QuestionHello! I was looking for a particular vehicle (Used) with a particular trim level online, when I stumbled across a Ford dealership that had one. It was the ONLY one with that particular trim, that I could find within a 300 mile radius. I emailed with the dealership back and forth to verify they had this vehicle. After confirming it was the right one, 4 1/2 hours 1 way (281) miles, only to find out it wasn't the trim I was looking for. It was actually a trim level down from it, which are plentiful locally.
The vehicle was falsely advertised. It did not have the features exclusive to the trim level I was searching for, although their description on their website says it does. For instance, the trim I'm looking for has a spoiler and 19'' wheels. The one at the dealership clearly did not have a spoiler and it had 18'' wheels (although their website says it has a spoiler and 19'' wheels).
After returning home, I pulled up the dealership's website to make sure I wasn't crazy. I then sent out an email their internet guy (who confirmed it was the trim I was looking for), a salesman (who also confirmed via email it was the trim I was looking for), the used car sales manager, the general sales manager, and the general manager, describing my problem. I never got a reply for ANYONE, so I resent it. The only communication I got was from the salesman that helped me out when I was there, and he was only calling to see I was still interested. I called the general manager a week ago and left a voice mail.. 10 days later from the initial email, no responses. And they STILL have the incorrect info about the vehicle on their website!
What's the next step here? What are my options here?
Answer
me
Hi Darryl,
I apologize for taking so long to get back to you ...for some reason the notices telling me there is a question waiting for a response keeps getting shipped off to my spam folder ... So to make up for it I will pull out all the stops with this answer:
For starters, it really bothers me that there are dealers (or their sales staff)out there who still think it's acceptable to lie to people on the phone just to get them to come in to the store in the hopes that when they get there they will fall in love with the car they lied about or some other car instead. Really really bush league. But to drag someone in from almost 300 miles away (each way) is inexcusable bordering on the criminal. I would immediately fire someone who I caught doing anything even close to that ...The fact that he is still doing it boggles the mind.
But what to do about it?
The answer depends on what type of resolution you would like to have? Obviously, the dealer wasted your day and probably cost you $200.00 or more in gasoline not to mention almost 700 miles on your car. What resolution would make you feel vindicated for the way you were treated? While you are thinking about that let me tell you what you have working for you and against you and some of the tools you have at your disposal to effect your desired result.
Working against you:
What you have working against you is the fact that you don't have as much leverage against the dealer to extract a good result through legal means... in my opinion. The dealer is guilty of being dishonest and lying to you and bringing you to his store by giving you bad information. You may be able to sue the dealer , the salesperson or both in small claims court and recover your expenses and any damages ... maybe.
Working in your favor:
The biggest thing going on in the automotive retailing world right now among franchise dealers is "Reputation Management" ...there have been a ton of different applications hit the market recently that dealers use to monitor and enhance and safeguard their online reputation. As an example check out "www.prestoreviews.com" and this youtube video which will give you a few others. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmfVhor6RYc. Dealers have figured out that with 90%+ of all car buyers hitting the internet before they step into a showroom that they better pay very close attention to what is being said about them... there are a zillion 'review' sites where customers are encouraged to write a short blub telling the world about their wonderful buying experience at "XYZ Ford" ... all of these ratings pages and social media websites enhance the dealers placement in the search engines and also generate traffic to both his website and store.
IDEA #1 - Tell the Dealer that you and all of the people in the computer club you are president of are planning on making certain that there is no one left on this planet that won't know about the treatment you received there. Tell him that you are going to allow him ...through his actions or in actions ...to write his own ending by how he handles this issue from here on out. When you tell him what you decide you want to have happen ...don't be shy ...spell it out explicitly ... "I was lied to ...continue to be lied too , dragged 300 miles each way as a result of being lied too and incurred $238.00 in gas expense etc etc and you are asking that you be repaid for your travel expenses (or whatever it is you need to be made into a happy prospective customer.
IDEA #2 - I could not tell you the name of even 1 franchised dealership ...especially a Ford store who does not use a service to record and monitor their calls. Check the number you called in on and see if it's an 800 number (or 866 or 888 etc.) then see if a recording comes on and answers the phone by telling you .."please hold while we transfer your call" or words to that effect ...we use those numbers to track the effectiveness of ad campaigns and also for the sales managers to be able to listen to a recording of how their salesperson handled the call. It costs the store alot of money each time that phone rings and if someone is answering it who doesn't speak good English or who doesn't handle the call properly...then they don't get to answer the phone anymore until they are retrained. I am willing to bet that a recording of your calls exists that you might suggest to the owner he might want to listen too first. Otherwise the salesperson is going to lie...right? The company we use us called "Who's Calling" ...but there are many others ... ask the receptionist when you call in next which service they use to monitor sales calls etc. (Note these services also trap your number and then access a database where it will spit out the phone number owners name address etc... remember a recording is a knife that can cut both ways if you get excited and start yelling or swearing)
IDEA #3 - is sort of like #1 only you will want to mention it separately because once you post something negative about the dealer on this website there is nothing in this world you or they or anyone can do to have it removed ...its like a tattoo ...permanent! www.ripoffreport.com The guy who owns this website is a real horses ass and it's pretty common knowledge.
OK here is what you do ...gather up any other evidence that supports your claim and find out who the "Dealer Principle" of the dealership is ...a.k.a. The Owner. Donot deal with anyone else because all they are going to do is put you off and lie to you... the DP won't. Write him a nice letter outlining the events that took place ...telling him how you were damaged by the conduct of his people ... tell him you are not a happy camper and tell him what you think he should do to make things right....tell him how disappointed you have been with how they have handled this matter so far and mention to him that you and an army of your friends are all coming to your house this weekend for free pizza and beer and you will all be planning on spending the entire day posting the story of your experience on every single forum, craigslist, facebook, twitter, and every other place you can think of including ripoffreport.com and you wanted to make sure he knew about this before that happened because you know you would want to know if it were the reputation of your 10 million dollar investment that the people working for you were ruining. Don't be rude or swear or seem unreasonable. Then go to a service called "www.readnotify.com" and sign up for the 15 day free trial and follow the instructions to be able to send the owner an email that will have tracker code in it. That way you will be notified every single time it gets opened and read and you will be told where it goes if it gets forwarded to anybody else etc. (its fun to know your email has been opened) You also want to print out a copy and you want to mail it with return receipt requested certified mail. Certified mail gets people's attention. After that sit back and wait for your response. The owner of a Ford store will respond to a contact like that...and go from there.
Then if you get no response after its been delivered and signed for and after your email has been opened ...Then I would bury the guy in bad press every single place you found that you could... starting with ripoff-report ...and make sure you post to Craigslist every other day and keep renewing the ad ...trust me it will hurt him.
I am with you on this until you are 100% happy with my answer... feel free to ask as many follow up questions as you need my personal email address is roadloans@gmail.com and I will be able to respond faster. My goal is to make it so when you get a survey in your email asking you to rate the service I provided you with that you will be able to give me perfect 10's and bonus points and I am committed to stick with you on this until you can!
Let me know how it goes...
Good Luck
Roger
"The Car Guy"
So,
