Ford's failure to deliver and communicate

[Roger123]

After being a day two reservation holder we feel pretty fortunate that were were able to get our BL (with tow) in Jan of this year. I'm convinced that it somehow "slipped through the cracks". By what I was seeing at the time there were a bunch of us that seemed to get pushed though the end of last year. Maybe they needed a push for some sort of metrics? Ice Mountain was pretty large back then and I just assumed we'd never get our car.

Ford is way screwed up. Our connected navigation ran out in mar and I've been trying ever since to get it turned back on. Ford is not able to take $80 from me for the service. They say our card is expired, even after adding good cards to the account and sending them screenshots of said unexpired cards in the account.

They keep coming up with excuse after excuse of why it fails and they keep having me do the same thing over and over again and they are expecting different results, we all know what that is right?

They can't take the money and they refuse to give me the service for free after running my card upwards of 20 times and sending them pictures of my account showing valid cards.

They have the "customer service" folks that can do absolutely nothing other than communicate with the "back office", yes, the email actually says they sent it to the "back office" for review. WTF is that all about??!!

No one can help.

Ford is really just a joke at this point.

Sponsored

 

[Red Mountain Pass]

Dear OP,

That was a very thoughtful and seemingly well informed article you wrote. You obviously understand that it could be gross incompetence, willful deception, either or both. There is also a third option that a lot of Ford Bronco buyers are unaware of.

Please allow me to express that third option with a gif.

~Somebody at Ford

 

[Booback]

This post is intended to address Ford's failure to timely fulfill Bronco orders and failure to meaningfully communicate with order holders.

I reserved a Bronco on 8/3/20, and placed my order on 2/18/21 for a 4-door OBX with MIC. On 10/28/21, I converted my order to a soft top on the recommendation of my Dealer salesperson who advised that doing so would speed up the timeline on when I would receive the vehicle (sigh). Ford originally provided me a with 12/20/21 build date. Thereafter Ford delayed my build week five separate times (indeed, at one point Ford delayed my build week twice in less than a 48-hour timeframe), until it was finally changed to the week of 3/14/22. To the extent the Tracker can be relied on (it cannot), my Bronco has been “In Production” since 3/18/22. Similarly, at one point my ETA was 4/7-13. That ETA has since been delayed at least 3 times (that I know of) to 6/3, 6/8, and most recently 6/23. I have no confidence that my 6/23 ETA will hold.

I enjoy working with folks at my Dealer; they are good people who are not all responsible for Ford’s abject failure to deliver. But my Dealer rep tells me Ford gives him no information. The Manager of my Dealership tells me Ford gives him no information. Said Manager called his Ford rep on my behalf – and then relayed back to me that his Ford rep had no information. I’ve repeatedly called Ford’s Customer Service who initially provided the (scripted) response that I should speak with my Dealer as the Dealer would have the pertinent information. I then proceeded to explain that I have done so, countless times, and they do not, in fact, have any information. But alas, Customer Service then tells me that they too have no information. Instead, they typically then refer me to Marketing HQ (I’ve spoken to three different individuals there over the past month) and, none of them have any information either with the exception of the aforementioned (and completely unreliable) “ETAs.” Making matters worse, on some calls the Marketing HQ representative tells me my Bronco is not on chip hold. On other calls they tell me that my Bronco is, in fact, on chip hold. One Marketing HQ representative told me that the “ETA” is when my Dealer will receive my Bronco from Ford. Yet on a separate call with a different Marketing HQ representative, I was told that “ETA” signifies only when my Bronco will ship from the plant. When I point out these inconsistencies and seek to reconcile them on calls with Marketing HQ, I get non-answers.

What I do hear a lot about when speaking with Ford reps, however, is the party line about difficulties they’ve experienced producing these vehicles in a timely fashion due to COVID and supply chain disruptions. Do you know who else has experienced pandemic and supply chain disruptions? Practically every significant manufacturer in the world! And as someone who professionally counsels business and manufacturers, particularly in navigating those COVID/supply chain disruptions in the past couple years, I am personally unaware of any significant manufacturer who has failed so abysmally as Ford.

But let’s assume, for the sake of argument, that all of Ford’s present challenges were unforeseeable and let’s further assume Ford’s inability to mitigate those challenges, in the years since they did become known, could also be excused. That which no pandemic, chip shortage, trucking delay, etc., can excuse is Ford’s absolute failure and breakdown in customer service and communication. Ford’s failure to communicate with at least this order holder is astonishing. And the lack of information Ford makes available to its customer service and Marketing HQ personnel is shocking. Among the questions I’ve put to them – on multiple occasions:

• How many Broncos are currently “In Production”?
• What is the holdup in the completion of my build? Is it a chip hold or is the delay on account of some other part?
• How many other Broncos are similarly on hold? Hundreds? Thousands? Tens of thousands?
• How many Broncos that are “In Production” for whatever reason and due to be completed before mine?
• What is Ford doing to resolve those issues?
• Did Ford order new chips or seek to source them elsewhere and, if so, when?
• Assuming Ford has sought to procure additional microchips, did Ford order enough to fulfill its current backlog of “In Production” orders?
• When does Ford expect to start receiving those chips?
• How is Ford prioritizing the build of Broncos? FIFO? Is Ford prioritizing orders placed through certain dealerships over others?
• Is Ford really going to reopen its order banks for the Model Year 2023 before clearing out the backorders?
• Is Ford going to start producing new orders before fulfilling the prior orders?
• Without even seeking a specific date – does Ford reasonably think I’ll receive my Bronco in Q3? Before year end? By mid-2023?

In response to these, and practically every other question I ask, the answer is always the same: “I don’t have that information” and/or “Ford doesn’t give me that information.” But here’s the thing: the answers to those questions are knowable. Somebody at Ford knows how many orders remain in the “In Production” purgatory. Somebody at Ford knows how many Broncos are scheduled to be completed before mine. Somebody at Ford knows when, approximately, and assuming everything goes to plan (assuming there is one), I could reasonably expect to receive my Bronco. But Ford is choosing to *not* communicate that to order holders (despite their patience to-date). And, Ford is also choosing to not give access to that information to its customer-facing personnel. In so-doing, Ford is intentionally depriving order holders from the ability to make informed decisions. To illustrate, if there are only 200 Broncos likewise on-hold and/or scheduled to be built before mine – that is one thing. If, on the other hand, there are 20,000 Broncos on-hold and/or scheduled to be built before mine – that is quite another thing, and the disclosure of that info may cause me to pursue another vehicle. Ford knows this. Ford still chooses a total lack of transparency.

What is even the point of providing customers with a Build Date that doesn’t hold? Why even bother providing ETAs that don’t get met? Is Ford proud of its meaningless and infuriating Tracker?

I have a hard time accepting that a Company as long-standing and successful as Ford has been historically is actually this inept at operations and customer service. Rather, at this point, I am beginning to suspect that Ford took its 150K+ ’21 Bronco orders *knowing* that Ford could not timely fulfill those orders, so it could reflect high demand on its books or to achieve some other share-price motivated purpose.

It is difficult to comprehend the good will Ford has lost as a consequence of this process. No amount of flags, hammocks, or swag can make up for the complete lack of trust and confidence I now have in the Company.

To be clear – all of the people with whom I’ve actually interacted about this order process – my Dealer salesperson, the Dealer Manager, the customer service personnel at Ford, the people at Marketing HQ – have been professional and courteous (and also apologetic). None of this is on them. But someone at Ford is responsible for this botched rollout. Again, even if Ford’s inability to secure parts and timely complete builds could be completely excused, there is no valid excuse for the Company’s horrendous customer service and lack of communication.

For those of you who have already received your Bronco – I’m happy for you and hope you enjoy the vehicle. I'm envious of your posts and pics. For those of you who advise it's worth the wait - I hope you're right. But for those of you who, like me, continue waiting – regrettably I don’t see this situation improving until those individuals at Ford who do have information and are in a position to provide more transparency are properly motivated to take accountability and address the situation.

Thousands of us reserved before you and aren’t even in production yet - with zero contact from @Ford Motor Company - they don’t care.

 

[BottleShark]

ture

 

[TX_Bronco77]

This post is intended to address Ford's failure to timely fulfill Bronco orders and failure to meaningfully communicate with order holders.

I reserved a Bronco on 8/3/20, and placed my order on 2/18/21 for a 4-door OBX with MIC. On 10/28/21, I converted my order to a soft top on the recommendation of my Dealer salesperson who advised that doing so would speed up the timeline on when I would receive the vehicle (sigh). Ford originally provided me a with 12/20/21 build date. Thereafter Ford delayed my build week five separate times (indeed, at one point Ford delayed my build week twice in less than a 48-hour timeframe), until it was finally changed to the week of 3/14/22. To the extent the Tracker can be relied on (it cannot), my Bronco has been “In Production” since 3/18/22. Similarly, at one point my ETA was 4/7-13. That ETA has since been delayed at least 3 times (that I know of) to 6/3, 6/8, and most recently 6/23. I have no confidence that my 6/23 ETA will hold.

I enjoy working with folks at my Dealer; they are good people who are not all responsible for Ford’s abject failure to deliver. But my Dealer rep tells me Ford gives him no information. The Manager of my Dealership tells me Ford gives him no information. Said Manager called his Ford rep on my behalf – and then relayed back to me that his Ford rep had no information. I’ve repeatedly called Ford’s Customer Service who initially provided the (scripted) response that I should speak with my Dealer as the Dealer would have the pertinent information. I then proceeded to explain that I have done so, countless times, and they do not, in fact, have any information. But alas, Customer Service then tells me that they too have no information. Instead, they typically then refer me to Marketing HQ (I’ve spoken to three different individuals there over the past month) and, none of them have any information either with the exception of the aforementioned (and completely unreliable) “ETAs.” Making matters worse, on some calls the Marketing HQ representative tells me my Bronco is not on chip hold. On other calls they tell me that my Bronco is, in fact, on chip hold. One Marketing HQ representative told me that the “ETA” is when my Dealer will receive my Bronco from Ford. Yet on a separate call with a different Marketing HQ representative, I was told that “ETA” signifies only when my Bronco will ship from the plant. When I point out these inconsistencies and seek to reconcile them on calls with Marketing HQ, I get non-answers.

What I do hear a lot about when speaking with Ford reps, however, is the party line about difficulties they’ve experienced producing these vehicles in a timely fashion due to COVID and supply chain disruptions. Do you know who else has experienced pandemic and supply chain disruptions? Practically every significant manufacturer in the world! And as someone who professionally counsels business and manufacturers, particularly in navigating those COVID/supply chain disruptions in the past couple years, I am personally unaware of any significant manufacturer who has failed so abysmally as Ford.

But let’s assume, for the sake of argument, that all of Ford’s present challenges were unforeseeable and let’s further assume Ford’s inability to mitigate those challenges, in the years since they did become known, could also be excused. That which no pandemic, chip shortage, trucking delay, etc., can excuse is Ford’s absolute failure and breakdown in customer service and communication. Ford’s failure to communicate with at least this order holder is astonishing. And the lack of information Ford makes available to its customer service and Marketing HQ personnel is shocking. Among the questions I’ve put to them – on multiple occasions:

• How many Broncos are currently “In Production”?
• What is the holdup in the completion of my build? Is it a chip hold or is the delay on account of some other part?
• How many other Broncos are similarly on hold? Hundreds? Thousands? Tens of thousands?
• How many Broncos that are “In Production” for whatever reason and due to be completed before mine?
• What is Ford doing to resolve those issues?
• Did Ford order new chips or seek to source them elsewhere and, if so, when?
• Assuming Ford has sought to procure additional microchips, did Ford order enough to fulfill its current backlog of “In Production” orders?
• When does Ford expect to start receiving those chips?
• How is Ford prioritizing the build of Broncos? FIFO? Is Ford prioritizing orders placed through certain dealerships over others?
• Is Ford really going to reopen its order banks for the Model Year 2023 before clearing out the backorders?
• Is Ford going to start producing new orders before fulfilling the prior orders?
• Without even seeking a specific date – does Ford reasonably think I’ll receive my Bronco in Q3? Before year end? By mid-2023?

In response to these, and practically every other question I ask, the answer is always the same: “I don’t have that information” and/or “Ford doesn’t give me that information.” But here’s the thing: the answers to those questions are knowable. Somebody at Ford knows how many orders remain in the “In Production” purgatory. Somebody at Ford knows how many Broncos are scheduled to be completed before mine. Somebody at Ford knows when, approximately, and assuming everything goes to plan (assuming there is one), I could reasonably expect to receive my Bronco. But Ford is choosing to *not* communicate that to order holders (despite their patience to-date). And, Ford is also choosing to not give access to that information to its customer-facing personnel. In so-doing, Ford is intentionally depriving order holders from the ability to make informed decisions. To illustrate, if there are only 200 Broncos likewise on-hold and/or scheduled to be built before mine – that is one thing. If, on the other hand, there are 20,000 Broncos on-hold and/or scheduled to be built before mine – that is quite another thing, and the disclosure of that info may cause me to pursue another vehicle. Ford knows this. Ford still chooses a total lack of transparency.

What is even the point of providing customers with a Build Date that doesn’t hold? Why even bother providing ETAs that don’t get met? Is Ford proud of its meaningless and infuriating Tracker?

I have a hard time accepting that a Company as long-standing and successful as Ford has been historically is actually this inept at operations and customer service. Rather, at this point, I am beginning to suspect that Ford took its 150K+ ’21 Bronco orders *knowing* that Ford could not timely fulfill those orders, so it could reflect high demand on its books or to achieve some other share-price motivated purpose.

It is difficult to comprehend the good will Ford has lost as a consequence of this process. No amount of flags, hammocks, or swag can make up for the complete lack of trust and confidence I now have in the Company.

To be clear – all of the people with whom I’ve actually interacted about this order process – my Dealer salesperson, the Dealer Manager, the customer service personnel at Ford, the people at Marketing HQ – have been professional and courteous (and also apologetic). None of this is on them. But someone at Ford is responsible for this botched rollout. Again, even if Ford’s inability to secure parts and timely complete builds could be completely excused, there is no valid excuse for the Company’s horrendous customer service and lack of communication.

For those of you who have already received your Bronco – I’m happy for you and hope you enjoy the vehicle. I'm envious of your posts and pics. For those of you who advise it's worth the wait - I hope you're right. But for those of you who, like me, continue waiting – regrettably I don’t see this situation improving until those individuals at Ford who do have information and are in a position to provide more transparency are properly motivated to take accountability and address the situation.

 

[mpeugeot]

@Ford Motor Company wants to congratulate you on your new Bronco, and wants you to know that they are working hard to deliver your 2021 Bronco.

In all fairness, Ford did outperform the ATF. Not that taking over 12 months to process a Tax Stamp was a high bar.

 

[Bud2020]

I'll lay 10 min to lock... Lol

I’ll take the over.

 

[66GT]

Stay pumped!

FORD'S DICTIONARY OF BRONCO TERMS
Staying Pumped (v): B6G members gathering their Bronco swag, huddling with their hammock and flag in a corner, rocking back and forth in the fetal position while texting Customer Support every Thursday to see if their Bronco finally has a build date, actually believing they will have their Day 1 reservation Bronco before they get to "Skiing Sasquatch" on their 2022 desk calendar.

 

[TX_Bronco77]

Ford's Dictionary of Bronco Terms
Staying Pumped (v): B6G members gathering their Bronco swag, huddling with their hammock and flag in a corner, rocking back and forth in the fetal position while texting Customer Support every Thursday to see if their Bronco finally has a build date, actually believing they will have their Day 1 reservation Bronco before they get to "Skiing Sasquatch" on their 2022 desk calendar.

As someone who is sitting in front of a Bronco calendar, hammock still in the box, and Bronco flag on the wall I resemble that remark.

 

[66GT]

As someone who is sitting in front of a Bronco calendar, hammock still in the box, and Bronco flag on the wall I resemble that remark.

Way to stay pumped!

 

[66GT]

Especially when you are trying to make it with greased pigs hyped up on cocaine...

... a little lipstick, and you got yoself a paarty!

... wait... who's hyped up on coke? ... you or the pig?

 

[Spidurfiji]

The problem is Ford planned the reserve>order>delivery> tracker well before the Pandemic was a thing. Good plans of Mice and Men and all, but obviously the tracker doesn't work when the entire supply chain and product distribution of the world is FUBAR. Being in the business of building and maintaining major integrated systems (I'm speaking of nationwide enterprise data systems) during the pandemic, just trying to get new Cisco servers to replace EOL hardware is a serious challenge. Manufacturing an automobile with some 40,000 parts from a worldwide supply chain in a just-in-time manufacturing environment, well f*ck, I'm surprised we are not hearing a lot more about manufacturing professionals shooting themselves in the head (or taking early retirement).

But yet Ford has left the tracker up and available. Another terrible decision by Ford if they cant get the backlog underwraps.

What I dont understand is that many on this forum fail to acknowledge that those of us waiting on Broncos staged in various versions of Dirt and Ice Mountain have been extremely patient. But what we witness is hundreds to thousands of vehicles going into production after ours, then completed and delivered while we wait. Sure there have been isolated chip shortages, but Ford has made the decision to prioritize the active line and has no secondary line to retrofit the “on wheels inventory.” I think most of us understand this decision, but I believe it’s totally fair for us to expect some real communication 5 months or longer in. Maybe if Ford had the courage to be honest upfront (because it’s clear to me Ford knew they couldnt work through the tabled inventory quickly), this situation would be better. I certainly would have more respect for the company.

So maybe we disgruntled customers could cut down the bitching posts and contain our gripes to the weekly production threads. But, please stop the lectures about global supply issues.

 

[FastAndLight]

This post is intended to address Ford's failure to timely fulfill Bronco orders and failure to meaningfully communicate with order holders.

I reserved a Bronco on 8/3/20, and placed my order on 2/18/21 for a 4-door OBX with MIC. On 10/28/21, I converted my order to a soft top on the recommendation of my Dealer salesperson who advised that doing so would speed up the timeline on when I would receive the vehicle (sigh). Ford originally provided me a with 12/20/21 build date. Thereafter Ford delayed my build week five separate times (indeed, at one point Ford delayed my build week twice in less than a 48-hour timeframe), until it was finally changed to the week of 3/14/22. To the extent the Tracker can be relied on (it cannot), my Bronco has been “In Production” since 3/18/22. Similarly, at one point my ETA was 4/7-13. That ETA has since been delayed at least 3 times (that I know of) to 6/3, 6/8, and most recently 6/23. I have no confidence that my 6/23 ETA will hold.

I enjoy working with folks at my Dealer; they are good people who are not all responsible for Ford’s abject failure to deliver. But my Dealer rep tells me Ford gives him no information. The Manager of my Dealership tells me Ford gives him no information. Said Manager called his Ford rep on my behalf – and then relayed back to me that his Ford rep had no information. I’ve repeatedly called Ford’s Customer Service who initially provided the (scripted) response that I should speak with my Dealer as the Dealer would have the pertinent information. I then proceeded to explain that I have done so, countless times, and they do not, in fact, have any information. But alas, Customer Service then tells me that they too have no information. Instead, they typically then refer me to Marketing HQ (I’ve spoken to three different individuals there over the past month) and, none of them have any information either with the exception of the aforementioned (and completely unreliable) “ETAs.” Making matters worse, on some calls the Marketing HQ representative tells me my Bronco is not on chip hold. On other calls they tell me that my Bronco is, in fact, on chip hold. One Marketing HQ representative told me that the “ETA” is when my Dealer will receive my Bronco from Ford. Yet on a separate call with a different Marketing HQ representative, I was told that “ETA” signifies only when my Bronco will ship from the plant. When I point out these inconsistencies and seek to reconcile them on calls with Marketing HQ, I get non-answers.

What I do hear a lot about when speaking with Ford reps, however, is the party line about difficulties they’ve experienced producing these vehicles in a timely fashion due to COVID and supply chain disruptions. Do you know who else has experienced pandemic and supply chain disruptions? Practically every significant manufacturer in the world! And as someone who professionally counsels business and manufacturers, particularly in navigating those COVID/supply chain disruptions in the past couple years, I am personally unaware of any significant manufacturer who has failed so abysmally as Ford.

But let’s assume, for the sake of argument, that all of Ford’s present challenges were unforeseeable and let’s further assume Ford’s inability to mitigate those challenges, in the years since they did become known, could also be excused. That which no pandemic, chip shortage, trucking delay, etc., can excuse is Ford’s absolute failure and breakdown in customer service and communication. Ford’s failure to communicate with at least this order holder is astonishing. And the lack of information Ford makes available to its customer service and Marketing HQ personnel is shocking. Among the questions I’ve put to them – on multiple occasions:

• How many Broncos are currently “In Production”?
• What is the holdup in the completion of my build? Is it a chip hold or is the delay on account of some other part?
• How many other Broncos are similarly on hold? Hundreds? Thousands? Tens of thousands?
• How many Broncos that are “In Production” for whatever reason and due to be completed before mine?
• What is Ford doing to resolve those issues?
• Did Ford order new chips or seek to source them elsewhere and, if so, when?
• Assuming Ford has sought to procure additional microchips, did Ford order enough to fulfill its current backlog of “In Production” orders?
• When does Ford expect to start receiving those chips?
• How is Ford prioritizing the build of Broncos? FIFO? Is Ford prioritizing orders placed through certain dealerships over others?
• Is Ford really going to reopen its order banks for the Model Year 2023 before clearing out the backorders?
• Is Ford going to start producing new orders before fulfilling the prior orders?
• Without even seeking a specific date – does Ford reasonably think I’ll receive my Bronco in Q3? Before year end? By mid-2023?

In response to these, and practically every other question I ask, the answer is always the same: “I don’t have that information” and/or “Ford doesn’t give me that information.” But here’s the thing: the answers to those questions are knowable. Somebody at Ford knows how many orders remain in the “In Production” purgatory. Somebody at Ford knows how many Broncos are scheduled to be completed before mine. Somebody at Ford knows when, approximately, and assuming everything goes to plan (assuming there is one), I could reasonably expect to receive my Bronco. But Ford is choosing to *not* communicate that to order holders (despite their patience to-date). And, Ford is also choosing to not give access to that information to its customer-facing personnel. In so-doing, Ford is intentionally depriving order holders from the ability to make informed decisions. To illustrate, if there are only 200 Broncos likewise on-hold and/or scheduled to be built before mine – that is one thing. If, on the other hand, there are 20,000 Broncos on-hold and/or scheduled to be built before mine – that is quite another thing, and the disclosure of that info may cause me to pursue another vehicle. Ford knows this. Ford still chooses a total lack of transparency.

What is even the point of providing customers with a Build Date that doesn’t hold? Why even bother providing ETAs that don’t get met? Is Ford proud of its meaningless and infuriating Tracker?

I have a hard time accepting that a Company as long-standing and successful as Ford has been historically is actually this inept at operations and customer service. Rather, at this point, I am beginning to suspect that Ford took its 150K+ ’21 Bronco orders *knowing* that Ford could not timely fulfill those orders, so it could reflect high demand on its books or to achieve some other share-price motivated purpose.

It is difficult to comprehend the good will Ford has lost as a consequence of this process. No amount of flags, hammocks, or swag can make up for the complete lack of trust and confidence I now have in the Company.

To be clear – all of the people with whom I’ve actually interacted about this order process – my Dealer salesperson, the Dealer Manager, the customer service personnel at Ford, the people at Marketing HQ – have been professional and courteous (and also apologetic). None of this is on them. But someone at Ford is responsible for this botched rollout. Again, even if Ford’s inability to secure parts and timely complete builds could be completely excused, there is no valid excuse for the Company’s horrendous customer service and lack of communication.

For those of you who have already received your Bronco – I’m happy for you and hope you enjoy the vehicle. I'm envious of your posts and pics. For those of you who advise it's worth the wait - I hope you're right. But for those of you who, like me, continue waiting – regrettably I don’t see this situation improving until those individuals at Ford who do have information and are in a position to provide more transparency are properly motivated to take accountability and address the situation.

I agree about the gross incompetence of Ford, and I've written about it before here as well. I'm also convinced that desire to pump the stock price based on the reservations was a significant factor in the decision making and the (lack of) communication plan.

The Ford apologists forget that the pandemic really was global. Other industrial manufacturers produce products with similar complexity to Ford. However Ford has shown itself to be below average in handling complexity and change, which is really a reflection of their management and decision making processes.

I wish you the best and hope you get your vehicle or at least a reasonable schedule soon.

 

[acetdeucy]

This post is intended to address Ford's failure to timely fulfill Bronco orders and failure to meaningfully communicate with order holders.

I reserved a Bronco on 8/3/20, and placed my order on 2/18/21 for a 4-door OBX with MIC. On 10/28/21, I converted my order to a soft top on the recommendation of my Dealer salesperson who advised that doing so would speed up the timeline on when I would receive the vehicle (sigh). Ford originally provided me a with 12/20/21 build date. Thereafter Ford delayed my build week five separate times (indeed, at one point Ford delayed my build week twice in less than a 48-hour timeframe), until it was finally changed to the week of 3/14/22. To the extent the Tracker can be relied on (it cannot), my Bronco has been “In Production” since 3/18/22. Similarly, at one point my ETA was 4/7-13. That ETA has since been delayed at least 3 times (that I know of) to 6/3, 6/8, and most recently 6/23. I have no confidence that my 6/23 ETA will hold.

I enjoy working with folks at my Dealer; they are good people who are not all responsible for Ford’s abject failure to deliver. But my Dealer rep tells me Ford gives him no information. The Manager of my Dealership tells me Ford gives him no information. Said Manager called his Ford rep on my behalf – and then relayed back to me that his Ford rep had no information. I’ve repeatedly called Ford’s Customer Service who initially provided the (scripted) response that I should speak with my Dealer as the Dealer would have the pertinent information. I then proceeded to explain that I have done so, countless times, and they do not, in fact, have any information. But alas, Customer Service then tells me that they too have no information. Instead, they typically then refer me to Marketing HQ (I’ve spoken to three different individuals there over the past month) and, none of them have any information either with the exception of the aforementioned (and completely unreliable) “ETAs.” Making matters worse, on some calls the Marketing HQ representative tells me my Bronco is not on chip hold. On other calls they tell me that my Bronco is, in fact, on chip hold. One Marketing HQ representative told me that the “ETA” is when my Dealer will receive my Bronco from Ford. Yet on a separate call with a different Marketing HQ representative, I was told that “ETA” signifies only when my Bronco will ship from the plant. When I point out these inconsistencies and seek to reconcile them on calls with Marketing HQ, I get non-answers.

What I do hear a lot about when speaking with Ford reps, however, is the party line about difficulties they’ve experienced producing these vehicles in a timely fashion due to COVID and supply chain disruptions. Do you know who else has experienced pandemic and supply chain disruptions? Practically every significant manufacturer in the world! And as someone who professionally counsels business and manufacturers, particularly in navigating those COVID/supply chain disruptions in the past couple years, I am personally unaware of any significant manufacturer who has failed so abysmally as Ford.

But let’s assume, for the sake of argument, that all of Ford’s present challenges were unforeseeable and let’s further assume Ford’s inability to mitigate those challenges, in the years since they did become known, could also be excused. That which no pandemic, chip shortage, trucking delay, etc., can excuse is Ford’s absolute failure and breakdown in customer service and communication. Ford’s failure to communicate with at least this order holder is astonishing. And the lack of information Ford makes available to its customer service and Marketing HQ personnel is shocking. Among the questions I’ve put to them – on multiple occasions:

• How many Broncos are currently “In Production”?
• What is the holdup in the completion of my build? Is it a chip hold or is the delay on account of some other part?
• How many other Broncos are similarly on hold? Hundreds? Thousands? Tens of thousands?
• How many Broncos that are “In Production” for whatever reason and due to be completed before mine?
• What is Ford doing to resolve those issues?
• Did Ford order new chips or seek to source them elsewhere and, if so, when?
• Assuming Ford has sought to procure additional microchips, did Ford order enough to fulfill its current backlog of “In Production” orders?
• When does Ford expect to start receiving those chips?
• How is Ford prioritizing the build of Broncos? FIFO? Is Ford prioritizing orders placed through certain dealerships over others?
• Is Ford really going to reopen its order banks for the Model Year 2023 before clearing out the backorders?
• Is Ford going to start producing new orders before fulfilling the prior orders?
• Without even seeking a specific date – does Ford reasonably think I’ll receive my Bronco in Q3? Before year end? By mid-2023?

In response to these, and practically every other question I ask, the answer is always the same: “I don’t have that information” and/or “Ford doesn’t give me that information.” But here’s the thing: the answers to those questions are knowable. Somebody at Ford knows how many orders remain in the “In Production” purgatory. Somebody at Ford knows how many Broncos are scheduled to be completed before mine. Somebody at Ford knows when, approximately, and assuming everything goes to plan (assuming there is one), I could reasonably expect to receive my Bronco. But Ford is choosing to *not* communicate that to order holders (despite their patience to-date). And, Ford is also choosing to not give access to that information to its customer-facing personnel. In so-doing, Ford is intentionally depriving order holders from the ability to make informed decisions. To illustrate, if there are only 200 Broncos likewise on-hold and/or scheduled to be built before mine – that is one thing. If, on the other hand, there are 20,000 Broncos on-hold and/or scheduled to be built before mine – that is quite another thing, and the disclosure of that info may cause me to pursue another vehicle. Ford knows this. Ford still chooses a total lack of transparency.

What is even the point of providing customers with a Build Date that doesn’t hold? Why even bother providing ETAs that don’t get met? Is Ford proud of its meaningless and infuriating Tracker?

I have a hard time accepting that a Company as long-standing and successful as Ford has been historically is actually this inept at operations and customer service. Rather, at this point, I am beginning to suspect that Ford took its 150K+ ’21 Bronco orders *knowing* that Ford could not timely fulfill those orders, so it could reflect high demand on its books or to achieve some other share-price motivated purpose.

It is difficult to comprehend the good will Ford has lost as a consequence of this process. No amount of flags, hammocks, or swag can make up for the complete lack of trust and confidence I now have in the Company.

To be clear – all of the people with whom I’ve actually interacted about this order process – my Dealer salesperson, the Dealer Manager, the customer service personnel at Ford, the people at Marketing HQ – have been professional and courteous (and also apologetic). None of this is on them. But someone at Ford is responsible for this botched rollout. Again, even if Ford’s inability to secure parts and timely complete builds could be completely excused, there is no valid excuse for the Company’s horrendous customer service and lack of communication.

For those of you who have already received your Bronco – I’m happy for you and hope you enjoy the vehicle. I'm envious of your posts and pics. For those of you who advise it's worth the wait - I hope you're right. But for those of you who, like me, continue waiting – regrettably I don’t see this situation improving until those individuals at Ford who do have information and are in a position to provide more transparency are properly motivated to take accountability and address the situation.

I reserved on 7/14/2020. My Bronco finally went into production, on 3/31... and it still shows "in Production," on the tracker. That said, I call CS about every three weeks, to ask for status.

The first 4 or 5 times, they told me Chip Hold. This last time, they told me it has been shipped... and it should arrive at the dealer's lot (in CA), on 6/17.

Well, we'll see. It's frustrating, but I've waited this long, so...

 

[gryphon1231]

Geez…. Can you imagine the federal case this guy will open once he gets his first rock chip?

OP joined the form, Jun 10, 2022. I'm going with TROLL

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