Diamond Ford — Local services in Lancaster

So, my wife and I just bought a Ford Explorer from Diamond Ford about 2 weeks ago. We traded in a 2020 BMW 330i. We showed up and were greeted immediately by a sales rep. It was friendly, not like the stereotypical vulture diving in on a customer. He was really new so he grabbed another associate to help since he had knowledge of Explorers (I won't use any names here). They teamed up for the sale with the more experienced associate seemingly teaching, which is awesome. Btw, 2 of the vehicles we were looking at, my wife and I actually pointed out a dent/scratch in one and a long scratch in another one. We test drove 2 explorers and ended up picking the one my wife liked to go ahead with a trade-in/purchase. This is where things started to turn into the "stereotype" of car sales... It took a while to get the appraisal on the trade-in started. That was frustrating. I kept saying that I wanted to see what they'd offer WITHOUT moving into an actual sale, but they started with and kept pushing me into the contract portion of the new car. So that was frustrating as well. Around this time, my wife had to leave to go pick up our girls from school...this is about an hour into this...experience. In walks a 3rd person! The sales/floor/store manager. Why??? I do not know. This happened during the first of the typical 3-5 "icing" sessions that car sales reps do to customers. From this point on, I pretty much only dealt with this 3d dood. Hindsight being 20/20, I should've walked out or demanded that I just simply work with the original sales rep. The 3d rep has a decade or more of sales experience and is a talker. In fact, he kept interrupting me as I was expressing what I was wanting to do. I also was wanting to use my own bank for the loan and he kept insisting that that wasn't allowed OR that us going through Ford Credit is the same and we just simply need to refinance. We spent about 45 minutes going back and forth on this, I'm not sure why this happened because I've purchased vehicles with my bank loans already approved before... Another weird thing, while going through the quote, sales rep #3 drew a line on the bottom of the sheet for me to sign, stating that I would "sign and drive" a vehicle out of there that day. This wasn't a formal document or anything, he just drew a line with an X next to it for me to sign. While I did sign that, it wasn't for a while after I explained that I am buying a car with ZERO additional accessories, services, packages, etc. THEN...he told me about thousands of dollars of added crap that his delaership puts onto cars (GPS tracking, window etching, etc). To be fair, I had called a ton of dealers already and EVERY new car I was interested in had this stuff loaded onto it....ugh... SO....let's call this about 2 hours later now....I'm sitting around, appraisal got done. The new car is getting detailed up and I'm ready to go talk to the finance guy. So this is person #4. The FIRST thing I said after introducing myself was that I wanted JUST the car, NOTHING else. He comes back and says the actual locked in rate is lower than expected so they're throwing in a "tires and wheels package." I said, "That's super nice, thanks for that free offer!" He than tells me it's like $5k or something so I obviously tossed that out. He seemed really pissed off about that. But at least I got my payments down to what I was looking for. Another 1.2-1.3 hours and we are done with this part... My wife is on her way back to the dealer now after picking up our daughters from school in Palmdale and our son from school in Santa Clarita....I'm still waiting on the new car to be delivered to me, they're out getting it gassed up across the street. We are on about hour 5 or so.... We were obviously set on trading in the BMW, hoping we wouldn't have to drive down to Santa Clarita/LA. We ended up leaving with a new car, which is always exciting. So, the next day, we notice it...a long scratch, the same one we pointed out at the VERY START of this whole experience. We are STILL dealing with getting this scratch...

BUYERS BEWARE !! THIS DEALERSHIPS ARE CROOKS AND WILL STEAL YOUR MONEY IF YOU AREN'T PAYING ATTENTION !!! In summary, they will agree with you on a set price verbally but when it comes down to signing on the dotted line they will add additional fees on top of that out the door price that you agreed on.. On 01/09/025. I called and spoke to Taylor over the phone about a 2017 Toyota 4Runner that I saw online. He mentioned to me that "my presence is my leverage" (as all dealers always say) I figured you know what Ill make the 1 hour drive up there and see what we can work out because I really liked this car. When I drove up there we began talking price, I made it very clear to him that before running my credit I wanted to talk about the listed price and agree on a OUT THE DOOR PRICE + dmv title and taxes only. I was made aware they had $2900 on top of the listed price for "ADD ONS" that the dealer took upon themselves to add to the vehicle before a purchase was made. I made it explicitly clear that I did not want to pay for those add ons and when they said that they couldn't remove them than I mention to them to give me a discount on the listed price to even out that cost. After spending over 2 hours negotiating back and forth with Taylor and his floor manager ( black older gentleman) we finally came to an agreement of the out the door price to be $36,200 + title and taxes. They than brought me a print out of the break down and I noticed there was an additional fee of $1800 when I asked them what that fee was they said "DONT WORRY ABOUT THAT NUMBER, THAT IS ON US NOT ON YOU" . Even though it seemed a bit confusing I trusted them, they even had me sign that print out document. When it was time to go to the Finance manager, where all the legal documents are signed. I thoroughly went through the Contract and noticed that on top of the $32,600 , which was the agreed amount, there were other hidden fees added, ultimately those fees added up to $1800 ( which is that number they told me not to worry about and made me sign on the print out) when I was Romero, the finance person, what that fee was and If I was being charged for that. He acknowledged that yes I was being charged that. I immediately informed him that that was not the agreement I had made between myself, Taylor and the black gentleman, which I believe was the floor manager. He then told me to wait at his office while he went to figure it out. At that point I was already at the dealership for over 3 hours and I was getting fed up with all the games they were playing ( there was more misleading things that happen that I am leaving out as it is not as important as to what is about to happen). I decided not to wait in the office and followed Romero , where he went and met with Taylor, The black gentleman, and the Sales Manager Reza Rejaeian. When I walked inside they all just stared at me without saying a thing. I then directed my attention towards Reza, and told him Why I was being charged an additional $1800 on the agreed price. He then told me I agreed on that fee since I signed the printed paper ( which was the one they misled me and said not to worry about that cost) . I told him that wasn't the deal and I Ripped the paper in pieces as it meant nothing and I was misled by manipulation. Than the black gentleman interuppted and said " but you agreed on the monthly payment" at that point I Told him the monthly payment is irrelevant as I told him that I first wanted to discuss the out the door price and not the monthly payment which was secondary. I then told Reza that this was not how you conduct business, that this is shady way of doing business and people are putting their trust on them only to be screwed over on the back end. Immediately at that point Reza began yelling at me saying He didn't care! I told him I no longer wanted to buy the car and and that I was going to report him and write a review and then began shouting GET OUT OF HERE!! GET THE FUCK OUT I DONT CARE! to anyone still reading this, please stay away from this dealer. They...

I live very far from the dealership and I called with a list of very specific questions for the salesman before I made the track out to come see the vehicle. My first red flag should have been when I specifically asked him about the suspension and aftermarket modifications, and he ignored my question and neglected to send me pictures of the severely modified suspension. I knew that it would probably still be OK so I made the drive out anyways. My salesman was a young guy, immediately told me this is his first sales job and he's only been there a few months. He has a HUGE hickie on his neck and was unprofessional from the second I met him. He knew nothing about the vehicle and wasn't able to answer any of my questions I had to Google search and ChatGPT everything I needed to know. Fast forward, he tries to run my credit while I'm reviewing the Carfax. I told him that I'm not running anything until we can agree on a price. He was not able to negotiate with me at all. He brought his manager out who was unwilling to negotiate on anything. They refuse to take anything off the sticker price. So I walked away.

A few hours later after I circled back and decided that I was fine with the sticker price and I would pay and tax and license. I got my financing approved and presented with them with the preapproval from Chase. They are a preferred dealer and work with Chase. I called at 9 AM to ask for the paperwork. I was told by Zack that he would be working on it and get back to me shortly. Still nothing 2 hours so I called the dealer and asked to speak with the general manager. The girl at the front desk tell me that the general manager is not available, but gives me a sales manager. He doesn't answer the phone and has a voicemail that's not set up.

They call back, tell me the car is actually on a test drive and that they can't send me any papers because it's not a done deal until things are signed. I tell them I'm literally been begging you for papers all day. I've agreed to your sticker price I have my financing ready. Can you please send me the papers so I can secure this car? He tells me that the person that's driving is willing to pay more money and that they're going to pay for the diamond package that I don't want to pay for.

I speak with another person who tells me that someone has left a deposit on the vehicle and they're gonna come back Monday to pay the rest and if they don't, they'll sell it to me, but that that person is willing to pay for the diamond package. I ask AGAIN please tell me what this package is. Over the course of the 24 hours and dealing with them not one person has came back to me with a counter offer or negotiation. They just keep getting mad that I don't want to pay $900 for 3M clearcoat protection on the vehicle. It's an off-road vehicle that is already scratched to hell and they keep trying to sell me on a $900 clearcoat that has already been clearly scratched.

Manager came to me the day before with a piece of paper with a final offer that had the wrong sticker price. His outdoor price was $44,500. On their website when you try to purchase online it also shows an outdoor price of $44,074. I told him I was fine with the $44,000 price to purchase this car and be finished with this.

He then asks me for my phone number, AGAIN. SO HE CAN WORK ON A NUMBER AND GET BACK TO ME WITH THE FINAL NUMBER. I SAID WHAT IS THERE TO WORK ON ? YOU DON'T HAVE A FINAL NUMBER? YOU CALLED ME BACK. ...YOU KNOW I WANT THIS CAR AND YOU STILL DON'T HAVE A NUMBER....

He then rattles off a bunch of charges and tries to tell me it's going to be $47,000 out the door for a car that's listed at $38,988

I BEGGED for papers and to purchase the car. They played every game they know and couldn't give me straight answers.

I asked multiple times for the general manager. Hoping he would have more sense than the sales people. I have been car shopping for the last two months. I have been to dozens of dealers and private party and this has been the worst experience I...