D-Patrick Ford - The BIG Ford Store — Local services in Evansville

I went to this dealership to buy my first car, Nathan was really helpful and nice throughout the whole process. When I went in to sign the paperwork and go through the insurance packages the person was rude to me and made me feel dumb for not purchasing any extended warranty packages. I bought a 2016 with 33,000 miles, so I did not expect there to be any problems right away or a need to increase my payments for the extended warranty. 3 days after I purchased the car the air stopped blowing out of the face vents. At first I thought the air was maybe just sticky from not being used in a while. A week - two weeks later it happened more often now. I would restart the car and sometimes it would work, sometimes it wouldn't. I scheduled an appointment for them to run some test and tell me what was going on. It's hard to believe that this problem just started 3 days after buying the car. I waited at the dealership while they ran some test. The guy in the service department was very nice and great at explaining what was happening. He told me that it would be $1,500+ to fix this issue. When I told him I just bought the car from this dealership 2 weeks ago, he had no idea that I bought it there. He told me he thought it would be covered under the 30 day warranty and he would check and call me back that day. I drove my car home that day with a receipt in hand explaining what they did and that I did not owe them any money. I waited and heard nothing that day. Another day went by and I still had not heard from anyone. I reached out to Nathan and he told me he would go talk to the service department and they should call me in about 45 minutes. The rest of the day went by and still no response. Now 2 days later I get a call from Casey telling me that he has my keys and he needs a decision if I am going through and paying $1,500 to get it fixed and that I also owe him $150 for a diagnostic fee. I had my car at home for 2 days now, and I left with a receipt saying that I owed them nothing. He was rude and just kept telling me that he had my keys at the dealership and I owed him $150. I told him that I have my car, I was never told about the $150 fee and I just called wanting to know if the warranty was covering this issue. He informed me that the warranty was not covering it and if I remember, he offered me extended warranty packages and I declined so this issue is now on me. While he is continuing to tell me that I owe $150. I told him I am not paying that and I can send him the receipt that his dealership sent me home with showing $0. They were not willing to help me in the slightest bit with a car that I just bought 2 weeks ago from their dealership. I had very poor customer service through this process. I trusted D-Patrick with buying my first car from them. And now I am stuck with this $1,500+ maintenance issue that they are not willing to help out with at all. I am very disappointed in the way I have been treated by the sales manager from this dealership. I will be taking my car somewhere else for maintenance and will not consider buying a car from this...

Latest update:

D Patrick agreed to inspect and analyze my Focus after receiving a check engine light regarding the transmission (clutch actuator B). During this second review it became clear that the transmission is experiencing a number of failures. Far too many to justify investing $2600 for a 2012 Ford Focus. In the end D Patrick, while not offering a perfect solution, did offer to pick the car up, took it to Evansville, ran it through their computer, and returned the vehicle to me 30 miles away. In the end I'll give them 3 stars. They did review the car's performance a second time on their dime, but they miss two stars because I'm still out $205 for the initial fix/diagnosis.

(Original Post)

After my most recent visit to D Patrick, I had to change my review from 4 stars down to 1 star. Why? I kept receiving check engine warnings, each time I looked the code up it would tell me that "clutch actuator B" was failing. Like most people I thought, especially after looking online, that I could replace the actuator; so I did. After putting the new part in, one that costs roughly $45 versus a $200 part from the dealer, the car ran great for three days then I got the same check engine light as before. My father suggested that some parts, like the actuator, need to be"programmed" by the dealer to work on your car. I made an appointment with D Patrick and had my car towed to them for $130. After two days of not hearing from them (they said the work should be done in a day), I called down. I was told the car was ready for pickup and that they were only going to charge me a diagnostic fee ($200). We left for Evansville. Little did we know the chaos we'd experience at D Patrick. Upon arriving and paying for the work, the fun started. First, I tried to start the engine but the battery was dead. I mean flat dead. Come to find out the technician left the lights on, not in the "automatic" position I leave it in. After jumping the car everything appeared fine until I noticed the check engine light. The car was showing the same error code (P07A5) that D Patrick was to fix. They took it back to the garage. Some 45 minutes later they told me the car was fixed and I could drive it home, which I did without any problems. The next day I started it to leave and guess what, error code P07A5! I contacted D Patrick and their response was to schedule another visit. I explained that after dumping a lot of money into that car I couldn't and wouldn't pay to have it towed ($130) back down to them for them to only guess at a solution. Mind you, they told me they solved the problem the day before. As the problem wasn't fixed, I asked for a refund. They have refused to up to this point. To me this is akin to theft. A workable solution that would keep working was provided to me. Based on that id like a refund of the initial $200. If they provide the refund, which is reasonable, I'll...

I originally went in for an oil change. I was waiting and was approached by a salesperson wearing a salesperson about maybe trading in my car. I told him I was just there for an oil change but I would look. I did end up buying a car, albeit a used one. I was signed up for an 80 month contract so read the fine print. I was told that I had new tires on the vehicle. I was also told that there would be a referral fee if I brought another customer. I did bring another customer and they spent 25k+.. the salesman saw me there with my nephew to pick up the truck. The brand new truck.. and of course I never got any referral fee so a month later or so I left a voicemail for the particular salesman telling him that I was very disappointed and that he was not a man of his word which he is not. I also had to replace two tires and found out that the tires were original with the car which was 3 years old. I also told him that. The guy that sold me my tire said that he used to work at this dealership and that they really did not care about the customer.. of course, I understand with business it's always about the bottom line. I did get a call back quite a bit later and the salesman said he was not aware of the tires being original, but he was the one that told me that they were new. I also said that there was no referral fee as he had stated to me. And he said that he was sorry and that he would remedy that. Of course he didn't. I usually don't leave any reviews but I am very disappointed in the service and the integrity of this dealership. My family member and I spent more than $50,000 with nothing in return. I understand that it's a not up to the dealership to provide a referral fee but if the salesperson says that there will be one, you count on that person to be a person of integrity. As I said, I do not usually leave a review but in this case I feel like I have to. Beware of this dealership and their commitment to the public and their transparency during the sale. The only recourse I have is this review. And I'm sure that the dealership is not care about one review, but with being able to go online it will reach more people and maybe they will think about their view of customers as people. Not someone to get over on. I consider integrity to be the most important thing in dealing with the public. I still have two of the old tires which I'm sure I will have to replace sooner rather than later. And I am a sole income earner so that will not be easy. Just be aware of this dealership. That's all I can say. The salesman...