First of all, let me start this by telling you how much trouble we had finding the car we wanted. I was looking for a very specific vehicle and was having trouble locating it. I wanted a black expedition with basically every add on you can get. Trey offered to find us what we were looking for and do a dealer trade. He made it sound like he saw many vehicles that were exactly what I was looking for and it would be no problem. He told me though that we would have to do the paperwork before he could get the car. That should have been the first clue that something wasn't right, but boy I wanted that car.
We went to Southern Ford 3 times while Trey was "locating our car". Funny thing is he told us he found one before we drove up there each time. When we got there he told us all kinds of stories about how he had called dealerships and they were not returning his calls. I wondered why the hell we had to go sit up at a dealership while he was doing the work he had supposedly already done.
I am very aware now how this dealership works. The trick they use is to get you to be so tired of being there that you will just want to sign the papers and get out of there.
On the 3rd day we went up there Trey told me that my vehicle would be there the next week, but I was going to get to take one of there vehicles off the lot. Oh yipee! I didn't want any of these cars and that is why I didn't buy one. This is something I will never do again. I should have taken my trade home and told them to call me when my vehicle was in. I have leaned now that they would have charged me for mileage had I decided not to purchase my new vehicle. I was reassured though the whole time that if the car wasn't exactly as I wanted everything would be just fine. Wrong again!
My vehicle was not in the day that they said it would be and when I called to ask why I got a completely different story than the first story of why it would take a week in the first place. I started to worry because they said my car was coming from the Dallas area when they told me in the beginning that it was coming from Crosby. The stories never made any sense and of course it was always the other dealership's fault. Trey was acting very defensive and quite rude when I called and I asked to speak to a manager. I spoke with TJ who reassured me that my car would be in soon and if not on the day they promised, I could take my trade back. However, I knew they would try to charge me mileage for the "loaner car" they let me drive off their lot. I was completely stuck!
I was told my vehicle was going to have about 600 miles on it bc it had been driven by the owner of whatever dealership it came from. After all of the trouble I decided that was fine, but of course when I recieved my new car it had 1,000 miles on it. Wrong once again!
The day the car finally came in we went to the dealership where they made us resign forms with a new date. I was very careful to check that everything was the same and the finance guy Enrique did have to make a few changes. Good Try though!
We had made an agreement to put $3000 down on the vehicle and all the paperwork said $3000 in cash. Since we had to resign paperwork Enrique gave us our new paperwork (only because I requested it) and we also had our old paperwork both in white envelopes. We also brought our down payment in a white envelope. We were at the dealership for a few hours and were very tired of dealing with these people. Somehow Enrique did not take our down payment and it was put with our paperwork. We recieved delivery of the vehicle that night.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention that I had to request that they fill up my new car with gas because it was on empty. The "loaner car" was on empty when I drove it off the lot as well, but I filled it up myself. Can you believe that?
About 3 weeks later I noticed the dealerships phone number on my caller id and figured that they were calling because my plates were in. I had no messages on my answering machine, so I decide to call and check. When I called the lady told me that my plates were not in and I asked if someone had called me. She told me to hold on and then put Trey (sales guy) on the phone. He told me that they had misplaced the receipt for our down payment. I told him that I could bring him my paperwork, but he said it would be a hand written receipt. I told him I would call my husband as he had half of the paperwork for insurance purposes. He had the down payment and we didn't realize it because it was put with the paperwork. He was out of town for work so I called Trey back and told him that I was sorry and would be by to bring him a check as soon as I could. He seemed to be fine with that and didn't give me a time frame or anything. I was unable to get to the dealership the next day because I work pretty far but decided I would go the next day.
The next day Trey called my husband's work and told the secretary who he was and why he needed my husband's cell phone number (which is the number that was on all the paperwork and the number he called a few times throughout this whole deal). That is against all privacy policies that I know and upset my husband very much. I called and left a message for Trey saying to only call my cell phone because my husband was out of town and to not call his work again. My husband received a call on his cell phone that afternoon from Chris Catania the sales manager. Chris told him that if they did not receive the down payment that day they would call the police and a repo truck to my house and see which one showed up first. So, they were now threatening us with a reposession after a mistake that Enrique (finance guy) made. My husband was quite angry but was out of town. He called me at work and I headed to the dealership that afternoon.
When I got there I asked to speak to a manager. The very young looking kid behind the front desk told me he was a manager and his name was Chris. I of course as any angry person would do made sure that he understood why I was upset that he threatened us and that this had been such a nightmare. He had the nerve to tell me to turn around and look at the little floor display that said they won some award for customer satisfaction so I must be wrong. He also told me during the argument that he knew that I just thought I got away with not making the payment and that I should just make the payment so this would all be good. I tried to explain to him that no one ever called me and that we did not realize we had the envelope with the payment till a few days ago, but the whole time he kept grinning and laughing as if I were some con artist. If I really wanted to be dishonest I probably could have fought this because all of my paperwork said that $3000 cash was there. I did not have a hand written receipt but all the typed up contract info that was signed stated it. They should have never given me the car without that down payment. I am an honest person though and would not do something like that. I was buying a $50,000 car and the $3000 was not a big deal to me. If I couldn't afford to give them that then I would have no business buying that pricey of a car. Not trying to be cocky, but it is the truth.
Chris told me that his staff tried to contact me several times and that I kept saying I would come in and pay, but I never showed up. That was a total lie! I called them! I had no messages, no calls on any other phone and they had every number. I had to ask the girl to hunt down who had called me.
I have never been treated so terribly and I am so upset that I ever bought a car from them but they made sure I was stuck. I purchased a $50,000 car and was treated like a criminal! This was the most unprofessional, unpleasant and dishonest dealership I have ever seen and I will tell everyone that I know how terrible this experience was for me. To anyone who reads this... Do yourself a huge favor and never buy anything from Southern Ford in Manvel, Texas because you will regret it. I wish I would have never gone up there!
Rebecca
Pearland, Texas
U.S.A.
0 comments