Freedom Ford

Nice coffee, terrible service Note: Names have been removed. This is about the service, not the individual people. (Ok, it won't let me submit without naming at least one person, s Note: Names have been removed. This is about the service, not the individual people. (Ok, it won't let me submit without naming at least one person, so I have.) Summary Positive: Everyone was very nice. Positive: The coffee there is great. Positive: SalesGuy was responsive by text at all times and on all days. Negative: 6-week sales process, still incomplete. Negative: It wasn’t clear what I was buying, no effort was made to make sure I got the features I wanted (and wanted to pay for). I wanted park assist, 2-way remote start, lane assist. Negative: Seems like I was taking a 2016 car off their lot rather than buying the car I wanted. Nearby dealerships had what I wanted (see Nisku example in appendix). Negative: No follow-through on most promised items. I had to pester. Negative: They didn’t know how to install a 2-way remote starter that was advertised by Ford Canada (note the link now points to a keyless entry app instead of the remote starter, which is weird). I still don’t have 2-way remote start. Negative: I’m on biweekly payments, which doesn’t work with my budgeting. I didn’t get to choose that and now I can’t change it. Negative: The car broke down 30 minutes after picking it up from service. (Positive: The roadside assistance service worked fairly well.) Still outstanding: Oil change refund Fiesta warranty refund Switch to monthly payments No 2-way remote start Detailed Report Assumption: This is a symbiotic relationship. The salesman and the organisation are the experts in their field. They’ll use their knowledge and expertise to find me something that will make me happy and in return they benefit by taking a share of the sale price. Reality: This is an adversarial relationship. The sales organisation will use its knowledge against its customer. The customer is its prey. Wednesday 19th October 2016 Dropped off car at 7am for an oil change and switching tires. Some sort of filter was added. $127.93. SalesGuy left a message explaining I was paying my loan at about 5% interest and that by upgrading to a new car at 0% I could probably pay the same or less. I called back and said I was interested if I could get a newer car for the same payments or less, with the same features or better. Met SalesGuy at about 4:30pm to discuss. SalesGuy explained that because I had negative equity in my current car I very likely could not switch to another Fiesta and that I would need to look at a bigger, more expensive car. That allowed the dealership access to more deals from Ford Canada, such as free winter tires, as well as more flexibility with financing. Sat in an Explorer. Felt far too big. Sat in a Fusion, drove it around the parking lot. Liked it more and was particularly interested in two features: Using an app on my phone for two-way remote start and the auto-park button. I had to leave to get to a dinner so SalesGuy and his sales manager gave me a features list for the Fusion and a biweekly and monthly loan payback rate and agreed to talk more the next day. ($214/bw, $9k trade-in) Friday 21st October Met SalesGuy at just before 5pm. Sat in a Focus Titanium - that felt great; the size was a lot more comfortable. Talked about colours available. I asked to see the yellow-orange; that was only available on Sport Editions. I asked to see the blue. There were no blue Focus Titaniums in western Canada. I settled on grey. We went to the office to talk about prices and rates. The initial cost was given to me biweekly, I asked for monthly so I can more easily compare and because that’s how I like to pay. It came out to about $100/month more than I paid for my Fiesta. I indicated this was a lot more than what I could justify, considering I loved my Fiesta and didn’t need a new car. SalesGuy went to consult with his sales manager. SalesGuy and the sales manager (a different sales manager to the previous evening) came back in. The sales manager asked what “my number” was. I explained I didn’t come in with a number in mind, that yesterday morning I hadn’t even considered that I might get a new car, but that I had been tempted because of the idea I could get a new car for the same or less monthly payments. He asked if he got it to those payments, would I buy; I said I couldn’t think of a reason I’d say no. He and SalesGuy left for a few minutes. I spent the time looking for the remote start app on my phone. The sales manager and SalesGuy came back. The sales manager said he’d had to call someone for special permission, that the price was dropped by $1,800, taking it to $26,000 (I think?), and trade-in upped to $10,000 and that this was a one-time offer, which I took to mean “take it or leave it”. It was, I believe, $75/month more than I was paying for my Fiesta. After some rationalisation, I agreed. (Remote start by app, self-parking, seats that warm when I use remote start, and a car worth more money at the end of the loan payments.) I mentioned to SalesGuy that the remote start app didn’t say it supported the 2016 Focus. He said he’d look into that. I was sent to the finance director. I provided my credit card and financial details to the finance director. He sent me to the warranty agent, WarrantyPerson. WarrantyPerson up-sold me on warranty and under-coating. That was fine, no surprises there. However: SalesGuy came in and explained that the Focus does not come with the remote app feature. I indicated that 2-way remote start was what I had in my Fiesta and I don’t want to downgrade in a new car. He said he’d look into options, and went away for a few minutes. When he came back he said the 2-way remote start was $500 but that the dealership would pay $300 if I paid $200. I said fine. The finance director yelled from his office that my loan was setup and asked if November 7th was ok for withdrawals. I said yes. Then he said it was $xxx biweekly. I said “agh, wait - can we do monthly?”. “Sorry, it’s done; you’ll need to call Ford Finance to change it now.” Ok. WarrantyPerson indicated I may be eligible for money back from my Fiesta’s warranty as I had paid for 5 years and only used 2. She could not verify that in the evening but would check the next business day (Monday). SalesGuy thanked me, indicated my new car would be ready likely end-of-day Monday. Saturday 22nd October: SalesGuy texted to say the car would be ready on Tuesday because the shop isn’t open to install the protection pack until Monday. Monday 24th October: SalesGuy texted to say the car would be ready on Thursday evening. He also confirmed that my allowance was maxed out and that I could not consolidate any of my higher interest loans into the 0% Ford financing. Wednesday 26th October: I texted SalesGuy to ask for a copy of the bill of sale for my insurance. He asked for my email address, which I texted back to him. Thursday 27th October I followed up with SalesGuy as I had not received the bill of sale. I got a voice message from Christen asking for my email address. I called back and left a message with it. I heard nothing for a couple of hours and called back, got voicemail again. Texted SalesGuy. SalesGuy emailed it from his account, I received it and got my insurance setup. Arrived to pickup my car at about 6:50pm. SalesGuy was busy so I waited about half an hour. In the meantime the finance director went through some paperwork with me, had me sign the bill of sale, hand over a blank cheque, and hand over my signed vehicle registration. Final payments: $242.60/biweekly. SalesGuy explained that they had forgotten to put on the winter tires, offered to drop off a loaner car and take my car to get the tires put on when it was convenient to me. I asked where the 2-way remote start fob was. SalesGuy indicated that had been forgotten about as well and would be dealt with at the same time as the tires. I drove home feeling deflated but still happy with how the car drove. Arrived home: When I went to park I realised the auto-park button was missing. I went to get the user manual from the glove box to see where I would find it in the Focus, and discovered a crumpled-up spec sheet for the car. The MSRP was $28,399. Went into my house and looked through the papers. Findings: With a $10,000 trade-in, I calculated I paid $28,550.25 before taxes, warranty, etc. (None of this is clear on the bill of sale) The MSRP was $28,399. On the ford.ca website I could get the same vehicle with all options, including a nicer colour and auto-park, for about the same. NOTE: After discussing this with the manager, this appears to have been a miscalculation on my part. I’m told I paid closer to $26,000. Saturday 29th October Text with SalesGuy arranging to drop car off on Monday. SalesGuy indicated the loaner would be ready for me. Monday 31st October 5:30pm Dropped car off at Ford. Loaner car was not ready as they are no longer provided. SalesGuy drove me to Enterprise to pickup a rental on Freedom Ford’s account. Went over my concerns / requests; most were deferred until we could speak with the sales manager (see table) Took rental car. Explanation Action Requested Result The shop would have changed the oil and filter in the Fiesta while getting it ready for resale. That means the work I paid for was redundant. Refund $127.93 Promised cheque refund The price was supposed to be a $1,600 discount, down to $26,000. Refund $2,550 Sales manager explained the price was ~$26,000 so I did actually get the discount. Auto-park was a key feature I was expecting. Nisku has almost identical new car with park assist package. Install auto-park, value $400 Nothing Nisku has almost identical new car with winter package Install winter package. Adding mats. Already has tires and remote start. Nisku has almost identical new car with technology package Install technology package Nothing The black book value of a 2014 Ford Fiesta in good condition is $12,900. I was given $10,000, up from $9,000. Refund $2,900. Sales manager stood behind the price he paid Outstanding Item Action Requested Result 2-way remote start is missing, was promised Add 2-way remote start Promised to add it I paid for warranty on the Fiesta I haven’t used. Refund unused portion of the Fiesta warranty (3yrs) WarrantyPerson will check to see if refund is possible Tuesday 1st November SalesGuy texted at 11:54am asking for the second Focus key so the 2-way remote start could be installed. Dropped off the keys at about 5pm. Thursday 3rd November I texted SalesGuy to let him know that Ford Canada had emailed suggesting I get the 2-way remote start app module (note: link now takes you to a remote entry app, which is different) installed at the service centre, which is what I wanted in the first place. It was cheaper than the 2-way started being installed. SalesGuy said he’d look into it. Friday 4th November SalesGuy texted to suggest I installed the remote start app as that should work, and a cheque would be cut to refund the 2-way remote start. I reminded SalesGuy about WarrantyPerson looking into the Fiesta warranty refund and into the winter mats. Saturday 5th November 5:15pm: Pick up the car with my friend, so I can drive the rental car back to Enterprise. SalesGuy tells me the 2-way remote starter could not be installed. Mats are missing. Service is closed. SalesGuy finds some in another vehicle and gives them to me. I drive to Enterprise but cannot drop off the vehicle as their out-of-hours key drop-box is sealed with a sign saying keys are no longer accepted out of hours. As I’m driving the renal back home, my friend calls from my Focus and says the car is overheating and has gone into Limp Mode. He pulled over. When I arrived my friend had looked under the hood to discover there was no coolant fluid. I called Ford Roadside Assistance and had the car dropped off at Freedom. I was not able to make it to my planned family event. Tuesday 8th November 4:45pm: Drove to Freedom. SalesGuy followed me to the car rental, we dropped off the car and he drove me back to Freedom to pickup my car. Tuesday 15th November Arlene called to say my cheque was ready for the 2-way remote start. I arranged with SalesGuy to pick it up. (Picked up Friday 18th November.) Asked again about the refund for the unused Fiesta warranty and the refund for the oil change. Thursday 17th November Call from Ford Credit. Account is in arrears because the blank check faxed through to them previously came through blank and nobody followed up. Faxed over a new copy of the cheque and authorised withdrawal of back-payment. Asked if I could switch to monthly payments - this is not possible, apparently, because the payment amounts would be different. (No explanation as to why that matters.) Still outstanding: Oil change refund Fiesta warranty refund Switch to monthly payments Refund for extra payment on Fiesta (27th October, $353.68) 15. Monday 21st November 2016 Texted SalesGuy to see if I could pick up the cheques for the oil change and unused warranty refund. SalesGuy wasn’t in but directed me to SomeoneElse. Called SomeoneElse, who said he would look into the oil change cheque and call me back, and ask WarrantyPerson about the warranty. 16. Monday 28th November 2016 (approx) Received a cheque in the mail for “difference in lien payout deal”. (I believe that’s the extra payment on the Fiesta, plus overage because we rounded up how much was owed. 17. Tuesday 6th December 2016 Still outstanding: Oil change refund Fiesta warranty refund Switch to monthly payments Appendix Nisku had the EXACT CAR I wanted (colour, features) sitting in their lot. More