Don't buy from Grapevine Dodge in Grapevine, TX! My story:
I started with good intentions: support the businesses in your local community even if they are national chains. With that in mind, I didn't even shop around. I had affiliate pricing from work and that was good enough for me. Talked to the fleet manager since I knew he could make the deals and I wouldn't have to deal with the front of the house. Not my first rodeo by a long shot. I custom ordered a truck with the plan to have it delivered in December since Ram usually drops employee pricing at that time. We agree to affiliate pricing and any rebates unless EP comes out then I get that pricing. We also agreed no dealer add-ons to the built after arrival.
Fast forward nearly two months, my truck comes in toward the end of November...about 2-3 weeks earlier than expected. We talked and he agreed to "sit" on the truck for a little while. I finally decided to go look at it and give it a once over. The first thing I noticed was a dealer add-on sticker on the window. I asked him about it and he said don't worry about it. He said their guys just work whatever comes into the storage lot and failed to pay attention to the fact this truck was marked sold. He assured me he wouldn't charge me for the adds...that was on them.
December rolls around and I don't see employee pricing dropping so I tell him write it up and let's get it done. I wait a day and reach out to him wondering why we aren't done already. He tells me the sale is that front of the house getting approved by the GSM. I asked him why it was even in front of the GSM? He told me a customer was pissed off and railed the dealership on a customer survey to FCA. So now, the GSM has to approve all sales. Whatever...let's get this deal done.
A week passes of me repeatedly asking can we close this deal. My guy calls in sick, losses a brother-in-law, has to travel for business, and the GSM is still sitting on the sales paper. It was at this point, I knew something was screwed up. Finally got a date to come in and finalize the sale. Now employee pricing has hit along with another $1k rebate so I'm sitting pretty with EP and $3,500 of total rebates.
I get there and my fleet guy goes out and gets the GSM. The GSM sits down and shows me two pieces of paper one showing me how much money I saved by the EP pricing change. I tell him, I know all of that already. Show me the price so I can sign and get out of here. Second line of the pricing sheet shows a $1,998 add-on package. I say he made a mistake and needs to remove that cost. He refuses. Says it standard on EVERY vehicle they sell. I say that's not the agreement I made with your fleet manager and I did not custom order my truck with those features. He asks me if I can compromise. I say no. Remove it or I walk. He refused. I told the fleet manager that I am rejecting the custom order because the vehicle was not delivered as ordered. I got up, walked to the door and told the manager I'll be back to pick up my deposit 2 business days later. I offered him one last shot to close the deal. He still refused.
I could tell the fleet manager was embarrassed. We had many hours of conversation in his office. I called him the next day where he apologized over and over. I told him I knew it wasn't him who was the issue. That fleet manager wrote me a $1k check out of his personal account just in case the GSM changed his mind and tried to keep my deposit. Thankfully, he didn't
Sorry for the long read. How do you bait and switch on a custom order? How do you override your fleet manager? And why walk away from a guaranteed sale when you're still making money? The how and why is because the GSM is a greedy crook.
So what did I do? I custom ordered the same truck from Mark Dodge in Lake Charles, LA for a guaranteed sales price below employee pricing and any rebates available when the truck hits the lot. You know what? I don't care if I spend an extra $2k at Mark Dodge. At least that thief at Grapevine Dodge won't get it.
My custom ordered truck:
https://www.grapevinedodge.com/auto/new-2021-ram-1500-limited-grapevine-tx/51414291/