Let me start by apologizing upfront if this post is long. I’m new to the Forum but came across some very interesting info from my dealer about something called “retail suites” program between the dealers and the factory (not stuff we the consumers are supposed to know about).
I ordered a 2012 Raptor fully loaded tux black minus graphics on 9/12/11. I have been waiting patiently for my VIN and I became concerned seeing how many people in this forum were getting vin’s who ordered around the same time as me.
I spoke to my sales rep at the dealer about the issue. She called me back the next day and said she has some bad news about my order. What she went on to tell me I highly doubt any other dealer would have said to the customer and I respect her for doing so.
She said that in Oct. the factory started a program with the dealers called “retail suite”. Basically what the factory is trying to do is control the Dealers from placing (phony) retail orders so they can have more inventory than they are allotted. A “retail order” is what all of us have ordered. We have gone into the dealer, sat down, picked out our options and ordered our trucks. She went on to tell me that her dealerships had to many retail vehicles on their lot that had not been sold, hence the factory was putting all new retail orders on hold till Jan or Feb at the earliest. MY ORDER WAS BEING PUT ON HOLD! She said I would get my truck faster and have better luck by going to another dealer and reordering. This was on last week on 11/15/11 she told me this. As you can imagine I was PISSED!
I understand what the factory is doing by trying to control their Dealers from placing phony “retail orders”, but they are also punishing us the consumers who have legitimate orders and are trying to buy a Ford Truck. We the consumers have no way of knowing if the dealership we place our orders with has restrictions with the factory.
I felt a phone call to Ford corporate was in order. I spoke to someone at the 1800 customer service number and explained the story to him in detail. He took my order number and the dealer number and he gave me a case number for my phone call. He said he would start researching the issue and would call me back. I was just expecting a blow off but was pleasantly surprised at how this Ford rep handled my call.
To make an already long story short…. I received several calls back from this gentleman at Ford corporate last week. I also received a phone call from the West Coast regional manager (not sure if that’s his exact title). He confirmed what the dealer said about my order being on hold without getting into the specifics. They both completely understood how this was unfair to me as the consumer just trying to buy a Ford Truck. They admitted that their program needs some improvements and they assured me they were going to try and get my order pushed through.
On Friday my dealer called me and said they had a vin number and a production date of 12/5/11. This is the only retail VIN my dealer has gotten in over a month.
Ford stepped up and did the right thing! I was extremely surprised how quickly they resolved this issue. I have never dealt with this great of customer service from a large company like Ford. They understood my problem and worked hard to resolve it quickly. You just don’t get customer service like that anymore. I’m a FORD MAN for life after this experience. Hopefully I get my Raptor before the year is up.
