To:
Dennis Doeil – General Sales Manager
Stuart Grey, – New Car Sales Manager
Julia Weber – Customer Relations Manager
Michael John – Manager, Technology
I would like to say that I am incredibly disappointed by my experiences with O'Meara Ford thus far.
My girlfriend and I are currently cross-shopping the Focus ST and the Fiesta ST against the MINI Cooper S Clubman, the MazdaSpeed 3 and the Fiat 500 Abarth. We have arranged financing ahead of time. (this does become important.)
We have already stopped and talked with staff at CarMax, Sill-Terhar Ford, Sill-Terhar Volvo, Sill-Terhar Mazda, Mike Shaw Subaru, and Denver Isuzu/Suzuki.
We visited O'Meara Ford on Saturday the 10th of August in the afternoon. We were greeted by a salesman shortly after we got out of the car (this is good, and in line with our experiences elsewhere), and the salesman asked us what we were interested in. We described the cars that we were cross shopping, and advised that we were in that day to walk around a Focus ST. The salesman indicated that O'Meara Ford had several on the lot, and that O'Meara Ford has 23 acres of cars (so?), and is so big that golf carts are used to get around.
This set an expectation that our next stop would be a ride on a golf cart to go to where the Focus ST stock is "out back".
We were guided into the building, and the salesman excused himself for a moment to "go talk to the Sales Manager" – and I presumed to also line up a cart to take us in to go fulfill our request to (and I emphasize this again) LOOK AT a Focus ST. While we were waiting, we did avail ourselves of the lovely Tangerine Scream example that is in the lobby – but the battery is disconnected, so the power seats don't work – so that's not a fair "Look".
The salesman came back and guided us to a table, where he started grilling us about, and we replied with:
What we could afford for a monthly payment: We're not payment shoppers. We have our own financing.
How much would we be putting down? Nothing. Again, we have our own financing.
What cars do we currently have? A 1997 BMW M3, and a 2007 Toyota Yaris. Why?
Which one of those cars would you consider trading in? Probably neither. As we said, We're bringing our own financing. We'll pick out the car, negotiate a price, write you a check, and drive away. Do I need to say it again?
Well, how much do you owe on the Yaris? About $6300. Why? Do I need to say "We're going to write you a check, sign some papers, and drive away" again?
At this point, I think the salesman got the point, because he got up and went and conferred with "the Sales Manager" again.
When he came back, he stated:
"Out of respect for the future owner (Emphasis mine), it's O'Meara Ford's policy to not allow test drives of the Focus ST"
Note: Not once in our exchange did I say that we wanted to DRIVE a Focus ST. I said that we wanted to SEE a Focus ST. We wanted to SIT in one and see if the Recaro seats are comfortable. We wanted to HEAR one. (The Fiat 500 Abarth, which we did test drive, pretty much sold us instantly on the song of the exhaust note). We wanted to touch the dials, and take 5-10 minutes to learn the Sync and FordMyTouch systems and see if they are intuitive and easy to use. Not once did we suggest that we wanted to take a Focus ST out on the road. We wanted to see if we liked the way the car looked. The way it felt. Whether controls fall easily to hand (the way they VERY much do in the BMW M3).
Instead, the salesman took us out to the front of the lot and showed us a blue Focus SE SEDAN…automatic. No keys, so (even though it wasn't even remotely similar to the car we were interested in seeing, we still couldn't do any more than adjust the seats and mirrors and pedals and pretend to fiddle with the climate controls.
Already having decided that even if we purchased a Focus ST, there was NO WAY we were going to purchase from O'Meara, we pretending to fiddle with things in the car for about 2 minutes before thanking the sales associate for his time, we returned to our BMW and drove directly (do not pass go, do not collect $200) to Sill-Terhar Ford – where a very nice salesman showed us a Focus ST, a Fiesta 5-door Titanium, a Fusion Energi (WAY out of our price range, but super slick technology!), and – seeing that we're looking in the low-to-mid-20k range, two different Mustangs (V6 Base and a used GT)
BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!
On Sunday the 11th, I heard about the upcoming Fiesta ST. I did a few days of research and ultimately wound up asking for an online quote.
* I got an autoresponder that said that I could expect to receive a personalized response within 24 hours.
* At 7:41am on August 18, I did receive a reply. It was a (barely customized) form letter.
Dear John,
My name is Michael John. I am the internet manager for O'Meara Ford. I am honored and excited to provide you with any information you may need. We have a great selection and Ford has huge incentives on the new Fiesta. With O'Meara's invoice plus value pricing, you are sure to get a great deal. When would you like to come by for a closer look? Please contact me at 720-262-6733 I would like to discuss what you are looking for, or simply reply to this email.
Our customers enjoy the highest market value for their trade.Are you thinking of trading anything in?
When you stop by, be sure ask for Michael John for a special internet offer.
Best regards,
Michael John
Internet manager
O'Meara Ford
Today, I received the following – another form letter:
On Tue, Aug 20, 2013 at 12:42 PM, Michael John <mjohn@omearaford.dealercrm.com> wrote:
Hello John,
I wanted to check in with you to find out when a good time would be for you to come by and take a look at our entire inventory. We have a great selection and our entire inventory is sale priced for huge savings.
Please let me know at 720-262-6733 or simply reply to this email.
When you stop by, be sure to ask for Michael John for a special internet offer.
At this point, my impression of O'Meara Ford is that – perhaps as a side effect of being in business since 1913 – you are "stuck" selling cars like it's 1983.
Every other place that we've gone in our search for a car so far, the emphasis has been very strongly on providing 21st Century Customer Service.
This focus is on answering ONE question based on three (VERY) accurate presumptions.
Presumption 1: You are going to buy a car.
Presumption 2: You know what you want and you have more choice than ever. As a result I am potentially competing with every dealer within 500 miles for your business.
Presumption 3: You have more flexibility than ever. It is extremely unlikely that you will buy a car today. When you are ready, you will go to directly the dealer of your choice and purchase the car of your choice, at an extremely competitive price. Everything I do contributes to this decision.
Question: What can I do today to ensure that you will choose this dealership when you are ready to purchase?
At this point in our Customer Relationship, my experience with O'Meara Ford has been SO negative that I would gladly drive to Omaha, Kansas City, Albuquerque, Salt Lake City, or any Ford Dealership in between to make my purchase.
Dennis, Stuart, Julia, Michael – It's your move.
You should go with the Abarth anyway¹.
¹This response is in no conceivable way an indication that I may or may not be partaking in national pride. Interpret as you will. 😉
You should have seen the weird reactions I was getting when I bought my Audi with cash.
There was also the fun part where I said, "No, talk to me. I am the one buying a car, not him."
O'meara Ford sucks badly. If they ever get ahold of your contact info look out – they will not let go of it and they call every day. I finally had to play the disconnected sound in Google Voice to get them to stop.
Please do not buy from these jokers. Go to Broomfield like you already did. They may not have all the cars on the lot but the staff is 1000x better over there. I was looking at a Ford Escape and was treated with respect and genuine interest at Sill-Terhar and was bombarded with email and phone spam from O'Meara just from one online contact with them. They repeatedly ignored my requests to be removed from their contact systems. Thank god they only had the Google Voice #.
Wow. Why do they feel the need to make things so complicated? I don't understand why you couldn't test drive anyway. Isn't that like a major thing you want to do before you buy a car? But to mention that before you even asked? And to show you a different car?? What the hell?
When I bought my Jeep I was by myself and literally the guy asked me when he could talk to my husband or father. Really? It's my car.
+Ian Santopietro The Abarth sounds phenomenal.
Not even "it sounds great for such a small engine."
Just "It sounds great!"
Driver Restraints
My primary concern with it is that it's very narrow, and very tall, and as such is not eligible to compete in Sports Car Club of America autocrosses in the (unmodified) Stock/Street classes. The Abarth is currently classed in Street Prepared, which is a class that allows a LOT of (expensive) modifications, which is where I am with the BMW M3 we currently have.
+Steve Ruge
I think we may wait until closer to the end of the month, then go the "Pit the Dealers Against One Another Via Email" route – for every dealer within 200 miles or so.
The Magic Numbers:
Focus ST: $24,621
Fiesta ST: $21,441
MazdaSpeed3: $24,962
WRX: $25,188
The MINI Cooper Clubman S is out of our price range for new. The two we're looking at have 35k and 55k miles, and are between 18k and 19k.
Have you thought about a BRZ? I drove one, and it was divine.
Wow, good information–while a Ford purchase probably isn't anywhere in my near future, it's good to know of a dealer to avoid should things change.
Random thought: maybe the guy thought you were a terrorist instead of just admit not having the car 'out back'.
That's…seriously random, Terry. =)
Golf TDI is also around $27k
When I purchased my 2001 truck, I used the very early http://cars.com (November 2000) to source out my truck. I sent this request to three dealerships, John Elway Ford, Sil Terhar Ford, and O'Meara. I received one immediate response, John Elway, later one from Sil Terhar and nothing from O'Meara.
The John Elway sales associate already had options for alternate vehicles as mine was not available in the 5 surrounding states. They also suggested a factory ordered unit and gave me pricing options. I took my business to John Elway, special ordered my truck for $1000 over dealer cost, paid $14000 down and my own financing for the remainder amount. This was 13 years ago. Market price $32000, purchase price $24900. BTW I'm still driving this truck. =)
BTW I did eventually get an email response from O'Meara, 48 days later.
As someone who used to work in Ford's Supplier Technical Assistance group, I'm appalled by anyone being treated this way. Just a suggestion – go to this site
https://secure.corporate.ford.com/footer/contact-ford/contact-us-email?contactMainTopic=PublicAffairs
Pick Vehicle Sales Issues as the Topic of Inquiry, and give them the same logical, well-written story you posted here, with perhaps a bit of a preface.
I know the company takes things like this very seriously, and they would be very interested to get this kind of direct feedback.
+Ian Santopietro The BRZ/FRS doesn't have room for a 107 pound Great Pyrenees!
+Steve Ruge Golf TDI doesn't fit the "sporty" bill enough. It gets fantastic mileage, but slow, slow, slow. The Golf GTI is interesting, though. Hmm.
+Troy Liput I'll definitely do that! Thanks! I also googled the format of omearaford.com email addresses from a couple different online directories, and sent a copy of this to ddoeil, sgrey, jweber, and mjohn at their domain.
Voting wrx or fiat 500 abarth. Exhaust note über alles.
I was shopping for a pre-owned passenger van for the non-profit I serve on the board for, and got in contact with one of the Omera sales reps. We got to the point of talking dollars – and they quoted me a price $3K higher than I decoded from the sticker in the window (and was available in their online inventory) – insisting that this was the "charity" price, despite several requests for him to check the number. Incredibly horrible community connection they made…
Needless to say, we did not purchase from there