An open letter to Ford.

[CriticalB]

(please post your letter to Ford Motor Co. )

Dear Ford.
When I make a reservation at a restaurant, I expect walk-ins will not be served before me. But in your case, that seems to be ok with you. Dealer allocations have created an unfair environment and have alienated your customers. Your commitment should be with your customers in order of their reservation. We completely understand supply chain issues. But allowing walk ins to get a VIN number and build date when I had a reservation in July 2020 is down right insulting. Please get your priorities straight. Customer is supposed to come first.

Steve Dey

"Furthermore, when I order a pepperoni pizza, I expect to receive a pepperoni pizza for the price shown on the website. I do not expect the delivery driver to add toppings I do not want and charge extra, then refuse to give me my pizza when I complain."

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[Cornbred]

The point of this thread is... Ford announced that if one spent $100 and reserved a Bronco they would be first in line to receive a Bronco, “We will fill reservation holders order first” is what I remember hearing/reading. Nothing was said about dealer allocation at that time. Ford changed the rules on reservation holders and I understand the constraints Ford is dealing with in regards to supply of some parts etc. People being upset with seeing non reservation holders getting their orders filled is warranted. The reality of it is that reservation holders got F’ed and are still getting F’ed.

 

[FJ 432]

I believe the history of the 6G Bronco will be written this way. Ford designs and develop the perfect vehicle to compete and surpass an icon, Wrangler. They view off road enthusiasts as their target and decide to use a "never done before" reservation system to help market their new model.

A perfect storm hits just before the launch, COVID 19. At this point Ford has two choices: delay the launch or plow ahead. They decide a small delay and pull the trigger. The first wave that hits them was a overwhelming response from their customers, 125,000 reservations. "Oh shit, I have a tiger by the tail". The second wave was Webasto and the top failure. Poor choice as a supplier. The final wave was the lingering effects of COVID which was the supply chain issues.

Listen, I am a Toyota fan. The old me would have liked to poke fun at Ford's expense. If Ford had to do it all over again they probably should have waited.

However, I have to credit the Bronco's launch as a type of retreat from all the other madness going on in the world.

 

[idobleedblue]

I've noticed that most people getting a VIN are the ones ordering a 4 door soft top. base or big bend

"most"... but definitely not all. Day 2 res and got my VIN last week for this:

• 4-door badlands
• 2.7L
• Sasquatch
• MIC hard top
• LUX
• Towing package
• HD Mod Bumper
• MGV seats
• Door and panel covers

I haven't gotten upset or really even cared about the wait thus far because I pretty much did my reservation and order and then just forgot about it until my dealer contacted me last week. I understand the excitement, but I tempered my excitement until I saw there was actual movement on my particular build... that way I wouldn't be checking links every week/day and getting frustrated when I didn't see any progress. Yeah... I worked hard, and saved, and "deserve" and this and that... but I also understand it gets here when it gets here. I won't allow myself to become offended, or hurt, or PO'd or whatever just because someone else gets theirs before mine. Life is way too short to focus on, dwell on, and worry about those things that are out of my control.

 

[Badlux]

Dear Steve,

We do not give two shits.

--Ford

One Shit would be acceptable.

 

[Garemlin]

I've noticed that most people getting a VIN are the ones ordering a 4 door soft top. base or big bend

In most cases this is true. But I have seen several instances of people who walked in and ordered and were scheduled a few weeks later with identical builds to people who have been waiting since day one. That makes absolutely zero sense.

 

[ScottyScooter]

if you want to run with this restaurant analogy, then it's kind of like this...

You walk into an extremely busy restaurant with a reservation. They sit you at a table and take your order immediately. The problem is, you ordered the steak dinner and they're out of steak. They tell you more steak is coming but it could be a long time. Well, you really really wanted steak so you decide to wait it out.

Now you notice that a lot of other people in the restaurant are eating and enjoying their meals. People who arrived long after you are being served food. You wave down your waiter and ask him the reason for this, and he explains that they all ordered the fish. He asks if you want to change your order to fish and you tell him no, I want steak!

Do you think at this point they should shut down service and announce to the packed restaurant "we are no longer serving any more food until this man gets his steak! This man had a reservation!" It doesn't work like that. All the reservation did was allowed you to place your order before everybody else, but that doesn't really matter if you ordered something that they don't have.

 

[22OBX]

In most cases this is true. But I have seen several instances of people who walked in and ordered and were scheduled a few weeks later with identical builds to people who have been waiting since day one. That makes absolutely zero sense.

It does when their is allocation. I would go to say every vehicle that is being manufactured to be sold in the US is most likely under allocation. How someone wouldn't think there would be allocation on this with 120,000 reservations and the ability to build 10,000 per month is beyond me. Buyers and Dealers tried to beat the system by trying to beat the system and therefore many are still waiting. Allocation is the only thing that makes sense to make sure everyone has fair opportunity to get access regardless of a reservation that allowed you to place a dealer order.

 

[Compta38]

I believe the history of the 6G Bronco will be written this way. Ford designs and develop the perfect vehicle to compete and surpass an icon, Wrangler. They view off road enthusiasts as their target and decide to use a "never done before" reservation system to help market their new model.

A perfect storm hits just before the launch, COVID 19. At this point Ford has two choices: delay the launch or plow ahead. They decide a small delay and pull the trigger. The first wave that hits them was a overwhelming response from their customers, 125,000 reservations. "Oh shit, I have a tiger by the tail". The second wave was Webasto and the top failure. Poor choice as a supplier. The final wave was the lingering effects of COVID which was the supply chain issues.

Listen, I am a Toyota fan. The old me would have liked to poke fun at Ford's expense. If Ford had to do it all over again they probably should have waited.

However, I have to credit the Bronco's launch as a type of retreat from all the other madness going on in the world.

Bronco wasn't revealed until 7 months after Covid hit the US. If they weren't ready for launch then they shouldn't have revealed, taken our money or told us we would be first in line to get the damn things. That excuse also runs short when Ford is making plenty of constraint filled Broncos that are going to non reservation folks because they picked the right dealers.

All we ask is the vehicles are built in TIMESTAMP ORDER. If they run out of parts for a build then it goes up the line the following month. There is ZERO reason why a walk in should be getting a Bronco right now when MANY of us have waited since 7/2020.

 

[Lil Red Broncette]

I've noticed that most people getting a VIN are the ones ordering a 4 door soft top. base or big bend

Certainly not always.... First week reservation 2020 with Jan order, Oct MY22 roll over, still nothing...put in a second order end of November 21, some 15 months after that, both 2 door MIC top and the second order has a build date already.

It is like I been sitting in the lobby waiting to be brought in for my reserved table watching walk-ins being seated so I stepped outside and came back in to be seated as a walk-in. It's stupid.

 

[Compta38]

It does when their is allocation. I would go to say every vehicle that is being manufactured to be sold in the US is most likely under allocation. How someone wouldn't think there would be allocation on this with 120,000 reservations and the ability to build 10,000 per month is beyond me. Buyers and Dealers tried to beat the system by trying to beat the system and therefore many are still waiting. Allocation is the only thing that makes sense to make sure everyone has fair opportunity to get access regardless of a reservation that allowed you to place a dealer order.

allocation is great and all until you see one dealer pulling 29 scheduled builds this month with only 200 orders while other dealers have 400+ orders and are getting a paltry 6-10 per month or even skipped a month which HAS happened. Basically MANY people that reserved within the first 12 hours of reveal won't even get a 2022 while walk ins will continue to get scheduled. How ridiculous is this?

Mark my words...there will be dealer stock sitting on lots this year at some locations while many people get the shaft. I honestly hope this ends up burning Ford so hard even as much as I want this vehicle

 

[BadK22]

If Ford truly cared about getting the reservations knocked out, they would offer unscheduled reservation holders similar builds which were cancelled. I have seen my exact build for sale at countless dealers across the country with $15k+ markups.

The problem is, they are more worried about keeping their dealers happy and have forgotten who the true customer is. While the dealer is also one of their customers, they are not the final customer. You keep the final customer happy and then accommodate others upstream as you can. You would think a 118 year old company should have that figured out by now.

 

[gtx_bronc]

Nobody made Ford take reservations.

They marketed, launched, promised and sold the vehicle that way (along with a lot of other promises they ended up breaking).

Ford was rewarded by using that approach with a metric ton of reservations as well as early buying preferences from actual customers lining up. The Street was very happy as well.

It was a bait and switch tactic that you normally get from one of their slime-ball dealerships not the Mothership.

It is painfully clear that no matter what comes out of Fords mouth, they have zero intention on being customer focused. They will continue to cater to their large dealership network at the expense of everything and everyone else.

Exactly this.... Ford gives ZERO shits about the consumer

As a consumer the only voice they listen to is when you speak with your wallet. If you sit on here and complain but still buy their product it is a validation of their tactics. So either go buy a jeep and tag them on every social media you can as a "F you and your Bronco BS" or shut up and take it when they feel like giving it to you.

 

[BC overlanding]

Yup, I am waiting for the right G wagon to come up.

nice ride for sure but the Wagon is not even in the same ballpark off-road

 

[1975U15]

if you want to run with this restaurant analogy, then it's kind of like this...

You walk into an extremely busy restaurant with a reservation. They sit you at a table and take your order immediately. The problem is, you ordered the steak dinner and they're out of steak. They tell you more steak is coming but it could be a long time. Well, you really really wanted steak so you decide to wait it out.

Now you notice that a lot of other people in the restaurant are eating and enjoying their meals. People who arrived long after you are being served food. You wave down your waiter and ask him the reason for this, and he explains that they all ordered the fish. He asks if you want to change your order to fish and you tell him no, I want steak!

Do you think at this point they should shut down service and announce to the packed restaurant "we are no longer serving any more food until this man gets his steak! This man had a reservation!" It doesn't work like that. All the reservation did was allowed you to place your order before everybody else, but that doesn't really matter if you ordered something that they don't have.

Not bad. But it's more like those that came in after the person that wants steak, some of them got steak.

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