So, I ordered my truck at my dealership and got confirmation with DORA, DOC. Received a VIN, followed the truck through production and had every expectation that the deal was done and ready for me to purchase upon arrival of the truck.

My salesman happened to see me driving my other vehicle, and since he hadn't seen one up close, I offered to show it to him one day. I contacted him this weekend, offered to stop by on my way back from a meeting and after arriving to the dealership, I sat in his office, chatting about this and that. He asks if I'm interesting in seeing what's up with my order. After futzing with his computer, he pulls up the tracking program and sees that one of the fleet managers has attached his name to MY ORDER! and is trying to claim the truck!!!

He gets up, leaves the office and is gone for about 10 minutes, and comes back, saying that this guy is over his head and apparently can claim special orders and private order vehicles.

He then proceeds to tell me that I should be okay because we have a definite paper trail of emails and the order paperwork that has my name on it as the customer. At that moment, I'm starting to smell something rotten is going on.

He then tells me that the best thing to do is to do the paperwork now and seal the deal, preventing the fleet manager from snatching up my truck. I'm hesitant and he then says "Let's go check the yard to see if the truck is here". We jump into a mustang, drive all over the storage lots and cannot find the truck. I have no way of confirming if the truck has arrived, and he says he doesn't know if the truck has actually arrived either.

I'm leaving on a family vacation for a few days out of town, so I cannot stalk the dealership. At this moment, I have a few options...

1. sign the paperwork and arrange to purchase the truck, sight unseen. Not really a big issue, as the aforementioned car he wanted to check out was bought and paid for sight unseen, as were a couple other cars I have purchased in the past. Downside is that I may technically commit to buying a truck that may have issues on arrival. We've all seen posts of people who ordered one truck and something is missing or damaged on the truck. Benefit is that the paperwork will be done, and I can just stroll in and inspect the truck and drive off after inspection if all goes well. But this just seems kinda fishy to me...

2. leave the dealership and come back when the truck arrives (my salesman is telling me that he will contact me the minute the truck arrives) and do the paperwork when I return from my trip, pick up the truck then.

What would you do??

 

I did all my paperwork and paid for my truck a few days before it showed up. If I was you I would do it so they can start the title paperwork.

 

Option 2. I wouldn't seal the deal until I went over the truck.

 

I did the same thing - paid for my truck a week before it arrived to get it all out of the way. I pick it up today.

Good luck with your choice.

 

I will add I found out they held my check until the truck showed up and I was happy with it I found out after the fact, but the paperwork was all done.

 

I will never buy a vehcile site unseen again. NEVER!! It took 6 months and lots of fighting to get a new truck and while seeing the truck in person first would not have rules out the eletrical problems or the brakes. The paint would have been a good warning sign something was wrong.

You ordered the truck and I assume put a deposit down. Filled paperwork and all. If some one takes the truck from under your nose I would walk right up to the manager owner and lay it on him. I bought a truck, put a down payment on it, your dealership sold it under my nose, fix it now! And if it is true well your getting manager invoice pricing.

In my eyes your the client and hold all the cards up until you sign the papers. The business needs to serve your needs within reason.

I wasted 5 months, thousands of dollars, hundreds of hours, countless trips to the dealership, calls to Ford Canada on a Lemon. The entire time I drove some POS loaner. Buying a vehcile has now become a very serious event for me and while majority of people will spend a life time getting by just fine...

Anyways good luck how ever you wish to choose. If it does not seem right then it's likely not right.

 

Id be making an appointment to talk to the General manager/owner, we have done this before, and ask what the hell is going on? We have had to talk to the owner of our dealer to get the service straightened out.

 

I'd do option #3... Find a better dealership to work with. If they are going to hold you over a barrel now when they don't have your money, imagine how they will treat you after they have your money.

 

"Playin those mind games..."

 

Do you trust the dealer??
Have you had a good relationship with them??
What happens if it doesn't show up on the ETA??
IF the answer is no. .... I myself wouldn't do it

This sounds like a dealer I wouldn't do business with!!!!!

 

Something definitely smells fishy here. On one hand a "fleet manager" has the right to sell this truck. But on the other hand your salesman is apparently allowed to sell this truck too, presumably with a different manager's approval. I worked nearly 20 years in the business in management positions and someone has to approve the deal. And when a new car is received by the dealer it is assigned a stock number which is easily identified by their computer system and a paperwork trail so the part about driving around the lot looking for it is very suspicious. I would definitely want to talk to someone of high authority and ask them WTH is going on here. If I wasn't satisfied I'd be looking to do business somewhere else. If you're in a pinch and have to have this truck then I guess I'd go ahead and buy it, reluctantly, but there's some kind of game going on here. My gut feeling is they are making more money selling it to the other person or that person is a VIP of sorts to the dealership ie. a friend or good customer.

 

I'd be up somebody's you know what, I don't handle that kind of stuff very well and I don't even hold back to tell someone I'm not happy in the middle of the showroom where everyone clearly understands what I'm saying. If they're not honoring your order, what is the sense of ordering a truck? I won't buy anything sight on seen that costs as much or more than my house. Vehicles I've purchased that I didn't get acquainted with before I purchased them have been my biggest headaches. The ultimate decision is yours but I'd be getting an explanation from someone at the top of the food chain.


They're just about as on the up and up as the Ram dealer where I purchased the Cummins I just traded...they crushed the wiring harness on my brand new truck when installing a B&W hitch...long story short I didn't know until the trailer wiring ultimately failed and I had to pay for it out of my pocket and was told..."How could we have ever done that?" Needless to say I don't care how good of deal they have on something that would be my dream, I'd take second best over dealing with them ever again.

 

Personally, if they are trying to play games, I would not give them a penny until the truck is in my hands. In my opinion, once they see you are willing to go along with one slight of hand, they will try to take you for more. I walked out of many a dealership over the years. Some times that is all that is needed to change their attitude and if they do not I no longer do business with them. I was a Pontiac car/Ford truck guy until the local Pontiac dealers played games. I now buy Ford cars and trucks. I have been special ordering cars, trucks, trailers, etc. for 30+ years. Same with service. I have no problem being loyal to a company that threats me with respect. But I will not tolerate games.

I just had a company service a heat pump that was not working. I started to have issues with reliability of service from that company a couple of years ago and stopped using them. But, I just got back from a week out of town & had one system that was not working. I decided that even though I have serviced the system myself for the last 2 years I needed to get this one back on line quickly, we are expecting a winter storm tonight. They got out here within 2 hours of the call, just left. They assured me that the management that was at fault previously for not being reliable is replaced and they have changed their service priorities. I have a large multi-unit system and they would like to be the one I call for service. I know the new service manager, he accompanied the service tech and we had a frank discussion about their reliability. I will give them a second chance and use them again. But he is aware that I expect much better service and he has promised to do that.

I am lucky that I have developed a good, long standing relationship with the Ford dealership where I buy from. I ordered an F350 the beginning of September. It came up as being one of the trucks affected by the oil pressure issues. So January 2nd I told the dealer I was not going to accept delivery of that truck. It came in January 12th. The next week I reordered the truck I wanted. It came in 5 1/2 weeks later & I took delivery 6 weeks after the order date. I did not put down a down payment on either truck. I got the truck for invoice minus a nominal amount and all rebates. Not putting money down was a way for them to show they appreciate my ongoing business. So there were no games with the price or interest rate. They undercut the Credit Unions & the banks.

Sometimes a frank discussion will help to smooth the process so they know you will be easy to deal with but not take any games.

Good luck with however you decide to proceed.

 

I made the mistake of signing the loan contract before the truck had shipped from KTP. It did not get delivered until 2 months later and after I had already made a payment on it. I had to rent a car for a month because I sold my other truck to my nephew expecting my truck to be delivered within a few days after I signed the contract.

KTP held the truck back from shipping because of the bed liner delay and they put it through extensive testing (it had 77 miles on it when I drove it off of the lot).

The dealership/sales guy had me between a rock and a hard spot and they knew it. It ended up costing me $1000 in rental car fees by the time the truck showed up. I was pissed.

I would not sign anything until the truck is delivered. If you have an issue with the dealership I'd start going up the ladder. First the General Manager of the dealership, then contact Ford by calling or online chat. They should create a trouble ticket and hopefully put you in touch with the regional sales rep.

Good Luck!

The truck is awesome and ordering it was worth the wait. I just wish they would not have told me a lie about the delivery date.

 

I'm assuming you didn't put any money down or have an actual bill of sale...If that is the case, I'd be looking for a new dealer who will match or even better your current deal with this questionable dealership....

Screaming and bitching won't do any good -- tell them they either live up to the deal you already negotiated or you will go elsewhere (and likely tell 50 of your friends how you were treated!!)