Website Order Dealership wants me to come in

Seadiel

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I placed an order on Ford Website selected the dealership, paid the deposit online. Now the dealership wants me to come in and sign some documents/verify ID and pay them the deposit directly. They advised the deposit from the website would be refunded and this is the way Ford wanted them to do these orders now?

Doesn't sound right. Anyone else have any experience with this happening?
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zvez

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I placed an order on Ford Website selected the dealership, paid the deposit online. Now the dealership wants me to come in and sign some documents/verify ID and pay them the deposit directly. They advised the deposit from the website would be refunded and this is the way Ford wanted them to do these orders now?

Doesn't sound right. Anyone else have any experience with this happening?
when I ordered mine, I actually went to the dealership. They asked me to log on to the ford site on one of their computers, log in to my ford.com account and order, put the deposit all online. That was back in January. I think the dealership did make a copy of my driver's license but as I recall that's about it until the car showed up in may, they called me, I came in did the paperwork and was out in about an hour and a half.
 

TruWrecks

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The dealership will need a copy of your driver license to prove it is a customer order and not a dealer order cars to try to stock their lots. The deposit part sounds off. I would question that heavily. If they insist on refunding the online deposit make them cut a check on the spot. They have the ability.
 

txaggies07

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The dealership will need a copy of your driver license to prove it is a customer order and not a dealer order cars to try to stock their lots. The deposit part sounds off. I would question that heavily. If they insist on refunding the online deposit make them cut a check on the spot. They have the ability.
Pretty sure most of us didn’t give them our licenses until we picked up the car.
 


TruWrecks

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Pretty sure most of us didn’t give them our licenses until we picked up the car.
Ford sent a letter to all the dealerships in late July or August with those requirements. I was talking to the GM at my local dealer about it a few weeks ago.
 
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Seadiel

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Ford sent a letter to all the dealerships in late July or August with those requirements. I was talking to the GM at my local dealer about it a few weeks ago.
I ordered this month so I suppose that could explain the ID requirement. I called another Ford dealership nearby and they said they direct customers to order on the website and pay the deposit there. I'll see if my current dealership will cancel my order and I'll reorder with a different dealership.
 

spanky99L

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Pretty sure most of us didn’t give them our licenses until we picked up the car.
False. For my GT order, a few weeks after it was converted to an order, i had to submit my DL. When asked, my dealer stated ford was cracking down on "reservation/orders" for dealers and are making sure they are actually for someone.
 

ncaadam

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I bought a dealer inventory MME in June and can confirm that dealers were ordering phantom customer orders so they could sell (assumingly with a markup). They literally told me they faked a customer order to get one…mine in fact.

thus, would not be surprised if this was a new process in place to reduce that.
 

Tarynem

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This doesn't sound right at all. The deposit goes to FORD.com and not the dealership. Even if you place the order at the dealership, they still need to use the Ford.com to reserve the car. The dealership would need to cancel the order on their end in order for Ford to refund you any money, but that $500 deposit doesn't go to the dealership. Which dealership is this (for our awareness)? I would get a breakdown for the final total for the car from them as well.
 

Tarynem

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Pretty sure most of us didn’t give them our licenses until we picked up the car.
I had to give my license at both dealerships I worked with. I imagine if you order online and don't have any interaction with the dealership for your order, then you wouldn't have to provide it until pickup. I really wish they'd cut the dealerships out of this process and go with Carvana or something of the likes. They're not a necessary part of the process, and they've been doing sketchy things (dealer markups, additional deposits, fake fees, etc.) I found one MME on cars.com, and called to inquire about seeing an MME in a certain color. They told me the car was still in the factory.... but you're selling it online already?
 

ncaadam

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They told me the car was still in the factory.... but you're selling it online already?
When I was searching for dealer inventory for mine, I had this experience multiple times. Either it was in-transit or being produced. Almost none of them had even a good ballpark of when it was going to be there either.

I’m sure this experience varies dealer-to-dealer, but I am VERY much with you in the “get rid of the dealer” argument. My experience with a car dealer has never been good…ever.
 
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Seadiel

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This doesn't sound right at all. The deposit goes to FORD.com and not the dealership. Even if you place the order at the dealership, they still need to use the Ford.com to reserve the car. The dealership would need to cancel the order on their end in order for Ford to refund you any money, but that $500 deposit doesn't go to the dealership. Which dealership is this (for our awareness)? I would get a breakdown for the final total for the car from them as well.
I called the dealership to cancel the order. They said the person that handles cancellation won't be in until Wednesday. Hopefully it's a straight forward process.

This dealership is North County Ford in Vista CA. So far customer service seems good/responsive. The deposit thing just seems off.
 

HuntingPudel

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As I understood the reservation and ordering process, for the reservation, Ford corporate gets the deposit. The reservation deposit was fully refundable. Upon converting from a reservation into an order, the reservation deposit is refunded by Ford corporate and a new deposit is charged, which is given to the dealer by Ford corporate. Depending on the dealer's terms, your order deposit may or may not be refundable if you cancel your order.

What happened with my reservation turned into order was this: Reservation placed, deposit charged by Ford, email sent by ford congratulating me on the reservation. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait... Reservation converted into order, reservation deposit refunded by Ford, order deposit charged. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait... Production week assigned. Wait, wait, wait... Received "chip delay email." Wait, wait, wait...Production week delayed. Wait, wait, wait... To this point I have not been asked by my dealer to provide my driver's license.
 

Biggus Dickus

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As I understood the reservation and ordering process, for the reservation, Ford corporate gets the deposit. The reservation deposit was fully refundable. Upon converting from a reservation into an order, the reservation deposit is refunded by Ford corporate and a new deposit is charged, which is given to the dealer by Ford corporate. Depending on the dealer's terms, your order deposit may or may not be refundable if you cancel your order.

What happened with my reservation turned into order was this: Reservation placed, deposit charged by Ford, email sent by ford congratulating me on the reservation. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait... Reservation converted into order, reservation deposit refunded by Ford, order deposit charged. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait... Production week assigned. Wait, wait, wait... Received "chip delay email." Wait, wait, wait...Production week delayed. Wait, wait, wait... To this point I have not been asked by my dealer to provide my driver's license.
Pretty much my experience except my car was supposedly built 8/26 but not showing as "Built" yet - still "in Production".
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