Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Johnny Mo" data-source="post: 5798" data-attributes="member: 57">Part 2By the time December 2020 rolled around Ford Corporate began putting information out regarding the popularity, and significant reservation backlog. At this point Brewster had approximately 89 deals of their own and 97 deals that I had brought to them from mainly outside of their primary market area. So Brian and I discussed closing the deal to any more participants. I had provided Brian with a spreadsheet which he then converted to a shared Google sheet so we could both update it.In May of 2021, the auto group my wife works for as CFO, purchased a Ford dealership here in NY State, I knew that I could help her dealership by moving some of the deals to them, and I also knew that I had only guaranteed Brewster Ford 20 deals. Now that we were at 97, I could’ve easily transferred those 77 other deals away from Brewster, but I do not operate that way – this was always about building a relationship with Brewster who I felt would become my servicing dealership, so why wouldn’t I want to do right by them…that clearly is not how their owner thinks.As the supply chain problems grew – Ford had difficulty in keeping up with the demand and many people were told they would not be receiving a 2021 Bronco and that their order would be pushed to 2022. My order got pushed to 2022 and I lost the ability to order the color I wanted. On January 24, 2022 Ford offered a lottery to the earliest reservation holders to have a chance to convert their current reservation to a Bronco Raptor trim level. I emailed Brian the next day since I had originally asked to be put on an unofficial Raptor list, but this new process would not allow me to be selected since Ford Corporate was handpicking the recipients. After several calls and emails back and forth with Brian he said that due to the outstanding performance of the dealership and in no small part due to my additional deals that I referred, that the dealership would be getting an additional Raptor allocation that could be sold to anyone they chose – Brian said that for everything I did for the dealership that I deserved it and he would honor the original invoice pricing. I jumped at the opportunity and signed the new buyers order that Brian emailed me. As the GM, and previous signer of the original deal for invoice pricing for “all trim levels” which included the limited First Edition, Brian clearly had IMPLICIT AUTHORITY to make this deal. Normally a sales person would send a buyers order to be countersigned by the dealership – this was coming directly from the General Manager.Over the next several months more supply chain noise and finally some members were about to receive their Raptors in September/October 2022. 2 Members in particular Mark M and Tim B started to contact me with some concerns they had based on the vague conversations Brewster was having regarding delivery of their vehicles. It soon came out that the owner was upset with the General Manager because he offered the Raptor trim level vehicles to the B6G members at the same agreed upon pricing. (What I found out later in my conversations with the owner Ken Volz, was that his own family member purchased a Bronco Raptor at cost and subsequently sold it behind his back for a significant profit and it was now sitting on a used car lot for $30k more than original sticker (MSRP). Brian then informed me that the owner was forcing him to try and extract an additional $30k from all of the Raptor order holders. I sent letters to Ford Corporate pleading for assistance. In the case of Tim B he had already traded in his older F150 Raptor for $60k and Brewster held on to the money as a payment towards his Bronco Raptor (it was almost a year), they sold his F150 and now were asking for $30k more on what was already a signed and negotiated deal that was partially complete. Eventually Ford Corporate stepped in and enforced the sale to both Mark and Tim because FORD Corporate picked the “Golden Ticket” holders for the Bronco Raptor. I was not so lucky – because my Raptor was an earned allocation for their performance (due largely to my 97 additional deals) Bronco sales/conversions weighed heavily on dealerships receiving Bronco Raptor allocations. But since mine was earned by the dealership, corporate would not enforce the sale to me, even though we all agreed that I had a signed buyers order provided by the General Manager via email.Things got worse as I negotiated with the owner directly, Brian the GM was forced to resign, terminated, left (whichever story you want to believe), and now the Owner threatened that if I went public on the forum with this issue, he would cancel all the remaining B6G deals. So I become the asshole now.... He told me it was just a “shitty situation, and that he regrets ever getting involved with the B6G community” He claimed he was having $300K stolen from him by the GM offering these vehicles as part of the deal. So after 2 years of reaping the benefits of additional sales, additional allocation from Ford and additional profit during COVID lockdowns – he regrets getting involved??? Really??? Additionally, the new GM Rob claimed that somewhere on the B6G forum they were getting “roasted” based on a customer who had a less than stellar service experience and they said as the point of contact that I was responsible and should TELL the forum members to dial back the negative talk. I told them I was just a member and had no ownership or administrative interest in the forum, policing language or discussions on it whatsoever, but in good faith – I would ask the members to “tone it down”. I did and sent him a screenshot of my message to the forum. This also went disregarded by the dealership…this was never about any sort of mutual benefit, this was always only about Ken Volz’s benefit and now that his unethical practices were being exposed he only became more greedy and more difficult to work with. To his day, I have not done anything to disparage the dealership or Volz AutoGroup, on B6G or any other social media platforms – but now - I don't care anymore, I cannot stand by and not say something about this and everyone think he was a stand up guy.Both Ken and the new GM Rob told me that for me they would take only $15k over MSRP – even though I had a signed deal at invoice (close to a $20k spread) Additionally, after I refused they offered me $5k to walk away from the deal, and I’m sure to keep quiet about it – I also refused. So now 2+ years later after waiting for my car I am told to pay $15k more to get it, or walk away and lose my place in line - so I wrote another email to Ford Corporate and while all this was taking place, my vehicle was built and delivered to Brewster Ford on Dec 15-16th. But still Ken Volz would not budge on pricing and ultimately, I was forced to abandon my order. He did not return my $500 deposit until 5 months later - and I had to ask for it. He sold my vehicle – what I was told for $20k over MSRP (so by offering me $5k he would have cleared $15k over MSRP – which is the price he wanted from me – not exactly doing me any favors considering I brought him $4MM in sales, $150k+ in holdback / profit on the 97 referrals – and not a single $200 referral fee sent to me, not a single dollar reduction in price for the vehicle I ordered, and not honoring a signed buyers order from the General Manager who had IMPLICIT authority to enter into that deal.My original vehicle was sold by the dealership and I was placed in line again by Ford Corporate at a new dealership now paying MSRP. Since that time I was supposed to have my vehicle from Brewster, the MSRP price has risen twice. From $82,321.80 (invoice) to 84,965 (new price 1) to current price since I haven't been built yet ($98,215) That is a $17,225 difference as a result of the greed and unethical business practices of Ken Volz and Brewster Ford. Additionally, to try and cover their tracks, they deleted the shared spreadsheet of the deals I brought to them – unfortunately for them not before I saved a copy, I also have HUNDREDS of private messages and emails from B6G forum members with their questions, requests to be added to the group buy and words of thanks for helping to orchestrate all of this when they got their Broncos.I did finally get my Raptor- 6 months after my initially scheduled delivery, but until it was in my driveway - there was always doubt, always aggravation, I was always unsettled. Some of you will say dude get over it - it's just a car, some of you will understand. Either way thanks for reading. Oh by the way the Brewster guys are here reading this too I'm sure.</blockquote>