Ford's communication around this is unbelievably bad

[NotApplicable]

The fact they HAVEN’T told me my build date while telling later reservation holders THEIR build date is the topic. If the latter are in the first batch, and I’m not, that violates the concept of reservations and timestamps.

I would point you to a few resources to learn more:

1. A clock.
2. A calendar.
3. General accepted concepts of time.

I’d point you to any large-scale manufacturing and logistics process. These were never going to be built or delivered in chronological order. Maybe on average, randomly sampled builds will be in rough chronological order coming off the line.

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[coconutlacroix]

Was there any official public word from Ford about the significance of yesterday or are we just overreacting to information that was leaked?

I'm not an MY21 so I've not been paying too much attention.

This. We weren’t supposed to hear anything until May, so I think there is a bit of overreaction about this whole situation. You can’t base the quality of Ford’s customer service on whether or not they can keep an online community that is leaking every bit of bronco related info satisfied or not. Impossible task.

 

[wvmtneer]

True, I didn't say the reaction was warranted, but I do understand the frustration. Boils down to what I told the sales guy at my dealer "I can handle good news, and I can handle bad news, but if you give me no news, or just outright lie, I'll be pissed."

Rest assured tho, when I get my email. I do solemnly swear to post about it, but actually include my build, reservation timestamp, and order timestamp, in the actual first post. :-D

I can’t wait to show you low riders(less ground clearance than subaru) the build
Sheet for my forester.

 

[UberGadgetFreak]

I am having flashbacks to 2003....

Why? My "B production" Mercury Marauder. For those who don't know that story, the original Marauders' sold out and Ford got in trouble for dealerships not having any available at dealerships for months. So what did they do? They did a second production of one-per-dealer just to have them at dealerships until the 04s started rolling out to avoid being fined heavily for advertising something that wasn't available. Ford never forgets. And that experience also gave me this insight:

1. Not all dealerships will get an order through their store on day 1. Some dealerships didn't get their first order until days or even weeks after Ford started taking orders.
2. Ford has to ensure every dealership is getting models to fill orders across the nation in a way that dealerships feel is fair to them and their sales, and complies with all sorts of laws, too so they don't get in trouble again.
3. Then add in how to do that with what parts you have available for production.

It's a nasty mess really. But you will see some people who ordered late get theirs early between what they ordered and how many orders their dealership had, and others who ordered first day who have to wait due to parts availability and how many others in their area got their orders in at the same dealership before yours. Balancing the orders to parts, dealership orders, and doing it in as fair as possible way is tough.

I feel for the people who had to sort through all that and remain sane. I'd buy em some donuts and coffee if I could.

And yes, congrats to those who got their emails. To the rest of you, (and to myself), I hope it comes sooner rather than later as well.

Disclaimer: I don't work for Ford, a Ford franchise, or a Ford partner. I just know people...

Keep Calm and Bronco On...

 

[wvmtneer]

Some of you can go make a baby, starting now, and give birth before your bronco is delivered.

 

[WyoBronc]

I used a generic descriptor because I wasn't trying to accuse you specifically of taking it out on others.

I have however, absolutely witnessed people posting they are scheduled and others taking their frustration out on them.

There's enough of that vibe here in fact that I have stacks of DM's from people wanting to share their excitement with me privately, but afraid to mention it publicly.

It's amazing how many people were all excited for the process to begin, but once it did their true colors came out.

I don’t know that people at Ford should lose their jobs, but there should and possibly will be consequences from Ford customers, do to the lack of fairness, and process visibility. Customers were told the Bronco reservation process was based on timestamp, dealer allocation and possible commodity restraints. People were accepting of that process. But that is obviously not what occurred yesterday and people have a legitimate right to be frustrated and ask questions when they were lied to and not be ridiculed when they voice their frustrations on this forum.
A company can’t advertise a fair registration, allocation commodity process, and turn it into more of a lottery game or a Sunday night bingo luck of the draw game of chance.
I put my $1,100 down, got in line, invested the past 9 months, and placed my faith in a process and was, to this point, lied to by Ford. I’m entitled to feel however I feel.
Im sure my story is similar to numerous fellow participants in this cluster fuck run by Ford.......a timestamp in the first 10 minutes, and going into yesterday I was the # 1 allocation of 56 at my dealership. I watched/read person after person post their vehicle and timestamp for several hours while continually refreshing my email. While I read the posts I saw build after identical build to my own and reservations/allocations days, weeks, and even months after mine. And I felt cheated. There didn’t appear to be a process or rational and if there was it hasn’t been conveyed to those of us that have been in que for 9 months willing to fork over $60k + and placed their faith in Ford.
I have owned over a dozen Fords in my lifetime and the price Ford will pay is after I get my Bronco, I will never participate in a cluster fuck like this again with Ford. And as of now this will be the last Ford I ever intend buy. To Ford I’m sure I won’t be missed, but perhaps I won’t be the only one.
So I feel a bit pissed and betrayed by a company I’ve been loyal to and have handed over $400k to, and the fact that some feel I’m showing my true colors, or unjustifiably frustrated.....well, we’ll just have to agree to disagree.

 

[totesmasc]

I think we’re all a bit anxious for information. I was a day-one reservation holder with a time stamp of 22:50. My dealer, Akins Ford, told me I was 12/~400 orders, so I was a bit surprised when I didn’t get an email yesterday. But, I’m looking at it a positive. My husband was without work for nearly six months, so the extended wait gives us additional time save more to put more down with our trade in.

 

[WCP-82]

There are two long threads running currently. One where a guy has a 7/14 @6:45am reservation being told he didn't make the cut. Another with a 11/17 reservation saying he has a June build date.

I just made the allocation cut of #104 of 108 allocations. I am sitting back waiting to find out my November build date. I am not up in arms but do have some compassion for the guy with the early time stamp and understand his frustration. I also understand why many are up in arms over the time stamp thing. 16 weeks apart is in no way approximate. Two weeks apart on an identical build is not approximate.

Reservations made in the first twelve hours were probably people that were following the reveal and and were dedicated from the start to get a Bronco. I am sure they were excited to have the possibility of driving the Bronco this summer. How many times have we seen a post where a November reservation started getting excited and was met with a hold on there big guy, no way are you getting a 2021?

I don't see how I can tell the early 7/14 guy to suck it up buttercup. You knew there might be variables. I get the variables and to a certain extent allocations factoring in but there should be no way that a reservation within twelve hours is on the outside looking in. I guess my point is to let the early reservation holders bitch about it. Let them get it off their chest. Telling them they are whiners and weren't guaranteed anything doesn't help in my opinion. They just want to be heard.

 

[ZackDanger]

[...]Customers were told the Bronco reservation process was based on timestamp, dealer allocation and possible commodity restraints. People were accepting of that process. But that is obviously not what occurred yesterday [...]

You come to a conclusion here that I don't agree with.

This is probably where the heart of our disagreements in this thread come from.

Some of us feel like Ford has violated something, and the others don't.

If I was a member of the former, I would absolutely feel upset.

I however do not believe we have enough data to come to that conclusion. Everything that I've witnessed this past week seems consistent within the possibilities of what Ford has said thus far.

My opinion very well may change as we gather more data.

 

[Mike E]

If you don't mind me asking, which dealer did you go through? I've had similar difficulties trying to get an answer about where I stand in the allocation line...

Barbee's Freeway Ford and your dealership?

 

[edgeflyer]

Are you a politician? EVERY one knows the rules of the game are changing. There is no precedence for what Ford is doing with build schedule changes, therefore an implied message that defers from history should be clarified.

 

[rtaylor]

This. We weren’t supposed to hear anything until May, so I think there is a bit of overreaction about this whole situation. You can’t base the quality of Ford’s customer service on whether or not they can keep an online community that is leaking every bit of bronco related info satisfied or not. Impossible task.

It was Ford's choice to secretly violate the informal reservation agreement with their customers.

A business that is trustworthy doesn't have to worry about the exposure of secret unscrupulous dealings. Plus, they had to know that this would come out and just didn't care that it would alienate a portion of their customers. Probably because they already expect a lot of grief due to commodity issues. To me personally, the commodity and covid related issues are excusable, but dishonesty is not.

 

[LostInArizona]

Come on people, get your shit together! This is the kind of behavior I would expect from Honda fanbois waiting for a new Type-R.

 

[Sj2021wildtrak]

What happened yesterday should cost several people their jobs, what a cluster. None of us know what is going on, the dealers don't know what is going on, and nothing is communicated. I've seen several dealers, including mine, that didn't have anything schedule yesterday. Also what a joke that they made such a huge deal out of your reservation timestamp only to piss all over that on day 1 of scheduling. I've seen several people with my exact build post build dates and their reservations are days and even weeks behind mine. If their goal is to piss people off, they are on a great track.

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[rtaylor]

Are you a politician? EVERY one knows the rules of the game are changing. There is no precedence for what Ford is doing with build schedule changes, therefore an implied message that defers from history should be clarified.

I agree. It is never good if a lawyer is required to interpret an informal non-binding promise made by a company to a customer. Customer loses trust when lied to, especially if customer is somehow blamed or shamed for the obvious interpretation.

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