My experience at this dealership has been mostly unpleasant. I purchased a used vehicle on November 20th, 2020 and as of today, January 8th, 2021 I still haven't received my tag. The temporary tag that issued by the dealership expired on January 4th, 2021. Even today, as I checked the Georgia's e-Services website, my vehicle is listed as having 1) no valid title with 2) No emissions test received. However, I shouldn't be surprised as this appears to be the result of the culmination of service, I received upon first entering the dealership. When I first entered the dealership's doors, no salesperson was around. The first desk person, however, was sitting at what I could only assume was the informational area. Maybe I'm wrong. Either way, I wasn't greeted, nor was I asked if I needed help. When I asked for a salesperson, the front desk person acted as if that was the first time ever being asked. She looked around, confused, and then said to managers in the back, "he needs to talk to a salesperson? (with an emphasis on the question mark) About a few minutes after, a salesperson finally greeted me. I asked to see a few trucks and overall, the salesperson answered my questions and finally showed me a vehicle that I liked. However, the administration of acquiring the vehicle was smooth as I would for a high value, $40,000+ transaction customer. Lie #1: I was quoted rate terms that couldn’t be fulfilled, after waiting almost an hour after being told they could be fulfilled. After informing the salesperson that I had my own financing, I told him that I was interested in knowing if the dealership could beat my existing terms. Specifically, I was already preapproved with 72 months financing and I wanted to know if the dealership offered 84 or 96 months. I was told by my salesperson that the financing officer said I had to first fill out an application for financing to "see what I could be offered." I reiterated that I only wanted to know if greater than 72 months was offered before I took the time to fill out an application, being that I was already pre-approved. So, again the salesperson went to the finance office and he came back to inform me, "She said we can go up to 96 months." I informed him that I hope it was the truth because I was in a hurry to be somewhere else and I didn't want another hard pull on my credit if it were not true. Long story short, I filled out the application, and when the quote sheet came back to me it quoted me 72 months at an even higher rate for which I was already pre-approved. When I questioned the 96 months that I was informed about earlier, the financing officer came out to say the longest they could offer was 74 months. She also then changed up what I was originally told by saying, “I was saying OTHER banks in the area can offer up to 96 months, but not us.” I was very upset at this information because I had wasted my time filling out the application, waiting 30 minutes for the quote sheet to be returned, having my credit pulled again, and being lied to earlier. Frustrated, I gave my originally pre-approved paperwork to my salesperson and asked him to call me when my truck was ready for pick up the next day. Lie #2: I was told that my truck was ready for pickup but still had to wait for hours before I could drive off with my truck. The next day, my salesperson called me to let me know that my truck was ready. While on the phone I specifically inquiry to what “ready” meant. I asked if the truck was cleaned and detailed and if the paperwork was ready. So, he corrected himself and said the truck will be ready in about an hour or so, and that he’ll call me when I can come to the dealership to sign my paperwork. About two hours later, he gave me a call and told me my truck was ready. I had an expectation that my appointment was set, and I would only have to walk into the finance manager’s office to begin signing my paperwork. Unfortunately, I was wrong. Instead of having my paperwork prefilled, I had to first fill out some forms at my salesperson’s desk and then wait another 40 minutes until I was finally called into the managers office to sign my official sales contract. Meanwhile, my truck was not cleaned and ready. In fact, when I inquired about it during my paperwork signing, I was told that it was still in the process of being cleaned. When I pushed to find out how much longer it would be, the finance manager went to check for me. About 5 minutes later the sales manager walked in and his first words were, “You drove and seen the truck already, right?” My immediate reaction was to be upset but I asked, “why are you asking me this?” In which he responded, “Well, I’m being told that you’re not going to sign any paperwork unless you see the truck.” I had to explain that I only wanted to know if it was ready and why wasn’t it out front when I was told only a few hours ago that it was ready. After being informed that it was still being cleaned, again, I just signed my paperwork and left, informing them to please call me when my truck was ready to be picked up. I finally drove back to the dealership later in the evening to pick my truck up later the same day. Lie #3: As far as the title goes, today I sit with a $40,000+ truck in my garage that I can not drive. Proactively knowing that this may occur when I realized that I hadn’t received my tag by December 18, 2020, thirty days after my purchase, I first called to the dealership to express my concern. Someone took down my information and told me that the finance manager would return my call. This didn’t happen. So, on December 21st, 2020, I drove to the dealership to see if I could talk to someone about it. Understandable, I was told that the title clerk was on Christmas vacation and that my information will be left for her to call me next week when she returned. Predictably, my call was not returned, and I had to drive to the dealership again on December 29th, 2020. This time when I walked in, I was at least greeted by a salesperson. But what I said that I needed to talk to a manager, he pointed to the front desk and walked off (as opposed to walking me to a manager). And then when a manager called from the back of the store to ask what I needed, he too pointed to the front desk to say, “Oh, she’ll take care of you.” So, I told the clerk my problem and she called to the title clerk who informed me (for the first time), that she didn’t have the title for my vehicle yet because it was still with the previous owner’s bank. Long story short, the title clerk called me back about an hour later to tell me that she received the title and will FedEx it to Georgia title office, but it should be at home by the end of this week. Yet, when I checked online today, the vehicle not only reports that it’s not yet registered, but it’s also missing emission information. I’ve called to leave a message with the title clerk today and still haven’t received a call back. There has been no follow-through or follow up on the satisfaction of their service since I’ve purchased my vehicle (But there IS a follow-up process of calling people after giving their information the first time at the dealership. I know because I was called twice, back-to-back, by the same manager who clearly just reads from a script since he used my full name in the same back-to-back calls without realizing it.) So, why would I take the time to write all of this? Clearly, I’m not happy with the level of service I received from this dealership. And I suppose it’s ok for them to treat their customers this way since vehicle purchases from the same dealership are seldom recurring events. But I wanted my voice to be heard so if YOU go to AutoNation Ford Union City to purchase a vehicle, you’d at least be prepared to know how you’ll be treated. In other words, while I hope it doesn’t happen to you, be prepared to have your $40,000 truck sit in your garage with the exact same utility as a paperweight.
Romeo Clayton
Jan 8, 2021
