POLL: should Kzinti be 'official Ford service'

[gmichael]

I was very happy Kzinti helped me. I wondered when I'd get mine (late November 2005) if I'd get pushed to after Christmas. It was nice seeing the updates. The dealer called me only when it got to the store. Seems like Ford would have a method for all buyers to keep up with their order, an not have to rely on the dealer. Of course dealer doesn't add value.

[karalm]

Two points to make here as the "Bottom line to SWF" as far as this issue, his comments and all the posts in favor of commander K, So SWF, listen up..........

#1, The Union exists for you because it is "a business for YOUR union management" (Mgmt.which you are not but which you continually continue to berate). No members means no dues collected means those who represent you do not get paid and then have no business without people like yourself who are not highly educated and need others to negotiate for you even if you are a skilled trades person. You exist and are known to all the rest of us as someone whom we hire when we need our house re-wired or business electrical upgraded which puts you right between a burger flipper and a plumber/framer in the social hierarchy. You won't as you salutation suggests, back down and that just proves that you will continue to slam your head against this posting wall again and again trying to make your point in the sheer magnitude of others who will continue to laugh and slam you again and again over your responses. Just continue to respond and we will continue to slam just like I did on page 1 of this post (before K's status passing) and it will continue to reinforce our belief that you as noted above do not get it AND need others that are smarter then you to see the bigger picture and provide guidance and representation in your life. Party on dude! :happy feet: :happy feet: :happy feet:

#2, My hope is that commander K quits FMC and starts his own business in the electrical field making more then you AND working for a dealership who would allow this service to continue and maybe offer a small charge ~ $10-$20 from order to delivery status....?? in collaboration with other dealerships who might pay to get the info through the build cycle there by helping the customer service side of Ford for all. This is just an individual thought with no guidance or representation from others unlike your poor sorry existance. SWF, Can you say "entrepreneur"?? Wow, what a concept! There's $$ to be had here folks and I like others would appreciate and have appreciated this service provided by K but appreciated by more then many here and around the country. Rest in Peace K, hope you return in another life as a customer service rep, you will become a hero again to others who do appreciate your effort!

Edited June 1, 2006 by karalm

[sonicstang05gt]

I like 99% of the people that Kzinti has helped are extremely grateful for his efforts....

 

God forbid he use company time (if that's infact what he was doing) to help out FORD CUSTOMERS....not people looking to buy a car (read as: looking to BECOME Ford customers), people who were already Ford Customers. In most cases spending over $30k per unit (we're not talking about Fiestas and Focuses here).

 

I will be writing and emailing anyone that matters to help support Kzinti.

 

I tried to get info on my 05 GT build from the dealer. I heard the same crap over and over and over...4-6 weeks, 4-6 weeks...how long did it take you ask? 6.5 months! how many "it'll be here in 4-6 weeks" can you squeeze into 6 months. I tried calling Ford Directly and they told me to call me dealer. So to get ANYWHERE with Ford I had to LIE and pose as a dealer to find out anything with my car and that was STILL hard.....

Then came Kzinti...gave me dates thru the entire process. I infact called the dealer at the end and told THEM when my car would be there...they shrugged me off. I showed up at the dealer an hour before my car came in on the truck and they all laughed at me....when my car rolled up w/ my name on the sticker they couldn't believe it....

THAT is customer service...who can I thank? The dealer? No they never tried to help me. The manufacturer...HELL NO...had to LIE to get anywhere with them....it was Kzinti all the way.

 

And this "poor me" union attitude from SWF just sickens me. Take up the slack when someone is gone and quit your bitching. I bet if you put in a real full day of hard work that the rest of us do you could work with 1/2 the employees you have now that won't bitch when 1 is gone and the other 30 of you have to pick up the slack for the 1 missing. For F-sake welcome to the real world!...Get your hands dirty, stop begging for handouts and earn your friggin' paychecks like the rest of us. Stop trashing the guy who helped more individual real world Ford customers in 1 year than you will in your entire career....or job I should say. Unions, besides bad management, is 1 of the reasons Ford and other big US companies are heading the way of GM. Don't see Nissan or Honda with the profitability problems of the US car builders and their market share is a FRACTION of what the US automakers' is. Don't see Nissan or Honda or Toyota putting out family pricing to get more customers in order to sell more units and raise the bottom line a little...simply: those other companies don't HAVE TOO. It's bitching union workers and greedy union management that is the reason (admittedly not the ONLY reason) that Ford is having troubles....

 

If they can't keep their costs low than maybe people like Kzinti will inspire the type of confidence in the industry (specifcally US autobuilders) that will inspire well-treated customers to return again and again.

 

I will endlessly praise Kzinti for what he has done...and can't thank him enough again for what he has done for both me and hundreds, who knows maybe even thousands of ford customers across this country.

 

Sincerely,

 

Chris.

aka: 4wheelkillr (on other forums)

[Red Rocket]

Kzinti was a great help to me, as I was going through the process of waiting for my car to be built. My dealer was trying to be helpful, but I'm an information junkie, and I didn't get all the information that I wanted through the dealer. With a copy of the DORA, I knew some of what I wanted to know, but it wasn't really enough!

 

Searching around on the web, I found Kzinti's posts of vehicle status checks for others, and decided to join the crowd of anxious parents-to-be, waiting to read the joyous news of their pony's birth!!

 

It was relief to know that someone was looking out for me, helping me to keep track of progress, that someone else cared about my car as much as I did! That's what I felt Kzinti did for all of us who visited his forum!

 

I'm very disappointed that he's no longer able to post this information! It's a great loss to all the expectant pony parents, and to those of us who have already shared in the excitement.

 

Kzinti - Hope all is well with you, and your family! Thank you for all you have done!

 

Rocket

[Professor Wizard]

I will surely miss the K Man and what he did for us.

 

Now that were “Here†in time… lets be realistic.

 

Don’t hold your breath! This one is going to be lengthy!

 

Although Kzinti was of a GREAT service to everyone, and we will sorely miss him. What he did was most likely without approval or permission of Corporate Management. Possibly without even without their knowledge. (You cannot assume because something is “common knowledge†that those who should know, will know!).

 

I would think Ford has policies against the sharing of any information obtained through the Ford Proprietary Internal Network to the public. In sharing such information with us on the status of our cars, K Man violated several Corporate Policies I am sure. SWF made it quite obvious that the Union would have problems with it all. So our friend pretty much is going to have to fight this on his own as you can pretty much figure the union isn’t going to be of much help.

 

I would venture to bet – that is why our buddy at ford was stifled. And now we just have to wait while he works though the system to find out the end result.

 

I do want to point out something. WE are NOT Ford Customers… the Dealerships are Fords Customers, and we are the Dealerships Customers. In the eyes of Ford Executive Management – it is NOT “US†who buy the cars from Ford, it is the Dealerships that buy the cars from Ford – and we in turn buy the cars from the Dealerships. THAT is how the entire system is setup and designed.

 

Ford could give a crap if we ever bought another Ford product as long as the dealerships continued to buy the cars.

 

This is their model… Ford sells cars to dealerships, and the dealerships sell cars to us. Not a new model, in fact a very old and antiquated model, still used buy most American Corporations for the last couple hundred years.

 

Customer Service that exists at Ford, is designed to serve the Dealerships.. NOT the End Buyers. Hence, when you call the Robot Lady to get your status – you have to pretend to be a dealership, especially if you talk to an “Agentâ€. If you tell the agent you are a buyer and have a car on order he/she will tell you they can’t help you and you are to call your dealership.

 

In effect, there is NO Customer Service in place to help the end buyer. And there never will be as long as Ford’s model is to sell through distributorships.

 

I would predict this:

 

Kzinti will most likely be reprimanded for accessing Corporate Data and sharing it with us therefore breaking corporate policy. In light of the fact that he did so, without personal gain, but instead in an effort to help Ford customers, he will not be fired. But instead will most likely be moved to another position – possibly at another plant. The Union may fine him for breaching some obscure Union rules. Ford IT will take measures to prevent such information being shared with the public in the future. Then the entire matter will simply vanish as if it never happened.

 

Ford will continue to move on, just as it has for the last hundred years. MSF will go on about his electrical work happily ever after now that the guy he doesn’t like is gone, only his team will be one less man – as you can bet if Ford moves Kzinti, they will not replace him.

 

And Finally – because of Fords Business model – we end buyers will simply have to resort to the way things were done prior to Kzinti being around, and the world will continue to turn round and round.

 

The End.

Edited June 2, 2006 by Professor Wizard

[ford4v429]

The End.

 

 

pasting from MF

 

 

 

I gotta disagree a bit Prof-

 

apparently someone up top was aware and mentioned never considered reprimanding...see a couple posts up what acsteele got back. sounds like they are still sorting out wether to go or stop with this to me- the info you gave from BMW is a GREAT point to toss at Ford too- Kzinti started this stuff, others have noticed.

 

I kinda think its just beginning.

[sparks will fly]

I will surely miss the K Man and what he did for us.

 

Now that were “Here†in time… lets be realistic.

 

Don’t hold your breath! This one is going to be lengthy!

 

Although Kzinti was of a GREAT service to everyone, and we will sorely miss him. What he did was most likely without approval or permission of Corporate Management. Possibly without even without their knowledge. (You cannot assume because something is “common knowledge†that those who should know, will know!).

 

I would think Ford has policies against the sharing of any information obtained through the Ford Proprietary Internal Network to the public. In sharing such information with us on the status of our cars, K Man violated several Corporate Policies I am sure. SWF made it quite obvious that the Union would have problems with it all. So our friend pretty much is going to have to fight this on his own as you can pretty much figure the union isn’t going to be of much help.

 

I would venture to bet – that is why our buddy at ford was stifled. And now we just have to wait while he works though the system to find out the end result.

 

I do want to point out something. WE are NOT Ford Customers… the Dealerships are Fords Customers, and we are the Dealerships Customers. In the eyes of Ford Executive Management – it is NOT “US†who buy the cars from Ford, it is the Dealerships that buy the cars from Ford – and we in turn buy the cars from the Dealerships. THAT is how the entire system is setup and designed.

 

Ford could give a crap if we ever bought another Ford product as long as the dealerships continued to buy the cars.

 

This is their model… Ford sells cars to dealerships, and the dealerships sell cars to us. Not a new model, in fact a very old and antiquated model, still used buy most American Corporations for the last couple hundred years.

 

Customer Service that exists at Ford, is designed to serve the Dealerships.. NOT the End Buyers. Hence, when you call the Robot Lady to get your status – you have to pretend to be a dealership, especially if you talk to an “Agentâ€. If you tell the agent you are a buyer and have a car on order he/she will tell you they can’t help you and you are to call your dealership.

 

In effect, there is NO Customer Service in place to help the end buyer. And there never will be as long as Ford’s model is to sell through distributorships.

 

I would predict this:

 

Kzinti will most likely be reprimanded for accessing Corporate Data and sharing it with us therefore breaking corporate policy. In light of the fact that he did so, without personal gain, but instead in an effort to help Ford customers, he will not be fired. But instead will most likely be moved to another position – possibly at another plant. The Union may fine him for breaching some obscure Union rules. Ford IT will take measures to prevent such information being shared with the public in the future. Then the entire matter will simply vanish as if it never happened.

 

Ford will continue to move on, just as it has for the last hundred years. MSF will go on about his electrical work happily ever after now that the guy he doesn’t like is gone, only his team will be one less man – as you can bet if Ford moves Kzinti, they will not replace him.

 

And Finally – because of Fords Business model – we end buyers will simply have to resort to the way things were done prior to Kzinti being around, and the world will continue to turn round and round.

 

The End.

 

Thank you for being one of the few that have conveyed the message that I have been trying to send. Some of the people on this fourm have been to ignorant or arrogant to see what is really going on. Either being white collar or blue collar doen't show how "educated" you are, since 4 years of trade school and several years of college don't reflect that in a job title. I feel for someone who talks about going into business while I wonder if they have themselves? The first Bush adminisration helped my first business fail, where I picked up and moved on. The main reason anyone takes a job is for the same reasons, job security, money, benis, and retirement. When I choose to work for Ford I came for those reasons like most there. I have seen the managment side of Ford too, spending 1 year doing that thankless job of getting your ass handed to you by all. So if I speak unkindly about it, I know about it first hand, back when managment still had something to show (balls). As for me "picking up the slack" I take care of what I have to do while at Ford every day, making sure to hold my head up and being proud of who I am and what I do, no slacking off here. My hands get dirty,so do my coveralls, with all the other electricains I am proud to work with, not the "slackers". Those are the people that I would trust my life with when it comes to needing someone are the other side of a piece of equipment working together.

[Professor Wizard]

WOW… I got quoted… … … … … twice even… … … although I didn’t bring up the BMW thing here yet!

 

SWF… I don’t know that I was trying to convey what you said – I do find fault with much of your prior statements. I was trying to present an argument based on some assumed facts and known premise.

 

I find huge faults in Fords business model, and in Managements market decision process. And I blame Ford management directly, for Fords failure in today’s market. It is surprising how such seers could be so blind in a bright light to the obvious!

 

Mistakes were made – at both ends – people (or one person) tried to help… IF you step off of the path and into the puddle, you ARE going to get your shoes muddy! Kzinti has mud on his shoes right now and he is going to have to figure out how to get it off before Ford takes his shoes away for having mud on them.

 

Another Company – Nortel – used that Distributor model up until recently. They still sell and service through distributors, but have realized the value of touching the end buyer and are struggling hard to try to implement communication processes for such. They are finding it is a very difficult thing to do after having ingrained in their culture NOT to touch the end user. Not to mention the Distributors aren’t too happy about that because they feel Nortel is circumventing them and selling direct.

 

If Ford starts implementing communications direct with End Buyers, they will catch the same flack from the dealership that Nortel is from their distributors.

 

Personally, I think Ford disparately needs to provide services to people who order cars! It is the one event where the dealer has little to no value in the process other then being the conduit through which the order must be placed, and the lien holder on the dollars until the car is passed to the customer. ((YES, the dealership has to PAY for the car you ordered WHEN they place the order!)).

 

Personally, I think Ford should not reprimand Kzinti, outside of a serious discussion on what he did wrong and why he should not have done things the way he did and get a written agreement not to ever do such a thing again - - and then allow him to become involved in the development of a “Consumer Communications†project.

 

But then… Ford, I don’t believe, cares much about what I personally think!

Edited June 2, 2006 by Professor Wizard

[ford4v429]

hey Professor-

could you toss up a link to the 'new BMW' Kzinti type customer order tracking? and about that camera to watch the car being built- musta been about a year ago I'd asked Kzinti about a 'rollercoaster cam' type thing to get a shot as they roll off the line- he replied he was going to forward to thier something or other team...hmm- whatta ya think the chances are the competition might be surfin for ideas? I'll google webcrawler to see of an old image of that camera thread is still out there- was before blue oval went down hard...bugging me I cant recall what the group was called at ford he forwarded it to...

 

 

 

 

also- did everyone see this? SWF- hinthint

http://www.blueovalnews.com/index.php?cate...2_articleid=292

Edited June 3, 2006 by ford4v429

[KdF]

The dealerships do not have access to the same data, or networks, K was getting his info from. If they did, there would have been no need for him to look orders up.

 

 

DING! DING! DING!

 

We have a winner.

 

"Your Honor...the Prosecution rests....."

[ford4v429]

 

The dealerships do not have access to the same data, or networks, K was getting his info from. If they did, there would have been no need for him to look orders up.

DING! DING! DING!

We have a winner.

"Your Honor...the Prosecution rests....."

 

 

in a perfect world, the dealers COULD do it- if they had the time...but for instance: last year a guy posted about his 06 order, but mentioned his vinned 05 order was cancelled...I suggested he dig up his old vin and ask Kzinti to look it up, as the way ive read it, a vin=its going to get built... lo an behold his car went to another dealer- sure he wasnt the only guy with a msrp order that got dealer traded for way over sticker(oh, I mean never got built-wink-wink) on the very hot commodity that was the 05 gt. recall reading about 2 guys with priority 99 doras- one was a dealer procedural thing, the other was not- had that guy not gotten info on HIS order from 'other than dealer' he would have gotten his deposit back eventually, but never got his car- and likely woulda told his buddies how upset he was with how 'ford' treated his order. I am of the opinion once you put a deposit/place the order, if the dealer accepts it, its your baby- and any 'rights' to info on it should be yours. only arguements against this I believe will come from dealers that want to keep that 'ford cancelled the order' window open...out of the 7000 Shelbys to get built this year, any odds out of the first few hundred a few might get sidetracked? I'm afraid so, as this is making the 05 mustang gt look like it was plentiful at the time. I wouldnt doubt a couple of fords flagship customers might have had the same fate on early gt40's...who knows. with factory direct access we all would, and this type of behavior would end at the few dealers who allowed it, and THAT would be a huge step in the right direction for ford.

 

If someone could just come up with a way to fix the poor perception of dealer service departments, ford might just be able to fix a couple of their 'competition assisting' problems- one bad apple out there can cost many sales from word of mouth on how 'ford' treated them- although 'ford' had nothing to do with problem. I still think first things first- all repairs should pay the techs the same- as I understand it they lose money on ALL warranty work, yet 'somebody has to do it...' so it often gets thrown on the new guy- and often it shows.

the whole concept of penalizing techs for warranty issues that usually stemmed from factory is a bad model for ford to keep following- no matter if accountants show they're 'saving money' by doing so, they are harming fords reputation in the end- thats something money cant repair.

Edited June 4, 2006 by ford4v429

[Sonic Boom NH]

There is nothing 1 person can do that will save this company, Kzinti included. What he is doing for people is fine, people are happy and he makes Ford look good on this website.

 

 

That is probably the biggest problems with failing companies today of which Ford is a part of. Like it or not Ford is failing and losing sales to its competitors.

 

It’s this type of mindset from top, middle management, and workers on the floor. The thought of waiting on someone else to come along and fix problems, or having meeting after meeting, or waiting for a group of people to solve others problems…

 

Companies that succeed have management AND workers on the floor who have initiative, who are not afraid to try something different and see if it works.

 

People like Kinti are the very people that might SAVE your job from going away. As sick as they may make you feel it is the FACT and it is the TRUTH. Why, because Kzinti, rather he knows it or not, and I suspect he does, knows it is about the customer FIRST and FOREMOST.

 

Without a customer it don’t matter if your in a union or not you will be out of work, out of a job, and on the street looking for another job and hopefully you find one. If Ford were to ever close its doors it will NOT affect the economy in any way, shape, or form because all the other car makers will take over where Ford left off.

 

Ford NEEDS more people like Kzinti as well as your unions need more people like Kzinti because of people like me. I have been a loyal Ford customer for well over 20 years and I am about sick and tired of Ford and their dealerships and customer service. It absolutely sucks, I am tired of their dealerships small and large, lying and cheating us their customers, you can not get straight answers from the dealer because either they do not have a clue, which is most of the time, or they just plain lie.

 

Try to order a vehicle and they will promise you the world OR they look at it as you’re bothering them and just buy something off the lot. I don’t want something off the lot because it is NOT what I want and I am the customer.

 

Bottom line was I am on the line about just plain leaving Ford and was really excited about purchasing a new 2007 Mustang and looking forward to having probably my best experience with Ford with the assistance of Kzinti giving me updates as to the progress or non-progress of an order if I submitted one.

 

Now I may wait on the new Camaro from Chevy. While I know Chevy is not much better then Ford when it comes to customer service they have a few people on the inside that can still provide the kind of information the Kzinti did, maybe not as well.

 

I am just looking for some change, I want a great experience with Ford and it just has not happen in the past 10 years, it keeps getting worse and worse every year, as it does for many other customers, and why Ford is hurting so bad today.

 

Good luck Ford employees and cherish your jobs because one day soon, if things don’t change, you won’t have a job and it’s because us customers DO HAVE THE POWER because without us there is NO NEED for you…

 

 

FORD, how about a BOLD MOVE, how about reinstating Kzinti as the customers link to the inside, it will NOT hurt you and can only help, how about it, think you can live up to your new campaign slogan “BOLD MOVE’S�??

[jkyoder]

The way I see it Kzinti did not have to take time to help any of us track our purchases but I see it as time that was taken to help many of us, the customer through the incredible anticipation of getting our Mustangs or whatever other car he helped located. I only see my side and consider what Kzinti did very helpful. I think that Ford should take note and consider this a benefit to the customer to be able to track your vehicle through the process.

 

I have to agree with you. This is the type of customer focus and service that keeps us wanting to buy the Fords that we all enjoy!

[gregsdart]

I really apreciated the updates on my 06 Mustang GT!

[vistablue mustang]

This is really a no brainer, bring him back let him do what he was doing for us. Also while you at it fire the person in charge or the CRC and put Kzinti in charge, he was friendly and shows a passion for the Ford brand, plus he already works for you. What more can you ask for?

[Hellcat_F6F]

Wow..from reading this thread, one might get the impression that Ford=Mustang, and that's it. Also, it seems that most of the Mustang-happy posters here aren't exactly pro-labor, or more specifically, they don't give a damn about the people who WORK for Ford. They wanted a cool Mustang to park next to their Lexus or Nissan, or ?, the one with the W'04 bumper sticker, and Kzinti helped them out. The fact that Kzinti, in so doing, neglected his JOB responsibilities is irrelevant to them. BTW, when did it become mandatory to be a card carrying republican in order to buy a Mustang? Is the Mustang suspension set up only to turn RIGHT?

[ford4v429]

Wow..from reading this thread, one might get the impression that Ford=Mustang, and that's it. Also, it seems that most of the Mustang-happy posters here aren't exactly pro-labor, or more specifically, they don't give a damn about the people who WORK for Ford. They wanted a cool Mustang to park next to their Lexus or Nissan, or ?, the one with the W'04 bumper sticker, and Kzinti helped them out. The fact that Kzinti, in so doing, neglected his JOB responsibilities is irrelevant to them. BTW, when did it become mandatory to be a card carrying republican in order to buy a Mustang? Is the Mustang suspension set up only to turn RIGHT?

 

whatever went down at KCAP with Kzinti- I have no idea...BUT I do own 5 fords currently, had many others over the years, NEVER owned an import, and threw my vote at Kerry- even though not 'for' kerry (not a bush fan to say the least)...I do love the mustang more than like it- if ford could build some other models as attractive, the tide could turn rather quickly...

what went on with labor/whatever I dont know, and as far as Kzinti goes, really dont care- my thing is I think he had a great idea, and its about time Ford took this ball and ran with it- shouldnt need one electrician in a different plant to figure out what a ford plant could and should be doing to improve customer relationship that currently is 100% cut off at the dealers.

If theres disciplinary/union grievance/whatever brewing over what was done, thats a different issue- I'm sure it will get handled- BUT I still think ford needs to realize that they really do NEED to do this. Its not just mustang-happy-posters that thought this was a good/proper way to update info to sumeone dropping a sizable chunk of change into ford coffers...theres quite a few f-series/fusions/gt(40)'s in the tracking threads too. I edited/pasted a post back at top of this thread with three gt(40)'s listed- at one time.

 

wether Kzinti's methods were right or wrong, this type of 'service' is a nice option to have, and could ONLY improve Ford's image if they would build on it. Anything that makes ford more appealing to buyers is a plus for all of us- most of us have at least indirect ties to auto industry, myself included, so if they sell more cars the company I work for just might get a contract to supply more parts and we need the work too- ford aint the only one losing jobs to Mexico.

[ford4v429]

Well,

yesterday spent 25 minutes on the phone with an associate of Mr. Giombetti's- and email/links to this thread and others being forwarded upstream to proper departments. Funny, getting ahold of ford thru a ford dealer is next to impossible, but if you can figure out how to get around the brickwalls(internet searches), everyone at Ford is as concerned as we all wish they would be...just doesnt always show thru normal communication channels or especially thru the CRC.

 

Anyone out there willing to take a minute to write ford about ways to improve customer perspective, PM me for addresses...these guys seem to welcome direct feedback, and they too are 'ford guys' and want to see things improve. To me Kzinti would be single easiest/biggest thing they could implement today at little to no cost, but I'm sure a lot of others in here got lots of other ideas as well. If enough of us make suggestions/tell them what we want, perhaps we all win next time we go to buy.

[iluvford]

All FoMoCo needs is a 1-800- number for buyers to check their special orders. Period.

[ford4v429]

All FoMoCo needs is a 1-800- number for buyers to check their special orders. Period.

 

I kinda disagree...how could a phone analyst get you your window sticker? and theres also a kinda 'ford guy comraderie' (sp?) that grows with this forum format...I still remember 'stoenr' had a vin only 70 off from my first car, 'ragnar' got built almost the same time, etc...if youve never been hooked on a car, might not make any sense-but seeing all the replies, sharing info, its all a very cool thing...Kzinti gave us all the impression that we had a 'friend at the factory', and thats one of the biggest things American business has dropped the ball with for the past decade...these days 99% of '800/service/support' phones ring in India...while any info is better than no info, the ERL is already offering that. Kzinti was infinitely better.

 

I dicked around almost a year before ordering mine- 3 kids/4 seats was a battle hard won with the wife, then the allocation mess, dealer markups, 05 orders shut off early...finally got my 06 ordered, waited 3 months for the anti-climactic delivery damage at the last second, on a beautiful sunny day right before the time change...couldnt even test drive the darn thing...then 2 more months waiting for replacement to get built- to be picked up in snowy weather- the worst buying experience Ive ever dealt with-

however, had it not been for Kzinti's updates, I woulda walked away long before the first one even got Vinned. Kzinti's updates really kept it exciting, even thru all the BS...Thank God I didnt walk away, as I never woulda known what I was missing- I tell everyone 'go test drive a gt/stick, I dare you not to sign the papers'. These cars are a 100% over the top blast to drive. The Mustang is 'just a car' like the grand canyon 'is just a hole in the ground'- had it not been for Kzinti- I never woulda known...I owe him and his cohorts bigtime- driving wasnt this much fun even when I was 16

 

I feel very strongly that people like Kzinti are as important to ford's turnaround as products like the mustang gt are. I do agree a 800 number at a minuimum should exist- but it already does, and it might as well be a 'call your dealer' loop of tape- CRC needs overhauled, and I think moving it back 'home' would be a good start. However in this day and age of internet access, the forums are hard to beat- yes they could be replaced with a spreadsheet page to type in your info to a cookie that you could click to a link and get updates automatically, but people make all the difference.

 

Why cant a muilti billion dollar corporation take the time to chat with someone spending what can amout to their annual wages on a single product? there is simply no reason that we all dont deserve to know what Kzinti was offering- he saw the void, and tried to fill it best he could- and he was dead-on target in his thinking. Ford has a lot on their plate right now- but implementing Kzinti would be one giant leap in the right direction, and at basically zero cost.

Edited July 3, 2006 by ford4v429

[sparks will fly]

I kinda disagree...how could a phone analyst get you your window sticker? and theres also a kinda 'ford guy comraderie' (sp?) that grows with this forum format...I still remember 'stoenr' had a vin only 70 off from my first car, 'ragnar' got built almost the same time, etc...if youve never been hooked on a car, might not make any sense-but seeing all the replies, sharing info, its all a very cool thing...Kzinti gave us all the impression that we had a 'friend at the factory', and thats one of the biggest things American business has dropped the ball with for the past decade...these days 99% of '800/service/support' phones ring in India...while any info is better than no info, the ERL is already offering that. Kzinti was infinitely better.

 

I dicked around almost a year before ordering mine- 3 kids/4 seats was a battle hard won with the wife, then the allocation mess, dealer markups, 05 orders shut off early...finally got my 06 ordered, waited 3 months for the anti-climactic delivery damage at the last second, on a beautiful sunny day right before the time change...couldnt even test drive the darn thing...then 2 more months waiting for replacement to get built- to be picked up in snowy weather- the worst buying experience Ive ever dealt with-

however, had it not been for Kzinti's updates, I woulda walked away long before the first one even got Vinned. Kzinti's updates really kept it exciting, even thru all the BS...Thank God I didnt walk away, as I never woulda known what I was missing- I tell everyone 'go test drive a gt/stick, I dare you not to sign the papers'. These cars are a 100% over the top blast to drive. The Mustang is 'just a car' like the grand canyon 'is just a hole in the ground'- had it not been for Kzinti- I never woulda known...I owe him and his cohorts bigtime- driving wasnt this much fun even when I was 16

 

I feel very strongly that people like Kzinti are as important to ford's turnaround as products like the mustang gt are. I do agree a 800 number at a minuimum should exist- but it already does, and it might as well be a 'call your dealer' loop of tape- CRC needs overhauled, and I think moving it back 'home' would be a good start. However in this day and age of internet access, the forums are hard to beat- yes they could be replaced with a spreadsheet page to type in your info to a cookie that you could click to a link and get updates automatically, but people make all the difference.

 

Why cant a muilti billion dollar corporation take the time to chat with someone spending what can amout to their annual wages on a single product? there is simply no reason that we all dont deserve to know what Kzinti was offering- he saw the void, and tried to fill it best he could- and he was dead-on target in his thinking. Ford has a lot on their plate right now- but implementing Kzinti would be one giant leap in the right direction, and at basically zero cost.

 

Sooner or later Ford will get thier sh!t together and do this only a matter of time. Sorry 429 but your post reads like a mid-life crisis 100%. I have never had a car as fun to drive as my first car a 72 mustang mach 1. I guess I got alot of that out of my system early, of corse it never all goes away. Now I would like to buy a new mustang and put it away for the day when my 4 year old is ready to drive. This way he could say his first car was his most fun.

 

I am with you on the internet being the best way to put it out there for all to see .

[ford4v429]

Sooner or later Ford will get thier sh!t together and do this only a matter of time. Sorry 429 but your post reads like a mid-life crisis 100%. I have never had a car as fun to drive as my first car a 72 mustang mach 1. I guess I got alot of that out of my system early, of corse it never all goes away. Now I would like to buy a new mustang and put it away for the day when my 4 year old is ready to drive. This way he could say his first car was his most fun.

 

I am with you on the internet being the best way to put it out there for all to see .

midlife crisis- maybe... I always thought 2 seat convertibles(miata?) were midlife crisis cars? mines just my everyday work car, but whatever- still the most fun Ive ever had driving. My 3rd car was a 69 mustang fastback(still have it) with a 302-2v. while it was a fun car, it was loose as hell and downright sluggish in every way compared to the new one. braking/turning/bodyroll...only thing that feels close at all might be acceleration as the older cars were more torky- but it only ran a 15.6 in the 1/4, so I KNOW the new one basically would run away and hide too...only car Ive ever driven that was tight as the new mustang was a cousins firebird- forget what they called it, had the 350 motor- ran great(way more torque than the 4.6), handled great, but didnt 'fit' as comfortably, and I didnt really care for the looks either. Prior to the mustang, my prior favorite would be my 89 Mark VII LSC (still have it too)...great all around car, but I think Ive drove it once since the mustang showed up- just really dont miss it.

 

I gotta think maybe you havent taken a new gt/stick for a spin yet? you might be suprised as to how well it all works together - try it- youll like it

 

gotta go- my 8 yr old said 'daddy we need to get that bigblock done' so were getting started finally on the old mustangs next power source. had fun this morning busting it all down- think I *might* know of a set of boss429 heads for it too- the gears are turning...

[wildosvt]

Well I sure wish Kzinti could track my order for me.

 

Im stuck with the stupid guy from INdia.

[tjp80]

Wow..from reading this thread, one might get the impression that Ford=Mustang, and that's it. Also, it seems that most of the Mustang-happy posters here aren't exactly pro-labor, or more specifically, they don't give a damn about the people who WORK for Ford. They wanted a cool Mustang to park next to their Lexus or Nissan, or ?, the one with the W'04 bumper sticker, and Kzinti helped them out. The fact that Kzinti, in so doing, neglected his JOB responsibilities is irrelevant to them. BTW, when did it become mandatory to be a card carrying republican in order to buy a Mustang? Is the Mustang suspension set up only to turn RIGHT?

you are a clown :titanic:

[tjp80]

Wow..from reading this thread, one might get the impression that Ford=Mustang, and that's it. Also, it seems that most of the Mustang-happy posters here aren't exactly pro-labor, or more specifically, they don't give a damn about the people who WORK for Ford. They wanted a cool Mustang to park next to their Lexus or Nissan, or ?, the one with the W'04 bumper sticker, and Kzinti helped them out. The fact that Kzinti, in so doing, neglected his JOB responsibilities is irrelevant to them. BTW, when did it become mandatory to be a card carrying republican in order to buy a Mustang? Is the Mustang suspension set up only to turn RIGHT?

you are a bigger fool than i can dream of. My new mustang being delivered monday :happy feet: and i found that info calling the # on this site and tracked it ,my dealer today told me ' they did not know that' it was suposed to be delivered in jan . so now i have to buy airline tickets to pick up the car 2 months early how easy would that have been to have know 3 weeks ago and i work for a living and my new mustang is parked next to my new ford 350 super duty which i work with everyday and you should be glad i have a intrest in my mustang because me buying cars keeps you working and my daughter say your a jerk and usually i dont like her to say anything bad but in your case i forgive her :bowdown: