UK Customers

[SteveUk]

Lots of (justified) flack for poor dealer customer service, but should we be surprised?

Dealers used to buy their cars from Ford at “wholesale” prices, and then had almost full control of how many cars they sold and at what price. The new Ford operating model is to sell to customers direct on the web and so the dealer becomes their “delivery agent” for which they get a nominal fee.

I know it’s not as simple as that, there’s servicing, finance etc, but the core dealer sales model has been fundamentally taken away. Maybe this has reduced motivation for good customer service?

And sales targets with bonuses.

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[SteveUk]

This is from the Verge interview

https://www.theverge.com/2021/5/20/22444294/ford-f150-lightning-pickup-truck-jim-farley-interview

"
I buy a Mustang Mach-E today. Next year, you come out with a version that runs Android. You’ve already talked about upgradable cars. Will I be able to upgrade my current Sync 4, Sync 4A systems to the next version of Sync that runs on Android?

I think, generally speaking, the approach we want to take... it’s going be a lot simpler when we go to fully networked vehicles.

But the approach we want to make is that you’re always going to have that upgradability. There will be some transition, where the [system] on the vehicle is just not capable yet, or the embedded software is not capable yet to fully change the customer experience. But over time, that’s absolutely where we’re going. Android Auto is especially powerful in that regard as well [as] Google Automotive Services.

But Apple is going be out there doing similar things, and we’re going to do something maybe unique for Ford on commercial, because we want to insource that digital experience, because there’s no one out there that can do it better than us. So I would say philosophically, you can expect a yes, but it depends on what you buy and what you own, because there’s a transition period."

A b/s politiicians answer.

 

[David-HC]

Hi all,

It's great to see cars actually arriving in the UK, especially for the stalwarts of this forum ?

Hannah very kindly replied to me earlier in the week (Wednesday) that my car was in Flushing and ready to depart to the UK, with an ETA at the dealer (in Brighton) of the 29 May. Great news I thought ?

Having checked the data on both my Ford Account and the Remote Set-up pages, none of the dates and times had moved/updated at all over the last week or so.

The order data still shows:

gobStatusDesc "InTransit"
vmacs2CharCode "91"
vmacs3CharCode "711"
vmacsStatusDesc "COMPOUND IN "
vmacsStatusDate "2021-05-12 16:39:00.0"
gobStatusDate: 2021-05-14 10:33:11.0

The Remote set-up remains at:

lifeCycleModeStatus Object { lifeCycleMode: "TRANSPORT", oemCorrelationId: 977, vehicleDateTime: "2021-05-12T16:27:42Z", … }
lifeCycleMode "TRANSPORT"
oemCorrelationId 977
vehicleDateTime "2021-05-12T16:27:42Z"
tappsDateTime: 2021-05-12T14:28:23.811Z

I know it's been through the QA steps and in/out at Antwerp, but am slightly concerned that it has "gone missing"!

Should I expect the above to update once it's set-off for and then arrived at Dagenham ?

Would welcome any thoughts,
Many thanks,
David

 

[Coolcatshaft]

Hi all,

It's great to see cars actually arriving in the UK, especially for the stalwarts of this forum ?

Hannah very kindly replied to me earlier in the week (Wednesday) that my car was in Flushing and ready to depart to the UK, with an ETA at the dealer (in Brighton) of the 29 May. Great news I thought ?

Having checked the data on both my Ford Account and the Remote Set-up pages, none of the dates and times had moved/updated at all over the last week or so.

The order data still shows:

gobStatusDesc "InTransit"
vmacs2CharCode "91"
vmacs3CharCode "711"
vmacsStatusDesc "COMPOUND IN "
vmacsStatusDate "2021-05-12 16:39:00.0"
gobStatusDate: 2021-05-14 10:33:11.0

The Remote set-up remains at:

lifeCycleModeStatus Object { lifeCycleMode: "TRANSPORT", oemCorrelationId: 977, vehicleDateTime: "2021-05-12T16:27:42Z", … }
lifeCycleMode "TRANSPORT"
oemCorrelationId 977
vehicleDateTime "2021-05-12T16:27:42Z"
tappsDateTime: 2021-05-12T14:28:23.811Z

I know it's been through the QA steps and in/out at Antwerp, but am slightly concerned that it has "gone missing"!

Should I expect the above to update once it's set-off for and then arrived at Dagenham ?

Would welcome any thoughts,
Many thanks,
David

Hi David

I'm exactly in the same situation as you. No update to my F12 data, still compound in on 12/05 which is when it got to Flushing. A little annoyed as my business partners car also got to Flushing on 12/05 and then was in Dagenham 14/05!

My tappsDateTime has changed a few times, on 17/05 and again 20/05 and 21/05 so I'm hopeful that it has left Flushing. The compound in and out data takes at least 2 days to update. So if ours got to Dagenham yesterday then we should see the change on Monday.

The tappsDateTime updated faster but is unreliable! I've been impatiently tried to activate the car which muddies the waters. I do feel I have had three time hits on the tappsDateTime WITHOUT my app shenanigans.

Other thing I've noticed is that with the reverse.geocode... business, most of the time my distance used to be -444 but today it's -83 but again I don't think we can read much into this as people are getting wildly different results here.

I've emailed Hannah for an update yesterday but heard nothing back. I will wait till Monday to chase my dealer again as spoke to him Thursday when my car was still showing in New Flush on Vista.

The other thing I've noticed is the difference between tappsDateTime and vehicleDateTime for you is 2 hours. Try an activation in the app. See if they both update. Mine was like that, 2 hours apart. Which accounts for local time difference between UK and Vlissingen. Since yesterday when it does update with activation request (it doesn't always) the time difference between the two is 1 hour (GmT Vs BST?) Again making me hopeful that it is in the UK now.

Should know for sure by Monday!

 

[SteveUk]

Hi all,

It's great to see cars actually arriving in the UK, especially for the stalwarts of this forum ?

Hannah very kindly replied to me earlier in the week (Wednesday) that my car was in Flushing and ready to depart to the UK, with an ETA at the dealer (in Brighton) of the 29 May. Great news I thought ?

Having checked the data on both my Ford Account and the Remote Set-up pages, none of the dates and times had moved/updated at all over the last week or so.

The order data still shows:

gobStatusDesc "InTransit"
vmacs2CharCode "91"
vmacs3CharCode "711"
vmacsStatusDesc "COMPOUND IN "
vmacsStatusDate "2021-05-12 16:39:00.0"
gobStatusDate: 2021-05-14 10:33:11.0

The Remote set-up remains at:

lifeCycleModeStatus Object { lifeCycleMode: "TRANSPORT", oemCorrelationId: 977, vehicleDateTime: "2021-05-12T16:27:42Z", … }
lifeCycleMode "TRANSPORT"
oemCorrelationId 977
vehicleDateTime "2021-05-12T16:27:42Z"
tappsDateTime: 2021-05-12T14:28:23.811Z

I know it's been through the QA steps and in/out at Antwerp, but am slightly concerned that it has "gone missing"!

Should I expect the above to update once it's set-off for and then arrived at Dagenham ?

Would welcome any thoughts,
Many thanks,
David

I'm still at compound in on 12th May even though Vista confirms I'm now in 'Nam.

Stop looking at f12 it's hasta la Vista that is accurate.

 

[Wonky_Donkey]

Just got a call from my dealership - she’s just arrived! All on her own with no others on the transporter.

@portlandg - no holding back - we’re both picking up on Wednesday now

 

[SteveUk]

Some serious mache photos to follow I hope.

 

[Wonky_Donkey]

Some serious mache photos to follow I hope.

I'll be getting some pre-delivery / Pre PDI shots at 3pm today.

The proud father has been granted visiting rights LOL

 

[Iwantonenow]

I'll be getting some pre-delivery / Pre PDI shots at 3pm today.

The proud father has been granted visiting rights LOL

I'm so excited for you!

 

[portlandg]

I'll be getting some pre-delivery / Pre PDI shots at 3pm today.

The proud father has been granted visiting rights LOL

Pre PDI shots don't count. Sorry chaps, private joke

 

[portlandg]

Just got a call from my dealership - she’s just arrived! All on her own with no others on the transporter.

@portlandg - no holding back - we’re both picking up on Wednesday now

YIPPEE

 

[SteveUk]

And no phto P.D.A.s please

I'll be getting some pre-delivery / Pre PDI shots at 3pm today.

The proud father has been granted visiting rights LOL

OH MY GOD !

First Contact!

 

[Dudd]

It's total rubbish ford can't even organise demo cars to dealers so that we can at least take a test drive on what we have bought. It's a total shambles

My dealer just got their demo Mach E, but I agree that up until now the dealers didn’t have demos. But that is part of the “fun” of preordering something new. You take a risk, if you don’t want to take the risk then you have to wait longer. It’s a personal choice.

 

[Tony.T]

I'll be getting some pre-delivery / Pre PDI shots at 3pm today.

The proud father has been granted visiting rights LOL

Take a camp bed and a thermos- you won't want to come home ?

 

[Mercury8]

Lots of (justified) flack for poor dealer customer service, but should we be surprised?

Dealers used to buy their cars from Ford at “wholesale” prices, and then had almost full control of how many cars they sold and at what price. The new Ford operating model is to sell to customers direct on the web and so the dealer becomes their “delivery agent” for which they get a nominal fee.

I know it’s not as simple as that, there’s servicing, finance etc, but the core dealer sales model has been fundamentally taken away. Maybe this has reduced motivation for good customer service?

Call me a wee bit naive but I was surprised at the ‘customer service’ I’ve received. When someone asks for help or assistance you provide it or at least say you’ll do your best. That shouldn’t be based on financial motivation but just simple decency.
Dealers shouldn’t all be tarred with the same brush either.
I had a test drive with a different dealer to who I’ve ordered my car with and he knew this.
Despite that he still rearranged things so I could get a test drive with the exact model I ordered.
As a result of that and other things they did for me I’m more likely to use them in the future. They were night and day compared to Evans Halshaw where everything seems like such a chore to them.
It’s a lessen that I’ll remember. ?

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