Bait & Switch - any recourse available?

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Following a lot of guidance from this site I negotiated what I felt was a solid offer on a Ford vehicle (doesn’t necessarily lease very well) in a area known for lackluster dealerships, South Florida. Against the rules I did go to the dealership to drive the vehicles on 2 occasions (2 different trim levels & to make sure the family fit)

I ended up communicating via text with the GM and we agreed on a deal even going as far as confirming a time to pick up the vehicle. At this point I asked which of the 2 vehicles were were discussing did we settle on, he clearly stated the one I driven the night before.

Next they have which I presume is the finance guy call me, somewhere in our conversation I asked again which model did we settle on. He came back with a model that I never heard of, wasn’t even at the dealership and didn’t have one of the key attributes I needed. Now this is at the point that everyone starts playing dumb and they need to see what they can do. For what it’s worth there is only about a $1k difference in the packages and the one I want seems to have greater availability. They did mention that there were better incentives on the bait & switch car.

Of course to stay in the model I felt we agreed upon it was going to cost an extra $50 per month. I called BS and forwarded screen shots of the texts I had going back & forth with the GM confirming that this model was never even mentioned. After some back & forth I held my ground and stated this was not what we agreed on & unless I get the vehicle we agreed on at the price we agreed on I’m walking.

At this point the deal is relatively dead however I wanted to see if I had any recourse or if this forum could offer up suggestions of how to handle.

Is it worth researching & reaching out to Ford’s regional management to complain?

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Unfortunately just sounds like stereotypical car dealer games and BS.

Good for you for standing your ground and walking once things went south. :+1:

As to any recourse, personally I wouldn’t waste your time and just move on. You might leave a few 1 star reviews on Google, Yelp, etc. if it will make you feel better :slightly_smiling_face: Although I might wait a week or two and see if you get a call back, especially as we enter the 2nd half of the month.

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Thanks Jeff, unfortunately this games are still being played.

I’m actually thinking of reaching out to their sister location and presenting the offer I agreed upon & see if they’re willing to do it. As I understand the dealerships are very competitive amongst themselves even though they are owned by the same publicly-traded parent.

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I went through this when I was shopping for my wife’s Palisade back in January. Spent all day on Friday working out the deal at a dealership that was an hour from my house. Got up Saturday morning to drive down there and contacted the salesperson before I left my house that I was on my way and just wanted to confirm the vehicle was there and being prepped. She responded with “yes it is, I’m looking forward to meeting you”. When I got to the dealership and asked for her, they told me it was her day off (red flag number one). They then went to get the keys and low and behold they were for a Black base model when the deal was for a white limited (red flag number two). I told them I was there for the white limited and was told that it was delivered Thursday night.

I went in to the showroom and asked for the General Manager. When he came out, I completely lost my S*** in the middle of the showroom. Accused them of the bait and switch and asked him if that was their common practice. Ended up getting a slightly better deal at another dealership.

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Reach out to other dealerships and shop the offer. Don’t bother with the first one… they blew it… if you do get a call back, you may even have a counter-offer

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