your mind on the tape stripe? There are 2 window stickers, for some reason they're different and the difference is the mention of a satin black tape stripe.
   
3. Some of the options you ordered meant the car had to be shipped through the Vehicle Personalization Center (VPC). This means that after production (May-04-2010) the car has to be shipped (May-04-2010) to VPC but it was backed up, so it needed to be stored until its turn in the queue. It didn't get into VPC until May-15-2010, and was then returned to AAI on May-21-2010 where it is waiting to ship. Also take into account that the week after this was the Memorial Day weekend where they might not ship.
   
4. This may not apply to you, but I am under the impression that there was a delay in some manual transmission cars being released for a minor quality issue at the plant.
   

[akirby]

He ordered in April, the car was already in production for two weeks. What does "full production" mean in your view?

 

I also believe that if he had received timely and accurate information about the status of his car, he probably would be much more willing to wait it out. This is probably more about the customer service than it is about the QC.

 

Full production means shipping to dealers with no quality holds. There is no guarantee as to how long it takes the factory to get up to speed and start shipping directly to dealers. They must have 5 consecutive days with no problems. In the past that has taken up to 3 or possibly 4 weeks to complete. The point is you don't know how long it will take and you run the risk of having your vehicle held for QC which is apparently what happened.

 

I agree that a customer should be able to at least get current status on an ordered vehicle to see where it is in the process. However, Ford doesn't sell cars to customers - dealers do. And every time Ford tries to do something directly with customers the dealer haul them to court and prevail.

 

I'm sure Ford would love to allow customers to order vehicle directly from the factory but the franchise laws prohibit that and I don't think that will change anytime soon.

[chiefstang]

I'd check on the dealer side of things first. We had that happen when we preordered the 1989 Probe. The dealer knew he had a sale to us, so he put our order off, selling the car when it arrived to someone else. We ordered the car in June, didn't get it until the following May. We had to write to Petersen himself before we got a response from the dealer. The resonse? ANGER. They couldn't imagine we would complain to corporate that it took 9 months to get an order when the dealer down the street had 14 Probes sitting against a fence! They thought they were doing us a favor!

 

 

The dealers are as in the dark as all of you. Our Ford rep assured us that the car was on hold, and should be released very soon. That's all.

 

We need a seperate section in the Forums for these angry Mustang buyers.

 

You readin' this, Ford?

[PTRocks]

The dealers are as in the dark as all of you. Our Ford rep assured us that the car was on hold, and should be released very soon. That's all.

 

We need a separate section in the Forums for these angry Mustang buyers.

You readin' this, Ford?

 

to me having a separate section for this type of issue would mean that it would be a regular, ongoing occurrence. I certainly hope that's NOT the case! I would hope that by posting these issues here someone far enough up the Ford food chain would realize that there is a systemic communication issue from the factory that needs to be addressed. My hope is that the necessary changes will be made before the Fiesta goes into production here, otherwise there will likely be a big hit to Ford's reputation among the new crowd of buyers Ford has been working so hard to attract.

 

This is Ford's issue to correct, not the dealers'.

Edited June 11, 2010 by PTRocks

[Ray-NYC]

If Ford provided the dealers with the necessary information to satisfy our inquiries then we wouldn't need to go to Ford directly. There are multiple angles to approach this from. A large number of us have come to this forum as we heard Ford reads this board. After getting no where with CSR, SVT, Dealer, Zone Rep. and a variety of other names and numbers that have surfaced, we come here.

[Max_Focus]

A ten day lag between when you finalized with your dealer and placing the order is a little long but we don't know if there is any backstory here. Was the sale "conditional on financing? Then they would have to run a credit check before placing the order. Deposit by cheque? Wait until it clears. Not sticking up for the dealer necessarily but it is possible that the dealer wanted all the "i's dotted and t's crossed" before submitting the order -- he may be using his only allocation or may be getting it from somewhere else.

 

Nope, just a regular order. Actually x-plan but it didn't go in as x-plan. I think the inventory manager only works a couple of days a week and the salesman didn't submit it in a timely fashion. Annoying but not the end of the world.

 

[*]Did you change your mind on the tape stripe? There are 2 window stickers, for some reason they're different and the difference is the mention of a satin black tape stripe.

How do you know there are TWO window stickers? I find that VERY interesting. I did change my mind on the stripe (told him not to delete it) since the order hadn't been pulled yet. The only sticker I've seen has the delete. I was less worried about the stripe and more worried about the black filler on the trunk so I said leave it and I'll remove whatever I don't like.

 

[*]Some of the options you ordered meant the car had to be shipped through the Vehicle Personalization Center (VPC). This means that after production (May-04-2010) the car has to be shipped (May-04-2010) to VPC but it was backed up, so it needed to be stored until its turn in the queue. It didn't get into VPC until May-15-2010, and was then returned to AAI on May-21-2010 where it is waiting to ship. Also take into account that the week after this was the Memorial Day weekend where they might not ship.

Very informative and helpful, actually. Describing the process helps me understand the impact of options on the buid time. Mine is an MCA car. Not buying the Memorial Day thing though since it just shortened the week to 3 vice 4 days.

 

[*]This may not apply to you, but I am under the impression that there was a delay in some manual transmission cars being released for a minor quality issue at the plant.

Mine is a manual transmission car. And this has been my assertion all along -- since the lots seem to be flooded with autos but not manuals. Time and time again I was told that's not the issue. A-pillar trim. Coolant stickers. Stripes where they shouldn't have them. Timing chain issues. Engine ticks. Commodity holds. And on and on and on.

 

Bottom line for me is simply tell me when my car is going to be shipped. It hasn't moved since May 21st. It's been "built" since May 4th. Sorry, but whatever quality issue there is, it can't take this long to fix unless they're doing one a day. And to see cars with a much later VIN sequence being built and delivered makes me feel like those of us who jumped on the Ford hype bandwagon are simply being dismissed as unimportant to the overall customer base.

 

ViperPilot -- this is the single best post regarding "my" car I've seen. Not that it's specific, necessarily. Just that it's extremely helpful. I'm waiting for a call from the regional rep today along with a call from Ford CS. I'm not sure why my dealer tells me "You'll get a call today" rather than simply pass on the information he must clearly have. Why would the regional rep call me with anything meaningful and keep the dealer in the dark??? Still waiting on that call. Just like the other 3 that haven't been returned.

 

RangerM -- I know the car is sitting at AAI.

 

AKirby -- when I ordered I asked the dealer if it would arrive by Memorial Day because I wanted it for a road-trip. He assured me it would. 6-8 weeks. And I'm even mostly OK missing that date for a good reason. I just need to know when I'm going to get it or why it's been delayed so I can make an INFORMED decision about how to proceed. Right now I just want my deposit back and if it shows up before I buy something else I'll happily buy it. If not, oh well, thanks for trying.

 

Further, if there are 6000 cars affected by quality issues, that's more than HALF of the often hyped "11,000 pre-orders on the new Mustang". That's not saying much for the manufacturing process. Good on the QC guys for catching this stuff, however. Of course they're in the 132,000 range now (or higher) so the percentage is smaller. But at this point more have been produced AFTER mine than before mine and mine still hasn't shipped.

Edited June 11, 2010 by Max_Focus

[MGallun]

Nope, just a regular order. Actually x-plan but it didn't go in as x-plan. I think the inventory manager only works a couple of days a week and the salesman didn't submit it in a timely fashion. Annoying but not the end of the world.

 

 

How do you know there are TWO window stickers? I find that VERY interesting. I did change my mind on the stripe (told him not to delete it) since the order hadn't been pulled yet. The only sticker I've seen has the delete. I was less worried about the stripe and more worried about the black filler on the trunk so I said leave it and I'll remove whatever I don't like.

 

 

Very informative and helpful, actually. Describing the process helps me understand the impact of options on the buid time. Mine is an MCA car. Not buying the Memorial Day thing though since it just shortened the week to 3 vice 4 days.

 

 

Mine is a manual transmission car. And this has been my assertion all along -- since the lots seem to be flooded with autos but not manuals. Time and time again I was told that's not the issue. A-pillar trim. Coolant stickers. Stripes where they shouldn't have them. Timing chain issues. Engine ticks. Commodity holds. And on and on and on.

 

Bottom line for me is simply tell me when my car is going to be shipped. It hasn't moved since May 21st. It's been "built" since May 4th. Sorry, but whatever quality issue there is, it can't take this long to fix unless they're doing one a day. And to see cars with a much later VIN sequence being built and delivered makes me feel like those of us who jumped on the Ford hype bandwagon are simply being dismissed as unimportant to the overall customer base.

 

ViperPilot -- this is the single best post regarding "my" car I've seen. Not that it's specific, necessarily. Just that it's extremely helpful. I'm waiting for a call from the regional rep today along with a call from Ford CS. I'm not sure why my dealer tells me "You'll get a call today" rather than simply pass on the information he must clearly have. Why would the regional rep call me with anything meaningful and keep the dealer in the dark??? Still waiting on that call. Just like the other 3 that haven't been returned.

 

RangerM -- I know the car is sitting at AAI.

 

AKirby -- when I ordered I asked the dealer if it would arrive by Memorial Day because I wanted it for a road-trip. He assured me it would. 6-8 weeks. And I'm even mostly OK missing that date for a good reason. I just need to know when I'm going to get it or why it's been delayed so I can make an INFORMED decision about how to proceed. Right now I just want my deposit back and if it shows up before I buy something else I'll happily buy it. If not, oh well, thanks for trying.

 

Further, if there are 6000 cars affected by quality issues, that's more than HALF of the often hyped "11,000 pre-orders on the new Mustang". That's not saying much for the manufacturing process. Good on the QC guys for catching this stuff, however. Of course they're in the 132,000 range now (or higher) so the percentage is smaller. But at this point more have been produced AFTER mine than before mine and mine still hasn't shipped.

 

wow, weird stuff...

 

ordered my new 2011 GT manual on may 19th. On May 28th i recived a call from the Ford Plant itself stating that my car was built and being shipped.. My car arrived at dealer on June 5th, but i was gone so i picked it up on the 7th.. Not sure how your deal went down, but i got an email almost each day with status on my order from ford it self, some dealer\owner connection thing, kept me in loop... my expierence with the entire process was great, nothing to complain about here.. sorry for your troubles thou, must suck, but, iam loving my car.. and they didnt say anything about any QC problems either and it runs fine.

[fritzOSU03]

wow, weird stuff...

 

ordered my new 2011 GT manual on may 19th. On May 28th i recived a call from the Ford Plant itself stating that my car was built and being shipped.. My car arrived at dealer on June 5th, but i was gone so i picked it up on the 7th.. Not sure how your deal went down, but i got an email almost each day with status on my order from ford it self, some dealer\owner connection thing, kept me in loop... my expierence with the entire process was great, nothing to complain about here.. sorry for your troubles thou, must suck, but, iam loving my car.. and they didnt say anything about any QC problems either and it runs fine.

 

Now that's just ridiculous, I'll assume you're joking!

 

I ordered way back in March (14 weeks ago this Saturday to be exact) and mine is completely MIA! I've been given a BS ETA of 7/15 and by dealer can't get an update to save my life.

Edited June 24, 2010 by fritzOSU03

[MGallun]

Now that's just ridiculous, I'll assume you're joking!

 

I ordered way back in March (14 weeks ago this Saturday to be exact) and mine is completely MIA! I've been given a BS ETA of 7/15 and by dealer can't get an update to save my life.

 

 

wow, i should this stuff to my dealer and he just laughed and said something bout dealer not doing his job correctly, he said they were lazy, he said when he special orders cars he bugs the shit out the fatcory, he said the longest he has had to wait for a special order car ever is 5 weeks.... plus this is the highest rated dealer in SE Wisconsin as well.

[MKPony]

wow, i should this stuff to my dealer and he just laughed and said something bout dealer not doing his job correctly, he said they were lazy, he said when he special orders cars he bugs the shit out the fatcory, he said the longest he has had to wait for a special order car ever is 5 weeks.... plus this is the highest rated dealer in SE Wisconsin as well.

 

I don't think you can put this all on the dealers. I know allocations and all of those things come into play. When ordering early (Feb 10th in my case) some delays are expected and I was not all that concerned about mine either. But when it was built on May 14th I was expecting to get it within a reasonable amount of time after that. Mine was also still sitting at the plant last I heard from my dealer on Friday (6 weeks after it was built). And according to the dealer V V still has an ETA of May 27th.

 

It is stories like this where cars were ordered, built and delivered after our cars were built that rub salt in wound. The total lack of communication and information that is provided to the customers and the dealers needs to be reviewed. Nature abhors a vacuum and when there is no accurate, credible information provided, horror stories and rumors fill that void.