Dealer sold my reserved car

[Maquis]

I’d start with a Tweet to Jim Farley. This seems like an issue he’d take up.

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[Regularmache]

Yelp, dealer rater, CarGurus, truecar, Edmunds, kellybb, BBB, review them all. That's ridiculous.

 

[ElectrifyCLT]

Mike Levine has been known to also get involved. CA guy as well.

 

[JimmyL]

Sharing my experience about a local shady dealership (Putnam Ford of San Mateo, CA).

I ordered a Mustang Mach-E online on 8/17/21, placed a $500 deposit, and assigned the car to a local dealership. I was told on 4/26/22 afternoon that the car had arrived. The salesperson and manager told me it would be fine to pick it up on 4/29 afternoon. They said they would NOT honor Ford's price protection policy, despite telling me months earlier that they would try to, so I would need to pay $2000 more than the initial order price from 2021. I asked if I could sign paperwork on 4/29 and take receipt of the car, and the salesperson and manager said that would be fine. Instead, I was sent a contract via email on 4/27 which did not include my initial deposit. They did not provide a corrected contract when asked. I did not sign this. I spoke with the owner on the morning of 4/29 who threatened to cancel my order, but also said he would have his staff look into the situation and reach out to me. When I did not hear back I started calling the dealership to let them know I was coming over, but nobody would pick up the phone. I was finally able to reach someone in the afternoon, when I was told that nobody could handle the paperwork that day, and also the car was no longer on the lot. I was told on 4/30 they had actually sold the car to someone else on 4/29 in the morning.

I know these cars are in high demand but this feels totally crazy to me. They wanted to charge me more than the expected price. They threatened to sell the car if I didn't pick it up ASAP, and ended up selling it before 72 hours had elapsed, without my consent or knowledge. They also ghosted me so that they could sell the car to someone else. The deposit and reservation and order seem totally worthless.

The owner doesn't seem to think he did anything wrong, and he is currently offering to sell me a future vehicle with usual dealer markup (LOL)

I left some bad reviews online, and I opened a complaint with Ford corporate but they said they could take up to 30 days to get a response from the dealer.

I'm not a Tesla fan; But, I prefer their method of dealing directly with them to order, pay and deliver a BEV.

 

[Maquis]

Mike Levine has been known to also get involved. CA guy as well.

Right - probably a better choice than Farley. My brain picked the wrong Ford exec when I posted previously!

 

[Neil4Real]

I'm not a Tesla fan; But, I prefer their method of dealing directly with them to order, pay and deliver a BEV.

Ford doesn't have a choice, no old manufacturers do.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

I'm not a Tesla fan; But, I prefer their method of dealing directly with them to order, pay and deliver a BEV.

A friend of mine with a Model X on order was told by Tesla that they had to pick it up within a certain window. They were already planning to be out of town for work during that window. Tesla threatened to sell the car to another customer and my friend would have to reorder. After a bunch of negotiating, they were able to come to an agreement to expand the window by two days.

While I think it's better than the franchise model, Tesla doesn't have the perfect solution either. I would still prefer to order online and have the vehicle delivered to me over having to interact with a dealer; I've had too many bad interactions with dealers to trust any of them.

 

[SuperRob]

I went through my buying experience 100% through Ford's website. I had some emails exchanged with the salesperson at the dealer, but I have nothing 'signed' with them. Ford took my deposit through their website. It's six months and I still don't have a production date, but things like this make me a bit worried.

Not sure what happened with the OP, if he had actual signed paperwork with the dealer, but in my case, I don't think I'd have any recourse if they were to pull this. I've heard from people repeatedly, got copies of anything you've signed, but I can't do that. Nothing I have from Ford even has the original price or options on it.

 

[Garbone]

Sharing my experience about a local shady dealership (Putnam Ford of San Mateo, CA).

I ordered a Mustang Mach-E online on 8/17/21, placed a $500 deposit, and assigned the car to a local dealership. I was told on 4/26/22 afternoon that the car had arrived. The salesperson and manager told me it would be fine to pick it up on 4/29 afternoon. They said they would NOT honor Ford's price protection policy, despite telling me months earlier that they would try to, so I would need to pay $2000 more than the initial order price from 2021. I asked if I could sign paperwork on 4/29 and take receipt of the car, and the salesperson and manager said that would be fine. Instead, I was sent a contract via email on 4/27 which did not include my initial deposit. They did not provide a corrected contract when asked. I did not sign this. I spoke with the owner on the morning of 4/29 who threatened to cancel my order, but also said he would have his staff look into the situation and reach out to me. When I did not hear back I started calling the dealership to let them know I was coming over, but nobody would pick up the phone. I was finally able to reach someone in the afternoon, when I was told that nobody could handle the paperwork that day, and also the car was no longer on the lot. I was told on 4/30 they had actually sold the car to someone else on 4/29 in the morning.

I know these cars are in high demand but this feels totally crazy to me. They wanted to charge me more than the expected price. They threatened to sell the car if I didn't pick it up ASAP, and ended up selling it before 72 hours had elapsed, without my consent or knowledge. They also ghosted me so that they could sell the car to someone else. The deposit and reservation and order seem totally worthless.

The owner doesn't seem to think he did anything wrong, and he is currently offering to sell me a future vehicle with usual dealer markup (LOL)

I left some bad reviews online, and I opened a complaint with Ford corporate but they said they could take up to 30 days to get a response from the dealer.

The day after my order I went in a signed a real purchase contract with numbers down to the penny.

If you have the an original contract print everything and bring it to a lawyer. If you do not have the original, well not much for it.

 

[TonyaE]

I can’t understand why a dealership or Ford would want the bad press associated with this debacle. Keep the pressure on, I’m so sorry this happened to you.

 

[Cm12]

A friend of mine with a Model X on order was told by Tesla that they had to pick it up within a certain window. They were already planning to be out of town for work during that window. Tesla threatened to sell the car to another customer and my friend would have to reorder. After a bunch of negotiating, they were able to come to an agreement to expand the window by two days.

While I think it's better than the franchise model, Tesla doesn't have the perfect solution either. I would still prefer to order online and have the vehicle delivered to me over having to interact with a dealer; I've had too many bad interactions with dealers to trust any of them.

It’s true that the direct-to-consumer model has flaws too, but at least it feels like you’re making an arm’s-length transaction. I know any dealership I work with is looking for any opportunity to screw me behind the scenes. Unless you’re incredibly well-versed in all the dealer shenanigans, you’re probably gonna get fleeced. We have to spend hours researching and prepping to avoid issues and, even if you do everything right, a dealer can still screw you if it makes financial sense. For every buyer who really makes a big deal about it, how many don’t? That’s one of the things that I find really upsetting about being a lawyer - you can be right, you can prove it, but getting the remedy in your favor oftentimes isn’t *financially* worth it. That’s the case with a lot of these car dealerships, frankly. Tesla changes prices all the time, but once you order the car, it’s yours at the price you ordered.

 

[Xweb]

I can’t understand why a dealership or Ford would want the bad press associated with this debacle. Keep the pressure on, I’m so sorry this happened to you.

Dealership only had one thing in mind : Make a few more dollars on the sale. Very short-sighted. Probably a sales rep or GM who prefers to make a couple grand and switch jobs than stay long term.

 

[TonyaE]

Dealership only had one thing in mind : Make a few more dollars on the sale. Very short-sighted. Probably a sales rep or GM who prefers to make a couple grand and switch jobs than stay long term.

Sounds like the owner was terrible too. I hope Ford can make this right.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

It’s true that the direct-to-consumer model has flaws too, but at least it feels like you’re making an arm’s-length transaction. I know any dealership I work with is looking for any opportunity to screw me behind the scenes. Unless you’re incredibly well-versed in all the dealer shenanigans, you’re probably gonna get fleeced. We have to spend hours researching and prepping to avoid issues and, even if you do everything right, a dealer can still screw you if it makes financial sense. For every buyer who really makes a big deal about it, how many don’t? That’s one of the things that I find really upsetting about being a lawyer - you can be right, you can prove it, but getting the remedy in your favor oftentimes isn’t *financially* worth it. That’s the case with a lot of these car dealerships, frankly. Tesla changes prices all the time, but once you order the car, it’s yours at the price you ordered.

I don't disagree.

 

[Rider716]

WOW!!!! I would be furious!!!

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