Ford's communication around this is unbelievably bad

[Efthreeoh]

(800) 334-4375

But that doesn't spell "eat-shit-and-die" as one would expect from a corporation that doesn't solely depend on a single Bronco customer's happiness...

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[Efthreeoh]

I left my local dealer bc he was offering a deal and with the influx of bronco6gers, that would mean no way I'd get my bronco this year. So I went somewhere else. Think if I wasn't on this forum and didn't know this dealer was doing that? Thinking I have an early enough reservation I'd get it this year to find out I'm not getting it till '22.

I actually don't think allocation fixes that issue totally...

I did the opposite and it worked in my favor.

 

[jaspercasidino]

I did the opposite and it worked in my favor.

You were singing quite a different tune earlier. What changed or were you playing devil’s advocate in the SAC thread (which now has none of your posts... )?

https://www.bronco6g.com/forum/thre...d-atlantic-bronco-connection.4332/post-529805

 

[Sven]

Que Sera Sera

 

[MayhemMike]

So, how would you have done it? Not the communication part, but the actual design, manufacture and distribution of a new vehicle product. Design ( i.e. engineering and testing) and manufacture (i.e. create the tooling to make the product and establish the world-wide supply chain contracts - years in advance to deliver parts for Just-In-Time manufacturing). Then throw in global pandemic that basically shutdown the global economy because human lives were taken more seriously than economic gains. How would you have done this differently? Oh, and make sure you make a profit while you endure a completely FUBAR'd revenue plan.

Just curious?

Pandemic has nothing to do with “ first in, first come scheduling”. The fact Ford instructed folks to reserve a place in line without telling them there will be priority customers placed ahead of their reservation is the issue. The topic being discussed is communicating with the customer , not making a profit during a boogie man scenario. Ford told them one thing, then changed up. They can do that all they like, but it doesn’t build customer loyalty. I currently own six Ford products. Have never owned any other make of vehicle. Ford enthusiast throughout. They simply went about this the wrong way.

 

[NotApplicable]

I think you will find as Tesla grows in size and it has a fleet of millions of vehicles it needs to keep serviced, it will have local dealerships; the same model the mainstream manufacturers do. Most major cities already have Tesla dealerships. DC has two, one in the District and one in Tyson's Corner. Baltimore has one, Philly has one. Just examples local to me. Right now the places of business are owned by Tesla, but there is no reason in the future they will be sold off as franchises once Tesla finds out it can't single-handedly deal with millions and millions of customers.

You will never see Tesla “dealerships” (stores or service centers) become franchised middle-men. I guarantee it. There are MANY reasons that the corporate, direct-to-consumer model is far more efficient and a better customer experience. And, it’s a model that is absolutely scalable to millions of customers.

 

[Palerider]

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.

I get the impression many forum members believe they are Ford's customers. We are not. The dealers are their customers. If you want to refer to us as the sub-customers or the end-users, that is appropriate. Dealers purchase the units from Ford, not us. Ford recognizes that and plans accordingly; hence, the shenanigans we have seen the past year. Ford tried to recognize we, the consumer, as the customer, and that backfired with the dealers.

I experience the same dilemma in another endeavor, and it is exactly the same as Ford's. I buy storage units thru online auctions. You can designate someone other than yourself to pick up the contents, and you list these designees with the auction service. Problem is-- the storage complex owner makes up their own rules about pickup, irrespective of what the auction service says. So twice I won auctions, sent the kids to pick up the contents and they were not allowed because they storage owner claimed only I could pick up the unit, even though my kids are designated to pick up.

I talked to the storage auction folks, and the man says to me, "oh, we haven't heard of that before". ?Really, twice in 3 weeks, two different storage places and my designees were not allowed to pick up; never seen it? I pointed out that their agreement, that I signed, allows for designated people to pick up the units, and the individual storage owners were not complying with those rules. The point---the man says there is nothing they can do. Why? Because I am not their customer; the storage facility is.

When you go to the license branch and pick a number, you expect those numbers to be called in order, and not somebody who picked a number after you. When you make an appointment to see me and I decide I'll see someone else before you, but they were scheduled after you; are you really just going to sit there and tell yourself chill out, no need to whine, complain, get upset, or throw a fit? I doubt it. As many have pointed out, the idea of a reservation system is just that. Not going to rehash what is obvious and common sense, even if some try to obfuscate the meaning of reservation. Ford realized their real customers were upset, and then they came up with changes to appease them.

Anyone upset about being bumped has every right to be. I want to hear what they have to say, without somebody trying to shame them for their opinion. And they should not be personally attacked for expressing that frustration. It's unfortunate that forum members making derogatory and personal attacks on other members are not banned. They should be. There is no place for personal attacks on a forum. Good people with constructive input will sit on the sidelines and not participate in the forum.

If you dislike what another member is saying, then say nothing. If a forum member makes derogatory or personal attacks to another--ban them, and if the moderator can't figure that out--then the moderator needs to ban themselves.

 

[Efthreeoh]

You were singing quite a different tune earlier. What changed or were you playing devil’s advocate in the SAC thread (which now has none of your posts... )?

https://www.bronco6g.com/forum/thre...d-atlantic-bronco-connection.4332/post-529805

The mods took some of my posts out, so I removed the rest. If all of my posts can't stay, then none should be in the thread.

But no, I was actually not singing a different tune in that thread. I've always advocated buying from one's local dealership. I didn't go chasing a lower price and stuck with my local, small dealer and I'm very satisfied with the outcome based on allocations and commodity/late availability. Someone suggested it was "savvy" to buy from SAC to save some money and go through a involved process to buy a Bronco from SAC. I suggested it might not be so savvy when other things like trip cost and inconvenience are taken into consideration. I know that I'll be getting a Bronco sooner based on my circumstances with my local dealership vs. saving a $1,000 or a bit more and signing up with SAC. Savvy is like a box of chocolates, you never know what it might mean.

 

[jaspercasidino]

The mods took some of my posts out, so I removed the rest. If all of my posts can't stay, then none should be in the thread.

But no, I was actually not singing a different tune in that thread. I've always advocated buying from one's local dealership. I didn't go chasing a lower price and stuck with my local, small dealer and I'm very satisfied with the outcome based on allocations and commodity/late availability. Someone suggested it was "savvy" to buy from SAC to save some money and go through a involved process to buy a Bronco from SAC. I suggested it might not be so savvy when other things like trip cost and inconvenience are taken into consideration. I know that I'll be getting a Bronco sooner based on my circumstances with my local dealership vs. saving a $1,000 or a bit more and signing up with SAC. Savvy is like a box of chocolates, you never know what it might mean.

Over a number of posts, I suggested that savvy buyers would have to do some cost/benefit analysis. Based on your posts, it certainly seemed like you were unhappy about non-local customers purchasing from your local, rural dealer, but now it seems you were playing devil’s advocate. Just curious on the switch from unhappy to pleased.

 

[Badplaid72]

I really think including myself need to take a long break from the forum and forget about all things bronco for awhile....

Its becoming quite mind numbing..

I did that a few months ago when I was told my week 3 reservation is definitely a MY22. I bought a Jeep Mojave two months ago and love it so much! What a beast. I still have my Bronco reservation, but my expectation of quality and performance is very high.

Before you throw hate about my Jeep and tell me the Bronco is better, talk to me when you have your Bronco and a few hundred miles of off pavement driving.

I grew tired of the forum angst feedback loop and I bailed. Then inconsistent comm’s from the dealer, delays. If I ran my company the way Ford is running the Bronco, I’d be out of business.

I check in to the forum ever couple weeks because I still believe I the Bronco engineering. It’s Ford I’m not digging on. Today, I saw this post and thought... “yep, same shit.” As I head out to get dirty in my fine Jeep.

 

[Efthreeoh]

Over a number of posts, I suggested that savvy buyers would have to do some cost/benefit analysis. Based on your posts, it certainly seemed like you were unhappy about non-local customers purchasing from your local, rural dealer, but now it seems you were playing devil’s advocate. Just curious on the switch from unhappy to pleased.

No, I wasn't playing devil's advocate. I was stating my opinion at the time a few weeks ago. Two weeks later, circumstances have changed in my favor regarding allocation position. However, I'm still of the opinion, when it comes to the rollout of the Bronco, with limited availability of product, allocation should consider a person's location relative to his dealership of choice.

 

[Efthreeoh]

Pandemic has nothing to do with “ first in, first come scheduling”. The fact Ford instructed folks to reserve a place in line without telling them there will be priority customers placed ahead of their reservation is the issue. The topic being discussed is communicating with the customer , not making a profit during a boogie man scenario. Ford told them one thing, then changed up. They can do that all they like, but it doesn’t build customer loyalty. I currently own six Ford products. Have never owned any other make of vehicle. Ford enthusiast throughout. They simply went about this the wrong way.

So from what I can gather regarding priority orders is a Dealership gets 1 priority order if it has up to 50 MY'21 allocations and 2 priority orders if it has more than 50 allocations.

That is what all the drama is about? So what, the allocation order gets shuffled around a bit. The dealer doesn't have to go that route. Or maybe it lets one local Customer get his Bronco before a person that is from out of state. Big deal.

 

[Erock]

Seems like we could just wait until the date Ford gave us (in May) before we got ill about anything. I don’t recall them saying they “wouldn’t” do priority orders, only that they would use time stamps as best they could.

 

[flip]

So you’re saying the time stamp is insignificant, the lower your reservation number, the closer to the front of the line you are?

What I'm saying is the file I put together came from the C&I site which is what we originally used to see reservations coming in. It included a ton more info. but I just pulled reservation number and time that Ford saw or recognized the reservation. When guys say "time stamp" this is what I'm talking about. I didn't include the reservation number out of privacy for our customers but I assure you, they are in numeric order. It's quite clear, "time stamp" does not follow reservation. Don't ask me why but my reservation number is accurate with the time I made it.

It is my opinion reservation number is the important factor for order position, not what time of day you made it. At least that is my opinion today. Maybe some other dealers have better info. but this is my take.

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