EDIT: sorry, missed it at the top..

 

Questions I plan to ask when I call tomorrow:

1. I received an email saying that there have been some delays in getting my order scheduled for production. Could you elaborate on what is causing the delay? Is it certain options that I have selected? When can I expect my vehicle to be built? Do you have an estimated ETA?
2. [If no definitive time estimate to Question 1, which I expect] Will I still be receiving a 2022 model year build? What happens if you terminate 2022 production and my van is not yet built? Will I receive a 2023 model at the same price, and would those like me receive priority over those who are putting in a 2023 order and did not have a 2022 order?
3. I understand that you just institute a mid-year price increase. For my model it seems like it would be around $800. Are you raising the price to my dealer, or are you honoring the price at the time that I ordered, which means I could expect them to honor the same price for me when I go to take delivery?

 

Questions I plan to ask when I call tomorrow:

1. I received an email saying that there have been some delays in getting my order scheduled for production. Could you elaborate on what is causing the delay? Is it certain options that I have selected? When can I expect my vehicle to be built? Do you have an estimated ETA?

Would you consider adding the following sub-question to your list? If they answer that it is certain options, I would wonder if there might be an opportunity to remove said option(s). I mean, who wouldn't give up a dual-note horn to get their van? I jest about the horn, but I bet some people would be okay with eschewing even "bigger" options in order to get a 2022. Seems like it would be a win/win for Ford, if they have the capability to address it.

 

Don't be surprised if you make changes to your order at this point that the order moves to 'Balanced Out' status. It possibly will not matter that you may be deleting options from your order. If your order is already in the Priority code '02' status, you can't make any changes anyway as the order is locked in and the dealer can only change it by changing the code to '10' or higher.

 

Don't be surprised if you make changes to your order at this point that the order moves to 'Balanced Out' status. It possibly will not matter that you may be deleting options from your order.

Just to clarify: When I asked Mr. Cash to add a question about "Is there a possibility we can delete those things to get our build back on track?" it was in the context of him calling the suggested number at Ford to ask them about the special e-mail they sent out calling out a delay due to certain parts. Mr. Cash was already going to be asking Ford if they knew of a specific option that was causing the delay, so I asked if he could tack on the question of "Okay, then can we remove that option from our order to expedite things and make it a win/win?"

In other words, this would have been a specific Ford dialog and would have been "Ford sanctioned," so to speak. I did NOT mean that people should just call their dealers and start removing things from their orders. You were already very clear that that was a no-no (although if someone ordered through you, you had the ability to pull the strings to get their order reinstated when this balanced out thing started happening). Not to mention no-one knows which option(s) those would be anyway since Ford isn't saying.

As we now know, there was basically nothing to be gleaned from calling Ford except "talk to your dealer" anyway, so the whole thing is moot.

To summarize: Although apparently it might have sounded like it, I wasn't suggesting that people call their dealers, guess at what parts might be causing the hold up, and remove them from their orders.

 

Who’s number is this? I was chatting with Ford the other day and they gave me a number to their new vehicle service support team1-800-334-4375. I haven’t called them yet though.

 

I called this morning - was told that they have limited visibility and the only thing they could tell me is that my order is in process, answered no questions and deflected to the dealer. They said the dealer has better visibility and access to other resources which might give me more information.

I ordered a Long HR Crew Van from my dealer 10/23/21, received an email from ford confirming later that evening, then nothing until the recent email.

 

I called this morning - was told that they have limited visibility and the only thing they could tell me is that my order is in process, answered no questions and deflected to the dealer. They said the dealer has better visibility and access to other resources which might give me more information.

I ordered a Long HR Crew Van from my dealer 10/23/21, received an email from ford confirming later that evening, then nothing until the recent email.

Same here. The nice person at 800 392-3673 (customer relationship center) redirected me to the dealer and mentioned that they would need to reach out to their Ford contacts to figure out what was holding up the vehicle.

Totally deflected the question around if my 2022MY would get built. She did do a status check for me and didn't give me anything new other than it is in process.

When I pressed for someone within Ford that would be supplying the info to dealers, she couldn't provide that number.

I filled out the survey and gave them the lowest ratings possible

Tried the 1-800-334-4375 (marketing center) number and it seemed to send me to the same group of humans as the other number.

I purchased through @CrewVanMan@CrossleyFord so hoping that he can reach out to his contacts and see what might be happening as the Ford numbers were completely useless.

 

My dealer got back to me promptly with this reply:

"I received the same email. I also had 13 others like it Saturday morning.
Ford is acknowledging delays in scheduling.
I have no inside info: I know that 2 weeks ago or so, Ford announced that the Kentucky Truck Plant will be assigning 1 shift to build Transits to help ease the congestion.
I will keep an eye on it, of course.
We were instructed not to submit any new 2022 orders over 6 weeks ago, so that Ford could try to catch up on existing orders, such as yours."

Looking forward to seeing how everyone else makes out before I call again.

 

Interesting that they are starting up Transits in Ky.

I wonder if that signals that they have all of the parts that they need and just don't have the throughput in Kansas City to build them. 🤷

Time to step away from the forum for a bit and let the wheels turn.

 

I called the number and asked what the most recent email was telling me (which was basically nothing) and I was told they would transfer me to marketing department. But I was actually transferred to the warranty department. They transferred me to another department and asked him the status of my order. He transferred somewhere else and I gave up. I agree calling them was useless.

 

I think that dealer was wrong about starting up Transits in Kentucky. I can't imagine Ford having all the tooling at Kentucky Truck to start building Transits. Not to mention they build Expeditions and Super Duty Pickups at Kentucky Truck and they are having a hard time getting those built too.

 

We called our dealership this morning and asked, among other things, what he knew about the Louisville plant retooling a line to build Transits. Our salesman said he heard the rumor, too, so asked a contact he has at the plant. That guy told him that there was a retooling on a Superduty line about a month ago. And that as another poster here mentioned, they are having a hard time meeting the demand for the trucks they build there and are not in the position to take on manufacturing Transits.

Also, our salesman told us his contact (different contact, not the guy at the L'ville plant) at Ford indicated the holdup in manufacturing the Transits is that FMC did not anticipate the demand for mid- and high-roof Transits. I do not doubt that that's what he told him, but ... WOW! How does a major manufacturer with the resources they have miss that trend?

 

I called this morning and was told the same as the two post above. The woman I spoke with was polite but could only pull up and confirm my order. I was polite and did not give her a hard time about it, we talked for 30 minutes or so. I told her no, the dealership could not help with this. I said Ford reached out to us directly so I was responding to that. I told her Ford may be able to build out more MY2022 Transits if they tried to let us buy what they can build. I explained I had ordered most of the available options and would be happy to live without one or two to get my van. I suggested Ford should try and reach out on orders they can almost build. I told her I would be willing to find my own dual-tone horn! Yes I explained the fordtransitusaforum horn reference.
I asked her what else can I do? She told me she liked my “offer to build me what you can idea”. She said I should submit it to the Fordnewideas.com web site. My next stop today.

 

Called a little bit ago and spoke to James. He said my order was processing and still waiting for a scheduled build date. I asked if there was a chance of it getting pushed out and he said he had no other information and to contact my dealer who not only should have more info, but also gets the information first.

 

Just called the Ford 800 number. Same response as what CreativeArrow got... I placed my order in August 2022. I wanted to find out if there would be an impact to my order because my dealership just got bought out by another alfit... woman said there would not be an impact to my order (keeping fingers crossed).... at this point, I am happy they at least still have my order... my hope is to get at least the VIN number at this point... just so I know the order is moving along...

This is a great forum... keep the info coming!

Happy Halloween everyone!

 

Just called, got the 'snap shot in time' response to questions as to if my order will be built. They can only reply to what they see on the screen. Was referred to speak w my dealer because they have the tools and connections to see what is holding up the build process.

 

Just called and all the woman could tell me was the our order was still being processed (my dealer placed our 2022 order on October 1st!). She could not tell me anything else at all. All she would tell me was that this was all that she could see on my order and that I needed to call my dealer. No one can tell me why our order has never moved forward after being accepted and why our Transit still only exists on paper.

I ordered our 2021 Transit last March and after an entire year I am not any closer to getting one built. I no longer know what to do when no one at Ford seems to be able to tell me anything.

 

We called too. The rep we spoke with took our information regarding the order we placed. We told him the generic email message and the subject line (change in your order status) prompted the call. He then put us on hold for a couple minutes then came back with the information that orders for the 2022 closed a while back. We indicated we were aware of that fact and that (as evidenced by the order information we gave him at the beginning of the call) we had already placed an order in January. He put us on hold again and checked the status. Came back and told us our status was still in process. He could not answer any of our other questions but did place a note on the call about our concerns which goes into our profile and (hopefully) the call log.

 

Called and received basically the same info as everyone else. My order, placed 11/9/21, is still in progress and awaiting parts. Contact dealer because they will have more info.

 

I don't think the plan/expectation is to get anything useful from the number (at least anyone who has called most tech support lines will understand!) but to overwhelm the Ford department to make sure FMC understands retail customers are strongly interested in getting their vans built.

 

Then I definitely did my part, as I surely made my desire to get my Transit built known in no uncertain terms.

 

I mostly received vague and general responses that ranged from "I don't know" to "Your dealer is able to see more information". When I asked why some people are getting emails and some aren't...I was told that the reason some people did not receive order confirmation emails was likely that the dealer did not enter the customer's email address correctly. In terms of the delay emails, she said she thought it may be that only people who have older orders are getting them. I think I saw a number of comments from people who received the delay email saying they placed their order 5 months ago so maybe she is right. Though she did admit that she was not provided any information regarding the delay emails, what they said, or how to interpret them. She indicated that my order does not say it was cancelled so there is no reason to think it won't get built.

 

My order was placed in October with a confirmation email & I have not received the aforementioned email.

 

And for those who are Priority 02 with Ed, see this note on Blue Oval from a previous(?)-insider.

If Transit's have their Priority set the same way, for those with an 02, it's gonna be likes Jules at the end of Pulp Fiction ...

 

Same as the rest of the responses. Super nice lady, who could provide no details.

 

I wonder if it was the same person I talked to she was very nice and seemed to really want to be helpful. She even had a sense of humor. At the end of the call, she asked if I had any more questions that she could answer vaguely.

 

Well I got transferred multiple times and then dropped before I finally spoke to someone. She was polite but of no use in terms of knowing anything. Talk to your dealer - done that they know nothing either. Frustrating.

 

Same here. Gave them the order number and dealer name: order of your 2022 Transit is in process. The lady acknowledged that the order has been accepted and better info is obtained through the dealer. She did not have visibility of the priority number.

 

I called and gave the lady the info she asked for. She said to give her a couple minutes. She came back on the line and said there system is down now and I should call back in an hour or so.

 

Just called in (4:18 pm CDT). Same experience as codyutah. She said the system was currently down and that I could call back in about 2 hours, call back tomorrow, or call my dealer.

 

I just called ~5:30 pm EST, was on hold for ~5 minutes, and then they told me that their system was down and to call back in about 2 hrs. They said they are open until 8:00 pm EST. To be continued.......

 

I just called in and got the same as what has been previously reported. They can see my confirmed order in the system, but it has not bee scheduled. They said to reach out to my dealer, who can give better insight into the order status.

 

Here's a summary of my call. The representative was very helpful considering that I know they don't have all of the info that I wanted (the old "don't shoot the messenger" applies here):

1. I received an email saying that there have been some delays in getting my order scheduled for production. Could you elaborate on what is causing the delay? Is it certain options that I have selected? When can I expect my vehicle to be built? Do you have an estimated ETA? Ford sent this as a courtesy because I was experiencing a longer than average delay. He did not have visibility to what parts are causing the delay, and said that "the dealer can see the manufacturing side" as far as the hold-ups and "I only see the customer side" [which I question how much visibility the dealers have when CVM doesn't know, and if the dealers were so informed, why isn't Ford having the dealers communicate to their customers?]. He said they do not have a good timeline or ETA (they did 2-3 years ago but no longer do with the current situation).
2. [If no definitive time estimate to Question 1, which I expect] Will I still be receiving a 2022 model year build? At this point I should be able to get a 2022 model year. He confirmed that the order window was closed for 2022's and that the 2023 window should open around early September 2022. What happens if you terminate 2022 production and my van is not yet built? He used the example of what happened with the Mach E when they couldn't make all of the 2021 orders. He said that they "automatically rolled over" to a 2022 and that the dealer worked with the customers to work through any options that changed/dropped. He also said that the person in this situation would get priority over new 2023 orders and that the "dealer can explain" (referenced priority codes). [I question some of this because I thought that priority codes are only prioritizing within that dealer as far as what they want built first, but perhaps this is how they do it and they work with their regional reps on this]. Will I receive a 2023 model at the same price, and would those like me receive priority over those who are putting in a 2023 order and did not have a 2022 order? I didn't get a lot of specificity here, but kind of a passing mention of things like private offers, but basically sounds like they try to work with you on that.
3. I understand that you just institute a mid-year price increase. For my model it seems like it would be around $800. Are you raising the price to my dealer, or are you honoring the price at the time that I ordered, which means I could expect them to honor the same price for me when I go to take delivery? He pointed to the Mach E and said that many dealers did raise what they charged when MSRP went up, but that my signed agreement would be a good "leverage tool" and then he reminded me that Ford does not sell to the customer, but the dealer does. He said he can't answer about what the dealer will pay (i.e. are they going to pay more for my October order at delivery than if it were built before the price increase).

My van update: "Still in order processing", "shouldn't be too much longer before it's scheduled" [but no definitive timing or even an estimate]

 

He used the example of what happened with the Mach E when they couldn't make all of the 2021 orders. He said that they "automatically rolled over" to a 2022 and that the dealer worked with the customers to work through any options that changed/dropped. He also said that the person in this situation would get priority over new 2023 orders

i think here he is telling you what you want to hear, but maybe they DID roll over mach e customers (this i do not know). but since i, and there are many others here, are ones who had our 21 orders cancelled/balanced out. they did NOT just roll us over into a 22, and we DID NOT receive priority. dealer claims they attached highest priority number they could, but has proven to be meaningless honestly. dealer told me they would honor 21 base price ($1200 difference) but ford claims to offer $1500 for cancelled 21 orders.

NOW, i have pretty much zero confidence in my 22 getting actually built as well, so i am foreseeing having to order for a 3rd year in a row to get a 23. you better believe i will be arguing that a 23 is still the 21 base price.

I am patient and understanding that we are in a really tough time right now, much worse than anyone ever imagined. this whole thing really is beyond Fords control. that said, if they really want to go more direct to customer order system, they are not doing a very good launch