On the 13th, my son & I went shopping for a new car for him; he wanted a new Taurus. We ended up at Miller Ford 1st, just to see what they had in stock. After looking at the 2004 leftovers, we found a 2004 demo model that had all of the options he wanted, and was a lot cheaper due to having mileage on it.
We went home & talked about the car. He decided that he wanted to buy it & went back with a $50 deposit the next day (14th). I think it was that night that the salesman Jeff called me, trying to "push" to set up a sales date. I told him it wouldn't be until next week, he started to get a bit pushy & rude. At this point, I wasn't really nuts about him, and started having my doubts about buying a car from them.
Let me say that my son had just gotten home from CA, and was starting back at his old job in 2 days, so we had stuff to take care of before sitting down to buy this car. Until we knew his hours, we couldn't make definate plans.
Friday the 15th, we were in North Jersey at a dentist appointment when Jeff called my son's cell phone. Jeff said that he wouldn't be able to "hold" the car for him & that if someone else came with cash, wanting to buy that car, he would sell it to them.
At this point I'm starting to get hot. This Jeff is not only pushy, but unethical. I've bought a new car leaving a deposit, while the salesman knew I was still looking, and held the car for a week with no hassels. I couldn't believe this Jeff was bullying my son with threats.
Monday the 18th, I walked in to Miller Ford expecting to get my son's deposit back. I was told by the front desk that Jeff wasn't here & that I'd need a manager, but they were in a meeting. They also stated that a deposit doesn't necessarily mean they will hold a car for you. I left, making sure they knew I was mad. My son went back the next day, went to get his deposit back & was charged again another $50 out of his checking account. Miller Ford made it right by crediting $100- too bad the debit shows faster than the credit! In order for my son not to bounce any checks, I had to transfer money from my account to cover their screw up. We don't keep extra money in his checking account.
When my son went to get the deposit back, Jeff alerted his co-workers on why I was there, left them with the information they needed that was on file, and disappeared. Roughly 15 minutes later they finally got around to start the short process of refunding him his $50 deposit. After my son had his deposit refunded to his checking account, he proceeded to speak with a floor manager to discuss the problem. The floor manager, Don, tried to explain it as "miscommunication", despite the fact that my son expressed great interest in the car, and the features the car had that he was looking for. My son tried to explain what happened to the floor manager, but all he could do for about a half hour was say that "there must have been miscommunication, " instead of treating it like an actual problem.
When I saw my son the next day, he told me that Jeff SOLD the car on Saturday the 16th! Jeff didn't even call to either say someone else was interested in the car, did we still want it, or that he sold the car, come & get your deposit back!
On the 20th, Jeff called my house again; this time he started saying that there was "another Taurus" if my son was still interested - that's as far as I let him get before I told him we would never do business with their dealership again, & hung up on him.
So, if your shopping for a car, & want to leave a deposit on something & don't expect to pick it up the next day, DONT go to Miller Ford.
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