Caruso Ford — Attraction in Lakewood

ONE BAD EXPERIENCE WITH SUPERIOR FOLLOW UP. . Edit at the end that changed my review from 1 star to 4 stars.

I HAD THE WORST EXPERIENCE AT CARUSO FORD SERVICE DEPARTMENT. My engine light was coming on and off sporadically. I called to make an appointment to have it looked at. I told them I would drop off the truck, when I arrived, they took about 20 minutes before someone could come and see me. I only wanted to drop off the truck so I didn’t understand why I needed to wait. When the service advisor finally came out he said sorry to keep you waiting but things are crazy today. (You should see my day, I had to take a hour of my work day without pay to wait for you.) Next he explained that they could look at the truck in about 3 days. I said “I made an appointment” he told me that I made an appointment so that I could talk to an advisor. After that it would take 3 days before they could look at the truck. I don’t understand why I needed to talk to the service advisor. I had already told the lady that took my appointment that the engine light was coming on, then I told the lady that checked me in that the engine light was coming on, and now the only thing my appointment was for was so that I could tell another person that my engine light was on? Why didn’t you make the appointment for three days later when you could look at the truck? If you have lots of money and lots of time and you don’t mind being talked down to. It’s still stupid to make an appointment to tell some unpleasant person what the problem is. Please go anywhere else, that’s what I intend to do.

Edit.... I have to say that following my bad experience with Caruso Ford, everything else that they did has been above my expectations and worthy of the 5 star rating that they claim to have. The first thing that happened was that the Director of Service reached out to me in an email to see if there was anything that could be done to make this right. But the most important thing was the comment below from the owner, after a bad review most owners would be looking for a way to save their reputation, either by discrediting the writer or by justifying the actions of the service department. None of that happened here, I was very impressed that the owner could see how I would be frustrated in the situation, he took responsibility for my dissatisfaction and showed genuine concern that this kind of interaction in not how they intend to do business and that even if this service could not be salvaged, he still wants to see an improvement in future interactions. My hat is off to you Mr. Kitzmiller I’m very impressed with the way you and your team handle adversity. My new recommendation is that you visit Caruso Ford and give them a chance to show you their...

Beyond Frustrated. It seems like they have never done an out of state sale. When I called I told them specifically that I was out of state and would not be coming in person at any point in time. They then offered to check rates with their banks to compare against my preapproval so I filled out the application. The next day the application was just gone. When I called I was informed that they do not fund out of state buyers so all of that was a waste of my time. When I finally got the paperwork for the vehicle there were more than $2500.00 in add-ons which were redundant and completely unnecessary to include a third party alarm system when my vehicle came with one from the factory and a paint protection coating even though the paint was already ceramic coated. They refused to work with me on removing these add-ons.

I wanted the vehicle so I did the paperwork anyway. I told them again, I am not coming in person. Somone one else is going to be flying out to pick this vehicle up and drive it back. I need to know when the loan is funded so I can buy the plane ticket. The bank told me the loan was funded on Tuesday so I looked at tickets. They were $180.00. I called to double check that every thing was good on the dealerships end, they never returned my call. Called 3 times on Wednesday no answer. Had to call a manager to get to the finance team who was able to inform me that the loan had processed and that all of the paperwork would be ready for me to sign in person when I came to pick up the vehicle, which again, was not happening. I finally got them to agree to overnight the paperwork to me so I could send the signed paperwork back but I still could not buy the plane ticket until this paperwork was in hand.

By the time I was able to buy the ticket the price had doubled to $300.00. When picking the vehicle up the staff was rude, especially Benny and Victor. The dealership applied a sticker to the inside of the window and then scraped it off not realizing that there was clear tint applied. The tint is horribly scratched and shredded from whatever they used to scrape the sticker off. Benny and Victor tried to blame the previous owner even though the scratches are clearly not present in the dealership pictures. Benny said all windshield tint in CA is illegal which is incorrect since the tint was 100% translucent and was only there for UV protection. Benny and Victor were both rude and condescending and refused to offer any solution to the problem.

I would not recommend purchasing a vehicle from this dealership unless it was your absolute...

I brought my car in today for service for electrical issues that were caused by a failing battery. The service writer zeke told me the car would need a new battery.. showed me the test results and I authorized the repair. When they pulled my car out to me I was about to leave so I went to make a U- turn and had no brake assist. I had to press the pedal extremely hard to park the car. I drove up near the bay where my car was serviced and the told the tech what was going on and he told me to drive it into the shop.. I was met by the aggressive service manager telling me I couldn’t be in there after I was told to enter by the technician. I explained to him what happened and he told me he would have the senior tech look at the car. After a while zeke came and got me and explained to me that the car has a broken vacuum line and it was cracked.. the vacuum line that was broken is connected to another line that runs nears the battery and zeke said that it was removed to make more room to replace the battery. I asked to speak with the service manager about the issue because I wanted the part covered by them since i didn’t have the issue until they broke the hose.. he told me that they weren’t going to cover it because the tech never even removed the hose and that it was already bad. I understand that mistakes happen and as hoses get older they can become brittle but what I’m not okay with is being given my car back like it’s ready with the brakes suddenly not functioning.. if they would have approached me and been honest and said that during the repair a part had to be removed to gain access to the battery and unfortunately it broke while taking it I would have been completely fine with buying a new one.. but to just give me my vehicle back with a new vacuum leak and a non-functioning brake booster is absolutely crazy and dangerous.. Also the technician attempted to tape the hose back together but it was still leaking. I asked to borrow the tape so that I could properly jimmy rig my car so I could take it somewhere else.

Im editing this review to reply to your response..I never informed you of having a brake issue because it did not exist until the battery replacement was performed.. someone is lying to you.. my car went into the the shop having a fully functioning brake booster and when it was returned to me the line was broken.. I already repaired the broken vacuum line my self with hose I had at my workplace.. the fact that your solution was wrapping it in electrical tape says a lot about your...