I think Ford is doing a lot right in respect to certain things in regards to technology and the power of the Internet. I have always been loyal to Ford so until the other day when a co-worker was looking to buy a car I didn't realize that some other manufacturers don't have the ability through their websites to search dealer inventory which is a huge advantage in my opinion.
However with technology what it is today I think Ford could take it a step further and marry some of the systems they already have now so that individuals that order a car would be able to log into a system and see the status of their vehicle at any given time. This would give time back to salespeople that are currently updating their customers and give more time to Tricia who has been weighed upon heavily to provided us as much as she can in respect to these updates. It would be a bummer not to be able to visit with you Tricia, but just imagine your free time.
The Limited I currently have on order is the first one I have ever had to order and have taken from the dealership inventory in the past. Currently I personally am only concerned to know when my vehicle is being built and when should I expect it. Others however would be interested in knowing when it is entering the paint section, etc and I think that is great to help pass the time between ordering and taking delivery. Provided this information is logged somewhere already it shouldn't be that hard to build a website accessible to those that have ordered so it can be seen by them also.
These forum were created to share information and ideas to assist each other and also provide feedback. I am not a computer guy in respect to programming, but if online inventory can be searched, a program can be written to see the status of a vehicle especially if it is information already being entered into a system. I don't see how making this type of user friendly website could be taxing on resources if all the information is already being collected. I see the "general public" as being the customers that keep the productions lines running with their orders and the individuals that deserve the best customer service possible. Some have been lucky to either be a big enough customer or have a good relationship with a dealership that they are kept completely up to date on their order, but I don't believe this is the norm from reading posts. A lot of the recent posts I have seen in this particular thread are about the delays in the Platinum model and not being informed on the delays. While I am not in that boat since I don't have one on order I can understand and put myself in your shoes related to the frustration of not knowing what is delaying getting the vehicles to you.
I think a lot of this could be avoided if a system was in place to see the status of the vehicle and see a message posted regarding the delay if it is something holding the production of all of this model back. I could be wrong, but I don't think the ability of us as customers being able to log in and see that our vehicles are being made on a particular day or shipped on a particular day rises to the level of a security issue which would prevent a website being made to access this data.
It would be very easy if a system was already in place to be able to query all the pending orders that are being delayed and place a message stating that they are being delayed until a posted date due to lack of seats or lack of a certain part. I understand not everyone would be happy, but at least you would know the interruption in production and be informed as much as possible on the delay.
If this was 10 years ago I would read this post and think I am crazy, but we are talking about the technology age. The time in which I kids hear something unfamiliar to them and instead of asking us as parents they fire up the computer and ask Google. I believe this type of tracking system for ordered vehicles would improve customer service points with Ford and make long time Ford customer like myself that much more loyal. I am new to this forum and maybe this is something that Ford isn't doing for good reason so please accept my apology if I am not aware of some prior posts regarding something like this. Maybe one day we will all be tracking our Ford orders in a different more efficient fashion.
