Frustration with Koons (Baltimore and Sterling)

[66coupe]

This week I've talked with salesmen at Koons Baltimore and Koons Sterling. It's been frustrating and I'm wondering if my experience is typical at Koons, or if I just have bad luck.

I started at Baltimore with a guy recommended in another thread. I talked with him on Monday morning. He was helpful, he answered a few questions, and then was going to check availability of a car and get back to me. I felt confident this would go well. But I did not hear from him Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning, so I called and left a voicemail Tuesday afternoon. I never heard back on Tuesday or Wednesday.

By midday Thursday I gave up on him. I got another name recommended in another thread (this guy is in the Sterling dealership) and called him. Again he was great, and said he'd e-mail a price to me ASAP. I told him I was ready to buy but needed the price to decide between two cars Koons had, and I'd make a decision and let him know Friday. About five hours later I had not received anything so I called and left a message and repeated the e-mail address in case there was a mixup earlier. I still have not heard back. No e-mail, no phone call, nothing.

Anyway, is this typical at Koons (maybe they overwork their salespeople) or am I having bad luck. Any thoughts?


ETA: After starting this thread, I noticed the "Koons Ford Experiences" thread and posted there. I don't know how to delete this thread, but I don't mind if a mod does it.

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[MagneticGT]

Who did you speak with a Koons of Baltimore? Assuming you're still looking for a car, I'd recommend Casey Groop. He's very responsive.

 

[wildcatgoal]

Your experience is not representative of my experience with Keith at Koons Baltimore or Michael of Sterling. Despite them being, according to them, the highest volume (or one of) Ford dealers in the United States, my experience was so good that I happily flew up there from Atlanta to buy a car from them (the deal was good, too). Try buying a car at a Ford dealer in the Atlanta area and then go back to Koons and you'll quickly realize how much better Koons is! The Ford dealers here made me want to buy a Camaro!

I worked with Michael almost exclusively through email. I received regular, quick communications from him regarding inventory and what is coming in on trucks. Only after we went through basically everything available did we stop emailing as much. I called a few times and he wasn't available but eventually grabbed him. They're "busier" sales people than any other dealership I've been to, so having to call again or a delay in response is something you should expect. The only thing disappointing was that I decided I wanted a car and when I got word from Michael, it was already sold in-between when I said "Go" and when he got my message. It happens! I lived.

I changed over to Keith because the Baltimore location had what I wanted in stock and they didn't want to dealer swap it (or whatever they call that). So I called Baltimore, got Keith, Keith made sure they had the keys, and then we worked out a price and he kept the keys in his fanny pack (joke) until I got there a few days later, basically. When I was there, he was the most caring, personable car salesmen I've ever met. We talked about watches (he saw my watch and was looking to buy a new watch; my watch was $19.99 on an Amazon.com Deal of the Day, but looks expensive to a lot of people). Not that I needed it, but he insisted on spending time with me showing me the bells and whistles and almost seemed jealous or envious of me buying the 5.0, almost like he really wanted one, too... point being, he really knew the car and seemed to like them. The paperwork was normal in terms of the amount of it and the time it takes to get through it and the Finance guy was funny and didn't pressure me like the Mercedes dealer I bought my lemon MB from into buying extended warranties and what not. I did buy the wheel/tire package because I benefited from that with the MB which had an AMG package and wheels seemingly made of stale Pringles - two bent for NO reason and they cost about $1K each without the package, which replaced them for free.

Now, with Keith, I had to call a few times to grab him from time to time. Keith does check his VMs but it is not uncommon for car sales guys to not check VMs. In fact, not one single Ford dealer in the Atlanta area ever returned VMs. Keith did, just not fast enough for my impatient ass and so I'd call back an hour later and get him in-between customers on the way to the bathroom trying to take a dump or something, but I got him. He was ultra busy when I was working with him and, unlike in the Atlanta area, when I got to the dealer, I didn't see sales guys standing around smoking cigarattes and seemingly doing nothing. In fact, I saw sales people at desks cutting paperwork, walking the snowy lot with customers, etc.... you know, actually working. So they're busy and, like I said, Koons is high volume so nobody is at their desk much.

I'd encourage you to just call, let him know you're serious, and that you'd like to work quickly. Rule #1 in business: set expectations. Let him know how you want to work and your sales guy will let you know what he can do for you. Just be real, say I want to be able to call your cell or something, can I get it? That kind of thing. They get a commission selling you a car... they're not going to push you away intentionally.

PM me if you want any more info but if you talk to Keith, let him know Nick with the Blue GT that had a dent referred you to him. (BTW, they paid to have the dent repaired WITHOUT QUESTION and even after I was acting like a panicked little bitch about it. Cost them about $600 to repair here! Some stupid lady dinged it while it was staged while I was signing paperwork, I think. I used a great painter and it looks perfect.)

That's my 2-cents.

 

[wsfrazier]

I was shopping between these two, and just bought a car on Wednesday from Koons Baltimore. Small world, also from Pittsburgh.

As far as Sterling: their prices are good, but they don't include the 900 freight fee, and Sterling tacks on a 699 processing fee that they won't budge on (least in my case). Also will probably low ball you on trade if you have one.

I ended up buying from Koons Baltimore, they lowered the processing fee, and also gave me another 1500 on my trade, sight unseen. I also had them do a dealer trade from another dealer to get the exact car I wanted, they beat the price by a lot that the original dealer was quoting me. They did the dealer swap that exact day, they were super fast and efficient.

I did have to keep tabs on the salesmen in both places though. I think they started getting frustrated dealing with me over the phone, and kept trying to get me to just come in. I eventually did and we got the deal worked out rather painlessly.

Are you by chance looking at a comp orange ecboost premium they have listed at 26,7k?

 

[CentralVA]

Call Sterling back and talk to Jonathan Chin. He will be on it like white on rice. He is a good guy

 

[66coupe]

Thanks all for the suggestions. I bought a car about a month ago.

I was shopping between these two, and just bought a car on Wednesday from Koons Baltimore. Small world, also from Pittsburgh.

As far as Sterling: their prices are good, but they don't include the 900 freight fee, and Sterling tacks on a 699 processing fee that they won't budge on (least in my case). Also will probably low ball you on trade if you have one.

I ended up buying from Koons Baltimore, they lowered the processing fee, and also gave me another 1500 on my trade, sight unseen. I also had them do a dealer trade from another dealer to get the exact car I wanted, they beat the price by a lot that the original dealer was quoting me. They did the dealer swap that exact day, they were super fast and efficient.

I did have to keep tabs on the salesmen in both places though. I think they started getting frustrated dealing with me over the phone, and kept trying to get me to just come in. I eventually did and we got the deal worked out rather painlessly.

Are you by chance looking at a comp orange ecboost premium they have listed at 26,7k?

Hi wsfrazier, I was looking for an EB premium (I do not remember seeing the CO one, but it may not have been there when I was looking). But I was not able to find what I wanted and I did not want to wait for a factory order. Without the creature comforts of the premium, I was on the fence between the EB and V6 and finally went with the V6 (with 051A and manual transmission). I love it so far.

 

[RockStang]

I had this exact experience at Koons Baltimore. I spoke with the sales manager that was recommended on this forum. They were supposed to be locating me a car. Didn't hear back after 2 days so have up. They called me 4 days later and I already had my car. They need to learn what follow-up is. If they would have at least let me know what was going on, I probably would have stuck with them. I ended up going to Waldorf Ford and they were all over it. Got me exactly what I wanted in a day and gave me a good price for the car and my trade in.

 

[wsfrazier]

Yeah, the vibe I got from Koons is that they have no problem selling their cars to people that just walk in on the spot, or local, so they don't need to cater to those out of state.

They will entertain you initial call and help you in finding a car. But they will only keep doing that until you just stop in and they see your serious.

After dealing with them myself and playing phone tag back and forth trying to get numbers right, they finally got to the point of just asking when I can travel in and finish in person. They kind of stopped calling back after that.

I eventually drove in and got the car/deal I wanted though.

 

[wildcatgoal]

EVERY dealer is like this. EVERY ONE. Unless you're really lucky and get the sales guy who's had a slow month.

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