Date: Mon, 27 Jan 1997 14:19:53 -0500
From: Jim Hoburg <hoburg@katahdin.ece.cmu.edu>
Reply-To: hoburg@ece.cmu.edu
Subject: AVOID McCrackin Ford
To: bovik@cs.cmu.edu
Message-ID: <MailDrop1.2d5a.970127141953@mac49.ece.cmu.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII

We have had several bad experiences with McCrackin Ford (on McKnight Road, North
Hills) since 1990, when we bought a new Ford Explorer from them.  My most recent
experience prompts this public recounting:

We're now considering a new 1997 Explorer, and have been looking for one with a
4WD manual transmission to test drive.  The manual transmission constraint has
made it fairly hard for us to find one.  Thus, despite my contempt for McCrackin
from prior experience, I called them last week to see if they had one.  The
salesman checked, told me yes, come on down.  When I arrived, he checked again
and found that the vehicle he had in mind had been delivered the prior morning.
I chalked this up to just an honest mistake.  He told me they come in and are
sold fairly frequently and to try again in a few days.

Yesterday, I tried again.  A different salesman on the phone again assured me
that they had not one but several 4WD manual transmission Explorers on the lot.
My family and I again headed down to McCrackin immediately after the phone call
and again, when we arrived, were told that said vehicle(s?) had already been
delivered.  This time, I was more than a little irritated.  I asked to speak to
the manager and told him of my two-time experience with being misled on the
phone and wasting two trips.  He eventually offered to have a salesman drive one
up to our house when they got one in for us to test drive.  I thought this quite
reasonable and was suddenly mellowed out.

My wife and sons stayed in the showroom to look at interior options while I went
out to sit in the car  (I hate standing around showrooms).  About 10 minutes
later, my wife came out to tell me that the manager had approached her after I
left the showroom and told her that he had found an almost new Explorer, already
delivered to its new owner, that was back for service and that he could let me
test drive.  My wife told him that she didn't think that was fair to the owner
without the owner's prior agreement.  The manager told her that the owner was "a
personal friend of Mr. McCrackin" and that "Mr. McCrackin" had given his
approval.

Upon hearing this story, my adrenolin level immediately went through the roof
and I returned to the showroom to speak again with the manager.  He asked me if
I wanted to test drive the car.  I said that I did, but that I wanted first to
check with the owner to see if it was okay with him and I asked for the owner's
phone number.  The manager replied that he "didn't think Mr. McCrackin would
want him to give me the phone number", told me that he was "just trying to do
(me) a favor" and walked away from me.

I think there is little doubt that the manager intended to have me test drive a
nearly new vehicle that had been brought in for service by the new owner,
without approval from the owner.

In general, the place reeks with dishonesty.  I strongly recommend that you
avoid it for both sales and service.