A positive dealership story for once

"Ricepuddin a shitty superhero" (ricepuddin) 01/02/2014 at 22:27 • Filed to: None

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This story begins on an August day in San Antonio with me shopping for a used Mustang GT. I had test driven a few around Ft Hood and was at the local Car Max awaiting my current car's appraisal. See, I had found my Mustang, with all the glory that was the Brembo package, on carmax's website. I just needed to break even on my trade to make it really worth it, but once again I was met with disappointment and I left smelling of defeat (and sweaty Army uniform).

I Decided that I would check out Red McComb's lot to see what they had sitting around in the used section and that's where I saw her. It wasn't love at first site as I was there for a mustang and I hate red cars but after walking around her a few times I decided she was worth a look. She was a 2013 Race Red Focus ST3, and with what she lacked in looks on the outside she more than made up with inside with those beautiful Recaro seats.

Needless to say I took her home and we enjoyed some amazing times together. Over the next few months we enjoyed some great times together, sure she was heavy and the wrong wheels powered her but she was a blast! and I loved her in spite of all her short comings. That is until November rolled around...

See I've never been a fan of overly complicated radios, and something was telling me I should stay away from the MFT option, a voice in the back of my head. But I really wanted those full leather Recaros, an option that only comes on the ST3 trim. I should have listened to my instincts! A control module in the car that is responsible for the radio (and apparently locks) failed, and left me with no music for my weekly trips to and from San Antonio.

Now this sucked but it didn't alienate me from my hot hatch, it just made me become more acquainted with the car's unique sounds. The twin scroll turbo spooling became my Doors and the sound symposer became my Nas (the rapper not the other stuff). What I didn't know was there was another problem lurking around the corner, a serious problem that would haunt me the entire month of December. The module failure was causing a parasitic drain, leading to my car to dying overnight. At first it was every few days, but soon it became a daily thing. My mornings went from getting up at 0430 to getting up at 0330 in hopes of finding someone in my Barracks that would jump start my car, and still make it to 0615 formation. I took her to the local dealership (around FT Hood, probably should clarify that's where I live during the week), they ran and update and nothing! I went on vacation and left it with Red McCombs in San Antonio (for 9 days) they managed to temporarily fix the problem (like 2hrs) before it was up to it's old shenanigans of no radio and dying. Then it got worse, if the car sat for more than five hours it would die. So I now had to jump it after work. Another fix the following week, now the car will read me my texts but it still has no radio and won't start.

I was done, sick of it and ready to be rid of this car. She was like a spiteful girlfriend during a failing relationship just trying to get her jabs in when she could. So I went to talk to the salespeople at Red Mccombs. David Sosa, a sales guy and retired Soldier drove me around every lot that belongs to Red McCombs looking for the perfect car to fit my needs while his manager Joe Martinez worked the numbers to keep me from ending up ass out on the trade. We drove all around San Antonio and thought we had found it, a 2012 Mini Countrymen S that was labeled as a manual on the site however once we drove the 30 minutes to the other lot we realized it was a automatic So I left, once again feeling frustrated that I was stuck in the failing relationship.

I called FoMoCo and asked if there was anything they could do for me, after a (very polite and productive) back and forth with one of their higher ranking customer service folks we ended with a solution. I would be given a steep discount known as the X Plan on any ford product. This was going to take a few days, so on New Year's Eve I called David and let him know what was going to happen and asked if he could get me the Xplan pricing on a new Mustang GT. After talking to Joe, they decided to give me the Xplan pricing without waiting for the code to generate. So once again I drove back to the dealership, and that's when I fell in love again with a 2014 Deep Impact Blue Mustang GT Premium Track pack! I ask David to once again get me a price, he did and we began the paperwork (at 8pm on New Year's Eve).

I left that Night with my new Mustang and feeling as if both FoMoCo and Red McCombs had taken care of me! Sometimes it seems as if only the bad dealership stories ever get told, so today I wanted to share a positive one. I know most don't view Oppo in the evening and this will probably never make the front page but I am grateful for the customer service and want to share with as many as possible. I am looking forward to many adventures and photo shoots with my Mustang and hopefully a long happy life together.

TL;DR
FoMoCo and Red McCombs Ford in San Antonio exhibited excellent customer service

Snuze: Needs another Swede > Ricepuddin a shitty superhero 01/02/2014 at 22:32

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Awesome and congrats on the new car. She's a beaut and I'm sure a hoot to drive.

One of my buddies just picked up a 2014 GT in black and its a great car.

Louros > Ricepuddin a shitty superhero 01/02/2014 at 22:38

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Welp, that was quicker than I expected.

Tom McParland > Ricepuddin a shitty superhero 01/02/2014 at 22:40

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I can't decide what's better the story or the photos...I'm kinda leaning photos that shit is wallpaper worthy.

Ricepuddin a shitty superhero > Louros 01/02/2014 at 22:52

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Well you had more faith in me than the people at work. All but two were eliminated from the new car bet, also this wasn't planned as I am moving to Japan.

by the way how is the Mini?

Ricepuddin a shitty superhero > Snuze: Needs another Swede 01/02/2014 at 22:53

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Thank you much, love her so far. I hope she lasts

Ricepuddin a shitty superhero > Tom McParland 01/02/2014 at 22:55

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Thank you much! I wasn't sure If I had ADD'ed the story and went off a tangent or not.

Also if you want any of the pictures for background use, they are here, I don't lock them, so you can download the full sized image with no hassle http://ricepuddin.smugmug.com/

Louros > Ricepuddin a shitty superhero 01/02/2014 at 23:10

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So far so good, I've put about 10k miles on it so far. Interested to see how it does in the snow tomorrow.

MoparKetchup > Ricepuddin a shitty superhero 01/02/2014 at 23:12

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That last pic is so awesome even the background gives me the jitters. What are the coordinates for that specific road? I'm asking because next week I'll be in San Antonio , and I would love to drive on that road!

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Ricepuddin a shitty superhero > MoparKetchup 01/02/2014 at 23:28

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Thanks man! Unfortunately this road is just outside of Fort Hood (2.5hrs north of San Antonio). And it's 4 miles of closed road due to someone accidently an artillery shell onto the bridge just past that intersection.

I live up here in this shit hole and commute down to SA on the weekends to be with my Fiance.

Good news, there are some awesome roads near SA as well. For example if you love canyon scenery and a tight, fun driving road, check this out http://www.motorcycleroads.com/75/555/Texas/T…

I'll see if there are any group runs planned in the near future

MoparKetchup > MoparKetchup 01/02/2014 at 23:33

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.

MoparKetchup > Ricepuddin a shitty superhero 01/02/2014 at 23:34

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Thank you for the info! Let's see what kind of car I get to use on those roads.

Ricepuddin a shitty superhero > Louros 01/02/2014 at 23:35

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I drove a JCW the other day and was amazed by the Clutch and shifting, so I can imagine those were 10k fun miles. Should we expect snow hoonage photos?

Ricepuddin a shitty superhero > MoparKetchup 01/02/2014 at 23:37

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SA is an amazing city, if you need ideas of things to do or local restaurant and bar suggestions hit me up

GeorgeyBoy > Ricepuddin a shitty superhero 01/02/2014 at 23:58

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Congrats on the purchase.

I've found corporate to always handle issues better than the dealers. I once got nearly $1300 of work done completely out of Ford's pocket.

Now remove that dealer sticker on the trunk and get some new tips to fill out those cut outs.

Ricepuddin a shitty superhero > GeorgeyBoy 01/03/2014 at 00:02

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That is usually the case, but this time it seemed to be a team effort. I will, and Ill probably end up with the GT500 Axle back

1337HPMustang > Ricepuddin a shitty superhero 01/03/2014 at 00:06

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I need numbers, how big was the xplan discount?

Ricepuddin a shitty superhero > 1337HPMustang 01/03/2014 at 00:09

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it's Invoice +4%, so with this and the incentives they had i was out the door minus $8k off the sticker

1337HPMustang > Ricepuddin a shitty superhero 01/03/2014 at 01:58

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Nice deal. Thanks. Do yourself a favor and get wider rubber first thing you do.

liquid_popcorn > Ricepuddin a shitty superhero 01/03/2014 at 09:09

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That's awesome! Glad to hear it worked out so well. Also, absolutely beautiful car.

Ricepuddin a shitty superhero > liquid_popcorn 01/03/2014 at 09:22

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Thank you much!

Dennis loves you too > Ricepuddin a shitty superhero 01/13/2014 at 23:55

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I like FOMOCo, have you seen the post about the Chevy camaro ZL1 that dealer should be run out of business

Full-Ahead > Ricepuddin a shitty superhero 01/14/2014 at 05:49

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Throw an H-pipe on there too! It is glorious... Borla S cat-back on mine. Congrats on the purchase!

McSchmalex > Ricepuddin a shitty superhero 01/14/2014 at 11:59

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Hey man I used to be stationed at Fort Hood for four years!

It is a shithole, but there are hidden gems like Austin and San Antonio there. I just wish the base wasn't as far as it is from "civilized" parts of the state.

I thought it was funny how yo have that last picture out in the training area! I know that road, I spent many a long cold Texas prairie night out on that plain.

Also, thanks for sharing the story of the dealership and their good customer service. Good to see a company that stands behind their product, unlike that dealership in Delaware whose employee wrecked a (almost) new ZL1 and then tried to weasel out of fully compensating the owner.

Ricepuddin a shitty superhero > McSchmalex 01/14/2014 at 20:09

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Sorry to hear that haha! I am on year 5 on Hood and lived in cove for 5 years prior to that. But there is light at the end of the tunnel, I have orders to Japan (Gotta love the medical world).

Fiance lives in SA, so spend most of my free time there.

You mean with the 20mph and rain., isn't it great!

What is funny is unlike the ZL1, this wasn't the dealerships fault. They're just smart enough to know that taking care of a customer means that customer will probably spread the word and drum up more business

Ricepuddin a shitty superhero > Full-Ahead 01/14/2014 at 20:10

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That sounds mighty tempting! I'll have to find some Youtube videos of it, thank you by the way!

Ricepuddin a shitty superhero > Dennis loves you too 01/14/2014 at 20:13

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Yes I did, that's pretty terrible. But they've had a PR war against them thanks to this site!

Dennis loves you too > Ricepuddin a shitty superhero 01/14/2014 at 20:25

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We are like a automotive militia

Dennis loves you too > Ricepuddin a shitty superhero 01/16/2014 at 02:29

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Apparently yelp isn't a good place to go shit talk a business they just took my post down :( they sent me an email reminding me I shouldn't be a dick... Whatever...