for every good dealer there are one or more bad ones. mine is great, but it's not worth the hassle to ford, and they can still be service centers or sell certified used.
direct to consumer is a huge success in many markets. also saves a ton of issues and cost removing them from the equation.
only way they survive is if they are ford owned or ford implements standards and policies that a lot of dealers will not accept. all big markets like amazon (direct) or walmart (corp with policies), etc. have control of their product and polices. without that you get the 15k adm and all the other horror stories. sucks for the good dealers, but maybe ford rewards them and takes them under their umbrella (like tesla dealers).