Response from Ford about dealers converting Bronco reservations unexpectedly

[ZackDanger]

This is why Ford is still in the 20th century. Go direct to consumer, you don’t need dealerships. Cheaper cars, happier customers.

State law often prevents direct-to-consumer auto sales...

Whenever a company tries to buck the trend and try it, they get hit with lawsuits from the dealer groups.

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[elmystico]

@Cheshire stepped in and got the ball rolling on Twitter with Mike Levine. That was a key first move. Hat tip to him!

MANY dealers undoubtedly did this to MANY reservation holders, not just "a small number" suggested by Ford's announcement. I think it's likely they did it to every reservation they have, whether by accident or intentionally by sketchy policy. Did Ford require them to undo this? Are all the dealers going to voluntarily reset their orders to reservations now? Doubt it. Did Ford require dealers to give customers a guaranteed price before converting? No. They said customers should contact them and discuss.

Both sides need to do some work to fix this, including reservation holders. If you know someone who is not on B6G, be sure to tell them to contact/visit their dealer ASAP and discuss pricing, get it in writing or, if necessary, reset their order to a reservation so they can move it to a trustworthy dealer with fair pricing.

AFAIK, this announcement did not get e-mailed to every single reservation holder. I did not get any emails from Ford about this. I think that if Ford is truly trying to be fair to its hundreds of thousands of potential customers, they should clearly state to every one of them of this policy: "Reservation holders must provide consent to convert to an order."

 

[SpecOpsHippie]

This is as concerning to me as the dealers making unilateral decisions to increase margins at the cost to the customer. It is showing a disconnect between Big Ford and its dealerships. I really believe Ford is trying now to do business in the 21st century. The dealerships are stuck in the seventies. No leadership from Ford except reactionary protocol. I haven’t bought a new Ford in some years and I haven’t seen this archaic approach to the dealer/ customer relationship in years. In an age where transparency is key, the Firs dealership system is way way behind. They just don’t realize how informed their potential customers are.
Ford is the heaviest company in North America when it comes to dealer overhead at $9.6B tied up just in dealerships. All of which we have to pay for.

 

[Ken87BroncoII]

In this day and age, we are very quick to throw our hands in the air and cry 'foul.' But maybe cooler heads should prevail. I don't see a "crisis" and I don't suspect dealers are "poaching" orders either. If, by some odd chance, your 'preferred' dealer is trying to poach your reservation, it wouldn't take much more than a phone call to Ford and that problem would be resolved promptly. Full disclosure; I have no professional affiliation with any Ford dealer. I'm just a consumer and reservation holder (converted to an order on Jan. 20!).

Think this through: if you have a reservation, there are two things that are going to happen; 1. you convert to an order, or 2. you flake out. If you have a reservation, then you have first dibs on that rig.

If your dealer converted the order without speaking to you, it's likely because they understand that either way, that Bronco is getting ordered, and if you don't take it, they'll sell it to someone else. I would also think that your dealer has more-than-good reason to believe the order will be going through them, since you are the one who selected them as your 'preferred' dealer. Also, at this stage if the game, your 'preferred' dealer should know you by name, and if they don't, then shame on you. Furthermore, you have at least two or three *months* to select/change your specifications.

Some of you are really good with those memes. Who can post a clip of the scene from Airplane, in the control tower, when everyone is in a panic and running around like crazy?

 

[CDN Jen]

I just called the Ford number the OP provided. The lady on the phone was nice and tried to help but said she couldn't change the order back to a reservation. She took down my details, confirmed that I never signed an order agreement, then said I had to go back to the dealer and ask them to convert the order back to a reservation.

This is unreal.

 

[Pancho Kornwallace]

first

Technically it should be "frist" if you are following tradition.

 

[Cheshire]

I just called the Ford number the OP provided. The lady on the phone was nice and tried to help but said she couldn't change the order back to a reservation. She took down my details, confirmed that I never signed an order agreement, then said I had to go back to the dealer and ask them to convert the order back to a reservation.
This is unreal.

Try the number below. Not everyone at Ford is up to speed yet.

 

[CDN Jen]

That's the number I called. The rep I spoke to said they received an email from Ford about the issue, which instructed them to "capture" the customer's details, confirm there was no signed agreement, and advise the customer to go back to the dealer and ask them to change the order back to a reservation.

 

[CPL_Rabbit]

Think this through: if you have a reservation, there are two things that are going to happen; 1. you convert to an order, or 2. you flake out. If you have a reservation, then you have first dibs on that rig.

3. You scoff at the $5000 ADM and move to another dealership that aren't crooks.

Until Ford stepped in, a conversion to Order locks the customer to your 2 options. A reservation still has #3, and leverage to negotiate. You don't think a career salesman might consider 'adjusting' the balance if he/she can?

There may be instances of this that were foolish dealerships making a misguided effort to smooth the process. It's very likely that there were also instances of this being a classic Hard-Sell tactic. Either way, it was communicated that the process was to "agree on terms and then convert to order".

 

[Bronco4lyfe85]

In this day and age, we are very quick to throw our hands in the air and cry 'foul.' But maybe cooler heads should prevail. I don't see a "crisis" and I don't suspect dealers are "poaching" orders either. If, by some odd chance, your 'preferred' dealer is trying to poach your reservation, it wouldn't take much more than a phone call to Ford and that problem would be resolved promptly. Full disclosure; I have no professional affiliation with any Ford dealer. I'm just a consumer and reservation holder (converted to an order on Jan. 20!).

Think this through: if you have a reservation, there are two things that are going to happen; 1. you convert to an order, or 2. you flake out. If you have a reservation, then you have first dibs on that rig.

If your dealer converted the order without speaking to you, it's likely because they understand that either way, that Bronco is getting ordered, and if you don't take it, they'll sell it to someone else. I would also think that your dealer has more-than-good reason to believe the order will be going through them, since you are the one who selected them as your 'preferred' dealer. Also, at this stage if the game, your 'preferred' dealer should know you by name, and if they don't, then shame on you. Furthermore, you have at least two or three *months* to select/change your specifications.

Some of you are really good with those memes. Who can post a clip of the scene from Airplane, in the control tower, when everyone is in a panic and running around like crazy?

I like how you say you don’t see a crisis and that if by chance a dealer is trying to poach your reservation, just call Ford.” Then you say, it’s likely they converted your order “knowing it’s getting ordered either way and if you don’t take it they’ll sell it to someone else.” Yet, when Ford support is called they say they have no control and all converted orders are locked to that dealership. So essentially they’re doing exactly what you say isn’t happening and consumers should call Ford who is doing the exact opposite of what you suggest they’ll do. Did you even read the complaints?

???

I couldn’t make up a more clueless reply. Are you serious?

 

[BlueBronco]

UPDATE.

My dealer finally returned my phone call minutes ago. After a bunch of fast talk on his end, I reminded him that I did not give him permission to convert my order. He offered up (really quickly I may add) that Ford has given them the ability to pull the order and convert back into a reservation. He said he would do so today and that it will probably take overnight to process but should show in my account tomorrow. I will keep an eye on it and update when it is back to a reservation.

 

[North7]

This is most excellent for the informed and removes a lot of stress. Glad to see this get resolved quickly before it got real out of hand and I hope Ford gets a policy in place with the marketing team to fix it, then punt said dealer to the curb!!!! All we can do is keep pushing the information to social media.

MANY dealers undoubtedly did this to MANY reservation holders, not just "a small number" suggested by Ford's announcement. I think it's likely they did it to every reservation they have, whether by accident or intentionally by sketchy policy. Did Ford require them to undo this? Are all the dealers going to voluntarily reset their orders to reservations now? Doubt it. Did Ford require dealers to give customers a guaranteed price before converting? No. They said customers should contact them and discuss.

Both sides need to do some work to fix this, including reservation holders. If you know someone who is not on B6G, be sure to tell them to contact/visit their dealer ASAP and discuss pricing, get it in writing or, if necessary, reset their order to a reservation so they can move it to a trustworthy dealer with fair pricing.

AFAIK, this announcement did not get e-mailed to every single reservation holder. I did not get any emails from Ford about this. I think that if Ford is truly trying to be fair to its hundreds of thousands of potential customers, they should clearly state to every one of them of this policy: "Reservation holders must provide consent to convert to an order."

This is fantastic news from Ford for reigning in these rogue dealers and helping out the Bronco6g forum members. Thank you to Mike Levine and Jim Farley.

But let's be truthful, if these shady dealers did this to a few dozen Bronco6g forum members you can be guaranteed they did it to a few hundred or a few thousand unsuspecting, unaware and unknowledgable general public Bronco buyers. Does Ford truly want to change the buying model, to earn themselves a better reputation, not melinined by shady dealers?

If so, Ford must quickly put some safeguards in place to 100% guarantee a dealer can never enter an order to the system until there is a signed purchase agreement in place and the customer gives their express written consent.

 

[Parker]

One reason Tesla does so well - they are not stuck with thieving dealers.

 

[jxc]

This is fantastic news from Ford for reigning in these rogue dealers and helping out the Bronco6g forum members. Thank you to Mike Levine and Jim Farley.

But let's be truthful, if these shady dealers did this to a few dozen Bronco6g forum members you can be guaranteed they did it to a few hundred or a few thousand unsuspecting, unaware and unknowledgable general public Bronco buyers. Does Ford truly want to change the buying model, to earn themselves a better reputation, not melinined by shady dealers?

If so, Ford must quickly put some safeguards in place to 100% guarantee a dealer can never enter an order to the system until there is a signed purchase agreement in place and the customer gives their express written consent.

They should add a feature to the reservation page that enables the customer to move the reservation into a 'clear to order' status.

 

[Efthreeoh]

Power of the internet, people!!!! Words are the new weapons of this century and the internet is the battleground.

Too bad most of it sucks though...

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