how was your Ford dealer experience?

[Carlitos_92]

Sam Pack's 5-star Ford in Carrolton, TX (DFW) was absolutely terrible to deal with! ZERO STARS.

I placed the order on July 17 at 9am. My credit card was charged the $500 deposit on July 17. I get a call three weeks later and I'm told that my salesman was fired and my order was "placed but never assigned" whatever that means. We get it straightened out, I get an order number. Whatever.

My new salesman did a good job of texting me the day after Ford emailed me each status update.

My truck arrives in the states (at the rail yard). I asked if there was any special financing offers going either through Sam Pack's or Ford. David the salesman tells me there are none, and volunteers that the could probably get me a loan below 7%... I arrange my own financing with Bank Of America (5.5%) and take the approval letter with me when I go in to take delivery a few days later.

David wants to run my credit again (because he's incentivized to do so) under the guise of getting me a better rate... I tell him not to run my credit. I said "Do not run my credit". He agrees and says he needs to get my SSN and such to complete the BofA loan in the dealer portal. It says in the instructions the dealer may require your SSN, I saw this written on the form I brought with me. I give him my info while he types it all into the computer and then swings the monitor around and asks me to sign the screen. It's a CREDIT APPLICATION. I said no thanks, I do not want you to run my credit, and he then "shows me how to sign" by forging my signature on the screen. I forcefully speak the words, "That's not my signature, do not run my credit." He agrees not to run my credit.

Now we are waiting for the Finance manager, Laura. While we wait this strung out lady comes over and introduces herself as Alex, the person who can help me get the truck just how I want it. I told her I ordered the truck and got the exact options I wanted. She does the hard sell on each high-margin item: Floor mats, spray in bed liner, drop in bed liner, all of that crap. I politely decline while she fidgets and darts all around the conversation. Then she asks if I want a "leveling kit". I said, "No actually, I'm thinking about lowering all around it not raising it any." She asks if the lowering springs that I like are made by Ford. I said, "No Ford doesn't offer a lowering spring to my knowledge." She then goes full BULLSHIT CAR DEALER on me. Her literal example was this: "Well, you know if you put aftermarket springs on it and your seat heater goes out Ford won't cover your seat heater under warranty because you've modified the truck." I snapped at her that she was making up that BS and mentioned the Moss Magnuson act. She left us.

Then we go into Laura's office. Time for the Finance manager to take a run at the mark. Laura pitches all of the add ons, warranties, gap insurance, etc. All is politely declined. She then prints out a page and slides it across the desk to my wife and asks her to "sign the bottom to acknowledge that I offered this to you and you declined." Wife signs. Slides it over to me... I read it. It's an agreement to purchase over $4,000 in added BULLSHIT, all of the stuff we just declined! I point this out, tell my wife to scratch through her signature real quickly, and tell Laura I don't want any of her stuff, thank you. She tells me I'm reading it wrong, and I'm just signing to acknowledge. I point out the words on the page that say I'm agreeing to purchase the things I DO NOT WANT TO PURCHASE. She finally gives in and fakes a "Oh, I must have printed out the wrong one, let me print out a the right one." and prints out another one... exactly the same. Slides it across the desk to my wife who points out it is the same and slides it back. Laura pretends to not know how to run her software and says she must need to refresh it. Third time's a charm. She finally printed out the form that said we were NOT purchasing her add-ons. Shady lady!

David hassles me real hard to make sure I give him a good rating because that's the way he makes money, and he only gets his bonus if he gets all 5 star ratings. He brings this up several times. He really drove home the point that I must, MUST, give him a perfect rating and if there is any reason I can't then we need to talk about it then. I'm annoyed, he's a pushy salesman, his aftermarket parts lady was a liar, his finance manager tried to trick us multiple times, and now he's pushing hard for a "perfect" rating... It's late and I leave with the truck.

I get home, go to bed, wake up in the morning to all sorts of emails and alerts that my credit has been run, hard inquiries. at 6:13pm the night before, which happens to be when I told him not to run my credit. I call him. He lies to me and says he did not run my credit. I reach out to the dealership's PR guy. David calls me back. David admits they ran my credit, and blames it on Laura. But I never gave my info to Laura. I only gave my info to David and when I gave it to him I thought he needed it to complete my pre-arranged financing - and maybe he did. But he used it to run my credit, too. I tell them I'm not happy and that they need to "un ring the bell", call BofA, do whatever. I'm not taking a 30 point hit on my credit for year.

I call BofA, they want me to make a police report against David for Identity theft and forging my signature.

What would you do?

Anyway, RJ, the manager calls me and I explain everything to him. we play phone tag, and now I'm ghosted.

Avoid these people at Sam Pack's 5-star Ford! They are dishonest!
David Baldovin (Acted as the salesman, listed on their website under finance)
Laura Munoz (acted as the finance manager, listed on their website as "internet")
Alexandra Benvenuto (acted as upfitter sales, listed on website as "management")

The whole experience was HOT GARBAGE. I went there because a friend recommended them after having purchased 5 cars from them. Maybe I needed to throw his name around or something to avoid getting this abuse?

That is too bad; they are the closest dealer to me, and I am at least going to have to give them a try for recall work.

My experience at Grand Prairie Ford was similar to yours. Lots of attempted gotchas and pretending to have made mistakes. It is a full-blown production. I assume there was an element of "let's make him wait and wear him down" thrown in as well. All the while, the managers in the fishbowl are hooting and hollering and playing grab-ass with each other. Judging by the location, salespeople, and client base, that dealership probably does really well preying on people with below-average credit and whose first language isn't English. Very sad.

And yes, there were several hard credit pulls, just to arrive at a nasty 7.5% loan that I paid off after two weeks. At this point I have the lien release in hand weeks before I've even received the title.

The oddity is that because I bought used, there really has not been any feedback requested, or pressure to answer a survey or rate the dealer in any way. Which is lucky for them...

Sponsored

 

[nobbyv]

Exceptional. Negotiated entire deal via email (MSRP), steady communication from my salesperson, $27 fee for title transfer and no other BS doc fees.

 

[MagnusBjorn]

I picked my truck up yesterday at Ford of Londonderry. This is the second vehicle I have purchased from them and both times it was an excellent transaction. They honored the original price and I was in and out in less than an hour without any hard sell of additional items.

 

[Rew409]

I took my Maverick in to have trans , ptu, rdu oil drained & filled. I was going to do myself and bought the ptu oil & rdu oils from a dealer . But decided to have a dealer do it and took the two oils to them . Was told they had done lots of them by the Quik Lane person. Had to sign a work approval estimate for just under $500 and was told by same person it won’t be that much. Was told my Maverick was ready and that I’d be happy with the bill . They told me they drained my rdu and filled it back up and it took more than the one quart so they used part of the other quart ( the ptu oil which is not the same ).And they told me they did not drain & fill the ptu because it shares oil with the transmission (which it does not ). Next they said they drained & filled my transmission and it only took 4 quarts. I was stunned . I told them I needed to speak with a manager. I tried to tell the quick lane manager my dilemma. She went into the work area and talked to the ”mechanic” and came out and offered to drain and fill my rdu. I remained stunned and asked to speak with the service manager. Spoke with the service manager & told him my dilemma. First thing he said was ” this was the first Maverick they had changed fluids in “. This whole time I had my copies of Fords service manual pages for this maintenance in my hand ( it was in my truck back floor board when they were working on it ). I was in shock this happened. I mean I could not believe this Ford dealership had done this ! The service manager told me a few times that he would have his trans tech in the service department drain & fill everything correctly. I finally gave in and left my Maverick over night for them to correct this. I called the next day and asked to have my transmission flushed because I did not trust what quick lane had done and the service manager agreed to do it. I was a helicopter mechanic for 41 years . I still can’t believe that this dealership had someone work on my truck without looking at a manual and the service manager saying this was their first time working on a Maverick. I posted this to alert all Maverick owners to be aware of where and who you have touch your truck . I’ve seen on this forum where Ford contacts some entrys . I hope they contact me .

 

[notarealtruck:)]

As far as my purchase experience, I went into it expected it would be really bad, so when it wasn't too bad, I feel like that was a win.

I visited the dealer after calling a salesperson. We looked at a copy of the window sticker and went over all the options and questions. After all that came the... well you know were asking a 5k markup on new Mavericks. I told them NO and offered 2k over. He came back with 4k. I said NO and I left.

I thought about it. I'd have to order another one, wait 6 months plus. By then it's the '24 model, so MSRP goes up and hybrid is an upcharge. Not to mention my 10 year old Kia would need work if I waited. So either way I'm paying.... now or later.

So I called back and offered $2500 plus trade and they accepted. I did not finance thru the dealer, so that went way easier. I handed him a check from my credit union and signed the paperwork. He had no room to add anything additional, it was prepaid.

No service needed yet, so that experience has yet to be determined.

 

[Jah.]

Original order cancelled due to crappy responses / no response from contact person from local dealership . lost interest for a couple of months . then started contacting dealers 1 hour max from Orlando . found my Mav and purchased . right color and only missing one option (4k towing) I would of ordered . didn't really need it but would of ordered it .
Have been using local dealership for oil changes and they lost bolt to fx4 skid plate so not confident in them doing recalls .

 

[White Thunder]

https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/c...aler-engagement-nada-attendees-vexed-44505046

mine was great. I was going there for many years for service on my 2017 Escape until an old lady pulled out in front of me and totaled it.
it’s O’Meara Ford, in Northglenn, Colorado. It was Sitting right out front as you walk in. Brought it home 11-1-2021.

Sponsored