Complaint Review: Fairway Ford

I helped my parents purchase a car from this dealership, it was the second time I purchased a car from them. The deal that I got for the purchase price was only average, but I wanted them to have a new car for the trip they were making. Their old car was too uncomfortable for them.

To make a long story short, after the finance manager Helen Arflin failed to slide any extras like extended warranties into the purchase, she said that their rate would be 9%. This is with a beacon score of 820. I asked her directly why the rate was so high, she said that was the rate from Ford, that the dealership had nothing to do with it. I asked her directly if the rate was marked up, and she told me no. I knew this was a lie right then, but since my parents only financed it to keep from pulling money out of a mutual fund, and they have money coming from the sale of their house, the loan will be paid in a few months at most, so the amount of intrest paid will be small, so I was going to do the deal anyway.. I said that the bank rate sheet I saw was nowhere near that interest even with special finacing rates. She told me that she didn't know what rate sheet I was looking at, but that was Ford's.

What made me so mad about this person, was the whole time we were in her office, she was going on and on, about how she would never cheat customers, and how she would never work at a place that did. I already knew that she was a cheat though, because even at the beginning of the transaction with her, she tried automatically putting in an extended warranty by showing two payments with different extended warranties. This makes it seem to customers who are only looking at payments like one is with the extended warranty, and one is without. She also said that gap insurance only added $1 per week, which means that the insurance would only have been around $50, she never would tell me how much the insurance cost, only that it was $1 per week. This also was a lie that I caught her in, because the payment difference was $6 per month.

I did not directly challenge her that night, because I knew the difference in the discount rate and the rate she was charging wasn't going to amount to much in the month or two they were going have the note, and unfortunately there were no other cars at local dealerships at the same trim level. Since the deal on the price was slightly under invoice on a 2005 model and the car had been brought from another dealer (not for us, but original dealer is who gets the holdback) I wanted to make sure we got this done, and with only one day to do it in, my options were limited. But I planned to challenge this the next day, after my parents had the car in their possession.

The next day, I called the GM of the dealership, Bill Ross and told him what happened. He was very uncaring, but he was willing to rewrite the contract for 7.5%. He said that Helen had not told me any such thing, and that 7.5% is the best rate he was going to offer me. I suspect since Ford Motor Credit only allows a 3% markup on rates, that the rate we were approved at was 4.5% and the contract HAD to be rewritten at the lower rate.

I told him that I was very dissatisfied that they would try this with someone who had good credit, I hate to see what they would do to someone with bad credit. I told him my experience with this transaction would be reflected on Ford's survey. I then called the finance manager, and told her I not had an official Ford rate sheet (I did) and told her I knew exactly how much the rate had been marked up and wanted to know why she lied to me. She said she didn't lie, and that I must have misunderstood. I told her I didn't misunderstand, that I asked her a direct question and she gave me a direct answer that was a lie. She then hung up on me.

I went ahead and took my parents back to the dealer to resign the paperwork, primarily to give Helen and Bill a piece of my mind when they could not hang up on me. I got the paperwork resigned and in our possession, then got up and handed Helen a Ford rate sheet, and told her that this was to prove I had access to rate sheets. She then told me she didn't care what I had access to and I needed to leave the premises, I told her I just wanted to know why she lied when she made such a point about how honest a person she was. She said she didn't need to answer my questions and to get out.

The GM then came in and said I needed to leave, and I again stated that I just wanted the answer to my question. She then said if I didn't leave she was going to pop me one, I told her that she was proving what kind of people they were and that I most certainly would not be back. The GM said that would be an honor and a privilige. I told him it would be for both of us. I told them they were just a den of theives in the showroom and walked out.

I could not believe that a supposed manager would physically threaten a customer, especially when that customer was much bigger than she was. I guess maybe that was why she just moved here from Chandler, NC, people don't tend to change, so she probably skips from dealership to dealership.

If anybody has a similar experience with this dealer or with Helen Arflin at another dealer, please respond as I am considering hiring an attorney to deal with them.

Todd
Easley, South Carolina
U.S.A.

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