[kevvyd]

There was a period right after I got my Van where Ford had pushed a software update to my Sync 3. The update ****** up a bunch of features. Features I paid extra to have.
I was pretty mad, and tried over and over and over again to sort it out with Ford (phone calls) and on the internets (forums). Got nothing but time wasted and more frustrated.

One evening I went on a Facebook comment bender, bad mouthing and making cynical comments on any post I could find with #Ford, #FoMoCo, #Bronco, #Mustang, #F-150.....etc.
A lot of my friends and audiences found it very amusing. (and no, I was not drunk. Just vindictive.)

Ford must have been much less amused because the very next day I received a phone call from an "escalation specialist" on the Technology/SYNC team at FoMoCo. She was not able to immediately fix my issue. The fact that I was acknowledged and given straight, real answers meant a lot to me. The agent's follow through was excellent as well, when many months later an update was published she reached out to me and asked if I had installed it and if it had corrected my issues.
The best part of the whole exchange.....I now have a direct email to someone good at Ford. I know that is hard to believe, but there is at least one.

I'd be really mad if I were you. Almost nothing is as infuriating as senselessness.

 

[dhagberg]

Sadly, those “we’re sorry” emails from Ford seem to be disconnected from reality. I got at least one after the Vehicle Visibility Report showed the van built and waiting for transport.

if it helps, you are not alone in your anger and frustration.

 

[Lichen]

I guess Canadians are “lucky”... we get the “shut up and wait.. cone of silence” approach to customer service. We get no “sorry” emails or phone calls or snail mail… nothing from Ford not even an email to confirm that the order placed by our dealer was actually received by Ford. Then IF a van is produced we’re notified and are supposed to respond within 7 days of receiving notice or the van and our deposit disappears. Not sure if this is better than getting the occasional disingenuous email from Ford.

 

[dustymiller]

With all the chaos inside Ford, I am amazed an anonymous insider doesn't come here and leak what's happening to explain the bad experiences of customers.

 

[jhgoodrich]

With all the chaos inside Ford, I am amazed an anonymous insider doesn't come here and leak what's happening to explain the bad experiences of customers.

That would be helpful. My post was venting a bit but also hopeful that someone from Ford would be reading this forum and would maybe take some action but that is probably expecting too much

 

[Vanimallover]

Ford there is no need to keep sending me emails every 45 days telling me how sorry you are that parts aren't available and you want to build my van but just cannot. Your lack of building my van is enough to show just how sorry you appear to be.

I refuse to believe that parts is the real issue because when I was ready to place my 2023 order in August after being balanced out in 2022 I got price quotes from my dealer that I had ordered from in 2022 as well as a quote from a dealer on this forum. I chose to re-order from my same dealer from 2022 however last week I received a call from the dealer on this forum to inform me that even though I had not ordered from him; never signed a purchase order or gave a deposit or drivers license he somehow submitted the order anyway and the van had been built and delivered. Green window sticker but not a COVP customer order??? He asked if I wanted to buy the van, no price protection or $6k customer appreciation. No thanks.

FORD WHY did you build the van with all the exact parts you say are not available when I am waiting on a legitimate order needing those parts??? Are you, FORD, not able to see who your orders are from customers and especially those waiting over a year? I'd be happy to help..."Search all orders you balanced out in 2022 and if they also have an order for 2023" then build their van. Really not that difficult.

Did he tell you the order was placed in your name?

 

[jhgoodrich]

Did he tell you the order was placed in your name?

He said it was not. The preview order had my name on it but told me the order was not submitted via COVP with my name on it. I don't know how that can occur but I never received any emails on the order status and Ford customer service would not give me any information on the order code and sales code from the order preview.

 

[ColinD]

I guess Canadians are “lucky”... we get the “shut up and wait.. cone of silence” approach to customer service. We get no “sorry” emails or phone calls or snail mail… nothing from Ford not even an email to confirm that the order placed by our dealer was actually received by Ford. Then IF a van is produced we’re notified and are supposed to respond within 7 days of receiving notice or the van and our deposit disappears. Not sure if this is better than getting the occasional disingenuous email from Ford.

you must have the same dealer as me, I've gotten nothing so far as communication from them or Ford Canada, they were quick to take my deposit but they've 'ghosted' me ever since.

 

[nmiller85]

He said it was not. The preview order had my name on it but told me the order was not submitted via COVP with my name on it. I don't know how that can occur but I never received any emails on the order status and Ford customer service would not give me any information on the order code and sales code from the order preview.

Did he say it was your build? Or just that one like yours has become available?

It is ridiculous Ford hasn't implemented a system to prioritize those balanced out. They have had plenty of time to figure it out, 2 years in a row now. Obviously, there is some incentive not to figure it out.

 

[jhgoodrich]

Did he say it was your build? Or just that one like yours has become available?

My build sort of. I had gotten a preview order from him but never finalized the order. He said he went ahead and submitted it into the system planning to finalize it as an official COVP order if I signed the preview order document which I did not do. I never knew he entered it into the order system and have no idea how it got build as a (green) retail order without customer info. Yes it was an order somehow placed based upon my initial request and he called to see if I was still interested .

 

[Paradigm_Van_Conversions]

Ford there is no need to keep sending me emails every 45 days telling me how sorry you are that parts aren't available and you want to build my van but just cannot. Your lack of building my van is enough to show just how sorry you appear to be.

I refuse to believe that parts is the real issue because when I was ready to place my 2023 order in August after being balanced out in 2022 I got price quotes from my dealer that I had ordered from in 2022 as well as a quote from a dealer on this forum. I chose to re-order from my same dealer from 2022 however last week I received a call from the dealer on this forum to inform me that even though I had not ordered from him; never signed a purchase order or gave a deposit or drivers license he somehow submitted the order anyway and the van had been built and delivered. Green window sticker but not a COVP customer order??? He asked if I wanted to buy the van, no price protection or $6k customer appreciation. No thanks.

FORD WHY did you build the van with all the exact parts you say are not available when I am waiting on a legitimate order needing those parts??? Are you, FORD, not able to see who your orders are from customers and especially those waiting over a year? I'd be happy to help..."Search all orders you balanced out in 2022 and if they also have an order for 2023" then build their van. Really not that difficult.

Why build the vans that will require a 6k price protection rebate when you can invent a new product call the "Trail Edition" and charge 12.5K extra for some body spacers, body moldings and larger tires, and build those instead to realize that immediate profit? You have to remember, Ford answers to their stock holders before they answer to their customers. Low production volume has created a revenue problem that they must resolve quickly. The Trail is a slight-of-hand play to make it seem like they are listening to our desires for trail features while actually just boosting sales margins.

I believe you will absolutely see new Trail orders being built before most of us receive our balance out 22's. Just follow the money. They are hoping you abandon the order so they can resell it to someone else later on and not be required to provide the 6k rebate - this is a van sized staring contest.

We have 40+ vans on order and we are going on month 16 - still nothing scheduled. The only ones I expect to see are the Trails. I cant say I blame them - its probably the right move for the company in the short term, but its awful for the customers and will result in some lost customer loyalty in the long run.

 

[CrewVanManInfo]

Ford was supposed to give us a priority code for the 2022 model moved to a 2023 model and that never happened. Even though we do have priority codes, Ford is going with what parts are available so whether the order has a '10' or '19' does not matter.

 

[jhgoodrich]

Ford was supposed to give us a priority code for the 2022 model moved to a 2023 model and that never happened. Even though we do have priority codes, Ford is going with what parts are available so whether the order has a '10' or '19' does not matter.

In MY experience parts availability is not the WHOLE story. Ford has to be using additional criteria when scheduling orders and profit, shareholder satisfaction or dealer allocation over customer satisfaction/appreciation makes more sense to me.

You told me, last week that, when the order window was closing, in September, you had entered orders as a placeholder for people that had gotten quotes from you but had never actually completed their orders. Makes sense if they did come back to finalize their order last minute but I never did because I had already decided to place my official COVP 2023 order weeks earlier with my original dealer and that order was submitted as priority code 10 and accepted by Ford in August. Yet somehow Ford chose to build your (non COVP??) placeholder, priority code 19, order before scheduling my official, priority code 10, order submitted with my original dealer; why??

If parts availability is the only consideration, then those parts should have been used on my still unscheduled order (the options are exactly the same) before your order. There Has to be more to the process than just parts availability and Ford should come out and say they really don't care about customer satisfaction or they should start using the available parts to build vans for those customers that have waited the longest first.

 

[CrewVanManInfo]

In MY experience parts availability is not the WHOLE story. Ford has to be using additional criteria when scheduling orders and profit, shareholder satisfaction or dealer allocation over customer satisfaction/appreciation makes more sense to me.

You told me, last week that, when the order window was closing, in September, you had entered orders as a placeholder for people that had gotten quotes from you but had never actually completed their orders. Makes sense if they did come back to finalize their order last minute but I never did because I had already decided to place my official COVP 2023 order weeks earlier with my original dealer and that order was submitted as priority code 10 and accepted by Ford in August. Yet somehow Ford chose to build your (non COVP??) placeholder, priority code 19, order before scheduling my official, priority code 10, order submitted with my original dealer; why?? You changed body codes so you really did not order the same Transit vehicle. You were in question just like I was whether Ford would let you change body codes and retain your Price Protection and get the $6000 Private Offer.

If parts availability is the only consideration, then those parts should have been used on my still unscheduled order (the options are exactly the same) before your order. There Has to be more to the process than just parts availability and Ford should come out and say they really don't care about customer satisfaction or they should start using the available parts to build vans for those customers that have waited the longest first.
You went from a S4U to a F8X body code which is a NEW body code so that may be another reason your Transit has not been scheduled. Ford has more orders for the S4U than the F8X and as you may know, they like to build Transits in groups of the same body codes.

 

[jhgoodrich]

That is correct I did end up ordering an F8X (high roof AWD extended single rear wheel) for my 2023 order and you later submitted, without my approval, the S4U (high roof AWD extended dual rear wheel) that I originally was looking at. My prior response was in reference to you saying that parts availability is the hold up and I am saying if that were true then my official COVP order should have been built prior to your order because both orders have the exact same options and parts requirements.

 

[CrewVanManInfo]

My basis was to cover any customers who were on the fence, including yourself, if they wanted to get a Retail Customer order in the system by the 9/22 cutoff date. We had until 10/5 to get the COVP information completed so our thought was if the customers who we dropped into the order system did not get with us to do their COVP information, their order would not get pulled by Ford since we would not have placed the COVP information on their order.

Looks like Ford just went with the Retail Customer order we submitted and based on our high allocation, they just went with whatever parts they had and the body styles they were building at the scheduled build date. I have 5 of the R8X body styles on order and none of them have been pulled for production so that may be the reason that yours and NONE of my R8X body styles have not been scheduled for production.

 

[chrzanowski5]

How do you go from Priority 19 to 10? I was a 2022 balance out / re-order and stuck @ 19

 

[jhgoodrich]

How do you go from Priority 19 to 10? I was a 2022 balance out / re-order and stuck @ 19

Your dealer sets that priority when they submit your order. I think it is there way of saying which of their orders takes priority, 10 being higher priority than 19, but I could be wrong on that. I also don't know if the dealer can change the priority once the order has been submitted

 

[kevvyd]

Your dealer sets that priority when they submit your order. I think it is there way of saying which of their orders takes priority, 10 being higher priority than 19, but I could be wrong on that. I also don't know if the dealer can change the priority once the order has been submitted

There was a dealership error that went through on my original order (paint color was not what we finalized)
It stayed unnoticed until a couple weeks later, when I scheduled a drop-in with my sales guy to ask a couple questions.
He said he'd look into changing it, but was unsure since it had been submitted "more than 10 days ago" (*IIRC)
A few days later he said the only way for them to change it was to do a re-order. I would not accept that as the error was admittedly their's.
So he called his Ford "ZONE" representative. The ZONE rep was able to change the order.
In doing so, I was told, the order somehow also was changed to a Priority 1. Maybe that was just a happenstance. None the less. I got my ordered '21 Transit with PSD in under 60 days.(Feb. 2021)
I know for sure there were others with similar orders at that time that were not so lucky.

This could all be BS that the dealer fed me. But it is my BS story now.🤷‍♀️