OK, this is not a complaint yet so I’m not revealing any detailed information, simply asking for collective wisdom of why they are dong so and suggestions about next step.
Here is the story:
Ordered a Jeep back in Novenber from a broker here. Didn’t pay deposit because they didn’t need it by then. Then I got the order number. I checked the status everyday on Jeep website, waiting for my brand new car and expecting a road trip very soon (you’ve been there right?). The progress went very well beyond expectation.
The car has been shipped on 02/08 and was expected to delivery on 03/02. During this time, I tried to contact the broker to check the status and they responded my email super slow, like 10 days turnaround time or so, and promised to check but never did. That’s OK, I think, as long as I got the car, I didn’t have to bother them. So on 03/02 I found a sales in that dealership, here comes the drama:
At first the sales was like clueless, not knowing where exactly the car was, but simply told me, maybe it’s still on the way and the online tracking was not accurate. Then I tried to check with this guy everyweek or so and each time he be like: probably arriving next week.
Fast forward to yesterday, I cannot bear the waiting anymore so I asked the Jeep representative and explained to them it’s been over a month since shipped, there is no way it’s still on the way and they have to tell me where it is. Surprisingly, Jeep did some investigation and told me that the car has been delivered to the dealership on 02/19 and it’s already associated with another name.
I was so confusing at this point. I tried to call and text this sales but he didn’t respond. Then I did my own research, not hard, just search my VIN everywhere, 5 mins later, I found out my car has been listed as used on another dealer’s website. According to the carfax, the timeline is this:
They at least received the car on 02/25, washed and detailed it.
They sold it on 03/03 as a personal vehicle
Somehow whoever drove it for 200miles until 03/08
The car is listed for sale as used one in another dealership. The price is slightly higher than the one I has been promised as new.
OK, I’m still waiting for the response from both the broker and the dealer. I probably will give them until Monday to respond before I escalate it, cause you know, not in good mood after all this.
But for now, my questions are:
Why was the dealer doing this? Did they feel the original agreed price was too low so they didn’t want to honor?
Has that clueless salesmane been lying to me all the time about where the vehicle was or he was simply clueless? (I mean, I can find where the vehicle is in 5 mins so he probably should, but who knows.)
Is there any legal ground I can use? We don’t have any contract in place so I don’t think so, any suggestions?
How did you find a salesperson to work with you? Called the store and asked for someone to help you? Regular sales folks will have no incentive to help you, unless they were the one who worked your deal.
You don’t have a written contract or deposit made. Do you have any type of paperwork (not just email)?
General consensus will probably be that you need to let your broker work this out. You paid them a fee to deliver a service/product and they neither did any of it. I understand you circumvented the broker because they did not respond, but the ball is in THE BROKER’S court to rectify this. He/she should answer to this, not you or the dealer.
I got the order number directly from Jeep to my email.
Yeah I called them, explained my situation and that sales came up. Seems like he knew all the details like who was the broker, which car it was and he said he can take over from there.
I had a contract with the broker but not the dealer.
Yeah I agree but I feel like at this point I’m not gonna take the delivery anyway, not sure what this broker could do considering they didn’t help much before. Thanks for the advice tho.
Yeah, it’s a shitty situation to be in. I don’t know the broker’s side of the situation but he/she has got a situation on their hands in making you whole. That car has been titled and sounds like you custom ordered it.
Hey, I am not a dealer or broker. I do spend a bit of time on reddit/r/askcarsales.
It seems this is more common than we think. The likely scenario is that the dealer screwed up, didn’t realize it was your car and sold it to someone else (or dealer was malicious, sold the car to someone for more money).
End result is the same. That car is gone.
Let the broker fix this. If they dont, and If he/she is from here, and I were you, I would burn them but please do give them a chance to fix it.
The dealer should order you another car. Maybe they can work with Jeep to prioritize etc.
Its unlikely you have a legal recourse because you have a legal document here, but thats just my opinion.
At best, they find you a similar car, sell you for a discount.
At worst, they order another one, you wait, and they throw in a free carwash.
You have 2 options from what I can see. And both should involve a refund from the broker.
Either cancel the deal and shop elsewhere, or wait for another jeep. If my dealer sold the car I promised to a client then I would refund my fee regardless for the inconvenience unless I could produce a similar or better car that you’re ok with almost immediately. Even though it’s not the brokers fault, they’re an extension of the dealership and therefore should make concessions for their mistakes.
No excuse that the broker is unresponsive. 10 days to respond to an e-mail followed by ghosting is inexcusable. I’d name names if there is no rectification soon.
Thanks! That makes sense a lot to me. I spent much time to secure a low apr loan which is only good until next month. I cannot see any reason that I would want to work with this broker anymore if they are unable to find a comparable one right now.
Do you have their phone number? Sometimes I do miss texts or pms from customers since I get so many, they do occasionally get buried. But if they don’t respond after a second time reaching out that’s not acceptable at all. 10 days is being very patient.
No they only have email. In all fairness, before the car has shipped, they normally responded in a reasonable time frame. Somehow when I needed them to follow up on the delivery, they became slow. Hopefully we will resolve this in good faith.
I think you’re being too fair tbh. Dealers are known to engage in shenanigans at times, and the point of a broker is to avoid falling victim to these types of things. Sure this may have been an innocent mistake, but if you’re saying that they were initially responsive and then became incommunicado, then all signs point towards ill intent. I think you’ve been patient enough.
If you paid “goods and services” through a pay app, maybe you could get your money back that way as a last resort.
Where did you find this broker? It’s hard to believe they only have email, but if that’s their preferred/only method of communication, they should be much more on top of things. 10 days is more than enough time for a response, even if it’s just a quick update.
Through CC if I remember correctly.
Actually the broker got back to me today and was very apologetic. I’ll see what resolution they come up with after they talk to the dealer.
A final update for the people helping here: my broker got back to me and he was very apologetic. He tried to contact the dealer but they also ignored him as well. So basically no resolution so far. The broker refunded the fee without hesitation. Meantime, I’ll file complaints to FCA and dealer’s corporate group.
Does this resolution satisfy you? The refund of the broker is the absolute minimum I’d be asking. Frankly, if it was me, I’d be asking the broker to provide their service free of charge to acquire another similarly specced vehicle/custom order at a deep discount, given that their 10 days of failed communication attributed to this problem.
Have to echo you here. It honestly seems like the broker started communicating once there was a real possibility of the OP posting his/her information here.
A simple refund after weeks/months of expecting a car does not seem fair to me either.
