The Auto Source

Thanks so much Scott! It was such a pleasure working with you and Kelly! We appreciate your business and hope you enjoy your vehicle. If we can be of further assistance, please let us know. Kindest regards - Heidi S. Ferdinand, Dealer Principal

Mr. Blankenship, Thank you for your review. I would like to say that we always appreciate feedback from anyone whether or not they purchase a vehicle from us. It allows us to evaluate our team to make sure they are doing everything possible to assist customers during this horrible pandemic. However, after reviewing your email I’m a little perplexed on your timeline and how you recall what transpired. I can assure you that we spend a great deal of money on Customer Retention software that tracks all of our salespeople including all of their communications with our customers. You first contacted us via email on Sunday July 26th in the late afternoon. There was no phone number listed, only an email so Garvin sent you an email within 10 mins asking if there were any questions or concerns you had in regards to the vehicle and how would you prefer communicating. You sent back an email with your phone number and asked him if he could call you Monday. Garvin did call you Monday but there was no answer. I won’t go over all the emails that were sent to you but needless to say there were quite a few. On Wednesday Garvin called again. You informed him you were on a conference call and asked him to call back later. He told you that you should just call him when you had time, we don’t keep calling customers trying to guess when they have free time, that would be extremely rude. You never returned the call so Garvin called you for the third time on Thursday. In regards to your concern over our schedule and hours, please allow me to explain. Due to the Covid outbreak we are running with a skeleton crew and in order to look out for the safety of everyone, we are working by appointment only. Garvin was willing to accommodate you as far as whatever time within reason you could make it here but you insisted that he bring the car to you for a test drive all the way to Clermont. We are a small, family owned independent auto dealership. We are not Carvana or Carmax. While we have no problem DELIVERING a purchased vehicle to customers unable to get here, we do not have the manpower to deliver cars for test drives to see if it’s something they like. We do our best to accommodate all of our customers but we have a strict policy that does not allow cars to be taken out of town for test drives. I wish you the best of luck in your search for your new vehicle and again I thank you for your feedback. Darrell Seach General Manager The Auto Source Inc.

Dear Mr. John Van Johnston: Thank you for reaching out to us. You sent a lead via Cargurus on our 2013 Ford Mustang Convertible for your daughter on July 8, 2020. The current advertised price on our vehicle was $12,800 plus tax and title. We had traded in this vehicle (by a previous customer) a few days before and it was still going through our reconditioning process. You asked Garvin (your sales representative) for additional interior photos as we only post the first 10 exterior photos when a car is new in our inventory. As the vehicle was being analyzed by our reconditioning staff, we immediately noticed that the convertible top had two major tears in the top and was leaking. We advised you immediately of the problem (because we did not hide it) and advised you that we were going to put a new $2500 convertible top on the vehicle and only mark it up $1500 to cover our cost. On July 10, 2020 at 6:55pm, we raised the price of the vehicle from $12,800 to $14,000 (a $1200 increase) to account for the new convertible top. We had multiple phone calls with you about this situation and you wanted us to just honor the $12,800 price and still make the repair. As we explained to you on the multiple occasions, we do not have that type of profit margin in our vehicle. You spoke to Garvin about this situation and then you spoke to our Owner on July 15, 2020 about it. Our owner even offered you a $300 additional discount on the vehicle. They were both very upfront and honest with you. We would be happy to sell you the car, but it would have to be at the higher price and it had to be repaired. You even sent our owner back the below email: On Jul 15, 2020, at 7:18 PM, John Van Johnston wrote: Hi Rob, I'm glad we talked. Thanks for the time. I will think it over tonight and let you know tomorrow. John You were understanding on why the price went up and you wanted to think about it and get back with us on Friday. Well Friday came and gone, and we had a customer come in and purchase the vehicle on Friday evening. You were mad because it sold, but you never contacted us back. This review is truly unfair as we spent numerous hours speaking with you and you seemed to be a very nice gentleman. This is not a bait and switch at all. If it was that, we wouldn’t have told you about the repair on the top and why we had to raise the price. You did not fill out any paperwork or leave a deposit on the vehicle, so the vehicle was for sale. We do not have verbal agreements to hold a vehicle for sale. We even post on our website the below: ***The pricing of inventory is subject to change without notice daily based on market day supply, conditions and availability. The ironic part of this review is that we have a 2011 Ford Mustang Convertible for sale and you sent another lead on this Mustang on 7/17/20. The same day that you gave us 1 star review. If you truly felt we did a bait and switch, why would you inquire on another one of our vehicles? Again, sorry we were not able to sell you the vehicle. Wishing you all the best. Kindest regards – Heidi S. Ferdinand, Dealer Principal

Dear Mr. John Van Johnston: Thank you for reaching out to us. You sent a lead via Cargurus on our 2013 Ford Mustang Convertible for your daughter on July 8, 2020. The current advertised price on our vehicle was $12,800 plus tax and title. We had traded in this vehicle (by a previous customer) a few days before and it was still going through our reconditioning process. You asked Garvin (your sales representative) for additional interior photos as we only post the first 10 exterior photos when a car is new in our inventory. As the vehicle was being analyzed by our reconditioning staff, we immediately noticed that the convertible top had two major tears in the top and was leaking. We advised you immediately of the problem (because we did not hide it) and advised you that we were going to put a new $2500 convertible top on the vehicle and only mark it up $1500 to cover our cost. On July 10, 2020 at 6:55pm, we raised the price of the vehicle from $12,800 to $14,000 (a $1200 increase) to account for the new convertible top. We had multiple phone calls with you about this situation and you wanted us to just honor the $12,800 price and still make the repair. As we explained to you on the multiple occasions, we do not have that type of profit margin in our vehicle. You spoke to Garvin about this situation and then you spoke to our Owner on July 15, 2020 about it. Our owner even offered you a $300 additional discount on the vehicle. They were both very upfront and honest with you. We would be happy to sell you the car, but it would have to be at the higher price and it had to be repaired. You even sent our owner back the below email: On Jul 15, 2020, at 7:18 PM, John Van Johnston jvjohnston3@hotmail.com wrote: Hi Rob, I'm glad we talked. Thanks for the time. I will think it over tonight and let you know tomorrow. John You were understanding on why the price went up and you wanted to think about it and get back with us on Friday. Well Friday came and gone, and we had a customer come in and purchase the vehicle on Friday evening. You were mad because it sold, but you never contacted us back. This review is truly unfair as we spent numerous hours speaking with you and you seemed to be a very nice gentleman. This is not a bait and switch at all. If it was that, we wouldn't have told you about the repair on the top and why we had to raise the price. You did not fill out any paperwork or leave a deposit on the vehicle, so the vehicle was for sale. We do not have verbal agreements to hold a vehicle for sale. We even post on our website the below: The pricing of inventory is subject to change without notice daily based on market day supply, conditions and availability. The ironic part of this review is that we have a 2011 Ford Mustang Convertible for sale and you sent another lead on this Mustang on 7/17/20. The same day that you gave us 1 star review. If you truly felt we did a bait and switch, why would you inquire on another one of our vehicles? Again, sorry we were not able to sell you the vehicle. Wishing you all the best. Kindest regards Heidi S. Ferdinand, Dealer Principal