[TwoFrom93449]

We are befuddled to say the least!! Dealer is no help, says we can always cancel our order!!! Yeah, and give the truck to them!! Feeling like we are taking a beating with our hands tied behind our back. We went with the only dealer in our area that was taking orders. Now a dealer that must sell more cars, where our friend ordered, has apparently pushed our dealer down the line. What the hell is Ford thinking about!!! I am a lifetime Ford guy thinking it may be time to wise up and join Tesla!!

 

[Leaf to Lightning : )]

sorry, but we have no idea what you are talking about.... slow down, calm down, give us ALL the facts, not just the ones you think you know - usually there are a LOT more facts - FORD also does not guarantee that one customer will 'get' their order before another...

 

[freddycastaneda.10]

This is correct! Some people who ordered after others getting there trucks quicker. One reason I know is when my truck was made they didn't have all the modules so my car was left incomplete at 85% while production continues and parts arrive they start making cars at 100%complete those ship faster vs the incomplete ones they have to finish off at a lot then bring to shipping logistics.

 

[TwoFrom93449]

Friends truck is exactly the same as ours except friend has bedliner and is oxford white, ours has no bedliner (less chance for delay) and is star white metallic. Not wasting my time with dates, we were two months or more ahead of him on each step. So your choice: dealer or color?? The dealers are 30 miles apart. Algorithm Ford using is seriously flawed!! We have been in constant contact with the dealer, and even wasted time trying to get to someone other than a clerk with Ford.

 

[freddycastaneda.10]

If you car is built and is off missing things and a later build will have everything, the later build will be delivered before you if yours gets sent to a lot. Mine was 6/6 build date. I was able to connect via ford pass app 1st week of July and car didn't ship till end of Sept. Arrived Friday 9/30;at the dealer and now is under a door latch recall

 

[Voltz]

Algorithm Ford using is seriously flawed!! We have been in constant contact with the dealer, and even wasted time trying to get to someone other than a clerk with Ford.

It's not like they kept their methodology a secret.

2022 F-150 Lightning Delivery Dates Updated In Dealer...

This leaked 30-page Ford dealer playbook on preparing for the F-150 Lightning order bank opening reveals some interesting info. Like how Platinum and Lariat models will arrive Summer 2022, while the XLT is set for Fall 2022 and lastly the Pro in Fall 2023. It also lists pricing that seems...

www.lightningowners.com

 

[ChasingCoral]

Friends truck is exactly the same as ours except friend has bedliner and is oxford white, ours has no bedliner (less chance for delay) and is star white metallic. Not wasting my time with dates, we were two months or more ahead of him on each step. So your choice: dealer or color?? The dealers are 30 miles apart. Algorithm Ford using is seriously flawed!! We have been in constant contact with the dealer, and even wasted time trying to get to someone other than a clerk with Ford.

Lots of variables you didn't include. Where were the trucks on the dealers' priority lists? What states were they in? How many reservations did each dealer have? If you are looking for answers, start here:

2022 F-150 Lightning Delivery Dates Updated In Dealer...

This leaked 30-page Ford dealer playbook on preparing for the F-150 Lightning order bank opening reveals some interesting info. Like how Platinum and Lariat models will arrive Summer 2022, while the XLT is set for Fall 2022 and lastly the Pro in Fall 2023. It also lists pricing that seems...

www.lightningowners.com

Otherwise, let us know if you are just posting to bitch and moan. Both are fair reasons to post.

 

[corradoborg]

We went with the only dealer in our area that was taking orders.

Dealers didn't get to decide when/whether they were taking orders. Either you had a reservation nearly 18 months ago with Ford and were invited to order when your reservation came up in their system, or you haven't ordered at all. An unscrupulous dealer may have lied and told you they were taking orders without a reservation. But that's not how the ordering process works - at least not until Ford has worked its way through the reservation list.

Now a dealer that must sell more cars, where our friend ordered, has apparently pushed our dealer down the line.

Again, not how it works. If the dealer you selected has an allocation and you're next in the reservation list for that dealer then you get to order. If either of those conditions aren't met then you do not get to order yet. But one dealer's allocation doesn't get bumped by another dealer. The only exception is if you call Ford corporate and change dealers after you get the invitation to order but before you put the order in. And if that were the case the reservation/allocation/invitation to order would be moving with you, not changing to another dealer without you.

 

[TwoFrom93449]

We got a confirmation of our reservation on September 3, 2021. And then an invitation to order was in the Third Wave on February 3, 2022. We ordered in (California) on February 13, 2022. Our truck was configured at the dealer. Our order was confirmed on February 14, 2022. We have never been able to see anything regarding our Lightning online, only by visiting the dealer. On September 3, 2022 we got a notice that our order would not be fulfilled until 2023, and that we needed to contact our dealer to confirm the configuration of our 2023 Lightning. We did that through the dealer immediately. On October 4 we got an email that said our order had been "updated". We did not understand what this meant, and contacted the dealer who said "that's just Ford letting you know your order is in process". Maybe something was screwed up by the dealership, we have no way of knowing. Our friend ordered his truck two months after ours at a dealer thirty miles to the south of our dealer. His dealer was not taking Lightning orders when we ordered. We have been in regular contact with our dealer, not much help. We also tried calling Ford and requesting a call from someone higher than the phone in staff. We got a call back, but only the run around. How can we have any idea of what a dealer's allocation is. Our friend's dealer probably has a larger allocation, but we could not order there when we were invited to order. Again, our trucks are exactly the same except for color (ours is Star White Metallic and our friend's is Oxford White) and bed liner (our truck has no bed liner and our friend's truck has bed liner). We obviously made a mistake ordering through the only dealer in our area that was taking Lightning orders.

 

[corradoborg]

We got a confirmation of our reservation on September 3, 2021. And then an invitation to order was in the Third Wave on February 3, 2022. We ordered in (California) on February 13, 2022. Our truck was configured at the dealer. Our order was confirmed on February 14, 2022. We have never been able to see anything regarding our Lightning online, only by visiting the dealer. On September 3, 2022 we got a notice that our order would not be fulfilled until 2023, and that we needed to contact our dealer to confirm the configuration of our 2023 Lightning. We did that through the dealer immediately. On October 4 we got an email that said our order had been "updated". We did not understand what this meant, and contacted the dealer who said "that's just Ford letting you know your order is in process". Maybe something was screwed up by the dealership, we have no way of knowing. Our friend ordered his truck two months after ours at a dealer thirty miles to the south of our dealer. His dealer was not taking Lightning orders when we ordered. We have been in regular contact with our dealer, not much help. We also tried calling Ford and requesting a call from someone higher than the phone in staff. We got a call back, but only the run around. How can we have any idea of what a dealer's allocation is. Our friend's dealer probably has a larger allocation, but we could not order there when we were invited to order. Again, our trucks are exactly the same except for color (ours is Star White Metallic and our friend's is Oxford White) and bed liner (our truck has no bed liner and our friend's truck has bed liner). We obviously made a mistake ordering through the only dealer in our area that was taking Lightning orders.

There's still something wrong with the way you're describing the process. When you were invited to order, it's not that "other dealers weren't accepting orders." It's that your reservation was tied to a specific dealer, which you selected at the time you made the reservation and paid the $100 deposit (it was paid to the dealer you selected). If you wanted to change dealers, you could have. It would've required a phone call to Ford Corporate, and then the allocation that was at that point tied to your reservation would've gone with you to whichever US dealer you selected.

Unless...

Is yours a fleet order? That's the only way I know of where the ordering process would be different from the standard process.

 

[jmft08]

We got a confirmation of our reservation on September 3, 2021. And then an invitation to order was in the Third Wave on February 3, 2022. We ordered in (California) on February 13, 2022. Our truck was configured at the dealer. Our order was confirmed on February 14, 2022. We have never been able to see anything regarding our Lightning online, only by visiting the dealer. On September 3, 2022 we got a notice that our order would not be fulfilled until 2023, and that we needed to contact our dealer to confirm the configuration of our 2023 Lightning. We did that through the dealer immediately. On October 4 we got an email that said our order had been "updated". We did not understand what this meant, and contacted the dealer who said "that's just Ford letting you know your order is in process". Maybe something was screwed up by the dealership, we have no way of knowing. Our friend ordered his truck two months after ours at a dealer thirty miles to the south of our dealer. His dealer was not taking Lightning orders when we ordered. We have been in regular contact with our dealer, not much help. We also tried calling Ford and requesting a call from someone higher than the phone in staff. We got a call back, but only the run around. How can we have any idea of what a dealer's allocation is. Our friend's dealer probably has a larger allocation, but we could not order there when we were invited to order. Again, our trucks are exactly the same except for color (ours is Star White Metallic and our friend's is Oxford White) and bed liner (our truck has no bed liner and our friend's truck has bed liner). We obviously made a mistake ordering through the only dealer in our area that was taking Lightning orders.

I understand your frustration but remember there are a lot of people on here who reserved in May-Sept 2021 who haven't even had an opportunity to order...

 

[Voltz]

I understand your frustration but remember there are a lot of people on here who reserved in May-Sept 2021 who haven't even had an opportunity to order...

I've been thinking that they chose the right dealer (or got prioritized by their dealer) to be able to reserve in September 2021 and get a Wave 3 order invitation on Thursday, Feb. 3, 2022.

 

[corradoborg]

I've been thinking that they chose the right dealer (or got prioritized by their dealer) to be able to reserve in September 2021 and get a Wave 3 order invitation on Thursday, Feb. 3, 2022.

Yes, that part's fishy, too. They're complaining about someone who ordered two months after them getting their truck first - but if they really didn't order until September then they're still ahead of thousands of people who reserved more than 3 months ahead of them.

 

[TwoFrom93449]

The reservation had nothing to do with a dealer, only online thru Ford. When we were invited to order we made three calls to one dealer near us and never got a call back, inquired to Ford about another dealer near us and were told they were not participating (that dealer apparently decided to participate at a later date, because that is where our friend ordered two months later) in the rollout, then made contact with a third dealer that placed our order. We ordered a Lariat, not Pro. Not fleet. Not going to correct wrong dates, read closer. I think the allocations are based on dealer sales. Ordering with a dealer with less sales was a mistake.

 

[R.I.P.]

Ordering with a dealer with less sales was a mistake.

In trying to follow this somewhat confusing thread, the mistake may not have been the "less sales" part as much as the "ordering through the dealer" part. The process has been designed to work with an online order, through Ford. This process allows the customer near full control of the order, and then allows the customer to track the progress etc. Handing that control away to a dealer that did who-knows-what is at the root of the presented problem.

Am I assessing that correctly?

 

[ChasingCoral]

The reservation had nothing to do with a dealer, only online thru Ford. When we were invited to order we made three calls to one dealer near us and never got a call back, inquired to Ford about another dealer near us and were told they were not participating (that dealer apparently decided to participate at a later date, because that is where our friend ordered two months later) in the rollout, then made contact with a third dealer that placed our order. We ordered a Lariat, not Pro. Not fleet. Not going to correct wrong dates, read closer. I think the allocations are based on dealer sales. Ordering with a dealer with less sales was a mistake.

Go back and look at your reservation. You named a dealer at that time.

 

[Voltz]

The process has been designed to work with an online order, through Ford.

Under current franchise agreements and some state laws, Ford cannot sell the cars and trucks it manufactures directly to the public.

 

[corradoborg]

The reservation had nothing to do with a dealer, only online thru Ford.

This is not true. When you made the online reservation you were REQUIRED to select a dealer. Without a dealer selection you could not proceed to finalize the reservation. You may not remember selecting a dealer - as it was such a long time ago - but you absolutely did. Then, when you called Ford to find out which dealers were "accepting orders," they likely just told you which dealer you had reserved with. That was the dealer that was "accepting orders" because it was the dealer your reservation was already tied to. If they told you the other dealer that your friend eventually ordered through "wasn't accepting orders" what they actually meant was that wasn't the dealer your reservation was with (but your friend's reservation was).

This is all a VERY well documented process.

 

[corradoborg]

Under current franchise agreements and some state laws, Ford cannot sell the cars and trucks it manufactures directly to the public.

Correct, which is why we all had to select a dealer during the reservation process. But you could still order the truck online through Ford. That order then had to be accepted by the dealer and delivery/purchase would be handled through the dealer.

 

[TwoFrom93449]

Correct, the dealer we selected was the one we called three times. Always were told the guy in charge of the Lightning orders was busy and would call us back. After a few days of this, being concerned about the time issue, we contacted Ford. All I know is Ford said the dealer next closest to us was not participating at that time. That dealership was doing a major remodel, so we were not surprised. We went to dealer third closest dealership. We thought we were doing the right thing by going through a dealer, apparently WRONG!! None of the process has surprised us until, about three weeks after we verified our configuration for a 2023 (via the dealer), we got a notice from Ford that our order had been updated. I am suspicious that our dealer did not know to delete the bed scale feature, causing our order to stall. Eventually due to our repeated calls (one of which we were told that if we didn't like it we should cancel our order) they figured it out and fixed the problem which triggered the update message. The car salesman issue is not a good one for me from a seventy-two year lifetime of experiences. Wish we would have understood we could order on our own, we had done our homework, knew what we wanted, and didn't need help. Our concern now is being able to benefit from the tax savings.