Please help: Dealer was sold, new dealer is extorting me

[Scipio]

Hate to say it... cancel and find a cancelled order at another dealer. They CANNOT force you to buy something.

I have waited so long for this car cancelling the order is the last thing I want to do, specially when I already have a build date for 1/10. It's a GT Performance edition with all the add-ons, finding a car that matches that will be near impossible not to mention any car I find will have additional dealer add-ons and ADM tacked to it which is what I'm trying to avoid in the first place...

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[DevSecOps]

Hate to say it... cancel and find a cancelled order at another dealer. They CANNOT force you to buy something.

True, but that doesn't mean he can't exhaust all means to try to rectify the situation through other channels. Personally, I had a dealership that wanted 20k ADM from me and it was completely removed after some higher-ups at Ford called the dealer. The dealer reached out to me and it was as if they never attempted to charge it, they never mentioned it again. It was simply "We decided to honor the MSRP". Amazing how that works.

There's also people here that are watching what's going on, and it's not the FMC account. I receive a phone call about once a week/two from someone at Ford regarding my posts on here.

 

[Carsinmyblood]

I have waited so long for this car cancelling the order is the last thing I want to do, specially when I already have a build date for 1/10. It's a GT Performance edition with all the add-ons, finding a car that matches that will be near impossible not to mention any car I find will have additional dealer add-ons and ADM tacked to it which is what I'm trying to avoid in the first place...

My wife and I ordered 2 on May 5, 2021. We each found canceled orders after 32 days and 4 months respectively. I just this week was told my ordered car will arrive end of January. NINE MONTHS.

They are out there.

 

[Jimrpa]

I don’t think you can get a plan on a cancelled order

 

[RyanSD]

tl;dr placed order through website, dealer that was taking delivery no longer exists, new owners refuse to honor the agreement with the previous dealership and wont take x-plan, want to charge a very high ADM and didnt even register for the ca clean air rebate. They flat our refuse to transfer the order to a new dealer and said there is nothing I nor Ford can do about it. Ford marketing agrees...

Details

I placed my order for a mach-e GT performance almost a year ago (been waiting for this car for two years), I got a build date of 1/10 and was incredibly excited until earlier this week when I logged on to see if there were any updates and I got a "Sorry to hit the brakes" message saying Perry Ford of Poway had been sold and there was a new dealer I needed to speak with before my order could continue. I talk to the new dealer Aaron Ford asking them to confirm they take x-plan, wont charge ADM, have registered for the CA clean air rebate, take ford options, etc. They refuse to answer anything saying don't worry about it, we can go through all the details once the car arrives, we'll take care of you... I send it in writing and after many calls they finally tell me no we dont take any a-z plan, no we have not registered for the ca clean air and we are looking to add a $10k ADM, we are also looking at installing a new alarm system, paint protection, fabric protection, etc when we receive the car...

I call up other dealerships in the area, they all readily say they do take xplan aren't charging any ADM and have registered for the CA clean air rebate, transfer your order through! They gladly send it in writing. I call Ford marketing and this is where the pain really begins. I am transferred from person to person and department to department wasting hours each day and with each person saying "sorry we cannot transfer any orders from our end". I get transferred to marketing, suv department, ford performance racing, customer relations, etc all to be transferred back to ford marketing. No one can help. Someone from Ford marketing flat out said, just cancel your order and place it with the other dealership... someone else said it has to be done via the new agency they cannot do anything by law... asked me to speak with the general manager of the new owners...

I ask to speak with the general manager of the new dealership to little avail, this morning the second in command to the GM calls me. I ask him to help me and before I can even start he cuts me off and says there will be no talk of transferring dealers and that they cannot do that. I ask if they dont know how or if it's that they wont and he flat out says that they wont, that they are taking delivery of the car and there is nothing I nor Ford can do about it. Absolutely unprofessional, I try to appeal to his sensibilities asking why they would treat their customers this way, that I have been a ford owner for decades, bought the 2005 Ford mustang the day it came out, etc and have been waiting for this car for two years. Didn't help at all, said they can do whatever they want and know that I have to abide by their terms or walk away and that they can make far more money on the car selling it to someone else than me. I ask to speak to the GM (whom I can hear is in the room and is telling this guy what to say) and they refuse saying he's around but busy and doesnt take calls. I ask to make an appointment with the GM and they say they'll take my info to see if maybe it's possible but that they'll just expect to see me when the car arrives in Jan... I ask them why they would ever treat someone like this and what do they expect will happen next? That given the position they are putting me in I will be posting my situation all over social media, leaving reviews of my experience, filing a complaint with the BBB and consumer protection groups, talking to the local media and bringing in lawyers given that this is extortion. His answer, we dont care, do what you need to do, we're telling you that we are taking the car in January and you can accept our terms or walk away...

I call ford marketing back and they say that unfortunately they are right, they cant do anything about it and that they have escalated the case but the answer will be the same... and that given the holidays I can expect to get a call back before new year's or in Jan.

I can't believe this is happening or that Ford or a new dealership would treat their customers this way, the car is being built 1/10, once the car is sent to the dealer I know there's nothing that can be done. I never signed anything with Aaron Ford, it was all through the main Ford website and with Perry Ford which no longer exists, I honestly dont know what to do, please help

I am very sorry that this is happening to you right now.
I had nothing but issues with Perry Ford, before the ownership change, and moved my order to Kearny Mesa. Very glad that I did.
I hope you are able to get something figured out with another dealership. Please cut your losses with the current one. They do not deserve your time or money.

 

[Scipio]

I am very sorry that this is happening to you right now.
I had nothing but issues with Perry Ford, before the ownership change, and moved my order to Kearny Mesa. Very glad that I did.
I hope you are able to get something figured out with another dealership. Please cut your losses with the current one. They do not deserve your time or money.

All I've been trying to do is change my order to Encinitas Ford or Kearny Mesa Ford, both confirmed they take xplan and wont tack on ADM or dealer installed options, but Aaron Ford (what used to be Perry ford) absolutely refuses and is saying they know there's nothing I nor Ford marketing can do about it. They are hoping I walk away in Jan so that they can tack on even higher ADM and add a bunch of dealer installed options like alarm, paint protection, interior protection, etc to make even more money. It was shocking how unprofessional they were and how shameless they were about what they were doing

 

[phil]

I have waited so long for this car cancelling the order is the last thing I want to do,...

Your call, of course.

Me, I would cancel immediately. The last thing I would want is to let a cheating businessman profit from his dishonesty. Cancel today, let Ford make it right later, or buy from a competitor if they don’t.

good luck

 

[Socalsp3]

I have never left bad reviews but I honestly see no other way, if they are treating long-term ford customers this way as a new dealership I cant imagine how they'll be once they are more established, the wife and I were actually joking about getting people to picket them earlier in the week. I am going to reach out to the local news agencies since they do consumer protection stories all the time hope that they can call the dealership and ask and hopefully that will be enough to make them realize they should transfer the order to a different dealership, issue is with the holidays all those consumer groups are likely out and my car was supposed to be built 1/10 so time is running out

FMC would be pretty pissed if this got to the press. im sure Levine would rather take care of it beforehand

 

[troublebot]

I hate to say it, but if Mike Levine or someone doesn't step in and make the dealership make this right, I would consider contacting Teslarati or one of the other Tesla fanboy publications and give them a detailed overview and let them dunk on Ford until it gets corrected. Throw in Jalopnik and some general auto blogs too. I'm sure they'd love the opportunity to write about how the classic dealership model is inferior to Tesla's way of doing sales (they're really not wrong).

If this sort of thing was a one-off, that'd be one thing, but the dealerships are completely out of control and Ford is not being proactive in keeping them corrected. For every post we see on here, how many people who doesn't peruse the Mach-E forum are getting screwed over?

I'm at the point where, as much as I love my Mach-E, and as easy as my dealership experience was (it was a mannequin model at a rural Ford dealership that was desperate to sell it), I'd be reluctant to buy one again under the current system. We're going to be buying a house (hopefully) in the countryside in the next year or two and I was seriously considering an F150 Lightning to go with it, but I'm not sure I'd buy from Ford at this point.

 

[Say Watt]

If you wrote a deposit check, I think they are obligated to assume the liability of the implied contract. You will have a good chance to nail them for $10,000 in Small Claims Court. If you did not write a deposit check, I think you found out that they didn’t love you in the morning.

 

[ARK]

I receive a phone call about once a week/two from someone at Ford regarding my posts on here.

*puts on tinfoil hat*

I knew they were just trying to get microchips into people!

 

[Olds442]

so FMC can't move the order to another dealership? that seems both very odd and unbelievable.

 

[Megabueno]

Prove me wrong but Ford don’t give a damn…

 

[heisnuts]

Wow, That really sounds like a bum deal. I am so sorry you are going through it.

I think it really all boils down to a few options:

1) hire an attorney to try and fight with the new dealer (which will cost more than the ADM with no guarantee of any success).
2) pay the ADM
3) walk away from the deal and put in a new order at another dealer

Of course you can also try to make your story known and that might make you feel a little better, but I don't think it will get you any further in your main goal of getting the car at MSRP and X Plan with the dealer.

As you may know every Ford dealer is independently owned and operated and although Ford can ask them to help you out, I do not think there is any way for Ford to make them do it.

I agree it really sucks, but in the end it really comes down to how much time and money you want to put into it with the little chance of having the outcome you are looking for.

 

[RickMachE]

If you wrote a deposit check, I think they are obligated to assume the liability of the implied contract. You will have a good chance to nail them for $10,000 in Small Claims Court. If you did not write a deposit check, I think you found out that they didn’t love you in the morning.

Nope.

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