Retail Fastback orders NOT scheduled today (post up)

[Seabee1973]

From what I see here there are a ton of people who ordered almost a month after those who ordered in May and first half of June ... there is only a handful of folks that ordered early as far as this forum is concerned but to think of all those people that don't even bother with the forums... that number I bet is staggering... possibly there are a ton of people that actually got those orders long before we did.... has anyone considered those folks? Life is not about the internet though many would seem to be lost without it and many would care less about it. At the same time look at all the people and dealers who pulled the strings to get the orders placed as a stock order... I would be blaming alot of those people as well as the dealership in getting alot of the order system getting jacked up and the constraints.... dealers should be basing their stock orders based on what their historical sales are and/or the retail orders that were placed instead of buddy fcking the honest dealers who place the orders correctly and by the book... at this point you really can't blame Ford on this except for the policing the dealers on orders but you and they really can't prove that a person is already assigned to that order... Ford should be coming down on the dealers who do this

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[Seabee1973]

Seebee, your guess is as good as mine or anyone else on this board (other than those associated with Ford or a Ford dealership). Ford won't publish or even confirm theories as to how their allocation system works. The average Ford buyer doesn't even know such a system exists until they start investigating why their order is delayed. The reality is that if you want a quick turn around on a retail order, you must seek out a dealer with a large number of allocations. The date on an order has little influence on when it will be scheduled. I wouldn't be entirely surprised if some of these May orders end up scheduled next year in the last build week. If the car ends up being extremely popular, some may not be scheduled at all as dealers realize they can change priorities on these X-Plan orders and get higher return on newly placed orders due to demand.

By that time you are better off ordering a 2016 if the configuration is the same though I am sure there will be some tweaks or even none at all but I seriously doubt that, I don't think it will be that extreme... hopefully we get scheduled next week... I am still waiting on a return email from my dealer to enlighten me on what is going on

 

[Anabus]

Vehicle: 2015 Mustang GT Premium Fastback 401A (Retail)
Ordered on: 07/01/2014 (Cotus - 07/07/2014)
No Vin Yet

 

[Five Oh Brian]

Some of you may know that I work at a dealership. Fairly large volume dealer in the NW. Every single one of our retail Mustang orders was scheduled yesterday. Not only the ones ordered way back in May, but even our latest one that was ordered earlier this month.

Ford's allocation system makes perfect sense (to Ford) and there is a rhyme & reason to it. I will not explain it online, but maybe sometime over a drink. It'll take awhile.

 

[oyitsagreen]

Some of you may know that I work at a dealership. Fairly large volume dealer in the NW. Every single one of our retail Mustang orders was scheduled yesterday. Not only the ones ordered way back in May, but even our latest one that was ordered earlier this month.

Ford's allocation system makes perfect sense (to Ford) and there is a rhyme & reason to it. I will not explain it online, but maybe sometime over a drink. It'll take awhile.

:cheers:

Now about that explanation

 

[Tony Alonso]

With all due respect, for many of us, our outcome is much, much worse than your experience. You have a car already built. It is a fact that you will have it in your hands soon. There are many of us who placed orders as soon as the order banks were open in May. A good percentage of us were not scheduled yesterday when the first opportunity for scheduling retail orders opened up.

Hello, MikeAZ - if my comments were in any way offensive, patronizing, or insulting, I apologize to you or any one else who might have taken them that way. That was absolutely not my intent. I was definitely directing comments to the OP in his personal situation with what I know is a frustrating ordering situation. I don't like the allocation scheme, even as I understand why it exists. In my own case, I have high hopes of a mid-October delivery, but honestly, if what a few others have mentioned in their posts about reworking the initial builds, then I could subject to the downside of what happened, meaning delivery even later than that. Especially if the later Job 1 builds are being put on trucks even as we discuss this, there is a possibility I could be on the receiving end of a delay.

Again, my comments were in direct conversation with Free Agent simply as a forum member-to-forum member offer of help. I am sorry if I came across as meddlesome or otherwise.

Orders from yesterday are receiving build weeks anywhere from 10/20 to 11/3. Even if some or all of the rest of the May retail orders are scheduled next week, our build dates are likely to be somewhere from 11/10 through 11/21.

Potentially, but as you well know, constraints and build combinations could result in changes in dates being moved up. We've definitely seen that occur over the past 2 scheduling weeks. Obviously this would be a preferred situation.

At best (with a two week transit time), those retail orders scheduled yesterday will be delivered around 11/3 but more realistically 11/17 or later. Those scheduled next week are looking at realistic deliveries anywhere from 12/1 to 12/12.

Possible, although again as you well know, there are logistics variables with carrier routes being optimized and where the largest number of cars are going that could see some people get sooner or some get later.

You may receive your car at around the same time as those lucky enough to have their retail order scheduled for the 10/20 week, but you will have it before the majority of retail buyers.

It could happen that way, but if there is rework on that car, and it isn't selected for several weeks, I could possible receive it after. I'd love for it to be here ASAP - I just don't know for sure.

Unrelated to Tony's comment but it backs up my point:

Take, my case. I have a 5/24 order. My dealer is small but still fairly close to the Tucson Metro area and the only alternative to the 4 dealer owned by one partnership Ford monopoly in Tucson. My dealer doesn't do a tremendous amount of Mustang sales but his F-150 sales are high enough that Ford rewarded an LE allocation. Their first '15 Mustang stock order was not pulled until 9/17 and none yesterday. There is one retail order before me at this dealership. They cannot give me ANY timeframe on when my order will be pulled - they don't know. I've asked Ford - they don't know and redirect all my questions to the dealership.

This is the tough thing to swallow as an enthusiastic buyer. I don't think it is fair, especially when the orders go in so early. I also think sometimes there is a communication gap between the dealership and the regional sales offices, which is where I understand visibility to allocations and how likely something would get accepted by the plant is more likely to be seen.

Actually, we are most likely at the mercy of the Ford central schedulers who have to figure all this stuff out, and I assume that those details are not as easily known, although there are no doubts information systems that exist which pull together the master production schedules.

For us, it's hard to deal with all this when we just want the car.

Ford likes to present an image that all their dealerships are equal - go to any one of them and receive the same sales and customer service. As an outsider, is it the responsibility of a potential customer to discover that this is not true and that they had better investigate which dealers are likely to receive allocations before placing a custom order? This is NOT an ethical business model and I don't understand why smaller dealers put up with it. They end up dealing with the confusion and ire of customers with long delayed retail orders that ultimately is caused by Ford's allocation preferences.

Can't comment on the ethical nature of it, although I agree the dealerships do get the "reward" of having to deal with unhappy customers, which can affect their bottom lines. It would seem that honest communication would fall to the dealer to manage the expectations or take the extra steps to secure an allocation. I don't run a dealership, so I don't even know how possible or likely it would be to have this happen. I did, in fact, ask my salesperson about their Mustang sales and allocations before I placed the order. If it was going to be tough, I was going to find another dealer.

Went through this in '78-'79 with a '79 Mercury Capri Turbo RS order. At least then there was a technical issue with the TC3 turbocharger that delayed the order placed in September to an April delivery. NOT happy it is happening again, especially since there are no technical reasons or parts supply issues causing the delay.

Some things don't change, I suppose. However, you have seen the commodity reports that have been posed in another thread, correct? That's really the information that gives good insight into supply constraints. When the 2005 Mustang was coming out, there were some folks who were nicely posting that information weekly AHEAD of production that really helped understand what was going to happen.

At this point, I would drop out except that I want the car. Ford has done an exceptional job from a technical viewpoint in building a mass market car at a reasonable price with outstanding performance.

That brings me back to the intent behind my comments to Free Agent. It is a phenomenal car, and from one enthusiast to another, I was merely trying to say "hang in there, it will be worth it." I see from another thread that Free Agent is getting some help from our FordService contact, which is great. Maybe that will help break the logjam for him. I sincerely wish you a happy driving experience once you get your car. I hope it is sooner rather than later.

 

[MikeAZ]

...Ford's allocation system makes perfect sense (to Ford) and there is a rhyme & reason to it...

I'm sure there is, unfortunately it doesn't benefit the final destination for this product - the owner. It does wonders for Ford's real customers - (1) the stockholders and (2) the dealers.

Given that, I hope your retail customers receive their cars trouble free and quickly. It's a great value for a mass produced, high performance car.:clap2:

 

[Five Oh Brian]

:cheers:

Now about that explanation

Damn, you're funny! I mean a real beer, and in person. I've been ordering Fords for 15 years and know most of how the allocation system works (not all, but who does?!). It's complicated, but it makes sense when you see the whole picture. Unfortunately, it looks to be geared more toward the dealer than the consumer, although I can see how Ford's intent is for it to be about the consumer (despite appearing otherwise). I really believe that when you know how the whole process works, you'd see that Ford's allocation process works for 90% of the customers 90% of the time. Not perfect, but probably more efficient at pleasing the majority of the customers than other possible allocation models.

 

[Five Oh Brian]

I'm sure there is, unfortunately it doesn't benefit the final destination for this product - the owner. It does wonders for Ford's real customers - (1) the stockholders and (2) the dealers.

Please read my response above.

 

[Free Agent]

Damn, you're funny! I mean a real beer, and in person. I've been ordering Fords for 15 years and know most of how the allocation system works (not all, but who does?!). It's complicated, but it makes sense when you see the whole picture. Unfortunately, it looks to be geared more toward the dealer than the consumer, although I can see how Ford's intent is for it to be about the consumer (despite appearing otherwise). I really believe that when you know how the whole process works, you'd see that Ford's allocation process works for 90% of the customers 90% of the time. Not perfect, but probably more efficient at pleasing the majority of the customers than other possible allocation models.

Unfortunately I'm in that 10% that is "disgruntled" at the process right now. And it is as you say geared toward the dealer, not the customer the way it runs now. I understand big dealers sell for Ford and Ford is into making money. It is cheaper and easier to ship many to fewer centralized locations. That makes sense to me. I wouldn't mind one bit traveling to a large metro area to pick up my car if need be for my local dealer. It really wouldn't be that hard for Ford to switch to basing priority more on order date for retail than for dealer allocations. I just feel they think why bother changing something if they are making money. My dealer is hopefully working for me right now and I have FordService (Rachel) willing to assist as well. If I this can't get me a VIN and a build week scheduled next Thursday there really is something wrong with the system that lets retail orderers pass by the wayside in favor of big city dealers.

That brings me back to the intent behind my comments to Free Agent. It is a phenomenal car, and from one enthusiast to another, I was merely trying to say "hang in there, it will be worth it." I see from another thread that Free Agent is getting some help from our FordService contact, which is great. Maybe that will help break the logjam for him. I sincerely wish you a happy driving experience once you get your car. I hope it is sooner rather than later.

I'm letting my dealer handle it right now but FordService/Rachel has offered to assist how she can. I just want a VIN by this Thursday. Its all I'm asking. I don't see why myself and others waiting even longer than me have to wait while others get ushered to the front of the line. Just in the name of allocations. It is cold and sterile of Ford to do this and unfair in the eyes of this consumer. I'm very disappointed.

 

[Sal JC]

 

[HalfMoon]

I don't see why myself and others waiting even longer than me have to wait while others get ushered to the front of the line. Just in the name of allocations. It is cold and sterile of Ford to do this and unfair in the eyes of this consumer. I'm very disappointed.

This is how it works though, not only at Ford. To the manufacturer the dealer is the consumer or customer, not the end buyer. We're customers of the dealership.

With GM/Chevy I heard the same complaints last year with the C7. Many people ordered a 2014 Z51 and never got it because their dealership was less than honest about their allocations and took the orders anyway.

I went with a larger dealer and only had to wait 2.5 months for constraints to lift before Chevy accepted my order and 4 months to get a car that was already in production. If I was willing to remove the carbon fiber or competition seats I would have had my order accepted in a week. Another local guy wanted to "support" the small dealer in his town and ordered when I did. He finally got his car 10 months later but had to remove some options as they were constrained and the dealer had low priority on them.

The short of it is, it's the way of the industry. Dealers that move inventory will get better allocation numbers. The positive side is that FRAP can build a lot more Mustangs than Bowling Green can make Corvettes, so I'm sure you will get your car they way you ordered it.... but patience is key.

 

[Free Agent]

Love the Trek reference, a big fan. For the record though, there is many a time when Spock forgoes the needs of the many and helps Kirk without reservation. ;) Its Spock's human side that makes him the great character he is, not his cold Vulcan side. Something most good companies keep in mind and I must say I am seeing some of this with those willing to help me behind the scenes at Ford and I appreciate that.

This is how it works though, not only at Ford. To the manufacturer the dealer is the consumer or customer, not the end buyer. We're customers of the dealership.

With GM/Chevy I heard the same complaints last year with the C7. Many people ordered a 2014 Z51 and never got it because their dealership was less than honest about their allocations and took the orders anyway.

I went with a larger dealer and only had to wait 2.5 months for constraints to lift before Chevy accepted my order and 4 months to get a car that was already in production. If I was willing to remove the carbon fiber or competition seats I would have had my order accepted in a week. Another local guy wanted to "support" the small dealer in his town and ordered when I did. He finally got his car 10 months later but had to remove some options as they were constrained and the dealer had low priority on them.

The short of it is, it's the way of the industry. Dealers that move inventory will get better allocation numbers. The positive side is that FRAP can build a lot more Mustangs than Bowling Green can make Corvettes, so I'm sure you will get your car they way you ordered it.... but patience is key.

I am not singling out Ford. Most others do the same thing. I'm suggesting maybe a change of tactics to set them aside from the others, but yes I know that is like changing the rotation of the Earth. Patience though isn't needed for some is the problem. They got in as recent as last week. Asking someone to be patient for months and giving others the "key to the kingdom" in a week is setting up a double standard. History is rife with that. ;) Maybe Ford needs to rethink who the customer really is. Just a thought.

I have to say what I am VERY pleased with is the civility and tact that all have shown here in recent days in response to me and others in my non VIN position that have waited far longer than me. I find that refreshing as it can devolve to bickering and childishness on other sites. Its why I love this site. Truly awesome and its helping me "make it through".

 

[Tim Hilliard]

Ordered 5/20, Cotus Source Code shows 5/23 but Cotus shows 5/24. X-Plan (Retail) Unscheduled - Clean. Orderd Priority 10 but is currently 15...not that it matters at this point.

300A GT PP/Recaro's in Guard.


Honestly I hope it never schedules at this point, I have my dealer keep trying to build a P8J 99Z ( I presume a GT350) He has instructions that I will take either car. If Ford opens up orders for them before this baby get's scheduled, I've got some OT to start working.

I figure this will likely cause my car to be scheduled. Reverse Psychology for Cotus.

 

[TexArmageddon]

Wise words but I must disagree partially. When a retail order is given the buyer IS the direct customer by definition. I am BUYING this car. I have ordered it to my personal specifications. For dealer stock orders, sure the dealer is the buyer. They have to find someone to match the car to. But we retail orderers have ordered these exactly how we want them, they are meant for us not Joe Schmoe down the street.

Yes it very well might be worth the wait to most, but not all. I may fall into that "not all" group. It may be a mistake I will concede, but some of us have different wants and needs in an auto purchase, long waiting times are enough to possibly turn me off. I hate saying that but it is the truth. I'm not giving up hope, but that line is within site. :(

... not be an asshat... but unless you personally ordered from Detroit.. you are not the direct customer. I understand it's your order, but in ford's eyes we are nothing more than stock orders. I understand why you're agitated, but even now I think you might just need to chill. Lmao have a beer or two.. or do what I do... just work not giving a care in the world

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