Reservation Automatically Converted to Order Overnight

[dbsb3233]

Well just when I thought things were moving in the right direction, I get an email from the dealer rep this morning in response to my questions about X-Plan and other details that shows they have it all wrong. They previously told me they would accept X-Plan if Ford offered it on the Mach-e, but they thought Ford didn't. So I (nicely) directed them to Ford bulletin EFC08063 as well as another link showing it is available. Their response to that was out of left field... "Your order is done with Ford. It is not done with the dealership. We don’t have anything to do with your pricing and we don’t get paid on your deal."

I then called Ford's Mach-e line. They confirmed to me that their understanding is that X-Plan IS available on the Mach-e. I then proceeded to ask them if I can't get this straightened out with this dealership (that basically hijacked my reservation and turned it into a pending order without my approval), could they just move it back to reservation status for me so I can change dealers. The answer was ultimately No. Once it's moved beyond reservation status, it's basically "Proceed or Cancel". And if I cancel I have to start all over, at the end of the line. Ugh. I hate car dealerships.

Now I'm trying to nicely educate the dealership rep via email. If that fails, and this frail relationship falls apart (a distinct possibility), I'll call Ford again to see if I can somehow retain my reservation slot. If all else fails, I'll cancel. I'd rather lose 3 months off delivery than buy from a dealer I have a soured relationship with.

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[TheSteelRider]

Well just when I thought things were moving in the right direction, I get an email from the dealer rep this morning in response to my questions about X-Plan and other details that shows they have it all wrong. They previously told me they would accept X-Plan if Ford offered it on the Mach-e, but they thought Ford didn't. So I (nicely) directed them to Ford bulletin EFC08063 as well as another link showing it is available. Their response to that was out of left field... "Your order is done with Ford. It is not done with the dealership. We don’t have anything to do with your pricing and we don’t get paid on your deal."

I then called Ford's Mach-e line. They confirmed to me that their understanding is that X-Plan IS available on the Mach-e. I then proceeded to ask them if I can't get this straightened out with this dealership (that basically hijacked my reservation and turned it into a pending order without my approval), could they just move it back to reservation status for me so I can change dealers. The answer was ultimately No. Once it's moved beyond reservation status, it's basically "Proceed or Cancel". And if I cancel I have to start all over, at the end of the line. Ugh. I hate car dealerships.

Now I'm trying to nicely educate the dealership rep via email. If that fails, and this frail relationship falls apart (a distinct possibility), I'll call Ford again to see if I can somehow retain my reservation slot. If all else fails, I'll cancel. I'd rather lose 3 months off delivery than buy from a dealer I have a soured relationship with.

Ouch. This terrible story just got even worse, my gosh. If you are not soured on the car itself, you might should make a second reservation right now as a hedge. Since it appears Ford refunded your $500, and your dealer has not taken any money from you, this second reservation essentially won't cost you extra, you just put that $500 back to Ford.

 

[timbop]

The answer was ultimately No. Once it's moved beyond reservation status, it's basically "Proceed or Cancel". And if I cancel I have to start all over, at the end of the line. Ugh. I hate car dealerships.

Now I'm trying to nicely educate the dealership rep via email. If that fails, and this frail relationship falls apart (a distinct possibility), I'll call Ford again to see if I can somehow retain my reservation slot. If all else fails, I'll cancel. I'd rather lose 3 months off delivery than buy from a dealer I have a soured relationship with.

Yup, I'm in the same boat. He gave me the option to cancel and I said "no because I don't want to lose my place in line". Since I gave them no money and don't feel morally obligated otherwise (because he ordered without permission), I will just let it ride until they ask me to finalize the deal and sign paperwork - and if I don't like things at that point I'll just cancel the order.

 

[timbop]

Ouch. This terrible story just got even worse, my gosh. If you are not soured on the car itself, you might should make a second reservation right now as a hedge. Since it appears Ford refunded your $500, and your dealer has not taken any money from you, this second reservation essentially won't cost you extra, you just put that $500 back to Ford.

They aren't taking reservations anymore - just orders

 

[dbsb3233]

Ouch. This terrible story just got even worse, my gosh. If you are not soured on the car itself, you might should make a second reservation right now as a hedge. Since it appears Ford refunded your $500, and your dealer has not taken any money from you, this second reservation essentially won't cost you extra, you just put that $500 back to Ford.

I thought about that too, but I figure a week probably won't make much difference now. I'll let this play out a little longer and see. Could be starting over. But better to fight these battles now than waiting until the vehicle shows up in 1Q2021 and have them play games with pricing because I didn't have an agreement in writing.

 

[ChasingCoral]

Wow. This is turning into a very sad story. I'd also recommend calling the Mustang Help Line again to see if there if anything they can do -- especially it was their dealer who screwed this up.

 

[buzznwood]

Well that sucks, I normally like to give people the benefit of the doubt, but the dealers and Fords attitude towards this error is poor.

 

[JCHLi]

Sorry for your luck. Unfortunately some dealers have a problem with making a set amount of money on an order versus playing the negotiation game. We used to run into this issue with fleet vehicles because some dealers thought getting paid a little for a sale they had to give no effort for wasn't good enough.

As far as taking the order out of the current status, I do not believe it is not possible, but you'd probably have to push the issue a lot to get the right person to make it right.

 

[krafty81]

I can't believe that a dealer would have a choice to refuse X-Plan pricing. My dealer said they have no choice in the matter.

 

[silverelan]

I can't believe that a dealer would have a choice to refuse X-Plan pricing. My dealer said they have no choice in the matter.

I've been told that dealers are either all-in on AZX plans or they opt-out. They can't be selective about it.

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

Well just when I thought things were moving in the right direction, I get an email from the dealer rep this morning in response to my questions about X-Plan and other details that shows they have it all wrong. They previously told me they would accept X-Plan if Ford offered it on the Mach-e, but they thought Ford didn't. So I (nicely) directed them to Ford bulletin EFC08063 as well as another link showing it is available. Their response to that was out of left field... "Your order is done with Ford. It is not done with the dealership. We don’t have anything to do with your pricing and we don’t get paid on your deal."

I then called Ford's Mach-e line. They confirmed to me that their understanding is that X-Plan IS available on the Mach-e. I then proceeded to ask them if I can't get this straightened out with this dealership (that basically hijacked my reservation and turned it into a pending order without my approval), could they just move it back to reservation status for me so I can change dealers. The answer was ultimately No. Once it's moved beyond reservation status, it's basically "Proceed or Cancel". And if I cancel I have to start all over, at the end of the line. Ugh. I hate car dealerships.

Now I'm trying to nicely educate the dealership rep via email. If that fails, and this frail relationship falls apart (a distinct possibility), I'll call Ford again to see if I can somehow retain my reservation slot. If all else fails, I'll cancel. I'd rather lose 3 months off delivery than buy from a dealer I have a soured relationship with.

Email the Ford CEO right now. I posted the emails early in this thread. This actually works well. Those of us in Hawaii had the rogue dealers out here falling over themselves to make things right.

Do it now!

 

[TheSteelRider]

I can't believe that a dealer would have a choice to refuse X-Plan pricing. My dealer said they have no choice in the matter.

Yeah, I agree that is a shame. This is what the Ford Partner site says (https://www.fordpartner.com/partnerweb/howitworks/how_it_works.do?link=FrequentlyAskedQuestions), essentially that a dealer doesn't have to honor it, and it's your job to find one that does.

11. Can I receive the special Partner Recognition Plan price at any dealer?

The Plan program is available through all participating U.SA. dealerships. Dealer participation is voluntary. You should inform the dealer of Plan eligibility during your first contact with your dealer. If for some reason your dealer elects not to participate, you may visit another dealer. Eligible vehicles that are in limited supply, like most SVT models, may be difficult to obtain through the Plan.

 

[dbsb3233]

Well, my situation keeping swinging wildly. To the good side this time. I emailed the dealer rep again this morning (no response the last 1.5 days). An hour ago I got a response from the general manager of the dealership apologizing profusely for the misinformation the rep had given me in previous responses. The rep I had been dealing with forwarded our complete email exchange to the GM to seek guidance on (which to me shows there was no ill-intent, just misunderstanding).

He said Ford's initial info was sent out in Jan-2019, with some updates along the way, but a combination of bad info and them misinterpreting it led to a lot of misinformation on their part. He also said Ford normally sends a rep out to instruct each dealership on new processes like this, but COVID undercut that. He's going to take charge of my order personally and I'll be dealing directly with him now.

He said this was the communication from Ford that let the rep to believe she needed to take my reservation out of res status and into a pending order:

Mach-E/Bronco Sport Reservations – need conversion to orders

• You have 2 Mach-E reservations (that are non-GT)that still need to be converted from reservations to orders. Please visit the Online Order Acceptance Portal, click the tab “Reservations Submitted”, and reach out to those customers to help them complete their order. Please call me with any questions.

I could see how that "still need to be converted" line could be misinterpreted as a directive for the dealer to move it to order status. Poor wording on Ford's part. Especially for such a crucial step (that locks the customer to that dealership). Ford needs to add "But do not change the status until you have customer approval".

So now I'm back to where I was a week ago - waiting on clarification on X-Plan pricing, dealer handling fee, refundable dealer deposit, etc. But hopefully this time from someone that actually knows.

 

[SnBGC]

Some improvement. That is good news.

I think Ford's wording to the dealerships is fine. It says to contact their customers and help them complete their order. Pretty much the same for walk in customers IMO.....the dealer should find out if you are ready to buy and if so, then help you buy the vehicle. In this case the vehicle in question isn't sitting in dealer inventory so there needs to be an order process. Even that process requires the customer's approval. I have a Fleet Account for work....we order about 4-6 trucks per year. It's pretty much the same process....give the customer a quote, obtain their approval and then place the order. That same process applies to MME orders so the dealer should know that your approval was needed.

That being said.....I can sort of understand how someone at the dealership might have mistakenly assumed they had your approval to place the order. I mean....you created a reservation...you selected your options and you put down a deposit. That sort of sounds like you are ready to buy. They obviously didn't fully understand the new online ordering process but I don't think that is Ford's fault....their information to the dealerships seems pretty comprehensive. Your dealership should have called Ford to ask some questions...it even suggests they do so at the end of that notice. Ford did all they could here. Can lead a horse to water......

So, the way I see it the dealer has most of the exposure here. By doing what they did.....they pretty much ordered a car for dealer inventory built exactly the way you would like it to be built. Plus, you pretty much get first opportunity to buy the vehicle when it comes in. All this without a deposit required to boot. The only real issue is that your reservation number is now used up which I don't think matters that much. If you are ready to buy the vehicle then it's in the que. If you aren't ready then that car is now the dealer's problem to figure out.

You have until now and when the vehicle arrives to work out the pricing questions. The refundable deposit is a moot point in my opinion...

 

[dbsb3233]

Some improvement. That is good news.

I think Ford's wording to the dealerships is fine. It says to contact their customers and help them complete their order. Pretty much the same for walk in customers IMO.....the dealer should find out if you are ready to buy and if so, then help you buy the vehicle. In this case the vehicle in question isn't sitting in dealer inventory so there needs to be an order process. Even that process requires the customer's approval. I have a Fleet Account for work....we order about 4-6 trucks per year. It's pretty much the same process....give the customer a quote, obtain their approval and then place the order. That same process applies to MME orders so the dealer should know that your approval was needed.

That being said.....I can sort of understand how someone at the dealership might have mistakenly assumed they had your approval to place the order. I mean....you created a reservation...you selected your options and you put down a deposit. That sort of sounds like you are ready to buy. They obviously didn't fully understand the new online ordering process but I don't think that is Ford's fault....their information to the dealerships seems pretty comprehensive. Your dealership should have called Ford to ask some questions...it even suggests they do so at the end of that notice. Ford did all they could here. Can lead a horse to water......

So, the way I see it the dealer has most of the exposure here. By doing what they did.....they pretty much ordered a car for dealer inventory built exactly the way you would like it to be built. Plus, you pretty much get first opportunity to buy the vehicle when it comes in. All this without a deposit required to boot. The only real issue is that your reservation number is now used up which I don't think matters that much. If you are ready to buy the vehicle then it's in the que. If you aren't ready then that car is now the dealer's problem to figure out.

You have until now and when the vehicle arrives to work out the pricing questions. The refundable deposit is a moot point in my opinion...

The real difference is in the ability of a reservation-holder to change dealerships. That may sound minor, but on a vehicle that may prove to be high demand (relative to limited supply), it can have huge ramifications to both the dealership and the buyer. Namely, whether they can get away with ADM (could be many $thousands). As long as the customer can change dealerships, they have the leverage. Once it locks into a dealer, the dealer controls the vehicle and has the leverage. Thus why it's good to get such details agreed to with the dealer prior to moving from res-to-order. Waiting until the vehicle arrives to negotiate leaves the buyer at the mercy of the dealer (since cancelling over a crappy deal at that point means waiting months for another Mach-e, and allows the dealer to keep your vehicle to sell to someone else at significant ADM).

With a normal vehicle order process, there is no reservation for a rare commodity. Buyers don't proceed with that step until they've finalized which dealer they're using. And that's the way this process was SUPPOSED to work too -- the buyer initiating the order from their reservation screen. But when a dealer can hijack your reservation before you're ready, it undercuts that customer leverage. If fact, I'd say the dealer shouldn't even have that authority in the system. Only the buyer should have the ability to release their reservation to a dealer for order conversion.

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