Detailed Information About Ford Ordering & Scheduling Process

[DANJENS]

Or he knows exactly but just plays dumb?

I agree. My dealer continued to tell me that Ford didn't use the priority numbers on vehicles while they were on constraints and that trucks were being built in the order that that they were ordered. He didn't want to bump me up. Then when Ford rolled over to MY2022 they gave me priority 2. (10/5/21)

I continue to operate under a Sunk Cost fallacy. That is "I have waited so long for this I can't go somewhere else." If I had gone to Grainger (or other placers) 2 months after I had ordered I would very likely have a vehicle now instead of being stuck waiting 9 months.) But I thought "oh that will put me two months further back in line" cause my dealer kept insisting Ford was building 1st come 1st serve. Salesmen LIE!!!!!!!! They can't possibly be that ignorant when they have been in the business for years and have dozens of orders out there.

I was Priority 2 well before 90% of the people who got scheduled for build dates in January were even ordered. Look at the Jan build dates groups and many of them were initially ordered in November, December, and even January. (and that includes platinum builds just like mine.) Then mine didn't get scheduled till April and has been waiting to be built since.

In the end priority means more to your dealer than to Ford. If a dealer assigns 11 instead of 19 He/She is essentially saying, "Ford when you give us an allotment we want this one built first before the others." And Ford is saying, "If we give you allotment and we have the parts we will build that First." That said, Bigger dealers get more allotment and I am in a situation where I didn't figure that out till after I was 5 months into it. They weren't getting allotment at times that they had parts for my platinum.

I would suggest you find a dealer who 1) understands how this works and is willing to give you a better priority if he/she can (some dealerships understandably have ethics of 1st in 1st out and so won't bump back someone else in line just because you ask to jump in line), 2) reads the order constraints and follows them so they can adjust the order to get your vehicle sooner. (as was the case when Platinum trucks weren't being built without the adaptive steering so others got schedules cause the added adaptive steering) 3) commits to emailing weekly updates. If they won't do these things you may want to take your business elsewhere.

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[Facemelter]

New here, but have been following along.

I ordered back in April, got the email from Ford that said "Thanks" and have been in a waiting pattern since.
Talked to my dealer Sunday and was lucky enough that I know both the salesmen and the Manager personally. They moved my priority number up, but according to the manager, it wont matter as Ford pretty much put that on the back burner. Right now Priority numbers don't get you a whole lot but the warm and fuzzy's that you have better number.

 

[tirice1977]

Or he knows exactly but just plays dumb?

I even explained to him everything I have learned in there and he still keeps saying the dealership has no way of telling.

 

[tirice1977]

I agree. My dealer continued to tell me that Ford didn't use the priority numbers on vehicles while they were on constraints and that trucks were being built in the order that that they were ordered. He didn't want to bump me up. Then when Ford rolled over to MY2022 they gave me priority 2. (10/5/21)

I continue to operate under a Sunk Cost fallacy. That is "I have waited so long for this I can't go somewhere else." If I had gone to Grainger (or other placers) 2 months after I had ordered I would very likely have a vehicle now instead of being stuck waiting 9 months.) But I thought "oh that will put me two months further back in line" cause my dealer kept insisting Ford was building 1st come 1st serve. Salesmen LIE!!!!!!!! They can't possibly be that ignorant when they have been in the business for years and have dozens of orders out there.

I was Priority 2 well before 90% of the people who got scheduled for build dates in January were even ordered. Look at the Jan build dates groups and many of them were initially ordered in November, December, and even January. (and that includes platinum builds just like mine.) Then mine didn't get scheduled till April and has been waiting to be built since.

In the end priority means more to your dealer than to Ford. If a dealer assigns 11 instead of 19 He/She is essentially saying, "Ford when you give us an allotment we want this one built first before the others." And Ford is saying, "If we give you allotment and we have the parts we will build that First." That said, Bigger dealers get more allotment and I am in a situation where I didn't figure that out till after I was 5 months into it. They weren't getting allotment at times that they had parts for my platinum.

I would suggest you find a dealer who 1) understands how this works and is willing to give you a better priority if he/she can (some dealerships understandably have ethics of 1st in 1st out and so won't bump back someone else in line just because you ask to jump in line), 2) reads the order constraints and follows them so they can adjust the order to get your vehicle sooner. (as was the case when Platinum trucks weren't being built without the adaptive steering so others got schedules cause the added adaptive steering) 3) commits to emailing weekly updates. If they won't do these things you may want to take your business elsewhere.

I/m working with LaFontaine Ford in Birch Run, they keep telling me they do not control this the scheduler does at Ford. He insist that it has nothing to do with the dealership. Lafontaine is one of the bigger dealerships around my area. They have multiple dealerships also.

 

[jflottawa]

Ford's regional rep definitely has most of the power... When mine got picked up for scheduling, my sales manager told me "they're only giving me 8 this week", but because I was priority 10 for my dealership then I got picked up since I was the highest priority (lowest number) of all eligible orders for my dealership.

So there is a lot of truth in that they don't control the overall scheduling, but they can give you a higher or lower priority within the orders they have taken.

I even got a copy of a sheet with other orders that showed mine had the best priority. However, even if you have the best priority, if Ford isn't scheduling PowerBoosts that week (for example) you are going to be skipped over, even if you have the best priority.

but to say that they have zero control over the priority within the dealership isn't correct.

 

[DANJENS]

I keep wondering, With the current restraints and time it takes to build trucks: why would you care about internal priority codes besides sucking up to someone with money/ helping out an old buddy/a relative/ or their boss ? They are going to get the same allocation this month as they would have if they didn't tell you you can cut to the front of their line. Are they going to make other customers who would have gotten allocation wait longer and thereby piss them off? Why should they care which of their orders gets filled first if they are only getting 20% of them filled? And if they don't care why would they want you to know/worry about it?

I think most dealers want to take an order and have the customer sit down, shut up, wait your turn, and be grateful for all they are doing for you because there is not much more they can do.

At least those are the questions the skeptical portion of my brain keeps asking.

BTW I live about 45 minutes from La Fontaine. Agree they are a big dealership locally. "the family dealer" Almost went to buy one of their platinum trucks but didn't have the 7.2kw generator. It got ordered as a dealer stock and delivered months before my MY21 was even assigned a vin. Whatever that means.

 

[jflottawa]

grateful for all they are doing for you

When I ask about the status, my sales manager responds gracefully but I'd argue that "all they are doing for you" is a bit of a stretch. I sat with the sales guy, gave him a printout of the exact truck I wanted, we quickly agreed to a price and I walked out... Not sure that's doing a lot for me.


Don't get me wrong, I haven't been mistreated and the sales manager always quickly responds when I ask. I keep repeating this on some of my posts and I don't mean to sound like a broken record, but us Canadians are left in the dark with no update e-mails from Ford, ever. We are left to feel like a bother to our dealership to find out if anything has changed on scheduling.

If Ford could just start sending me the multiple rescheduling e-mails that U.S. customers get, I'd be a happy - even if the e-mails coming in were delays - at least I would know right away!

 

[DANJENS]

I agree with you whole heartedly. I researched and went into the dealer with exactly what I wanted. I was told in August 2021 that it was a 4-6 week wait normally and that it has been taking 6-8 weeks to get fulfilled. So I was a good boy and didn't bother my dealer for 7 weeks.

Until I got to these forums I was grateful for all my dealer was doing for me.

Then I started reading this sight and blueovalforums and started hearing the horror stories about people waiting 6-8 months or longer. I started seeing commodity restraints holding up builds. Hearing about people being rolled over form MY improperly and loosing their spot in line.

SO I politely asked my dealer about some of it admitting that I was on the internet and I understand the internet can be really misleading. His only answers to my questions were 1) we wanna sell you a truck as much as you wanna buy it so if there were anything we could do to speed it up we would. 2) There are so many Ford emails every week with commodity restraints that limit scheduling we can't be bothered to read them. (so we can adjust your truck and get it built faster.) At the time Ford was saying that they would not build platinum's without adaptive steering. Also they had said at one point that spray in bedliner would delay build 10 weeks.

SO what was the one thing my dealer did for me? When I asked about ford spray in bedliner vs doing it after market. He strongly recommended Ford's cause they don't deal with off sight vendors and so they wouldn't send it for Linex and have it go in the fincancing.

Of note I got one total email from Ford the day after I ordered. I have never gotten one since.

The real question is would I now be 9 1/2 months post order without a truck if I had never visited this sight?

 

[F150 hopefull]

I agree with you whole heartedly. I researched and went into the dealer with exactly what I wanted. I was told in August 2021 that it was a 4-6 week wait normally and that it has been taking 6-8 weeks to get fulfilled. So I was a good boy and didn't bother my dealer for 7 weeks.

Until I got to these forums I was grateful for all my dealer was doing for me.

Then I started reading this sight and blueovalforums and started hearing the horror stories about people waiting 6-8 months or longer. I started seeing commodity restraints holding up builds. Hearing about people being rolled over form MY improperly and loosing their spot in line.

SO I politely asked my dealer about some of it admitting that I was on the internet and I understand the internet can be really misleading. His only answers to my questions were 1) we wanna sell you a truck as much as you wanna buy it so if there were anything we could do to speed it up we would. 2) There are so many Ford emails every week with commodity restraints that limit scheduling we can't be bothered to read them. (so we can adjust your truck and get it built faster.) At the time Ford was saying that they would not build platinum's without adaptive steering. Also they had said at one point that spray in bedliner would delay build 10 weeks.

SO what was the one thing my dealer did for me? When I asked about ford spray in bedliner vs doing it after market. He strongly recommended Ford's cause they don't deal with off sight vendors and so they wouldn't send it for Linex and have it go in the fincancing.

Of note I got one total email from Ford the day after I ordered. I have never gotten one since.

The real question is would I now be 9 1/2 months post order without a truck if I had never visited this sight?

but us Canadians are left in the dark with no update e-mails from Ford, ever. We are left to feel like a bother to our dealership to find out if anything has changed on scheduling.

If Ford could just start sending me the multiple rescheduling e-mails that U.S. customers get, I'd be a happy - even if the e-mails coming in were delays - at least I would know right away!

I'm in the us and have received exactly ZERO emails from ford. Ordered a Lariat 502 EB on 5/11/2022. Had to call my dealer to even get an update that my order was accepted by ford.

it's not a Canadian thing its a ford/dealer thing. not sure why. extremely frustrating

 

[jflottawa]

I'm in the us and have received exactly ZERO emails from ford. Ordered a Lariat 502 EB on 5/11/2022. Had to call my dealer to even get an update that my order was accepted by ford.

it's not a Canadian thing its a ford/dealer thing. not sure why. extremely frustrating

In the US it's a dealer issue. In Canada there are zero e-mails.

 

[SomebodyInGNV]

... If Ford could just start sending me the multiple rescheduling e-mails that U.S. customers get, I'd be a happy - even if the e-mails coming in were delays - at least I would know right away!

Other than the original order acknowledgement in late January, I haven't heard a thing.

 

[jflottawa]

Other than the original order acknowledgement in late January, I haven't heard a thing.

That’s cause you didn’t get a VIN yet? Others in the US with a vin get they’re schedule updates every time in changes

 

[DANJENS]

That’s cause you didn’t get a VIN yet? Others in the US with a vin get they’re schedule updates every time in changes

I am in the US. Never got an email except the original acknowledgment (that when I went back and reviewed was actually forwarded from the dealer and not directly mailed.)

I have a vin and have had one for months now. No emails.

I have talked with my dealer, Ford Chat, Ford marketing and never received an update. I have been bumped 8 times from my original eta. (which I got because I hounded Ford Chat). I never received an email. When I finally got ahold of someone at marketing who knew something about email updates they said that that is an option for the dealer to enter at the time of ordering and only then. So since my dealer didn't put it in I am screwed. They say they have no way of changing it.

The only ETAs I ever got were from Ford Chat or Marketing when I contacted them. My dealer continues to say things like, "I can't tell you when it will get built, besides what does it matter what's holding it up? It will get built when it gets built." "I wanna sell you a truck as bad as you wanna buy one." "Do you know how long those Bronco orders are taking?" "Good thing you didn't order a transit connect........"

That said I have no idea what Ford Canada does. It makes sense that if they have a different order system they wouldn't even have an option for emails.

 

[GagnonM]

Yup, Ford Canadian follow-up process is crap. I need to call my dealer every 2-3 weeks to inquire about a status. More than 4 months after my order and still no VIN.

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