Difficult Test drive experience

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RCProAM

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Sorry to hear about the bad experience at Mall of GA. Don't know which direction that "40 miles away" is - but Gwinnett Place ford has a Red premium loaner, and Hennessey Ford in Chamblee has a White Select and White Premium loaner. Options if those are not too far from you.
Thanks @photocyclist ! I'll add them to my list of alternates to transfer the order to tomorrow
 

Mgayle83

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I have one scheduled through my dealer tomorrow. Right now, I'm just disappointed that he is saying I will only have an hour with the car.

A couple of weeks ago, I scheduled a test drive through another dealer because they just happened to have a car first. I arrived on time only to find out someone else was test driving the car. I waited for 30 minutes, but then decided that was long enough and ended up leaving. The dealer had the exact model I wanted in their showroom. They weren't allowing test drives of that one and asking $5k over MSRP. I tried to negotiate them down to MSRP. If they would have done that< i would have bought it on the spot. When I told him I just wouldn't go any higher than MSRP because I have one coming soon, he got mad and asked why I wasted his time.

I just think some salesman are good at their jobs and some aren't. And if the demand in your area is high for the Mach-E, the bad ones can just move on to the next buyer without worry. Someone will ignore their rudeness or pay what they are asking.
Shame your car is so close to arriving, it would be nice to just transfer dealers to one that knows how to treat customers.
 

Dmhccs

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Ok so I’ll share my experience, I just left a few minutes ago.

I live about 40 miles from the dealership I ended up selecting due to them promising to not do any ridiculous ADM charge ups.

I contact the dealership Friday and confirm that I have a reservation and would like to come in to test drive since my vehicle is scheduled to be built in a few days. The sales rep is friendly,asks me what time I’d like to come in, we set a time, I receive a text confirming.

Today, I arrive on time for my appointment, and the receptionist sends someone over to take my ID. I wait a few minutes after handing over my ID and the rep returns and tells me I won’t be able to do a test drive “because they don’t have any cars available/ the person I spoke to must have been misinformed “. I explain that’s odd, since they confirmed before setting the appointment and clarify I drove 40 MILES today explicitly for this test drive. I remind him I’ve already reserved a car. He apologizes, a bit nonchalant/passively. I grit my teeth and leave.

As I’m heading to my car guess what I see...a couple pulling out in a grey mach-e. I decide to wait and see if they return because “maybe they just purchased theirs and are happily driving theirs home”. While I wait I call another dealership to see if they have any available to test drive and they confirm they do. As I’m getting ready to leave for the other dealership I notice the couple has returned. I stop for a second to chat them up — low and behold they just wrapped up a test drive! We exchange a few pleasantries about our mutual enthusiasm about the car and I head back into the dealership.

A salesman asks as I enter if he can help me with anything l, and I let him know that I’d love to test drive the mach-e out front if there aren’t any other folks on the waiting list. He says sure, comes back with another gentleman who confirms I’m on the list. I chat with this gentleman for a bit, but get the sense he’s sizing me up a bit...which seems odd since I’ve again mentioned in passing I already reserved my model, I’m just interested in test driving before it’s actually delivered. I entertain him a bit, sure why not talk the shape of the EV industry and show just how obsessively I’ve been researching EVs for years.

A few minutes later another guy comes up and gives a whole “I’m sorry no one is available today to assist you with a test drive today” but that I’m welcome to take a look inside. I decline, noting I’m pretty familiar with the interior after poring over photos, reviews and videos for months and made the trip to get a feel for how the car drives and promptly leave. By this point this whole charade has went on almost an hour past when the scheduled test drive. I calmly left, reiterating it’s really bad customer service to deny someone who’s already paid the ability to test drive when you’ve confirmed it (I didn’t even mention letting other people test drive with little to no explanation)

I’d like to not assume anything but for reference the couple who I literally saw leave and return for a test drive during my reserved time was White. I’m a Black man, who honestly is glad my wife wasn’t with me because the entire experience was enraging/humiliating and she likely would have discouraged me from even bothering with Ford at all...and honestly depending on if I can change my reservation to another dealership or have a satisfactory explanation — may just decide to get something else altogether.

The only scenarios I can assume are:
a) these were some weird racist discriminatory assholes
b) they’re trying to block reservation holders from driving Mach-E’s fearing they’ll cancel (which seems unlikely since they won’t have a problem marking up and selling for even more)
I’m so sorry you had to deal with this at the dealership. It Wouldn’t be a bad thing to pursue this with Ford. I imagine they take this very seriously. I always dread the dealership experience. My husband made an appointment for us to test drive the car when our local dealership received it Since he knew how excited i was about it. I was surprised at the amount of misinformation I was given that I was able to verify on this very forum.
 

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@RCProAM, the situation you described is ridiculous and inexcusable, for what ever the reasoning was by those on the sales floor. Please let us know how things turn out when contacting dealer owner/GM as well as Ford corporate. If owner/GM recognizes and validates your concerns, you should at least be offered X-plan pricing on your order (if you are not already getting it) along with an apology and potential "walking orders" for the offending parties. If owner/GM does not do the right thing, then serious discussions with Ford are in order, with which they should be able to process a dealer transfer as long as your vehicle has not yet shipped.
 


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There is no excuse for them doing what they did to you. I do hope you follow through with the GM and Ford management. I can not imagine driving 40 miles only to be treated that way. There would be repercussions. I am not a shy thing when I feel I have been mistreated.
I hope you get some positive feedback once you send this up the management chain.
 

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Eff Ford. Eff the GM.

I’d be weaponizing Twitter and Facebook right now. The dealer would be opening up tomorrow morning with reporters at the doors.
 
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Jimrpa

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Ok, I wasn't going to bring this up, because I thought it was just a weird one-off but I hard a strange experience yesterday. Mustang Mach E's are rarer in Chester County than COVID 19 vaccines. There's one dealer known to have an FCTP vehicle (Fred Bean Ford of West Chester). I stopped by on Saturday afternoon, without making contact in advanced, walked in, chatted with a sales guy and said I was interested in a test drive of their FCTP Mustang Mach E if that would be possible. He said sure, no problem, ducked into an office for a moment, came out, and asked for my license and insurance card. It took me a second to pull my insurance card up on their app (the app updated so I had to reauthenticate and get a new code texted to me). He begins filling out the form with my insurance and license info, then his phone rings. He talks to someone for a few minutes, then ends the call. He then says to me that he's so sorry, but I won't be able to drive the car because it's not available. They had just lent it to one of their "corporate customers until Tuesday because the customer is thinking of purchasing several Mustang Mach Es". But he would be happy to take my number and give me a call on Wednesday when the car is back. So, I gave him my number. Let's see if I ever hear from them again :rolleyes:
 

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I may have been involved in this story. During my purchase process my salesman told me about a customer who drove over an hour to test drive a MME. My MME was the only one on the property. The situation occurred because a salesperson not knowing that the MME was already spoken for, told the customer on the phone "Sure we have one, come on down". So in my instance there was no nefarious behavior on the part of the dealership, it was simply a salesperson that was not up to speed on the inventory. The customer was understandably upset over the wasted trip but I can assure you; in my case; it was just crossed wires and lack of knowledge on the part of a salesperson. @RCProAM feel free to PM me and we can check out our stories.

SimS
 

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I may have been involved in this story. During my purchase process my salesman told me about a customer who drove over an hour to test drive a MME. My MME was the only one on the property. The situation occurred because a salesperson not knowing that the MME was already spoken for, told the customer on the phone "Sure we have one, come on down". So in my instance there was no nefarious behavior on the part of the dealership, it was simply a salesperson that was not up to speed on the inventory. The customer was understandably upset over the wasted trip but I can assure you; in my case; it was just crossed wires and lack of knowledge on the part of a salesperson. @RCProAM feel free to PM me and we can check out our stories.

SimS
We drove all the way down from Blairsville to test drive that car at that dealership. Hope it wasn't us that caused the problem..........It was almost 1 1/2 hours for us to drive down to test drive.
 

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Sooner the Ford moves to full online ordering the better..... cut out the horrible experiences with dealers ! This type of treatment should never happen. I think they would let you test drive it if you didn't mention your reservation, but it is still inexcusable!
This type of behaviour might cost Ford than what they think. I bought a Tesla last year and I can tell you that the online buying experience form test drive to setting up the pickup appointment was awesome. Sorry it happened to you ! Plaster your story all over the internet with the name of the dealership in bold letters. Trust me it makes an impact ! They should call you back with an apology !
I don't know about the laws in Canada, but in most U.S states the dealer lobbies have gotten state legislatures to pass laws that are very protective of their business model and that bar OEMs from direct sales to consumers.

Funny how franchised dealers scream about their business model being superior, yet they fear competition from other business models.
 

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Any other reservation holders having difficulty being able to test drive Mach-E’s when going to your dealership? I had a very off-putting experience today...
Sorry to hear about your experience. In my case I was called by the dealer as soon as they had one to drive. I had a good test drive and actually enjoyed talking to the salesman as I put her through her paces. He let me do whatever I wanted. Wish my GT were here!
 

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Ok so I’ll share my experience, I just left a few minutes ago.

I live about 40 miles from the dealership I ended up selecting due to them promising to not do any ridiculous ADM charge ups.

I contact the dealership Friday and confirm that I have a reservation and would like to come in to test drive since my vehicle is scheduled to be built in a few days. The sales rep is friendly,asks me what time I’d like to come in, we set a time, I receive a text confirming.

Today, I arrive on time for my appointment, and the receptionist sends someone over to take my ID. I wait a few minutes after handing over my ID and the rep returns and tells me I won’t be able to do a test drive “because they don’t have any cars available/ the person I spoke to must have been misinformed “. I explain that’s odd, since they confirmed before setting the appointment and clarify I drove 40 MILES today explicitly for this test drive. I remind him I’ve already reserved a car. He apologizes, a bit nonchalant/passively. I grit my teeth and leave.

As I’m heading to my car guess what I see...a couple pulling out in a grey mach-e. I decide to wait and see if they return because “maybe they just purchased theirs and are happily driving theirs home”. While I wait I call another dealership to see if they have any available to test drive and they confirm they do. As I’m getting ready to leave for the other dealership I notice the couple has returned. I stop for a second to chat them up — low and behold they just wrapped up a test drive! We exchange a few pleasantries about our mutual enthusiasm about the car and I head back into the dealership.

A salesman asks as I enter if he can help me with anything l, and I let him know that I’d love to test drive the mach-e out front if there aren’t any other folks on the waiting list. He says sure, comes back with another gentleman who confirms I’m on the list. I chat with this gentleman for a bit, but get the sense he’s sizing me up a bit...which seems odd since I’ve again mentioned in passing I already reserved my model, I’m just interested in test driving before it’s actually delivered. I entertain him a bit, sure why not talk the shape of the EV industry and show just how obsessively I’ve been researching EVs for years.

A few minutes later another guy comes up and gives a whole “I’m sorry no one is available today to assist you with a test drive today” but that I’m welcome to take a look inside. I decline, noting I’m pretty familiar with the interior after poring over photos, reviews and videos for months and made the trip to get a feel for how the car drives and promptly leave. By this point this whole charade has went on almost an hour past when the scheduled test drive. I calmly left, reiterating it’s really bad customer service to deny someone who’s already paid the ability to test drive when you’ve confirmed it (I didn’t even mention letting other people test drive with little to no explanation)

I’d like to not assume anything but for reference the couple who I literally saw leave and return for a test drive during my reserved time was White. I’m a Black man, who honestly is glad my wife wasn’t with me because the entire experience was enraging/humiliating and she likely would have discouraged me from even bothering with Ford at all...and honestly depending on if I can change my reservation to another dealership or have a satisfactory explanation — may just decide to get something else altogether.

The only scenarios I can assume are:
a) these were some weird racist discriminatory assholes
b) they’re trying to block reservation holders from driving Mach-E’s fearing they’ll cancel (which seems unlikely since they won’t have a problem marking up and selling for even more)

WTF!!!!
Thanks for sharing this story. That definitely smells of something discriminatory.
 
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RCProAM

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I may have been involved in this story. During my purchase process my salesman told me about a customer who drove over an hour to test drive a MME. My MME was the only one on the property. The situation occurred because a salesperson not knowing that the MME was already spoken for, told the customer on the phone "Sure we have one, come on down". So in my instance there was no nefarious behavior on the part of the dealership, it was simply a salesperson that was not up to speed on the inventory. The customer was understandably upset over the wasted trip but I can assure you; in my case; it was just crossed wires and lack of knowledge on the part of a salesperson. @RCProAM feel free to PM me and we can check out our stories.

SimS
Thanks for sharing this @SimS, and confirming this wasn't the same incident. The GM reached out after I emailed them this morning. They have been helpful and are working to rectify the situation. For now, I’ll leave it at that.
 

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Ok, I wasn't going to bring this up, because I thought it was just a weird one-off but I hard a strange experience yesterday. Mustang Mach E's are rarer in Chester County than COVID 19 vaccines. There's one dealer known to have an FCTP vehicle (Fred Bean Ford of West Chester). I stopped by on Saturday afternoon, without making contact in advanced, walked in, chatted with a sales guy and said I was interested in a test drive of their FCTP Mustang Mach E if that would be possible. He said sure, no problem, ducked into an office for a moment, came out, and asked for my license and insurance card. It took me a second to pull my insurance card up on their app (the app updated so I had to reauthenticate and get a new code texted to me). He begins filling out the form with my insurance and license info, then his phone rings. He talks to someone for a few minutes, then ends the call. He then says to me that he's so sorry, but I won't be able to drive the car because it's not available. They had just lent it to one of their "corporate customers until Tuesday because the customer is thinking of purchasing several Mustang Mach Es". But he would be happy to take my number and give me a call on Wednesday when the car is back. So, I gave him my number. Let's see if I ever hear from them again :rolleyes:
That is weird. Had I read this story earlier, out of curiosity I would have swung by yesterday morning when I was passing through ? , just to find out if that Rapid Red FCTP unit was still on the lot - they usually leave it in one of the handicapped spaces right by the entrance.

I have to disagree with you on the vaccine - personally I have had much better luck finding Mach-E's than the vaccine!
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