Salesman didn't know the product and managers didn't know the price

I was SO dissatisfied with the service I wrote them a letter. Of course they never wrote me back. So much for building customer relationship and gaining their trust....

I would like to share the experience I had at your Key West Ford dealership as well as your Dams Ford dealership. I have to say this was a very interesting and eye opening experience. My husband and I have never had an experience quite like this and I include every sales experience I’ve encountered.

We decided to test drive your vehicles because Ford is having a sale on the vehicles and the price was lower than the imports with the same options. We booked an appointment on-line for that morning to test drive the Escape and the Edge. When we arrived at Key West Ford, Mohamed was our salesman and I explained to him the vehicles we wanted to test drive and the options we need which were navigation, leather, sunroof, heated seats and a back up camera if available.

There was an Escape limited edition with navigation on the lot so we took it out for a test drive. During our 5 minute test drive, Mohamed sat in the back seat quietly. I asked questions about the vehicle but Mohamed didn’t say anything so my husband tried to answer them. During that 5 minutes, all Mohamed said were "Welcome to your new car" which he said when he gave me the key to test drive the car, "Let's evaluate your Escort for a trade-in to get you a good price on the Escape" which he said right after I got out of the car, and "we'll get you a good deal" when I told him I don't know if I'm buying the Escape because I don’t know anything about it.

Mohamed then took us into the showroom, sat us down and started pressuring us to trade in the Escort. I was quite annoyed with his tactic because he didn't tell me ANYTHING about the vehicle, didn’t show us the Edge and he wants me to purchase the Escape on the spot. Somehow, the sales managers Jon got involved and I agreed that they can evaluate the Escort so we can get a price on the new car. While we were waiting, they gave us a brochure of the vehicle and this was my ONLY form of knowledge of the car. I concluded Mohamed behaved the way he did because he didn’t know a lot about your “best selling car”. If this is your best selling vehicle, shouldn’t every salesperson know the product inside out? I also felt his manager didn’t

While I was waiting, I saw on a poster the Escape might have a back up camera so I asked another salesman Tom Lee but he didn't know so he has to ask someone else. After 5 minutes, Mohammed, Tom and Jon came back and they assured me the car has a back up camera since it has navigation and the purchase price of the vehicle is $37,000 before taxes. I don't know a lot about the vehicle, but I do know the price because my husband and I priced it out on-line before we went to the dealership. We tried to explain to Jon there are a few discounts that apply to us but Jon didn’t get it so we had to show the sales manager on the internet what the MSRP of the vehicle is.

At this point, I was VERY dissatisfied with the service so I called Dams Ford to see if they have the same vehicle that I can purchase that day. Steve at Dams Ford was very helpful and he did a search for me but he wasn't able to get one and the other dealerships don’t have the same vehicle except on the island. Steve also informed me the back up camera is not an option with the Escape.

After that call, my husband and I decided the Escape is the right vehicle for us in terms of comfort, options, functionality and price. We realize we had to put up with the substandard service if we want this car for the weekend. At this point, we still don’t know everything about the vehicle and the things we did know we learned from the brochure.

After all this, we negotiated a purchase price for the Escape and a trade-in price for the Escort and we were sent to another manager to complete the paperwork. At this point, I asked this office manager to tell me more about the car because no one cared to explain its features to us. I then was transferred to Tom Lee who went through a check list of the car (I believe that’s the delivery checklist?). Tom was then very helpful and thorough and I believe he saved the sale.

During the completion of paperwork, your manager Jim asked for my SIN because someone told him we are financing the vehicle, which no one ever asked. I was also told by Jon I’m able to take advantage of the Grad program but found out later that it’s been cancelled.

I took the time to write this email because I wanted to be heard. I was dissatisfied and frustrated because your staff failed to listen and respond to my needs they did not take accountability for the lack of knowledge of your products and prices. I voiced this to Jon and Tom but received the brush off. With this experience, I felt your dealership let us down astronomically and your staff requires A LOT of training in all forms possible. I hope you turn my bad experience into a learning opportunity for your dealership so potential customers don’t have to go through this non-sense.