Joe Hall Ford Lincoln Mercury Nissan

Review: I purchased a vehicle from [redacted] Ford on May 18th, 2013. During the buying process, the salesman at [redacted] and I had some conflicting numbers ($5,000 difference) as far as the payoff for my trade was concerned. The number that the deal was based on was the number I was given by the financial institution. This number was checked several times by myself and was the right number to the best of my knowledge.Fast forward to the paper signing stage of the deal after the numbers seemed to match up and was supposedly "double checked", [redacted] Ford has a specific part in their paperwork that states, "Purchaser will be responsible for any payoff difference in trade." I stopped signing paperwork and specifically asked the finance manager, [redacted] if this is true as the numbers have been a little off through the process. We were told by [redacted] that if there was a problem, [redacted] Ford would eat the cost because, in her words, "They were big boys (referring to the people that drew up the deal) and everything should have been double checked." Since we were satisfied with this response, I initialed the line and bought the truck.A month later, we received a call stating we owed a bit over $5,000 for the trade difference and if we did not pay, lawyers would get involved. It was at this point that I found out that the number quoted to me was for MY payoff on the truck, the dealer pays what the truck is WORTH. To shorten this summary, we called upon what the finance manager had told us during signing and she denied ever saying such a thing and BOTH my wife and I must have been mistaken. I talked to the owner, [redacted], himself and he said I would have to pay the amount but offered me a cheap warranty (worth $800 or 16% of fault) to keep us satisfied which I respectfully declined. After we had to pay the $5,000, I also wrote a four page letter to [redacted] lining out what had happened, sent the letter certified which was received, and never heard a word again.Desired Settlement: I am willing to accept 50% of the blame for not having the finance manager note and initial what she had told us during the paper signing process.We would like Joe Hall Ford to accept the other 50% of the blame since we were lied to while we were purchasing the vehicle. If the information we now know was explained to us at the time of the sale, this deal would have never happened.A warranty for the truck we bought worth more than 16% of the blame would be great.

Business

Response:

Dear Sirs:

Mr. [redacted] did in fact purchase a vehicle from Joe Hall Ford on May 18, 2013. He is correct that he and the salesman, [redacted], had conflicting numbers regarding the payoff amount on the trade. [redacted] verified a payoff amount of $29, 762.00 from [redacted]. Mr. [redacted] insisted the payoff amount was $24,723.81, a difference of $5,038.19. We have attached a photocopy of an email from an [redacted] representative in which she states the buy-quote given to [redacted] was $29,762.00.

On more than one document in the paperwork Mr. [redacted] acknowledged that the Buyer assumes responsibility for any difference in payoff. Finance Manager [redacted] used the payoff number provided by Mr. [redacted]. [redacted] denies that she said he would not be responsible for any payoff difference.

Joe Hall Ford goes to great lengths to make sure there are no misunderstandings on the purchase agreement documents and therefore declines the proposed settlement.

Yours respectfully,

[redacted] Secretary/Treasurer & Comptroller

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID 9623625, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

First off, I’m surprised to see the lack of effort put into this response by Joe Hall Ford. Misspelling my last name several times in the same document is quite disappointing to say the least. I guess the response did not warrant the time for proof reading or taking a second glance at my information. As for the bulk of the letter, I did not "insist" about my payoff amount. I was repeating the numbers that [redacted] had given me when I called them about the conflicting numbers that the salesman had given me. I did not know at the time of the deal that [redacted] had separate numbers for dealers and customers. (Please see the attached documents)

The paperwork produced in the response to my complaint was dated eighteen days AFTER the deal was done. Where is the quote from [redacted] BEFORE the deal happened and on what date did they get it? I know for a fact that [redacted] Financial was NOT called the day of the purchase (yes, they were open) so how can Joe Hall Ford say they went to great lengths to ensure that there were no misunderstandings? I also find it interesting that the number I was given for trade amount on my leased truck ($29,762.64) just happened to be the exact true payoff amount ($29,762) with a few cents added. I would be willing to bet that SOMEONE at Joe Hall Ford knew my information was incorrect on my payoff amount and they took advantage of my misunderstanding.

The total numbers of signatures acknowledging the responsibility of payoff is two. (See Attachments) This is a moot point because I questioned the financial manager about these statements and she lied to my wife and I in order to get us to sign the papers. To add insult to injury, she conveniently denied ever saying such a thing.

If I had the extra money available, I would have taken this to court to watch this woman either (a.) perjure herself on the stand in front of a judge or (b.) confirm that what my wife and I DID hear is 100% correct. Unfortunately, I could not take the risk of costing my family even more money over this debacle.

I am generously accepting 50% of the blame for this situation. As you can see from the proof I provided, I went to Joe Hall Ford in good faith with the best information I had. I was told something that was incorrect by the finance manager and when questioned about it, she denied ever saying anything showing a severe lack of integrity. This deal would have NEVER happened if Joe Hall Ford was honest up front with my wife and I. We, as the customers, got absolutely blindsided in this deal. Joe Hall Ford and [redacted] Financial both came out looking extremely good while my wife and I got tossed aside like a used piece of meat. If I'm not mistaken, the CUSTOMER is the one that is supposed to be treated right. I have all of my notes and paperwork from this ENTIRE transaction if any more documentation is needed.

Regards,

Business

Response:

Dear Sirs:

I apologize to Mr. [redacted] for misspelling his name. From our Sales Department's point of view, Mr. [redacted] did insist that the payoff amount was $24,723.81. He has produced no documentation from [redacted] that the payoff was, in fact, that amount. We have an email from [redacted] attesting that the payoff amount they gave salesman [redacted] was $29,762.00.

We would reiterate that on more than one document in the paperwork Mr. [redacted] acknowledged that the Buyer assumes responsibility for any difference in payoff. He is correct that the figure $29,762.64 was entered as the trade allowance, a fact of which he acknowledged on more than one document. The Sales Department did use the payoff number provided by Mr. [redacted]. Finance Manager [redacted] denies that she said he would not be responsible for any payoff difference.

All contracts and agreements are done in writing to avoid any misunderstandings. [redacted]'s job is to go over the contracts line item by line item with each and every customer, which she did in this case. Therefore it's our opinion there should not have been any misunderstanding on this matter.

Yours respectfully,

[redacted] Secretary/Treasurer & Comptroller

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID 9623625, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

I feel like my last response was either extremely

misunderstood or not read at all.

I have showed documentation of the quote provided by Ally

for the amount due on my account plus the “residual value” of my trade-in. I explained the numbers in that photo and

[redacted] had confirmed those numbers as correct.

Insist seems like a fairly inaccurate account seeing that I had

documentation AND had showed it to the salesman. Joe Hall Ford’s e-mail from [redacted] in the last

response was again, eighteen days AFTER the deal was done. I have yet to see documentation from anytime

on the day of the deal or before. Just

like I had stated in the previous response, I have confirmation from [redacted] that

the payoff amount was NOT checked the day of the deal. This seems like a pretty large error to make

while completing a used car deal.

I acknowledged that I did sign the paperwork. I have never disputed that fact and I never

will. Joe Hall Ford is also correct that

every line had been addressed but I cannot help the fact that we were lied to

by Joe Hall Ford’s financial manager which led to the signing of the

paperwork. Since we did not have [redacted]

[redacted] notate on the paperwork what she had said, it is her word against my

wife’s and my own. $5,000 is a lot of

money and I cannot say that I blame [redacted] for lying about what she told my wife

and I since it would probably cost her job if the truth came out. Instead, two honest customers are getting to

pay for trusting, what turned out to be, a very dishonest Joe Hall Ford employee and a manager to boot. Simply put, I would consider an employee lying to two people

sitting in front of her face a MASSIVE misunderstanding.

It is obvious to me that Joe Hall Ford feels like they did nothing wrong in this matter and have zero intention of making this right. I hope that the information I have provided can show that my account of this situation is in fact, 100% correct. As I stated in the previous response, if you would like more information on the whole scope of this deal, I have saved all of my paperwork, notes, and results of contacting Joe Hall Ford. I hope the Revdex.com can take one small step forward in making sure Joe Hall Ford NEVER treats a customer like they treated us ever again.

Thank you for your time.

Regards,