Was my Mach-e born a lemon? Update: not lemon, just lower priority

[Plutoman15]

So my car was built Feb 4 and shipped Feb 10. It shipped from KC March 11th which I assume was due to the QC checks (stopship) taking 2 weeks or so. It arrived in Wilmington March 19th and as best as my dealer can tell is where it continues to sit. There have been many other cars arrive in Wilmington before, with, and at least a week after mine and have been delivered. The Ford rep that my dealer asked seemed to think it was on another stopship even though that is not on the vehicle visibility report.

So is my car a lemon right out of the gate? Shouldn’t Ford let me know if my car was born with problems?

Ford, what is the deal? This is not making me interested in ordering another Ford.

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[Bookworm214]

So my car was built Feb 4 and shipped Feb 10. It shipped from KC March 11th which I assume was due to the QC checks (stopship) taking 2 weeks or so. It arrived in Wilmington March 19th and as best as my dealer can tell is where it continues to sit. There have been many other cars arrive in Wilmington before, with, and at least a week after mine and have been delivered. The Ford rep that my dealer asked seemed to think it was on another stopship even though that is not on the vehicle visibility report.

So is my car a lemon right out of the gate? Shouldn’t Ford let me know if my car was born with problems?

Ford, what is the deal? This is not making me interested in ordering another Ford.

My car was moved to the Voltz ramp, according to palsapp.com, on Mar. 8th to be moved to Jacksonville, FL. On Wed. my dealer confirmed it was in Jax. but we have no idea how long it had been there. He found a name for the company handling the shipment from there, Metrogistics, and I was able to confirm through their tracker that it's order status was Active/Available for Pickup/Offer with no ETA. Apparently they put the order out to car transport companies to bid on. My salesman had the sales manager call them and make it a "HOT" shipment and yesterday when I checked it said it was dispatched with the notes saying "PU 4/2 ETA 4/2 so I'm hoping that means someone picked it up today and is on the way to Beach Ford in Myrtle Beach, SC which is about a 5 1/2 hour trip. I have no idea why it was 23 days from movement to Birmingham, MO to Jacksonville, FL or whether it took 5 days and sat in Florida for the rest of the time. It seems that a lack of urgency and a lack of available car transport is the biggest problem.

 

[ajmartineau]

It’s not a lemon.
My MME was built a month before yours and still hasn’t been delivered. There are many others still waiting for cars built in Dec. and Jan. I hate all the waiting but at least they caught the issues before I put money down. Plus, I’m not making payments on a car sitting in the shop at the dealership.

I’m At some point, I’ll stop waiting... probably around motorcycle season in the NW.

 

[Plutoman15]

Just saw another car delivered on Facebook that wasn't even reserved/ordered until Sept 2020. That just does not seem right. 9-10 months after people still without cars.

 

[GoosePond08]

Super frustrating. At this point, I would hope the Dealer/Ford are attempting to offer you a same car/specs from dealer inventory at another location. Getting it to you ASAP.

I hope you'll be one of the ones getting compensated for the time loss.

 

[Plutoman15]

So I have tried twitter and Facebook and was excited to get a response from Ford on Facebook messenger. They asked for my vin and some info to confirm my identity, and I was thinking great, someone is finally going to fill me in a little on why my car seems to be delayed. A little while later they came back with the super helpful info of... it is in transit. Work with your dealer. ?

Part of Ford's customer service really is stuck in the 1990's. I can understand that we don't need to know all the details but some acknowledgement when there are unique things happening with a $50k purchase and why it will not effect the long term use of the vehicle would be helpful.

update: the customer support is escalating it to another group... we will see.

 

[sockmeister]

Just saw another car delivered on Facebook that wasn't even reserved/ordered until Sept 2020. That just does not seem right. 9-10 months after people still without cars.

I do feel for you. I don't know what's going on. You should start getting noisy with ford and the transport company if possible.

Mine was also ordered in September 2020 and, well... I have it already. And I'm in SE PA as you know.

I am frustrated for you.

 

[Plutoman15]

I do feel for you. I don't know what's going on. You should start getting noisy with ford and the transport company if possible.

Mine was also ordered in September 2020 and, well... I have it already. And I'm in SE PA as you know.

I am frustrated for you.

Grand scheme of life, this is a tiny matter. I am thankful for my family and a great country to live in. If the car is as great as many say, I am sure this will someday be forgotten but for now we are in the present

 

[Maquis]

Grand scheme of life, this is a tiny matter. I am thankful for my family and a great country to live in. If the car is as great as many say, I am sure this will someday be forgotten but for now we are in the present

Great perspective!

 

[Plutoman15]

Customer service has escalated and given me a case number so maybe I will get some info soon.

Human psyche hates uncertainty and unclear expectations. I remember a time when I had to go the DMV because I lost my photo card to get my drivers license renewed. Instead of the fast lane with the card I had to wait in the line to meet with an officer. I arrived near opening and was around 3rd in line around 9 am or so. All morning long the officers would look at us and just keep walking with the line never moving and getting longer and longer. Sometime after 11am someone finally told us that some officers were sick that day and they were not going to be able to help any of us until noon or so. Standing in line with the expectation that the line would slowly move along and having nothing happen for hours was maddening. If they simply would have given us the info that because of being short it would be a while we could have all planned our day or at least understood the expectations. To me this is the balance of good customer service by balancing not giving all the nitty gritty but giving enough accurate information to mitigate expectations of the customer.

So grand scheme pretty small but wow can it cause frustration.

Ok, speech over.

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

Just saw another car delivered on Facebook that wasn't even reserved/ordered until Sept 2020. That just does not seem right. 9-10 months after people still without cars.

It's not right.

Super frustrating. At this point, I would hope the Dealer/Ford are attempting to offer you a same car/specs from dealer inventory at another location. Getting it to you ASAP.

I hope you'll be one of the ones getting compensated for the time loss.

A dealer with an exact match car is actually under no obligation to provide a car for another dealer. They may decline to do so and most or many would, given the demand for the MME atm. But they should at least try

I am sure this will someday be forgotten but for now we are in the present

These sort of things tend to set in people's minds and turn them off for long periods of time. My first 2 cars were Ford's. When we went to replace the second, we had such a bad time with the local Ford dealers that we didn't buy another Ford for 30 years. It's in Ford's best interests to at least give you an idea of what's up with your car.

 

[krafty81]

Agreed. It was so easy and quick to order my Escape in 13. This is totally different.

 

[Plutoman15]

So I got a call from Ford because my case was escalated, giving me the good news that my cars is in transit and it should deliver 22-28 days from the time it went in transit depending on how far I was from the factory ??‍
I explained it has been in transit since Feb 10
Complete waste of time. They know nothing. Welcome to the 1990’s.

 

[Bookworm214]

So I got a call from Ford because my case was escalated, giving me the good news that my cars is in transit and it should deliver 22-28 days from the time it went in transit depending on how far I was from the factory ??‍
I explained it has been in transit since Feb 10
Complete waste of time. They know nothing. Welcome to the 1990’s.

I'm beginning to realize that the transportation of vehicles is apparently an extremely fragmented system and I'm shocked that anyone ever gets their cars. It seems like from the time a car leaves the factory and arrives at the dealership it falls into a black hole or an alternate universe and at some point it magically reappears. This response is totally inadequate, to be kind. I'm sorry you're being treated like this.

 

[littlD]

I'm beginning to realize that the transportation of vehicles is apparently an extremely fragmented system and I'm shocked that anyone ever gets their cars. It seems like from the time a car leaves the factory and arrives at the dealership it falls into a black hole or an alternate universe and at some point it magically reappears. This response is totally inadequate, to be kind. I'm sorry you're being treated like this.

We Tesla owners can tell you, "when can I take delivery" is the weakest part of the delivery process. Even to this day Tesla struggles with knowing where your car is.

The direct order or reservation order approaches to sales just make this all too clear.

I guess there's one good reason why dealerships have cars on the lot already!

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