(Solved) Dealer Deposit Refund on Botched Order

[dcmdon]

Yes, but I live in Ca and its mandatory. There isnt a box to check online... And Gupton is saying since I didnt check the box then its my fault. Well how can I check a box that isnt given to me to check, and I wouldnt know it existed unless I could see it/worked. Thats the pain about ordering online. Dont get me wrong if this is the biggest thing to go wrong then I am gonna buy my next jeep/possibly cummins from them. But at the same time Im buying a pretty much fully loaded JTRD. Why wouldnt you just order a few more on the next jeeps whether the owner wanted it or not, and keep a cache for when somebody else from CA or other state needs it and doesnt know to ask for one. This way they still look like a good guy instead of souring an otherwise good experience? Ive walked away from truck purchases from lesser things. I was picking up my X5 and they were going to only give me a 1/4 tank. I told them straight up fill this bitch up or Im walking out this door and I will post it to every single place possible. The owner squawked and gawked and when he saw me getting on my Ducati he changed his story real quick.

So this is in fact a backwards endorsement of Gupton.

The least happy customer I've found on this site and all he has to complain about is getting "screwed" out of a front license plate bracket. Ha.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/143792949918

You raise some really great points though.

1) why not have a bunch in stock to cover for when you forget to order one.

2) 1/4 tank with a new vehicle. Its ridiculous. When I was working as a finance guy at a Saab dealer in the early 90s we were doing battle with the onslaught of new Jap luxury brands Lexus and Infinity.

Lexus was leading the way with doing all the little things that make people excited about their new car. It was a seismic shift in the auto industry. One of the things they found was that getting a new car with a full tank brought joy to the new owners and that these owners tended to tell people that their new car came with a full tank of gas.

So Saab started telling us to deliver cars with a full tank. And amazingly, people noticed and said something to us about it.

I'm surprised to hear about your X5. I would think that BMW would be pushing dealers to deliver with a full tank.

This is one of the differences in ownership experience that I would expect in moving from a European car to a Jeep.

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[dcmdon]

On front plates: Where did you order one from? I suspect if you didn't get one I won't either so I would like yo buy one. Though I may just do what I did with my old XJ for years. 4 Neodymium magnets and a steel front bumper works wonders.

Fun fact about Massachusetts: If you have the old style green lettered license plates, you pass safety inspection with no front plate as they weren't issued. If you have the new style plates, you fail the safety inspection and your car is legally "unsafe to drive" until the "problem" is fixed.

This was done because they wanted to grandfather in the old plates.

One interesting fact. People were repainting their plates lettering green so they could only run one plate.

So the state started putting on the registration whether the car was issued with red or green lettering. I got that from a MA cop friend.

I don't quite understand everything you said above. But if you need a plate mount, ebay has hundreds.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

So this is in fact a backwards endorsement of Gupton.

The least happy customer I've found on this site and all he has to complain about is getting "screwed" out of a front license plate bracket. Ha.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/143792949918

You raise some really great points though.

1) why not have a bunch in stock to cover for when you forget to order one.

2) 1/4 tank with a new vehicle. Its ridiculous. When I was working as a finance guy at a Saab dealer in the early 90s we were doing battle with the onslaught of new Jap luxury brands Lexus and Infinity.

Lexus was leading the way with doing all the little things that make people excited about their new car. It was a seismic shift in the auto industry. One of the things they found was that getting a new car with a full tank brought joy to the new owners and that these owners tended to tell people that their new car came with a full tank of gas.

So Saab started telling us to deliver cars with a full tank. And amazingly, people noticed and said something to us about it.

I'm surprised to hear about your X5. I would think that BMW would be pushing dealers to deliver with a full tank.

This is one of the differences in ownership experience that I would expect in moving from a European car to a Jeep.

Although I HATE the old-fashioned 1970s sales tactics and their refusal to make "deals" or deal with the affiliate discounts, one of the things that stuck out as a positive was that they sat with you in the vehicle and made really sure you drove off knowing what every knob, every control and setting was for - and they paired your phone and did whatever else needed to connect things before you left - they'd even stay after closing for that. And - they filled the tank full.
The vehicle was spotless, you had your phone connected, the radio set how you wanted it, and knew what things were - and left with a full tank.
Now, if they'd let sales people make deals and work with discounts - I might go back............
but then Motor Inn staff was SOOOO nice......(and my wife left with a full tank in her 2021 Grand Cherokee thanks to Motor Inn. Nice as it was a 4 hour drive)

As far as plate mounts - I bet a forum member would send one out cheap or free. Look at all the front bumpers that were replaced and the plate mount for the plastic bumper gets tossed on a shelf.

 

[Hootbro]

All the dealer slime is one of the reasons Tesla is avoiding dealers. No surprise, dealers are having a collective seizure over the ability for consumers to buy a car without their spawn-of-Satan being involved. The Texas dealers convinced the Texas state legislature to pass a law banning the sale of vehicles without involving a spawn-of-Satan dealer. No kidding, Tesla is working on an agreement to sell their cars on Tribal land in Texas where the legislature's laws don't apply. ?

Only tribal land in Texas that would make sense for Tesla to setup on is the Alabama-Coushatta Tribal area north of Houston. Even that is still at two hour drive from that area.

For geography placement and actual tribal area size, Texas is a piss poor state for that strategy in my opinion.

 

[Challenger85]

Lol front plate mounts. I haven’t used that in 9 years and Colorado requires it. Stupid requirement.

 

[am1978]

I have an unused JTR front plate bracket if anyone wants it.

 

[am1978]

Great. Such a constructive thread and now all the suggested threads at the bottom are about deletion requests. The OP should change the title back.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

................................. Stupid requirement.

Unless you are in law enforcement..........
I was involved in the debate in the Iowa legislature years ago when it came up again - related to classic vehicles, etc. where perhaps there was not originally any provision and so on.
Gotta think beyond ourselves and our selfish desires, sometimes. Beyond the ends of our noses, see the other sides of things.

 

[Jefe1018]

Was that petit larceny or Tom Petty? One means small, the other does not.

I’m a confusion. Unless… you’re making a play on words about them being petty while committing petit larceny… ?

 

[CerOf]

On front plates: Where did you order one from? I suspect if you didn't get one I won't either so I would like yo buy one. Though I may just do what I did with my old XJ for years. 4 Neodymium magnets and a steel front bumper works wonders.

Fun fact about Massachusetts: If you have the old style green lettered license plates, you pass safety inspection with no front plate as they weren't issued. If you have the new style plates, you fail the safety inspection and your car is legally "unsafe to drive" until the "problem" is fixed.

If not already suggested, edit your first post with the basic facts, thebasic difficulties, and that they are refunding your deposit.

 

[aceisback]

If not already suggested, edit your first post with the basic facts, thebasic difficulties, and that they are refunding your deposit.

Now what fun would there be in that??? Would just suck all of the knowledge out of reading the entire thread.?

 

[CerOf]

Now what fun would there be in that??? Would just suck all of the knowledge out of reading the entire thread.?

Lol, agreed

but better than changing thread title to delete me.

 

[TwelveGaugeSage]

Updated original post.

 

[Jocww]

I sat and watched as the salesman filled out our order (and that's why I blame me for not catching that he didn't actually get the passive entry box checked - he messed up, but I was watching!)
The front plate bracket he actually said out loud as he checked it, it was one of the first things - I remember his words "front plate bracket, this is Iowa, we always check that".

They have a form for YOU to fill out????
OR - they let YOU complete the order form that only they are supposed to even have access to? I recall our sales guy saying that for a certain spot on that form, the sales manager had to enter some code or something to keep them from getting something for themselves when ordering - can't re call what it was, but parts of the dealer order form are apparently locked down (or their management doesn't trust sales staff LOL)

I did the build a jeep on jeep.com and then printed it out, sent it to Daniel at Gupton. So it wasnt really a form. He then printed it out which showed the options I wanted ie cold weather aux etc. I didnt get to do an actual form with codes or anything.

 

[Pescatoral Pursuit]

I agree. The general public has no clue how business works. People always cry about being treated a certain way but consumers are just as bad. If you aren't loyal to a business why should they be loyal to you? It all goes both ways. This may not be popular but in my opinion if you waste a dealers time (and allocation) with an order and wake up one day "i now got a better deal somewhere else" you don't deserve your money back....... You should of done proper research beforehand before wasting someone's time. I'm not at all saying this happened in this situation and every situation has different variables....

I typically ask for a deposit if the job is over a certain amount, 99% of the time customers don't blink. Had one not too long ago balk and said "I have no guarantee you'll come back to do the job." To which I replied "I have no guarantee you'll pay me when the job is done. Furthermore, if I'm going to defraud you, after 20+years there'd be at least a mark on my name or license. If you have a habit of not paying I'm less likely to be aware of it, so we both need an element of trust."

I got my deposit.

Had another incident where I took a deposit and the homeowner changed general contractors. They put it on the new guy to call me asking for the deposit back. I informed him I was ready, willing and able to perform the terms of the contract but I wasn't giving the deposit back because that's the point of taking a deposit. They called the DBPR which in turn called me and found I was not in any violation.

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