- Joined
- Jan 31, 2022
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- 245
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- Poconos, PA
- Vehicle(s)
- 2014 Ford Fiesta (on death's door)
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- 2.0L EcoBoost
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- #1
An open letter to Ford CEO Jim Farley:
For context, I am the regretful owner of a 2014 Ford Fiesta Titanium. When I first bought the car, it seemed great, but after a few years the issues began. HVAC actuators breaking, leather wearing prematurely and the infamous PowerShift transmission that goes through clutch packs like tires. I swore I'd never buy another Ford.
My fiancé and I began searching for a new car in September of 2022 as my Fiesta was needing maintenance that would cost more than the value of the car (timing belt, suspension work, etc). We spent a few weekends test driving cars and we were about to settle on a Kia Seltos. The salesman said it would take around 4 months for delivery. We went home to sleep on it then I saw the Ford Maverick on the internet. I was intrigued with it. AWD, crew cab and 29MPG? That's better than some of the SUVs we looked at. I wrote off getting a truck because I do 100 miles a day. And all this for $30k? I was willing to give Ford a second chance. Only thing that worried me was the size, so I waited until a local dealer had one that I could test drive. After the test drive, I was sold. My dealer told me 4-6 months for delivery. It would be close, but I figured I could keep my car going for that long.
I ordered my Maverick November 1st. It was the first car I ever custom ordered. I ordered it with the FX4, 4K towing and Luxury packages. I was impressed with the quality of spray-in bed liner and the value of the Luxury package. I ordered my truck with a tonneau cover, because if there was an issue with it, I wanted to go to any dealer for service. I was unaware of any constraints when I ordered my truck. The dealer simply told me 4-6 months. I was planning on having the truck for summer.
Two weeks later, I received a call from my dealer. I was told that the spray-in bed liner was causing a delay with my order and that I should switch to the drop-in version. I never saw the drop-in in person and I was hesitant because older liners would cause truck beds to rust out prematurely. I held off changing my order until January. I was never told the tonneau cover was causing any delay.
Fast-forward to March and my truck is still unscheduled. Based on the dates being reported on MaverickTruckClub.com and Reddit, my truck would arrive well past the six month timeframe I was quoted. I was borrowing my fiancé's car whenever possible to avoid additional wear on my car, hoping to keep it alive until my truck arrived. Meanwhile, I was seeing similarly equipped trucks to mine that were ordered in December and January being scheduled.
The next five months was a hellscape of me arguing with my dealer, watching later orders get scheduled, zero meaningful communication and worrying about my car leaving me stranded. Ford continued to send emails saying that my truck would be scheduled as soon as possible, even after my dealer said I would be pushed to 2023. My dealer blamed the allocation system, saying that their orders just weren't getting scheduled and that there was nothing they could do. I resigned myself to having to wait until 2023 and scheduled my car to have the long-delayed service done.
Then this past week, something happened that I would never have expected. I saw a post where someone who ordered in January from my dealership with a similar build got scheduled. I contacted Ford via chat and found out I had a build date and VIN. I was ecstatic! I told my step-daughter that since we were fixing my car she could have it in December when my truck finally arrived.
Then the next day I checked the tracker and my order was completely wrong. It was a hybrid with completely different options. I called Ford and found out that they gave me the wrong order info. After ten months of waiting, they couldn't even take a second and double check before they sent me someone else's information? I asked to speak to a supervisor and was told that one would call me back in two days. I have received no phone call as of writing this. All my hopes were raised and destroyed by your company within a matter of days.
I don't know what kind of company you are running Mr. Farley, but it is not one that I will be doing business with. Ford has strung me along for ten months now. They have told me that my truck will be built, even when it became clear that it will not. The only reasoning I can assume from this is that your company just wanted to keep me from buying from your competition. This shows me that Ford has not changed since I owned my Fiesta. Ford is still mismanaged and only cares about squeezing their customer while giving them the bare minimum.
So instead of losing a customer for a vehicle because you couldn't be honest with your timeframes and inability to deliver a vehicle, you will lose one for life. I will never buy another Ford, and I will be vocally against any of my friends and family buying one.
For context, I am the regretful owner of a 2014 Ford Fiesta Titanium. When I first bought the car, it seemed great, but after a few years the issues began. HVAC actuators breaking, leather wearing prematurely and the infamous PowerShift transmission that goes through clutch packs like tires. I swore I'd never buy another Ford.
My fiancé and I began searching for a new car in September of 2022 as my Fiesta was needing maintenance that would cost more than the value of the car (timing belt, suspension work, etc). We spent a few weekends test driving cars and we were about to settle on a Kia Seltos. The salesman said it would take around 4 months for delivery. We went home to sleep on it then I saw the Ford Maverick on the internet. I was intrigued with it. AWD, crew cab and 29MPG? That's better than some of the SUVs we looked at. I wrote off getting a truck because I do 100 miles a day. And all this for $30k? I was willing to give Ford a second chance. Only thing that worried me was the size, so I waited until a local dealer had one that I could test drive. After the test drive, I was sold. My dealer told me 4-6 months for delivery. It would be close, but I figured I could keep my car going for that long.
I ordered my Maverick November 1st. It was the first car I ever custom ordered. I ordered it with the FX4, 4K towing and Luxury packages. I was impressed with the quality of spray-in bed liner and the value of the Luxury package. I ordered my truck with a tonneau cover, because if there was an issue with it, I wanted to go to any dealer for service. I was unaware of any constraints when I ordered my truck. The dealer simply told me 4-6 months. I was planning on having the truck for summer.
Two weeks later, I received a call from my dealer. I was told that the spray-in bed liner was causing a delay with my order and that I should switch to the drop-in version. I never saw the drop-in in person and I was hesitant because older liners would cause truck beds to rust out prematurely. I held off changing my order until January. I was never told the tonneau cover was causing any delay.
Fast-forward to March and my truck is still unscheduled. Based on the dates being reported on MaverickTruckClub.com and Reddit, my truck would arrive well past the six month timeframe I was quoted. I was borrowing my fiancé's car whenever possible to avoid additional wear on my car, hoping to keep it alive until my truck arrived. Meanwhile, I was seeing similarly equipped trucks to mine that were ordered in December and January being scheduled.
The next five months was a hellscape of me arguing with my dealer, watching later orders get scheduled, zero meaningful communication and worrying about my car leaving me stranded. Ford continued to send emails saying that my truck would be scheduled as soon as possible, even after my dealer said I would be pushed to 2023. My dealer blamed the allocation system, saying that their orders just weren't getting scheduled and that there was nothing they could do. I resigned myself to having to wait until 2023 and scheduled my car to have the long-delayed service done.
Then this past week, something happened that I would never have expected. I saw a post where someone who ordered in January from my dealership with a similar build got scheduled. I contacted Ford via chat and found out I had a build date and VIN. I was ecstatic! I told my step-daughter that since we were fixing my car she could have it in December when my truck finally arrived.
Then the next day I checked the tracker and my order was completely wrong. It was a hybrid with completely different options. I called Ford and found out that they gave me the wrong order info. After ten months of waiting, they couldn't even take a second and double check before they sent me someone else's information? I asked to speak to a supervisor and was told that one would call me back in two days. I have received no phone call as of writing this. All my hopes were raised and destroyed by your company within a matter of days.
I don't know what kind of company you are running Mr. Farley, but it is not one that I will be doing business with. Ford has strung me along for ten months now. They have told me that my truck will be built, even when it became clear that it will not. The only reasoning I can assume from this is that your company just wanted to keep me from buying from your competition. This shows me that Ford has not changed since I owned my Fiesta. Ford is still mismanaged and only cares about squeezing their customer while giving them the bare minimum.
So instead of losing a customer for a vehicle because you couldn't be honest with your timeframes and inability to deliver a vehicle, you will lose one for life. I will never buy another Ford, and I will be vocally against any of my friends and family buying one.
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