Dealer used my reservation and ordered a Bronco without my permission, on hold with Ford customer care now! ?

[Judge Rufus]

FOR THOSE THAT HAD THEIR RESERVATIONS CONVERTED W/O THEIR CONSENT:

If you had discussed pricing, they should honor that no question. If you hadn't discussed pricing you should ASAP. If you think you could have gotten better pricing elsewhere, you should go get it and get in writing. Then take it back to your crappy dealer that screwed you out of being able to transfer, and demand that they match the pricing you were able to get. That's the least they should do since they violated your protections under your reservation agreement with FORD.

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[guerro]

Update:

Good news bad news thing. Good news, Im in the system REALLY early. Bad news, they did this without my knowledge. Ford customer confirmed it is an order and now I cant change dealers. When i went in to the ford account it just shows where it used to say reservation date it now says order date(mine said Jan 19) and then the reservation number is now an order number.

I think they were trying to pull a fast one and keep the order. (reservation was for Badlands 20 minutes after reveal). In fact im the badlands thread starter on here. My salesman is off today but hes going in to work now to see whats up, I actually think he had no clue. The dealership is 100 miles from me right now but i didnt change because i knew they would get a big allocation. But my son goes to college there so Im going to get him to go by there and get some paperwork to make sure its MSRP when i get it. (going to get them to notarize it too)

Will update shortly, salesman suppose to call me back.


Another Update:

OK, saleman called me with the inventory manager(guy that does the ordering)..Inventory manage said he went into system last night to get familiar with it, and didnt know it would save it.
He said it was his fault.

We'll never know the truth, but the truth is i do have an order with jan 19 timestamp, at msrp(in writing).....and I ordered it today without any of the deadly seven(really wanted 6 cylinder, oh well) but Im thinking this will be one of the first ones.


Links to others who have experienced the same issue with their dealers:

@bfosmoen
@Jp215
@Philly
@McCracken
@climb2descend
@NotApplicable
@bdub2you
@RobBroncowski
@Palerider
@bronc'o
@GatorDave
@PittsburghEE
@martyb
@gigidaho
@Ah_crap
@Gaucholoco
@Cactus Grey
@caseylross
@Inrustwetrust_
@BlueBronco

Friend of mine says she called dealer to make appointment and the dealer told her they cancelled her reservation because she didn't respond to emails or call to make an appointment soon enough.

 

[BroncoBLMT]

To his great credit, Mike Levine responded directly to my email to the dealer before my dealer did. He said he is on it and will get back to me.

This is a solid opportunity for Mike Levine to gain some ground with this community.

 

[ZackDanger]

Three points.
If the dealer has converted these orders early with the excuse of "they have so many orders that they need to get a head start" that is at total B.S. argument. The dealers just proved that dozens or hundreds of reservations can be converted into orders in a matter of hours. The real effort is working with the customer to make sure they are ordering what they want.

I understand that when a specific model of Bronco is ordered (say a BD) that the order cannot be changed to a different model (say a BL). Instead the order must be cancelled. But since the reservation is already consumed cancelling the order then requires a new reservation where the customer is now at the back of the line six months behind where they started camping out. Same logic applies for someone still trying to find a dealer who is willing to negotiate on price.

Ford needs to resolve this by either 1) allowing a customer to cancel the Bronco order and still retain their original reservation date/time stamp. 2) allowing the customer to force Dealership and/or Bronco model changes on the order that has already been placed.

I don't disagree with what you said. I think these dealer's are way out of line.

To your last paragraph, some other forum members are reporting that they were able to change the trim level after the order was submitted. (Someone said they wanted a BL but it got entered as a BD or something... and the dealer was able to change it...) Not sure if this will remain true after the March deadline or not, but anecdotally it sounds like it's at least possible for now.

 

[Judge Rufus]

Friend of mine says she called dealer to make appointment and the dealer told her they cancelled her reservation because she didn't respond to emails or call to make an appointment soon enough.

What did she do?

Dealers do not have the right to cancel your reservation. Ford does, but not the dealer.

 

[guerro]

What did she do?

Dealers do not have the right to cancel your reservation. Ford does, but not the dealer.

She is taking 10-15mins to stop steaming haha Then going to call the Customer Care line. She was planning on switching dealers already anyway because the dealer has been absolutely horrible. And now this.

 

[Used2jeep]

To your last paragraph, some other forum members are reporting that they were able to change the trim level after the order was submitted. (Someone said they wanted a BL but it got entered as a BD or something... and the dealer was able to change it...) Not sure if this will remain true after the March deadline or not, but anecdotally it sounds like it's at least possible for now.

Theoretically it lines up with the "You can tweak things up until the VIN is created" mantra from some dealers.

 

[BravoV4]

Because your conversion rate determines final allocation. (AND perhaps to lock the customer to the dealer and their pricing.)

Oh I know, but before converting it to an order it specifically states to have an agreement in place with the customer.

 

[mrxg78]

It is desapointing that thy are doing that.

 

[dblev]

I pulled your comment out of the quote to it's easily visible.

My point wasn't that they were *right* to do it, my point was that it may not have been a malicious act.

Obviously we have a spectrum of cases in this thread alone... some being people that woke up to find their order had been converted (what I was speaking to) and some who had their order converted after they told or implied to their dealer that it shouldn't be (yet).

Got ya. My dealership did this to all their reservations as they accidently gave me the printed list. Question: I have the number 2 time slot at my dealership meaning I'll likely get and configuration I want in 2021. If you change dealerships does Ford have a process to preserve my spot in line? For example the dealership I want to move to told me anyone who placed a badlands after 10am on the 14th will likely have to wait till 2022. Would I be pushed down as well?

 

[manualT]

I got an email that my order was confirmed from Ford late yesterday. I did not tell my dealer to place an order, but they did have me build my Bronco back in Nov/Dec.

Having a good relationship with my dealer: Owner, GM, sales person, etc.... I do not think they did this to get over on me, I assume they felt they need to do this as part of the process?

My guess is they are just getting their place in line until they get a production date then we will finalize.

 

[da_jokker]

Got ya. My dealership did this to all their reservations as they accidently gave me the printed list. Question: I have the number 2 time slot at my dealership meaning I'll likely get and configuration I want in 2021. If you change dealerships does Ford have a process to preserve my spot in line? For example the dealership I want to move to told me anyone who placed a badlands after 10am on the 14th will likely have to wait till 2022. Would I be pushed down as well?

The whole point of this thread is that once your reservation becomes an order, it can't be moved to another dealer.

 

[ZackDanger]

Got ya. My dealership did this to all their reservations as they accidently gave me the printed list. Question: I have the number 2 time slot at my dealership meaning I'll likely get and configuration I want in 2021. If you change dealerships does Ford have a process to preserve my spot in line? For example the dealership I want to move to told me anyone who placed a badlands after 10am on the 14th will likely have to wait till 2022. Would I be pushed down as well?

Your reservation time stamp is a universal time stamp... it follows you wherever you take your reservation.

Because of the allocation formula for dealers, for you what matters most is your relation to your peers at the dealer level. Though, also, with your order you'd be bringing with it additional allocation, how much exactly we don't know.

A number 2 slot at your dealer is a good indication you'd be a similar slot at another dealer.

All that said, there are rumblings that dealers can delay some reservations at their level, and are doing that for transfers in to "protect" their original reservation holders. This is a big point of disagreement here... but just be aware it's apparently a thing, so you should ask a dealer you're thinking about transferring into whether they intend to do this or not.

And alllll that said. FE reservations are prioritized for MY21. MY22 switch will occur in December, so you could expect to see an FE order before the end of the year... even with a late availability option such as the black interior.

::EDIT::

Right. What @da_jokker said... as we understand it, once a reservation is converted to an order at a specific dealer, you are stuck at that dealer.

It will be interesting to see if that still holds true after Mike Levine gets done busting skulls.

 

[Coldsmoke]

It is good that everyone understands that submitted orders can still be changed for a while, so mistakes can be corrected.

However, it is also important to realize that the customer cannot change the order themselves - the change has to be made by the dealer. So if someone is being screwed by a shady dealer, the fact that the order can technically be changed doesn't necessarily help.

Except for the fact that since the order is a contract, it is required to be signed on the bottom by the customer. The Ford ordering system spits out a printed document of the order with a spot for the customer to sign that they accept the order.

Look, I am not saying that there are no shady dealers, but everyone needs to put on their big boy pants and at least be cognizant of acceptable business practices before you enter into an agreement to purchase a $40K plus product. The time for vetting the integrity of your dealer was when you selected them for your reservation. If you blindly selected a dealer at the time you made a reservation and haven't validated them since, then you might as well ask Santa Clause to get you a Bronco. Might end with a better result.

 

[RockSolid2021]

Has anyone negotiated below MSRP in the Central Maryland area? If so, what dealership? I'm currently with Al Packer Ford and they will not go below MSRP. Thanks in advance for any guidance.

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