Keep an eye out for shady dealerships

[farleyt88]

Purchased a new Vehicle on 1-1-22 from Ford in Cincinnati. Kept waiting and waiting for my Ford Pass Rewards to show up. 30 days goes by and I reach out to Ford Pass Rewards' customer care. Come to find out, the dealership used my points to discount a Service Plan on 1-15-22 that I know nothing about. I live 3+ hours from there and haven't been back since 1-1.

I should've known something was up because, when I was there on Jan 1st, they factored an extra $~700 towards my payoff for the trade in I had. Then, on Jan 10th they messaged me asking for the payoff quote. I was quick to send it back to them and said, "if you send any amount less than what's on my sales contract then that changes all the numbers on the contract". They assured me they were going to keep the contract. I think they were planning to pocket that extra $700ish.

The reason I say that is, we did a bunch of the deal over the phone, before I made the 3 hour trip. When I got there, they realized they had made a big mistake on the numbers they quoted me. They ended up getting pretty close to what the original quote was for, but I'm sure it took a big chunk out of what they get to pocket from the deal.

My belief is they're trying to find any way to get some of that chunk back and using my rewards points to discount a service plan is probably the one way. Might keep an eye out for this for anyone waiting on your rewards points to show up.

I'm not sure what can be done to correct this. I was planning on using the points for some accessories. I've reached out to the sales person, with no response yet. We'll see if they correct this or not, just wanted to make sure others are aware of this practice as I'm sure they're not the only place to do this.

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[Sykotyk]

Yeah. That's sketchy. If you didn't sign for anything, then that service plan is fraud. Those points still hold a financial value.

 

[Maverstang]

We should keep a register of shady dealers…

People need to know about them before choosing a dealer.

 

[Bushpilot]

I'm not sure what can be done to correct this.

Well, if what you say is accurate, and you didn't sign something you were not aware of, they are thieves. Treat them as such.

Perhaps the points are lost, but then they had better be ponying up the cash equivalent. Cash or points, accept nothing else.

Start out nice, and calmly escalate until they correct the problem they caused.

 

[jbpoole]

Purchased a new Vehicle on 1-1-22 from Walt Sweeney Ford in Cincinnati. Kept waiting and waiting for my Ford Pass Rewards to show up. 30 days goes by and I reach out to Ford Pass Rewards' customer care. Come to find out, the dealership used my points to discount a Service Plan on 1-15-22 that I know nothing about. I live 3+ hours from there and haven't been back since 1-1.

I should've known something was up because, when I was there on Jan 1st, they factored an extra $~700 towards my payoff for the trade in I had. Then, on Jan 10th they messaged me asking for the payoff quote. I was quick to send it back to them and said, "if you send any amount less than what's on my sales contract then that changes all the numbers on the contract". They assured me they were going to keep the contract. I think they were planning to pocket that extra $700ish.

The reason I say that is, we did a bunch of the deal over the phone, before I made the 3 hour trip. When I got there, they realized they had made a big mistake on the numbers they quoted me. They ended up getting pretty close to what the original quote was for, but I'm sure it took a big chunk out of what they get to pocket from the deal.

My belief is they're trying to find any way to get some of that chunk back and using my rewards points to discount a service plan is probably the one way. Might keep an eye out for this for anyone waiting on your rewards points to show up.

I'm not sure what can be done to correct this. I was planning on using the points for some accessories. I've reached out to the sales person, with no response yet. We'll see if they correct this or not, just wanted to make sure others are aware of this practice as I'm sure Walt Sweeney Ford isn't the only place to do this.

Typical slimy dealer shell game. I would be pounding on somebody's desk. Skip the salesperson, sales manager and F&I guy. Go to the general manager. Call Ford. Give them horrible ratings online. Give them their 15 minutes of fame.

 

[jbpoole]

Purchased a new Vehicle on 1-1-22 from Walt Sweeney Ford in Cincinnati. Kept waiting and waiting for my Ford Pass Rewards to show up. 30 days goes by and I reach out to Ford Pass Rewards' customer care. Come to find out, the dealership used my points to discount a Service Plan on 1-15-22 that I know nothing about. I live 3+ hours from there and haven't been back since 1-1.

I should've known something was up because, when I was there on Jan 1st, they factored an extra $~700 towards my payoff for the trade in I had. Then, on Jan 10th they messaged me asking for the payoff quote. I was quick to send it back to them and said, "if you send any amount less than what's on my sales contract then that changes all the numbers on the contract". They assured me they were going to keep the contract. I think they were planning to pocket that extra $700ish.

The reason I say that is, we did a bunch of the deal over the phone, before I made the 3 hour trip. When I got there, they realized they had made a big mistake on the numbers they quoted me. They ended up getting pretty close to what the original quote was for, but I'm sure it took a big chunk out of what they get to pocket from the deal.

My belief is they're trying to find any way to get some of that chunk back and using my rewards points to discount a service plan is probably the one way. Might keep an eye out for this for anyone waiting on your rewards points to show up.

I'm not sure what can be done to correct this. I was planning on using the points for some accessories. I've reached out to the sales person, with no response yet. We'll see if they correct this or not, just wanted to make sure others are aware of this practice as I'm sure Walt Sweeney Ford isn't the only place to do this.

Keep us posted on this. I'm sure that others would like to know how this turns out.

 

[farleyt88]

Keep us posted on this. I'm sure that others would like to know how this turns out.

So, earlier today they ended up making it right, reluctantly. They didn't seem like they wanted to help at first, until I said I wanted to cancel the service plan. At that point, I was ready to cancel it out of principal. I would rather the points have gone towards nothing at all, as opposed to something I didn't want.

They said they had to call their Ford Rep. to see if it was possible. They called back after talking to the Ford Rep. and said they were able to reverse it and the points showed up a few hours later.

 

[gman62]

Did you buy a service plan or extended warranty plan? If these guys are scum, I would cancel their plan and contact one of the online ford sellers and you will save money for sure.

 

[nick112288]

I live in Cincinnati and stopped by there when Broncos started showing up. They were one of the few dealerships that had one on the lot so I went to look at it.

Sales man walked up to me, asked if I needed anything and I said yeah I wanna check out this Bronco. He said ok then proceeded to walk inside and sit at a desk. I waited patiently for 5 minutes then said enough of this and just left. Never even looked my way again after he went inside.

 

[jbpoole]

So, earlier today they ended up making it right, reluctantly. They didn't seem like they wanted to help at first, until I said I wanted to cancel the service plan. At that point, I was ready to cancel it out of principal. I would rather the points have gone towards nothing at all, as opposed to something I didn't want.

They said they had to call their Ford Rep. to see if it was possible. They called back after talking to the Ford Rep. and said they were able to reverse it and the points showed up a few hours later.

After your initial post, I went to their website, and using their pop up chat box, informed them that thousands of MTC members could be reading about your situation. Maybe they actually took the time to read the posts, but I doubt it.

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