The dealer gave my reserved vehicle away I waited six months for

[Iknownothing]

From the outside looking in, it. doesn't look complicated to me. I think Ford had an opportunity to make a separate EV Delivery Center providing incentives to dealers just to complete a factory ordered delivery. The should be separate from the traditional dealers. But I also see the other side of the business, there are people who want it NOW and aren't patient enough to order and wait 6months.

I mean adding alarms to EV's that depend so much on their electrical system is sketchy, these fools can't even properly update software but we should trust them with an alarm on an EV?

I don’t want to hijack this thread too much, but that approach would likely end up hurting your best dealerships more than your worst ones.

We make it out like the dealership model is bad, whereas it actually likely helps consumers in many ways. Tesla offers no price negotiation, they pick where they want their stores/showrooms to be, they control what those stores/showroom/service centers offer, etc.

Now Tesla has fewer really bad sales experiences, but I would argue really bad experiences at Ford dealerships the are actually very limited - there is no benefit to pissing customers off and the internet is ensuring we can compare experiences even more. We do see more price variance in the dealership model which is perceived as a bad thing though really that is a form of open market competition. Tesla just raises prices everywhere, but bc the pricing is the same everywhere, the perception of that change is different. Tesla gets the ADM at every location whereas Ford buyers only see it some places and on some interactions.

Im not trying to say change isn’t needed, but Ford launching a corporate sales infrastructure in parallel to their dealership network only ends up creating more competition with themselves (they won’t sell incrementally more cars, so each location just sells fewer). I think they are trying to find a way to improving the current infrastructure without taking drastic measures like undercutting their own dealers.

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[TheVirtualTim]

It's been mentioned before ... in *many* states, car manufacturers are not permitted to sell their own product. They MUST use independent dealers.

In Michigan, Tesla has been fighting the state because Tesla can't legally sell or service cars in Michigan. That MUST be done by independently owned dealers. But Tesla doesn't have any independently owned dealers.

So instead, they have a Tesla "Showcase" where you can see the cars, talk to representatives about the cars ... but you cannot BUY the car. To buy it, they'll show you how to order it online, but they want you to leave the property to buy it (to avoid any risk of someone accusing them of being a "dealer").

Apparently they created a subsidiary to perform service ... which is interesting and a sort of "look the other way" move by Michigan. I wouldn't think a wholly-owned subsidiary could qualify as "independent".

I have had good experiences at some dealers... some VERY good experiences actually. Back in the late 80's I wanted either a Chevy S10 Blazer or a GMC S15 Jimmy. I stopped at a Chevy dealer who immediately started playing games ... so I left. A few days later I stopped at a GMC dealer and while roaming the lot to see what they had, a salesman came out to greet me. Immediately he disclosed the dealer invoice on the truck and offered to sell it to me at $100 below invoice. At the time I worked for a wholly-owned GM subsidiary so I got the employee discount ... and ended up getting a fantastic deal.

But it doesn't end there. I regularly took it in for oil changes and during one of them, I dropped it off instead of waiting. I mentioned that I had managed to get a few blemishes on the paint and asked them to have the body shop take a look at it and tell me what it would cost to correct them. When I returned to pick up the truck, I noticed there was no mention of a quote from the body shop and asked the service rep if they had them look at it. He tells me yes... they did... and they took care of everything. I was a bit worried because I thought he misunderstood that I was looking for an estimate ... not to have the work done. He tells me ... no... no misunderstanding. They knew I wanted a quote but they decided to just go ahead and touch up everything ... no charge. WOW!!!

You can bet my friends and family heard about that (and some of them then bought cars from that dealer). So... they aren't ALL bad.

But I agree ... there are so many terrible stories that the model, as it is today, is mostly broken. Consumers either need better recourse against bad dealers ... or the laws preventing manufacturers from doing direct sales & service need to disappear.

I am not a lawyer, but it occurs to me that a $1500 "non-refundable" deposit probably constitutes a legal contract. If true, then it seems to me that the dealer breached that contract and the buyer should be entitled to some remedies OTHER than merely getting their "non-refundable" deposit refunded. For example... if the dealer sold the car with ADM... I think the buyer should get the ADM plus the deposit. Otherwise the dealer still profits off breaching the contract and, frankly, is incentivized to pull this again and again.

 

[MachE1977]

I don’t want to hijack this thread too much, but that approach would likely end up hurting your best dealerships more than your worst ones.

We make it out like the dealership model is bad, whereas it actually likely helps consumers in many ways. Tesla offers no price negotiation, they pick where they want their stores/showrooms to be, they control what those stores/showroom/service centers offer, etc.

Now Tesla has fewer really bad sales experiences, but I would argue really bad experiences at Ford dealerships the are actually very limited - there is no benefit to pissing customers off and the internet is ensuring we can compare experiences even more. We do see more price variance in the dealership model which is perceived as a bad thing though really that is a form of open market competition. Tesla just raises prices everywhere, but bc the pricing is the same everywhere, the perception of that change is different. Tesla gets the ADM at every location whereas Ford buyers only see it some places and on some interactions.

Im not trying to say change isn’t needed, but Ford launching a corporate sales infrastructure in parallel to their dealership network only ends up creating more competition with themselves (they won’t sell incrementally more cars, so each location just sells fewer). I think they are trying to find a way to improving the current infrastructure without taking drastic measures like undercutting their own dealers.

But it won't create more competition. It is a separate part of the dealer that delivers from factory without the middle-man. Traditional dealers can continue selling in stock vehicles at whatever price they choose. I am almost 100% sure most people would rather wait than pay an extra $5k-15k on whatever is in stock.

In the case of the OP, those $1500 would have gone straight to Ford instead of this shady dealer.

 

[DaMeatMan]

First and foremost, I absolutely love the one Mach E I have been able to purchase, however the purchase process has been an absolute disaster .

in March 2021 I ordered a 4WD, premium, extendEd range Mach E and put down my $1,500 deposit through Essential Ford in Stuart.

in April this dealer got a car in that had everything I wanted except the color and I elected to purchase versus having to wait. Since my initial $1,500 deposit could not be refunded or applied to purchase (per the dealer) of the vehicle in inventory I decided to get the second one for my wife.

Recently, I received notice from Ford that my vehicle had shipped. After not hearing from the dealer I checked the status of my order and it has since been sold.

sales managers at the dealership acknowledge they sold the car, however no one ever offered to refund my deposit or assist with finding another vehicle. I specifically asked for both options and was told to call back once and come back later when I stopped in as sales manager was with a customer (lol) .

anyway, if you picked up a black Mach e premium from essential Ford recently , congrats. That is the car I ordered. Would love to see it .

as for me, I’m on the hunt for another Mach e for my wife for Christmas and still have to get my original deposit back

Your dealer sounds shady AF! My dealer deducted the deposit from the purchase price of the vehicle, and they did so without me even asking for it. Quite honestly I was excited and forgot all about it!

Before deciding where I wanted to make the reservation, I called dealers in my area about the process of making the reservation, and a couple asked for far more in excess of what Ford Canada had defined for the deposit price. With that said, the one that didn't try to mark up the deposit is the dealer I ultimately went with and so far they have proven to be pretty decent and honest to work with.

Overall though the dealer network seems like a very outdated business model that needs to be changed, and they really do get in the way of consumers and the manufacturers without adding any real value, and in most cases (like yours) just take away value from the whole experience with increased costs to boot!

 

[Rfehl62]

I'm not sure they're laughing with glee... having lower inventory means less things to sell, so the ADM may be a necessary evil for some of them. I'm sure they are enjoying their new prices on used vehicle sales, though.

Having read a few threads on the forum, I get the impression that those of us ordering online almost incentivize the dealers to treat us poorly. I say this for two reasons. First, if we abandon an order then the dealer can mark it up how ever they like. They stand to make more from angering us and making us give up the order than if we complete the sale. Second, I read one story of someone giving up their order before production was scheduled; the dealer took it over (with permission) and then changed it to the most expensive vehicle and options you could get. Basically, Ford does allow some dealers to order their own cars, but otherwise they've reserving a bunch of production slots for customer orders; if a dealer can shake us off of our order early, then they get to request a more expensive vehicle that they can then mark up as well, and I'd guess it does not touch their usual dealer allocation numbers, either. In other words, even more profit.

What incentive does a dealer have to make us happy? We're probably not going to need to come in for much service. It remains to be seen how long EV's last but we're probably not going to be making tons of purchases. If what I've read is accurate, it basically means that if they keep us happy they earn a few hundred dollars, but if they irritate us enough to shake us off then they earn a few thousand - potentially more, if they can get us out early enough in the process. Perverse incentives are at play.

Ford penalizes dealers heavily for selling customer orders as stock. Basically, it comes out of our allocation 3 fold. Also, the mark up is the same no matter what the trim is. I would make them same if I sold a GT or a Select. Also, there is almost no mark up built into the vehicle per Fords design. They have a new pricing model that makes the MSRP and the Invoice the same number and any profit to be made is in the form of a kick back form Ford that they make very hard to get. Whole thing has just been an absolute mess. I have no idea what Ford thought would happen when going to this new model. These decisions are being made by people who have no idea how dealerships work and no idea what the customer experience should be like.

 

[GT705]

My complaints about the extremely poor customer experience I had at my dealer are still in progress, so I have to save my details related to your issue for posting them at a later time. Consider reading the short book, Unscrewed: The Consumer's Guide to Getting What You Paid For, to give you more perspectives and ideas regarding how to handle corporate misbehavior. The content is excellent.

 

[HuntingPudel]

I just wanted to say that your experience has me sick. So sorry you are going through this. Teeth bared at your dealer. ??

 

[jdmrc93]

I love how @Ford Motor Company only likes to drop-in when it's convenient for them.

"Last seen 1 minute ago"

Do better.

 

[Mach1E]

I love how @Ford Motor Company only likes to drop-in when it's convenient for them.

"Last seen 1 minute ago"

Do better.

To be fair, at this point, what would they do?

The refund of deposit is between th dealer and the customer. And until the dealer says “no,” no need to escalate or get involved.

They also wouldn’t state an opinion nor take a stance until they heard the whole story.

I seriously doubt the dealer would try to keep the deposit. I’ve never heard of that happening…… ever. I never worked at a dealer, but spent 8 years doing marketing for a bunch of dealers and feel like I’ve seen it all. There is a first for everything I guess.

 

[PCS2021]

That dealer is a POS. You need to go into the showroom and demand to speak to the sales manager. No phone call, in person. Demand your refund. I am angry for you. I wish you lived in my town because I would go with you to the dealer. This kind of crap should never happen. And, by the way, a $1500 deposit is crazy. Way too high. Most dealers are requiring $500, not $1500. That alone pisses me off for you.

My deposit was only $500.

 

[Up and Over]

I am in the middle of a dealer related issue and customer service through Ford has not been very helpful. I have called 5 times in the last 3 weeks and have made no progress. I am finding it increasingly difficult to "keep the faith." I have waited to post details on the issue because there is still time to get things straightened out but the process has been incredibly frustrating. If things go sideways, I will post the details (and to be honest, will probably end up walking away from the vehicle that I have been waiting 6 months for...it is that bad).

With it being my busy season I don’t have the time to chase the dealer. The lack of response and concern so far made it clear they do not value my business. That’s ok, I’ll drop the other 60k elsewhere.

I’m going to give the General Manager one opportunity to respond and correct before I dispute charge on my card and make them respond to my BBB complaint I file.

and FWIW I called Ford customer service and they refer me back to dealership .

a total customer service disaster

 

[MarcJ]

At the next dealer, if they want a deposit, it should be no more than $500. Good luck. Kick their little tiny flat butts and then drink a beer on me.
Pay them a visit. Baseball bat on shoulder?

 

[mkhuffman]

not sure how you all got $500 deposits.

I ordered online through Ford and they pushed my order to dealer. I did not put deposit down at dealer

The on-line system is managed by Ford but for the dealerships. The deposit you did on-line went to the dealership, not Ford. The dealership is Ford's customer, you are the dealership's customer. Ford's website is just facilitating your interaction with the dealer you select.

The dealerships set the deposit amount.

 

[Mach1E]

The on-line system is managed by Ford but for the dealerships. The deposit you did on-line went to the dealership, not Ford. The dealership is Ford's customer, you are the dealership's customer. Ford's website is just facilitating your interaction with the dealer you select.

The dealerships set the deposit amount.

Yup.

Ford refunded my $500, my dealer took $0 deposit and gave me X plan. They told me if when it showed up I didn’t want it, they’d just sell it to someone else.

Your experience may vary.

 

[pt19713]

If this was me, I'd make a website, EssentialFordSucks.com, and rent a billboard on a major interstate highway for 30 days. Direct people to the website with all documentation on the situation. I'd also use social media (YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, etc) to get as many views as possible. Any lost business for them is a win for you.

Grab a few friends, some kids, get them dressed up in some weird costume or suit, get some signs made up and park yourself out front or near the dealership waving those signs "EssentialFordSucks.com".

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