Pundmann Ford, St. Charles, MO

calhoundeputy · #1 03-05-2007, 12:16 AM

I tell ya every time I buy a vehicle it gets worse and worse. I know this is lengthy but it really gives you an understanding why the auto companies are having such problems these days.

After months of searching, I finally find a truck I want on Autotrader. Its at Pundmann Ford. 2005 F150 Fx4 priced at 19,820. I email them stating I want to take it for a test drive. I get no response. I decide to go down there anyway to take a look and take a drive. Salesman "Dale" comes out and talks to me and I tell him that I had emailed the dealership with no response. He was very happy that no one had answered my email. (My perspective right off the bat was he was happy that their crappy customer service lead to him getting a possible sale.) I tell Dale what truck I was interested in and he shows it to me. As I figured, the truck was in the right price range and was exactly what I wanted. Took it for a test drive and everything went ok.

Went back into the office with Dale and told him I had been hunting for a good truck for a few months and had been offered 11,500 previously for a trade in of my 04 Escape xlt with 52,000 miles at several dealerships in the area. He grinned and very matter-of-factly stated "oh no, thats way high, maybe 8,000 at the most."

Already extremely turned off by the conversation in general, I waited while Dale and another gentlemen went out to assess my Escape for trade-in value. Dale came back in and seemed happy, stating "We were both wrong, but you were more right than me." and stated my Escape was worth 10,500. I told Dale I would have to get the final ok with the wife, knowing that the wife was expecting me to get an 11,500 trade-in. Dale offered for me to take the truck home, and I reluctantly agreed. The truck was getting new tires put on it and Dale told me to come back in an hour to pick it up.

I called the wife during her lunch hour and she said we would have to discuss it further (you know wives :P) Anyway, I called Dale back and said I wasn't sure if i would be able to buy the truck or not so I wasn't going to take it home.

Anyway, I call back a few hours later after talking to the wife some more and convincing her I had to have my new toy. I call Dale back and tell him I would still like to purchase the truck, and he states "We have raised the price of the truck $1000 because we were losing money on the truck selling it at 19,820." I basically told him to go to hell and said I wasn't going to pay anymore than the agreed price. Dale said he would have to talk to the boss and call me back. Dale calls back about 20 minutes later and says that his boss wasn't happy but would go ahead and sell me the truck at the our price that we agreed upon. He continued, saying the offer was only good if I came in the next morning, before noon, otherwise they would no longer accept the agreed price.

Anyway, The next morning we had an ice storm and I was running late getting to the dealership. Dale calls my cell phone asking where I was at 5 minutes after our agreed meeting time. Also, I had previously arranged for financing before I got to the dealership so I wouldn't have to deal with that paperwork at the dealership. I told Dale this and he said, oh we can get you a lot better, non advertised interest rate with one of our banks if you go through us. I again agreed to go ahead and see what they could offer. Dale directed me to the Financing Manager (Mike). About 45 minutes after I filled out the last piece of paper, I was called back into Mikes office and was told that he could get me a 6.59% interest rate with a bank I had never heard of. I told Mike that I would rather go with the 6.64% interest rate that I had obtained through my own bank independently, and Mike stated "Oh we don't deal with that bank." I told Mike that I would be back in about 2 hours with a check if he couldn't do the paperwork, and majically he remembered that they did indeed deal with my bank. He then gave me a price list of payments. It had four different options of payments, all including the extended warrantly program that I never asked for, some also included gap insurance, life insurance, tire insurance, you name it, it was on there. My $355/mo payment I planned on went up to over $450/mo payment.!!!!!!

One more paragraph, keep reading!!!!

calhoundeputy · #2 03-05-2007, 12:17 AM

I told Mike that I did not need the gap insurance because I already had it with my insurance company. Mike stated, "well you will still have to pay the deductable, our coverage will pay that. I told Mike that my deductable is $100 and I am fully capable of paying that on my own. I then told him I had plently of life insurance and did not need the warranty. Mike asked me what happens if my trucks engine or transmission went out and i had to replace it. I stated "Well, it has 46,000 miles on it, I guess I wouldn't buy a Ford again." That shut him up. Mike then stated "You must have more money than me." and I simply stated " I Do." lol. anyway, after about 4 hours, I had my truck, for the price I wanted to pay, without the ohter crap. But I will not as much as give them the pleasure to do an oil change on my truck...I can imagine the retaliation of not buying the extended warranty from them.....Oh boy...STAY AWAY FROM PUNDMANN FORD, ST. CHARLES MO!!!!!!!

darkblue · #3 03-06-2007, 08:16 PM

removed by user

04heritage · #4 03-07-2007, 07:48 PM

You should have went to marshal Ford in O'Fallon. was looking for a use ranger around 15k but was offered a fully loaded 02 4x4, base price 26k for $18,800. Never had that kind of service from a dealership since.

calhoundeputy · #5 03-08-2007, 11:22 AM

I have heard Marshall is a good dealership also. But Pundmann is the only one that had the exact truck I wanted. I was looking for more than 2 months and I finally found it there. To bad Marshal didn't have it!

LESSTANFORDFORD · #6 03-21-2007, 02:56 PM

I read your horror story and thought I would shed some light on a few facts. First off, What you went through was totally unprofessional and un-called for! If one of my salespeople treated someone like that they would pack their things and leave wearing 3 shoes (two on their feet and one in their a$$). The part I wanted to touch on most was your experience in the finance office.
I have worked as a finance manager for 3 to 4 years and have been around the dealership for as long as I can remember (Family business) When it comes time to sign a deal, It is very important to follow ethical and LEGAL guidelines. If you offer one customer a product (ie. warranty..Gap..Life insurance) You MUST offer it to EVERYONE. There is more to it than that. Let's say John Doe comes in and I don't offer him life insurance, I deliver the car to him and a couple months later he passes away, His wife comes in or calls and asks if he had life insurance on the loan, To that I reply NO. About a week later I get a call from a lawyer and he wants us to produce the paperwork showing that we offered the life insurance (or any other product) to Mr. Doe and I cannot produce anything. Guess what? We now cut a check to Mrs. Doe to pay off his balance, The lawer files a class action suit and they subpena all of our deals back for 7 years and if they find ANY that we did not offer it to as long as they find only one that we did, There isn't a lawer in the world who could help us!
I say this because like I said, I worked in that office for over 3 years and have had to tell too many people that their spouse was offered it but did not take advantage of it.
I agree that some (more than I care to think) do not offer these items in a manner that is ethical or moral but I would like to think that some of us do (Me included) My auto loans ALWAYS include Life and disability insurance,Gap and a warranty on MY PERSONAL VEHICLES. Not to say everyone needs this but just a little insight on why it gets offered even if you don't want it. I would love to answer anyones questions about how and why dealers do what they do, I will give a candid unbiased answer. Thanks for reading

91trunk · #7 03-26-2007, 08:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LESSTANFORDFORD

I read your horror story and thought I would shed some light on a few facts. First off, What you went through was totally unprofessional and un-called for! If one of my salespeople treated someone like that they would pack their things and leave wearing 3 shoes (two on their feet and one in their a$$). The part I wanted to touch on most was your experience in the finance office.
I have worked as a finance manager for 3 to 4 years and have been around the dealership for as long as I can remember (Family business) When it comes time to sign a deal, It is very important to follow ethical and LEGAL guidelines. If you offer one customer a product (ie. warranty..Gap..Life insurance) You MUST offer it to EVERYONE. There is more to it than that. Let's say John Doe comes in and I don't offer him life insurance, I deliver the car to him and a couple months later he passes away, His wife comes in or calls and asks if he had life insurance on the loan, To that I reply NO. About a week later I get a call from a lawyer and he wants us to produce the paperwork showing that we offered the life insurance (or any other product) to Mr. Doe and I cannot produce anything. Guess what? We now cut a check to Mrs. Doe to pay off his balance, The lawer files a class action suit and they subpena all of our deals back for 7 years and if they find ANY that we did not offer it to as long as they find only one that we did, There isn't a lawer in the world who could help us!
I say this because like I said, I worked in that office for over 3 years and have had to tell too many people that their spouse was offered it but did not take advantage of it.
I agree that some (more than I care to think) do not offer these items in a manner that is ethical or moral but I would like to think that some of us do (Me included) My auto loans ALWAYS include Life and disability insurance,Gap and a warranty on MY PERSONAL VEHICLES. Not to say everyone needs this but just a little insight on why it gets offered even if you don't want it. I would love to answer anyones questions about how and why dealers do what they do, I will give a candid unbiased answer. Thanks for reading

Who are you? Just wondering. What do you do for Les Stanford? I'm a Stanford @ that big store Varsity Ford in Ann Arbor, MI