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

IamIA

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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
i would sue their asses.
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ArthurH

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my plan is call and ask for GM Today. If no response in 24 hours certified letter to GM. If no response within 48 hours of that letters to dealer, Florida AG, and local BBB.
Just an FYI, don't rely on anything coming out of complaining to the BBB. They are not a government agency, and does nothing to reinforce any complaints. Only thing that happens is Ford is emailed the complaint. Whether Ford actually has someone monitoring their BBB account, or giving a damn is a complete crap shoot.

The BBB is literally an old-school Yelp back in the day before Yelp/Twitter/FB, etc. Just a review board of the sorts. You're likely going to get more traction with Twitter, Yelp and other Social media to get others looking.

This is from personal experience dealing with BBB when I was running a small business a while back. You just paid a fee for their logo to put on your site, and that's it. They do literally nothing else to help your business, nor the customer complaints. In fact, you can actually pay them to get negative reviews removed to some extent.

Not saying you shouldn't at least make the complaint, in case someone actually responds there, but just saying don't put too much faith on anything being resolved through there. Good luck! This is definitely a horrible dealership that needs their negative press.
 

deadduck

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To be fair, at this point, what would they do?
Get another car and sell it to the buyer at a discount? Knee cap the dealer behind the scenes? Refund the deposit to the customer, assuming it was run through their website they know the deposit was made.

There's more than "nothing" that they can do.
 

deadduck

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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.
So what? Price negotiation isn't really a thing in the way you are thinking about it.

The points I'm making below may not take but I'm going to try anyway.

Negotiation just means some people get a better price and some get a worse price. The combination of all those transactions becomes the price of the vehicle. The manufacturers know all of that and take it into consideration when setting their prices. In other words, absent craziness, they know the average vehicle sells $1.5K below sticker, or whatever, and price accordingly.

Sure, you might have a good relationship with a dealer, get a better price, or be a master negotiator, or maybe you are actually none of those and just think you are getting something special. One place sets a direct and up front price, that changes based on market circumstances, the other places has you negotiate to end up in the same exact place depending on circumstances, it just seems like a different place.
 


Mach1E

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Get another car and sell it to the buyer at a discount? Knee cap the dealer behind the scenes? Refund the deposit to the customer, assuming it was run through their website they know the deposit was made.

There's more than "nothing" that they can do.
You missed the “at this point,” part of my question.

Again, no need to escalate if the OP and dealer can sort it out themselves.


Now of your three suggestions:
1. Ford doesn’t sell cars direct, they couldn’t “get another car.” OP could find one at another dealer and it sounds like they are trying now. But it has nothing to do with the original dealer nor Ford. But I have seen here where people tweeted a bad experience and other dealers (good ones) stepped in to help.

2. Knee cap the dealer- this one I do like. Dealer deserves to be punished however they can for this BS.

3. The $1500 deposit was made with the dealer, not Ford.
 

DevSecOps

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

"Last seen 1 minute ago"

Do better.
Honestly, as someone who's had Ford drop in twice on my threads, they don't do a damn thing other than create a case, which you can do by calling them. The person on the other end of that account is just a social media "pleaser".

I have another couple threads where developers from Ford are involved... Those people get sh*t done, but for this situation they wouldn't be able to do anything.

Just so everyone here knows that @'d Ford, it's really pointless. You're better off suggesting to call in.
 

Reign of Ravens

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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.
Appreciate the insights. Is the allocation penalty only if a dealer sells the order without the customer giving it up, though? Because that's what I'm getting at. Add on some services that weren't requested (nitrogen; VIN etching; special coatings for exterior and interior; and so on) and maybe now the customer can't afford it, or is unwilling to buy it. And now it's an abandoned order, right? Not the dealer's fault that a customer reneged on the deal. And after all, the website just shows a cost estimate -it's a reservation, not a purchase agreement.

That's sort of the situation I'm finding myself in - difference from MSRP was zero when I placed the reservation with a dealer, and now - without communicating with me - I noted one day that it's a few thousand dollars. Still sorting that one out so I'll keep the details to myself, but if I were to back out of the reservation on principle, it's not like the reservation goes away, right? The dealership can take it over.

Agreed that the situation seems to be a proper mess...
 

Kamuelaflyer

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Get another car and sell it to the buyer at a discount? Knee cap the dealer behind the scenes? Refund the deposit to the customer, assuming it was run through their website they know the deposit was made.

There's more than "nothing" that they can do.
This.

Ford has a great deal of leverage, influence snd power with its dealers. They can pressure them to make it right, or else. Or else what? A reduction in dealer F150 allocationor similar.
Negotiation just means some people get a better price and some get a worse price. The combination of all those transactions becomes the price of the vehicle. The manufacturers know all of that and take it into consideration when setting their prices. In other words, absent craziness, they know the average vehicle sells $1.5K below sticker, or whatever, and price accordingly.

Sure, you might have a good relationship with a dealer, get a better price, or be a master negotiator, or maybe you are actually none of those and just think you are getting something special. One place sets a direct and up front price, that changes based on market circumstances, the other places has you negotiate to end up in the same exact place depending on circumstances, it just seems like a different place.
Also this.

I have never had a good sales experience with Ford. I bought this car despite it being a Ford, not because of it. That needs to stop.

You missed the “at this point,” part of my question.

Again, no need to escalate if the OP and dealer can sort it out themselves.
At this point? Ford can do a lot. They can exert pressure in the dealer. Reallocate dealer allotments or just “refund” the op’s money. And apparently the op and dealer can’t work it out on their own as it hasn’t been resolved. The dealer hasn’t refunded the money and doesn’t intend to or they would have.

The op is also correct about @Ford Motor Company here. They open a case. You get a call from a Ford Customer Service representative who tells you to call the dealer. The end.

Escalate this matter to social media tagging Mike Levine and Emma Bergg. Write the Customer Experience Directors at Ford HQ. If none of that works, eat the cost, have your car devices at a different dealer if possible, and next time buy something other than a Ford.
 

Mach1E

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This.

Ford has a great deal of leverage, influence snd power with its dealers. They can pressure them to make it right, or else. Or else what? A reduction in dealer F150 allocationor similar.

Also this.

I have never had a good sales experience with Ford. I bought this car despite it being a Ford, not because of it. That needs to stop.


At this point? Ford can do a lot. They can exert pressure in the dealer. Reallocate dealer allotments or just “refund” the op’s money. And apparently the op and dealer can’t work it out on their own as it hasn’t been resolved. The dealer hasn’t refunded the money and doesn’t intend to or they would have.

The op is also correct about @Ford Motor Company here. They open a case. You get a call from a Ford Customer Service representative who tells you to call the dealer. The end.

Escalate this matter to social media tagging Mike Levine and Emma Bergg. Write the Customer Experience Directors at Ford HQ. If none of that works, eat the cost, have your car devices at a different dealer if possible, and next time buy something other than a Ford.
I’ll hold my breath until Ford does nothing and you hold your breath until they get involved and we will see who passes out first.
 

SWO

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Seriously, F Ford’s dealership model. Time to die. Sorry this happened to you. You should tweet this to @mrlevine and @ford and make a huge social media stink.
Disgraceful.
Yep. My dad was a Ford guy. My grandfathers were Ford guys. My first car was a 1970 Ford Torino GT which I still own.

I think Ford makes great vehicles but 99% of the dealers are just outright scumbags who make the ownership experience awful.
 

Kamuelaflyer

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I’ll hold my breath until Ford does nothing and you hold your breath until they get involved and we will see who passes out first.
I’ve had very good luck with the Customer Experience officers.
 
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Just an FYI…last time I checked, Mullinax in WPB was not charging additional, $500 deposit, and no dealer fees.
However Mullinax WPB is charging a 10K dealer premium for an Mach-e’s on the lot. I ALMOST paid a 5K premium on a GT PE at mullinax Kissimmee last week but could not get the interest rate below 5%. I have purchased 21 new fords or Lincolns from my previous dealer in Virginia so I am used to getting good interest rates through ford…. Hell my credit has even gone up since I bought my last two in 2019.
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