Photo: Kevin Flynn on medium.com
Ordering a car instead of choosing one from the dealer lot can bring trouble under normal circumstances, but when we're talking about a demand-greater-than-supply machine such as the 2016 Ford Focus RS, the whole process has chances of turning into a nightmare.
Case in point with Seattle Focus RS customer Kevin Flynn, who claims he ordered his manic hatch ten months ago, but still hasn't received it. In fact, the man seems to be even more upset about the way in which the Blue Oval is reportedly handling the situation.
We'll start with the date when Kevin, who took his story to Reddit, ordered his car. The man, who says he had gotten tired of trying to make a Lamborghini fit his daily driving patterned, turned to the hot hatch solution last fall.
"The order books officially opened on October 12th of 2015 and I placed one of the very first orders for a fully loaded Nitrous Blue Focus RS. My dealer commented how, due to how fast we placed it, this could be one of the first 5 delivered on the West Coast," Kevin explains.
According to the aficionado, the first signs of trouble showed up in February this year, when the 2016 Focus RS experienced what could be described as an in-factory recall. The rumor mill described the issue as having to do with the GKN-supplied AWD system of the Focus.
We'll remind you Focus RS production kicked off at the German Saarlouis plant back in mid-January.
"The factory was shut down for 3 weeks to fix something on all the cars produced to that date, and to change the tooling to prevent whatever issue was plaguing them from happening any more. Ford never officially communicated on this, but rumors were that it had something to do with the Rear Drive Unit (RDU) on the car," he states.
This determined Kevin to try and keep even closer track of his upcoming pride and joy, but the process unsurprisingly led to a dead end: "Ford wasn’t giving anyone any information. The production process was and still is a complete mystery. As of this writing [July 19, 2016], there are people that ordered the same day as me (October 12th) whose cars have STILL NOT BEEN PRODUCED,"
The man explains a pair of Ford employees used Focus forums to let Focus RS customers know the location of their cars, which is how Kevin says he found out his machine was loaded onto the Grand Legacy ship in late April, heading for Newmark, New Jersey.
This turned into a bit of a forum game, with enthusiasts tracking the ship in real time. Heck, one of the men even "snuck onto the boat" and snapped a few pictures on the RS fleet once the sheep docked - you'll find the tracking screenshot, as well as the sneak peek in the images below, proving how crazy folks can get in this game.
The automaker eventually found out about the beans-spilling employees, which meant the info stopped. As such, Kevin's last reference point is May 6, 2016, when his RS was reportedly unloaded in Newmark.
The Focus RS buyer explains Ford told future owners to contact Ford Service on Facebook in their quest to get an approximate delivery date. One thing led to another and, after a Ford Customer Relationship Center email telling the man that would be the final written communication on the matter, Kevin became truly desperate (email screenshot provided).
From explaining his dealer's calls to Ford Corporate remain unanswered to an email he sent to Mark Fields (yep, the CEO), he did it all. Kevin is still... in the air and it seems his registration for the August 27-28 Virginia City Hillclimb was a bit optimistic.
In a less-than-surprising manner, Kevin ends his story by mentioning an STI quick delivery tale.
In our book, it's obvious that carmakers need to set up a smoother customer communication process, but we also can't help but feel Kevin's curiosity (and questionable patience) could end up killing the cat.
We'll start with the date when Kevin, who took his story to Reddit, ordered his car. The man, who says he had gotten tired of trying to make a Lamborghini fit his daily driving patterned, turned to the hot hatch solution last fall.
"The order books officially opened on October 12th of 2015 and I placed one of the very first orders for a fully loaded Nitrous Blue Focus RS. My dealer commented how, due to how fast we placed it, this could be one of the first 5 delivered on the West Coast," Kevin explains.
According to the aficionado, the first signs of trouble showed up in February this year, when the 2016 Focus RS experienced what could be described as an in-factory recall. The rumor mill described the issue as having to do with the GKN-supplied AWD system of the Focus.
We'll remind you Focus RS production kicked off at the German Saarlouis plant back in mid-January.
"The factory was shut down for 3 weeks to fix something on all the cars produced to that date, and to change the tooling to prevent whatever issue was plaguing them from happening any more. Ford never officially communicated on this, but rumors were that it had something to do with the Rear Drive Unit (RDU) on the car," he states.
This determined Kevin to try and keep even closer track of his upcoming pride and joy, but the process unsurprisingly led to a dead end: "Ford wasn’t giving anyone any information. The production process was and still is a complete mystery. As of this writing [July 19, 2016], there are people that ordered the same day as me (October 12th) whose cars have STILL NOT BEEN PRODUCED,"
The man explains a pair of Ford employees used Focus forums to let Focus RS customers know the location of their cars, which is how Kevin says he found out his machine was loaded onto the Grand Legacy ship in late April, heading for Newmark, New Jersey.
This turned into a bit of a forum game, with enthusiasts tracking the ship in real time. Heck, one of the men even "snuck onto the boat" and snapped a few pictures on the RS fleet once the sheep docked - you'll find the tracking screenshot, as well as the sneak peek in the images below, proving how crazy folks can get in this game.
The automaker eventually found out about the beans-spilling employees, which meant the info stopped. As such, Kevin's last reference point is May 6, 2016, when his RS was reportedly unloaded in Newmark.
The Focus RS buyer explains Ford told future owners to contact Ford Service on Facebook in their quest to get an approximate delivery date. One thing led to another and, after a Ford Customer Relationship Center email telling the man that would be the final written communication on the matter, Kevin became truly desperate (email screenshot provided).
From explaining his dealer's calls to Ford Corporate remain unanswered to an email he sent to Mark Fields (yep, the CEO), he did it all. Kevin is still... in the air and it seems his registration for the August 27-28 Virginia City Hillclimb was a bit optimistic.
In a less-than-surprising manner, Kevin ends his story by mentioning an STI quick delivery tale.
In our book, it's obvious that carmakers need to set up a smoother customer communication process, but we also can't help but feel Kevin's curiosity (and questionable patience) could end up killing the cat.
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