[IB-5]

The day after I reserved my Fiesta I received an e-mail from the
reservation center telling me my reservation specialist was Mahi Manso.
I NEVER heard from them again!
I was not contacted when I ordered my car!
I was not contacted when my car was scheduled to be built!
I was not contacted when my car was built!
I was not contacted when my car was shipped!
That's some great "VIP" treatment!!!!
The only time I had contact with the "reservation specialists" was when I called them. As an example of how that went, months after I reserved
my Fiesta
I called them to tell them I never got my VIP gift. (Fiesta Flash Drive).
To her credit, Megan did get one sent to me about 3 days later.
When it arrived it was in a plain manilla envolope and completely crushed.
When I called back, I talked to Matt and he basicly told me that they
were in short supply, it sucks to be me, but he would see what he could
do.
After about another week and 1/2, I didn't receive a new one so I called
back and talked to Matt again.
He said he would talk to the "higher ups" about it.
I never did receive a replacement.
I have to tell you that I'm enjoying my new Fiesta, but if I was trying to
decide between buying the Fiesta and another car, this experience would
have made me chose to buy the other car.
If Ford lost many sales from this same experience
I will not lose any sleep over it because they deserve it.
I just wondered if any of you have had the same experience.

 

[cat]

I had the exact same experience as you (except that I did get my usb drive)! I got an email from Megan after placing my reservation, as well as a postcard reminding me to place my official order at a dealership. Haven't heard from her since then; the only time I called the number, I spoke to Mahi and she didn't have a clue what was going on and told me that my dealer would have more information on the status of my car.

I hope these reservation specialists aren't getting bonuses from our sales...

 

[Griff2002]

I think the reservation specialists have helped a lot of us on an as needed basis, and I'm thankful for that. Maybe Ford should have set a more realistic expectation for the VIP service. There's only so much a handful of people can do with the thousands of people who reserved cars.

One complaint I have is that I'm not sure Ford gave the reserved orders the priority for production that I expected (but I could be wrong).

 

[BRGT350]

I had Matt as my reservation agent, and he did a great job! He always responded to emails and phone calls. He worked with the dealer to get things straightened out with my order. I would give Matt an A+ and the dealer a D for a grade. The only issues I had with the reservation center came from the other agents who gave me and the dealer wrong info on a number of occasions. Matt, was always on top of things to fix the info.

 

[iamz]

I have to agree with BRGT350. I was lucky enough to get Matt also and he has been good about answering my questions. Unfortunately, it appears that Matt was the only Reservation Specialist doing his job. From everything reported on this site, the other 3 were MIA.

Still, I think it's important to not blame the whole of Ford Motor Company for what appears to be a failure of "Ford Marketing". There appear to be only two main complaints so far;

1. The failure of the VIP reservation process - not keeping many people informed as to the status of their cars.

2. The failure to get Fiesta USB drives out to, at the very least, those who actually ordered cars (I got mine).

Both of these are screw-ups from marketing.

And yes, I realize some people are upset about the delivery dates also. I think that if the cars show up within a few weeks of their expected delivery dates, that's pretty good. I guess it all depends on your expectations. If Ford is anything like my company, there is a constant battle between manufacturing and marketing. Marketing is always over-promising to the customer without first talking to manufacturing. Then those of us in manufacturing have to work our asses off to try and meet those unrealistic expectations.

So all I'm saying is, please, don't blame all the engineers, managers, supervisors and production workers in the manufacturing division for marketing's failures. The guys and gals in manufacturing are just trying to build you the best car they can within the time-line marketing decided.

 

[Corvair]

The "VIP" treatment has left me with a bitter taste in mouth! They should have never done any of it. I got an email after I reserved it. I got my second email saying it was shipped. But that was a few days after sending one asking me what was going on. My dealer has done a much better job of keeping me informed. They were susposed to email us when it was scheduled, built and shipped. Never did. As for priority handling of our orders, well, 2000 people ordered cars who had reserved them, and my serial number is 90XX, so 7000 other orders were more important than us. I better stop writting this or I'll be calling my dealer and tell them to keep my car!

Dan

 

[Corvair]

Note to Ford employee's,

Forward all these posts to who was ever in charge of the internet and resevation program. You said you were going to do all these things, and you did NONE!

 

[IB-5]

I don't buy any of the excuses for the "VIP" process that I've heard
here.
The point of VIP reservation was for THEM to contact ME to keep me
updated and informed! Me having to call them and beg them for info
about my car is not what I was promised!
Left up to the reservation center, I would have never known what
was going on with my car from the day I reserved it to the day it
arrived at my dealership!
If a company makes promises to a customer, they should be sure
they are in a position to deliver on those promises.
In my case, FORD promised me everything and delivered nothing.
And yes I said FORD! I don't care if it was marketing or what PART
of Ford is responsible, they are still part of Ford, so it is FoMoCo that
let me down.
When I reserved my Fiesta, I was led to believe that I would be
treated like a VIP. Instead, they proceeded to show me that they
could care less about me as a customer.
A pretty bad showing for a company that says it is trying to
win back customers!
At least in my case, the VIP reservation program was an utter JOKE and
a total FAILURE!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[AlanBDahl]

FWIW my dealership is planning on making a media event out of the arrival of my Fiesta so it sounds like they are going to make a pretty big deal out of it. Not sure how much of that is coming from Ford and how much from my dealer but it's nice to know that there will be some special treatment.

 

[Corvair]

FWIW my dealership is planning on making a media event out of the arrival of my Fiesta so it sounds like they are going to make a pretty big deal out of it. Not sure how much of that is coming from Ford and how much from my dealer but it's nice to know that there will be some special treatment.

I hope my dealer doesn't do anything, or I will sould like IB-5 in his post.

 

[golf strom]

I don't buy any of the excuses for the "VIP" process that I've heard
here.
The point of VIP reservation was for THEM to contact ME to keep me
updated and informed! Me having to call them and beg them for info
about my car is not what I was promised!
Left up to the reservation center, I would have never known what
was going on with my car from the day I reserved it to the day it
arrived at my dealership!
If a company makes promises to a customer, they should be sure
they are in a position to deliver on those promises.
In my case, FORD promised me everything and delivered nothing.
And yes I said FORD! I don't care if it was marketing or what PART
of Ford is responsible, they are still part of Ford, so it is FoMoCo that
let me down.
When I reserved my Fiesta, I was led to believe that I would be
treated like a VIP. Instead, they proceeded to show me that they
could care less about me as a customer.
A pretty bad showing for a company that says it is trying to
win back customers!
At least in my case, the VIP reservation program was utter JOKE and
a total FAILURE!!!!!!!!!!!

I get really sick of the folks here always "defending" inexcusable mistakes and incompetence...Enough already.

Honestly...who the HECK was in charge of this effort?!?!?

Seriously.....

I even IF 1900 or so people did a reservation I don't see how it could go so wrong...if with a small crew it would be hard to screw it up this bad...

If you can't do it right...don't do it at all.

Somebody needs to be FIRED on this account ..Sam where are you?

 

[dfw.embalmer]

"VIP Treatment"

Matt was GREAT, always informative, and VERY FRIENDLY and he honestly helped. Megan was sweet, but I was not impressed. Mahi was a joke.

I have my car, and very very very pleased with it....I would like my "VIP Gift"

 

[MegEtc]

My experience has been problem-free and really pleasant. I reserved my Fiesta on March 1, and a few weeks later decided to tear it all up and start over with a new trim level, color and options packages. Matthew Wolfe took all my changes over the phone and knew the answer to every question right off the bat, and has never been wrong.

He also searched to see if any of the Fiesta Movement cars were going to pass near my town, because I said I'd never seen one before. Because March 1 is really late in the game, there weren't any scheduled events near me, but I appreicated him trying.

When I call the 1-800 number, I get a person every time(usually Matthew) and they like to talk ABOUT the car, not just rush me off the phone. They're incredibly friendly, and they love the cars as much as we do.

When I called and asked for it, Matthew gave me my VIN and told me the arrival date is the week of July 5th. I haven't been getting any emails about my car, but for a VIP experience I'm not paying extra for, I am very happy just to have a human answer every question when I call them (and not with a limited number of stock answers scripted by a PR department).

Two things that I kept in mind: the dealer has nothing to do with the VIP program, just the Reservation Agents at the 1-800 number. And I have to reach out to them and call, not wait for them to get in touch with me. Because those were my expectations, they've met them perfectly.

Edited to Add: I think those of you who HAVE your cars already got the best VIP treatment of all!

 

[Corvair]

Matt was GREAT, always informative, and VERY FRIENDLY and he honestly helped. Megan was sweet, but I was not impressed. Mahi was a joke.

I have my car, and very very very pleased with it....I would like my "VIP Gift"

I'll trade you my VIP gift for your Fiesta! I'll throw in the Matrix too.

Megan never did anthing unless I contacted her first. The Matt from this forum did everything for me, but it was through this form, not the the resevation program.

Dan

 

[PowerShift]

Lets go back to something I wrote back in December:

The truth is, the online reservation is little more than fancy window dressing on the usual "contact a dealer" form.

Although I changed opinion on that a number of times over the last few months, the experiences I've had and what I've read here seem to prove that initial observation.

For example, I never got any status updates after they mistakenly switched reservation numbers on me. I did get some "go and place your order" messages, though. The reservation consultants were usually helpful when I reached out to them, but that was only when I reached out to them. I do appreciate Matt's participation on this board, though.

The other problem is that the whole ordering system is a mess. I knew that, but I figured they must have fixed it if they were going to ask so many people to order. They didn't. First of all, I was totally in the dark about scheduling dates. In April, when I saw some people getting scheduled and mine wasn't I panicked because I thought my order was dropped. Turned out those early schedules were for Ford employees. Why didn't they just tell me that? Also these vehicle visibility reports that everyone is using to find the status of their Fiesta are total bunk. Both the ETAs and the shipping status info seem to be wrong or implausible more often than not.

The real truth is ordering a new car is an ugly process and probably always will be. I'm kinda glad my employment situation has forced me to delay my purchase. Now I can buy the car off a dealer lot like nature intended.

 

[golf strom]

The real truth is ordering a new car is an ugly process and probably always will be. I'm kinda glad my employment situation has forced me to delay my purchase. Now I can buy the car off a dealer lot like nature intended.

I wonder why Dearborn didn't take a page from FoE. They have been doing mostly custom orders for an eternity....

Ordering a car from the factory is not an ugly process, IF those running the system are competent. Obviously there needs to be a house cleaning at this operation.

 

[the_fox]

Even though I didn't reserve, Matt from reservations (who is also frequenting this forum) is going above and beyond his duties in helping me get status updates. So thank you Matt, you're the best! Ford needs more employees like you.

 

[Zinky]

Ordering a car from the factory is not an ugly process, IF those running the system are competent. Obviously there needs to be a house cleaning at this operation.

Unfortunately the process hasn't been up to my expectations. I got more info when I ordered my Mini Cooper in 2003. I would have thought 7 years on, that I could have gotten similar or more information because all of the other applications we take for granted on the internet.

I'm glad at least that Ford encourage ordering out. That is one of the biggest reasons I chose the Fiesta over others.

 

[golf strom]

Unfortunately the process hasn't been up to my expectations. I got more info when I ordered my Mini Cooper in 2003. I would have thought 7 years on, that I could have gotten similar or more information because all of the other applications we take for granted on the internet.

I'm glad at least that Ford encourage ordering out. That is one of the biggest reasons I chose the Fiesta over others.

Remembering that Mini brand is owned wholly by BMW where custom ordering is almost the rule in Europe and many US orders are also done this way as well it is no surprise that they did a better job...

This is the kind of thing that just astonishes me about Ford and others....you have very good systems in place to handle this in Europe WHY on earth didn't they send a team over there to see how they do it....

Now I was thinking that here in the USA did Dearborn contract out this part of the process? Anyone know? I wonder if the reservation specialist works for a contracted marketing company..I'd be really interested to know...I'm almost 100% certain that FoE does all custom orders via corporate and the dealer exclusively, no one else is invloved.

 

[LMTech]

Now I was thinking that here in the USA did Dearborn contract out this part of the process? Anyone know? I wonder if the reservation specialist works for a contracted marketing company..I'd be really interested to know...I'm almost 100% certain that FoE does all custom orders via corporate and the dealer exclusively, no one else is invloved.

The reservation system didn't do any of the ordering all they did was take the reservation. In order to have the order submitted to be built you had to go to the dealer and work with them in order to get it ordered and built.