Heated Debate with Dealer about Private Offer

[Profiteer]

So after 500 days my truck arrives at dealer yesterday.

I have previously asked my salesman about the private offer, but they said they don't see one and wait till truck gets in and then it should appear. We know how that went.

I should also mention they have no clue what this offer is about, that I qualify or any of it. I had to spell it out to them, sending the EFC10955 document wording to them. When my truck came in, my salesman asked if I could send the document again when I asked how the offer was going.

I knew at that point I needed to go in and talk in person.

The salesman was fine to deal with and I had him try the phone number, email search, and also a cert number using the formula @fordvideoguy gave, it actually came back with a certificate for someone with the same exact sales code as mine.

But the Dealer Rep and some other guy kept coming in and out of the office and making all types of remarks such as:

Rep: we are not going lose 3k for you to get the truck cheaper since you have no certificate
Me: I am not asking for you to pay for my private offer, it's a certificate that needs to be generated.
Rep: well you don't have a certificate so you aren't getting any rebate
Me: You have to talk to your inventory specialist to get it, per EFC10955
Rep: no you need to talk to Ford, we already checked and you have no certificate
ME: Many people on the forums have run into this same issue and the dealership and inventory specialist have to work it out to generate the certificate when you see I qualify
Rep: I DONT read forums. I have been doing this for over 40 years and you don't need to tell me how to do my job
Me: I am not, The FORD document says for you to work with your specialist to generate it. I try to hand him the document and he won't grab it, so I start to reading the part about contacting the inventory specialist to him and he just loudly talks over me and then growls and walks off.
ME: There is a formula to use that gives the cert number to you
Rep: I don't do formulas, you don't have a certificate so you get no money.
ME: I used the formula and it brought up another guy with same order code as me and his shows the 2750
Rep: Well he gets the offer and you don't
ME: Well your not the one losing the 3k offer so you don't care of course.

This goes back and forth some more. They even said I changed some of my options and that might have screwed it up. I said no way removing SIBL back in 2021 has anything to do with this process. I said if you read the document you see I should get the offer, but they don't care.

He finally went to call someone about it. Came back and said there is no certificate and the person he called said they cant do anything, its auto generated. I said you have to get it generated, he was very irritated and walked off for the last time.

@fordvideoguy @Ford Motor Company is there no recourse on this process to get the offer. I meet all the requirements:
COVPd 2022 Hybrid order
Rollover and confirmed before cutoff date

TLDR: This Private Offer situation is very screwed up

Sounds like a scumbag dealership. Dox them for the good of the people

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[GTBuzz]

Sounds like a scumbag dealership. Dox them for the good of the people

They were fine until it came to this private offer. This 3k offer makes this very big deal. They really have no clue and are digging their heels in to avoid fixing it.

I bought a car last year from them as well. No issues at all because there wasn't any convoluted special private offer that gets screwed up so easy. Had a 1k rebate easily applied to that deal.

Today sucked. I am still working on trying to fix this, I want the truck. I got plenty of time since my truck has a safety issue on seat belt and wont be sold soon anyways. But they will be talked about if this doesnt get resolved, even if it does I'll steer people away from them.

 

[BradnChristine]

I hear you, I am trying to see what are my options I can take other than a review bomb that can backfire. I think something in the Bronco sport forum had something like that in the past.

They are holding my truck for at least a month to fix a seatbelt issue, so I got time escalate as time goes.

RED ALERT!!!! "holding my truck for at least a month to fix a seatbelt issue"

WTH is that about? I'd be taking delivery and bringing it bck fr that if at all possible. Sounds a lot like the bogus "rear door recall" in Tennessee.

​

 

[GTBuzz]

RED ALERT!!!! "holding my truck for at least a month to fix a seatbelt issue"

WTH is that about? I'd be taking delivery and bringing it bck fr that if at all possible. Sounds a lot like the bogus "rear door recall" in Tennessee.

​

Lol, yea I know.

But apparently if the airbag indicator shows a fault, in this case caused by a faulty seatbelt, then they can't sell due to liability.

Like the 2022 airbag recall situation where people waited for months to get resolved before they could take delivery.

If this is wrong, would be interested to hear.

But that is ok, because if I could pick it up today then I'd be more in a bind about whether to accept the no private offer. Now I got time to think through what to do.

 

[BradnChristine]

Lol, yea I know.

But apparently if the airbag indicator shows a fault, in this case caused by a faulty seatbelt, then they can't sell due to liability.

Like the 2022 airbag recall situation where people waited for months to get resolved before they could take delivery.

If this is wrong, would be interested to hear.

But that is ok, because if I could pick it up today then I'd be more in a bind about whether to accept the no private offer. Now I got time to think through what to do.

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you...but this is a new one...faulty seatbelt causing a "do not sell". I certainly would advise that you keep in VERY close contact with the dealer. The truck is worth the effort.
My 491 day wait is evaporating from memory each time I look at my new truck. It was a terrible pain to wait, but if they got shady (or, in your case, shadier), I'd have really been fit to be tied. My dealer made it so easy, I'm surprised they didn't yell at me to CHILL!! because I was so worried at every step.

 

[surfstar]

This is the worst level of incompetency. It doesn't cost the dealer anything and it helps out their customer - and only to the point of getting the offer that they deserve. Not going beyond. Just on the level.

Best of luck!

 

[MakinDoForNow]

They were fine until it came to this private offer. This 3k offer makes this very big deal. They really have no clue and are digging their heels in to avoid fixing it.

I bought a car last year from them as well. No issues at all because there wasn't any convoluted special private offer that gets screwed up so easy. Had a 1k rebate easily applied to that deal.

Today sucked. I am still working on trying to fix this, I want the truck. I got plenty of time since my truck has a safety issue on seat belt and wont be sold soon anyways. But they will be talked about if this doesnt get resolved, even if it does I'll steer people away from them.

Looks like they repeated your order code to someone else and either they got the special offer or it was cancelled when their name did not match. Have you reconfirmed recently that your certificate is still valid?

 

[GTBuzz]

Looks like they repeated your order code to someone else and either they got the special offer or it was cancelled when their name did not match. Have you reconfirmed recently that your certificate is still valid?

Yea it's possible, I bet if they didn't create two identical order codes, then my offer would probably pop up. The other order that matches mine was for $2750, so we both ordered a 22 hybrid maverick with the same order code. He got a cert# and I don't have one.

 

[Tice66]

They want you to back out so they can mark your truck up and sell it.

You need to name this dealer. They are scumbags. Public shaming is the only recourse you have to get anything accomplished.

They will obviously continue to screw you around, and @Ford Motor Company won't do ANYTHING to help you. Pathetically, the Ford social media reps stay silent when threads like these pop up.

Well that could be it ..........they want to sell it for a huge markup! When mine arrived they immediately asked if I wanted to sell it............I smiled and said "after 374 days there is no way I'm selling you this truck" As far as dealers go I had to steer my dealer on a couple issues, one being getting in my rollover order in before the cutoff date. Not a small issue. Check for private offer........even though they get every correspondence we do. I learned more in the forums than the dealer got from the district rep.
Thank you forums..............

 

[Dude84]

So after 500 days my truck arrives at dealer yesterday.

I have previously asked my salesman about the private offer, but they said they don't see one and wait till truck gets in and then it should appear. We know how that went.

I should also mention they have no clue what this offer is about, that I qualify or any of it. I had to spell it out to them, sending the EFC10955 document wording to them. When my truck came in, my salesman asked if I could send the document again when I asked how the offer was going.

I knew at that point I needed to go in and talk in person.

The salesman was fine to deal with and I had him try the phone number, email search, and also a cert number using the formula @fordvideoguy gave, it actually came back with a certificate for someone with the same exact sales code as mine.

But the Dealer Rep and some other guy kept coming in and out of the office and making all types of remarks such as:

Rep: we are not going lose 3k for you to get the truck cheaper since you have no certificate
Me: I am not asking for you to pay for my private offer, it's a certificate that needs to be generated.
Rep: well you don't have a certificate so you aren't getting any rebate
Me: You have to talk to your inventory specialist to get it, per EFC10955
Rep: no you need to talk to Ford, we already checked and you have no certificate
ME: Many people on the forums have run into this same issue and the dealership and inventory specialist have to work it out to generate the certificate when you see I qualify
Rep: I DONT read forums. I have been doing this for over 40 years and you don't need to tell me how to do my job
Me: I am not, The FORD document says for you to work with your specialist to generate it. I try to hand him the document and he won't grab it, so I start to reading the part about contacting the inventory specialist to him and he just loudly talks over me and then growls and walks off.
ME: There is a formula to use that gives the cert number to you
Rep: I don't do formulas, you don't have a certificate so you get no money.
ME: I used the formula and it brought up another guy with same order code as me and his shows the 2750
Rep: Well he gets the offer and you don't
ME: Well your not the one losing the 3k offer so you don't care of course.

This goes back and forth some more. They even said I changed some of my options and that might have screwed it up. I said no way removing SIBL back in 2021 has anything to do with this process. I said if you read the document you see I should get the offer, but they don't care.

He finally went to call someone about it. Came back and said there is no certificate and the person he called said they cant do anything, its auto generated. I said you have to get it generated, he was very irritated and walked off for the last time.

@fordvideoguy @Ford Motor Company is there no recourse on this process to get the offer. I meet all the requirements:
COVPd 2022 Hybrid order
Rollover and confirmed before cutoff date

TLDR: This Private Offer situation is very screwed up

If you haven't already, you may try contacting Ford Marketing at 1-800-334-4375. My dealer had problems finding mine because I had moved and it was under a different address - I actually had to contact Ford Marketing twice to find mine and then once I had the certificate it was fine.

 

[SLingbarT]

Yea the two guys coming into the office were not trying to work with me at all.

Perhaps they were upset when they had called me earlier that my truck was unable to be delivered because of an airbag recall that could take a month or more. I told them that was 2022 not 23s. It's like if you question anything they say they get irritated. As soon as I walked in the door, they said its recalled.

Their service department guy told them they were wrong after they took me to service department.

And now we know why Ford wants to bypass the Dealership Experience. Dealing with high school dropouts is so wholesome, and to spend 8 hours to buy something is excruciating.

 

[MakinDoForNow]

Yea it's possible, I bet if they didn't create two identical order codes, then my offer would probably pop up. The other order that matches mine was for $2750, so we both ordered a 22 hybrid maverick with the same order code. He got a cert# and I don't have one.

Per Fordvideoguy in on of his video's, if I remember right, some dealers may generate their order codes like salesman George as G001, G002, etc and start over each year. Then when 22orders were reentered for 2023's, your order number was inadvertently reused for either someone else's 2022 or even a 2023 order. The private offer was good for your dealer I'd plus your order number plus your name and address etc. Your private offer would not show up as available on fords computer, I believe, once Ford makes a 2023 with your dealer I'd, and order number G002 or whatever it was. Also some reported a problem if name did not exactly match on 2022 & 2023 orders, but I don't actually know if that was true. It MIGHT be possible that if dealer accidentally gave your private offer to the other guy they would have to eat your $2,750.00 credit if they gave it to you. Good luck, I got my $2750 offer as my MSRP dealer did everything correctly even taking new copy of DL and verifying name and address on both orders were identical.

 

[Ron Neal]

When I picked u my 22 Lariat in Dec of 21 it had the seatbelt (no sale) recall. L/Rear I think but dealer fixed it and I got my truck, something about length of anchor bolts or something like that, don't remember and don't care since I sold the truck a year later.

 

[T-Dog]

Dude that fuckin sucks and sorry that is happening. Nobody knows anyone who ever said "when I grow up I want to be a car salesman". That is a job that is self selecting for dullards and simpletons. There are some that are not terrible, but they are rare. Your experience is not at all atypical.

When it was time to begin the purchase process last year, I walked into, and out of 6 different dealers, with zero confidence in any of them. So I went to the Ford Commercial/fleet dealer in town. They mostly sell custom trucks, like box trucks, bucket trucks, etc. I asked if they could order me a couple Mavericks, the two sales guys looked at each other and kind of shrugged and said ""Suppose so, don't see why not" and that was that. No markups, no prep fees, no doc fees, no hassle.

I'm offended by your remark that car salesman are " self selecting for dullards and simpletons." I have known many car salesmen/women that are far from your description. I suppose your a rocket scientist or surgeon?

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