I had posted this earlier today after talking to the dealer late yesterday. Well just before I left work today I got a call and they said to come and get it. It is now in my driveway and I cannot stop playing with it.


From Blue oval news:
Receipt Date: 7/18/2008
Serialize Date: 7/31/2008
Segment Date: 7/31/2008
Sequence Date: 8/1/2008
Blend Date: 8/14/2008
Produced Date: 8/25/2008
Gate Release Date: 8/26/2008
Ship Date: 8/27/2008
Arrival Date:
Sold Date:

It turns out they ordered on Friday the 18th when I first talked to them. I did not get the confirmation of the order until the 21st.

 

First, Congrats Dale!

Second OUCH!!!
Consider that the 09FEHL I ordered on 04/28/08 still has not been built. YIKES.

My wife loves the 09 that we did get, but after this experience, this will be our last Ford purchase.

 

08FEH, I don't know who you have been talking to, but they have a very slanted view on allocation. The allocation strategy has been worked out over the years with the dealer councils and is the fairest around. Like I said, the dealers control production scheduling more than Ford does. Sure, they may not like that they are only allocated a few units of a very desirable vehicle, but overall they process works fairly for all.

A large dealership that sold 25 hybrids last year will get more this year than a dealership that sold 2 last year. That is a big part of the allocation strategy.

I don't know what you mean by calling Ford on the carpet on this. It's not an issue of "they don't care", it is just that Ford can't tell their dealers who they can sell to, for how much, the priority to place on their orders, etc. Ford tells them they can have "X" number for the quarter or the year and the dealer basically decides who gets them and in what order. Ford also requires them to be trained and service equiped to handle hybrids before they can sell them, so don't assume all dealers can or will get any of the hybrids.

Perhaps you can find out which dealer is on the dealer council for your region and have a conversation with them about allocation. They may have a different opinion than a salesperson at a dealership since they helped develop the process.

It is possible that a dealer with allocation for October production to order Monday, and have it scheduled the first week of October. If the unit has commodities that are in short supply, or controlled, then Ford may hold the order until the parts are available. Ford provides this insight every week to the dealerships (Dealer News Bulletin and scheduling dates). Just because a salesperson doesn't have the information to accurately inform the customer, doesn't mean that the information is not there. That is why I suggested the questions to ask.

 

Red,

Are you employed by FMC?

Some simple facts are:

Ford is selling FEH's to high volume dealers for STOCK, while special orders placed by the smaller dealers sit and wait.

The customer who goes to the small town dealer and orders a vehicle waits longer than the customer that goes to the high volume dealer.

Both dealer stores have the same FORD sign out front.

Ford is not only supporting the good ol boy big dealers, they are penalyzing their small town mom and pop dealers and the customers that go to them.

I have spoken to the owners of BOTH a small town dealer (where I ordered my FEHL which to this day has not yet arrived) AND the owner of a high volume dealer (where I ended up buying my FEHL).
The high volume dealer ordered the vehicle I bought, FOR STOCK, and had it sitting on the showroom floor, while I was still waiting (4 months plus now) for mine to come in.

BOTH owners said the same thing, Ford plays favorites and allocation means nothing. When a big boy dealer wants something, the big boy dealer gets it, regardless of who's toes get stepped on.

I have the order date, build date and the shipped date for the STOCK big boy dealer order and it was ordered AFTER my special order.

To be clear, it was ordered, built and shipped before my order even had a build date.

Is it your opinion that Ford should be building and shipping vehicles for STOCK to some dealers(in the same state), while other dealers have special orders (paying customers) waiting for the same vehicle?

How would it make you feel to know that because you wanted to support your local community by going to your local dealer, you find out that other dealers a couple of hours away were getting them for stock while you wait?


In my humble opinion that is bad for customer retention, regardless of how you make excuses for it.

Sean

 

I've been lurking here for a few months, but just signed up today. I had to respond to this thread.

I ordered my FEH XLS with nav, on Jun 2. Receipt Date of Jun 3. As of today, still no VIN so that means, it's not scheduled yet. Best I can figure, is I'll hit 3.5 months this monday with still no VIN, and not scheduled yet. I'm in the Austin Texas area.

As much as I am trying to stay positive on this process, I gotta say it stinks. I admit to not being privy to all the in's and outs of the system, but it just seems to be unfair. To see that folks that ordered exactly what I ordered, after me, driving their vehicles now, really bugs me. I can understand that some places have a higher priority than me, but come on! I've been a ford customer for over 22 years and 5 cars so far. When I bought my first brand new car, and non junk box, it was a ford. I've remained loyal since then. This is the first time I have ever ordered a vehicle through ford. I can definately say I will never do that again. I too, am thinking this will be my last new ford i buy, assuming that they can get me some VIN / order info in the next week or 2. If not, I am prob driving my last ford. I saw posted elsewhere that the lead time on new orders is 9 months now. Will someone actually order and or pay a deposit on a vehicle that they wont see for 9 months?? I'd doubt it, but could be wrong.

Like I said, I want to believe. I want to trust what the dealer is telling me, but...... There is a limit that I will go to. Right now, I'm not sure what that limit is, but it gets closer every week.

I've tried to call the Ford Customer Service line to get info. They told me to contact the dealer. Yea, been there, done that. The dealer even told me at one point to call customer service and see if they could give me any info they couldn't get. the conversation went like this:
yea, the dealer suggested I call you to get informaton. We don't have that, please contact the dealer. No, you don't understand, they said to call you. Yea we don't have that information, contact the dealer. Ok, who's next in line here, can I speak to your supervisor? Yea, we don't have that information, contact your dealer

WTF???

Come on Ford. Something is definately screwed in this system and your losing sales because of it.

As much as I want to hang in there, it sure seems like ford does not want my business.

Thanks for letting me vent. I hope ford is listening

 

I'm retired from Ford and don't have to make excuses for them.

But I will accept your humble opinion, since you talked to a dealer or two. I had 550 dealerships in my region and many felt the same way when they didn't get what they wanted. The facts remain, that the dealer councils worked out the allocation strategy with Ford over many years.

A dealership that has allocation will get their "Stock" unit before a dealer that does not have allocation. But facts don't seem to have any impact on your understanding of the process.

Others may benefit from my explanation and suggestions, so I offer my insights, nothing humble about it.

 

When someone says Ford is selling vehicles to dealers for stock ahead of special orders this is not entirely true. Ford sells all their vehicles to the dealers. The dealer foots the bill for the vehicle in the hopes of then turning around and selling it to a consumer. The dealer, by buying one for 'stock', is simply making their own special order without a specific consumer hooked to that vehicle.

Dealerships are the ones assuming the financial risks even for special orders made by consumers. That consumer is not tied to a contract that requires them to buy that vehicle. They may or may not lose their deposit, depending on the dealer, but they can always refuse to buy the vehicle when it finally arrives. The dealer is the one that then has to continue to bear the financial burden of that inventory and try to sell it to another consumer. The FEH and MMH are great vehicles and in many markets will sell like hotcakes but there may be others where the demand for a hybrid suv is small and could sit for awhile on a dealer lot. Consider for example the fact that there are still 2008 models on some dealer lots.

I wish there was a perfect system for ordering, building and receiving a high demand vehicle such as the FEH but it simply does not exist. To blame Ford however is a bit far fetched in my opinion however. I hope you get your vehicle built soon. If you feel like it is not happening I would go back to your dealer and demand your money back unless they can get some traction on your build and go to another dealer. I was lucky and had a dealer that stayed in constant communication with me and kept me informed of the process the entire way. I wish you the best because you will love your vehicle once it gets in.

 

I agree Red, those questions you listed are very important to ask the dealers when considering placing an order with them. Having been through the process with my '09 FEH, I strongly recommend people here write them down and ask for straight answers from their dealers. If people don't get straight answers, move on to another dealer that will.

I could tell the Fleet Sales person I talked to at the Dealership my broker used could not or would not answer the questions you listed without going up the management chain. Once the price was agreed too, and the dealer that had allocations could set a real priority number on how they would process the order.

Those people that placed orders back in April, May, and June and still have no VIN or Blend date by now, should ask those questions and move on if they don't like the dealer's answers. If a dealer told me it would take 3 months to complete an order, I would move on to another dealer myself at this point. Chances are the FEH/MMH tax incentive will be cut in half January 1st anyway.

Sean (08FEH) did the right thing by buying one from stock at a dealership and canceling his order. MMdicab should get those answers to your questions now and make a decision also. Remember price protection was good on orders prior to Aug 1st only for that $1,030 increase.

GaryG

 

In regards to how they are allocated, I am not sure but this might help clear it up. I am hopefully getting my 2009 FEH through the second largest Ford dealer in the country. I order it on 6/2/08 and my dealer still knows nothing. From my understanding I was the first or second order at this location. It sucks to live in the Midwest when it comes to getting a FEH. Therefore it is not the god ol boy network.

 

Large Dealerships can play games with your order as long as they don't give you a VIN to track it down. It turns out that my dealership had a VIN weeks before they would give it to me. My guess is they were looking for a higher bidder. They charged me a dealer fee of $499 that was not part of the deal just before it arrived. My broker and the dealership has lost me and my friends future business. I have since learn that my '05 FEH was price protected, but they stole the increase from me 3 years ago also.

Also, your dealer could have put a low priority on your order to get in stock units first. When I go to a dealer that doesn't have what I want, I look at incoming orders to make a deal.

This may or may not be the case in your situation, but I'd be demanding answers from your dealer. If they know nothing, I would be out of there because their playing games for sure if you ordered in early June.

GaryG