Jul 26, 2021
So I have had quite the saga trying to order my Bronco and things went from bad to worse over the weekend when I was at the dealer converting my reservation to an order. After speaking to both the dealer multiple times and Ford Bronco customer service I am not sure where else to turn but this forum for any guidance or advice.
I made my 4 door Outer Banks reservation on 7/20/20, just over a year ago. It was early enough that I received Ford's letter to Bronco reservation holders and poster in the mail a few days back. As we all know on 3/20/21 all reservations became locked-in to their dealers without any way to change while maintaining your timestamp/place in line. My reservation was with Koons Ford Fall Church in VA, selected because it was the closest dealer geographically to me at the time I made my reservation. Having not heard anything from the dealer about placing an order by April, I began calling the dealer to ask about making a conversion to an order and no one seemed to be able to help. Finally, when I physically went to the dealer on April 28 I was introduced to the General Sales Manager explained that "all Bronco orders go through me". I said great, I have a reservation and I have a few questions about ordering a Sasquatch package with manual but other than that I am ready to go. His response was, word for word, "If I order you a Bronco now how do I know you aren't going to turn around and re-sell it?". Mostly shocked at the callous accusation from a man I just met I basically just explained that my wife and I have had a reservation for a long time and and have been saving for this car that we badly wanted. He said OK I'll call you when you can order we are placing them based on the timestamp of your reservation. 3 more months go by and I don't hear a word from them until this past Friday, July 23. I get an email from a sales rep (not the General Sales Manager) who says they have 4 demos that we can test drive but they are not for sale. I immediately made appointment to come in that afternoon, took off work, picked-up my wife and we went in. We had a total blast driving both the manual and automatic transmission and asked if we could move forward with our order, to which they responded we could. It would be a $2500 deposit to build an Antimatter Blue Outer Banks, Sasquatch, Lux package with automatic 2.3L engine. I sit with the sales rep (again, not the General Sales Manager who claims to control all Bronco orders) and he tees-up all the specs and everything we want in the car. It's the same build my wife and I have made 100 times on the online Bronco builder on the Ford Website. The price comes out to just over $55K which is what we were expecting. The sales rep then takes both my credit card for the deposit and the build printout over the General Sales rep who is sitting behind a separate counter. After a few minutes the sales rep comes back and says, "Ok, for us to put in this order it is going to cost $5000 extra...you know because of demand." Confused, but at this point not caring because I just want the damn car I say fine. Sales rep goes back over the General Sales Manager for another conference. After a few more minutes he comes back and says, "Actually, because you want both the Sasquatch and the Lux it is going to be an extra $10,000". I about lost it right there on the spot that after a year of waiting I was now at the last minute being asked to pay an extra $10,000 just to place the order - keep in mind they had my credit card at this point to make the deposit payment. I pushed back on the sales rep who said the extra $5000 was because of the chip shortage. I immediately countered that the same chip is going in the Bronco with or without the Lux package so that didn't make any sense. He didn't have much response other than saying it wasn't his decision, he was just the messenger for the General Sales Rep. I very clearly stated I wasn't paying $10,000 over MSRP, retrieved my credit card and left without having placed my order. Or so I thought.
Here is where the plot thickens. I received an auto-generated email from Ford later that morning in all caps that read "YOUR ORDER HAS BEEN CONFIRMED" with the subtext "Congratulations on ordering your all‑new Bronco OUTER BANKS 4 Door! Your order has been placed with Ford Motor Company on your behalf by Koons Ford, Inc.. ". Below that was a detailed summary of the Bronco we had built down the tow hitch that we had added. Confused by this, I called Ford Bronco Customer Service this morning (800-334-4375) who looked everything up and confirmed the dealer did order our Bronco. After explaining what had happened with the last minute price mark-up, their own customer service rep stated that since each dealer is independently owned they can't control what prices the dealer charges, though they prefer that reservation holders do not be asked a price mark-up. They then admitted that what essentially is happening is because the reservation can't be moved to another dealer, and because Ford can't control dealer pricing, the dealer has us between a rock and a hard place and can use my reservation to order a Bronco for themselves that they can then claim was unwanted and sell to whoever wants to come in and pay for it. According to Ford's own corporate customer service, my two options are as follows:
1. Tell the dealer I want my Bronco as ordered and pay the $10,000 markup
2. Generate a new order from a dealer that isn't charging a markup and lose my timestamped reservation/go to the back of the line
To their credit, the customer service agent did seem genuine and sincere when she said she understood the issue but there was literally nothing else they could do. She generated a dealer complaint to go up the corporate chain but also told me she honestly didn't think it was going to help.
So I don't know what to do here. This doesn't seem right and this definitely doesn't feel fair. A year of being excited for this Bronco has quickly been reduced into anger and resentment toward a system that allows dealers to rake reservation holders over the coals. It doesn't feel they should be allowed to just spring a $10,000 surcharge on me at the last minute and then steal my reservation to convert an order for themselves when I refuse. Does anyone out there in Bronco Nation have any guidance or advice for me?
I made my 4 door Outer Banks reservation on 7/20/20, just over a year ago. It was early enough that I received Ford's letter to Bronco reservation holders and poster in the mail a few days back. As we all know on 3/20/21 all reservations became locked-in to their dealers without any way to change while maintaining your timestamp/place in line. My reservation was with Koons Ford Fall Church in VA, selected because it was the closest dealer geographically to me at the time I made my reservation. Having not heard anything from the dealer about placing an order by April, I began calling the dealer to ask about making a conversion to an order and no one seemed to be able to help. Finally, when I physically went to the dealer on April 28 I was introduced to the General Sales Manager explained that "all Bronco orders go through me". I said great, I have a reservation and I have a few questions about ordering a Sasquatch package with manual but other than that I am ready to go. His response was, word for word, "If I order you a Bronco now how do I know you aren't going to turn around and re-sell it?". Mostly shocked at the callous accusation from a man I just met I basically just explained that my wife and I have had a reservation for a long time and and have been saving for this car that we badly wanted. He said OK I'll call you when you can order we are placing them based on the timestamp of your reservation. 3 more months go by and I don't hear a word from them until this past Friday, July 23. I get an email from a sales rep (not the General Sales Manager) who says they have 4 demos that we can test drive but they are not for sale. I immediately made appointment to come in that afternoon, took off work, picked-up my wife and we went in. We had a total blast driving both the manual and automatic transmission and asked if we could move forward with our order, to which they responded we could. It would be a $2500 deposit to build an Antimatter Blue Outer Banks, Sasquatch, Lux package with automatic 2.3L engine. I sit with the sales rep (again, not the General Sales Manager who claims to control all Bronco orders) and he tees-up all the specs and everything we want in the car. It's the same build my wife and I have made 100 times on the online Bronco builder on the Ford Website. The price comes out to just over $55K which is what we were expecting. The sales rep then takes both my credit card for the deposit and the build printout over the General Sales rep who is sitting behind a separate counter. After a few minutes the sales rep comes back and says, "Ok, for us to put in this order it is going to cost $5000 extra...you know because of demand." Confused, but at this point not caring because I just want the damn car I say fine. Sales rep goes back over the General Sales Manager for another conference. After a few more minutes he comes back and says, "Actually, because you want both the Sasquatch and the Lux it is going to be an extra $10,000". I about lost it right there on the spot that after a year of waiting I was now at the last minute being asked to pay an extra $10,000 just to place the order - keep in mind they had my credit card at this point to make the deposit payment. I pushed back on the sales rep who said the extra $5000 was because of the chip shortage. I immediately countered that the same chip is going in the Bronco with or without the Lux package so that didn't make any sense. He didn't have much response other than saying it wasn't his decision, he was just the messenger for the General Sales Rep. I very clearly stated I wasn't paying $10,000 over MSRP, retrieved my credit card and left without having placed my order. Or so I thought.
Here is where the plot thickens. I received an auto-generated email from Ford later that morning in all caps that read "YOUR ORDER HAS BEEN CONFIRMED" with the subtext "Congratulations on ordering your all‑new Bronco OUTER BANKS 4 Door! Your order has been placed with Ford Motor Company on your behalf by Koons Ford, Inc.. ". Below that was a detailed summary of the Bronco we had built down the tow hitch that we had added. Confused by this, I called Ford Bronco Customer Service this morning (800-334-4375) who looked everything up and confirmed the dealer did order our Bronco. After explaining what had happened with the last minute price mark-up, their own customer service rep stated that since each dealer is independently owned they can't control what prices the dealer charges, though they prefer that reservation holders do not be asked a price mark-up. They then admitted that what essentially is happening is because the reservation can't be moved to another dealer, and because Ford can't control dealer pricing, the dealer has us between a rock and a hard place and can use my reservation to order a Bronco for themselves that they can then claim was unwanted and sell to whoever wants to come in and pay for it. According to Ford's own corporate customer service, my two options are as follows:
1. Tell the dealer I want my Bronco as ordered and pay the $10,000 markup
2. Generate a new order from a dealer that isn't charging a markup and lose my timestamped reservation/go to the back of the line
To their credit, the customer service agent did seem genuine and sincere when she said she understood the issue but there was literally nothing else they could do. She generated a dealer complaint to go up the corporate chain but also told me she honestly didn't think it was going to help.
So I don't know what to do here. This doesn't seem right and this definitely doesn't feel fair. A year of being excited for this Bronco has quickly been reduced into anger and resentment toward a system that allows dealers to rake reservation holders over the coals. It doesn't feel they should be allowed to just spring a $10,000 surcharge on me at the last minute and then steal my reservation to convert an order for themselves when I refuse. Does anyone out there in Bronco Nation have any guidance or advice for me?
DSLBronco, OuterBanksCactus
Last edited by a moderator:
Jul 26, 2021
