I had almost the exact experience on my pick-up day, and I have 2 things to add that might help.
You coined it exactly rnmom (I'm an rn myself!) when you said it took the wind out of your sails. You get that phone call and are sky high only to run into a 4 hour unnecessary ordeal with some jerk, very deflating.
First, the survey that you will get is of utmost importance. I didn't know it at the time, but when purchasing my wife's explorer the next week (at a different and MUCH more friendly dealership) our salesman took the time to give us the low down. There are questions relating to your satisfaction with the dealership, the closing, the salesman, and your new Ex in the usual "completely satisfied" on down to "God Awful Experience" boxes for each one. If ANY ONE of those is checked as anything other than "completely satisfied" then Ford considers the whole thing a fail! Nice standards I think. Also, ALL x-plan buyer surveys are directly audited by Ford, whereas the others are done more by random sampling. You have a lot of power here since you had the x-plan. We were x-plan and our 2nd much more helpful sales guy was emphatic about how seriously Ford takes this into account.
The survey also provides a field for you to type in any relevant points of grievance, so let em have it! Ford holds negatively reviewed dealerships accountable as they are the face of their products.
He said they separate the questions about dealership satisfaction from vehicle satisfaction specifically, because though they go hand in hand, as you've seen, it is possible to love, love, love your explorer, and yet have a bad taste in your mouth from a crappy sales experience.
Secondly, the first dealership which was the bad one, initially wanted to charge me $750 in dealer fees. Of course, I had the x-plan so they were negated (which is when the frosty cold shoulder came thundering down), but for those who don't, I highly suggest looking for a Ford dealership that does not work on direct sales commissions.
The nice dealership, Mullinax Ford in Apopka, Florida, doesn't charge dealership fees to anyone we learned, and their salesmen, rather then earning a commission from a trumped up msrp, simply make a small set amount of money for each closing they
handle. Brilliant concept. Theyre motivated to simply sell you a car and handle the sale, not haggle over price and irritate you right out the front door, they'll lean over backwards to make the price right for you to buy. It might explain why this dealership has been around longer than all the others and moves more vehicles in Central Florida then they do (no I am not affiliated with them!)
So my suggestion to any potential buyers who do not have the x-plan is to call around and find out which dealerships operate this way. It protects you more than you know financially and emotionally. Also, I am astounded at the rates of the "dealership fees" I see going on. Not 3 months ago when I first started looking into my purchase, the going fee was averaging $450. Still ridiculous, but when I finally went to the dealership and saw the drool ebbing from the guys mouth as he gleefully told me there would be a " $750 standard nominal fee that everyone has to pay," I was shocked and then all too overjoyed to present him with my x-pan pin. But for as much he insisted that everyone charges that fee, that it's normal, suck it up and do it, I'm here to tell you that that's not true. Call around and see who's operating a dealership in a manner that I can't believe isn't a national standard.
Hope it helps, and I hope you enjoy your Ex as much as I do!!
