FORD of MONTEBELLO Buyer Beware

[2021WILDTRAKCDH]

This is the second time I have posted about the absolute worst customer experience I have endured as a consumer.

I placed an order with Bob Wondries Ford for a 2023 Bronco Raptor. They had allocation and we agreed on price and order was placed and accepted by Ford on 9/2022. I had a fully signed sales purchase agreement.

Bob Wondries looses it franchise in March of 2023. My order is transferred to Ford of MONTEBELLO by Ford corporate. My new salesperson at ford of MONTEBELLO contacts me and I want to review price delivery eta etc.
Oscar says the new price is $119,056 not the $85k I signed an agreement for.
He said they can charge whatever they want and bragged that the have received 3 other bronco raptor orders from ford when Bob wondries lost their franchise and they get at least $20k over MSRP.

Love to hear a sales person brag about taking advantage of customers.

After many phone calls , the dealer said tough luck, we are selling it to someone else.

Buyer beware. Do not trust FORD of MONTEBELLO (Oscar or Nazir). They are not honest and do not take care of their customers.

Thanks Ford !!

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[projectbadlands]

Lol if you go to their website and see the management team section, they all look like a group of oddballs or outcasts.

 

[Dezperado]

I think I would report that to Ford. You probably won't get anything out if it, but behind the scenes it may help others. Meanwhile, I will tell everyone I know in SoCal. Really hate this distastful business practice. Dealerships that pull this crap need to be outted.

 

[doyouglas]

Funny story... My first reservation back in 2021 I had order through Bob Wondries Ford in Alhambra. They said they were going to markup reservations holder and I pumped the brakes and switch to Norm Reeve Cerrirtos Ford. Haven't had a issue since. My bronco was sold at Sticker price.

 

[2021WILDTRAKCDH]

Funny story... My first reservation back in 2021 I had order through Bob Wondries Ford in Alhambra. They said they were going to markup reservations holder and I pumped the brakes and switch to Norm Reeve Cerrirtos Ford. Haven't had a issue since. My bronco was sold at Sticker price.

So the dealer told me all 3 of the current bronco raptors in stock are from ones ford transfered to them when Bob Wondries closed.

And they Brag that they have now told all 3 order holders which I am included that they will set the price —. Does anyone at Ford care???

Is there a phone number or person I should contact at ford that can assist and at least be aware what is going on ?

 

[604Bronco]

@Ford Motor Company - Maybe you should stop asking for VINs to “help” and try to help in these situations. That would be great customer service…

 

[BlueWaffle]

@Ford Motor Company - Maybe you should stop asking for VINs to “help” and try to help in these situations. That would be great customer service…

Ford's presence on this site isn't to help, it's an empty attempt at damage control.

 

[2021WILDTRAKCDH]

So the dealer reaches out to me and said we found a $2500 private offer on the vehicle. I point out that the private offer are not the same as prove protection and share a memo another member shared with me that got price protection. They ignored it and doubted its validity. Then they withdraw the $2500 offer. I’m reminded of the movie boiler room. It’s so easy to stereo type these clowns.

My last text to the sales person : my words. Are below.

“The private offer is not the same program as price protection.


Take pride in what you do for a living. If you want more than part time a job as a sleazy car dealer

Learn about how to be an honest customer advocate.
And have a better life instead of finding ways to take advantage of people. “.
Again thanks FORD. After $1.5m in vehicle purchases by me during last 15 years …

thanks

 

[2021WILDTRAKCDH]

@Ford Motor Company - Maybe you should stop asking for VINs to “help” and try to help in these situations. That would be great customer service…

It’s monitored by someone at a service center who probably has zero knowledge about ford.

 

[holdentx]

Again thanks FORD. After $1.5m in vehicle purchases by me during last 15 years …

I'd be mad too in this situation, but you can't blame Ford until you tell them about it first. If you tell them and they don't do anything meaningful - then you can call them out all-day long.

Who should you contact? The whole situation about a dealer losing their franchise license and your order being re-allocated to a different dealer seems very unusual to me. I have to imagine someone at Ford contacted you when that whole thing went down?
If so, I'd start there and make it clear that it was their fault that a legit sales order you had was not honored by the franchise THEY chose to move your order to. Raptor allocations are pretty rare, so whomever on the Ford side moved the allocations is where I would start.

 

[DetroitChris]

@Ford Motor Company - Maybe you should stop asking for VINs to “help” and try to help in these situations. That would be great customer service…

FYI… Ford Customer Service is garbage. The ONLY reason they are asking everyone for their VIN numbers “so they can help them” is just for Ford to internally track their production issues. They really couldn’t care less about trying to actually help you like they are pretending to do. It’s a complete waste of time to even respond to Ford customer service on here. I trust Bill Cosby to make me a drink more than I trust Ford customer service to actually help with an issue.

 

[RoLyMa27]

I'd be mad too in this situation, but you can't blame Ford until you tell them about it first. If you tell them and they don't do anything meaningful - then you can call them out all-day long.

This situation sucks, and it would be nice to see this dealerships windows boarded up in a few months because people stopped buying cars from them. Dealerships are retailers and are free to set their prices as they see fit. This dealer and many more like them continue to exist and do business because customers walk through the door and pay 30k ADM. So contacting Ford accomplishes nothing.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Not a lawyer, no clue how a dealer loses a franchise, but it is not uncommon that when one company absorbs another , they have to honor whatever contracts they are currently signed in to.

Some say these sales contracts are pretty weak, but again, I have no idea, but considering the $$$ involved , it may not hurt to have a lawyer look over the agreements and see if they are enforceable.

The dealer has accepted the vehicle, so that may be proof they they were accepting the contract that covered it.
But lawyers also = $$$ , so it may be a wash or a further loss... or maybe you can recover the legal costs for them breaking a contract .... again, ask a lawyer.

(Come to think of it, Reddit used to have a sub-reddit "Ask a Lawyer", might get some guidance there. There are also other enterprises that can dispense legal advise for free or on the cheap.)

For a vehicle of this caliber(probably not worth the effort for a normal vehicle) , my working mans opinion based from so many stories I've read here is:

I'd get a sales contract that also has a provision that recognizes the order number and will also recognize the VIN # Ford assigns to that order # as it moves through the production process.
The thought being that at some point, the contract is narrowing down to THIS SPECIFIC VEHICLE and the price it will sell to you for. Without that, it can be viewed as being very vague and non-specific, therefore unenforceable.
In criminal law, the law would be called "void for vagueness ", not that it applies to contract law.

 

[2021WILDTRAKCDH]

I'd be mad too in this situation, but you can't blame Ford until you tell them about it first. If you tell them and they don't do anything meaningful - then you can call them out all-day long.

Who should you contact? The whole situation about a dealer losing their franchise license and your order being re-allocated to a different dealer seems very unusual to me. I have to imagine someone at Ford contacted you when that whole thing went down?
If so, I'd start there and make it clear that it was their fault that a legit sales order you had was not honored by the franchise THEY chose to move your order to. Raptor allocations are pretty rare, so whomever on the Ford side moved the allocations is where I would start.

thank you for reading my post …I realized that I didn’t thoroughly or clearly outline what has transpired with Ford Corporate/ Customer Service.
When I realized Ford of MONTEBELLO was stating they would not honor the signed agreement I had in place with Bob Wondries, I immediately contacted the sales mngr and then the GM at Ford of MONTEBELLO. The GM a never returned any of my messages and the sales manager stated they could charge whatever they wanted.
I contacted FORD Corporate 800 on 5 occasions and shared my experience. After 25-30 mins on hold each time , the ford customer service representative would read a script. “ All ford dealerships are independently owned and operated ….”
The reason I blame FORD in this situation is that FORD contacted me and told me my order was assigned by FORD to this dealer. Apparently, all Bronco Raptor orders from Bob Wondries were assigned to Ford of MONTEBELLO- a point my salesperson at MONTEBELLO gladly pointed out that they were getting 20-25k over MSRP for …which I do not believe. Again, how do you know when a car salesman is lying ???! When they are talking ..lol.
I don’t think my situation was unique (other than Bob Wondries loosing their franchise ).
I have been on this forum for @3 years and read numerous stories about golden ticket holders and quite a few bronco orders where unethical dealers changed the price upon delivery, lied to customers about an order even showing up , so I know I am not unique and others have experienced worse events at the hands of quite a few dealerships.
The car sales industry is home to arguably some of the least ethical people. Ford is implicit because the money is simply too good to pass up.
I am upset and disappointed- after waiting many years for a dream vehicle , I just need to accept that these things happen and move on.

 

[Ryslegit]

At the time I placed a reservation for my bronco I was living in Montebello and even I wouldn’t touch that dealer with a 10ft pole. They act like a hot shit dealer but their lot is always full of cars and I never saw many people there every time I passed by, I’m surprised they’re still in business.
Another funny thing was when looking for a Raptor I had also stopped by Bob Wondries, and at the time they wanted to sell me a “new” Raptor with over 3k miles and had a bunch of dings and scratches on it for msrp. Not surprised they went under.

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