FCA used "Bait & Switch" on new vehicle rebate!

[User_3336]

My take on this . . .

The dealer should have verified ALL information, including eligibility and compatibility!!
It's the dealers responsibility to do this in their DEALER CONNECT system.
Buyer should have requested a copy of the rebates on his specific VIN!

OP really should have never signed off on the paperwork until it was verified ALL the rebates were honored and valid. ALL the rebates should have then been on the contact he signed. It appears the finance manager "wasn't" sure. I would not have fallen for that "we'll send you a check for it." Appears the finance manager didn't verify it, and he surely wasn't going to get hit with a chargeback for the remainder.

Bad there was no explanation for the reduction in the amount

BUT

In the end, OP signed the contract without verification of all the rebates, expecting the dealer to take care of it "after the fact". Its frustrating, but lesson learned!

Advice to others......

Get an incentive sheet from the DealerConnect system with the specific VIN, with all the eligible rebates listed (along with the corresponding FCA program numbers). I've always been presented with this, and I had to initial all the rebates as they were listed line by line. I did recently use a $1000 private offer. It did list that offer and program in the listing of rebates that were under the vehicles vin#. Dealer can also use your name and zip code to discover any other "private offers" and were targeted marketing rebates (such as those received in email).

 

[User_3336]

This happened prior to 2/28/2022 ? ? ? ? ? I'd say if you haven't reached a settlement or agreement to compensate you for $750 more by now, your opportunity has vanished.....

 

[User_3336]

OP, did the selling dealer at any time print this sheet(example shown), present it to you, explain ALL the rebates that came up under the specific VIN you were considering purchasing??? Its an Inventive Sheet from the DealerConnect system... (sheet is from an example of a RAM I was looking at from 2020).

 

[Aseras]

My take on it, as others have mentioned. It wouldn't be worth my time to try and fight for $750 of rebates that didn't actually subtract from the financed amount. If it's worth the OPs time and effort, then he should start by working with local dealer manager to see if they will support him. Then work your way up the chain. Could talk to a lawyer, as it may take legal representation to get anywhere, but then you may end up spending more than the $750 on lawyer fees. Unless they try to work it out to where the payment for their services is covered by FCA/Stellantis as part of settlement

Its usually worth it to file small claims if its over a couple hundred bucks. Car stuff is pretty cut and dry, that said if they screwed up they should be able to fix it within 7-30 days of signing. Stuff gets messed up all the time with car sales and needing things redone.

If they really want to pursue it, get a prepaid legal plan like legal shield and have them send a letter of intent to the dealer to fix it or else. If they don't drag them into court. 9/10 times I've filed if it's less than $1000 the other party settles as it would cost them more to appear or defend than to just pay up.

They want you to roll over and think"its not worth it" "its too hard". I've had plenty tell me to **** off and what do you know... a few days after getting served here's a settlement offer and a check in the mail.

 

[deeve]

Looks like the OP probably has reason to be frustrated and the dealer should explain specifically why they cannot honor the entire rebate via the sheet that was posted above. I have a good dealer and when I started looking at the various offers ( to include the same rebate you got) they took me in the managers office and brought up all the eligible rebates I could take. They answered and explained why some were not eligible by showing me on the screen. I would bet if the truck you got was eligible for the full amount the dealership claimed and kept the rest.

Sorry that happened to you. I hope others read this and learn something. Hopefully you can get some headway. It might be hard since the contract was signed, but maybe the dealership will be stand up and take care of you.

 

[User_3336]

Looks like the OP probably has reason to be frustrated and the dealer should explain specifically why they cannot honor the entire rebate via the sheet that was posted above. I have a good dealer and when I started looking at the various offers ( to include the same rebate you got) they took me in the managers office and brought up all the eligible rebates I could take. They answered and explained why some were not eligible by showing me on the screen. I would bet if the truck you got was eligible for the full amount the dealership claimed and kept the rest.

Sorry that happened to you. I hope others read this and learn something. Hopefully you can get some headway. It might be hard since the contract was signed, but maybe the dealership will be stand up and take care of you.

Hard to tell, but it appears no inventive confirmation sheet was printed (or signed). Appears that amount wasn't on the buyer's order either.

 

[TNRamGuy]

My comments were likely really harsh, but reality is that any rebate, coupon, incentives are just like any other marketing tool. This is just a way of getting your money. At the end of the day you should land something south of msrp and if not you should still drive away happy. Op,Google will help! You can always use the same tools to get whole.

 

[User_3336]

Three words we don't like in the marketing world.

SELECT
UP TO
EXCLUDING

 

[RedFred]

To the op, don't let the $750 sour your ownership of your new truck. Overall, take solace in knowing you did get a nice deal on the truck and an additional $1k off. Someone should have made it right at some point, either Ram or the dealership. At the end $750 difference on a truck costing $60k isn't a huge amount of money for any of the parties involved, but I do get it, it's more a matter of principal and right vs wrong. Unfortunately someone screwed up somewhere, and we seem past the point of getting it easily resolved.

 

[StuartV]

Wow, it's amazing how many geniuses are on this forum that think everybody else is an idiot!

I'm not taking this personally, as I did not do anything but ask for more info, since complete info was not included in the original post. I didn't assume you were an idiot. But, this is the Internet. I had to allow that it was a possibility. I'm glad to see you are not.

Now that I have seen the additional info you provided, I am 100% on your side. 30 years ago, I would have been right there with you, fuming over the principle of the issue. I wouldn't fault you one bit for going to the mat on this. Even to the point of spending more than $750 just to get your $750 and the satisfaction that would come with it.

But, I have to admit that, as I have gotten older, I have lost a lot of my will to fight those fights. My time is more precious to me now than it used to be. Giving FCA my time, in the form of working on getting my $750 is something I woulda done, but probably wouldn't bother with now. That makes me a little disappointed in myself, but it is reality.

Does your state have some kind of Division of Consumer Affairs or something like that, that you could file a complaint with and perhaps get some help without having to resort to paying a retainer to an attorney?

Also, have you sent a Private Message in this forum to @RamCares? They might be able to help you.

 

[User_3336]

I'm not taking this personally, as I did not do anything but ask for more info, since complete info was not included in the original post. I didn't assume you were an idiot. But, this is the Internet. I had to allow that it was a possibility. I'm glad to see you are not.

Now that I have seen the additional info you provided, I am 100% on your side. 30 years ago, I would have been right there with you, fuming over the principle of the issue. I wouldn't fault you one bit for going to the mat on this. Even to the point of spending more than $750 just to get your $750 and the satisfaction that would come with it.

But, I have to admit that, as I have gotten older, I have lost a lot of my will to fight those fights. My time is more precious to me now than it used to be. Giving FCA my time, in the form of working on getting my $750 is something I woulda done, but probably wouldn't bother with now. That makes me a little disappointed in myself, but it is reality.

Does your state have some kind of Division of Consumer Affairs or something like that, that you could file a complaint with and perhaps get some help without having to resort to paying a retainer to an attorney?

Also, have you sent a Private Message in this forum to @RamCares? They might be able to help you.

This happened almost six months ago......

 

[StuartV]

This happened almost six months ago......

Sooo.... statute of limitations is expired?

 

[HSKR R/T]

Sooo.... statute of limitations is expired?

Probably not since he has been asking about it since he got the truck

 

[Yankee Echo]

Based on the additional information provided by the OP it appears something doesn't add up. The "fine print" for the offer says - Certificate is non negotiable and not redeemable for cash - an informed buyer should have immediately recognized the red flag when told "he (the finance rep) would process it and then send me a check for the $1,750." If that's what the finance rep actually said, then sadly (but not surprisingly) it sounds like the OP was lied to. As mentioned, the dealer could have (and should have) provided the list of rebates OP was eligible for. Again an informed buyer would have known to ask for that.

OP has proof they emailed the offer to the dealer so continuing to push on RAM to resolve this seems the way to go, or RAM provide an explanation why OP was not eligible. Seems hard to believe 6 months later this hasn't been resolved.

Finally a comment about forum behavior and etiquette. I believe most members here have a genuine interest in helping to answer questions, suggest courses of action, etc. I don't get the reason of acting like a hose-nozzle towards the people trying to help when all they did was ask for more information that should have been provided in the original post.

Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance - Confucius.

 

[User_3336]

Wow, it's amazing how many geniuses are on this forum that think everybody else is an idiot!

I honestly don't know why I've replied as much as I have after this comment.. OP, you asked for ideas and comments from you original post, but I'm sure the sarcasm wasn't appreciated by the ones who were trying to answers questions and provide insight into the situation.

 

[Aseras]

Sooo.... statute of limitations is expired?

Statute on written contracts is usually 2 years, but 10-20 depending on state and circumstances and unlimited for some kinds of fraud.

 

[cornelius967]

For those that have offered helpful responses or asked for more information, the comment about "geniuses" was not meant for you (that should have been self-evident). Perhaps many of you missed the "Karen" comment early on or other "less than helpful" commentary. It's rather sad to me that so many have joined this forum to "critique" every post that's presented rather than be part of a community that helps other RAM owners. I realize that abstract thinking skills are in limited supply these days, but my post is about more than the $750. It's also about the way corporate America treats "We the Consumer". I'm now learning that it's also about the way forum members treat each other and work together (or not) when it comes to presenting a "united front" when dealing with FCA/Stellantis.

In my lifetime my tax dollars have been used to BAILOUT the Chrysler brand twice. And yet when FCA/Stellantis screws a new RAM buyer out of $750, the response from many on this forum is to "roll over, take it, and be happy with the experience". Why should any of us accept being screwed over by FCA/Stellantis?

I did contact RAM Care (multiple times). They directed me to the Incentives and Rebates Department. I had lots of back and forth e-mail with them to no avail. I use e-mail so that I have a record of all of the communications. I contacted RAM Care again and told them that the folks in Incentives and Rebates weren't helpful. I got no response at all from that e-mail. I've got lots of communications trying to resolve this. Frankly, I'm just looking for a "reasonable explanation" as to how this situation occurred and why RAM Care hasn't done more to show the buyer of two new vehicles in less than a year that they actually CARE about them as a customer. It's been six months because I've been trying to resolve this issue for six months dealing with FCA/Stellantis via RAM Care with no reasonable explanation presented. I gave them plenty of time to fix this. THEN, I turned to the 5thgenrams.com forum to share my experience with the "community".

Shortly thereafter I was called a "Karen" for sharing this experience with the RAM community. It doesn't "bother" me that some clown thinks I'm a "Karen"; he's obviously more into insulting people than he is trying to help his fellow RAM community members. What bothered me was that many in the "community" were so quick to say "Oh well, that's how it goes, get over it!" Is that really "how it goes" and we're all just supposed to accept this type of behavior from FCA/Stellantis? We bailed out that company from bankruptcy twice in 30 years and yet RAM owners think we should let them screw us out of even more money?

Like a few others, I'm wondering if the dealer made a mistake. Perhaps they waited too long and the rebate expired. I wouldn't be happy about that. But I could accept that as a reasonable explanation. At the very least RAM Care should be able to do some research and find out what happened. And then explain to me what occurred that left me $750 short in the transaction. Instead they wasted a lot of time and goodwill (on my part) evading the issue and leaving me with concerns about their integrity as a company and real doubts as to whether RAM Care actually "cares" about me as a customer. I just want an honest explanation. I'm sure the truth exists.

But instead of helping out their fellow RAM owners, FCA/Stellantis has a group of supporters on this forum ready to insult and question their fellow community members rather than sticking together to get FCA/Stellantis to treat us with greater respect. It benefits the corporation for members to tell me to "be happy" with the deal that I got; even though I did get screwed out of $750. Perhaps it's time to stick together and get FCA/Stellantis to treat RAM owners better. There is power in numbers and we've got plenty of RAM owners here to get them to listen to us.

It should also be noted that RAM Care on this forum has not reached out to me to help resolve this issue.

 

[User_3336]

For those that have offered helpful responses or asked for more information, the comment about "geniuses" was not meant for you (that should have been self-evident). Perhaps many of you missed the "Karen" comment early on or other "less than helpful" commentary. It's rather sad to me that so many have joined this forum to "critique" every post that's presented rather than be part of a community that helps other RAM owners. I realize that abstract thinking skills are in limited supply these days, but my post is about more than the $750. It's also about the way corporate America treats "We the Consumer". I'm now learning that it's also about the way forum members treat each other and work together (or not) when it comes to presenting a "united front" when dealing with FCA/Stellantis.

My abstract thinking skills are exhausted and in limited supply today. Once again, the dealer screwed you.
I couldn't even finish reading the post.