March of 2024 my family visited Sunnyside to inquire about large transit vans they had for sale…read more We let them know our preferences for the van such as a high roof, extended, and AWD - basically the biggest van we could get because we were planning on converting it to a camper van for our family of 3 and 2 dogs. Sunnyside showed us one 350 transit van that had already been spoken for (van #1), while the one we would buy was currently in the body shop Van #2). We did a walk around, took measurements of Van #1, it was just what we were looking for. We arranged to purchase the available vehicle (Van #2) with their promise that everything was the same as the van that we were shown and measured (Van #1).
Upon delivery of the van (Van #2) I made the mistake of not bringing my measuring tape to re-measure and ensure that this van was in fact the same dimensions as the van we had seen in person and measured prior. After bringing the van home, we quickly realized it was not the van we were promised initially. The roof was over a foot shorter, the bed width and length were also substantially shorter than the van we had measured (Van #1) - we were shown a transit 350 high roof and were delivered a transit 250 medium roof. The distinction between these two vans sizes is made in small print on the top of the window sticker with one letter signifying the height of the bed / cargo area: "HR" for high roof and "MR" for medium roof. These are details that we trusted the sales representatives at Sunnyside to understand and differentiate for us, as we are not Ford sales representatives.
We went back to Sunnyside with our problem and asked, "what can we do to fix this situation?". Instead of kindness and understanding as one would expect from a small family-owned local business, we were met with contempt. It is important to note that:
1. The van was brought back within 48 hours of taking delivery,
2. We did NO finger pointing upon returning to the dealership to sort out the problem, and
3. We left the van on the lot and did not drive the van after it was initially returned inside the 48-hour window.
We were met with several Sunnyside representatives telling us that they couldn't do anything to help, even going as far to lie to us saying that there is no way we could have measured a 350 high roof van (van #1), and that we had turned down offers to go and see Van #2 while it was in the body shop. Both blatant lies targeted at getting us to react emotionally and do something stupid at the dealership.
After several meeting with the General Sales Manager and even including the President and General Manager, Sunnyside refused to backout the deal with the registry and told us that it is not possible and that "It's not how we do it here, every dealership does things differently". Having family working at different dealerships, we knew that backing out deals is not only possible but not uncommon. Mistakes made on both sides could have been solved with a simple reversal of the deal. Intentional or not, we were victims of a bait and switch.
Instead of reversing the deal and after about 4 weeks of conversing with the General Sales Manager, we were offered a buyback of the original 250 medium roof at a used van rate - initially paying about $57,500 and being offered $52,000 buyback. Keep in mind that we had the van for less than 2 days and put no more than 100 miles on it.
In the end we had to threaten taking the dealership to court to get the General Sales Manager to increase the buyback price to an acceptable $55,000. We took a $2,500 loss on the transaction (57.5-55), not to mention the approximate 4 weeks of negotiations, and countless sleepless nights wondering if we were going to be stuck making payments on a brand-new van that could not use or convert for camping.
As part of the buyback, Sunnyside was able to find a van that would meet our needs, and we were able to purchase the correct van after completing the buyback. It's a shame that we ended up doing any more business with this dealership after how we were treated, but in the end, it was best for me and my family to finish this chapter and move on to converting the van and traveling together.