quote:
I am a Manager at ViperExchange which is on site at Tomball Dodge. Tomball Dodge is owned by Keating whom I work directly with. Ben does own College Station Ford now and Tomball Ford.
I'm really surprised to hear all the bad reviews about Tomball Ford, that is Ben's most successful dealership out of the 14 he owns. Great management team over there as well.
Those you that have had problems at Tomball Ford can you email me some specifics on your experience? awheeler@viperexchange.com
Andy
Andy, my buying experience is a couple years old. At the time, Tomball Ford had a loaded Expedition Limited posted on their website that was exactly what I wanted. I live in Bellaire but liked what I saw. I contacted Tomball Ford, worked out the details and had a written buyer's order with every detail down to TT&L. No trade in, no financing, simple cash and carry. Told the sales guy that I'd be up the next morning, got a cashier's check for the appropriate amount and made the trip.
I walk in expecting a simple transaction. Sales guy whips out a sheet of paper and draws up the ole foursquare. I laugh and show him the buyer's order. He says it's not valid. I pitch a fit and walk. Manager comes down from the box, chases me out to my car and says the sales idiot was wrong and is apologetic.
So I give them the benefit of the doubt and end up in the finance office, expecting to sign some papers, slide them the cashiers check, get my fabulously expensive Ford and drive home with my wife following.
Finance guy pulls out a credit application. I laugh and show him the buyer's order. He says it's only valid if they finance the deal. I pitch a more spectacular fit and walk again. Finance manager calls me on my cell as I'm leaving the lot and sayes that the finance idiot was wrong.
I say I'll come back if they knock $250 off the price and quit fecking with me. He says OK but wants to show me a 1.9% FMCC deal.
I go back. Finance idiot pulls out the installment paper work. Numbers seem off, so I pull out my iPad and back check the numbers. Finance idiot gets eyes as big as saucers. Turns out that the interest rate was 14.9%. I make a scene just short of requiring law enforcement and EMS - there were folks peering out of the service department - and storm out.
Manager asks again what's wrong, how can he mare it right, Yada Yada. My WIFE tells him that we need a thousand off the price. He agrees. I snarl and say it has to be a 15 minute process from RIGHT THEN to drive out. He says OK.
10 minutes later they tell me that the truck is really in Port Lavaca.
I bought an Expedition three hours later at Russell & Smith. Bought our daughter a Fiesta two months ago from Tommie Vaughn. Tell Ben Keating to run something more customer friendly than a glorified repo lot and he might get repeat business and referrals - but I'll import a Soviet bloc Trabant before I'll even think about going to one of his stores again. I've bought from the other two Ford stores as well as from Glenn Seureau at Star Motors, the clowns at AutoNation and Sonic's BMW stores. I thought there was nothing worse than the arrogance at Star Motors or the constant up selling from AutoNation. I was grievously wrong. Never again.
