...last go around with the dealer had me requesting my VIN number, so
I could track my undelivered "quality control" held black coupe, myself.
Gave them my fax number, was advised the fax with the VIN would
be coming in 5 minutes.
Fortunately I'm not on life support, holding my breath, as the 5 minutes
came and passed many moons ago.
I called the Ford number from the main Ford web page, and spoke to
a congenial customer service rep. Was then passed on directly to the SVT
department, which is 1-800-FORD SVT if you dial direct.
Told the SVT customer servive person about my car being in the quality
control zone, no info available, wanted to know where my car is at the
specific moment, and what their stance is on the dealer charging
$5000 extra for a car that is somewhere out in the Twilight Zone,
no one has any info, it may arrive with problems, it may not, and I get
to pay an extra $5 grand (plus the state gets another $300 in sales
tax) for the experience.
The reply was that each dealer is their own entity, and that their
licensing allows them to charge whatever they wish, be it a dollar
extra, 5 g's, even 20 g's, so whatever they charge, they can do so.
They then noted that they could not access the system, to find out
where my car is, they would have to contact the dealer to get the
VIN number, so they could track it down.
I replied, while being polite with the congenial customer service
person, but stern in my message, duh, that's why I called you,
as the dealer who's getting 5 g's extra for not knowing where
my car is or what's wrong with it, needs ME to be the sales rep
and find out MY OWN info.
He politely responded, I do not have access to that info, the only
way we can get your info is from the dealer.
I politely responded, I am in the pharmaceutical advertising field,
and when a customer wants to know where their Johnson & Johnson
or Baxter Healthcare order is, they cab find out in 5 minutes, so what's
the deal with Ford, they're a big company?
He again notes, he cannot find out that info for me. I then pulled
out my trump card, SVTperformance.com.
I noted that this is a strange way of doing business, when the
great members of SVTperformance.com can privide you with more
info on your car than the mother ship, and I spieled off all the
complaints about the cars, that people who ordered way after
I did have their cars, and I want to speak to someone up the
ladder.
The next fellow gets on the phone, also notes that he cannot
access the system, and I pulled out the trump card again. I then
politely vented everyone's accumulated complaints, such as the SVT
web site has no color change updates, no info, the dealers seem
to know nothing about the problems with the cars, and for all this,
we get treated like we should shut up and be grateful that we
can get a car that doesn't work that won't arrive for a marked
up price.
That resulted in politely hearing about how SVT does teleconferencing
with the dealers giving them updates, the whole marketing plan,
that the web page will soon be updated, the whole 9 yards about
what they do.
My reply was, I understand that you work hard, have built a great
car, and that it's a great opportunity. I've bought 4 cars from this
dealer, the Cobra is my 5th, they are great people, I have no
problem with anyone, but I do have a problem with not knowing
what is going on, and having to pay a premium for something
possibly defective that isn't even here. I noted I could drive
15 minutes from here and l have my choice of 5 used Porsches
that I can lease cheaper than the 03 Cobra, and I am inches
away from cancelling this deal, which is allowed on the back
of the order, which states I can if I am unhappy with the price
change.
The story then went to, well, we're not supposed to do this, but
we can access the system for you, but I'll need to call your
dealer for the VIN number. I asked him if he wanted me to make
the VOPC call for him.
I again noted that it's a great car, I'm glad they make it for us,
that the dealer has nice people who treat me well, but something
is missing in the lines of communications, and it also comes
across to the public that they are a shoddily run entity when
people can't get info on what colors are available, when their
car will come in, can't get something as simple as mags and allowing
that to hold up an entire car, their ad agency doesn't update
the web page, they then make the cars and they don't work,
they hide them and don't tell us what's going on, and then we
get charged extra for the splendid experience.
You've all been very helpful in posting your tech info, your
driving experiences, and your unhappy stories, and I pretty
much covered the whole thing for everyone with SVT customer
service.
Being in the advertising field, and one who deals with marketing
product directors, it works like this. The company gets on the
phone, calls the ad agency, and says, we want you to come in
for a meeting, we want to update the web page, as the colors
have changed. The ad agency comes in, and the product director
hands them a Zip disk with the color swatches, and a press release
that notes why the color changes, when the color changes are in
effect, and also a press release thanking loyal customers for their
patience as we deliver an exciting driving experience.
They then go to lunch, that ad agency bills them up the wazoo
for the lunch, they write down buy the product dircector a nice
fat Christmas present for the job (which they agency hides in
their invoice to Ford).
The ad agency then calls in a free lancer, who comes in to get
the disk, and the damned changes take a few hours.
If Ford did that, plus added in some mini rebate for the people
who waited, or tickets to an auto show, or even tickets to
see a movie in your area, they would be doing what other
corporate entities do. It's my job with my clients to make sure
that info gets to suregeons, that they get their freebies, and then
if something isn't spiffy with the process, you do something to
make them want to come back, even if it's a damned free t-shirt.
I just got a call from the SVT mother ship, my car arrived on the
docks on Friday, with the holiday no action on the local shipping
scene, but my car is expected to the dealer in a few days.
The mother ship noted that along with my quality control car,
all the quality control hold cars have been shipped. If that
is indeed true, (not saying he's lying, he could have been
provided bogus info), then your cars should be en route.
I have written this to be of return help to all of you who
have posted helpful info, especially those who have waited
for their cars. Again, the SVT mother ship reps were polite
and helpful, my dealer people are great people, and my
message to them is that we should be treated a bit better
than "we're lucky to get this car, and take it any way that
we can get it". That is not anyone's quote, that is my
summarizing how the entire process feels with this car,
and there must be a better way to keep your loyal
paying customers informed.
Perhaps this is why CNN financial reported this on the net today:
Automaker Ford (F: down $0.47 to $11.30, Research, Estimates)
fell victim to a UBS Warburg downgrade of the U.S. automaker.
The brokerage downgraded the stock to "reduce" from "hold,"
citing continued weakness in operations and the threat of a
credit rating downgrade.
My advice in retrospect to the Ford chairman: Someone in your
company, whether it be in product development, or in marketing,
decided it was best to sit on the information, not update literature
in a timely manner, not update the web page in a timely manner,
and in trying to pinch pennies on your direct to customer interaction,
your secretly holding up on cars with severe quality control
problems has you coming across like Richard Nixon playing I've
Got A Secret. No way do you deliver new cars that were ordered
recently before February and March orders, there are no options
on this car, you deliver them in the order that they were indeed
ordered. As long as you did this, you have pissed off a lot of
hard working people who put a lot of cash back into your company,
and if you're going to sanction having to pay a dealer markup
for this splendid experience, get your sorry ass marketing department
on the phone, and tell them that due to being concerened about
losing future business, you wish to approve the spending of a
freaking $10 t-shirt that says "03 Cobra-worth the wait", which
would cost you $2.50 a shirt times the 900 people that had to wait
for the quality control matter, which is $2250, plus shipping, and we'd
even drive to our dealers to pick it up. If you want to really be nice,
produce a video on the making of the car, spend $20 grand on it,
and then you come across like a world class hero.
The bottom line, marketing-wise, is that by spending $2250 on
free t-shirts for the people who waited, all 900 of us will want to
buy the next Cobra model, and you'll make a fortune in return
for the t-shirts. If you send out the video, we'll spread the word
far better than your marketing department, we'll dupe it for
our friends, and you'll sell thousand more of the next Cobra.
But if I get my car this week, and it don't run, we at SVTperformance.com
spread the word far better than your marketing department or ad
agency does, and we won't even charge you for the publicity, hell,
we won't even charge you any markup.
Maybe that's just me, just ranting over the experience this
has been, hopefully, Dennis Miller isn't waiting for a quality
control hold Cobra, that is a rant Ford marketing definitely
won't want to hear.
Cheers!
Jim
:cuss:
I could track my undelivered "quality control" held black coupe, myself.
Gave them my fax number, was advised the fax with the VIN would
be coming in 5 minutes.
Fortunately I'm not on life support, holding my breath, as the 5 minutes
came and passed many moons ago.
I called the Ford number from the main Ford web page, and spoke to
a congenial customer service rep. Was then passed on directly to the SVT
department, which is 1-800-FORD SVT if you dial direct.
Told the SVT customer servive person about my car being in the quality
control zone, no info available, wanted to know where my car is at the
specific moment, and what their stance is on the dealer charging
$5000 extra for a car that is somewhere out in the Twilight Zone,
no one has any info, it may arrive with problems, it may not, and I get
to pay an extra $5 grand (plus the state gets another $300 in sales
tax) for the experience.
The reply was that each dealer is their own entity, and that their
licensing allows them to charge whatever they wish, be it a dollar
extra, 5 g's, even 20 g's, so whatever they charge, they can do so.
They then noted that they could not access the system, to find out
where my car is, they would have to contact the dealer to get the
VIN number, so they could track it down.
I replied, while being polite with the congenial customer service
person, but stern in my message, duh, that's why I called you,
as the dealer who's getting 5 g's extra for not knowing where
my car is or what's wrong with it, needs ME to be the sales rep
and find out MY OWN info.
He politely responded, I do not have access to that info, the only
way we can get your info is from the dealer.
I politely responded, I am in the pharmaceutical advertising field,
and when a customer wants to know where their Johnson & Johnson
or Baxter Healthcare order is, they cab find out in 5 minutes, so what's
the deal with Ford, they're a big company?
He again notes, he cannot find out that info for me. I then pulled
out my trump card, SVTperformance.com.
I noted that this is a strange way of doing business, when the
great members of SVTperformance.com can privide you with more
info on your car than the mother ship, and I spieled off all the
complaints about the cars, that people who ordered way after
I did have their cars, and I want to speak to someone up the
ladder.
The next fellow gets on the phone, also notes that he cannot
access the system, and I pulled out the trump card again. I then
politely vented everyone's accumulated complaints, such as the SVT
web site has no color change updates, no info, the dealers seem
to know nothing about the problems with the cars, and for all this,
we get treated like we should shut up and be grateful that we
can get a car that doesn't work that won't arrive for a marked
up price.
That resulted in politely hearing about how SVT does teleconferencing
with the dealers giving them updates, the whole marketing plan,
that the web page will soon be updated, the whole 9 yards about
what they do.
My reply was, I understand that you work hard, have built a great
car, and that it's a great opportunity. I've bought 4 cars from this
dealer, the Cobra is my 5th, they are great people, I have no
problem with anyone, but I do have a problem with not knowing
what is going on, and having to pay a premium for something
possibly defective that isn't even here. I noted I could drive
15 minutes from here and l have my choice of 5 used Porsches
that I can lease cheaper than the 03 Cobra, and I am inches
away from cancelling this deal, which is allowed on the back
of the order, which states I can if I am unhappy with the price
change.
The story then went to, well, we're not supposed to do this, but
we can access the system for you, but I'll need to call your
dealer for the VIN number. I asked him if he wanted me to make
the VOPC call for him.
I again noted that it's a great car, I'm glad they make it for us,
that the dealer has nice people who treat me well, but something
is missing in the lines of communications, and it also comes
across to the public that they are a shoddily run entity when
people can't get info on what colors are available, when their
car will come in, can't get something as simple as mags and allowing
that to hold up an entire car, their ad agency doesn't update
the web page, they then make the cars and they don't work,
they hide them and don't tell us what's going on, and then we
get charged extra for the splendid experience.
You've all been very helpful in posting your tech info, your
driving experiences, and your unhappy stories, and I pretty
much covered the whole thing for everyone with SVT customer
service.
Being in the advertising field, and one who deals with marketing
product directors, it works like this. The company gets on the
phone, calls the ad agency, and says, we want you to come in
for a meeting, we want to update the web page, as the colors
have changed. The ad agency comes in, and the product director
hands them a Zip disk with the color swatches, and a press release
that notes why the color changes, when the color changes are in
effect, and also a press release thanking loyal customers for their
patience as we deliver an exciting driving experience.
They then go to lunch, that ad agency bills them up the wazoo
for the lunch, they write down buy the product dircector a nice
fat Christmas present for the job (which they agency hides in
their invoice to Ford).
The ad agency then calls in a free lancer, who comes in to get
the disk, and the damned changes take a few hours.
If Ford did that, plus added in some mini rebate for the people
who waited, or tickets to an auto show, or even tickets to
see a movie in your area, they would be doing what other
corporate entities do. It's my job with my clients to make sure
that info gets to suregeons, that they get their freebies, and then
if something isn't spiffy with the process, you do something to
make them want to come back, even if it's a damned free t-shirt.
I just got a call from the SVT mother ship, my car arrived on the
docks on Friday, with the holiday no action on the local shipping
scene, but my car is expected to the dealer in a few days.
The mother ship noted that along with my quality control car,
all the quality control hold cars have been shipped. If that
is indeed true, (not saying he's lying, he could have been
provided bogus info), then your cars should be en route.
I have written this to be of return help to all of you who
have posted helpful info, especially those who have waited
for their cars. Again, the SVT mother ship reps were polite
and helpful, my dealer people are great people, and my
message to them is that we should be treated a bit better
than "we're lucky to get this car, and take it any way that
we can get it". That is not anyone's quote, that is my
summarizing how the entire process feels with this car,
and there must be a better way to keep your loyal
paying customers informed.
Perhaps this is why CNN financial reported this on the net today:
Automaker Ford (F: down $0.47 to $11.30, Research, Estimates)
fell victim to a UBS Warburg downgrade of the U.S. automaker.
The brokerage downgraded the stock to "reduce" from "hold,"
citing continued weakness in operations and the threat of a
credit rating downgrade.
My advice in retrospect to the Ford chairman: Someone in your
company, whether it be in product development, or in marketing,
decided it was best to sit on the information, not update literature
in a timely manner, not update the web page in a timely manner,
and in trying to pinch pennies on your direct to customer interaction,
your secretly holding up on cars with severe quality control
problems has you coming across like Richard Nixon playing I've
Got A Secret. No way do you deliver new cars that were ordered
recently before February and March orders, there are no options
on this car, you deliver them in the order that they were indeed
ordered. As long as you did this, you have pissed off a lot of
hard working people who put a lot of cash back into your company,
and if you're going to sanction having to pay a dealer markup
for this splendid experience, get your sorry ass marketing department
on the phone, and tell them that due to being concerened about
losing future business, you wish to approve the spending of a
freaking $10 t-shirt that says "03 Cobra-worth the wait", which
would cost you $2.50 a shirt times the 900 people that had to wait
for the quality control matter, which is $2250, plus shipping, and we'd
even drive to our dealers to pick it up. If you want to really be nice,
produce a video on the making of the car, spend $20 grand on it,
and then you come across like a world class hero.
The bottom line, marketing-wise, is that by spending $2250 on
free t-shirts for the people who waited, all 900 of us will want to
buy the next Cobra model, and you'll make a fortune in return
for the t-shirts. If you send out the video, we'll spread the word
far better than your marketing department, we'll dupe it for
our friends, and you'll sell thousand more of the next Cobra.
But if I get my car this week, and it don't run, we at SVTperformance.com
spread the word far better than your marketing department or ad
agency does, and we won't even charge you for the publicity, hell,
we won't even charge you any markup.
Maybe that's just me, just ranting over the experience this
has been, hopefully, Dennis Miller isn't waiting for a quality
control hold Cobra, that is a rant Ford marketing definitely
won't want to hear.
Cheers!
Jim
:cuss:
