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Originally Posted by e92328i998
Are you using one of the brokers that actively posts on leasehackr? It is isn't really their fault but they should be helping you out through all of this. I don't think they can use the excuse of car will come in anyway if you don't have a production number and the dealer says they cancelled
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I am using a leasehackr broker and it has been a poor experience since the get go! I didn't post a review as the guy has a loyal fan base that jumps all over anyone with an issue, but lets see what everyone thinks!
Touched based with a broker in December-February looking for an M550 with certain must have options and colors. Nothing popped up so he said lets place an order for one, end of Feb for a mid May delivery... So far so good! Sent him the retainer and placed the order about February 20th or so. He sends me a credit application that I filled out...Couple of day's pass and I hear nothing at all, e-mail the broker and no response yet he is replying on threads of his.
I post on his thread and instantly he gets back to me. "He didn't get my messages" and was away on vacation.
I inform him I have heard nothing from the dealer at all and should by now have a production number as it has been over 2 weeks. He would look into it when he got back "On Friday". Also I asked how the car was getting to me from about 140 miles away? Dealer will deliver it for free but "we get a $236 mobile notary fee" This was news to me as it was never discussed by him or in any of his threads, but so be it..
Here is where things got weird and it is still 2-3 weeks before Covid comes into play. Friday comes and goes and he is back to not responding Monday and Tuesday of next week, yet very active on the forums. I call BMW NA hoping to get a production # as up to the this point I have been very respectful of his relationship with the dealer. NA was ultra helpful and after some time on hold came back with some confusing info. They stated that the dealer did not have an allocation for a production slot (okay happens frequently) but the second part was that from what they could tell BMW was done making 2020 M550's (1st week in March!) It was like they had crystal ball! I messaged the broker, he didn't know what BMW NA was talking about and the car would get built. I asked for his phone # so we could talk about my options. He was "away on vacation"
I decided to reach out to the dealer, it took them a day to figure out who worked with this broker, but a salesman promptly got back to me. He looked at everything and said yes they didn't have an allocation but he would see what he could do.(this is now 3 weeks since I filled out a credit application) Salesman calls me back the next day, he was able to get an allocation from another dealer, here is my production # and estimated production week. Car initially was coming end of April. I never heard a thing from the broker, he never followed through with a production # or any additional info.
Covid starts to impact our region about 2 weeks latter... My car goes backwards from scheduled to production to order received. BMW NA pretty much weekly changes the production date to May, end of May, June, end of June and finally July. At this point BMW NA indicates I may not get the car at all and would have to order a 2021 in July for an estimated Oct delivery. I fully understand why, but I really can't go without a car 5-6 months more than initially planned.
I reach out to the dealer as the broker responds only with I will check type of emails and never follows through. Dealer emails me sorry we have all been laid off. Please reach out to the manager. After getting a few emails from the dealers customer service dept I requested to be contacted... meanwhile broker finally says that yes I can cancel the order but it is highly frowned upon and I would likely be black balled by the dealership and it's other brands. At this point the dealer is 2 hours away at least, and according to others likely going under. However I am still respectful of the broker/dealer relationship. Sales manager gets in touch with me, fully understands, was apologetic and says he is positive this car isn't coming and has no issue at all with me moving on and hopes we can do business in the future.
I update the broker with no response yet again... I replied on one of his threads and again he instantly got back to me. Stating pretty much BMW NA, the dealership and myself were clueless and the car was coming and he would move it as soon as it did. Made it seem as if I was lucky he was only keeping my $100 retainer for all the hard work he put in. Honestly the only thing he did was email a credit app, he didn't even run the #s on the lease he had me do it, send him the link and say it looks good!
So if you have been able to follow all this, I originally went with this broker because he was local to me, had great reviews for his communication and ability to fix issues quickly. His discount was the same 12% off MSRP as every other broker, his $500 fee was slightly higher and his sudden $236 notary fee doesn't seem to happen with others. Side note I just leased another car remotely and no need for a notary but I guess every brand could be different...
He wasn't the cheapest but was suppose to be one of the better guys. I really can't agree with that though..