River Valley Ford, Inc.

Review: I purchased a 2003 Cadillac Deville from said business for $8000 in October 2012. It had 80,000 miles on it. In Califonia it had 200,000 miles on it. I had multiple problems with this vehicle of which River Valley Ford did most repairs. At one point $1300 of which my Grandfather refused to pay and they released the vehicle after repairs. About ten days go I decided to take it to a dealer to sell it so I could get a dependable car. The salesman at this business ([redacted]) told me that this car had a "BRANDED" title and was worth $500. At no time did River Valley disclose this to me. I took my vehicle there and they gave me a loaner as the manager was not in. I talked to an attorney and he checked out my paperwork and stated that I have a case. He also stated that it may be worth going to talk to manager [redacted] at River Valley. I went there and [redacted] started yelling at me about the miles put on the vehicle. I put 40,000 miles on it. He then threw me out of the business. There were several co-workers of [redacted] present as witnesses to this humiliating yelling at me. According to what I have learned they should have disclosed the fact that this vehicle had a "BRANDED" title. They did not. My car is still sitting there and I am afraid to go back there again. My VIN for my car is [redacted]. Please help.Desired Settlement: According to what I have learned they need to pay me 2X the amount of purchase price.

Business

Response:

We are writing to respond to the complaint

(#[redacted]) you forwarded to us from a customer regarding her experience

at our dealership.

Before addressing the substance of the customer’s

accusations, I first want to say that at River Valley Ford, we take any

customer complaint seriously. We are committed to the highest standards

of honesty, integrity and customer service.

We have built and extremely strong reputation based on this

commitment. Simply put, we are one of the top dealers in Western

Wisconsin because people trust us. We are sincerely sorry that this

particular customer does not feel she was treated fairly. At

the same time that we are writing this response, we are still

diligently working to try to find a resolution to this issue that will

satisfy this customer.

In the meantime, because we value our reputation as

an honest dealer, we feel that we must respond directly to her

allegations. First, we reject any allegation that we at any time

behaved illegally, inappropriately or dishonestly. To

be clear, the car in question had 80,000 miles when it was purchased by

this customer. That was what was represented to her at the time of

purchase and what the odometer showed. Unfortunately, due to a data

entry error when her title was issued, it showed

200,000 miles. But that was just a typo and it is being corrected.

Although this customer believes she received an inadequate vehicle, as

she admits, in less than 1 year, she put nearly 40,000 miles on that

10-year old vehicle. To our knowledge, except

for one issue, which our dealership, in good faith, fixed at no cost to

her (saving her over $500), the vehicle functioned properly up until

this point in time. It is unfortunate that her vehicle (now with around

120,000 miles) is having some mechanical issues

at this point in time, but it is simply a fact of life that sometimes

older vehicles with high miles encounter difficulties. We tried to work

with the customer, but it became apparent that she had little interest

in finding a reasonable resolution. When

she began to threaten our staff with litigation and other such items,

we had no choice but to ask her to leave. At no time did anyone yell at

her or treat her poorly. In addition, I would note that she has her

keys and she is free to pick her car up at anytime.

Once again, we feel very bad whenever a customer is

dissatisfied. But those situations are very few and far between. Our

dealership has a well-earned reputation of fairness and customer

service. We are going to continue to do everything

in our power to reach a mutually agreeable resolution with this

customer.

Thank you for the opportunity to respond.

[redacted], Dealer Principal

River Valley Ford

Email: [redacted]

Facebook: [redacted]

Consumer

Response: