Communication - when is communication too much, or not enough?

[RickMachE]

Many of these threads complain about @Ford Motor Company's poor communication regarding things like orders, updates, etc. Few can disagree that Ford isn't very good at communicating directly with customers.

However, one has to ask the question - when is communication (including revealing information if a customer goes to look for it) too much?

A week ago, many 2021 orders finally received scheduled production dates, and some were converted to 2022 orders. People proclaimed in thread after thread how overjoyed they were (or were not) at the news.

Yesterday, 5 working days later, many of these orders were pushed out. My order went from the week of 12/20 to the week of 1/3. Skipping the reality of the holidays not being business days, and having no knowledge of the holiday shutdown schedule for the Mexico plant (if any), one has to wonder "what happened in 5 business days to add 10 business days (or 8 or whatever) to the schedule? What did Ford not know on 10/22 that they found out in the following 5 days? Or what changed? Or, did anything change?

There will likely be thread after thread discussing the changes and theory after theory (many pulled from backsides) as to why. "Ford hadn't factored in the holiday shutdowns". "The chip shortage worsened". "They're fine-tuning BlueCruise". And on and on.

Had we not been told dates a week ago, and just got dates this week, would satisfaction have been any higher? Do these changes show how inept Ford is at scheduling? Or did they communicate (at least via the website showing order status) information that wasn't close to being exact?

These and other questions will occupy great minds, and not so great minds, for the next two months.

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[Lord Polymath]

For me, more communication is better than less but you raise a good point. Someone at Ford has to carefully weigh what information is shared with customers.
In most situations, like your scheduling scenario, there are many many variables. The dates slipping could be directly related to Ford's mysterious queuing system, or it could be due to supply constraints for specific parts, covid/sickness outbreaks in the factory, holidays, or just the fact that they got way more orders of a specific trim level, etc. I don't really need to know the specific reason, but it's nice to know the dates slipped rather than just being completely in the dark.

 

[JamesInWeston]

As the MY21 orders on the books were a known quantity, my backside is guessing material supply issues causing the longer MY21 production cleanup (which pushed back MY22 startup). The Mexico plant has been running for decades so the holidays should not have been a surprise.

 

[JamesInWeston]

A little Internet sniffing: An article in yesterday's Daily Journal (NW Mississippi) about a materials-based shutdown at a Mississippi Toyota plant noted in passing "... and Ford said Thursday that it would suspend production at its Hermosillo plant in Mexico next week."

That could explain it. But proper communication would have this info come from Ford. But the automotive business culture, over the decades, has been shy about any reveals that they imagine would adversely affect marketing.

Edit: MME is made at Cuautitlan plant., under stoppage as well.

 

[HuntingPudel]

Well, being that Ford has communicated with me exactly once regarding my reservation ("Congratulations!") and three times about my order (generic "6-week chip hold" email, generic "your Reservation and Order prioritize you above new orders" email (yeah right it didn't), and the "it's built" email - the first two aren't about my specific order since they're generic and probably sent to everyone who had an order), I think someone at Ford is filtering out a lot of stuff about my reservation and order.

I'm sorry to hear that your production schedule was postponed. Mine was postponed twice and I was not informed of either postponement. I wouldn't have even known if I wasn't obsessively combing the forum and various web services for information on my order. ??

 

[RickMachE]

Since we have a cancelled order (acquired 7/2), we're not in the same position as most on this forum. When the 2022 is delivered (exact same configuration), we'll decide if we want it or let it go, depending on resale potential and "fix" status.

 

[PNWEV]

The way ford has communicated with me has made it clear there is a massive disconnect somewhere that, when combined with what I’m starting to perceive as relatively poor customer service from my dealer, is making me start looking at other makes of electric car.

Ford sent me an email confirming my production week of 11/8, which had been set for months. The next day, it was bumped back a week. A couple days later, another week. Now, looks like another. All of that happened this week. It would be understandable if ford made the schedule and then adjusted a ways out, but there has now been almost a month slide in the last week when my production date was two weeks out following confirmation of the original date which prior to that had never slipped. Absent any actual communication I’m left to wonder whether ford actually had the vehicle appropriately scheduled in the first place.

Similarly, I emailed my salesperson a month ago, never got a reply. An “internet specialist” had emailed me from the same dealer about a week before, so I emailed them to ask if they had taken over. No reply for two weeks, when I got one that said their email had been down. Giving the first the benefit of the doubt, I emailed both and asked who I would be working with. The first said it was definitely her, so I emailed her the list of questions I had, most of which were predicated upon the belief that my car was two weeks out from production. She never responded, and now my car is almost a month from production if I’m lucky and it doesn’t slip again.

So, here I am looking at taking delivery of a 21 in 22 when I likely will lose the good interest rates and incentives available now with very little idea what is actually happening because I can’t get a direct answer.

The only reason I haven’t summarily cancelled my order is that there is nothing else I can get sooner that will be as capable as the gtpe I have ordered. That being said, depending on how many more delays I get, maybe it’s worth waiting for next year to pick up a car from a different manufacturer that doesn’t have the 5 second issue the gts have…

And to get to my final rambling point, if I had gotten better communication by now, I likely wouldn’t be as bothered and would be more likely to understand and wait it out. While they may be trying to avoid bad marketing by not saying too much, saying too little leaves a very poor impression.

 

[HuntingPudel]

@PNWEV Sad to hear your dealer isn’t getting back to you. Even when mine had no info, they at least got back to me with an “I don’t know.”

Ford never informed me of the two delays in my production week. They were completely silent on the matter. They didn’t inform my dealer either. I found out about my delays due to the incessant combing of the trackers that I do.

That said, I don’t think the other big manufacturers are any better at communicating. My own experience with them is marginally better. Other forum members have had same or worse communication from the other big manufacturers.

 

[PA Bob]

Many of these threads complain about @Ford Motor Company's poor communication regarding things like orders, updates, etc. Few can disagree that Ford isn't very good at communicating directly with customers.

However, one has to ask the question - when is communication (including revealing information if a customer goes to look for it) too much?

A week ago, many 2021 orders finally received scheduled production dates, and some were converted to 2022 orders. People proclaimed in thread after thread how overjoyed they were (or were not) at the news.

Yesterday, 5 working days later, many of these orders were pushed out. My order went from the week of 12/20 to the week of 1/3. Skipping the reality of the holidays not being business days, and having no knowledge of the holiday shutdown schedule for the Mexico plant (if any), one has to wonder "what happened in 5 business days to add 10 business days (or 8 or whatever) to the schedule? What did Ford not know on 10/22 that they found out in the following 5 days? Or what changed? Or, did anything change?

There will likely be thread after thread discussing the changes and theory after theory (many pulled from backsides) as to why. "Ford hadn't factored in the holiday shutdowns". "The chip shortage worsened". "They're fine-tuning BlueCruise". And on and on.

Had we not been told dates a week ago, and just got dates this week, would satisfaction have been any higher? Do these changes show how inept Ford is at scheduling? Or did they communicate (at least via the website showing order status) information that wasn't close to being exact?

These and other questions will occupy great minds, and not so great minds, for the next two months.

The solution to this seems clear. If you like a lot of info and communication, stay on the forum and comb the threads. If all the info is just agitating, don't use the forum. I like a happy medium. I see what's new, and read what interests me. Things like changing production dates are unavoidable with the present supply chain problems so it is hard for Ford to stay on top of. The forum is a more efficient way to deal with production changes. Frustrating, but such is the post-pandemic world.

 

[PNWEV]

@PNWEV Sad to hear your dealer isn’t getting back to you. Even when mine had no info, they at least got back to me with an “I don’t know.”

That said, I don’t think the other big manufacturers are any better at communicating. My own experience with them is marginally better. Other forum members have had same or worse communication from the other big manufacturers.

In fairness to the first salesperson, she was great when placing the order which is why I went with this dealer. Every other place around here wanted an adm on orders or a huge nonrefundable deposit. She was also very helpful when the silver I ordered went out of stock and I had to choose a new color.

While you are right about other manufacturers also communicating poorly, it’s a sad justification for poor customer service. If I knew why my car was delayed on the eve of production, I might be less bothered. If I knew the five second issue was a software limitation, I would be less concerned. If I knew that incentives would not worsen based on the delayed delivery, I wouldn’t be bothered. If I had answers to my questions, even answers that aren’t positive, I wouldn’t be doubting my choice of dealer.

The lack of communication allows for doubts

 

[Cobra427]

The philosophical question the OP asked is very interesting--

"when is communication (including revealing information if a customer goes to look for it) too much?"

Since as the OP says, communication is information, my answer is it is never too much, as long as you have interest in the information. Your responses to the OP's post prove it, your listed frustrations are because you don't know. And you don't know because you lack information, good, bad, or neutral. It is easy to communicate when the news is good. The true test of the character of a company or dealer is whether they share the bad news.

If Ford would share the reasons for a production date pushback, you would not be happy, but you would be wiser and not unsure of the future.

Personally, I have thought many times when I read these threads of "I wish I knew the answer to my question about my MME", that it would be very helpful if the forum had a mole inside Ford that would post anonymously about exactly what is going on inside that mysterious Mexico facility.

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