Ford is here responding to issues

[fschael]

It is important to remember that we are not Ford’s customer. The dealerships are Ford’s customer. That is who pays them and that is ultimately who they care about making happy. When you get your head around that then all the BS starts to make sense. Trust me, I don’t like it either.

I worked for FCSD 10 years ago and I have to say that dealers are bussiness partners for Ford Motor Company and not customers. We all are the customers.

Ford push hard dealers to excel in customer service and they penalized them restricting allocation and warranty labor cost per hour if they don't comply with minimum standards on customer service that are set by Ford.

Sometimes customers are not the best and sometimes customer has the right to get mad for whatever is happening to them but at the end of the day, our job was to find the way to make the customers happy.

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[martyb]

This is because there are not enough reservation holders with configurations that are buildable with the available parts/constraints, so the option is slow/stop the line or build Broncos no reservation-holder has ordered while they await the constrained parts necessary to make more reservations buildable. Not much to do with the dealerships, IMO.

How many hard tops/ constraints were consumed by priority orders? Those were assigned by the dealers.

 

[Efthreeoh]

This will go well....

 

[NotApplicable]

How many hard tops/ constraints were consumed by priority orders? Those were assigned by the dealers.

Who knows

 

[fschael]

But you also have people who feel overly entitled.

Just as an example for reservation holders:

Premierdrum and I ordered nearly at identical times and have almost identical builds (I got the V6 and some additional options vs his build)

We both have reservations with in the first hour or so if it going live.

His build date never changed, but mine bounced around five times due to my options, but after everything was said and done, I was only a week late vs my first estimated build date.

His was delivered, meanwhile mine is bouncing around some place with the latest update putting it back into Ford's hands again on the 13th.

IMO this just shows the sheer volume of reservations Ford received within the first few hours. Then add in further delays for commodities issues and that is pushing back peoples build dates.

Bronco production isn't even up to full speed yet and I'm willing to bet that Ford has less than 5000 units built so far. They only sold 800 of them in the last week or two of June.

Ford has something like 150k+ reservations.

Dumb but not dumb question. did you try to call them? if so, what did they say?

Not sure what level of information they have, but I'm curious to know how much information that call center handle.

 

[Sgt Beavis]

They've been a member since May but have only posted 3 times. We shall see how committed they are to PR on the forums.

I think it's worth mentioning that "Jeep Cares" on the JL Wrangler forum is very active. Though they are not very helpful at times.

 

[Wolfie272]

It seems that Ford is making sure the framework is in place for 2022. Dealer Mannequins and Off-Roadeo stock WILL be built this year, regardless of constraints and order placement.
As for 2021, FE's WILL be built. I think?
This leaves the question as to why do some people have very similar timestamps and builds, with only one receiving a build date. Does the dealer priority tag have something to do with this? I don't know, but I feel like Ford may also be prioritizing the... priority orders. As they should, if this is the deal with the dealerships.
Once these four are dealt with, I think it is THEN that timestamps and constraints start to matter.
As for Ford giving dates, I think they really don't know. Based on shortages in other fields, I assume they are sitting there waiting for constrained items to come in so they can build them. When the items fail to arrive in time for scheduling, they shift to dealer stock. No point to the line sitting idle when they can make other builds. If the parts do arrive, eureka! Another batch of order builds.

I believe this was always going to be the way it went, but with production running full time the orders prioritized above the timestamp would have gone out quickly enough that it wouldn't have been a big issue. Boom goes the Covid.
This is all pure conjecture of course. But that is what forums are for

 

[@BadBlueBronco]

I’m sorry but Ford on this forum doesn’t mean crap to me. Apple has forums where users can post problems and you constantly see apple responding to the messages but the same issue remains 4 years later.

 

[John Auer]

It is important to remember that we are not Ford’s customer. The dealerships are Ford’s customer. That is who pays them and that is ultimately who they care about making happy. When you get your head around that then all the BS starts to make sense. Trust me, I don’t like it either.

The dealership monopoly enabled by franchise laws, is on life support. Companies like Tesla, will ultimately prevail with their direct sales approach.

 

[Chrism81]

I am sure Ford is getting 98% garbage messages from a bunch of whiny little bitches and they will eventually leave just like many others have.

 

[WyoBronc]

I if the great Ford Motor Company can’t handle some criticism (constructive or otherwise) by, in most cases, lifelong Ford and Bronco loyalists that have been forking over tens of thousands of hard earned dollars decade after decade and are going to melt like snowflakes when they face a little heat……then good riddance.

We did everything we were asked to do by Ford…….logon reveal night, create an account, plop down a hundred bucks and reserve a Bronco, make modifications by suspense, plop down a thousand more dollars (or more) and order by mid-March, stay pumped…….check, check, check, check.

In addition We’ve tried to educate ourselves on the vehicle through this forum and others, and weave our way through a minefield of do’s and dont’s on Ford’S B&P tool….. (PPF issues, wench issues, roof rack issues, etc., etc.,). We had to learn what was needed on our own because some Ford dealerships failed to take the same initiative and a good portion of sales reps were uninformed, unhelpful or worse.

Did all the above and was fortunate enough to get a reservation by 6:10pm on 13 Jul 2020. For those efforts I was told I would be rewarded with an early build because Ford was implementing a fair first come first serve, timestamp, reservation number precedence system.

Then came commodity constraints……fine, there’s a world wide pandemic, but there’s also engineering mistake after mistake……wench blocking trail cams, safari bar blocking Bronco lettering, major Sasquatch limitations on things like PPF and roof rails, then dual tops issues, the modular tops issue…..fine, everyone switch to MIC top …MIC top issues, fine, everyone switch to soft tops…..wait, no soft top option for 2drs and WT…..too bad, switch to 4dr and a different trim or suck it up.

Then came Allocations……fine, I’m a #1 allocation. Then let’s throw in Priority Orders and allow limitless trims and commodities to flow from dealerships to the fortunate like drunken sailors on furlough with a new credit card. Oh, let’s add VIP orders for YouTuber’s and such, and let’s add dealer stock that in effect nullify customer allocations from cycle to cycle.

There have been pandemic related production and manufacturing issues, but there have also been execution and engineering mistakes that have resulted in quality issues and scores of defective tops. And there have been several business decisions that have not been favorable to the reservation holder, particularly early reservation holders.

So, you have to be accountable and perhaps answer some tough questions by salty customers that feel the process has been unsatisfactory…….fine, maybe we’re just whiny, entitled malcontents and not your cup of tea.

Maybe also, you’d like to sell those whiny malcontents a Ford in the future?

 

[mcdoogs]

You say that, but every time Ford sends out an email to communicate with us, half this forum jumps down their throat.

That's because they havent actually provided any useful information, at least not in any email I've received.

 

[NatureMan]

You say that, but every time Ford sends out an email to communicate with us, half this forum jumps down their throat.

You receive emails?

 

[Chrism81]

I if the great Ford Motor Company can’t handle some criticism (constructive or otherwise) by, in most cases, lifelong Ford and Bronco loyalists that have been forking over tens of thousands of hard earned dollars decade after decade and are going to melt like snowflakes when they face a little heat……then good riddance.

We did everything we were asked to do by Ford…….logon reveal night, create an account, plop down a hundred bucks and reserve a Bronco, make modifications by suspense, plop down a thousand more dollars (or more) and order by mid-March, stay pumped…….check, check, check, check.

In addition We’ve tried to educate ourselves on the vehicle through this forum and others, and weave our way through a minefield of do’s and dont’s on Ford’S B&P tool….. (PPF issues, wench issues, roof rack issues, etc., etc.,). We had to learn what was needed on our own because some Ford dealerships failed to take the same initiative and a good portion of sales reps were uninformed, unhelpful or worse.

Did all the above and was fortunate enough to get a reservation by 6:10pm on 13 Jul 2020. For those efforts I was told I would be rewarded with an early build because Ford was implementing a fair first come first serve, timestamp, reservation number precedence system.

Then came commodity constraints……fine, there’s a world wide pandemic, but there’s also engineering mistake after mistake……wench blocking trail cams, safari bar blocking Bronco lettering, major Sasquatch limitations on things like PPF and roof rails, then dual tops issues, the modular tops issue…..fine, everyone switch to MIC top …MIC top issues, fine, everyone switch to soft tops…..wait, no soft top option for 2drs and WT…..too bad, switch to 4dr and a different trim or suck it up.

Then came Allocations……fine, I’m a #1 allocation. Then let’s throw in Priority Orders and allow limitless trims and commodities to flow from dealerships to the fortunate like drunken sailors on furlough with a new credit card. Oh, let’s add VIP orders for YouTuber’s and such, and let’s add dealer stock that in effect nullify customer allocations from cycle to cycle.

There have been pandemic related production and manufacturing issues, but there have also been execution and engineering mistakes that have resulted in quality issues and scores of defective tops. And there have been several business decisions that have not been favorable to the reservation holder, particularly early reservation holders.

So, you have to be accountable and perhaps answer some tough questions by salty customers that feel the process has been unsatisfactory…….fine, maybe we’re just whiny, entitled malcontents and not your cup of tea.

Maybe also, you’d like to sell those whiny malcontents a Ford in the future?

There is a huge difference between legitimate questions and people just complaining and venting on a forum to a large corporation. Sure they need to be held accountable, but many people on this forum lack the ability to ask questions without being complete dicks.

 

[2021badlands bronco bob]

Probably completely futile to post this, but you guys should understand that the official Ford account will not be responding to every question and inquiry they are tagged in.

Pretty clear that the purpose of the account is so they can pulse the forum (been doing that since day one I’d expect, don’t need an account labeled “official” for that), and to address serious issues like the water leaking out of the airbag panel problem.

Would probably be helpful for @Administrator and @Ford Motor Company to create a brief, locked thread stating their reasons for being on the forum in an official capacity and setting expectations for what they will and won’t be doing here. Maybe this helps folks understand why Ford isn’t responding to their delay complaints and build date inquiries.

See there you go asking for him to do something. We can all see how that’s working out for us.

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