I'm actually glad that my local dealer/salesman got cagey with me a few weeks back after placing my order with them last month on the 18th...it's still in "order confirmed" status and it looks like it's not going anywhere anytime soon. While I understood they couldn't give me an exact delivery date, after reading/seeing some horror stories I followed up with them to have them reiterate their answers to some real simple/basic questions about MSRP, fees, etc...just to be sure I had a clear understanding. Their response was literally; "don't worry about it, we'll figure it out when the car gets here." Being well aware that left me completely exposed to whatever they wanted to pull out of their arse whenever the car did show up I got a REAL bad feeling that I was getting set up to have either (1) the car sold out from under me, most likely after (2) charging me whatever fees, charges, etc. they felt like to push me into backing out of the deal and selling it with a crazy ADM, which I'll bet is exactly what they're going to do...
I had to pay a small deposit ($2K) to place the order, and was actually told that if they "didn't like my build" i.e., color, options, etc. that they would have asked for more. I specifically asked, and was told by them they LOVED my build and it was "cool", etc. That was, however, right up to the part where I insisted I needed answers and wasn't joking about my questions. Not coincidentally, I bought two brand new Jeeps from this same dealer last year within 2 weeks of each other (Gladiator Mojave and Wrangler Willys) and had my neighbor a few houses up by a brand new Grand Cherokee shortly thereafter. The dealership has actually changed hands since then so it's not the EXACT same dealer, but all the people I was dealing with are the same.
Sooooo I see Koons posting here, check their inventory and after some back and forth I have a deal and no longer need my local dealership. I called my salesman to let him know to cancel my order and immediately refund my deposit. He sheepishly asked why to which I told him that he should have answered my questions when I asked them and not laugh them off. He told me that deposits were non-refundable (funny, don't remember signing ANYTHING that said that, but anyway) and he would have to get with the new car and general manager. He quite literally called me back in less than a minute and said they wouldn't refund the deposit, and furthermore opined that they were now going to be "stuck with a green Hellcat that no one will want" (in a Army/Marine Corps town no less, but anyway). I told him NO problem, and after hanging up on him I called my bank (USAA) told them exactly what happened (read the texts between myself and the salesman) and opened a dispute and had my deposit refunded before I hung up the phone.
So short story long, sorry not sorry. Dodge/FCA/Stellantis has completely alienated themselves from their enthusiast core base, with most, not all, but most, dealers happily along for the ride to completely gouge their customers for every cent they can get out of them. That might work short term but it's not remotely sustainable and Stellantis doubling down with going full in woke and EV focused, I'm pretty confident my post will age well, I'm just glad that I found a great dealer who wasn't greedy on a beautiful car and got a super solid deal, just disappointed that so many legit enthusiasts are getting left behind...
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