On 9/10/2018 I entered into a purchase agreement with Autonation Ford of Orange Park Florida on a F-150 crew cab truck. I was told by the sales executive (Bob) that handled the transaction that there were no open un-serviced recalls on this specific truck VIN 1FTEWICB5JFB30569. The sales executive provided me with a disclosure document that stated the truck had gone through a 172 point inspection and was Ford Certified pre-owned, and specifically, he personally had checked the VIN for open recall notices. After returning home with the truck I did find a document on their listing that there was a declined recall dated Aug 22, 2018. That document is in direct conflict with the statements from the sales executive and the company. Upon further investigation; I called another Ford service center to check on the VIN for open recall notices and there was also a recall notice un-repaired, un-serviced and open from Aug 29th 2018. I had contacted the sales executive and he said the other dealer could be lying in an attempt to make a sale and that he personally checked the VIN and all was good. I insisted that he check the VIN and Magically there was now a recall that somehow just showed up. So, I called another dealer and checked the VIN and they too confirmed that it had been open from Aug 29th 2018. Further, the recall that they declined to repair and record as repaired and closed was supposedly addressed by taking a part from some other Ford truck and repaired, but their document does not support that. If this was true, then it would have been recorded as repaired vs declined. So, I was misled several times, presented a document that stated the truck was Ford certified and it was obviously not and specifically was given a disclosure document signed by the sales execute and that I also signed base completely under false work, false communication, fraudulent documents and soiled intent on behalf of the dealership and in representation of Ford Motor company as being qualified as Ford certified. The recall issue has the potential of horrific results including engine compartment and cab fires and in itself is a horrible thought that my family is exposed to. Failure to disclose is one thing, but false disclosure is an awful and dirty way to do business and had I not be "just curious enough" to glance at an open email, I would have never even known about it. But, Autonation Ford of Orange Park sure as heck did. All of this was after driving 60 miles to the dealership when the exact same sales executive misrepresented the driver seat being powered vs manual. This too was a specific discussion, that I asked him to walk out to personally check the truck as the photos on the listing had cut off the seat control area. He informed me that he checked and it was powered. Once I had driven 60 miles and discovered that, he later confessed that he just looked at the truck paperwork to confirm that is was an XLT "so he assumed" it had a power seat. Vs the specific question asked; please just go out and look at it. He said he did......This is clearly a resounding way of doing business and a pattern of misrepresentation over and over. Upon speaking with his Manager (Chris) I asked to buy a new truck, offered additional money for either the same model or even just and XL truck or lower grade / value truck then the XLT. I then went through an up-sale fiasco where he tried to sell me a far more expensive truck and extract another $8000. I had already stated that I didn’t want a fancier, up-sale truck and in fact would accept a truck with less features and a smaller motor. Then he tried to extract $3700 and I had already made a very respectable offer to purchase a smaller engine, less featured truck for an additional $1,500 even after all of the garbage they put me through and I then enhanced the offer to $1,700 without resolution. Then came the dirty dirt truth, they have the exact truck or trucks that would work for me and one I was willing to take any color other than White - But, guess what, none of those trucks can be sold as they are locked down due to, wait for it - un-repaired and open recalls. So, how do they know that, certified a truck that was clearly not certifiable by Ford standards, but they simply are now surprise that the truck they sold me has at least one open recall and another that they claim they stole parts from a donor truck and marked the paperwork as declined vs repaired, serviced, corrected, closed, good to go, safe, won’t catch you and your family on fire....I’ve spent many many hours on this only to hear that they have invest 4 hours this morning.. Not sure how this is my fault or my failure or my burden, buy Autonation Ford of Orange Park Florida feels its my burden. I wrongly assumed they were in the business of selling cars, truck and servicing customers and “Ford Certified” and meant “Ford Certified” and I’m very certain everyone there is paid to do that. On the other hand; I was just the guy paying them, being extremely cooperative and never once did I complain that I had to take my time to fix their failure to disclose, fix their failure to be transparent and not be respectable problem solvers. In closing, when I asked for the second key to the "Ford Certified" truck there was only one key and I was told that a key company would contact me about making a duplicate replacement key - That alone is a requirement for it to be sold as "certified". Update 9/13/18 5:pm: I left an urgent vmail to speak with Gene the GM yesterday and naturally he never called me. I then drove there 63 miles away to try and resolve the issue to my satisfaction and not only was Gene not available, but he left town without even trying to connect with me. I spent nearly 2 hours there and not a single human in the entire organization was available to even understand the prior days discussion let alone participate in resolving this. Apparently, the GM and the next in line where away and must be in a mysterious and particular place that doesn't have phones. I asked kindly to call one of them, to text one of them, to call corporate hq - no deal, refusal. Response from the owner: Greg, thank you for leaving this detailed feedback about your experience with our dealership. If you are willing, please call our General Manager at (904) 270-9943 for further assistance with moving forward. We hope to hear from you in the future. So, he can' take 5 minutes to call me, but I must chase him to resolve something I didn't react. Not sure how that make sense at all... RO NO SERVICE DATE SERVICE DESCRIPTION 669335 August 22,2018 DSRE - Declined Recall / Campaign Service
Gregory W Flake
Sep 13, 2018