Honolulu Ford stole my 7/14 Reservation (I never placed an order but now have a VIN for production)

[Dover]

Bottom line up front: I’m a day one reservation holder and today I received a VIN for an order I did not place at Honolulu Ford. During the last 10 months I've been actively trying to transfer my reservation to a different dealership but through Ford's inept customer service it has still not gone through.

Background: I was living in Las Vegas with orders to transfer to Hawaii when the reservation system came on line. When placing the reservation it asked to select your dealership (which I was not expecting) so I picked Honolulu Ford figuring it was just as good as any other on the island of Oahu. Wanting to get a later production year 2021 or early 2022 I decided to convert my reservation to an order late summer 2021. After reading all the stories on this forum, and per the FAQ section on Ford's website, I asked for a purchase agreement to be filled out and I was told flatly “no”. When I pushed on this (and I pushed hard) I was told that they will negotiate the price of my order once the Bronco arrives but at the current moment they will charge $6k above MSRP and they alluded it would be higher than that by the time it arrives on island.

I told them I would like to change the dealership reservation and started the process with Ford. The only problem is that Ford customer service has been abysmal and multiple times over the past 9-10 months I was told “your dealership transfer should go through in the next week or two.” Last November when I called for probably the 6th or 7th time to check on the transfer status, they said it hadn’t been approved and they had no timeline, and to not call back. After two months I called back. The lady I talked to said that the transfer had never been submitted at any point and she was using a higher level of management to submit my transfer. I was then told “one or two weeks and your transfer should be set”.

Today an email pops into my inbox about my 2022 Bronco! Hell yeah! I open it up thinking my transfer went through, and it’s my BRONCO SCHEDULED FOR PRODUCTION (with Vin) from Honolulu Ford. YGBSM. Naturally I reached out to the dealership and I’m getting silence. I plan on going in person either tomorrow or Monday and calling Ford Customer service on Monday as well.

So that's where I am at. What ideas do y’all have on how to approach this? Clearly the customer service line does not work.

@Ford Motor Company My first vehicle was a full size 4th generation Bronco, I previously owned a F250, and my current vehicle is a F150. We were looking purchase a new Mustang for my wife and of course I have been wanting the “new” Bronco since I was 16. The inept handling of this process is about to make me never purchase a Ford again.

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[Murph914]

Pretty early to call for masses with pitchforks. See what Ford and the dealer says first.

 

[Dover]

Pretty early to call for masses with pitchforks. See what Ford and the dealer says first.

I asked for ideas on how to approach this. Did I ask for a mass spam attack on dealership reviews or anything else? I'm looking for information on how to get through to Ford customer service or the dealership to ensure that my reservation number is protected so I can actually place an order that I want. If my past experiences with both the dealership and the customer service line are any indication, I am not optimistic.

 

[abe]

Contact Mike Levine on twitter or other social media. Tell him your dealer converted your order without permission. I would also say you've been trying to transfer your reservation because of shenanigans like this without luck.

 

[AZSky]

Contact Mike Levine on twitter or other social media. Tell him your dealer converted your order without permission. I would also say you've been trying to transfer your reservation because of shenanigans like this without luck.

It was Levine who encouraged the transfer..

 

[abe]

It was Levine who encouraged the transfer..

And he's also helped people with stolen orders and surprise ADM too.

 

[Snowdogyyz]

Pretty early to call for masses with pitchforks. See what Ford and the dealer says first.

I think the dealer has made their stance pretty clear.

 

[Murph914]

I asked for ideas on how to approach this. Did I ask for a mass spam attack on dealership reviews or anything else? I'm looking for information on how to get through to Ford customer service or the dealership to ensure that my reservation number is protected so I can actually place an order that I want. If my past experiences with both the dealership and the customer service line are any indication, I am not optimistic.

You’re not wrong - I just see more often than guys regret saying the dealer name early on. I have zero faith in Ford dealers myself.

 

[patch1103]

Just curious whether there’s been any updates on this? Also where are you thinking to transfer your reservation… one of the other Oahu dealerships?

 

[Dover]

Just curious whether there’s been any updates on this? Also where are you thinking to transfer your reservation… one of the other Oahu dealerships?

The update is I practically have given up, and the dealership still used my reservation for their stock (claiming it was an error on their part).

Ford customer service has not done anything about it despite multiple calls. I've constantly got the "somebody should be in contact with you in 5-10 days". Nobody has reached out.

On the dealership level I eventually was able to talk to the sales manager. They claim it was a random mistake and they would have tried to get in touch with me about my order (which they didn't). When asked why I wanted to transfer my reservation in the first place the original salesman said he never told me there would be a huge ADM (I had all of our convos in email that proved otherwise). When the sales manager asked what wanted and I told him I wanted my reservation back he asked if I still wanted a Bronco. I said yes but I am not willing to pay an ADM. He then told me to send the build I wanted and he would schedule it at their highest priority.

I sent him the build, he sent the order summary which I signed, and then he placed my order with a priority 10. Since then I have not talked to the dealership and I have called Ford customer service a couple of times with no changes. I have no doubt I most likely will not see my order, or even when if shows up they will still try to do the ADM game since that wasn't a true purchase agreement. All in all I've given up most hope.

 

[patch1103]

The update is I practically have given up, and the dealership still used my reservation for their stock (claiming it was an error on their part).

Ford customer service has not done anything about it despite multiple calls. I've constantly got the "somebody should be in contact with you in 5-10 days". Nobody has reached out.

On the dealership level I eventually was able to talk to the sales manager. They claim it was a random mistake and they would have tried to get in touch with me about my order (which they didn't). When asked why I wanted to transfer my reservation in the first place the original salesman said he never told me there would be a huge ADM (I had all of our convos in email that proved otherwise). When the sales manager asked what wanted and I told him I wanted my reservation back he asked if I still wanted a Bronco. I said yes but I am not willing to pay an ADM. He then told me to send the build I wanted and he would schedule it at their highest priority.

I sent him the build, he sent the order summary which I signed, and then he placed my order with a priority 10. Since then I have not talked to the dealership and I have called Ford customer service a couple of times with no changes. I have no doubt I most likely will not see my order, or even when if shows up they will still try to do the ADM game since that wasn't a true purchase agreement. All in all I've given up most hope.

That's a real bummer. So sorry to hear about this, but I hope it works out okay for you. When I lived in Hawaii, I kind of got used to the auto dealers screwing you over. They have a captive market with not too many choices.

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