As some of you may know, Alisa and I have spent the last few weeks shopping for a new vehicle. It sounds like fun, but it’s been … educational. I think I know more about this car than many Ford salespeople out there, though our salesperson at Ocean Park Ford has been a real star. After much research and test driving, many nights of thoughts, budgeting, planning, etc, we have made our choice:
We purchased a 2006 model to obtain further discounts on the car. Costs are everything to a growing family! This left us with very few choices for cars left in Canada (I believe there were 4 or 5 when we first started test driving the car). By the time we selected the car they had to bring it down from Courtenay – the other two are in Eastern Canada somewhere – Montreal I believe?
We were able to use an employee discount plan through McKesson to get a great deal on the truck. We also discovered that I still qualify for the Recent Graduate Program from Ford, as I graduated from my SFU degree in June 2003. And this is the meat of this post – not to gloat about our “New Shiny” as it were.
Reading the fine print of that Recent Graduate Program revealed the fact (after signing the papers) that the Escape Hybrid is explicitly excluded from this offer. Not only that, but anyone using their employee discount plan to buy a car is not eligible either. 2 strikes against us! Normally I’d turn around and say “Oh well” – OK, maybe I wouldn’t normally do that. But this time I’m actually quite shocked by Ford’s decision here – and I’m writing them a message to ask them to discuss it with me. I don’t think these stipulations align very well with the public efforts and commitments Ford is making as a company. I’ve copied the text of my letter/email here and will see what Ford can offer for reasoning.
I am in the process of purchasing a Ford Escape Hybrid and was delighted to hear that the Ford Motor Company was supporting higher education via your Graduate Recognition Program. I qualify and was really excited about being able to take advantage of the program. It is not often that you see a large company like Ford make an obvious and generous gesture like this. It reflects well on Ford as a member of the global community. So congratulations.
However, I was dismayed to learn that I am unable to use the program. The fine print on the discount states:
1 – The Escape Hybrid is the only car that does not qualify.
2 – Customers using the XPlan do not qualify.
I have some questions and concerns about these stipulations – I don’t believe they make sense in terms of Ford’s public commitment to a greener Canada nor as a company that supports Graduates as they emerge into the working world full time.
1. Escape Hybrid does not qualify.
Ford has been a pioneer in getting green technology onto Canada’s roads and that is one of the largest reasons why we are buying a car from Ford. We want to be as conscientious as possible about our use of resources today and the Escape Hybrid offers us the best of both worlds. A small truck that lets us go places with our entire family (we have a 5 month old daughter and a wonderful dog, so our old sedan simply doesn’t cut it anymore) but at the same time a truck that will help us minimize our gas and resource usage. A fabulous truck that fits our family’s needs really well. The fact that it is a Hybrid really edged it to the top of our choice list. We removed pretty much all others because they were not Hybrids based solely on the cost of running the automobile and environmental concerns. However our choice to align ourselves with Ford’s vision of a green future is now being punished because, well, I don’t know why. If Ford is trying to participate in the global economy in a positive role by pushing green technology to new automobile markets then I fail to see how not allowing recent graduates to participate in this vision makes any sense. Graduates are most likely to want to buy this kind of automobile so it seems very out of place. The environmental revolution, if it exists, exists in Universities across Canada. Recent Graduates are the ones who will be taking on the environmental pollution challenge first hand in the coming years. Why is Ford refusing to help them in these endeavours when Ford as a company has published its desire to help tackle this problem? See for example the Ford website .2. XPlan customers cannot take advantage of the offer
One of the stipulations of the offer is that the graduate has lined up official employment (in order to obtain financing or a lease). Obviously those students who can afford to purchase the automobile outright may not need the added incentive of a $1000.00 discount. I assume that Ford is trying to help the traditionally poor student when they graduate from many long years of tuition fees and costly books. So most customers will be financing or leasing, in terms of recent graduates. This stipulation is a requirement, but I am being punished for working for a company that offers access to the XPlan costs. Not all companies are able to align with Ford with this plan, but I have been able to find work with a company that Ford obviously sees as a worthwhile company. Offering the XPlan to my company’s employees means Ford wants to give us the best deal they have. I find it difficult to understand why I would be punished for securing employment with a company Ford obviously sees value in. If I were to find employment with a company that did not align itself so closely with Ford I would be eligible for further Ford discounts? This just does not make sense.I would like to hear back from Ford as to their view on these issues I’ve raised. I’ve posted this message to my web page as well, as I think my friends and relatives may find these topics interesting.
Webpage post: http://thebside.ca/?p=169
Sincerely,
Kirk Bridger
I look forwad to hearing back from someone at Ford about this – I think it will be interesting.
P.S. The only colour available was silver, and a picture is coming soon. It is, after all, a “New Shiny”
P.P.S. Anyone who knows someone interested in buying our 626 Cronos, check out our listing on craiglist.