elle Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 They can if they have a robust tracking system. In this day and age I would expect Ford to be able to do just that and provide real-time complete, accurate information. It's no different than tracking a package for UPS or FedEx. Well, it is different, because they are not in the business of providing information or products direct-to-consumer. They are shipping lots to dealiers, not individual pieces to customers, and I'm sure there's a tremendous added cost associated with that level of tracking for individual pieces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 They can if they have a robust tracking system. In this day and age I would expect Ford to be able to do just that and provide real-time complete, accurate information. It's no different than tracking a package for UPS or FedEx. This has nothing to do with tracking. They know exactly where each vehicle is. The problem is they don't know when they will get to a specific vehicle to affect repairs. This isn't an assembly line where things are produced in a specific order with a known process. This is all ad-hoc. Nobody knows when a specific vehicle will be fixed and shipped out until it's done. As for knowing where things are while they're being shipped - Fedex and UPS use their own transportation so their employees can scan bar codes on a package in their facilities and on their trucks and planes and they know everything about that package. How is Ford supposed to do that when they hand the car over to privately owned trains and trucks for delivery? Yes, Ford and all car mfrs should improve their tracking for end customers. But it's not as easy as you think it is. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeff_h Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 This has nothing to do with tracking. They know exactly where each vehicle is. The problem is they don't know when they will get to a specific vehicle to affect repairs. This isn't an assembly line where things are produced in a specific order with a known process. This is all ad-hoc. Nobody knows when a specific vehicle will be fixed and shipped out until it's done. And I also think the term "damage control" comes into play here... give a customer the full story and say "well there are 30k cars there and 10k need body alignment, 10k need MFT glitches flxed, 10k need mexican tire replaced with michigan tire air, etc etc etc" and this info gets too widespread and then stories come out "Ford quality dips in past survey, continue to be plagued with problems, blah blah blah"... yeah it sucks as a customer to not have as much info as there is to have, but too much bad press would likely result in potential customers considering cars thinking "well I'm not considering Ford, I've heard they've had all sorts of problems" because some headline has stuck in their heads. So if I was in a management position at a company where issues like this were being grappled with, I would also be playing damage control (the reason the term exists, right?) and be very selective on what I announce publicly. I think it was also Akirby that said in a post weeks ago how competitors would jump all over the bad press too. So while it sucks to not be in-the-know and sure they probably have the capability to know which batches need what actions will be done and when, it's probably not a wise move to let too much info out. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbmstng Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 You start with a parking lot full of 30K vehicles needing to be shipped elsewhere and repaired, then take one VIN number and figure out when that specific vehicle will be fixed. I don't see how any company could give an accurate answer under those circumstances. I would give more detailed info including a window for delivery. Ford should have a pretty good idea by now. Any supplier issues should be resolved to the point where they can calculate when 30,000 will be repaired. I work for a automotive supplier. If there is an issue, a detailed plan is formed within a day to correct any issues. We can then alter production and give our customer a realistic time frame to work with. Customer orders should get priority over dealership inventory. How many customer orders can there be? A few thousand? Ford is making this harder than it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hermans Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 I was at my local Ford dealer this AM and saw a Ruby Red SE with the 2.0 and luxury package and a lot of equipment. If you're in the Philadelphia area and looking here's the sticker - take a look., They have only had this vehicle for a few days. It was built on 10/29. I was at the dealer this AM to get an update on my car and this car was sold. This is one of the cars that was on hold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSKershaw Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 My concern is that some cars (mine especially) has been "Awaiting Shipment" for a full month and has not moved. I understand that some cars had some QC issues that needed to be addressed and those cars were sent to Flat Rock and back to Mexico. The tracking records for those vehicles shows this. My car has not moved and is awaiting shipment. How can a car sit in a lot for 1 month and not move??? There can't be a shortage of train cars, I know that a few Canadian's have had their car built after mine and is already being shipped by rail. The lack of information to dealerships and or customers is absolutely terrible. My car is close to $40k and this type of customer service is NOT acceptable. I don't mind waiting if they gave me a legitimate reason. But all I get is "it's built and it will get here when it gets here..." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elle Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 My concern is that some cars (mine especially) has been "Awaiting Shipment" for a full month and has not moved. I understand that some cars had some QC issues that needed to be addressed and those cars were sent to Flat Rock and back to Mexico. The tracking records for those vehicles shows this. My car has not moved and is awaiting shipment. How can a car sit in a lot for 1 month and not move??? There can't be a shortage of train cars, I know that a few Canadian's have had their car built after mine and is already being shipped by rail. The lack of information to dealerships and or customers is absolutely terrible. My car is close to $40k and this type of customer service is NOT acceptable. I don't mind waiting if they gave me a legitimate reason. But all I get is "it's built and it will get here when it gets here..." I hear you. It's incredibly frustrating to have to wait. I really do wish they had a better system in place for tracking and providing information. I also hope that everyone here gets their cars soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiblue2013 Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 Just spoke to customer service after some words he is going to call flat rock, see if they can find my car and get it bumped to the front. I asked about it being basically sold and why that wasn't done in the first place, he said they have no way of knowing. They have a couple thousand cars and they work them as they get them in. He will follow up with me asap. I assume around Monday due to turkey day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
missileman88 Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 jeff_h, I think you've hit the nail on the head. I'm sure Ford knows exactly what is going on but is exercising damage control. I'm sure every vehicle is categorized and scheduled to be fixed but there is no way Ford will share this information as a lot of factors come into play. Previous issues with the Ford Escape launch, the Consumer Reports downgrade, have all contributed to Ford trying to keep this out of the glare of the public spotlight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raleel Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 Woot! Just had to share. my window sticker posted today and I have a build date of next week. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 I would give more detailed info including a window for delivery. Ford should have a pretty good idea by now. Any supplier issues should be resolved to the point where they can calculate when 30,000 will be repaired. I work for a automotive supplier. If there is an issue, a detailed plan is formed within a day to correct any issues. We can then alter production and give our customer a realistic time frame to work with. Customer orders should get priority over dealership inventory. How many customer orders can there be? A few thousand? Ford is making this harder than it is. Part of it is damage control, but consider this. If you had a warehouse full of 30,000 vehicle parts that were waiting to be fixed before being shipped out and each one had a unique serial number and it was going to take weeks to get them all fixed - do you honestly think you'd be able to tell every customer who had a unique serial number exactly when that part would be fixed and shipped out? No way. You may know how many you can fix each week and approximately how long it will take to get them all fixed but there is no way you can know exactly when each and every individual part will actually be fixed and shipped out. Ford said only 100 retail orders were affected. Not sure if that's accurate or not. But again - given a sea of 30000 vehicles how would you find those 100? I believe Ford instructed dealers to reorder customer vehicles to avoid longer waits. That's the answer here whether Ford told them to do it or the dealer just did it on their own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbmstng Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 (edited) Part of it is damage control, but consider this. If you had a warehouse full of 30,000 vehicle parts that were waiting to be fixed before being shipped out and each one had a unique serial number and it was going to take weeks to get them all fixed - do you honestly think you'd be able to tell every customer who had a unique serial number exactly when that part would be fixed and shipped out? No way. You may know how many you can fix each week and approximately how long it will take to get them all fixed but there is no way you can know exactly when each and every individual part will actually be fixed and shipped out. Ford said only 100 retail orders were affected. Not sure if that's accurate or not. But again - given a sea of 30000 vehicles how would you find those 100? I believe Ford instructed dealers to reorder customer vehicles to avoid longer waits. That's the answer here whether Ford told them to do it or the dealer just did it on their own. All of it is damage control. Your own argument defeats your logic. It would be incredibly stupid for ford not to organize the 30,000 cars in some manor, otherwise it would be a huge pain in the ass to ship them out when the time comes. Can you imagine trying to ship cars where each individual vin goes to a different location? Yea, not so smart to not have them organized. So if there are only 100 (highly doubtful) orders affected, then they should be easy to find and prioritize. Even with 3000, like I said before, they should be able to give a window. Edited November 21, 2012 by dbmstng Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeff_h Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 I believe Ford instructed dealers to reorder customer vehicles to avoid longer waits. That's the answer here whether Ford told them to do it or the dealer just did it on their own. Now that is something that I think should have been in that letter to all dealers, something like "we are taking care of these issues, and for any dealers that who would like to reorder for their retail customers, we've set up a special processing POC at 1-800-xxx-xxxx and all of these orders which are verified to be affected will be resubmitted as a Pri 01 and be on the next thing smokin' in order to support these customers who have placed their faith in us with their retail orders"... there may have been something in there that I overlooked, but unfortunately it looked more like "we're working on it, be patient" and while I understand that they may not want to say too much, this would have been a good time to take a bad situation and show the retail customers that you care about them, it's early in the model year and not like the previous orders won't sell as dealer stock. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 All of it is damage control. Your own argument defeats your logic. It would be incredibly stupid for ford not to organize the 30,000 cars in some manor, otherwise it would be a huge pain in the ass to ship them out when the time comes. Can you imagine trying to ship cars where each individual vin goes to a different location? Yea, not so smart to not have them organized. So if there are only 100 (highly doubtful) orders affected, then they should be easy to find and prioritize. Even with 3000, like I said before, they should be able to give a window. These vehicles aren't parked in a parking lot where you can just go get whichever car you want whenever you want it. They pack these things in to the point that you can only get to the first row. When they do this at the plant for launch they have to fix them last in first out for just that reason. You're severely underestimating the logistical difficulties here. And they can give you a window - somewhere between 2 and 12 weeks. Happy now? Of course not. The answer - as I've already stated and so has Ford apparently - is to just reorder any retail orders so the clients aren't stuck in a waiting game. If your dealer isn't doing that for you then shame on them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jarhead727 Posted November 22, 2012 Share Posted November 22, 2012 Woot! Just had to share. my window sticker posted today and I have a build date of next week. Got mine too! Again...... 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckokie36 Posted November 23, 2012 Share Posted November 23, 2012 (edited) Ford Learns From Escape Recalls, Vows Smoother Fusion Market Launch Sep. 18, 2012Byron Pope | WardsAuto COMMENTS =Georgia, Times,] ’13 Ford Fusion to be offered with five powertrain options. RELATED MEDIA Midsize Cars, CUVs to Lead Product Turnover Through 2015 Ford Using Hydroforming to Cut Weight, Costs Ford Expects Fusion Output to Exceed Mazda6 at Flat Rock DEARBORN, MI – Ford is taking extra care to ensure the market launch of the ’13 Fusion midsize sedan goes more smoothly than the introduction of the ’13 Escape cross/utility vehicle, which has been plagued by recalls. “We’re doing a lot of work with our launch quality operating system and took some incremental actions (based on what) we’ve learned,” Raj Nair, Ford group vice president-global product development, says during a Fusion media ... Looks like they didn't take enough extra care.................. Edited November 23, 2012 by chuckokie36 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-Strike- Posted November 23, 2012 Share Posted November 23, 2012 Had my ETA bumped to Dec 1st, from Dec 2nd. Will wait for the Cyberdman update, probably on Monday to find out any further changes or anything. Fingers crossed that it's true, and remains on track. Hopefully it's correct, 1 week doesn't sound so bad anymore. Been such a long wait, I just want the damn car already! Unfortunately the 1st is a Saturday, so I'll have to wait till early to mid following week to pick it up to allow them to do what they have to do. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morcelu Posted November 23, 2012 Share Posted November 23, 2012 My salesman just emailed me to say that they were expecting my car today, but it didn't come. (Because of the holiday, I assume). He is hopeful it will come in next week. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghent360 Posted November 24, 2012 Share Posted November 24, 2012 I put an order for a Fusion Hybrid on Nov 1st. Got a build week of Dec 3rd, hopefully it will arrive for Christmas. VIN:3FA6P0LU2DR192747 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gfusion Posted November 25, 2012 Share Posted November 25, 2012 Picked it up this morning! Absolutely spectacular. Fit and finish are perfect and it drives really well. Will post pica and some more details later. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kpeex Posted November 25, 2012 Share Posted November 25, 2012 Congratulations! My signature is all you need to read to know that I'm getting jealous....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MineralstangGT Posted November 25, 2012 Share Posted November 25, 2012 Picked it up this morning! Absolutely spectacular. Fit and finish are perfect and it drives really well. Will post pica and some more details later. Can't wait for the pics and your impressions! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GammaRae Posted November 25, 2012 Share Posted November 25, 2012 (edited) I'll add to the good news (though not as good as gfusion). My window sticker posted this week (3-days ago), as well. I can taste it. Well, maybe just smell it at the moment. Anyway, seems like the factory must be finally rolling as intended. Still haven't seen one on the road here, yet. Edited November 25, 2012 by GammaRae 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbmstng Posted November 26, 2012 Share Posted November 26, 2012 (edited) Dp Edited November 26, 2012 by dbmstng Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbmstng Posted November 26, 2012 Share Posted November 26, 2012 These vehicles aren't parked in a parking lot where you can just go get whichever car you want whenever you want it. They pack these things in to the point that you can only get to the first row. When they do this at the plant for launch they have to fix them last in first out for just that reason. You're severely underestimating the logistical difficulties here. And they can give you a window - somewhere between 2 and 12 weeks. Happy now? Of course not. The answer - as I've already stated and so has Ford apparently - is to just reorder any retail orders so the clients aren't stuck in a waiting game. If your dealer isn't doing that for you then shame on them. It doesn't matter where or how closely parked the cars are. They are parked in some type of order. I bet they have a excel sheet that lists every vin and its location on the lot. Again, shipping would be a nightmare otherwise. Once again you change your argument. This time from Ford couldn't find my car in a see of 30,000 to oh, they are so tightly packed... Which you are basing solely on your own assumption. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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