Billy Howell Ford Lincoln

BUYER BEWARE!!! I really do not know where to begin, so I will start by warning all consumers reading this to please DO YOUR RESEARCH!! My husband and I were in the market for a second vehicle and being that I already had a nice and reliable vehicle, we decided to search for a truck, specifically a Dodge Ram 1500 for him. After over a month of searching, test driving and praying, we finally found what we thought was the perfect deal from Billy Howell Ford in *** GA. The saying “if it’s too good to be true, it usually is”, proved to be true in our situation. On February 28th, we were excited when we called Billy Howell Ford and were told that the truck we had been admiring was still available. We pulled onto the lot and said a quick prayer and then my husband walked in the dealership to inquire about the truck. He walked out with a salesperson, Rey Saenz, and walked to the truck we had been inquiring about. When he tried to start it to test drive it, it would not say anything. Rey then walked to the driver’s side and attempted the same with no luck. After a few seconds, the truck finally started. Rey attributed the initial delay in starting to the key battery. I didn’t quite believe it, but since the truck was running and my husband was happy, I didn’t question it at that time. Rey told us that the truck had been discounted from $20k to its current selling price. Once again I felt a little leery, but dealerships do have manager’s specials for cars that have been on the roster a while so I “believed” him. At this point we had no reason not to. After the test drive my husband was satisfied and decided to make the purchase. I won’t go through the long fiasco that ensued, but sometimes when God gives us a sign, we need to take heed, not question him and just walk away. We did not walk away and after 7 hours, YES 7 HOURS, we were finally taking our truck home. We live almost 60 miles away so the truck was fine on the trip home. We didn’t go anywhere Sunday and Monday he drove the truck to work and again on Tuesday. Wednesday morning he got up and left for work at 5:30 am only to rush back in with a sound of disappointment in his voice. THE TRUCK WILL NOT START.. Trying to keep my calm, I told him that it was probably just the battery cable. After a little over 72 hours and less than 150 miles, we were calling Geico for a jump start on a truck with a drive out tag still on it…. so embarrassing…… Thursday, the truck would not start again and instead of calling for a jump start, we had it towed to a shop. Since he was still on a probationary period for this job, he ended up being released after calling out twice. When he mentioned this to one of the managers at Billy Howell Ford, he stated, “Maybe God has something better in store for you.”……… I am skipping over a lot of details, but the customer service we received from this point on was horrible and the GM of Sales was rude, condescending, and showed a lack of concern for our issue. The Sales Manager initially agreed to pay ½ of the repair bill, but the initial diagnosis was the alternator and was the wrong diagnosis. The final diagnosis was a dead cell in the battery caused by a bad fuse box that was pulling all of the power from the battery. The car needed a new battery and a new fuse box. Parts alone were now over $1100 as opposed to the initial $577 we were quoted. My theory is that when the dealership did their inspection which they are required to do, they were aware of this major problem at a cost of $1600 and this is why they reduced the price of the truck by almost $3k. We called Billy Howell Ford to advise of the new repair amount and to see if they could rescind their offer and offer us more towards the parts and the GM of Sales basically told me that he had paid all he was going to pay and he could not be held responsible for a mix-up by others. While I agreed with that, I also feel he should stand by his “product” that he sold to an unsuspecting customer. I had no idea the truck had deficiencies, but find it hard to believe that they were not aware of the deficiencies. CarFax does not reveal these type problems. Had I not gone to a reputable dealership, I would have known to take a mechanic with me, but I truly thought we could trust this dealership….I was obviously wrong. Once again, we have put less than 150 miles on the truck and it’s in the shop with a $1600 bill .They paid for the original parts of $577, but we are left paying over $1k for the additional repair bills. Geico covered the jump and tow, but we have a rental car bill for a week so far of over $250 and we have lost security when it comes to this truck. I will never feel comfortable driving it out of town now for instance. $1k is a lot for us, but it’s nothing for a dealership so the fact that they have been unwilling to even consider the remainder of the bill appalls me. I am not stopping here. I am filing a BBB, Consumer Affairs Complaint, consulting with an attorney and I am going to make sure potential customers are aware of the lack of concern this dealership has for customers AFTER THE SALE. They were nice and accommodating when they wanted our business, but less than a week later, we are being told it’s our problem now. I will spend more money defending this, but if only one customer reads this and decides not to purchase; it will be enough for me. Consumers please do your research and make sure some type of warranty is offered and take your time when purchasing a used vehicle. We were told by the Sales Manager that they usually only pay ½ of the bill in situations like this so this leads me to believe this is definitely not the first time this dealership has experienced this since they already have an action plan in place for handling these situations. Most dealerships offer like a 30 day 3,000 mile warranty so the fact they do not speaks volumes. I wish we had paid more attention to these details and we would not have a newly purchased vehicle in a shop with a $1600 bill.