Grapevine Ford reviews and complaints

Below is an email I have one to Grapevine Ford in Grapevine Tx. My experience was so negative and has seriously effected my decision to buy Ford vehicles in the future, especially if this is the type of business Ford wants to associate themselves with. Please take this email into consideration.

"Mr. Gilmore,

I feel it is absolutely fair to respond and tell you my visit to your delaership yesterday (July 8th) was the worst experience I have ever had at any dealership. I want to first preference this by saying it was’t your people that made the experience bad but the overall model your dealership uses to services its customers. Shawn Baker was our sales rep, very nice guy enjoyed talking to him, we had several sales managers talk to us as well. I don’t remember all there names, however there was a Mr French (I believe Zak was his first name) we spoke to mainly and he tried to make something work. However the garbage they were trying to tell me was something I have never witnessed before.

For starters I have been looking at trading in my 2016 Ecoboost Mustang in for a GT and visited your website this past Monday (July 3rd) to look at your inventory. I found one that fit what I was looking for and continued to fill out the so called time saving steps on the website, Value my Trade, Personalize my payments, Pre-qualify for credit, Qualify for Credit, select protection plans all of which show me an estimated time in a little stopwatch icon I have saved at your dealership. In fact after I fill out the pre quality and the qualify for credit, both selections give me a reference number which I kept record of. When I am done filling out each step the numbers it returns were acceptable and further more it tells me how much time I have saved at your dealership roughly 3.5 to 4 hrs. In fact it gives the indication that basically all that needs to be done when I arrive is verify the numbers take a quick test drive and send me off to financing (photos attached of ref #’s and general information given by the website). Apparently that isn’t the case.

Fairly early Tuesday morning July 4th) Micheal Massy called me to set up time of me to visit your dealership. I informed him that I was out of town and wouldn’t be able to be there till Saturday, we agreed on a time and sent me a confirmation email of the appointment. There were a few small communications between the two of us and figured you had had my information for 5 days this was headed to being the greatest car buying experience ever. Then Saturday came and that was a nightmare. We showed up early and met Micheal, he informed us that he was still busy with another client and got us set up with Shawn Baker. He greeted us and had us walk back to his desk, I informed him that I had filled out the needed information online including the credit app. Shawn told me he could pull it up on his computer and see all the information on his computer, then he proceeded to have me fill out another credit app, a step I already did ON LINE. I informed him that an app had been completed already and showed him the reference number. He took a photo of it and went to ask a question, when he came back he mentioned that he needed a paper copy for the file and needed to fill it out gain, so we did.. on his computer, just like I had filled one out on my computer. No big deal, but started to question process. Afterwards Shawn drove me over to your auxiliary lot to pick up the car and drive it back to your main lot, no big deal simple test drive. Shawn started to talk about payments and trade ins etc. I informed him again that all this was filled out on line, I was pleased with the numbers I saw and was ready to close the deal, the only thing I had asked was seeing if we could cut the interest rate a bit since you were offering 0% for 72 months, other than that I’m ready to go to finance. Again Shawn mentioned he had seen that on his computer and this will be easy. He just wanted to go inside and verify what it took to qualify for the 0% interest or at least a lesser interest rate. Next thing I know he comes back with a print out showing different down payments and monthly payments some were $100 per month different than what I had negotiated online. All of a sudden I am having to renegotiate the deal on the car. Needless to say I was quite agitated and immediately asked for my keys back. When Shawn asked why I was upset, again I informed him that I had already negotiated the car on line, I was happy with what I saw and that was the only reason I was there. I certainly didn’t show up to renegotiate, I am ready to go to financing not go through this charade again. I then pulled out my phone, pulled up your website opened the my account link which showed the same exact car, VIN, Model, color etc as the one we were looking at with all the information payments I had agreed to and showed it to Shawn. Now he has a look of surprise on his face, wait why is he surprised earlier in the visit he told me he had seen on this stuff on his computer when we first sat down at his desk. There should be zero surprises. He takes another picture of goes back to the sale managers desk. Now two sales managers are looking a me through their windows, both with stunned looks on there faces. Why are they surprised, your dealership has had my information for 5 days there should be no surprises, I again remind you that all the numbers given to me were generated by your system, I didn’t make any of them up. So the first sales manager comes out to see me to tell me one of the discrepancies is due to a the fact the website gave me black book resale value for the trade in and is not a true trade in value, this was a difference of $5000. Guess what, I don’t care your dealership and sales team had my information for 5 days and at anytime between then your team could have and should have called me back to inform me of the discrepancy. I would have said thank you for calling I am going hold off for now but will come see you at a future date. That type of honesty would have gone a long ways with me. Once again I had to pull up the information I have saved on YOUR SITE and made it clear this is the deal I have accepted, if you can’t make it happen give me my keys I want to go home. This sales manager wrote it down on the piece of paper, agreed down payment, monthly payment, trade in value etc circled it had me initial it and went back into the office. He did ask me if I would agree to a $25 difference in the payment, I told him no and back into the office they went. A few minutes later Mr French comes out with a totally separate set of numbers that are just as absurd as the first set of numbers that had been offered. Again I pulled up on my phone and showed him all the numbers that I had worked out on your website, you know the one that gave me those numbers when I first started looking 5 DAYS AGO. He went into a dog and pony show that the numbers given on the site were just estimates and not real numbers. Mentioned that it doesn’t take into account Sales tax and other fees, then he went into the fact that the car has wheel locks (because wheels are being stolen off your lot) and window tint and that wasn’t added into the price of the vehicle, however he photos on line show both the window tint and the wheel locks and never does it mention on the website that those will be extra. I am sorry your having such an issue of wheels being stolen off your lots, one thing I hate is a thief, but I am sorry that is not my problem, don’t act like it is. Also when you advertise a vehicle having tint don’t turn around and tell me I have to pay extra for it, that is dishonesty and another thing i can’t stand is dishonesty and so far the day has been full if it. Ok so we are back to the per month payments I have negotiated on line are just estimated and I get that, in my line of work I deal with estimates all the time, the problem was that the raw numbers coming back were between $75 to $100 per month difference from what I received from YOUR WEBSITE. That is unreal, we are talking between $5400 and $7200 that I would be paying for the car plus interest thrown on top of that. That is darn near fraudulent. I could live with a $5, $10 even $20 per month difference, that wold make since not $75 to $100 that is just other worldly. Also I would like to add I have now been in your dealership for over 2.5 hours and I haven’t been to financing yet, that could add an additional hour, shoot I am not even done negotiating yet and all I really want is the keys to my car so I can go home, the whole idea of filling this out on your website was so I didn’t have to go through this. Also you had my information for 5 days before my arrival, the least you could have done is make a couple of phone calls or a couple of emails explaining these discrepancies, I would have stayed home and freed up your team to sell cars to other customers. Finally after listening to Mr French and all BS he is spewing, he and I do come to an agreement on the car. It was $25 more than what I had originally agreed to but Mr French, did make the commitment to work with me and meet me half way. Lastly, and this isn’t really your fault its an issue I have with Ford Motor Credit, but we had looked up the payoff information for you and received it in a letter form. When Shawn had called them it changed by a difference of $2000 killing the deal and wasting 3 hrs of your teams and more importantly my time, because I did all this for you on line for there not be a car sold. Lastly as we are walking out Shawn reminded me that there will be a survey that I will be asked to take about my experience and asked to give a positive response. Let me tell you what I told him, that ship sailed long ago.

My over all experience with your dealership was total disaster. The fact I didn’t get the car was not the problem, I have walked away from many deals I didn’t like and will walk away from many more. In fact I have re-visted those institutions at later dates to do business with them all because of there up front honesty. My experience with your dealership on Saturday makes me never want to walk through your doors again, it also makes want to make sure that my friends and neighbors are spared of the charade that your business puts on. Your people are nice people as frustrated as I was with what I was dealing with the whole thing, I did like talking to your people. In fact I am sure you are a nice man, we have never met but I would be willing to bet if we met on the road the two of us would get along just fine, but the system in which you operate to do business is flawed. It is so flawed that not only do I not want to buy cars from you it makes me not to want to buy a Ford ever again (I will tell you Ford Motor Credit has damaged the relationship I have had with Ford and will be receiving a similar email). I have owned many Fords in the past an looked to owning more in the future, but this experience has seriously changed that mind set.

I hope you find a way to either change your website to where it give a more honest list of numbers or change how your sales and support team deal with customers who do the research on your site for there next vehicle. To tell a customer of all the time they have saved at a dealership and then run them through that dog an pony show in my opinion is absolutely dishonest.

Regards

Chris Shepard"

My friend was interested in purchasing a 2009 Dodge Charger (SILVER) with low miles. On 12/08/2009 I searched for used cars on Yahoo for this specific car. Grapevine Ford listed many Chargers for sale. Great prices, descent mileage and a Silver Charger as we wanted. I called the Dealership on 12/08/2009 to confirm that this car was still available. When I spoke with the Salesman he said yes the car was there. As a matter of fact he said he could see it from where he was sitting. I said great we will be there 12/10/2009 to see the car. I gave him my info as a contact since my friend is not only from Houston but unfamiliar with buying a car. The salesman did ask when we were on the phone why we were interested in this specific car. I advised him because this is the color we want and because of the mileage and price. I convinced my friend to comlete the Credit App over the Internet. Thinking WOW they have the car so might as well start the process and be one step ahead of the game. Thinking this would save us some time. I confirmed with the Salesman that I would be there 12/10/2009 AT 10:30AM to view the car. I took the day off work and we arrived at the Dealership at 10:20am. Curious we walked the used cars attempting to get a glance at the car before we headed inside to talk to the Salesman. Needless to say there was NO SILVER CHARGER, for that matter there were NO CHARGERS. Keeping in mind the Website listed 6 and still does as of today. We walked into the dealership and asked for our Salesman. They said he was not in? I then talked to the Internet Manager and he said he was unsure where the car was and the Salesman? I explained that we had talked to him the night before and confirmed the car was there and for sale. After 15-20 minutes of waiting it was confirmed that they had no Chargers not even the Silver one we applied for? I explained that I completed the Credit App under the contingency that this car was here and for sale. The Sales Manager made up several excuses. I then talked to the General Manager (Owner) and said he would investigate this matter. He seemed to make a few excuses as well for the incident and Salesman. My thinking was that they had me complete the App in order to get me to come out knowing this car was not available attempting to get my info and persuade me into buying a car I wasn't looking for in the 1st place. The Gen Manger said that he was getting a 2009 Silver Charger at 1:00pm. He said it had low miles and it was what we were looking for. He asked us to go to lunch and he would pay for it. I talked to my friend and said that we should walk away because this was wrong for them to misrepresent this situation. I also explained that his credit was already ran and the more we shop the more he is at risk of getting rejected because of his score getting lowered. We decided to have lunch and stick around.

We went to lunch and arrived back at the Dealership at 1:00pm. We asked if the car was there? They said NO that it was in route but they didn't know when it would get there? We said fine, give us our $40.00 dollars we spent on lunch so we can go. I was then advised the lady who handles petty cash was at lunch and we would have to wait or get a check for what we spent mailed to us. I asked how long until she would return?. They said 1 hour, she had berely left. The Internet Manager also mentioned the car would be there at the same time. I thought they don't want to give us our lunch money back because they want us to stay here until we see this car. Well after an hour of waiting and no petty cash lady I decided to ask the receptionist if the petty cash lady was in? She called the petty cash ladies office and they advised she had just left 5 minutes ago. I was PISSED NOW. I explained to the receptionist that were were told to go to lunch and we would be reimbursed. She said ohhh...well lets get your money back. She called someone and they brought us the $40.00 dollars. Simle as that! WE LEFT!

MISTAKE #2 We get a call at 2:30pm saying the car was there. Yes, we decided to drive back to Grapevine Ford to see the car. Remember the only reason is because they had already ran his credit. We arrive there and test drive the car and start to make a deal. We advised how much we wanted to pay and started dealing. After being there till 6:30pm and getting no where we left without the car. We got a call in the morning 12/11/2009 that they would except our offer and to come back and start the process. We go back to the Dealership at 5:30pm Friday and finaly agree to the price and get the car. This is after we were told that someone else was there to buy it and we better hurry up with our offer. ONE LIE AFTER ANOTHER...I even approached the lady our salesman said was buying the car and started a conversatio with her. I asked what kind of car she was buying and she said a Ford Focus. I was so upset and couldnt beleieve how dishonest these Salesmen were. We finally were taken to the Finance Manager, this guy was so arrogant. I guess he thougt he was going to pull one of us like the Salesman did. Little did he know I was faniliar with the tactics they use when trying to sell there warranties. We finally left there at 9:00pm. It took awhile longer because of Salesman took the car to fill it up with gas. We were just happy to be leaving. I drove my car back home and my friend drove his new car. After being on the Highway for 5 minutes he called and said something was wrong with the car. He said it felt like the transmission. I advised him that we could take it back in the morning. Out of curiousty when we got home I drove the car myself. They car was shaking and not accelerating when you pushed down on the gas. It was now 11pm at night, we parked the car and planned to go back to the Dealership in the AM. We woke up and got ready to leave. We started the car and a huge black smoke cloud came out of the tail pipe. The car struggled to start. It never would. At this point we were PISSED, UPSET, IRRATE AND MAD. I told my friend get the paperwork and lets go. We left the car there and drove to the Dealership. We arrived there and asked to speak with the Owner. The receptionist said they were having a Team Meeting and it would be a while. We waited for 15 minutes when we saw our Salesman walk in. We approached him and said that we are bringing the car back and we had decided not to purchase it. He attempted to persuade us that there was not an issue and whatever the problem was they could take care of it. We said NO, WE DO NOT WANT THE CAR! He left and came back with a Manager, I wish I could remeber his name. This guy was SOOOOOOO RUDE AND SUCH A GERK . I said we wanted to give the car back, he asked why? I explained the situation or tried aleast. He kept on interrrupting me...He said that they would not take the car back. He said "YOU SIGNED A CONTRACT, THE CAR IS YOURS"! I said I would not make a pmt nor inssure the car. He said " FINE, WE WILL REPORT THIS ON YOUR CREDIT AND INSURE THE CAR OURSELVES". I said good luck and left the paperwork on the counter along with the key. We walked out! I then remebered that they had our $1000.00 dollar check. We went back to the Dealership and asked for our money back, they refused. At this time the OWNER walks in and notices we are all yelling and ask if he can talk to us. We explained the situation to him and another Service Manager Renee. The OWNER ageed we had been through HELL! He said to give him the chance to look at the car. I explained that NORMAL, SMART PEOPLE would of walked away from this on day 1. However we were definatelty not being NORMAL, SMART people by allowing all of this to happen to us. I advised him the only way we were going to keep this car was if he sent someone to my house that morning to pick up the car and fix it the same day. He promised he would. This is the only time they did what they said they would. We left the Dealership and went home. About 10:45am on 12/12/2009 a Tow Truck Driver picked up the car. We explained the situation to him and he said that this Dealership is 'a pain in the ###'. Said he couldnt beieve we had driven there so many times. We were later called by the Dealership that the car was ready and it was found that the Salesman the night before had filled the tank with Diesel Fuel. They emptied the tank and fixed the problem. The car starts now.

I would like to mention that this was the WORST experiece I have ever had. I have purchased 13 cars in my life time and this was the worst experience. Although this car wasnt for myself, it was for my friend that had never purchased a car before. How do you think he feels abou this experience. I would like to mention the the Owner was a little more considerate. Although he seemed to make excuses for his staff. I would like to mention that I DO NOT consider myself as a complainer. I am best described as easy going and friendly. Grapevine Ford definately brought out the skeptical consumer in me. I will never, ever, ever do Business with them again. I have posted this here to save someone else the agony we suffered.