I bought my used 2004 Ford Explorer 5 months ago (Aug. 2007) from Smithtown Ford, which seemed like a good deal - low mileage and in good condition. The salesperson, Frank, was great - and very eager to have me buy the car and drive it off the lot the same day.
The trouble began when the business manager, Bill, and I discussed options for the car. We agreed on a DVD player, and then he told me about a coating for the car called "Nanobond, " which would increase the value of my car at trade-in by $400. So, although it cost $800 - I would 1/2 back some day when I traded it in.
The dealership gave me the car without having cleaned/detailed it properly - since it got too late in the day. I was anxious to take the car that day, since I live 1 1/2 hours from Smithtown Ford. After a couple of days, I realized they could never have applied the "Nanobond" since they never detailed the car.
I called Bill at Smithtown Ford and told him I didn't want to drive the 1 1/2 hours back to Smithtown to get the Nanobond, and agreed to get in touch with the financing company (Americredit) to apply a refund.
A few weeks later, I called Americredit to see if they received the refund, and they had not. After another call to Bill, he said he'd "take care of it" with Americredit.
I soon found out that Bill did not get me the best financing deal (14%), and I re-financed the car with HSBC (10%) and which time I discovered he never applied the refund. I called Bill to let him know I never got the refund, AND, my DVD player was broken. He told me to come back to the dealership and he would get the "Nanobond" applied as well, and I told him I DID NOT want the Nanobond, especially since my car needed body work after it had been hit by another car in a parking lot.
Bill scheduled an appointment for me to come back for a new DVD player, but after I drove 1 1/2 hours to get there, he said the installer wasn't there that day. I made the trip again a few weeks later, in mid December, and they put the 2nd DVD player in and applied the Nanobond to the damaged car - so they wouldn't have to issue the refund!
I confronted Rob, the general manager, and told him I was promised a refund four months earlier when they forgot to apply the "Nanobond." I also told him the car had been in an accident and no longer wanted it. He attempted to hand me a bottle of the fluid to apply myself! This "Nanobond" sells for approx. $150... So why did they charge $800?
Now the 2nd DVD player has broken and I called Rob, the General Manager to complain. He said he would "sit down with the new owners" and discuss my issues and call me back. That was last week... I'm still waiting.
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