thunderbird collection

[TBirdBoy]

OK...after reading the posts and checking out Dots site I feel totally cheated! Apparentlly being on a a waiting list for a year and then having my car on order for 14 months was not long enough for my dealer to get me signed up for this program! Ok, I'm venting a little. I took delivery last month and love my car, but would like to get the collection also. Has anyone had any luck calling the directly? I would pay to get it! Happy cruising!

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Premium Black w/Red partial
VIN - 1FAHP60AX2Y113877
#4044
Delivered 3/29/02

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[DavidA]

I'm pretty sure the cutoff date for signing up was October or November.

 

[TBIRD7432]

Originally posted by DavidA:
I'm pretty sure the cutoff date for signing up was October or November.

My Dealer called the 800 number to check it out - there reply Only those who tok deliver before January 1st 2002 were eligible. I got mine January 8 2002

 

[thenewtbird2]

That tells you something about their communications even within the program. There are many on this board who ordered their cars before Dec 31 AND are receiving their collections AND have not received their cars yet - along with those that have received their cars before & after the cutoff date. Receiving the cars had nothing to do with whether one was in the program or not - it had to do with the dealer knowing that he had to order the set by the end of December, for his customers that had placed orders. The key is that you had to have ordered the car, not just bought it off the lot.

Ford knew the wait was going to be long for many of it's customers but it dropped the ball when they switched the program and then didn't figure out a way to make sure dealers/salesmen knew about the change. There were a couple of brochures that told about ordering the collection but they were either buried in another topic or never reached the parties that would have used them. There was also info on the dealer's website way back in May 2001 but you know what it's like to find info unless you know it's there. Ford wasn't the only one to drop the ball on this set - some dealers knew about the program but made the decision not to purchase. Some customers had to do some major arm twisting & jumping thru hoops to get their dealers to sign up for it. Some even went so far as to give their dealer the money to "buy" the set. What really irks me about that is the costs - this set is really nice and the price to the dealer just covers handling & shipping of each shipment.

[I'm getting warmed up]

What really gets me about the whole thing is that ALL the salesmen/managers, etc... knew about the "Manage the Wait" program but they seemed to make sure that customers were told that they didn't know anything about the "Thunderbird Collection" program. I will have to say this - There were a few out there that actually knew about it & didn't have to be coerced into signing up their customers for it. The dealership (Don Davis Ford - I know - shameless plug

I ordered from was one of those few

This forum helped alot of it's members learn about the set and how & where to get the set ordered but alas - it's too late now for those that didn't find us til now. I really feel that Ford & it's dealers let down a number of customers who had long standing orders for these cars - no communications at all from Ford during this whole period --- unless they knew about the collection. The whole idea behind the set was to ease the pain of the wait - NOT - at least not in the way it was handled.

This forum did more to help the long wait than anything - something that Ford ought to think about for it's other models that customers have to wait long periods for.

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Dot, tbird blue w/white top on order, #18/26 the New T-bird

 

[TbirdTim]

Dot,

I have been trying to directly contact dealers in my area to have them pass along information about our "Atlanta Thunderbird Group" to their current and future Thunderbird owners. I have even stopped by dealerships with pre-printed flyers in hand and lots of them act like it's of no interest to them, so I bet that most of my flyers get tossed in the trash after I leave.

I spoke with a lady at the dealership where I bought my car, she promised to send me a list of their current and future Thunderbird owners (I got approval from the sales manager there to get the list from her) and, after 3 weeks I still don't have that list!

I feel that a lot of the dealers are just there to sell as many cars as they can, for as much as they can, putting forth as little effort as possible, disregarding any people like us that have a deep interest in specific specialty cars, such as our Thunderbird's. A lot of the dealers seem to move from dealership to dealership, almost month to month, so the loyalty and respect for customers never has a chance to materialize.

I was lucky enough to have a great dealer, that helped me with the deal on my Thunderbird. He gave me several of the Thunderbird items that you see people selling on Ebay, including the Thunderbird video tape, double CD package, lots of different kinds of brochures, etc. He even signed me up for the Thunderbird Collection, just before my car arrived in early December. He was a great dealer!

I do feel that a LOT of the dealers just don't care!

 

[K6RU]

I called the 800 number this morning and was advised that only my dealer could have set up the collection (as stated previously). She also said the 800 number would go away next week.