- Report: #1108544
Complaint Review: Preston Ford - Preston Maryland
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Author Not Confirmed
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Preston Ford
Preston, 21655 Maryland, USA
Phone:
800-655-3764
Web:
www.prestonmotor.com
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Preston Ford Preston Motors Good price but deceptive sales practices and no after sale customer service Preston Maryland
Test drove a 2006 Jeep Wrangler on 10-03-2013, Was on my motorcycle riding at the time and stopped in based on an online ad.
It seemed to drive OK, so we haggled a little and I thought about it and all the supposed benefits they were offering such as a lifetime engine warranty which they told me was good as long as I kept servicing it at their dealership.
I called the to let them know I wanted it and had cash so we made the deal and they delivered it to me as promised.
There were a lot of papers to sign, some relating to the sale, the warranty and other legal stuff. I guess I should have spent an hour reading every letter but who does that?
Well, turns out the small print in the lifetime engine warranty they used to persuade me to buy the Jeep is not valid for this vehicle. Along with many specific vehicles listed that are not covered, it clearly states that any vehicle which is "more than 6 calendar years old or with more than 100,000 miles on the odometer at the time of delivery" are not covered.
OK maybe my mistake not reading every word in this document, but it seems fraudulent to me that they would push this and get you to sign it if the vehicle is not covered in the first place.
I emailed the salesperson about this and all they did was reply saying "you should be covered as the Wrangler has less than 100,000 miles".
I am not a lawyer but know enough about written contracts to know that him saying this in an email does not override what it says in the original contract.
Then after I had some time to check the vehicle out I found that the CD player does not work. Again I emailed the salesperson if they would fix this or not and he was on vacation so asked me to remind him at a later date. I did send an email when he was back and he replied that he would look into it and get back to me.
I told him that I was sorry but I don't happen to carry CDs with me at all time in case I am going to test drive a vehicle. I guess I could have spent a day checking out every feature on the vehicle to see if it worked or not, but that is not the usual test drive... there is a cerain amount of trust here.
It's been weeks and nobody has even had the courtesy to tell me yes or no about whether they will do anything about this or not, including their service department who said I have to take it up with the salesman.
So if you are considering a purchase from them be aware once they get their money they could care less, so examine all the paperwork carefully and check every tiny thing in the vehicle before you buy.
I did tell them I wasn't about to bother with this or spend any more time trying to get them to do anything but would post negative reviews online to help make others aware.
2 Updates & Rebuttals
Ericj
Princess Anne,Maryland,
Thanks
#2Author of original report
Fri, December 20, 2013
I appreciate the info, I am pretty sure they are aware they are doing this. part of the Engine Warranty requires that you have all your service done by them so in addition to them using it as a selling point they also coerce people to use their service department.
I don't really think in this case I am "at fault" for not reading the fine print of the contract... based on it's contents they should have not presented it to me.
However I don't think I will persue it any further (although it may be fraud) aside from having written lots of negative reviews online. I would have considered having my service done there even though they are kind of far from me and I have a good local mechanic.
Crappy way to do business though...
FloridaNative
Palm Beach Gardens,Florida,
You are right about how contracts read...
#3Consumer Comment
Fri, December 20, 2013
See if you can get your money back on the warranty because you are absolutely right about how the contract will be construed regarding the 'not more than100,000 miles OR not more than 6 years'. After all, the warranty company is the one that covers (or NOT) the repair. The warranty company is not going to pay a repair if your vehicle is more than 6 years old if that is a condition written right into the warranty agreement.
It might be too late now, but it is worth trying to get your money back on the warranty. There is a very good chance that the dealership kept the funds and didn't even pay the warranty company the portion for which they were due on the sale of the warranty (after all, your vehicle doesn't qualify). Follow up immediately with the warranty company to see if the dealer even processed the warranty contract. If they have, get your money back from the warranty company. If not then get the warranty money back from the dealership. IMO it sounds like they knowingly sold you a warranty that doesn't cover your vehicle.
File every kind of online complaint you can. Look up your states DMV to see who else you can file complaints to regarding the inclusion of this fake warranty. Good luck. Thanks for the warning of this dealership scam.
