This message is going out to Yelp and all my Facebook friends and family! DO NOT BUY FROM NC FORD!
I have never had such a messed up car buying experience in my life. The only people in the entire place that have any sense are Mike and Jay in Finance.
1. I went in to look at the new Cmax Energi. In talking to the Sales Rep he begins explaining all the great tax incentives that I will receive. $2500.00 back from the state right away (which I can use as my down) and then a $7000 tax credit from Federal. After several negotiations on the monthly payment we agree on a number that I'm promised won't change...and this is when I should have walked away.
2. I go through finance and work back and forth and, of course, the payment I was guaranteed changed and then I had to provide a check for the down and they were going to have to work to find me financing and didn't know if they could make the deal work at all. (My credit took a hit with the economy when I became the sole provider for my family, no one else's fault at all, but circumstances are what they are. Sometimes you either pay credit cards or eat. I realize this and knew going into the deal that my credit score wasn't ideal.) I appreciate Jay being up front. Again, this is where I should have walked away. That said, I'm promised that we will try to make it work and worst case, I bring the car back and pick up my trade-in. Ok fine.
3. I take the car home and go to register for the $2500.00 rebate from the state that is supposed to be coming my way in 28 days to cover the down payment. I can't do this until the final financial paperwork is complete and oh, by the way, for the plug-in the rebate is only $1500. Now I have no choice but to come out of pocket for at least $1000 to cover the difference. So, I'm already stressing out about a higher payment and everything else. Thankfully my dad was able to help me out by co-signing the deal which got me a great interest rate and the extended warranty. Now I'm thinking all will be fine. Affordable payment and only $1000 out of pocket, I can live with this.
4. Day 25 rolls around and I haven't receive my $1500.00 rebate check that I was told would absolutely be there by day 28 and if not that I could push out the deposit of my check. I call the rebate place and am told, not only is the check not cut, they haven't even finalized my paperwork and it could be more than 90 days before I receive my rebate. Again, I call my sales rep and am informed him of the issue. I explained that I could come up with $XXXX by the 28 days, but that I needed to push another $XXX out 2 weeks until my next check. I'm informed that won't be a problem at all and send my partner down to dealership with our checkbook. He's turned away because they claim there's no way around depositing my check and that we should just let it bounce and work back with them after that. Unacceptable. Thankfully, I was able to borrow the money from a family member to cover that wonderful piece of misinformation.
5. Finally, down payment is done. Payment is established. Car is financed and I'm thoroughly over NC Ford. This process has taken approx. 3 weeks to get through. Did I mention I work full-time and I'm a full-time student. Yeah, thanks for the headaches!
6. Then on Saturday, (9/13) I get in my car with 1900 miles on it and I get a new light that just tells me to read my manual. My manual tells me to go directly to the dealer, do not pass go, do not collect $200.00. Okay, fine. Take the car to the dealer and when the Service Coordinator comes out and looks at my car the light is off. Of course it is. So we ask that they hook it up to see what could be wrong since that light had so many dire warnings in the manual. Sit and wait, sit and wait....we are now late for lunch with friends that are visiting from out of town so we ask how long it could be and are told it could be a few hours. Why didn't you just say that to begin with? Off we go to lunch, frustrated and over it already. As we finish lunch I get a call that it was an issue with the electronic power-train and it's going to take a few days to fix. (Today is the 24th...for anyone doing the math, that was 11 days ago.)
So Yelpers, Facebook friends, OGSA Parents...lets do the math. I purchased my car on 08/16, had it for less than a month and it's been in the shop for nearly 2 weeks. Anyone else thinking I got a lemon after a thoroughly sh*tty sales experience and run around? WTF NC Ford? read more