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Ford is Dropping the Ball

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Before I begin, I would like to extend a BIG thank-you to boss2012 for his provided information! I followed up on the paint problem and was able to get some answers.

To begin my story:

On February 14, 2011 I ordered a 2012 Blaze Yellow Boss 302 at MSRP with no options. I was informed this is a 3rd quarter allocation car and no delivery date could be provided.

Several months went by and I had the privilage to see/sit and ride in Cloud9's Boss and truly get a feel for the car as a passenger. Thank you Gary, it was kind of you to allow such a thing.

As time went on, I questioned if I should add any of the options.......the first change I had made was adding the car cover and floor mats. That decision lasted for a couple of weeks before I wised up and realized the price for everything would not be a smart investment.

Then on BMO the discussion of going from the basic seats to the Recaro's began and I eventually said to myself why not spend the money and just do it the right way. I contacted my salesman and he submitted the changes.

First he had told me when the GM put in the request it came back as an "error" in the order and how before it went through the status was "clean unscheduled." I called FCS the next day to varify if the changes were accepted. FCS stated the changes had taken place but the status is now back to "material hold."

Everything was sitting ok with me from that point on until the other day when I read what boss2012 posted about the Yellow Blaze paint problems. I took his information and ran with it hoping to get some real answers. Initially, I contacted the Blue Oval form and cyberdman to ask if he could check on the order……which he did and this was his reply:

In Order Processing - Unscheduled- Compatibility & Material Hold Feb-14-2011, 00:00 EST.

So, your order definately has a problem. Unscheduled material hold, first as it has been all along, probably due to the paint maybe, but now it also has a concurrent compatibility error. It will never be scheduled and may automatically be cancelled unless the compatibility is resolved. Based on what you told me I don't think your Yellow Blaze is available anymore, or you missed the deadline.

All of this information I sent to my salesman and his GM in hopes they too could follow up with everything. Long story short, they called me today and informed me my order had been cancelled and the Yellow Blaze is no longer an option! This did not sit well with me.

I informed my salesman we would change the color to Kona Blue and white with the Recaro options and to put the order back in. This he was able to do and I am now back to square #1 it feels.

In my opinion, Ford has completely dropped the ball on this limited addition Mustang! They are unable to give you a delivery date, can’t tell you when it will be built, doesn’t push completed and submitted orders (sold) through and didn’t inform dealerships who had customers ordering the Yellow Blaze that is was no longer an option.

Tomorrow I plan to call FCS and speak with someone about the whole headache in which I have gone through. I doubt they can do anything but it’s worth a shot. If I wasn’t ordering this car through a buddy of mine at the dealership, I would have dropped the order and found an already completed car somewhere else.
 
sprmn, I agree with you 100%!!! I ordered my Boss on 1/24. As of this date, the car is nowhere in sight (ie. build qtr). I gave up and found an existing Yellow Blaze at a Dealer in NC. (I live in NY). I'm reading posts on BMO of people who ordered theirs in March and April and they have received a build qtr. It makes no sense..and to cancel a color on existing orders is ridiculous!!!!
 

98RedGT

2012 #552
272
0
sprmn, I too order a yellow blaze on Feb 12th 2011 and still don't have a build date let alone a delivery date. sounds like you have done a lot of research on your own and I would like to do the same so this car opportunity doesn't pass me by. what phone number did you use for FCS (I assume this is Ford Customer Service) and who did you ask for to get your questions answered? any help would be appreciated. thanks.
 
98RedGT said:
sprmn, I too order a yellow blaze on Feb 12th 2011 and still don't have a build date let alone a delivery date. sounds like you have done a lot of research on your own and I would like to do the same so this car opportunity doesn't pass me by. what phone number did you use for FCS (I assume this is Ford Customer Service) and who did you ask for to get your questions answered? any help would be appreciated. thanks.


I called the following number: 1-800-392-3673

You can speak with anyone there but since you do not have a VIN number they will need your ORDER NUMBER, FORD DEALER NUMBER and BODY CODE. This is what I've given them each and everytime.

As I stated, I plan to call them tomorrow and it may not be a pleasent conversation since I've been waiting 6 months and now have to make a BIG change in the color I really wanted.
 
I gave up also. Ordered mid-April. Was told it would be a 4th quarter build, no other information was ever given. So I gave up, found one in Ohio. Picking it up the 28th of this month. It was the same as I had ordered.
 

98RedGT

2012 #552
272
0
thanks sprmn. I will try to keep everyone posted how my research goes. there are couple of yellow blaze boss mustangs in my area I have been keeping track of just don't know if they are willing to sell it at MSRP.
 
roywilk1960 said:
I gave up also. Ordered mid-April. Was told it would be a 4th quarter build, no other information was ever given. So I gave up, found one in Ohio. Picking it up the 28th of this month. It was the same as I had ordered.
Congratulations.

I know the process is frustrating but if you know how the process works it makes it a bit easier to swallow. If you have a 4th quarter build there will be no information anyone can give you until shortly before your car is scheduled. Once you get your VIN then the rest is pretty straight forward. If you have a fourth quarter build you shouldn't even be thinking about it until October 1st at the earliest. I'm not trying to rain on anyone's parade but that's just how it works.

I agree Ford could have done a better job of informing their dealers of the process but the information is and has been out there since the Fall of 2010. Most dealers aren't going to put much effort into selling one or two Boss cars a year and frankly I don't blame them. Let's all be thankful we live in the age of the internet where information is readily available. The only information my dealer gave me that I couldn't get elsewhere was my railcar number.
 
There are a couple of YB cars being built today, and then a handful more scheduled for one day next week. Yellow Blaze was not one of the colours that had been listed as affected by the earthquake, unlike Kona and Lava Rad.
 
Well, calling FCS today was a complete waste of time! I first had to speak to a represenative who was clueless about the Boss production......after setting him straight I explained the whole situation to him. I expressed how I was disappointed in Ford and their way of handling the entire process of the Boss 302.

I asked if I was able to return my order back to the original color of Yellow Blaze since it's been in their system for 6 months. He of course put me on hold and came back only to tell me the color no longer exists. I explained I already know that but want my original order to be accepted. Since they dropped the ball notifying already placed orders of the situation, I felt that is something they could have done.

All in all, he was unable to make the change and I asked if there was ANYTHING Ford is going to do for me since this whole process has been a nightmare and everything keeps getting screwed up. He said....NO! Then I went on to ask (since they have my email address) if I could be notified when my car goes into production. He said, he's unable to do that. So I asked why even get my email address then?

The BIG point about having a customer service department is to provide customer service..............this was and is not how you do customer service. They are unable to correct a problem, compensate you for any problems, advise when your order will be started, when it will be completed or anything else I asked them!

I pray others have better luck than I.
 
I suggest that you try to contact Deysha at FCS. She has been posting in a number of forums and is very familiar with the Boss ordering process. I would suggest posting on one of those forums she is on with a subject asking for help about your order, or PM'ing her directly if you can.
 
PTRocks said:
I suggest that you try to contact Deysha at FCS. She has been posting in a number of forums and is very familiar with the Boss ordering process. I would suggest posting on one of those forums she is on with a subject asking for help about your order, or PM'ing her directly if you can.


If you know of a board she's on, I will try. Thanks
 
I understand people's frustration with the way the process is and how information is lacking. On another note though, a lot of it is the dealers not knowing what is going on. Some of the stories I have heard, the dealers who don't actually know what is going on just guess and give the customer some faulty information...which, in turn, makes for a very angry customer.

In my opinion, Ford has completely dropped the ball on this limited addition Mustang! They are unable to give you a delivery date, can’t tell you when it will be built, doesn’t push completed and submitted orders (sold) through and didn’t inform dealerships who had customers ordering the Yellow Blaze that is was no longer an option.

You knew it was a 3rd quarter allocation. That is what you get from the beginning. Once it gets closer to 3rd quarter production they will start scheduling dates for builds. So they didn't drop the ball there. And from Boss2012's post about yellow blaze, they did inform dealers, but like he also said some dealers don't communicate everything properly.

I agree that Ford could have done better with the way they let information about this car be known, but there were quite a few behind the scene problems too. Parts shortages and the tsunami. I had absolutely zero problems with the whole process. My dealer kept me informed of everything that he knew. When he knew my VIN, I had it. When he knew my build date, I had it. My car arrived 3 weeks after it was built. Everything was excellent. So it may be a case of your dealership dropping the ball...not so much Ford. Just food for thought anyhow.
 
548
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Seems there continues to be delays, hold ups etc. Besides the paint issue on the YB cars, has anyone anywhere seen or heard of production problems, component issues that might be behind these issues?
 
I made one last stand with FCS and voiced my displeasure of how things have been handled. The ONLY thing they could do was place a "negative" feedback towards Ford, and suggest once again for me to speak with my dealership. (What is FCS for then?)

I told them it's not the dealerships fault for miscommunicating because they were not told of the changes by Ford. So therefore impossible for them to tell me.

The last thing I did was inform my dealership of how Ford has placed any compensation agreements with me in their hands. Basically if they wanted to lower the asking price or throw items in it was their decision.

Personally, I will still believe it shouldn't be put on the dealership......it's not their fault. Lucky for me however, my salesman will speak with his GM and see if they can do anything for the troubles.

In the meantime, I will be in search for my original order throughout the Midwest.
 

98RedGT

2012 #552
272
0
So I called FCS on Friday and all I got was that order is still in process, not cancelled. Today I called FCS again to see if somebody else had more information. This time I was able to get that my order is in process with Material Hold status. So I asked if it's because of the color and that I have heard some chatter about yellow blaze not being available anymore. FCS rep said that this particular color is not an issue, but he can't tell what the Material Hold is. This was somewhat good news.

Next I called my dealer and told him what I have done so far and wanted to know if he has any idea what Material Hold means and if he can contact somebody that would be able to figure it out. The feedback I got from the dealer is that this is the status Ford will use if there is an issue with parts/color or just because they can't assign any other status that makes sense. He said that he has no reason to believe there is anything wrong with my order and believes it's just a matter of time, but if I wanted to change the color I could since it has not been scheduled yet.

I am keeping my order as is and trust my dealer that if something is wrong he will know.
 
If memory serves me an order on "material hold" means that the order is entered but not loaded to be built until all component parts are ready. This can take anywhere from 4 to 8 weeks. Once engines, gearboxes, wheels, etc. are available then the order gets released to production and a build date assigned. Time from being loaded to build date can be a week or two. From there it is takes a week or so for it to be built. Once built and striped it sits in the loading area until it is assigned to a railcar for delivery to the delivery area railyard for unloading. This can take a few days. One off the train it usually takes a day to be transported to the dealership.

I'm sorry you feel like eveyone is after you on this. I had absolutely no problems with my dealership or Ford (except for having to wait for my car to be built) even though the dealership had already placed the order with the factory and I asked to have the color and interior changed. They even helped me track the progress of the build and delivery to the point where we knew what date the train arrived at the unloading depot.

Just relax a bit and let the process take it's course. They've been building cars for a while and it almost always works out. Trust me, the car is worth the wait!

Rich
 
The "Material Hold" status simply means that your car isn't scheduled for production yet...it's nothing to worry about. It is the status they use until your car is scheduled. If your car is a 3rd or 4th quarter build...that status is perfectly normal because it won't be built yet. So 98RedGT, your dealer is exactly right and you can't really do anything except check back every couple weeks to see if anything changed. Oh joy...waiting! lol :)
 
From what I have seen, Ford has been scheduling pretty much ONLY Yellow Blaze 302 stock orders for the past couple of days. Cars to be built Friday and Monday.
 

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