Ordering question (for a Ford employee)

[Doug0716]

I have a quick question, I am wanting to place an order for a 2015 FFE but the salesman told me their "CONCEPTS" system is down, and he was hoping it's back up today.  I want to get the order placed sooner rather than later to get the car on the assembly line and to sign up for a TX credit that's limited in budget.  Is the CONEPTS system a Ford system in which I would get the same answer at any dealership or is this specific to my dealership?  If it is a Ford system has it truly been down since August 9th??  Thanks for the help.

[murphy]

I don't know the name of the system but all Ford dealers use the same system to place orders.  Ford selects orders from the system once a week on Thursday I think.  For an order to be selected for production everything must be correct including the proper priority and the dealer has to have an allocation to cover the order.  Somewhere, possibly on the BlueOval forum is a writeup that explains the ordering process in detail.  It may be that the computer system the dealer uses to access the Ford server is down.  Or the dealer doesn't have an allocation for the car you want and is stalling.  This is not like ordering something from Amazon.  My order was placed January 22, 2013 and the car was built April 1, 2013.  I received it April 15, 2013 which was exactly 12 weeks from order to delivery.

Edited August 14, 2014 at 07:49 PM by murphy
typo

[Doug0716]

Thanks for the info.  I'm not expecting a specific delivery window. I just think it's crazy that the ordering system has been "down" for almost a week now and am concerned that the sales person is too busy to deal with it right now.  If that's the case (ie: he's lying to me), I have no problem taking my business elsewhere. If the Ford system iself is actually down, then so be it.    If a system at the dealership is down for almost a week at this point then it's a shame and I'm not sure how I will proceed yet.

Edited August 14, 2014 at 07:11 PM by Doug0716

[Russael]

You could always call another dealership and ask them if their ordering system is down... if they confirm the same, then it won't matter where you go.  But, if they say it works fine, it sounds like they'll be willing to take your business. :)

[jeff_h]

Somewhere, possibly on the BlueOval forum is a writeup that explains the ordering process in detail.

 

I have that one bookmarked, as even though the post is a few years old I don't think Ford's ordering system has changed much (maybe hardly at all?) since the below was written.

 

http://www.greenhybrid.com/discuss/f61/ford-dealer-discusses-orders-allocation-19747/

[Doug0716]

Thanks for the link, I'll give it a read.

I called the dealership and talked to the new sales manager who said it is a Ford system, and goes down often but has been up for the last few days.  Salesperson fail.  The manager got all the specs for my build and is supposed to be calling me back, but that was an hour and a half ago so... :-/

This shouldn't be this difficult...

Edited August 15, 2014 at 01:20 AM by Doug0716

[murphy]

Once they have entered the order they should present you with a printout that lists the car and all of the features that you requested.  In my case they printed two copies and had me sign both.  I kept one and they kept one.  This is your protection that the order is correct.  Verify that everyrthing is correct before you sign it.   They can still modify the order at this point.  Once a VIN is issued it is unlikely that any changes can be made.