Jeep Remote Dealership promotion causes outrage after ‘secret’ phone number posted online

JEEP Australia is being slammed by hundreds of angry people over accusations a $10,000 car promotion is “rigged” and a “scam”.

FIAT Chrysler Australia is facing an onslaught of criticism on social media over its popular “Jeep Remote Dealership” promotion after a secret phone number connected with the gimmick was posted in an online forum.

The promotion gave participants the chance to be one of ten people who could buy a new Jeep for $10,000 instead of the showroom price of $40,000.

Tens of thousands of Jeep lovers downloaded the promotional app, which was supposed to reveal a secret phone number today.

The first ten people to call the number at 9:00am today would be winners.

But things started to come undone yesterday when the phone number was revealed and posted to the Whirlpool user forum.

The breach was discovered last night and it’s understood Jeep took actions to attempt to rectify it.

Things got worse when some users claimed they were never received the number while others claim they didn’t get it in time.

Within hours of the promotion closing this morning, hundreds of people had taken to Facebook to express their outrage.

Many had threatened to sue Jeep, while others reposted links to official organisations such as the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, encouraging Australians to report the company.

Users on Jeep’s Facebook page complained that because the number was made public prematurely, Jeep should have changed the number or the competition terms to avoid an unfair advantage for those who saw it early.

Two Facebook pages — “Jeep Fiasco Class Action Lawsuit” and “If you think the JEEP give away was a scam” — have already been created.

The official Jeep Australia Facebook page was littered with comments such as:

Mhusin A Luttoo: “That was a complete waste of my time. Jeep you can be sure that I will be suing you for unfair and unreliable advertising.”

Hayden Cox: “Joke joke joke.”

June Nightingale Gill: “Just got the update that all cars have been sold … pity you couldn’t send me the update with the phone number on it so I could at least have a chance to actually call!!!!!!”

Fiat Chrysler said it did everything it could to ensure the competition ran smoothly and would contact customers who lodged a complaint.

The remote dealership in the promotion.

Fiat Chrysler director of marketing Mark McCraith told news.com.au: “We did everything we can [to ensure it ran smoothly]. Of course people are disappointed they didn’t win but it was always going to be 10 people who would win.

“We always welcome engagement with our brand but unfortunately we can’t sell 30,000 cars at $10,000 or we would go out of business.”

Mr McCraith said Jeep would contact customers who lodged a complaint. He said: “We want to reassure them of the probity of the competition.”

The idea for the ad campaign, developed by Melbourne ad agency Cummins & Partners, launched a couple of weeks ago.

The lucky few to win would have to pay the $10,000 and make their way to a dealership in a remote area through a series of checkpoints to complete the promotion.

The competition clearly resonated with Jeep lovers as the app was downloaded almost 50,000 times, which resulted in the unusually high conversion rate of 30,000 on the app waiting for the phone number this morning.

According to Jeep, phone calls to the call centre numbered in the hundreds of thousands with over 60,000 server requests for the phone number in under a minute.