[Blow Horn Ok]

These are minor hiccups before delivery. I'd say if you like the car go for it. Delay of 10-15 days should not matter much if you consider the time for which you will keep the car. And once you get it, you'll forget dealer delays and lack of communication.

I would suggest to write a mail to ford now itself. This will bring clarity to the situation.

[nmenon]

Originally Posted by Blow Horn Ok

These are minor hiccups before delivery. I'd say if you like the car go for it. Delay of 10-15 days should not matter much if you consider the time for which you will keep the car. And once you get it, you'll forget dealer delays and lack of communication.

I would suggest to write a mail to ford now itself. This will bring clarity to the situation.

Thank you for the suggestion.

I will write a mail to Ford with the VIN number to check with them regarding the dispatch and probable timelines.

I also considered the same case that waiting for a few days is nothing compared to the long term use of the car.

But how long do you wait?

[samaspire]

Originally Posted by nmenon

I called them today as they had said that the car should arrive by the 7th of June.

Is the date correct? The car should arrive yesterday?

Whatever it is, the fact that you have got the VIN means that it has been billed from the factory and ready for dispatch, which will happen as soon as the vehicle is full. In my case, the truck reached Mangalore 10 days after departure, so for Cochin, you can add about 3-4 days. Wait till then.

[nmenon]

Originally Posted by samaspire

Is the date correct? The car should arrive yesterday?

Whatever it is, the fact that you have got the VIN means that it has been billed from the factory and ready for dispatch, which will happen as soon as the vehicle is full. In my case, the truck reached Mangalore 10 days after departure, so for Cochin, you can add about 3-4 days. Wait till then.

They had initially told me that the car would reach by 7th.

Yesterday when I contacted them, they came up with the story of GST issues and said it hasn't been dispatched yet.

They will be sending me the VIN number today. I'm ready to give them another 14 days.

Beyond that my patience will begin to wear thin. The problem being that the family were all adamant that we should prefer Maruti/Honda/Tata and I pushed for the Ford on the basis that it comes safety features more than the other superficial stuff. Now they're questioning my decision

[phynix123]

Originally Posted by nmenon

The fun with the dealership has begun .

I called them today as they had said that the car should arrive by the 7th of June.

They said that there is a delay and the car hasn't been dispatched from Gujarat due to some "GST Issues". But they said they have a chassis/vin number.

I told them to provide me that and also asked them how they claimed that the car would reach by 7th when it hadn't been dispatched.

Thankfully I didn't make the payment they had requested earlier so currently only the booking amount of 10k is with them.

I plan to give them another 10 days or else I'll probably write to Ford and ponder whether to cancel my booking.

I know the car is good but their absolute lack of communication has my family asking me why I chose Ford instead of say Maruti or Honda or Tata even.

Choosing a vehicle that offers safety features over the trinkets shouldn't mean that you end up having to wait interminably for a mythical unicorn

The dealers and service centers can make or break a automobile company !!! Chevrolet was not a bad car manufacturer either. Their dealers/service centers killed the company. I hope ford is listening.

[hardoop]

Originally Posted by nmenon

The fun with the dealership has begun

They said that there is a delay and the car hasn't been dispatched from Gujarat due to some "GST Issues".

Sorry to hear that. Is there a positive update now from the dealer ? Hope they can solve this soon and make you smile again.

A couple of weeks ago I was thinking of a switch to Malayalam Ford Kochi from Kairali Ford Tvm when the latter told me they do not have a car that was billed to Trivandum. Later all formalities were done through Trivandum showroom, payments done online and I am getting delivery from Kairali Kottayam on Monday.

[Kishen.padiyar]

When we talk about dealerships; practically, there are lot of issues that can arise given how the supply chain works. From the placing of order by the dealerships to the allocation (whether or not the chosen variant and color is available in stock or the next batch), the logistics part(the truck that was supposed to arrive broke down or the driver did not turn up at all), the financial part (credit rating of the particular dealership: a dealer with a better rating my get preference or more cars per batch) and so on. If anything goes wrong in any of the above, the SAs are the ones who suffer the most. Poor chaps don't have a say at all in most cases and then comes the fear of losing a customer (for the incentives, largely) so they end up telling a lie. While one needs to be vigilant of any attempt by the dealership to take someone for a ride; I feel we should give them reasonable time to sort out the issues and deliver the car. Few posts back a fellow BHPian rightly mentioned as to how much a week or so compares to the time frame we own the car.

Walking away from a dealership for a good reason(s) is fair but ditching the product itself is not.

[Nav-i-gator]

Originally Posted by Kishen.padiyar

When we talk about dealerships; practically, there are lot of issues that can arise given how the supply chain works. From the placing of order by the dealerships to the allocation (whether or not the chosen variant and color is available in stock or the next batch), the logistics part(the truck that was supposed to arrive broke down or the driver did not turn up at all), the financial part (credit rating of the particular dealership: a dealer with a better rating my get preference or more cars per batch) and so on. If anything goes wrong in any of the above, the SAs are the ones who suffer the most. Poor chaps don't have a say at all in most cases and then comes the fear of losing a customer (for the incentives, largely) so they end up telling a lie. While one needs to be vigilant of any attempt by the dealership to take someone for a ride; I feel we should give them reasonable time to sort out the issues and deliver the car. Few posts back a fellow BHPian rightly mentioned as to how much a week or so compares to the time frame we own the car.

Walking away from a dealership for a good reason(s) is fair but ditching the product itself is not.

I guess everyone is willing to give 5-10 more days to the dealership, provided they are transparent and keep the communication flowing about the actual reasons of delays. Frustration, and trust issues, start building when the customer, who has earlier been contacted twice a day by the sales rep before making a booking, stop getting any communication or information about possible delays.

I 100% agree on the last line though.

[nmenon]

Well they sent me the VIN number as promised, however that shows up as a Smoke Grey diesel Freestyle (KA+) as per Ford Etis.

I am now really not happy with them. Still I'll give them 10 days at the most to sort this out else, it is a cancellation and no more Ford for me.

I can't afford to keep waiting for the car since I don't have another car currently.

[PrideRed]

Originally Posted by nmenon

Well they sent me the VIN number as promised, however that shows up as a Smoke Grey diesel Freestyle (KA+) as per Ford Etis.

I am now really not happy with them. Still I'll give them 10 days at the most to sort this out else, it is a cancellation and no more Ford for me.

I can't afford to keep waiting for the car since I don't have another car currently.

Unless the wait period goes beyond a month, it makes sense to wait for the current car. You shift to any other brand, it will take you atleast a week before you get your hands on the car. This is best case scenario provided the car you require is in stockyard.

[nmenon]

Originally Posted by PrideRed

Unless the wait period goes beyond a month, it makes sense to wait for the current car. You shift to any other brand, it will take you atleast a week before you get your hands on the car. This is best case scenario provided the car you require is in stockyard.

Thank you sir for the suggestion.

The problem is that as of now the Freestyle has not even been dispatched from the factory and the dealership claims a minimum of 10 to 15 days for it to arrive here after dispatch.

They initially told me the vehicle has been dispatched and that delivery to me will be around 10th June. I casually called them on 8th to enquire since they'd mentioned that it would reach them by the 7th.

That is when they informed me that it hasn't been dispatched due to "GST issues" from Gujarat.

They promised to provide me a VIN number of the vehicle alloted to me by Monday, which they did.
On checking the VIN via Ford Etis I found that the mentioned VIN is that of a Diesel Freestyle and not petrol that I had booked.

That is the source of all frustrations. If that VIN was valid I wouldn't be half as unhappy.
Further when I called them they said that they will check and get back to me and tried to imply that I'd made a mistake in checking further to which I sent them a screenshot of the Ford Etis page.

[itsashishsharma]

Originally Posted by nmenon

Choosing a vehicle that offers safety features over the trinkets shouldn't mean that you end up having to wait interminably for a mythical unicorn

IMO you are overthinking. Excitement of getting a new car is the culprit, nothing wrong with it. The kind of waiting periods Swift and Ecosport used to have, yours is nothing compared to that. Because you didn't get timely updates, or because the dealer wasn't the best in the city, these are unimportant details. The day you get delivery of the car of your choice, it will all be worth.
All the best for yet another Freestyle on the forum. Happy motoring.

[hardoop]

Originally Posted by nmenon

That is the source of all frustrations. If that VIN was valid I wouldn't be half as unhappy.
Further when I called them they said that they will check and get back to me and tried to imply that I'd made a mistake in checking further to which I sent them a screenshot of the Ford Etis page.

I totally understand your frustration sir.
Did you check with Kairali Ford or even some other dealer in a different city in Kerala ? I am sure there will be some dealer within the state having a petrol freestyle in their stockyards. I say this because the SA who attended my car's delivery at Kottayam Kairali Ford told me that the production is beefed up for freestyle and there is enough supply.
If you're lucky to find one then the only hardship will be giving a visit or two to that distant dealership for PDI and delivery.

I would suggest you to try that route if you have not already before abandoning the brand itself.

[thoma]

Originally Posted by hardoop

Did you check with Kairali Ford or even some other dealer in a different city in Kerala ? I am sure there will be some dealer within the state having a petrol freestyle in their stockyards. I say this because the SA who attended my car's delivery at Kottayam Kairali Ford told me that the production is beefed up for freestyle and there is enough supply.

Your's was supposed to be delivered on Monday, right? Are you in possession of your Freestyle? Did you drive down from Kottayam? Do put up a review if possible.

Originally Posted by nmenon

They promised to provide me a VIN number of the vehicle alloted to me by Monday, which they did.
On checking the VIN via Ford Etis I found that the mentioned VIN is that of a Diesel Freestyle and not petrol that I had booked.

Do you need the contact number of the SA at Kottayam, just to enquire about stock of your requirement?

[nmenon]

Thank you for your support @thoma and @hadoop.

I have currently contacted Ford customer care since the dealership had initially pestered me to may an additional down payment, which I was not inclined to pay and suspect that the may have given the initial unit they received to another customer who was ready to pay without seeing the car.

They offered me White or White Gold Titanium Plus which they have in their yard however I have seen both these cars earlier and the white gold one has run roughly 1500 KM apparently as a Display / Petrol test drive vehicle. So I'm not interested in those either.

Ford customer care has promised to work with the dealership and have the car ready in a week's time.

I told them I need the car by 24th June or I would be regretfully forced to cancel the booking.

I did contact Kairali Ford but they also don't have Smoke Grey or Black in stock according to the SA and it may be the mid of July before they can get me a Petrol Titanium Plus. Since they claim there is very high demand for it.

So I'll wait till the 1 week is up (next Tuesday) and see how it goes.

I personally don't find any of my other options as appealing since the only two options falling in My Budget are the WRV S MT variant and the Nexon XM.

I had to give up on the SCross which was my first preference as we just couldn't work out the budget and the fact that I don't want to get a diesel car now since my running doesn't justify it and besides that 1.3 MJD is probably a bit too long in the tooth.