Beware of severe predatory contract fraud, - msprettymariii
Beware of severe predatory contract fraud, bait-and-switch pricing, and systemic financial misconduct at Leonardtown Ford. They can be incredibly friendly at first, but as soon as it’s time for them to do the right thing, they will completely forget you are a paying car buyer and treat you strictly as a paycheck. They will tell you low prices online to get you to walk onto the lot, and then completely switch the numbers on the contract at the closing table. This is textbook auto fraud and you must watch out.On DAY ONE of buying the vehicle, an active dashboard 'Service Due' warning light came on. Instead of performing a inspection, the dealership explicitly told me it was 'all fine' and forced me to manually clear and bypass the warning light just to force the sale through. Because they actively hid this major defect, the transmission suffered a total mechanical blowout, causing my car to completely break down in the middle of active traffic. They put my life in direct danger. When I contacted them about this life-threatening mechanical failure, their only response was trying to exploit my situation by pressuring me to buy a new car rolled over with thousands in negative equity.On the contract itself, they engaged in an illegal bait-and-switch by advertising the car online for $16,395, but instead of rolling in the doc fee with the advertised price, they tacked on an $799 DOC fee at the finance desk, directly violating Maryland's 'Dealer Advertised Price' Rule. Worse, the finance manager manually handwritten the word 'Refund' next to a $139.95 accessory fee to deceive me, but their internal billing software mathematically ADDED the $139.95 directly to my final cash total.Furthermore, they have illegally held my multi-thousand-dollar contract warranty cancellation refund for months, completely refusing to process the payout until days of calling/emails. They completely ignored my formal demand letter after missing the hard deadline. I am actively exhausting every legal route available to hold them accountable. Fortunately, I took flat-out pictures of everything, saved every digital screenshot, and kept every single voicemail. If you do business with this store, make sure you do the same because you will need the proof. A formal fraud and consumer protection investigation is already open against them with the Maryland Attorney General under Case Number MU-540255 E27-030, and I’m retaining legal counsel. Do not trust their math, salespeople, or cars
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