Castle Rock Ford

Castle Rock Ford responded

Hello, We have received your negative review and would like to discuss it with you. Please contact me so we can resolve your issue to the best of our ability. Whitney Medved Medved Autoplex Digital and Networking Director (303) 421-0100

jjpnyc responded

Hi Whitney- Happy to help improve future experiences however I can as I know that you can't improve unless you get feedback from us customers. For the time being I'd prefer to keep the communication in this forum. Please let me know what specific questions you have and I'll do my best to answer them.

Castle Rock Ford responded

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly and allowing me an opportunity to get some legitimate feedback. Also I'm perfectly fine with keeping communication in this forum, that is after all what it is designed for. First of all can you please explain this "good cop/ bad cop" relationship? We refer to our sales staff as a sales "team" because whether sales manager or sales associate we are all on the same side, everyone's goal is to help you find a car that fits your needs and wants. Can you tell me why you feel like the Dealer and Handling fee is a "junk fee"? From visiting other dealers you will discover that every dealer in Colorado has such fees included in the sale of a vehicle. We apologize for the lack of family friendly amenities, We are working on adding things like books, toys, we have created bulletin boards to show our involvement in the community, and we are constantly working on improving the comfort level of our facility. That being said, how else could we have made you more comfortable or at ease about doing business with us? Thanks again for replying to my message, this is very important to me. Whitney Medved

jjpnyc responded

Hi Whitney- What I mean by "Good Cop/Bad Cop" is that Eric would say that he'd run my point pass Geno. Geno would them come over and can't do it because of "X, Y, or Z." I didn't feel that this was a "team" approach because I was being ganged up on. We knew exactly what car we wanted and what our needs were. The only role of sales was to complete the transcation. In my perspective, it was more drawn out than it needed to be since I told them exactly what we needed for a deal to be had. Why D&H is a junk fee? If the state Attorney General needs to comment on it, you know it's not a legit fee (http://www.cadaopenroad.org/enewsletter/links/d&h_attorney_general_2_011409.pdf) When I was there, Eric told me that D&H isn't taxed to Medved like the sales price is, so it's more profit to the dealer since corporate taxes are not imposed on the $499. All businesses I deal with include all their costs in their quoted price (except airlines). Also just because "everyone else is charging it" does not make it legitimate or right. Neither Suss nor Ralph Schomp charge it. Lastly since this was mentioned at the very end, when we're talking taxes & governement fees, shows that it's not an above-the-board fee and something that you hope to slip by the custome. Oh, and I forgot to mention one thing. When we were in the finance office, I noticed on the bill of sale that Geno had put on, without discussing with us, a charge of $199 for "Dot protection" (or something like that). I had that promptly removed, but the fact that he had tried to slip this extra charge pass us is not honest business dealings and a sign of unscrupulousness. For comfort levels, I'd recommend taking a trip to Kuni Honda. There they have it right in how to set up a customer lounge. As for how to make us more at ease about doing business with Medved again? What would go a long way in our eyes would be to refund the $499 D&H fee. I've already told many people in my network our experience since they knew we were looking for a new car. I'd also just be as happy to tell them about how you made things right when I voiced some concerns after the sale.

Castle Rock Ford responded

Thanks for getting back to me again with more feedback. While I could probably get in touch with Gino and ask if this situation sounded familiar, to expedite the process is it possible for you to give me your name so that I can have the General Manager in Castle Rock look into this more? Also for clarification purposes, did you complete a purchase with us? As far as refunding the $499, as that is a standard charge for every single one of our customers we are unable to offer any refunds. I will go check out Kuni Honda and their facilities to see how we can improve our own. Also are you from the Castle Rock area? And did you initially find us on-line? Is that how you knew exactly what you wanted and that we had it? Thanks, Whitney Medved

jjpnyc responded

Hi Again- My name is Jeff Pugel. We did complete the purchase. We purchased a '07 Honda Odyssey on February 3. Eric Curry was the salesman, Gino the manager. As my wife said, "I'm glad that we got the van we wanted, but I'll never go back to Medved again because this experience left a very bad taste in my mouth." We live in Centennial. We knew we wanted a Honda Odyssey. I searched daily on AutoTrader, Cars.com, Craigs List, etc. Being computer savvy, I reached out initally via online so as not to waste time going to the dealership if the van wasn't what we were looking for. I'm sorry that you cannot refund the D&H. I still stand by that I feel the D&H is a junk fee and the car dealerships are doing themselves a disservice by charging this. We would've purchased at Schomp if they had what we wanted mainly because they don't charge D&H. PS - I'm in sales myself and I could teach the team a thing or two about how to sell and "read" customers. There were several mistakes I noticed along the way that should've never happened during our transaction.

Castle Rock Ford responded

Hi Jeff, What kind of sales are you in? As working in a dealership is the epitome of the service industry we're always happy to receive feedback--for better or for worse--so that we can improve our processes. Thanks for giving me all the above information, I'll be able to investigate the case better. Just so you know, right after I saw your first review I forwarded it to the General Manager in Castle Rock so he is already aware of everything was well and taking action internally. As I do not work at the Schomp dealership I cannot conclusively state whether or not they charge D&H, but again it is standard dealership practice in Colorado and I am going to look into this more. Rates vary across dealerships, but the fee is usually there. Back to your hunt for the vehicle-- did you eventually find us on Cars.com or Autotrader? And did you eventually find vehicle there? Can you please tell me how you eventually ended up at the store and how/why we did not have the inventory?

Castle Rock Ford responded

Hello Jeff, Many points taken. In fact, I am out of town at training this week (hence the gaps in my responses to you) but re-writing our e-mail templates is the first task in the pipeline on my "to-do" list upon my return. Any suggestions? We apologize that you felt pressured by Gino's insistence that you come on the day of the blizzard. You are correct that many people were able and or chose to stay home that day on account of treacherous roads. I would ask (as an individual, not the Corporate Opinion of Medved), that you just take into consideration that despite the horrendous weather and roads Gino and his staff were at work, clearing off cars in the snow, trying their best to make their own efforts(and having left their houses)worthwhile. That being said, for many of our managers or departments that was a good day to play some catch up with people via e-mail or get organized. -Whitney Medved