Town East Ford Deceptive and Dishonest dealership with our car purchase Mesquite Texas
On July 5, 2013 me and my family walked in to Town East Ford and all seemed well even when we came to an agreement on the final price of the car. July 8, 2013 my wife called me and said to urgently call Town East Ford because they had left a message saying they messed up on the interest rate of 1.99% supposedly they had approved us on. The Finance guy Alex told me that I had to come back in and re-sign on a new contract even though I already had a legal binding signed contract by both parties. Needless to say I was apprehensive about the situation.
On July 10 I went back to the dealership and agreed to sign a new contract but with the agreement from Alex that my payment would not go above what we agreed on and he agreed. I started signing the paper work and noticed that they had slipped in a $2480.00 Premium Service contract without my consent and approval. I told him why? I was never even asked if I wanted that option much less given the price for purchase. At this point I ceased signing any more papers, he told me then I would then have to come back the next day to work it out. I went home to look at my original contract and wow I had unknowingly signed the stupid paper. This got me upset so I called this guy and told him that I would come in to re-sign but the requirement was for them to remove the warranty from the total financing price. I could tell he did not like the ideas and now he is giving me the option to flat cancel the deal.
I made my decision and said no because even with the higher interest rate of 2.74% my payments would come down almost $50. He asked me where the car was and I said my son is driving it. He said WHAT? You’re SON? I said yes. Now he is telling me that they need to disclose to Ford Motor that there is another driver that is driving the vehicle. I said why is this necessary because I already have a signed legal binding contract and was already approved by Ford Motor Credit. By now he is telling me either have my son bring back the car or have him submit a credit app. I told him but I already have the contract signed and approved. He walked off and brought his Finance director Peggy Scarbro and she started telling me the same thing. So now I am very upset and told them that I would have to consult with someone about this. Alex jumped off his chair and very stern said "Bring the CAR back tomorrow". I got up an walked off to call my son. My son came in and submitted the credit app which I just assumed that he would be added to the paper work and still keep the 2,74% rate. After 30 minutes another finance guy came to us and just said 18%. I had no choice but to surrender the vehicle (They WON). I understand now that the dealership by law has to disclose to the lender if there is another driver and that driver also is required to submit a credit app. My take is WHY didn’t they tell us that in the first place when I and my son test drive the car? They never asked us who would be driving the car. They never asked us for him to submit a credit app. We just agreed on the price and wasted my time signing the contract and congratulating us as my son drove off with the vehicle. My son had the car during the weekend taking pictures of the car and showing his friends and now this people has humiliated us by making it difficult for us to keep the car. Not to mention they have reported to Ford Motor not to approve on me getting another loan because I am buying for my son. I was going to refinance my 08 Tacoma truck and my home soon and now I can’t because my credit score is too low due to them running too much credit inquiries on me when I only approved tem once on me and once on my son.
I had attempted to contact Mr. Kurt Jones the owner but the showroom person assured me that he would return my call but instead the internet director "Lance" called me back and I again wasted my time because he did nothing but had the same finance dir Peggy Scarbro called me and again wasted my time with her. What kind of operation are these people running? All these people are very dishonest. This was a very important matter to me and my family and the owner I guess to too big to talk to a customer to atleat hear me out and prove to me that they are a reputable company to make it right but obviously they are not. Too bad and so sad that this dealership has people working for him that treats people the way they do.
6 Updates & Rebuttals
Mike
Mesquite ,Texas,
In response to TEF owner Mr. Jones
#7Author of original report
Sat, July 20, 2013
Mr Jones, thank you for your response but the truth of the matter is that we are now in a problemattic situation here in purchasing another vehicle even if it is for me and also attempting to refinance my current vehicle and home because your dealership ran so many credit inquiries around 15 to be exact Which affected my credit score that other lenders will not approve me for loans.
Unfortunately I dont think I will ever step foot on this dealerships lot due to the emotional stress that was put on me and my family.
I think I have put it all in my original report and don't need to go on repeating what happened.
Kurt Jones
Mesquite,Texas,
My Best
#7REBUTTAL Owner of company
Fri, July 19, 2013
Mike,
I want to personally apologize for your bad experience at the dealership on July 5th. While we strive to give the best service, there are times that we fall short. We have investigated your complaint, and are taking steps to prevent similar confusion from occurring in the future. Without disclosing any personal information about your situation, please let me clarify some general policies that affected your experience.
It is a violation of our dealer agreement with the bank to not have all drivers on the loan. If the bank discovered that an undisclosed driver is operating the vehicle, they can stop financing vehicles with our dealership. While this requirement is included in the customer’s paperwork, we do our best to train employees to communicate this to buyers as well.
In addition, the finance and insurance process of any vehicle purchase includes a lot of information. We train our employees to help make the experience as easy as possible for customers. All warranties, fees, taxes, etc. are fully disclosed in the paperwork, but it is our hope that all charges are clearly explained, as needed, before the paperwork is signed.
We see there were areas of communication with you where we fell short of the standard we have set for ourselves. For that, again, we apologize. I hope that you will consider the dealership in the future. We consider your business important to us, and have taken some time to see how we can exceed your expectations in the future. Thank you again for your feedback, it is something we appreciate.
Kurt Jones
Managing Partner
Town East Ford
Mike
Mesquite ,Texas,
In response to Robert
#7Author of original report
Wed, July 17, 2013
Thanks Robert for the advice. The insurance wasn't the issue because I am we'll insured as well as my family and also submitted an insurance card before contract signing.
My mistake was to give them my sons credit app and them coming back with 18% apr and no way we could have afforded that payment which now Ford Motor credit has pegged me in a list that shows up every time I attemp to apply for a car loan from all other Ford dealerships That vehicle is for son, cannot assist. Guess I'll go to GM now.
Lance Smith
Fate,Texas,
My apologies
#7UPDATE Employee
Tue, July 16, 2013
It is not against the law for you to buy a car for someone else but is against our dealerhip agreement with the bank that is financing your loan. In this case it was Ford. It is unethical although there are a lot of dealerships that will do it. We just are not one of them. You had a new sales person that did not know this was wrong and that is why he never said anything about it. I can definitely understand your frustration, if it had been me in your shoes I would have been as well, however if the bank finds out we knowingly sold someone a car that was not gonna be the actual driver of the car they could take there loans away from us. In the end we were trying to do the right thing but I can understand your frustration with the way it transpired.
Mike
Texas,Salesmen was not the issue here. Fiance dept
#7Author of original report
Tue, July 16, 2013
Your finance guy had told us the loan went through and we were approved and also had me sign the supposed legal contract knowingly who was driving the vehicle and besides I was going to be driving the vehicle as well, why wouldn't I? it's a GT 5.0 Mustang! and I was the one financing the car anyway.
Alternatively that was the deal I made to my son living with us at our home. I really dont have to explain myself here.
I really think that was not the issue for you people making this difficult for us to keep the car. The real issue here is that your finance dept tried to pull a fast one on me by slipping in that $2480 Service warranty that I never agreed to purchase. That was partially my fault for not reading what I was signing but the dishonesty from that area came from this dealership.
End result, in re-doing the contract you were going to take off the $2480 and bringing down my payment to almost $50 and that was hard to do from a dealers prospective but either way I was going to cancel that warranty.
Lastly; deceiving us that the we had a done deal and letting us drive off the lot with a new mustang, showing our friends and family to only have to return it! What a rip off!
Robert
Irvine,California,
Yea you probably were had..
#7Consumer Comment
Tue, July 16, 2013
First of all there is no law that says every driver must be on the credit application. If they say there is..have them give you the specific exact regulation. I can just about guarantee you that they won't.
Now..when it comes to insurance that is a different matter. If you do not disclose all of the drivers of the vehicle, it may not only void the entire policy but also be illegal in many jursdictions for not carrying insurance.
As for the rest...there is something called "Spot Delivery" which a dealer can use to let you take the car even though the financing is not complete. Now, some less than reputable dealers will give you very favorable terms when they know you won't get approved. Then hit you up a few days later saying there was a "mistake". When you go back to the dealer they hit you with much less favorable terms, hopeing you will then feel like you have to take it. But these are usually people with much worse credit. That is when you returned it wouldn't have been a 2.74% interest rate but much higher.
So who knows if the story about having your son doing a credit app is part of this or not..but it could have been.