Shady dealer tactics still going strong

[Darnon]

Now I am reading complaints on Reddit and here…specifically Mavericks that were ordered on the FORD site, mine was ordered at the FORD site and assigned the transfer to the dealer.

You don't "order" anything on the Ford site. All it does it send the dealer an e-mail "Such and such person is interested in buying a vehicle with this configuration. Here's their contact information."

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[Suzukiridr14]

I filled out the form. Unfortunately, I'm on an island, so there were not many options, and none on your list. Although there is one now as an avoid.

To a certain extent, I am blaming Ford. Their name and logo are on the front of the building, so on some level - even if it's a very small percentage - they are a part of all this. But I do realize this is almost all up to the discretion of the dealer. And they chose the tactic of bullying and belittling hoping I'll just disappear and leave them with two XLT's that they can markup to 41K each.

They have you over a barrel because you live on an Island, and don't have much choice where to shop. Can't go out of state and buy elsewhere.

 

[Noahma]

Wait until it's crowded in there. Walk in and start yelling demanding to see the GM. Make clear when you're yelling that people know they aren't honoring an agreed upon price. Leave a bad review in every place possible right now detailing what they did to you. See if any local media is interested in picking up the story how you have a signed SO and they aren't honoring. If in fact the salesman signed knowing his signature was worthless than he purposefully misled you. That makes it a scam. If you don't get the trucks, at least go down fighting.

This! and...
Bring in the other members that have Mavericks ordered from the same dealership and confront them as a group. A few angry customers yelling about the same thing in the dealership will do more than just one single angry customer.

 

[Mav_RICK]

They have you over a barrel because you live on an Island, and don't have much choice where to shop. Can't go out of state and buy elsewhere.

One would think it might be better to order from the mainland and just pay the fee to have it shipped to the island. Might be better in the long run.

 

[ejgroth2620]

We ordered 2 XLTs almost a year ago, and they finally came in yesterday. Went into the dealer today - Honolulu Ford - and got hit with 6k markup each, so 12k total. Salesman swore up and down he disclosed the markup from the beginning, which is absolutely false. We’ve had numerous calls, texts, and emails over the last 11 months and there was nothing about 6K markup. We even have a signed order sheet without the 6K. Then he got heated when I was calling him out on never disclosing the markup and told us to try go buy a used one for this price, or go out on the lot and see how much it costs to buy one now. No shit, man. That’s why we put in an order and waited patiently for a year. Beyond infuriated. Called Ford and was basically told that they can do nothing. I thought this markup fiasco was supposed to be over.

I get the vibe the salesman is trying to be purposefully combative and abrasive just so I’ll walk away and he can actually sell them for the 41k sticker price. They are practically begging us to just walk away. He was also going off on heated tangents about if I ran a business, I would understand about profit and margins, blah blah blah. I actually do own a business, even though that's none of his business. He was also adamant that there are zero dealers out there actually selling any vehicles at MSRP, and he acted shocked that I was gullible enough to think so. Well, we bought a new Chevy straight off the lot last year at MSRP so we had something to run around in while waiting for our Maverick. More lies.

Greed sucks, and this is so shortsighted on Ford’s part. They have a sweet moment in the sun with this truck and the Bronco, and they’re killing themselves long term by bullying and shitting on customers who put in orders and were willing to wait 1 year for a chance to drive a Mav. If this is how they are going to run things, then this is basically the last time I walk into a Ford dealership.

Edited: Just wanted to add that I've already tried contacting Ford via twitter and Mike Levine as well. I'm not agreeing to go away, so I'm hoping they can't just sell the trucks anyhow?

Edit #2: I should mention since this has been brought up a few times. I said I'd buy all the extended warranties, rust proofing, tinting, undercoating, etc. He said "no, that's just you paying for stuff you benefit from." I shit you not.

They know the next person who buys your truck will have to buy the same crap, plus the dealer markup.

 

[Finklejag]

The dealers are Ford’s customers, not you. Ford doesn’t care about you.

 

[5ninefish]

OP, you did walk away, right?

Oh yeah. Iʻm not paying 6K markup. This just reinforces the dealerʻs position, and the deceitful practice goes on and on. I realize that Iʻm probably fighting a losing battle, but Iʻm hoping to make it such a hassle for them by not going away that the next guy up for a Maverick has an easier time.

KITV (local news) is interested in interviewing me. I said that Iʻll meet them on Monday for an interview. LFG.

 

[Old Man]

Ford announced that they were going to rein in the aforementioned practices. So yes they have some ownership of the problem.
Ford could help the author if they chose to. All it would take is a phone call.
if I were in the authors shoes I would contact the state attorney general. All states have a consumer affairs division.
They might be able to get something done. If there is a local tv station that has the investigative group that goes after shady business dealings. I guarantee that the dealer and sales person does not want their dirty dealings paraded on the 6:00 news.
When Mazda originally brought out the Miata these types of business practices were going on. It took a couple years to put the fire out.
it’s too bad that a lawyer and their fees would exceed what the dealership is marking up the truck.
If there is a purchase agreement I don’t see how the dealer can get away with the price changes.

Ford doesn't have control, the dealer is the wholesaler buying a vehicle from Ford and selling it to a customer. The dealer has the legal right to run their business within state franchise laws and Ford franchise contract. About the most they can do is reduce allocations to bad dealers. Ford is trying to change the bad dealer behavior with non-negotiated prices but they can't do it with traditional cars. They are trying to do it with their EV division but are being sued by dealers, dealer associations and facing criticism from some legislators for setting some customer focused rules.

You may want to think Ford can do something but if you don't like the price Target charges for a microwave oven do you call GE and demand they do something? Caveat emptor, a legal principal, meaning the buyer has responsibility to assess the quality of a purchase prior to buying including the seller's ethics and principles unless they violate the law.

And tv stations are going to be hesitant to expose a car dealer since a good share of their commercial dollars come from car dealers.

 

[Old Man]

Sue them for identity theft and conversion. They used your ID to obtain these vehicles that they could not have obtained otherwise.

That Ford allows this to happen with no consequence, is one of the big reasons I walked away from Ford and will never look back.

I've heard Ford is the only one with bad dealers. Or was I being naive?

 

[bgn]

You may want to think Ford can do something but if you don't like the price Target charges for a microwave oven do you call GE and demand they do something?

Except I didn't custom order a microwave at MSRP from GE. And Target doesn't have microwaves in stock because they knew I personally wanted one.

On the other hand, the only reason why this crappy dealer has a Maverick on their lot is because a customer placed an order. That's it. Feels very scammy and like straight up fraud.

 

[spyderman01]

Ford has no legal recourse because each state has franchise laws saying the dealer has the right to set price. You ordered the cars from the dealer not Ford. The dealer bought them from Ford. So quit blaming Ford. They are trying to go to non-negotiated pricing but are getting sued by dealers and some in Congress say they will investigate them if they try that.

You say you have a signed order with the original price, is it signed by an authorized representative of the dealer? If so, does Hawaii allow that as a binding contract? If so you can sue but it will cost you more than the $12,000.

Did you know this dealer had a bad reputation before you ordered?

It's even worse in some states as a law here was just passed which prevents direct to consumer sales and prohibits manufacturers from punishing dealers over pricing! Basically strengthening our current franchise laws and preventing manufacturers like Ford from even doing anything.

 

[elmo3000]

I am sorry you are going through this. Unfortunately, honor in business is dying. I can assure you that not all dealerships are s**t, or money grabbers or opportunistic. Now I do understand the thought process from a dealership point of view. Ford has struggled to make vehicles to deliver to dealerships to sell to the public thus the supply is low and demand is still high.

How does this affect dealerships? Well, Imagine you own a candy store and you went from the shelves being stocked by your manufacturers to then only having one or two shelves available that have candy.... yet you still have staff you need to pay as they have families to feed and bills to pay. The ONLY way you can meet the supply to pay your staff is to raise the price of your product. (This truly was a Ford problem to begin with that enticed dealers to mark up their products.... it was a panicked time with unknown timeframes of when more inventory would come).

Now on the flip side, I do work for a family run single point Ford dealership (not one that calls themselves family run but is actually a corporation because they have multiple points) who has integrity and cares for the community. Our owner does not condone, bait and switch tac tics, he does not like lying nor does he condone selling vehicles over MSRP. We have NOT sold a single vehicle over MSRP during the pandemic, or in the past and not in the future. (Yes, specialty vehicles that we may see one unit a year such as a GT350/ 500 or Raptor will have a premium but not a price gouge) because our owner does not want to impact the community. We have managed our business for 90 years and have placed ourselves in a good position. Are we the largest dealership in the area? NO! Do we behave with integrity? YES. Our customer satisfaction score is 4.98 out of 5.0 which comes from the top and is passed down through the ranks and onto the interaction with our guests. Are we supported in the way we feel we should be from Ford? Not as much as we could be for an integrity dealership! We follow the rules, take care of our customers.... yet it seems the bigger dealerships that have broken the rules, marked up their vehicles still seem to get the inventory they need.

We will not sell a Maverick that a customer has ordered over MSRP and will honor any rebate that is associated with the customer too. (not that Ford makes it easy to do price protection and sometimes when a guest says they have a rebate it doesn't always show in the SmartVincent ..... that is a whole other story/headache.)

Now on the other side of that, we also have guests trying to trade out of their Mavericks and want ALL the money and then some - so the "price gouging" goes both ways!! You can't shout "fire" and then deny that you are also holding the torch when you want to trade (this is not directed at you the OP but just a general nudge to the majority..... I get it, we all want the most for what we have). So with that, we DO NOT pay over MSRP on a trade of a Maverick either.

Anyways, I am starting to ramble.....

 

[Debbiemc1958]

We ordered 2 XLTs almost a year ago, and they finally came in yesterday. Went into the dealer today - Honolulu Ford - and got hit with 6k markup each, so 12k total. Salesman swore up and down he disclosed the markup from the beginning, which is absolutely false. We’ve had numerous calls, texts, and emails over the last 11 months and there was nothing about 6K markup. We even have a signed order sheet without the 6K. Then he got heated when I was calling him out on never disclosing the markup and told us to try go buy a used one for this price, or go out on the lot and see how much it costs to buy one now. No shit, man. That’s why we put in an order and waited patiently for a year. Beyond infuriated. Called Ford and was basically told that they can do nothing. I thought this markup fiasco was supposed to be over.

I get the vibe the salesman is trying to be purposefully combative and abrasive just so I’ll walk away and he can actually sell them for the 41k sticker price. They are practically begging us to just walk away. He was also going off on heated tangents about if I ran a business, I would understand about profit and margins, blah blah blah. I actually do own a business, even though that's none of his business. He was also adamant that there are zero dealers out there actually selling any vehicles at MSRP, and he acted shocked that I was gullible enough to think so. Well, we bought a new Chevy straight off the lot last year at MSRP so we had something to run around in while waiting for our Maverick. More lies.

Greed sucks, and this is so shortsighted on Ford’s part. They have a sweet moment in the sun with this truck and the Bronco, and they’re killing themselves long term by bullying and shitting on customers who put in orders and were willing to wait 1 year for a chance to drive a Mav. If this is how they are going to run things, then this is basically the last time I walk into a Ford dealership.

Edited: Just wanted to add that I've already tried contacting Ford via twitter and Mike Levine as well. I'm not agreeing to go away, so I'm hoping they can't just sell the trucks anyhow?

Edit #2: I should mention since this has been brought up a few times. I said I'd buy all the extended warranties, rust proofing, tinting, undercoating, etc. He said "no, that's just you paying for stuff you benefit from." I shit you not.

I saw this post and freaked out! I immediately texted my salesman and he said "no markups here". I will pick it up next week and keep everyone updated. Definitely been happy (so far) with my experience at Larry Miller Ford in Arizona.

 

[Debbiemc1958]

I saw this post and freaked out! I immediately texted my salesman and he said "no markups here". I will pick it up next week and keep everyone updated. Definitely been happy (so far) with my experience at Larry Miller Ford in Arizona.

So my salesman (the no markup here guy) has an XLT Maverick for sale. Contact Gary Warning at 616-421-5500.

 

[ejspur]

I waited for 13 months for my 22 XLT Maverick to come in and when I ordered it from the dealer I specifically asked our sales lady about a mark up after it got here and she told me they don’t do that. She said once I sign the buyers contract with the price on it that’s what we will pay. Well lo and behold when she called and said my Maverick was ready I went down to pick it up all nervous only to find out that I was getting for the exact price that was on the contract. This is the 4th vehicle I bought from her at this dealership and she hasn’t steered me wrong yet.
It’s a shame that other dealers try to mark’em up so that the buyers will just get pissed and walk away so they can sell them for a bigger profit margins. All I can say is thank goodness for good ol small town dealership ethics.

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