Sponsored

Some dealerships are just awful

Bink

Active Member
Joined
May 17, 2017
Threads
1
Messages
26
Reaction score
21
Location
Oconomowoc, WI
Vehicle(s)
2017 GT350
I had a similar experience to Angry50. Just happened to be driving by a dealer and they had a GT350 sitting on the lot (this was in early '17, when they weren't sitting anywhere). I was driving my '04 Ranger, which obviously (by their measure) doesn't put me in the right category to even be looking. The sales guy is visibly annoyed at my questions and all but blew me off. Ended up having to leave, but I wanted that car, so I called them and told them I was coming back. When I got back there, I talked to the same person, but he was totally different sales guy, completely engaged and eager to talk. During the test drive (surprised they let me do that), I asked him what his deal was earlier. He said they get 50 people a day kicking the tires on the GT350 and he has to talk to every one of them, and had been doing that for a few weeks.

I guess I get it, but man, lucky the car sold itself, otherwise I would not have come back...
Sponsored

 

wanted33

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 30, 2014
Threads
14
Messages
701
Reaction score
240
Location
Down South in Dixie
First Name
Jim
Vehicle(s)
2018 GT Convertible, 2006 GT Coupe
Spork, I would make one more phone call to that dealership, and that would be the General Manager. I would politely ask if the car was on the lot, and tell him you tried to get the info from his/her sales floor with no success. Then sit back, and watch the chit hit the fan. It's kinda fun. :)
 

Rock&Roll

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 25, 2016
Threads
28
Messages
1,172
Reaction score
921
Location
New York
Vehicle(s)
2016 GT Stick- 2022 VW GTI Stick -2011 HD Fatboy
Maybe they where busy with customers and didn't have time to answer e-mails.

I would have called and if they had the car in stock with whatever colors I wanted I'd drive up at that moment.
45-50 minutes is not a long time for a drive.
 
OP
OP
Spork3245

Spork3245

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 21, 2017
Threads
41
Messages
1,519
Reaction score
717
Location
NJ
Vehicle(s)
2019 GT Premium PP1 w/Magneride
Maybe they where busy with customers and didn't have time to answer e-mails.

I would have called and if they had the car in stock with whatever colors I wanted I'd drive up at that moment.
45-50 minutes is not a long time for a drive.
Read the whole thread :cheers:
It’s now been 72 hours since their initial reply to me - pretty sure they had 10 seconds somewhere in that timeframe. I’m not even sure if it’s a color combo I want, which is why I asked for pics of the vehicle, then they stopped responding; car was never on the lot.
 

Sponsored

OP
OP
Spork3245

Spork3245

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 21, 2017
Threads
41
Messages
1,519
Reaction score
717
Location
NJ
Vehicle(s)
2019 GT Premium PP1 w/Magneride
Well you could help me out :headbonk:
The distance is fine if they actually had the car. If I replied to their initial email stating "great, I'll be by on Friday" or whatever, I would have driven out there for nothing as they clearly don't have the car. On their website, the car no longer shows up in the search - but if I use the direct link that's still up on AutoTrader, the listing still states "available", not "sold" or anything. It seems like when I asked for additional info, whoever I was in contact with realized that the car wasn't there and just decided to not take 10 seconds to reply to any of my multiple follow-up emails. It's unlikely the car was sold within the hour of my initial email, their reply and my follow-up email, what's more likely is that this was an on-order car that bounced back due to the Magneride constraints (especially since there are zero pictures of the car available).
:p
Calling never made sense since I wanted pics and the window sticker. Car likely never existed.
 
OP
OP
Spork3245

Spork3245

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 21, 2017
Threads
41
Messages
1,519
Reaction score
717
Location
NJ
Vehicle(s)
2019 GT Premium PP1 w/Magneride
Ok I've clearly failed in this thread. UGGH :headbonk:
It’s okay, I still love you :love: :p

I’m so glad I found the first dealership I mentioned in this post as they have been great. My sales-guy is legit awesome, checks in every few weeks to give me updates (completely unprompted). I was only heading to this other dealership to be able to check out a GT Convertible to fully make up my mind before it’s too late to change the order (if the Blue exterior with Red interior somehow looked good, there's a decent probability I may have wound up buying it as a bday present to myself... mostly due to impatience :lol: ). Ugh! (Blind) Decisions!
The amazing dealership I’m mentioning is John Kennedy Ford in Feasterville, Pa, btw. Their parking lot is absolutely awful, but the sales people and floor manager make it worth putting up with. :p

PS: I'm not listing the crappy dealer - I'm not here to bash, just to vent my frustrations :p :D
 
Last edited:

Jdenkevitz

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 3, 2016
Threads
22
Messages
411
Reaction score
132
Location
Maryland
Vehicle(s)
2016 Ruby GT PP. Former 2016 Ecoboost owner.
Not long ago I was shopping for a used BMW to use as a daily driver. One dealer in Northern Va had a listing on a used 535 at a reasonable price. It was a chevy dealership, not BMW. I called them up, asked about availability and a few details. The saleswomen stated that they had the car and it was being detailed, and asked when would I like to see it and she would check when it would be available for a test drive and call me back. No call back. The next day I call back and spoke to her, and she said it was still being washed. I told her that this sounded odd, why would it take more than a day and a half to be washed? She said "well we want it to be very clean for you!". She said she wasn't sure when it would be cleaned, but would call me ASAP. A few hours later I called back and spoke to another individual:

Him: Hi how can I help you?
Me: Im calling about that red BMW 2008 535..
Him: Oh ok, great! Its here and wonderful.
Me: Great, I would like to come down and give it a test drive.
Him: Excellent, when do want to come down?
Me: Today after work, around 6pm.
Him: Where are you coming from?
Me: North of Baltimore.
Him: Ok great! But I want to tell you something. We have had a lot of interest in this car. People really love it. Many folks are excited about it. I am sure you will as well. But since you are driving a bit of a distance (about an hour drive), you should know that this car really is great, people love it, but you cant drive it above 15 miles per hour. But you are welcome to come see it!
Me: Why cant I drive it above 15 miles per hour?
Him: We aren't sure. The car won't go faster than that, and we can't figure out why. We aren't a BMW dealership.
Me: I see.
Him: So if you like the car, we can sell you an extended warranty with it. In fact, we will only sell the car to you if you buy the extended warranty. Then you can have it taken care of.

So basically, the dealership was conspiring to commit fraud on a third party warranty company.

Pretty pathetic.
 

Brian_S550

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 1, 2018
Threads
7
Messages
527
Reaction score
702
Location
Chicago suburbs, IL
First Name
See username
Vehicle(s)
2015 Mustang 3.7L, 2016 Explorer 3.5L
:p
Calling never made sense since I wanted pics and the window sticker. Car likely never existed.
The car absolutely exists and you would have seen a VIN and stock number proving that, so it was either sold sometime before you made contact and hadn’t been removed from their DMS by the dealer website/software provider yet, or it’s in transit from the factory and hasn’t landed at their lot yet. It might also be spoken for by someone who put down a deposit. I sell cars for a living: they were definitely wrong to not respond and let you know what the car’s status is, but also keep in mind that website listings are managed by third party companies or FoMoCo themselves.
 

Sponsored

VooDooDaddy

Banned
Banned
Banned
Joined
Nov 22, 2017
Threads
9
Messages
602
Reaction score
623
Location
SW Iowa
Vehicle(s)
2016 GT Premium
In early November of last year, I bought my used 2016 GT from a small Mom&Pop dealership in Michigan. I found them (and the car) on the interwebz.

Long story short: the communication and attention I got from them was outstanding! They took the time to tell me all about the car, how the acquired it, and agreed to send me hi-def pictures and a video of it running/idling; and included a free CarFax report.

After sending the pictures/video of the car, we negotiated a deal over the phone that took all of 5 minutes, with me agreeing to send them a deposit of $500 via PayPal as soon as I hung up the phone.

After the deposit was sent via PayPal, I bought my plane tickets to Michigan and then called the salesman informing him of the flight information and he agreed to pick me up from the airport in what is now my Mustang GT.

Without realizing it, when I made my flight reservation I didn't look at the departure/arrival times close enough and I thought I would be arriving in Michigan at 11:00am, but a few days later saw that it was 11:00pm!!!

Phuck!!!

And here's where they went the extra mile: The salesman agreed to pick me up at the airport somewhere just shy of midnight. He then drove me to the dealership and we completed all of the paperwork in the middle of the damned night!!

I was eventually on the road at about 2:00am and I drove for 11 hours almost non-stop, and the car was perfect in every way (didn't have a single flaw anywhere) and ran like a dream, and when I sat in the driver's seat for the first time it had 616 miles on the odometer, exactly as was stated over the phone.

Yes, some dealerships should just go suck a bag of dicks, but there are still some out there that know how to do customer service. And because of this, I went back to the same dealership two months later and bought my wife a nearly-new AWD Explorer.
 
Last edited:

DarthMalice

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 27, 2016
Threads
26
Messages
570
Reaction score
646
Location
Huntsville, AL
Vehicle(s)
2021 Mustang Mach 1 M0960; AT; Fighter Jet Gray
I had a pretty horrible delivery experience on my 2016 at automax ford in Killeen, tx. I would not recommend them for anything. I ordered it through MAS so that part was ok.
 
OP
OP
Spork3245

Spork3245

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 21, 2017
Threads
41
Messages
1,519
Reaction score
717
Location
NJ
Vehicle(s)
2019 GT Premium PP1 w/Magneride
The car absolutely exists and you would have seen a VIN and stock number proving that, so it was either sold sometime before you made contact and hadn’t been removed from their DMS by the dealer website/software provider yet, or it’s in transit from the factory and hasn’t landed at their lot yet. It might also be spoken for by someone who put down a deposit. I sell cars for a living: they were definitely wrong to not respond and let you know what the car’s status is, but also keep in mind that website listings are managed by third party companies or FoMoCo themselves.
As I said earlier, it’s certainly possible - however, the AutoTrader listing (which they have 100% control over, and pay for) is what negates it being a special order or anything of that nature (unless someone REALLY screwed the pooch :lol: ). When I say “it never existed” I mean physically on their lot, as I believe 100% that the car itself was ordered - what seems most likely is that it was/is an on-order vehicle that received a bounce back from the current Magneride constraints, but a computer error caused the car to list as there and available instead of removing the listing (this also explains the window sticker thing I mentioned in the OP). With the initial email, the salesperson checked the computer for availability, the computer stated “in stock/available” so they replied, once I asked for pics/sticker, they physically checked, realized it wasn’t there and decided to take it off their websites’s search and to ignore my follow-up emails.
I want to be 100% clear - my issue is them not emailing me back and being honest about a screw up in the listing (or the vehicle being sold), not whatever occurred with the actual vehicle.
 
Last edited:

UAmach1

Bullitt Hopefull
Joined
Oct 10, 2017
Threads
58
Messages
1,757
Reaction score
546
Location
PA
Vehicle(s)
Ford/INFINITI
As I said earlier, it’s certainly possible - however, the AutoTrader listing (which they have 100% control over, and pay for) is what negates it being a special order or anything of that nature (unless someone REALLY screwed the pooch). When I say “it never existed” I mean physically on their lot, as I believe 100% that the car itself was ordered - what seems most likely is that it was/is an on-order vehicle that received a bounce back from the current Magneride constraints, but a computer error caused the car to list as there and available instead of removing the listing (this also explains the window sticker thing I mentioned in the OP). With the initial email, the salesperson checked the computer for availability, the computer stated “in stock/available” so they replied, once I asked for pics/sticker, they physically checked, realized it wasn’t there and decided to take it off their websites’s search and to ignore my follow-up emails.
I want to be 100% clear - my issue is them not emailing me back and being honest about a screw up in the listing (or the vehicle being sold), not whatever occurred with the actual vehicle.
Whats the dealership? if they are near me I'll drive right over and look.
 
OP
OP
Spork3245

Spork3245

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 21, 2017
Threads
41
Messages
1,519
Reaction score
717
Location
NJ
Vehicle(s)
2019 GT Premium PP1 w/Magneride
Whats the dealership? if they are near me I'll drive right over and look.
Check your inbox (I don't want to publically put a dealership on blast unless they REALLY screwed me - this is just an annoyance :paddle: :lol: ) :cheers:
They're in Northern NJ
Sponsored

 
 




Top