UK Customers

[Nick Nick]

In other news - I was one of those that despite having ordered a Mach-E had also put a £100 reservation down on a Kia EV6.

Over the last couple of weeks where it has been time to go from being on a wait list, to assigning a local dealership of choice, to actually placing an order, Kia have been very proactive and have really put Ford to shame.

The experiences between the two companies have been like night and day and Ford could learn a great deal on how to communicate and deal with customers.

I know the EV6 and the Mach-E are not directly comparable, but in my view the KIA is a nice looking car and not as expensive as the Mustang.

Depending on delivery dates I could be ultimately swayed to the Kia because based on experience so far they would probably treat me better as a customer than Ford ever would!

I saw a review on the Hyindai Ioniq 5 - and they said the wheelbase is longer than the full size Range Rover! sure that the EV6 and 5 share the same architecture

may not as be sweet on the eyes for some but for specs I think the Kia and MME can be compared

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[SteveUk]

No one has had a test drive yet of the kia etc and if you cancel you lose your £3k discount on your mache unless you've gone for the awd er!

I recon deliveries of the mache will start in June and would be careful pulling the plug as you might be close to the finishing line.

Unless you are ordering a FE or awd ER in which case if it was me I'd be cancelling by now as there has been zero incentive to stay.

Stay strong folks!

 

[Wonky_Donkey]

What's your mache eta Wonky?

Well - that's the billion dollar question!

Which way is the wind blowing today, are the Vista gods smiling in my favour?

I've given up trying to get sensible answers out of my dealership so I'm basing it on everyone else who was built and shipped at the same time as me. So the short answer is probably early / mid June.

 

[portlandg]

I recon deliveries of the mache will start in June and would be careful pulling the plug as you might be close to the finishing line.

I'm thinking sooner for some. They must need the space.

 

[Spensaf]

Just recived this ?

I really enjoyed filling out mine!

 

[portlandg]

I really enjoyed filling out mine!

I wonder why I haven't had one yet. ? Probably know what I would say.

 

[Wonky_Donkey]

I wonder why I haven't had one yet. ? Probably know what I would say.

I've not had one either - but you don't need a survey to know how I feel right now LOL

 

[Spensaf]

I've not had one either - but you don't need a survey to know how I feel right now LOL

I'm sure I have it somewhere. I think I copied and pasted in case my laptop ran out of battery during the editing stage and assigning chapters!

 

[Spensaf]

Found it! - For those interested, here is my comments to the survey.

"If I could put zero stars I would. Where do I start?

I ordered a First edition on the 18th Nov 2019. I received NUMEROUS email from the Ford Team that included the lines :-
"You're ahead of the Pack"
"one of the first in the UK to receive your Mach-E"
"as one of our pre-order customers, you are at the front of the queue"
"we schedule vehicle production according to your pre-order date"

During a visit to Dunton in December 2019, the presentation shown stated that the First Edition would be delivered late 2020 with the other models coming early 2021.

As you are probably aware, there is a Mach-E forum where customers share information about orders and build dates.

I was totally shocked when I saw that NO First Editions were produced until February/March with other vehicles being produced in December. Then to my amazement, First Edition orders that were made in January/February 2020 were produced before mine contrary to all of the information I had received in the past.

I fully understand the delays caused by Covid as well as the shipping crisis. I also fully understand that with a new vehicle there will be teething troubles that need rectifications.

As a First Edition buyer, I paid a premium based on the fact that I thought I would be one of the first people to receive the car.

It looks as if I won't get my car until mid June at the earliest. I had planned car usage in my family around receiving the car in early 2021. That was moved to Spring 2021 and now won't arrive until summer 2021.

Whichever way you look at this, it has cost me the depreciation on the car which I have had to use in the interim.

I have come very close to cancelling on numerous occasions but to go through the ordering process again is not something I want to face.

I have communicated with the Concierge team on numerous occasions and the team, as much as they try to help are given garbage information. This includes the following :-

"The Mustang Mach-E production facility works on a batch build process, so vehicles of the same specification are built together in a fixed volume batch. Customers were able to order not only the First Edition from the start, but other Mach-E models as well. The vehicles were then scheduled for production in the order of when the order was placed, no matter whether they were a First Edition or alternatively a RWD Extended range for example. In cases where there were not enough early orders to complete a batch, the balance has had to be fulfilled by pulling forward earlier orders of the required specification, hence some later orders will end up getting built earlier than would have been anticipated."
- The First Edition was apparently sold out in March 2020 so that cant be true. I queried this and never received a reply even after chasing twice telling them that First Edition orders (including the same colour) placed 3-4 months after mine were being produced before mine.

I did get the following information though :-
"I’m really pleased to be able to tell you your order number 10009296 – has been confirmed as on Boat 4 - Gral San Martin"

After investigating the schedule of the Gral San Martin, I wrote to the concierge with my concerns that Gral San Martin was going to Lagos, Nigeria, not Europe.

This was the reply I received :-

"It is a guarantee that very car on board the Gral San Martin will be in Europe this month. They are not going anywhere near Lagos. They are on the way to Antwerp. That’s the information I have been given, what our shipping team has been given and I would not tell you any different."

We then found out that they have been transhipped twice in Baltimore and Rhode Island before finally going on a vessel that will arrive almost 2 weeks later than indicated.

I summary, I think the whole order allocation, production allocation and communication from Ford has been nothing but SHAMBOLIC at best, especially when I am paying the best part of £60,000 for the car.

I am not saying the staff in the UK could have done anything differently, I just feel that we in the UK have been treated as 2nd class citizens by Ford HQ.

To rub salt into the deep wounds, I would like to talk about the obsolete headphones that you are giving us as "compensation". The fact that people who placed their orders far later than me (even after Covid so they knew about the delays) will receive the same "compensation" and will receive them and their cars way before me as well. I don’t think it is anywhere near close to restoring my faith in the brand.

So in summary, the answer to the question "What about the ordering experience could be improved?"

EVERYTHING!!!!!!"

 

[davkd]

In other news - I was one of those that despite having ordered a Mach-E had also put a £100 reservation down on a Kia EV6.

Over the last couple of weeks where it has been time to go from being on a wait list, to assigning a local dealership of choice, to actually placing an order, Kia have been very proactive and have really put Ford to shame.

The experiences between the two companies have been like night and day and Ford could learn a great deal on how to communicate and deal with customers.

I know the EV6 and the Mach-E are not directly comparable, but in my view the KIA is a nice looking car and not as expensive as the Mustang.

Depending on delivery dates I could be ultimately swayed to the Kia because based on experience so far they would probably treat me better as a customer than Ford ever would!

Take the point on the communications but, apart from that, you could be 'out of the frying pan, into the fire'?

'nice looking car but not as expensive'... same could be said for the Tesla 3 or the Skoda Enyaq but, could still leave you with issues of build quality, comfort, ride, to mention a few and, of course, delivery.

Kia are saying October 2021 but I'm sure they will be hit by the chip shortages affecting all other manufacturers at present.

Meanwhile, the MME is still getting some pretty amazing reviews.

If you want to gamble all this because of issues with 'communication' that's your prerogative, however, I don't think I'll be following you.

 

[Spensaf]

Found it! - For those interested, here is my comments to the survey.

"If I could put zero stars I would. Where do I start?"

When I wrote that, I thought that some of you guys were going to get your cars in April, so maybe now I will be "One of the first" to receive mine even if my date has slipped another week!

 

[stesir]

I wonder why I haven't had one yet. ? Probably know what I would say.

Nor me... - yet!

 

[Wonky_Donkey]

Take the point on the communications but, apart from that, you could be 'out of the frying pan, into the fire'?

'nice looking car but not as expensive'... same could be said for the Tesla 3 or the Skoda Enyaq but, could still leave you with issues of build quality, comfort, ride, to mention a few and, of course, delivery.

Kia are saying October 2021 but I'm sure they will be hit by the chip shortages affecting all other manufacturers at present.

Meanwhile, the MME is still getting some pretty amazing reviews.

If you want to gamble all this because of issues with 'communication' that's your prerogative, however, I don't think I'll be following you.

@davkd

Ok maybe my comments have been misunderstood here - what I was trying to impart was the feeling that sometimes when you are are in an abusive relationship it takes someone else to come along and not treat you like dirt to make you step back and see how things are.

As far as alternatives are concerned it's all down to personal taste at the end of the day, and I personally do not rate the Model 3 (bland design), or the Skoda Enyaq (more expensive than Mach-E by the time you add all the options required to make it comparable, and looks meh!)

...and I'm not an idiot - I'm fully aware of the situation with global manufacturing.

What concerns me most about the whole Mach-E situation (delivery issues aside) is that modern cars are less about the nuts and loose bolts that hold them together, and totally about the software that controls them. This is an area in which Ford has very little experience in and while the build may be great, so far the software that underpins the vehicle doesn't exactly have an exemplary track record.

...and in regards to the "gamble all this because of communication" - oh sweetheart it's much more deeply routed than that.... and did I say I wanted you or anyone else to follow me? I don't think so. I just expressed an opinion!

Will I cancel or keep the Mach-E ? or will I go with a delayed EV6? I haven't honestly decided yet, but I'm a big boy who is more than capable of making my own decisions and living with the consequences thankyou .

 

[portlandg]

Ok calm down boys, let's not start on at each other. We are all entitled to our opinions. If they don't conform with (generically) yours then that is the principles of free speech. I know the situation we find ourselves in is extraordinally frustrating and annoying but that is no excuse. Let us all just suck back 5, take stock of what we have been through for the last many months and look forward to the not too distant future. I am sure (some of) our cars will be arriving soon. Just my opinion ?

 

[jongodfrey]

No one has had a test drive yet of the kia etc and if you cancel you lose your £3k discount on your mache unless you've gone for the awd er!

I recon deliveries of the mache will start in June and would be careful pulling the plug as you might be close to the finishing line.

Unless you are ordering a FE or awd ER in which case if it was me I'd be cancelling by now as there has been zero incentive to stay.

Stay strong folks!

I will try to be objective. I have my MME test drive this afternoon and then I'm heading over to Kia for a chat.

The MME is clearly a good car. The EV6 will almost certainly also be a great car. So I must break it down into pros and cons.

Delivery will be one of them. I am now in a position where I will have to bridge the gap between my current car being end of term and the new one. If deliveries are going to be June/July that's quite a big problem for me.

I've not had one either - but you don't need a survey to know how I feel right now LOL

I've had two so have answered both of course!

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