I ordered my F350 on May 26. My dealership was excellent. I had developed a good relationship with the fleet manager (Ken Zutz of Metro Ford in Port Coquitlam...near Vancouver Canada).

He sent me the order sheet and the VIN when available. Along with the VIN was the ETA data. Scheduled build june 26 and arrival July 21-26.

After the truck was built on June 28 in Kentucky, I received a new ETA...July 18-22.

Just so you understand, my dealer would send me the internal status report which shows location, status and ETA.

Then, I got a new ETA as we got closer to the july 18 date. Now it was showing July 26. I phoned the internal phone no and they said that it was due to shortage of rail cars.

Then I got a new ETA of Aug 4 to 10 with location of Kent WA as of july 30. Kent WA is the terminus of where Ford ships their vehicles to Vancouver, Canada which is only about 1 to 2 hours away on the other side of the border. They then ship them on a truck transporter up to Vancouver.

On August 11, they change the date to Aug 30 to Sept 6 and still showing the location in Kent WA.

While I was on the phone with customer service in Detroit, they changed it again to Sept 6 to 13 with location unchanged. Ford head office said they could do nothing as it is in the hands of their contractor.

I talked with my dealership and since they moved the terminus of the rail shipment from Vancouver Canada to Kent WA, they have had nothing but problems with delivery. And they have complained thru their channels but Ford does it this way to save a few cents.

As far as I can see, they can build the truck in 1 month but cannot move it across the country in under 2 1/2 months. Sounds like a lot of BS to me!

And their customer service at head office is very poor. No answers and cannot do anything.

Just wanted to tell my story. And understand ordering a truck is not something that Ford seems to get right. Don't get me wrong, the truck will be fantastic but the delivery and customer service from head office is the worst.

 

And I thought my 2.5 month wait was bad! Hang in there.

 

FWIW, I think this is an industry wide problem. I had the same problem with a Jeep order a couple of years ago... sat outside the plant for weeks.

My 2018 GMC is in its second week sitting outside the plant waiting to be shipped too. I know EXACTLY where it is because I had the dealer activate the OnStar on it so I can track the GPS location of the truck using the OnStar app.

 

I ordered my truck on 9/28/2016 and took delivery of it on 1/26/2017. The build date was 11/7/2016 and I live in California. It happens and it's was frustrating. Just and FYI you are not alone. The truck is awesome. Ford really does not give a crap because they know the trucks will sale.

 

Ford really isn't in the business of custom ordering vehicles. It has the ability and offers it through dealers, but no part of any Ford business meeting is "how are we doing on those custom orders?". Fords customer is the dealership. The whole model is, rightly, designed around keeping vehicles in stock that people can buy today. So long as dealers have "a good mix" they don't care if a specific unit gets held up for something funny on it. I offered probably 80% of my new vehicle customers the option to factory order and maybe 5-10% who purchased ordered. I made up probably 70% of the dealerships custom orders (because when one of the retail guys needed help the floor managers just sent them back to my office). I promise you that most folks don't offer as much as I did. So it's a tiny part of the market and not part of the business plan until you get into fleets.

 

I understand the concept of not their business model for the normal retail sale, but I did go to the fleet manager who would be ordering large numbers of vehicles for firms to order my vehicle. And it would have been under that regime my vehicle would have been controlled by. And you would think that they would try to keep these customers happy. I am sure that a large number of vehicles are ordered this way on the fleet side. And if they allow factory orders, then they should be more responsive to retail orders or suffer the bad PR when they provide poor customer service.

 

That's not at all how it works. I was a fleet manager myself. MOST small businesses do not order, they wait until the last possible minute and then scramble to find the closes truck to fit their need. Plus they don't qualify as a fleet in most cases. Big companies are normally better and they go though Fords Fleet system. Your order was placed as a retail order. It doesn't matter who you order it from. It's a retail order without a fleet code. Ford gives them a special fleet code which makes them a fleet order. To be a fleet you need 5 orders in a year or 15 total registered vehicles.

It would cost much more to go out of their way to expedited custom orders.

 

I'm in the same boat from Toronto. I ordered May 31st and COTUS is telling me delivery is Sept. 8th.

 

I would have to defer to you as you have much more experience than me. I just know that 2 1/2 months to deliver a truck is too long after production and 1 1/2 months to move it an hour or two to my dealer's lot is too long. And then when you get a hold of Ford they just throw up their hands and say there is nothing they can do is poor customer service. I do understand that I was not going to get my truck immediately but because I had a great dealer, I have been able to track it along the system and it does not make sense.

 

Not really what I wanted to hear. I live in Kelowna and ordered 08/08/17. Order was accepted by Ford on the 16th. Build week of Sept 10th with delivery estimate of late October. I hope it arrives no later than that as it will be coming up the same route as your truck OP.

 

There is a way to get an expedited custom order from Ford..I don't know how to get it but some on this forum had a #1 priority code and took delivery in half the time it took those of us with a priority code of #10... It took 14 weeks and 2 days to take my delivery and I live 2 hour's from the KTP.... So hang in there it'll be worth the wait. .
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You need to know people to get a Priority 1.. my vehicles are built as a 1. My superduty order was placed, built and delivered in 18 days to the dealer. One reason I fly from NH out to MI to pick up my vehicles and drive them home.

Above a 10 is above a dealers head.. they can't do it themself and unless you know the right people it won t happen without something major happening (truck got totaled during delivery etc).

 

I'll x2 what Frantz said. Retail is retail.. some go to the fleet manager because typically they are no BS guys who give you the best deal. But it does not come in faster. As Frantz said, you need a FIN (fleet identification number) to be a fleet order. Your truck goes in just like every other customer.

 

I would have to defer to you guys about priority. But I think you miss my point. It is sitting 1 to 2 hours away and it is taking them 1 1/2 months to move it to the final destination and in the meantime it is just sitting in a large lot. I could drive down and look at behind the fence. Makes the 1 month journey from Kentucky to Washington seem quick. Also, they just don't care. In business that is a poor attitude to take. My dealer says they used to ship them by rail directly to Vancouver and they changed it to save money not too long ago and now the local dealers are all having a hard time getting stock or special orders delivered.

 

If it's about getting accross the boarder... well it might be a bit out of Fords control. I know I had a Transit Connect waiting at the port in Baltimore for quite awhile. We called around to find out where it was. Turns out it was flooded and totaled out... but then it wasn't. It never saw water, we looked her over pretty darn well. Ford simply lost track of where it was while it was at port. We never really got an explanation to the several month delay. We actually had it on order for the dealership as a parts truck, so Ford at least carried forward the special rebate they had for it for us, but otherwise, we were out on a limb. It sucks even more when it's your own personal baby.