TITLE: DISAPPOINTMENT OF A 16 YEAR OLD
On Friday, March 6 at approximately 4:30 p.m., my wife, son, and I entered Huntley Ford. As we walked in, we passed five salespeople who were looking at their phones and did not acknowledge or greet us. I commented to my son in the vestibule that those individuals had just lost the opportunity for two vehicle sales. Shortly after, a salesperson named Joseph Basile approached us and introduced himself. Nice guy. We informed him that we wanted to view a 2020 Ford Edge Titanium advertised online for $13,222 for my son, and that my wife was also interested in potentially looking at a Lincoln Nautilus or Cadillac SUV. After test driving the Ford Edge, we began discussing price. We were initially presented with an out-the-door price of $17,800 including taxes and additional coverage. I declined and offered $14,500 via cashier's check. After speaking with his manager, Joseph returned with a counteroffer of $15,400. I then countered with $15,000. Joseph again consulted with his manager and returned agreeing to that amount at 7:30pm. We shook hands and I initialed the offer. That evening Joseph messaged me asking that we arrive the next morning between 8:45 and 9:00 a.m., before the dealership opened. We arrived at 8:50 a.m. on Saturday, March 7. We were given the keys to take the vehicle for another test drive so our technician could briefly inspect it and so we could stop at the bank for the cashier's check. At 9:34 a.m. I messaged Joseph that we were headed to the bank, to which he responded with a thumbs-up emoji. We then returned to the dealership with the check in hand. Joseph stated he would begin preparing the paperwork while my wife took another test drive of the Nautilus. Again, he asked us to finance and make two payments then pay it off. After walking back and forth between his desk and the manager's office several times, Joseph eventually informed us that the Ford Edge had "just been sold." Given that we had the vehicle both the previous evening and that same morning, and that we had already agreed to terms and initialed the offer, this explanation seemed highly questionable. We were then offered a 2017 Ford Explorer with approximately 20,000 additional miles for the same price. This strongly resembled what is commonly known as a "bait and switch," a matter I intend to discuss with legal counsel and report to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. We left the dealership extremely disappointed, particularly my son, who believed he had just purchased his first vehicle. Ironically, I still had the keys to the Edge in my pocket when we walked out. I later noticed a woman examining the same vehicle with another salesperson, which further suggested the car had not actually been sold at that time. It appears the dealership may have preferred a financed buyer rather than a cash purchase and therefore pulled the vehicle from under us despite our written agreement and cashier's check. As a result of this experience, Huntley Ford has now lost my personal service business of the past two years, the service business of three coworkers, and parts business from a local small business owner who will now take his work to Bull Valley Ford. Additionally, they lost our potential purchase of the Nautilus. When I later checked their website Saturday night, the vehicle was still listed and the price had been raised to $15,111. This entire situation reflects extremely poor business practices and raises serious concerns about deceptive sales tacti read more