Thanks blwnsmoke (happy early birthday btw) and CRAP!!! At least it is 12 weekdays from now (not sure if CAP assembles on weekends). Maybe that will give them enough time to work most of the kinks out. That might also explain why they couldn't get my front license plate removed from the order.
Now I need some advice, seems like I'm left with two not so great options. I can take delivery of this one and hope there is no significant rework on it, or tell them I want them to order me a retail one. If I order retail now, it probably wouldn't even be built until late July at the earliest. I'm definitely a little ticked by this, although I made myself a victim by not educating myself on the process soon enough to specify that a retail order be made.
Take delivery of this one, or order another one retail? That is the question.
P.S. I know, but I've also noticed mediocrity across the United States seems to be getting more and more pervasive.
Don't know what to tell you since it is your vehicle and your purchase. You have to do what is right for you. I don't believe they will have any major issues but you just never know. I'll reference the 2015s SDs.. I had a Retail order placed and one of my contacts is heavily involved with the SD. Long story short, they had thousands of turbos that were bad (2nd Gen 6.7) and had to be replaced. They had wiring issues with the main harness that runs to the back of the truck (if you didn't have rear heated seats) that was causing the backup cameras to not work randomly. They had to probe the harnesses under the truck till they found the point that was faulty cut it out and reconnect it, then taped up (you couldn't tell it was repaired). Ford had to rent space across Louisville to store all the trucks (they won't stop production) until they could go through them all 1 by 1.
The Ranger, had a lot of bed stamping issues with large gaps. The beds were outsourced and when arriving Ford was having to fix them all. They were paying OT to the Ford employees to fix the issues coming in. The line was running about 60% to full production (slow) and took over a month for the ok to buy to be given. Even once given, production was still staying at a slow speed to give people enough time to get their station done before it makes it to the next station. If this was a 2019 over a 2018, well we all know things were fine so if one wanted a Dealer Stock order, I wouldn't see issues.. but I also wouldn't see it taking more then 5 or 6 days of production to give the ok to buy.
Now this is excessive BUT things can happen and they do happen. This is the reason I say to never order Dealer Stock. Now yours could be perfectly fine and even being built on May 21st, it is highly likely you still won't receive it till end of June or later. It all depends on how quickly the Ok to Buy is given which controls the backlog of vehicles piling up in the storage lots.
People complain about things breaking (defects) on their new vehicles that have 5,000 miles.. 10,000 miles etc. They are upset about things having to be taken apart. Comments online of, "it will never be the same" etc. Squeaks, rattles.. I could go on and on. I am not trying to scare you or tell you what to do. This is just the other side of what to think about. Heck, you could wait for it to arrive and see how everything is, take it for a test drive etc. I just want a built once and hopefully right the 1st time vehicle.
Lastly, I'll say, just see how the next couple weeks play out. What happens if they give the ok to buy on the 15th.. then you know all issues have been resolved and you should be good. But then again, Retail orders will take priority after that so your date can change. The build date is NOT set in stone.