Ford of Elizabethton

Horrible Experience Horrible experience from start to finish! Was contacted by Ford via letter to bring in our vehicle due to the recent Takata airbag recall. Contacted G Horrible experience from start to finish! Was contacted by Ford via letter to bring in our vehicle due to the recent Takata airbag recall. Contacted Grindstaff Ford, our nearest service location, and was told the parts weren't in, but to park the car immediately due to it not being safe to drive. Spoke with a girl named Kelsea, and a "free" rental was given to us in the meantime. A little over a month had passed, (we even had to renew the rental after the one month mark), and we receives a message on the phone on August 16th 2018 from a man named Travis, who we'd never heard from or dealt with ever before, ranting and raving and saying he had stopped payment on the "free" rental car they gave us on August 13th, 2018. Mind you, we still had a Ford vehicle with deadly defective airbags sitting in the driveway the day he called, as well as the rental car which has had the payment by Ford stopped on the 13th. We brought the defective vehicle to the service center within 45 minutes and then returned the rental to Enterprise when we picked the other car up the next morning. After all is said and done and we got the car back, we end up with a bill from the rental agency for $150. We tried to deal with the dealership, but all we got was called a liar and that they were not going to pay. Then we got the lie that they tried to contact us several times before payment was stopped on the rental, but couldn't reach us. I find it very odd that no one could supposedly reach us, yet we were in contact with them the whole time. Also, how did they reach us on a number they supposedly didn't have on August 16th? Isn't that pretty much impossible since I have an unlisted number? The only way to call or find an unlisted number is if you already have the number, correct? Then, when we couldn't deal with the dealership, we tried to contact Ford Customer Care. We were like surely the Ford Company itself will step up and reprimand an unethical dealer, especially over one of the largest safety recalls ever, Takata airbags. But instead, I get more lies and double-talk. One representative from Ford actually told me that the dealers are separate from the Ford Company and there's not much they can do. I was like, "Aren't the dealers licensed to Ford to use your name? So when does Ford step up and do what's right when you can't deal with a dealer?" He actually tried to tell me that the dealerships were "franchises", and not licensed. At this point I am beyond frustrated, so I look up the definition of franchise while I'm on the phone with the representative, and the first few words of the first sentence is "A franchise is a license issued to someone to operate a business using a common brand name, a common operating support system and involving the payment of initial and/or ongoing fees." A franchise is always a license, but a license isn't always a franchise. But, we basically got the same runaround from Ford reps that we did the dealership, and now we're on the hook for $150 that I refuse to pay because we do not owe it. The car was brought in only because of a safety recall directly from Ford, and no other work was done. This business is the worst business I can honestly say I've ever dealt with in my life. Also, the blatant lies and refusal to make anything right or operate with any morality are enough that our family will 100% never do business with Grindstaff in our area or the entire Ford company. We would be more than happy to pay any bill our family owes, but we are not being duped into paying a bill we were lied to about from the beginning. Please avoid Grindstaff dealerships and Ford Motor Company altogether. Research your car company and your dealership. You'll find quite a bit of these shady dealings from Ford and their dealerships. The car rental agency told us 3 other renters were going through the same thing with being charged for the "free" loaner rental. Just save the aggravation, money, time, and worry and go anywhere else that will treat you like an actual human being. Just don't put your family or finances though it. More