Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:02/13/2025

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  UnansweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I took my truck to be repaired to my ****** dealer like they said and they would pay the bill. Well they paid $200 and stuck me with $310 to pay. The so called certified Truck had several exhaust leaks that made me and my wife sick on a trip. Ive made only 2 payments on it. This should have been repaired before the truck was put for sale. They claimed they could not find a problem with the truck. Well when we went on a short to the beach we had to use the ac. Thats when all the exhaust fumes made us sick. Now everytime I call the dealership Im told that ***** Palm the General manager is in a meeting or unavaliable. I need help getting him to call me and take care of this bill. This was a mistake buying from this dealership. They are the worst dealership ive ever delt with. Will you please help on this matter. Thank you.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:10/22/2024

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  The following detailed account is from our purchase of a 2022 **** F-150 which occured in early October, after the Hurricane in ***********************A dear friend of mine, a trusted member of your team, has always expressed his commitment to changing the negative reputation that car dealerships often face. Unfortunately, our recent experience did not align with those values, and I'd like to explain why.After losing everything in the historic hurricane that devastated **********************, my wife and I decided to trade in our Silverado. We were referred to **** ***** at the Hickory location, and made it clear that we were in no position to haggle due to our circumstances.We were paired with a salesperson, ***** ****, who initially shared that he had also been displaced. However, as we began chatting, ***** admitted to leaving his unflooded home for fear of looting during the aftermath of the hurricane. Despite our situation, the trade-in value offered was far below what we expected. He then said, "Im in the same boat as you," which left me feeling misunderstood and distrusting.After hours of negotiation, our dogs restless and us emotionally drained, ***** said something that stunned me: "I need to look after myself in this deal." The finance department made matters worse, pressuring us into unnecessary warranties and offering inflated interest rates, despite my credit score being over 800. It was even admitted that the dealership inflates interest rates on car sales to increase ********** the time we signed, we were too exhausted to continue pushing back. It wasnt trust in the dealership that led us to finalize the dealit was sheer desperation. What should have been a compassionate, straightforward process in a time of crisis turned into a frustrating ordeal that left us feeling betrayed.

  Business Response

  Date: 11/06/2024

  I called Mr. ***** multiple times with no response to address his complaint with no response.  I finally got a text response back from the customer on 10/29/2024 that he was available for a phone call to discuss on 10/30/2024 between 3:00 and 5:00 PM.  I called on 10/30/2024 and his wife answered the phone.  I asked to speak with Mr. ***** and was told he was unavailable to speak and she would discuss the situation with me.  As she began, I heard Mr. ***** in the background coaching her on what to say.  We discussed the interest rate being "somewhere around 8%" which was one of their complaints.  The interest rate on the bank contract that the customer signed is 5.86% and not "around 8%".  The customer also said that they didn't think the value of their trade in was fair.  We allowed the customer $39,000 for their trade in which had a Carfax history of moderate damage.  The average auction value of their trade in was $35,600.  We also didn't force the customer to sign any documents or push them into buying a vehicle.  If they thought the deal they were getting on their trade in or interest rate was unfair they could have simply walked away and not bought a truck just as plenty of customers do every day.  At the end of the call after the customer because rude I asked what exactly they would like from us to move forward.  The customer responded that they would like an apology for our unethical sales practices.  I reponded that based on the research and data I had in our computer systems that I would not apologize for that because I didn't agree that we did anything unfair or unethical.  The customer then stated "well, I guess there is nothing else for us to talk about".  This customer has blasted us on social media with false complaints and we are not the first place they have done this with.  I do not agree with or appreciate this customer's false claims.  Please feel free to reach out with any further questions.

   

  ***** Palm General Manager

  Cloninger Ford of Hickory

• Initial Complaint

  Date:07/18/2024

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  UnansweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I bought a 2020 explorer on February 29th 2024. Did not get to take home any paperwork other than how much I got the loan for and the paper I signed about GAP. I have lots of complaints but my main concern is that the dealership added in a wheel and tire package into my loan without my consent to be signed up for this. I called the dealership the next day to get this fixed. They said they put in a cancellation request and once it was processed it would be refunded. The amount is $1300.00. I gave a month or so and they didnt have information but I did not get a call for them to get the information. Gave the information needed on the phone and was told it would get processed. I have called several times since then and have been told they cant pull it up or it is processing. They had the wrong phone number on file and I gave them the correct one several times but I have not once got a call from them for anything not even an update. It is now July 18th and I have been talking with **** the finance manager. He said a check would be sent last week and it has not. I sent an email asking for confirmation number and tracking with no response. When I call the response is 90% of the time that he is with a customer and ask to leave a message but I never get a call back. I attached a photo of how much the loan was for and how much the loan was supposed to be for on the agreed amount shown in the photo.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:05/01/2024

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  UnansweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I purchased a used truck from them around December 29 with a 30 day warranty. Everything seemed very normal, but 2 days after the warranty expires the heater core goes bad. This is around $2000.00 to fix. It occurred after the warranty, so I couldn't really do much about that. What has me putting in this complaint is the fact it took over 90 days to get a tag. The finance manager had to keep issuing me temporary tags, which is not his job, but my sales person was unreachable. The other main reason is this dealership decided to put some upgrades on this truck to sell it, including larger wheels and tires. They never adjusted the speedometer to accommodate the changes so my odometer shows more mileage than the truck actually has, therefore decreasing the value. I called several times about the tags, and spoke with my salesperson several times about the odometer issues. I was told by him that the supervisor said "you bought a used truck, what did you expect." I expected that any upgrades/changes made by the dealership before I even bought the truck, to have been completed all the way, not just put on the truck and never tuned or checked. To have the truck tuned to fix the mileage/odometer issue is expensive and would require the computer of the truck to be sent off to Dodge, so they could send another one that is tuned correctly. I was quoted over $1000.00. After spending as much as I did on this truck I expected better customer ********************** and for them to at least correct the odometer mistake.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:03/29/2024

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  UnansweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  My oh my. I would stay far from this place.I purchased my vehicle at the end of January 2024. I've had issues with Cloninger Ford of Hickory since then. First, the the finance person, **, charged us for a warranty that we were made to believe was included because the vehicle was a **** and we were buying a **** from a **** dealership. Then I never got my digital paperwork via email like he said I would. It took two weeks to discover that I paid more fir a warranty because I didn't get the paperwork til Feb 7th. Already by this time I was experiencing some issues that seemed fuel line related and while thankful I had a warranty, still didn't have any details on what it covered as I was never given any coverage info. Well fast forward to March. I took my vehicle in last week to a **** dealership down the road from my house to get it diagnosed. The fuel pump is bad. They call the warranty and apparently there is a 50 mile tie down. I'm like 48 miles away from Cloninger Hickory. I speak to ****** on Tuesday who said the service manager is releasing the tie-down at that time. Come Thursday it's still not released. Today is Friday and the service manager is telling the service advisor I'm working with at **************** that I should just come in to their shop. No, lies, deceit, procrastination. I don't want my vehicle anywhere near Cloninger Ford of Hickory. Still waiting a resolution to this matter. Resolution, funishe the job of releasing the tie down so I can get my vehicle repaired by somewhere near me and I can trust.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:10/27/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  UnansweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  We took our ******************* for a recall , somehow our rotor was broken while in their custody , they are trying to convince us they didnt break it , the car was drivable before now us not , the service advisor even told my daughter it would be a higher price than the **** he quoted but he noticed a car seat in the car and wanted to give ger a break on the price the recall should have taken care of the problem with the brakes because of the line and hose , we had a licensed mechanic does i with them and I was told after 3 days of having our car they were taking it off the lift , , this is unacceptable , the rotor was not broke wheh we drive the car there and we refuse to pay for their negligence

• Initial Complaint

  Date:09/28/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I'm getting multiple robocalls in a row from this dealership--6 in a row just this morning. It's clearly a robocall, but it reacts to my responses and claims to be a real person. I've never even set foot at this dealership. When I called to ask to be removed from their marketing list, the person said they didn't even know those calls were going out and didn't know who the right person would be to find out how to get my name/number removed.At first, I thought this might be a scam, but when I repeatedly asked the robocall for the dealership address, it sent me a text message with a link where I could book a time to visit the dealership.I repeatedly asked the robocall system to remove my number and stop calling, but it kept offering to answer my questions about their inventory.Again, the robocall system claims that it is a real person. This is ridiculous and unethical.

  Business Response

  Date: 09/29/2023

  **************, we apologize for any inconvenience with the calls you have been receiving.  We are piloting a new program that was presented to us and it has some issues we were not aware of up front.  We have removed you from any call list we have here at the dealership and again apologize for any inconvenience.  Thank you

  ***************

  General Manager

  Cloninger Ford of Hickory

• Initial Complaint

  Date:07/20/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  UnansweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I purchased a 2016 ********** Jetta on April 20, 2023 for around $12,500.00. Within a week or so the check engine and oil lights started coming on. I do not live near the dealer so I took the car to a local AAA mechanic near my job. Over the course of at least three visits they replaced plugs and wires, replaced the oil cap, and checked for oil leak. I have to top off the at least one per week. The engine error code indicates a problem with the catalytic converter and the mechanic concluded that the piston rings are likely bad and oil is burning and fouling the catalytic converter. I reached out to the dealership after getting this information in July and was told by the salesperson that they could try to put me in a different car but the Jetta was valued at $2,000 - $3,000 because it was "messed up" (his words). No other assistance has been offered. I am now stuck in a car with engine problems and making payments on a $12,000 loan for a car worth a fraction of what I owe.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:07/17/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  UnansweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I took my truck into ******** **** around 6/22 to get warranty work performed. I reported to my service advisor that my headlight would get moisture on the inside of the light when raining or foggy and asked to see if it was covered under my **** Extended Warranty. He called me the next day and said it was indeed covered and they would replace both headlights. I noticed the next day when I went to hand wash my truck that they was a big scratch on one of the lens. This would have been hard to see in the service bay because the light are tinted from the factory. I contact my service advisor by email to let him know about. I did not hear back from him. About a week later I went out after dark for the first time and noticed the headlights we way out of aim. Then with the lights on, I noticed how severely scratched the one headlight was. It appears that it have been dropped on the floor at one time. They also scratched my truck when working on the headlight. The two scratches are just to uniform in distance and length to be caused by anything else.Someone from the dealership followed up to ask how my service visit was. I told it about all the emails I had sent my advisor, *************************** and that I never heard back from him. She said he no longer works there and she would have the service manager call me. He never did. I opened a claim with **** Customer ******************************************** and they told me that they contacted the service manager and he would be contacting me. He never did. I contacted **** again, and they once again reached out the manager and he said he would contact me. He still to this day has not contacted **** am hoping you can help me resolve this. My next step after the BBB is to contact the **** Claims administrator and see if they can stop payment on the claim to the dealership until this is resolved. I would like the damaged headlights replaced and the headlight aimed properly so they are not a hazard

• Initial Complaint

  Date:02/27/2023

  Type:Sales and Advertising Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Bought used 2020 explorer with ***** miles still under factory warranty. Purchased with unknown noise that dealer wrote I owe you to repair. Took in to have repaired, AC compressor was replaced but didnt fix problem. Took back in about a month later noise had got worse with transmission fluid in cooling system, they replaced transmission coolant and hoses which fixed transmission issue. When we got vehicle back had intermittent problem with coolant temp. Suddenly maxing out causing vehicle to go into limp mode and we had to trailer it to dealership. This time they replaced heater core and blend door, we got vehicle back with still the intermittent coolant temp. Problem. As well as a hiss in dash, no AC, and climate control not working correctly. Took back to shop and this time they have had it for 12 days and no updates or calls at all regarding status of vehicle from them. We called on about day 6 and was told they had to call **** engineers because they couldnt find the issue. We went into dealership on day 11 to ask about them buying it back, spoke with salesman *********************** and ask to speak to manager, talked to manager **. They tried to work out a trade offering us ***** for the vehicle which we purchased for roughly ***** with a total of ***** financed July 2022. My current payment is 765 and I was willing go up to 850 payment on a trade for a new explorer but they wanted me to carry over roughly ***** from my trade.

  Business Response

  Date: 02/27/2023

  To whom it may concern,

  The service **** here at Cloninger Ford of Hickory is currently going through the channels to try and duplicate and resolve the customers concern.  In doing that sometimes it takes time for the manufacturer to either advise or send an engineer out to try and diagnose in person.  The customer purchases the vehicle on 7/7/2022 with ****** miles....since then the customer has driven the vehicle nearly ****** miles, so we can't just buy the vehicle back.  The customer also carried over roughly $8,000 and purchase during an inflated market.  Unfortunately values of vehicles change weekly based on market conditions that are out of our control.  We tried to trade the customer into a different vehicle and unfortunately they were not comfortable with the payments on the new vehicle with elevated interest rates and the negative equity that they currently have.  Thanks

  ***************

  General Manager

  Cloninger Ford of Hickory