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Bad dealership experience

Eric

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I’m in northeast Florida and went into a dealership
this morning with the goal of test driving a Powerboost and potentially placing an order. Unfortunately the Powerboost was basically sold before it arrived and was gone by the time I got there.

So I decided to sit down with these guys and see what kind of deal they would give me on a factory order (although I still want to drive a Powerboost before putting an order in)

Before I went I had the build I want in a PDF and I’m aware of the best price out there (-3% holdback from invoice from Granger Ford ). I started my negotiations there and was immediately meet with a pretty hostile attitude

The build and price sheet was basically put back in my face and he said “we sell trucks here, we don’t give them away” I even re-offered to invoice price and was met with the same response.

Was definitely a disappointing experience when a simple “sorry we just aren’t going to be able to make deal today” would’ve sufficed.

My main point of posting this experience here is to find somebody who has had a better experience at a dealer in Florida or the southeast in general. Obviously the lowest price possible but I also value good customer service. If I can’t make a deal in the next month or two I’ll be driving my trade in to Iowa to Granger Ford.

I would appreciate any insights the forum has on better dealers in my region
Don’t give your business to anyone that wants to be slick. They’ll treat you the same way when some messed up stuff happens to your truck and you need some help.
Ford is a shit company and anyone that works for them is just as bad or becomes that way from working In that environment.

stick to what you want and keep moving until you find a decent person willing to help you out. As bad as Ford is, there’s still some decent employees willing to get you what you actually want.
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DPL

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Customer service means a lot to us, NumbersGuy. I highly recommend finding a dealership and salesperson who are good at their job and sticking with them. Both know you aren't wasting their time and having a good relationship usually benefits both parties. Do your research beforehand and know what to expect.

I'm perfectly fine in letting a dealership make a fair profit. I want them to be able to hire and keep quality people. Last thing i want to see working on my truck at the dealership is some tech with spiked orange and yellow hair lip syncing Like a Virgin and is using one of my new shocks i just payed for as a mic while he is dancing wildly around my new truck, lol.
 

xXChartmanXx

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I went through Costco Auto and they put me through to my closest dealer who told me they had the exact truck I wanted (I knew they didn't), I told them I wanted to order the exact truck I wanted not something they had on hand. They sent me the listing for "My truck" and I was like that's perfect except its Black and not Carbonized Gray, Its a 5.0L and not a Powerboost, its an XLT and not a Lariat, do I need to go on. I asked them to give me a price for an order. They said they would get back to me. They have gotten back to me 4 times trying to sell me a different truck each time instead of just taking my order. I contacted the other dealer near me and the Fleet guy told me to come down and he would put the order in right away, honor my x-plan, have their customs department put on a 4" BDS lift, 20" wheels, and 35's, give me $1400 for the tires/wheels they're taking off and hook me up with some free maintenance. The biggest difference between the two dealers. The first one is a commission dealership and the one I went with is not. The guys at the first dealership are worried about their checks this week, not in 3 months. The other place just wants to sell cars and keep people happy and coming back.
 

col

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I have had the flexibility to look in multiple markets in the mountain states and I have spoken to dealers in at least 7 different markets. I would sum up that ~50% my dealer calls have had a similar experience to your and others who responded.

For one particular dealer, I offered to buy the truck unseen, I was quoted a fair price on the phone, then two days we were firming up the paperwork and in the last 15 seconds of the call they said "oh well hey...not sure if we can still do the deal at this price...lot of interest...new model year...etc..etc...BS..BS..BS.." At least we got that sorted on the phone so I did not fly there to pick it up and they only wasted a couple hours of my time instead of days. Oh and BTW they still have the truck - it has not sold.

The entire game these dealers play is so tiring. Similar experiences as others responded - "we have your exact truck..." not, "Oh come in an see the XLs...just like a Lariat"...involving a two hour drive. etc. etc.

I was pretty much ready to hang up buying a the 21 F150 and going to buy a Ram. One of the last dealers quoted us a fair price for our order since they did not have what we were looking for. Tehy took our order over the phone, they sent over confirmation of the details and price, we gave our credit card, and they placed the order - so far so good with no BS. And they've kept us informed on the order status.

This so reminds me of a couple/few years ago when we looked at a Chevy Bolt. The Chevy dealers wanted ABOVE MSRP for something already greatly over priced. We passed and ended up buying a BMW. One of the Chevy dealers called us last summer nearly begging us to take another look at a Bolt with significantly below invoice pricing. I reminded them that they had our business and they turned it away with price gouging. We have never looked at another chevy since.

Vote with your dollars and don't reward these clowns' behavior with your business. Get up and leave. And later in the year when their lots are full of inventory, remind them they had your business at one time.
 

Smitdog

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Ford is a shit company and anyone that works for them is just as bad or becomes that way from working In that environment.

stick to what you want and keep moving until you find a decent person willing to help you out. As bad as Ford is, there’s still some decent employees willing to get you what you actually want.
That's a very broad brush to paint.

To clarify, Ford dealerships are independently owned and operated. Dealership employees are not "Ford" employees. The "culture" at any one particular dealership does not imply that it is the culture of Ford Motor Company.

There are great dealerships out there; don't let a few bad apples smear the reputation of all. The marketplace and changing of time will eventually reward the ones with effective business models. ?
 

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spud_41

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I went through Costco Auto and they put me through to my closest dealer who told me they had the exact truck I wanted (I knew they didn't), I told them I wanted to order the exact truck I wanted not something they had on hand. They sent me the listing for "My truck" and I was like that's perfect except its Black and not Carbonized Gray, Its a 5.0L and not a Powerboost, its an XLT and not a Lariat, do I need to go on. I asked them to give me a price for an order. They said they would get back to me. They have gotten back to me 4 times trying to sell me a different truck each time instead of just taking my order. I contacted the other dealer near me and the Fleet guy told me to come down and he would put the order in right away, honor my x-plan, have their customs department put on a 4" BDS lift, 20" wheels, and 35's, give me $1400 for the tires/wheels they're taking off and hook me up with some free maintenance. The biggest difference between the two dealers. The first one is a commission dealership and the one I went with is not. The guys at the first dealership are worried about their checks this week, not in 3 months. The other place just wants to sell cars and keep people happy and coming back.
I've had two different salesman try to sell me a Platinum after I asked about 502a Lariat Sport Packages, because it's "practically a Platinum"... Except the price difference, and excessive chrome vs no chrome. If they paid attention at all one of them would have gotten my business.
 

Smitdog

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I’m curious if somebody knows the answer to this - why does a dealer care about making a deal on a customer factory order that will arrive in 2-3 months time. Does it count against the allocation they are able to receive? Surely in a few months there will be enough stock to go around. Seems like if I order from them even at less than invoice it is incremental revenue they wouldn’t have realized otherwise. Unless this is counting against a certain number of trucks they are able to get it doesn’t make sense to me
The biggest profit centers at a typical dealership is F&I (Finance & Insurance) and parts & service (including warranty). The sale of a vehicle is the gateway to the profit centers.

In a former life I designed and developed dealer business management dashboards. These were updated daily with dealer data, and provided key performance indicators and insights (detailed charts & graphs) across all aspects of a dealer's business. You'd be surprised at the level of granularity measured and analyzed. Helped good dealers become great dealers (or at least more profitable).
 

charliecbp

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For you Florida guys, I live in the Florida Keys and NEVER buy here, I always travel to purchase my trucks, I tried to deal with Gary Yeomans in Orlando and dropped them, in my case they were hard to deal with, I even talked with the sales manager and he acted like I was inconvenience, Greenway's truck price was good but they wanted to give me $1000 less than Kelley Blue Books lowest number on my trade in.
I decided to call Kisselnback ford in Orlando and happened to get the Sales Manager Kim, she was THE BEST!!! I sent them my build sheet, got under invoice offer and and excellent offer on my trade in + any incentives at time of delivery which looks like should be in march during Ford Truck Month. I made the deal with them right away. I ordered the truck Jan 6th, had a vin within days and a build week of 2/15
I HIGHLY recommend Kisselback ford in Orlando, I spoke with over a dozen Florida dealers and they were by far the beast deal
One footnote Albert at Grainger was excellent to deal with as well, it just didn't work for me driving the round trip to him with my trade in. Albert seems like a great guy, very upfront and great communication.
 
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Eric

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That's a very broad brush to paint.

To clarify, Ford dealerships are independently owned and operated. Dealership employees are not "Ford" employees. The "culture" at any one particular dealership does not imply that it is the culture of Ford Motor Company.

There are great dealerships out there; don't let a few bad apples smear the reputation of all. The marketplace and changing of time will eventually reward the ones with effective business models. ?
I kind of agree with that. There are some solid dealerships out there that actually do love cars and helping people fulfill their automotive needs.
But I won’t take back the smack talk about Ford. There are several points to backup what I said but my main reason for putting them down is because I was one of the unfortunate people that suffered with the doors that don’t close in the winter.
As I’ve been searching the internet for a solution every winter for the past few years I came across a few articles about class action law suits for the thousands of people that had this same issue.

Instead of trying to help these people out Ford went against them and fought to prove that they weren’t responsible for it even though this has been a persistent problem for almost a decade.
 

Smitdog

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I kind of agree with that. There are some solid dealerships out there that actually do love cars and helping people fulfill their automotive needs.
But I won’t take back the smack talk about Ford. There are several points to backup what I said but my main reason for putting them down is because I was one of the unfortunate people that suffered with the doors that don’t close in the winter.
As I’ve been searching the internet for a solution every winter for the past few years I came across a few articles about class action law suits for the thousands of people that had this same issue.

Instead of trying to help these people out Ford went against them and fought to prove that they weren’t responsible for it even though this has been a persistent problem for almost a decade.
Wow, I was unaware of the door latch issue (I have a 2010 Lariat, fortunately no issues).

Appears that Ford really did a disservice to their customers by not proactively addressing the problem head-on, and in a timely manner. Shame on them as the F150 is their crown jewel.

https://topclassactions.com/lawsuit...rd-door-latch-defect-class-action-settlement/
 

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Eric

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Wow, I was unaware of the door latch issue (I have a 2010 Lariat, fortunately no issues).

Appears that Ford really did a disservice to their customers by not proactively addressing the problem head-on, and in a timely manner. Shame on them as the F150 is their crown jewel.

https://topclassactions.com/lawsuit...rd-door-latch-defect-class-action-settlement/
From what I’ve read the issue didn’t really come up until about 2011 so you lucked out.

Mistakes can be made but they should’ve helped these people instead of trying so hard to not take any responsibility for it. Driving with one hand on the steering wheel and holding the door shut with the other is just as bad as it sounds.
 

claytonr

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For you Florida guys, I live in the Florida Keys and NEVER buy here, I always travel to purchase my trucks, I tried to deal with Gary Yeomans in Orlando and dropped them, in my case they were hard to deal with, I even talked with the sales manager and he acted like I was inconvenience, Greenway's truck price was good but they wanted to give me $1000 less than Kelley Blue Books lowest number on my trade in.
I decided to call Kisselnback ford in Orlando and happened to get the Sales Manager Kim, she was THE BEST!!! I sent them my build sheet, got under invoice offer and and excellent offer on my trade in + any incentives at time of delivery which looks like should be in march during Ford Truck Month. I made the deal with them right away. I ordered the truck Jan 6th, had a vin within days and a build week of 2/15
I HIGHLY recommend Kisselback ford in Orlando, I spoke with over a dozen Florida dealers and they were by far the beast deal
One footnote Albert at Grainger was excellent to deal with as well, it just didn't work for me driving the round trip to him with my trade in. Albert seems like a great guy, very upfront and great communication.
Good to know. Kisselback is about 5 miles from my house. Looking to order a Lariat in a couple of months.
 

eff150

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I have had the flexibility to look in multiple markets in the mountain states and I have spoken to dealers in at least 7 different markets.
would you mind sharing what dealer you ended up with? I’m flexible enough to travel and am in a similar part of the country. I’ve been calling several but best offer I’ve gotten is $500 over invoice.
 

UNCGrad

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I’m in northeast Florida and went into a dealership
this morning with the goal of test driving a Powerboost and potentially placing an order. Unfortunately the Powerboost was basically sold before it arrived and was gone by the time I got there.

So I decided to sit down with these guys and see what kind of deal they would give me on a factory order (although I still want to drive a Powerboost before putting an order in)

Before I went I had the build I want in a PDF and I’m aware of the best price out there (-3% holdback from invoice from Granger Ford ). I started my negotiations there and was immediately meet with a pretty hostile attitude

The build and price sheet was basically put back in my face and he said “we sell trucks here, we don’t give them away” I even re-offered to invoice price and was met with the same response.

Was definitely a disappointing experience when a simple “sorry we just aren’t going to be able to make deal today” would’ve sufficed.

My main point of posting this experience here is to find somebody who has had a better experience at a dealer in Florida or the southeast in general. Obviously the lowest price possible but I also value good customer service. If I can’t make a deal in the next month or two I’ll be driving my trade in to Iowa to Granger Ford.

I would appreciate any insights the forum has on better dealers in my region
If you don't mind a drive, two of us on this forum bought from Walker Ford in Clearwater. I ordered and got a great price from Tim Katt.

I had the same experience with most dealerships not getting back to me. Greenway and Mullinax did but couldn't meet Walker's deal.

I considered Granger but by the time I factored in the costs to get there and drive home, it about equaled out to what I got from Walker.

Your experience us the reason I hate car shopping. Good luck!
 

GeorgiaF150

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sorry to hear about the bad experience. greene ford in gainesville GA is incredible. they offer similar prices up front to Granger. chris is who i have dealt with and has been excellent.
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