Should Ford Australia have a forum area?

[sbcb]

With all the queries/complaints and on occasion compliments from members I think a vote would be in order. FORD PR has made some very small contributions to the forums at times but refrain based on the opinion that its our forums and they shouldn't be to involved.
I think quite the opposite.

What does our substantial membership base think? FoMoCo feedback thread or leave us to be?

[pottery beige]

lick my left one FoA i will never buy another car off you as long as my *** points to the ground... the after sales, warranty and crc issues leave long lasting bitter effect... so jam any future sales to me up your ***.... there was that what you were after.....

[Luke Plaizier]

Hmm. Uncertain. There's a lot in the world of feedback and information that would indeed be useful. And their desire to jump into the high tech world with twitter and facebook seems apparent.

But look a Drivel. Are the blogs actually useful and informative - or just an outlet for haters and agenda-driven soapbox standers?

If it were to work, it would have to be heavily moderated. But it's likely to turn into just another marketting resource. What sorts of things would you hope to see that you don't get here?

I needed a maybe option. Chose not to vote.


Lukeyson

[AMGC63]

Originally Posted by Luke Plaizier

But look at the Drivel. Are the blogs actually useful and informative - or just an outlet for haters and agenda-driven soapbox standers?

There is your answer. Without qualifying who is providing the feedback its pointless.

For all they know most of the feedback could be coming from a bunch of school kids, people who could never afford or have never owned a new Ford or holden fanboi's..

Actually that pretty much sums this place up! LOL

[Russ]

Originally Posted by pottery beige

lick my left one FoA i will never buy another car off you as long as my *** points to the ground... the after sales, warranty and crc issues leave long lasting bitter effect... so jam any future sales to me up your ***.... there was that what you were after.....

I'm sure those type of comments will encourage them to participate in regular forum discussions

[LTDHO]

Uncle Geoff used to be active on the forums back in the day.

[Perko]

In a perfect world it would be great, but all of the comments above prove that it wouldn't work. Both sides would be left with a bitter taste. Nice thought though.

[Polyal]

Originally Posted by LTDHO

Uncle Geoff used to be active on the forums back in the day.

Memories........

[kocho]

No way in the world. How much of it would be positive? Usually people discuss things when they aren't going well or something is going wrong (eg the news).

[sbcb]

I think a direct feedback option would also help the BS soapbox complaints.
The goal would be clarity and fairness.

[wrongwaynorris]

Originally Posted by pottery beige

lick my left one FoA i will never buy another car off you as long as my *** points to the ground... the after sales, warranty and crc issues leave long lasting bitter effect... so jam any future sales to me up your ***.... there was that what you were after.....

the very reason Ford will never do it .

[DanielXR8]

One way to add validatity to any comments, would be for an (optional) data form where you voluntarilty put your Ford Aust purchase history, which would be viewable by the Ford PR people. Then any Ford PR hack can lookup your details and see whether you are or were a new car customer or not. Not saying you can't have a valid point, without owning the car in question, but if you are complaining about rust in a Terri for example, it might hold some more weight if its obvious you own one or did own one. For second hand buyers they could perhaps track you if you had a service or warranty claim with Ford.

Even if Ford don't want two way communication, they should be on here and talking about how they are addressing common issues with their products and also letting us know what is coming down the line, if they want to.

Lets face it, if they had taken early feedback from this forum and acted on it a lot of the negative press they have accumulated, wouldn't have happened in the first place, as they would have addressed the issues before they became an issue for to many people and caught the mainstream presses attention.

I cant think of a common Falcon or Territory problem that hasn't been raised here first and very early in the piece. If they had pro-actively acted on those postings and investigated and acted on the problems reported, it would unquestionably have saved them a lot of grief, turned a lot of people on here into the best salesman for the brand and helped their after sales reputation enormously. Ignoring the forums and the general public until they loose the sales and the customer, hasn't exactly been working for them.

This forum is the most valuable customer feedback tool they could possibly hope to have. Warts and all.

Dan

[mytgxl]

Hahahahaha Ford aust listen to the people that buy there product that would be a first!

[Smoke Pursuit]

Lol....

[Falcon_Crazy]

FoA already monitor the website. They should be encouraged to come online - Social Media is well accepted at my work Optus. A lot of people certainly carry on like pork chops on here and woulod probably do the same to FoA - cant stop that.

Feedback from all sources is invaulable but so to is RESPECT. it goes both ways.

I support it

[Revolver]

No way. It would just turn into a slag fest, (which we see on here all the time - Au bashing, comparing GTHO to the new GT's, it goes on & on) & as a result will have to be highly moderated, & then FoA Forum Members will whine <insert high-pitched nasally voice> "its over-moderated".

Not to mention NO company will ever allow negative opinions on their products out in the open for the world to see. Thats why (& you could call this a conspiracy if you like, but its SOP for all companies) any negative comments get played-down/brushed aside/kept hush-hush then, you hammer your recent achievements & accolades & future positive plans.

I cant see how FoA would allow such a thing to happen. It'd be bad for business. or should I say worse.....

[MRFGXR6]

I believe that if they had a genuine concern for the owners then yes Ford should have its own Forum, get rid of the unnecessary debates (world news, whos doing who and whos not paying blah blah) and concentrate purely on the owners their cars and future releases. And actually take not only of the positive on-board but more importantly the negative feed back and concerns.
The only way Ford can possibly make a better product is hear the owners concerns, take in the problems and sort them out. Not have some over educated lab rat speculate future issues.
This I some what believe is a highly unlikely thought thou.
I to have experienced issues with the dealer I purchased my car from ( your not alone pottery beige) and even now refuse to take my car back, so hence the 112 km trip to a much better alternative dealer (yes they are out their). The biggest issue I had with the previous dealer was the after sales service. To salesman bent over backwards for the sale, sham the service dept didn't carry the same enthusiasm.

Keith

[IDT]

I see no reason not to. Even if it meant just testing the water with an advertising, technical and advise thread only. It should obviously be moderated but I would think that can easily be done. Those that take it too far cop the same disciplinary action as if they put some obscene rant on any subject.

[sbcb]

Some pretty reasonable replies here. I have a sister inlaw who married an engineer in the UK. He's pretty bright, the company he works for is contracted to CAT to do engine development. He is the type of guy who is given a team and an engine and told to go away to make it 10% more efficient sort of thing. He had an interesting theory on different manufactures vehicle reliability, he didn't think Toyota was more reliable than say Ford but Toyota was very good at the customer was always right approach. Problems got sorted quickly with a minimum of fuss. It sort of rings true when you google nearly any type of cars with known problems. They all have issues, and all have lemon models, but how they are dealt with is where customers are won.
This forum would be a great way promote problem solving, and myth busting.

[Papa Smurf]

Why bother? The only thing would happen is that there would be a concentrated level of written abuse and angst, not worth it for that sort of thing, Ford has the Media for that.

[Bossxr8]

It would be non stop whinging, and non stop why don't Ford do this blah blah blah.

[Auslandau]

The amount of .......

"Now that you have the best engine ever produced ..... I know I said I would buy one when this happened but it hasn't got heated seats, my shifts at Macca's has been scaled down and mum said I cant get one anyway ...... well not until I get my license ..... but my friends cousin ...... his neighbor said he sat in a Clubsport and it was very cool. Can you make one like that and I will buy one?"

.......... would drive them mad!

[DJR-351]

https://www.secure.ford.com.au/servl...YPage&site=FOA

...then wait for a reply.....

A Forum here would be a "Lock Fest"......

[XRGhia]

Nup... If they wanna speak, they can do what the rest of us have to do and create our own thread which would be locked within 3 hours due to slagging off etc...


.

Originally Posted by Auslandau

"Now that you have the best engine ever produced ..... I know I said I would buy one when this happened but it hasn't got heated seats, my shifts at Macca's has been scaled down and mum said I cant get one anyway ...... well not until I get my license ..... but my friends cousin ...... his neighbor said he sat in a Clubsport and it was very cool. Can you make one like that and I will buy one?"

Hahahah!!... Bloody Gold, plus I couldn't understand it for a few minutes...

[MethodX]

When i used to work in automotive market research Ford took the surveys quite seriously.
The dudes from Ford would come out and inspect the data.
Initial quality, then 1 year, then 3 I think it was.

[G6E Turbo 2]

Originally Posted by pottery beige

lick my left one FoA i will never buy another car off you as long as my *** points to the ground... the after sales, warranty and crc issues leave long lasting bitter effect... so jam any future sales to me up your ***.... there was that what you were after.....

I wish people would say what they really think

I love this, could not have said it better myself, well
not without much more use of certain adjectives

[DJM83]

Originally Posted by Polyal

Memories........

Agreed, it aint the same

[GasoLane]

Are you nuts ?

Nobody would get a word in, due to Ford owners named Nick threatening to report Ford to Fair Trading, A Current Affair and the Tooth Fairy about his warped brakes, bad gearbox, fuel consumption, bugs on the windscreen and no smelly Christmas tree on the mirror as a factory standard !!

[DanielXR8]

Originally Posted by Bossxr8

It would be non stop whinging, and non stop why don't Ford do this blah blah blah.

I think a lot of that is Fords consistently ignoring its customers and its own weaknesses as a company, year after year.

It could be turned around and yes it would require coping a hiding on here for a year or two, but I really think a lot of the extreme emotions on here is born of frustration at a company that just doesn't care enough about its customers.

When Ford starts giving a dam, they could change a lot of those attitudes in my opinion.

Of course that means some fundamental changes at Ford and that's more of an issue, as they have never changed, despite overwhelming evidence that what they are doing is failing. Lost customers, sales, lousy dealer network, woeful warranty support, on going bad press, they just keep repeating the old formulas like there isn't a better way.

Handy for the competition as at least Ford Australia is entirely predictable as a competitor.

Talking on these forums would certainly be a game changer for Ford.

[Bossxr8]

Originally Posted by DanielXR8

I think a lot of that is Fords consistently ignoring its customers and its own weaknesses as a company, year after year.

It could be turned around and yes it would require coping a hiding on here for a year or two, but I really think a lot of the extreme emotions on here is born of frustration at a company that just doesn't care enough about its customers.

When Ford starts giving a dam, they could change a lot of those attitudes in my opinion.

Of course that means some fundamental changes at Ford and that's more of an issue, as they have never changed, despite overwhelming evidence that what they are doing is failing. Lost customers, sales, lousy dealer network, woeful warranty support, on going bad press, they just keep repeating the old formulas like there isn't a better way.

Handy for the competition as at least Ford Australia is entirely predictable as a competitor.

Talking on these forums would certainly be a game changer for Ford.

But people think Ford have an endless pot of money that they can do everything any potential customer could want, but the reality is far different.