Complaint Letter

thats some bad business on fords part..

After reading the entire thread ( skiming mostly ) . I am amazed that nobody picked up on one single thing in his story..

You say that the Pontiac Dealership stated that the system "only needs to be charged".. A/c Systems should NOT leak out freon.. and do NOT need to be charged routinely.. If the system was low enough to not allow the compressor to start ( more than one pound ) .. the system in fact DOES have a leak..

I can tell you that the smallest freon leak is about 250.00 to repair correctly.. and a bad leak can be in excess of 1800.00 to repair..

with that being said.. I feel that his first offer for your car was very very nice..



I just purchased a Black 06 GT premium with iup and wheel upgrade from Brandon Ford.. no hiccups.. no glitches.. and I bought it for 26,300.00 ( 29800 list )

I'd sure like to see Ford's response - if you get any at all...

Just go to Brandon Ford. I've never had a bad experience with then, and I know too many people who've been totally screwed over by everyone else (Heritage, Freedom, Ernie Haire), and I've had HORRIBLE experiences with Bill Currie. Avoid Bill Currie like the plague. Of course, nobody, including Brandon Ford, is perfect, I've just seen a pattern from many of the other dealerships, ESPECIALLY Bill Currie.

Story about Bill Currie if anyone is interested:

Not long ago, I saw an add in the paper for an '01 GT @ Bill Currie for $11k, so I told my friend about it. So, over a period of a few days, we go see this car 3 times, and test drive it twice. First of all, the paint was in terrible shape, not because of anything the last owner did, but because essentially the paint was just peeling off because it was crappy to begin with. So, we ask if Ford will repaint it like they did for my other friend's '02. They say "no, because it's been repainted." Of course, they just pulled that out of their butts as an excuse not to do so. There was absolutely no evidence of a repaint, not to mention what kind of accident-free '01 vehicle would already be in need of a SECOND repaint in 3 years? So, later they say that they won't repaint it because they don't repaint because of this kind of defect or something. So, we come in a different day and ask someone else as if we are just curious about a similar situation and they say they WILL repaint it.

Anyway, so we're thinking we'll figure out the paint thing later... let's just see what we can get this thing for. So, on the 3rd time visiting the dealer, we ask for a price based on the newspaper ad. The salesman comes back with a price $4k HIGHER than the ad says!!! So we're like, "WHAT THE HECK?!?!" So, the SALES MANAGER comes out and tells us that we are mistaken... and that they already SOLD the car that was in the ad several days ago and that it was Green!!!... even though the newspaper ad shows the stock # and it's written on the window of the car we just test drove!!! The salesman is just as shocked as we are and feels really bad. Essentially, the salesman really was a good guy, but the Sales Manager was feeding him and us lies the entire time.

So, we just get up and leave at that point after telling them off a little, and we're standing in the parking lot discussing how much they blatantly lied to our faces, and the salesman comes out and says they're willing to come down near the price of the ad. We say we'll think about it and leave.

So, my friend's dad calls them up later and tells the salesman that he expects a call from the Sales Manager within the hour. So, this dude calls acting all smug like, "Hey, Mr. ______, what can do for you?" So, my friend's dad reminds him of all of his lies and how much a news station would love to run a story about a Car dealership balatantly lying to and pulling a bait and switch on a couple of teenagers, so he changes his tune really quick, and my friend ended up getting a really good deal on an '01 GT.


BTW, I don't condone threatening stuff like that on a regular basis, because it gets overused, but this time is was true and those crooks deserved it.

um seems more like you were the stuborn one

YOU brough a vehicle with a PROBLEM in to be traded in ..,

regardles of what you had been told the fix would cost the dealer has every right to offer you whatever they think is reasonable they are under NO contract or obligation to give you any number for it..

second if your car had no freon IT IS LEAKING period as a mecahnic of 15 years i can tell you freon does not WEAR out it does not just stop working.
If your car was not cooling because it was low on freon then the freon had to GO SOMEWHERE..
there for there IS a leak and the leak would need to be located and fixed.

the dealer was hedgin its bets what if it takes your car in trade and then turns out the leak is in the core in the dash the repair could easily run into 1000 dollars..

his offer WAS fair under the circumstances and the dealerships need to protect itself from a possible high repair bill.
it is NOT the dealerships responsibility to take your word for it it just needs recharged,

they in no way can gaurentee you are going to get the same amount 12 weeks down the road when you have been driving the car putting on MORE miles and the car could possibly have mechanical issues between now and then,.

its rediculous to even think they would promise that they would.

now sounds asif the salesman was a bit off handed with you but then again to be honest from your post and the way you have been talking i am willing to bed you were a bit beligerant with the salesman..

either way that is neither here nor there..

Sorry to hear about your situation. The part about the trade in is such bs too. I went to a dealership and after we worked out the trade in value price, that was it. There was no nonsense about no guarentee on the trade in value. Cars don't depricate very much in 2 months. Just sounds like a bad salesman and overall bad dealership to me.

Just check around like others have said and I hope you find a good dealer who will give you a fair price on the mustang.

crewwolfy said:

Would you never buy another Wilson football if some asshat at Sportmart pissed you off?

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Yes, I would buy another one.. but your analogy is different. You're talking about a sporting good at a generic sporting goods store.

If the ******* were selling you a Wilson football at a Wilson outlet store and was a jerk would you buy another one? That might be a little bit better analogy.

jfrayzier said:

Yes, I would buy another one.. but your analogy is different. You're talking about a sporting good at a generic sporting goods store.

If the ******* were selling you a Wilson football at a Wilson outlet store and was a jerk would you buy another one? That might be a little bit better analogy.

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Each post you add only shows more and more how likely you were, as mentioned just above "beligerant with the salesman". It seems the dealership was likely human in their decisions to give you a fair price for both sides and are not obligated to take your word for it.

As far as the "wilson football outlet analogy", you would also have to understand that the Wilson Outlet store is an independently run store and in no way has something to do with Wilson the manufacturer... And thus should be open to buying other Wilson footballs from other independently run Wilson Outlet stores... Other than that, spot on...

Wow, so many psychic people in here

I cannot see into the past, so I have to take the post at face value. If anyone bothers to read the original post, they'll see that it's only AFTER the salesman cusses the A-Plan and pulls the all too familiar "ballpark" quote that this guy gets irritated (and even if he did get worked up, when did the world change and the customer had to tread carefully, and the salesmen were the ones doing us all a favor???).

Sure, asking for a guarantee on a future trade-in isn't going to happen, but other than that, I don't see what this guy did wrong. Even the whole "mention any Plan up front..." thing maybe understood practise, but for anyone to say that a customer is obliged to say/do ANYTHING is niave in the extreme. In ANY biz, it's up to the salesperson to make a sale work. Period. I don't care what kind of attitude a customer has, I've yet to see many businesses in the current economic climate which can afford to think that they can pick and choose who they do business with. That kind of mentality can only lead to diminishing market share and damage to a company...oh, wait...

rjla67 said:

I then supply him with my 7-digit A-Plan code, and this is when it got real ugly.

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So, you figured you didn't have to follow the rules. That you would out-smart-them by intentionally not disclosing you were using the A-plan, as you are required to do upon entering the dealership.

Your little plan backfired, and you want to blame everyone else.

rjla67 said:

Our salesman then went on to inform us that although our vehicle was in very good condition, the only thing they found wrong with it was that it does not blow cold air from the air conditioner. I then explained to him I was aware of that, for only a couple of months ago I went to Pontiac to inquire about it, and I was told that it needed to be recharged, and the cost would be around $100 plus tax, and would take an hour or so. I never got it fixed, but I know fully what it would take to correct it. After explaining that to our salesman, we were told that the appraiser said it was leaking. I then asked if he was a mechanic, and I was very angrily told that he has been in the business for 27 years, and said it was leaking.

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Where exactly do you think the freon was going, if there wasn't a leak?

If you knew the A/C wasn't working, why didn't you disclose this to them prior to them appraising your Firebird? Where you hoping they would not notice?

Again, your little plan backfired, and you want to blame everyone else.

Horror!

Siggy33 said:

I wouldn't send your complaint to Ford because, like crewwolfy said, they only build the cars. I would send a complaint to the dealership manager about the way the particular salesman treated you...try and put his a** in the frying pan for p*ssing you off so much. Just a thought...

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I sent a similar letter describing my dissatisfaction with a particular purchasing experience to Ken Grody Ford in Buena Park, CA. They never responded. No return letter, no phone call, nothing. The bottom line is that there are more dealerships that really don't care you were treated with disrespect. That being said, they are in business to sell cars and if they can make money treating people like crap, well, people generally continue to do what works and gets them the results they desire.

While Ford isn't directly responsible for our sales experiences, they are accountable. They decide which dealerships to license and sell their products. They need to make sure they protect their customers and separate the wheat from the chaff.

My advice to you, find another dealership that treats you with dignity and respect and appreciates your business. You'll be happier in the long run. What I've found though is that they lie too. When I ordered my '05 GT, they told me 12 weeks to delivery. 16 weeks later I got the truth...they had an allocation of 2 cars per week and there were 28 orders ahead of mine. Demand the truth upfront! If they aren't willing to give it to you, leave immediately.

GT-03 said:

Where exactly do you think the freon was going, if there wasn't a leak?

If you knew the A/C wasn't working, why didn't you disclose this to them prior to them appraising your Firebird? Where you hoping they would not notice?

Again, your little plan backfired, and you want to blame everyone else.

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Yes, just like the disclaimer I got that my gastank would take gas at a rate of no more than 1 gallon per minute, and that my Shaker 500 would randomly skip and spit out CD's.

Oh, wait, that's right, THEY'RE the ones doing US a favor ("...So, you figured you didn't have to follow the rules..." ). Again, what planet are you from??? The "rules"? A customer can do what they like, the salesperson is the one trying to make a sale (or, should be). The only onus on anyone in a sales transaction is on the salesperson (and please, spare me the "...supposed to declare * Plans up front..." line). Period.

Selling Privately

For what it's worth, I sold my previous Mustang privately because I didn't want to deal with the dealer's bullcrap negotiating tactics. It was a 97 GT, auto, leather, loaded...in excellent condition with only 75k miles. I sold it on ebay and while I didn't get the full "private party value", I did get well above what the dealer (a Ford dealer) would have offered for my trade. It was painless.

Buying a car should be a pleasant experience. It shouldn't feel like pulling teeth. If it does, you're at the wrong place. Shop somewhere else.

Yeah... I had a client like that. Ran credit on him 2 months ago, he dragged his feet on getting docs so I could get the loan approved, and when I finally got them... 2 months later his FICO sank a good forty points and he'd purchased a new car blowing the debt ratio... and even if that stuff hadn't happened his rate would've been a full point higher anyway (for a mortgage).

Of course this guy wants to know why he dopesn't qualify for the loan.... I just said "Two months ago you did".