On Saturday, April 11th, 2009, we drove to San Tan Ford in Gilbert, AZ because the had a used car online that we were interested in. It was a 45 mile one-way trip but the car seemed promising.

We talked to a salesman named Red. I test drove the car. Seemed very nice. However, it was originally purchased in Michigan and seemed to have quite a bit of rust in the engine department. I asked Red if I could take to my mechanic to have him look at it so we knew if there would be any repairs that would need to make in the future and if the rust would be a problem. Also, there seemed to be excessive noise coming from the exhaust manifold which I also wanted my mechanic to check out.

Red told me, "No problem. Call me Monday and you can have it checked. I confirmed with my manager & he said that would be fine." I had already done this twice at other dealerships around the city in the last 2 weeks and they had me fill out a form accepting responsibility for the car, copied my proof of insurance & driver's license, & let me take the car. That is what I was expecting San Tan Ford to do and Red & his manager confirmed it.

On Monday, April 13th, 2009, I called Red on his cell phone & told him I would like to take the car to my mechanic. He said he would be at the dealership at 1pm and again assured me that would be no problem.

I arrived around 1:15pm, say Red in front of the Used Car building. Walked up to him. He recognized me and told him that I wanted to take the car now & would leave my 08 Odyssey at the dealership. He said he would have to go & ask his manager. That had me a little worried since as far as I was concerned the manager had already agreed.

Red comes back & tells me that the only way the Manager would let me take the car is if he ran my credit. I was shocked and a little angry. This car was less than $8k, I had told Red that I was planning to pay cash, & he had assured me there would be no problem taking the car on Monday. I explained how this was not acceptable and that other dealers had allowed me to do this.

Red went to the manager again & then came back. He said the Manager insists this is the only way he will do it. He then explained that they could sell me the car and they would put in the contract that I could return it if it did not meet my mechanic's approval.

At this point I was livid. I left the dealership very disappointed. Talk about bad customer service. I made a 90 mile round trip, wasted 2 hours of my time, all for nothing.

DO NOT do business with San Tan Ford. Its dealerships like this that have created such a bad reputation for car dealers.