Deposits Not Included in Purchase

[16cards]

I used my credit card at ford.com for both the reservation and order deposits. Finance manager and his manager at the dealership confirmed Ford Corp would return the reservation and order deposit ($600 total). When I contact Ford Corp, I'm told funds are transferred and held by the dealership. The is not a line item on the Buyer's Order. My deposits seem to have vanished.

What are others' experience with their deposits?

What recourse do I have?

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UPDATE: Thanks everybody for clarifying that it is definitively the dealership that holds those funds and must return them if not applied to the vehicle purchase. The refund request has been submitted to the right people within their dealership network and I've received confirmation that I'll get a check in the mail.

For context, the credit card transactions looked like:

RV01 DEALERSHIP IDENTIFYING INFO $100.00
OD02 DEALERSHIP IDENTIFYING INFO $500.00

I presume RV means "reservation" and OD means "order". But it was very obvious once looking at those transactions that the dealership was involved. The identifying info was the initials of the dealership and the sales phone number.

Whether Ford facilitated the actual credit card transaction and then transferred those funds over, I know not. Nevertheless, the dealership seems to be taking the correct steps to issue the refund.

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[Webbo85]

Dealer included it in the bill of sale and added it to my down payment. Dealer either doesn't know or is trying to pull a fast one.

 

[sotek2345]

My dealer missed it, and the state tax credit, but fixed it as soon as I caught it.

I would push harder on your dealer.

 

[Pioneer74]

My dealer said they couldn't figure out how to incorporate it onto the final deal so they just refunded the credit card. Didn't matter to me.

 

[lancersrock]

100% on the dealer.

 

[Lytning]

The $100 reservation fee and $1000 deposit were not shown on my Bill of Sale. The dealership said they did not know anything about them. I called Ford and was told the dealership would refund them. I told that to the dealership, and they issued the refunds. I was very early in the process ... confirmed reservation 4 minutes after the portal opened, and first retail Lightning delivery at the dealership last summer. I suspect I would not have received the refunds if I had not inquired.

 

[TaxmanHog]

Too many of these Sales Managers and F&I guys have their heads up the nether regions, all should be fired and the business bankrupted for ineptitude.

There's my daily dose of pessimism that Ford Blue will not survive the advent of Model E

 

[RickLightning]

Your dealership must refund / credit the money, they have it. Go look at your credit card statements...

 

[hturnerfamily]

because Ford DEALERS sell you the truck, not Ford itself, the DEALER has your deposits, whether you paid Ford on the website to facilitate your reservation and your order, or not. The deposits sit with the dealers, even though it's easy for them to 'overlook' this... my dealer did the same, saying they 'could not find' my deposits, then later said they only found my 'reservation $100 deposit', then much later, finally said they found my 'order $500 deposit', eventually REFUNDING both, since NEITHER were reflected as 'payment credits' on the Purchase Paperwork, which I did even several weeks BEFORE the truck was delivered.

I actually think that Dealers have/had not been schooled properly by Ford during this whole reservations and order process - it was a BIG change for dealers. Unless you are 'the' accountant at the Ford dealership, you have NO KNOWLEDGE of any reservation or order deposits that come into their dealership, although since the reservation and/order shows up in their system, it would be OBVIOUS that you 'must' have paid those deposits to get to that point!

 

[16cards]

I've contacted the sales manager dealership again, letting them know what Ford Corp said. I showed them transaction dates and descriptions on my credit card says, which has their sales department's phone number embedded in it.

They've escalated to accounting.

 

[Amps]

Under Ford's franchise agreements with their dealers, the money absolutely must go to the dealer.

I attribute this to willful ignorance. Watch how much squealing the dealer would do if Ford sold you a vehicle directly.

 

[shutterbug]

I used my credit card at ford.com for both the reservation and order deposits. Finance manager and his manager at the dealership confirmed Ford Corp would return the reservation and order deposit ($600 total). When I contact Ford Corp, I'm told funds are transferred and held by the dealership. The is not a line item on the Buyer's Order. My deposits seem to have vanished.

What are others' experience with their deposits?

What recourse do I have?

If the dealer's lips are moving, they are lying. Look at your credit card statement. It will show that the charge went to the dealer, not Ford. There was no transfer. The money went straight to the dealer.

File a complaint with your credit card company.

 

[metroshot]

Each time I went to F&I with the deposits placed on an ordered Lightning & Mach E:

Lightning: $100 reservation + $1500 deposit gave print screens and dealer put them on as "cash down" line item.

Mach E: $500 reservation had print screen provided and dealer added to "cash down".

 

[GDN]

I've contacted the sales manager dealership again, letting them know what Ford Corp said. I showed them transaction dates and descriptions on my credit card says, which has their sales department's phone number embedded in it.

They've escalated to accounting.

Accounting likely won't know. Tell the GM to log into his "Customer Portal", look up your account and he will see the deposits there. He literally has to click a couple of boxes and OK and the refunds will be initiated.

My dealer didn't include them as part of my sale, when I went back the internet guy pulled it up and clicked the boxes. I had the money back 2 days later.

I have no idea if your dealer is this clueless about the systems he is supposed to use or just life in general, but I wouldn't trust that dealer any further than I could throw them.

This has been happening for over a year now. They have to know.

 

[Bills R Electric]

I used my credit card at ford.com for both the reservation and order deposits. Finance manager and his manager at the dealership confirmed Ford Corp would return the reservation and order deposit ($600 total). When I contact Ford Corp, I'm told funds are transferred and held by the dealership. The is not a line item on the Buyer's Order. My deposits seem to have vanished.

What are others' experience with their deposits?

What recourse do I have?

The dealer didn't know....and did it incorrectly.

FORD transfers the money to the dealer.

Explain it to them....sloooooowly. They don't sell many Lightnings and don't get it.

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