Ordered and waiting? Good luck. Prepare to be disappointed by Ford !!!!!!!!!!

[coherent]

If anyone wants to really experience the pain of waiting, try ordering a new boat.

Actually I did! I ordered a new pontoon boat directly from the Manufacturer about 6 months into the covid onset. You are right... I did have a long wait. But I was kept accurately informed of the build status and expected delivery date and received regular "factual" information from both the manufacturer and the dealer. All told it was delivered within 3 weeks of the initial expected date given. The short delay was due to Mercury outboard motor chip/build/delivery issues of which they kept me informed of in a timely manner. The wait was tough, and I was impatient and wanted to get the boat and get on the water, but I was never frustrated due to a lack of (or incorrect) information. Now I have the boat and all the lakes out west are drying up! Go figure.

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[Chance301]

I ordered in 2021. Yes we did have an idea on how long it would take. It was pretty obvious by early October 2021.

I ordered in July 2021. My dealer said it would probably be delivered sometime around Thanksgiving to Christmas. My truck was built last week with estimated delivery in early November. Turns out dealer was right. He never said what year! In all honesty, my dealer has been excellent throughout the process with giving me info, answering questions, etc. Frustrated a little with Ford’s seemingly haphazard approach to the whole thing though!

 

[B2000]

I've never ordered a car before but I have no expectations from Ford except to eventually build the truck. It would be nice if we were told of the items constrained and given a chance to delete those. That process could be done online but then people would claim they did not want to make those changes so the dealer has to be involved.

None of the vehicles I am interested in are available without a long wait- can't imagine what you can walk in and buy right now.

I agree with the poster who said Ford should optimize available resources and just build what they can and ship them to dealers- that would crank out the most vehicles. But all of us would be paying over MSRP and having to compromise on what features we get.

 

[Old Ranchero]

Let’s look at the known facts:
Ford built almost 120,000 Mavericks in MY22, which was actually more than their initial plan.
The commodity mix was known from day one and corresponding contracts were let to suppliers based on that plan.
Ford had full visibility to the orders as they were coming in, including volume and commodity mix. They knew immediately it did not match their completely incorrect marketing product mix forecast.
There has never been any meaningful shortage issues on Maverick components that fit the original build plan. Only the attempts to make commodity plan changes after the start of production was an issue.

Ford had all the necessary information to determine which orders could be built, and when, more or less. With the appropriate transparency and communication we all would have know where we stand on our orders and deliveries. With that information, people could have made informed decisions on how to proceed.

Instead we were treated to confusion and an utter lack of transparency and information (actually plenty of misinformation) which lead to all kinds of confusion and frustration. Ford’s order entry, scheduling and allocation systems were proven to be woefully inadequate to the task and no effort was made to resolve these issues. Quite the contrary, all we got was happy talk from people who clearly did not care.

Your homely excuse might apply to toilet paper in 2020, but it’s totally off base for this situation where all the information was known to Ford in advance. Had they acted on it with transparency and communication in a timely manner, you wouldn’t see the frustrations expressed by people here.



(I won’t go into the dealer behavior situation, but Ford knows about that too)

You've obviously never worked in manufacturing or production in any substantial role. Basically, None of what you stated as known facts is anywhere close to how building complicated products for mass production actually works in real life.

 

[brucerob62]

This is my first try at actually having to order a vehicle unbelievable.. will c if i get by this time nxt year

 

[cdsmith379]

Everything the OP is true but what really resonated with me was the promised delvery time at order. Something similar happened to me, they told me 12-16 weeks at order time. Had they told me a year or longer I would have never placed the order.

 

[psnb89]

I've thought a few times that Ford should actually be charging us less (even more so for first year orders) to basically be guinea pigs for their new vehicle, and silently wait for it to be built with no clear timeline. I know there are Ford fans who won't tolerate any criticism and I'm not saying other manufacturers would have necessarily done better (though I suspect some would have) but it is definitely a change from the usual way of buying a car from a lot or ordering being an experience with a fairly clear and ~3 month timeline.

At the end of the day Ford is the one who offered the truck for sale. They're the ones who said they wanted to move to ordering rather than dealer allocations. They're the ones who bragged about it being a hybrid, the price, and so on. Now in their favor they seem to offer a good truck at a decent price (I don't really agree with the claims that it's "cheap", it still costs a decent chunk of change), but the ordering of that vehicle, the short supply of the touted hybrid, all the crying about how they can't meet the deal the offered due to shortages and delays, does seem to be a very poor experience.

If Ford is so short in supplies (a claim I'm also skeptical of, they have no problem building plenty of the more profitable vehicles) maybe they should consider doing business how Mazda does, I know Mazda apparently does not accept orders, they build what they can and dealers get what they're allocated. If you let your dealer know in time, they can try to get the exact build you want on their lot, but that's it.

See I don't like that system that Asian brands like Mazda, Toyota, Honda have because you get what they have and you just have to be happy with that. I personally don't mind waiting to get what I want exactly and I know some people have a need now for a new vehicle due to various reasons rather than being a want that they can wait for. It's a more Tesla approach to selling cars and I like it. Retail orders are best.

 

[SnyperX]

I wonder how many of these issue are actually dealer related and not actually Ford related? I feel like a ton of Dealers have no idea how to CORRECTLY place an order with Ford for a customer ordered vehicle.

I ordered my 2022 in October 2021 and had my truck by February 2022. Got timely updates from dealer and Ford and even was able to adjust my order via my dealer and not cause any time issues for my delivery.

I feel like the market is rife with really crappy dealers that can tell their ass from their elbow as they say.

 

[UberGadgetFreak]

I wonder how many of these issue are actually dealer related and not actually Ford related? I feel like a ton of Dealers have no idea how to CORRECTLY place an order with Ford for a customer ordered vehicle.

I ordered my 2022 in October 2021 and had my truck by February 2022. Got timely updates from dealer and Ford and even was able to adjust my order via my dealer and not cause any time issues for my delivery.

I feel like the market is rife with really crappy dealers that can tell their ass from their elbow as they say.

I've had my share of ordered vehicles over the years. My Escape in 2019 was delayed 30 days longer than expected, and then the Bronco (took 15 months to arrive), and somehow my Maverick order arrived 90 days after the Bronco, 7 months after it was ordered. It almost seems like a very random process.

It's a matter of a lot of factors from parts, people, weather, equipment, the process itself, and as you note, dealerships, too. I seem to know more about what's going on than my dealership at times.

I wish Ford would do what we do with our vendors where I work. We sent out a monthly update that includes our current order backlog, how much we have processed of that backlog since the last update, what our biggest holdups (constraints equivalent) are that cause orders to get moved to the back into the pool of pending orders, and some additional detail as needed. Something like this from Ford would serve to maintain end-customer satisfaction, keep customers and dealers informed, and manage expectations a bit better with everything going on the world today.

Maybe I should go to work for Ford as a PR person? Hmmm.

 

[buyacar]

I have a pretty similar timeline to OP : got VIN in April, initial production date in June then several push backs until 8/30 showing built. Right now, it is still not shipped yet.....
frustrated to see someone got built date later than me but will get the trucker earlier...

 

[BC Vic Guy]

I ordered a XLT Hybrid with hitch Oct23/21, and received a VIN number In August Near the end of the month. I have yet to receive any type of email from Ford, all my updates come from the dealership or calling the Ford 1-800. I have been pushed out from every scheduled build date since Sept, and just found out this week I was pushed out again to the Nov 14/22 build week. At this rate I do not think I’ll get it in time for Christmas. Ford has miss handled this process so bad, that this could be a great case study for business schools as an example of what not to do!
let’s hope I get my truck before the end of the new year. All the best to everyone still waiting.

 

[JimParker256]

I can certainly understand the frustration of the OP and others who placed orders in 2021 and 2022 when the order windows were last open, but still don't have their Mavericks, and have NO IDEA whether they will get them this time around, either.

[RANT mode ON]

I simply do NOT understand how the Ford scheduling / manufacturing / delivery process could possibly be as screwed up as it appears to be. Orders should be placed in an "order queue" in the sequence they were received. That sequence number should never change. The lowest build sequence number should be the next one built. If there is a constrained item preventing that one from being built, they should make a decision (based mostly on how soon the constraint is expected to be resolved) whether to keep that one in the queue to wait for the constraint to be resolved, or to temporarily "park" it in a "deferred" queue and move on to build the next one in sequence that is unconstrained. But the instant the constraint(s) is(are) resolved – or new data is received about when that constraint will be resolved – that "parked" order should go right back to the top of the build queue.

Even more critically to me, there is absolutely ZERO excuse for a customer having to re-order a vehicle they already have on order. The dealer should be notified that order is rolling over to the new year's production, and the order should be automatically adjusted to provide as close to the same feature set at possible. Then the customer should be allowed to make necessary changes to the order to comply with the new model year packaging (yes, I want the Assist package, and I'd also like to add the new Black Appearance Package to my order). And all that should be doable WITHOUT having to re-enter the order, and without having to play the Ford "Russian roulette" game of "will I get scheduled or not." Constraint aside, those rollover orders should be the FIRST ones built in the new model year.

In the 21st century, there is simply no excuse for not being able to do this! That should be considered the "low bar" for any ordering system to meet. If those 2021 and 2022 orders that went unfulfilled had been automatically rolled to 2023, and were at the top of the queue, at least people with those orders would not be facing the frustration of seeing their orders going in behind those of newcomers (like me). I want my Maverick, but I do agree that those in the queue since 2021 or 2022 SHOULD be ahead of me in the line.

[Rant mode OFF]

There! I feel much better now. Now back to your regularly scheduled program: "Patiently waiting for my new Maverick..."

 

[atomguy245]

Ordering a new car from the factory is more like buying a new house from a builder. The new house will never get built on time, on budget, or 100% correctly. It's expected.

However, if Ford really wants to deal directly with the customers, then they need to do a better job. Why they allow simple things like mud flaps or a bed liner delay an order is beyond me. Those things shouldn't be on the option list to custom order - they should just be dealer accessories. Why are they offering price protection, but some how leaving it to dealer discretion on whether the customer gets it or not? Why were the 2022 rollover orders not automatically converted to 2023s?

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