Jones Junction Maryland Sucks
I recently purchased a used truck from BelAir Jones Junction, Maryland. HUGE MISTAKE! I paid cash up front. The truck was advertised as a Certified Pre-Owned but when I took it for a ride I found soft brakes, a chipped windshield and over 60 miles/hour I had to wrestle with the steering to keep the truck in the lane. CERTIFIED???? Hmmm… I didn’t know what Certified meant, but apparently neither did JonesJunction.
Anyway the salesman assured me that everything will be fixed and the windshield replaced. He also assured me that the truck has a clean history so I have nothing to worry about. That was when I asked for the Car Fax Report. His manager, Tim Carter brought up the fact that JonesJunction is in business for over 90 years and the truck is OK. Well, I was stupid enough to trust a salesman and a used vehicle manager from JonesJunction! After I payed the truck I left it there for repairs. Shouldn’t Certified Pre-Owned mean that is inspected and mechanically in perfect order?
I went home and got a bit suspicious when the truck was not ready the next day and needed to be kept for another 2 days in the shop. So I looked for the Car Fax Report and guess what: the truck has had a serious FRONT CRASH ACCIDENT with another vehicle, was sold at an auction as a FLEET VEHICLE and from Sept. 2003 till Sept. 2007 was driven only 16,000 miles and no records about service or anything else whatsoever. True or false? I was called the next Monday to go and pick up the truck and I noticed the chip in the windshield had been fixed instead of replacing the whole windshield and the paint miraculously lost its shine and was completely faded.
I asked for a refund of my money, naturally, but the answer came: No, you paid for it. You bought it, it’s yours. But if you want to trade it in and buy another one….
Would I recommend Jones Junction? NO NO NO! Just stay away from it. It’s bad for your health and for your financial situation. I still don’t have the truck or got my money back.
PS: I succeeded to speak with the manager from Jones Junction (after 3 weeks he finally called me back after I left him several messages on his voice-mail) and he told me there is nothing I can do, I have to go and pick up the truck but I also have to pay for storage fees. I have to mention that nobody told me about any storage fees and nothing like that is included in the contract. So, what can I do? It looks like the ball is in their court and nothing can be done. For now…
Disclaimer
This article was submitted by one of our readers. Penciltrick cannot make any claims as to its authenticity but the article was accepted on a good faith belief that it is an accurate and truthful account of the events listed.
November 18th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
They sold me Toyota Landcruiser in March 2008 without user manuals, but promissed to send me manuals within 2 monnth. Still can not get anything from them. Several times they told me that manuals have been already sent, these guys are dishonest and I do not recommend to buy anything from this dealership. I am going to file official complant.
Anatoliy Klimenko
December 9th, 2008 at 11:00 pm
Oh how I do feel what you guys are saying. You see, I too was duped by an unethical saleman, Derrick Lynn Mitchell at Landers Ford Lincoln Mercury in Benton, AR. He tricked me into making a $500.00 down payment even though I had less than that in my bank acct. He told me that he needed my debit card to see if my acct would “hold” $500. I asked him what that meant and he said “We just want to see if your account will hold $500 & nothing is gonna come out of your acct. I told him that nothing can come out of my acct since they had a bank statement that says there’s less than $500 in it. He then told me not to worry that nothing was coming out of my acct. I then, gullably, let them swipe my card and asked once again if they took $500 out of my acct. Mr. Mitchell said no, I didn’t have a down pmt. Well, after I had signed all the paperwork and left with the car, the next day I attempted to use my debit card and it was declined. I then went to my bank acct online and found that they had indeed debited my acct for $500 and that sent my bank acct into “Insufficent Fund” hell. My whole paycheck was consumed by insufficent fund and overdraft fees (over $700.00). Now, I’m trying to fight this injustice and most people are telling me that I can’t do anything about it but I think that’s BS. This saleman cannot get away with this. I even spoke with the Owner and Manager and managed to get $200 back but that’s nothing compared to what they did to me. DO NOT BUY FROM LANDERS FORD LINCOLN MERCURY IN BENTON, AR AND DO NOT DEAL WITH A SALESMAN NAMED DERRCK LYNN MITCHELL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
February 18th, 2009 at 9:35 pm
You got shafted by a dealer. That should be grounds for a law suit. I’m no lawyer, nor do I like them, but the more we let business get away with fraud, the more often it will happen.
August 4th, 2009 at 1:46 pm
I too had a horrble experence with Jones Junction:
On 7/31/09 we were quoted a price of 12,500 and an interest rate of 20% with monthly payments of $220 for a 60 month loan on a new Nissan Versa by Lamar Williams. On 8/3/09 we attempted to get the dealership to lower the offered interest rate based on the fact that myfico.com says we should qualify for 15% interest. We found out that the dealer never even submitted our credit information to the bank and when they finally did upon our insistence, they neglected to include that we had a $4500 trade in. The sales manager Mr. Zell then said the price would be $13,619 (500 over MSRP) and he added Gap insurance based on his inflated price of the car. Gap premiums are standard when the loan amount exceeds the established value of the vehicle. Even based on Mr. Zell’s inflated vehicle price and incorrect application of sales tax, the loan amount according to Mr. Zell was only $10,800 (after trade in) for a vehicle with a MSRP of over $13,000. Applying a Gap Premium based on Mr. Zell’s own figures is neither standard industry practice, nor appropriate, nor ethical. He said my interest rate would be 18% and payments of $248 a month based on a 72 month loan. He raised the price of the car by $1,400 just because we wanted a fair interest rate. In addition, the sales tax was based on the inflated price instead of the correct method of applying a 6% sales tax to the total of the agreed price less the $4500 CARS voucher. This amounts to an additional $295 in taxes over what should have been charged. The total amount of Mr. Zell’s inappropriate additions to the price of the vehicle was $1994. When we confronted Mr. Zell with the fact that he was being completely unfair, he yelled at me in the middle of the showroom floor while all of the customers looked on and as I had tears streaming down my face. We feel strongly that this dealership is taking advantage of consumers attempting to utilize the CARS program and that we were discriminated against for daring to walk in as informed, intelligent buyers.
July 19th, 2010 at 10:41 am
Jones Junction Hyundai service center are thieves and dangerous to you and your family. Please read on…
I had a recall on my wife’s Santa Fe and also noticed a rear differential pinion seal leak, which is a warranty issue.
We dropped the car at Jone Hyundai Service Center on a Monday evening. I got a call on Tuesday morning that the recall inspection was complete, and yes, the pinion seal was leaking. No surprises so far. Then it started….
First, the tech said the seal replacement would be $268. So I had to fax over paperwork to prove the issue was a warranty repair. Take note this is a $20 part, so the rest would have been labor, which is completely insane. This is not a difficult repair.
Second, he told me the “bad news”; the differential was bad. He could “possibly” get a replacement under warranty. I ask why the rear was bad and he said since the seal was leaking the car was being run with no fluid in the rear, so it messed up the gears. I told him I had been checking the fluid level every other day and that it was in fact full when we dropped the car off on Monday. I said to fix the seal, under warranty and I would get a second opinion on the rear differential condition.
The reason I did this was, I had problems with the Jones service in the past, and had that in the back of my head when I had to go back (I will go to the Towson location if I have to take the car back for any other recals). Second, I was working on cars even before this tech was born. So I have a pretty good idea about how this works, and actually do most of my work myself, but in this case, a recall and warranty was involved.
Here’s where it gets scary. They finally call me on Thursday, that car is done and ready (remember I dropped the car on Monday afternoon, for a small repair?). I decided to take my jug of rear end fluid and my hand pump with me, because I just do not trust the service at all at this point.
I pick the car up, drive up the street, pull over in the park and ride on Mountain Road, and proceed to check the rear fluid level. The real had to be drained completely to do this repair. Well, low and behold, the rear is completly dry of fluid!!!! They intentionaly left it dry hopeing the rear would break and I would have to take it back to get it fixed.
I filled the rear, went right to my non-dealer shop and had my regualar mechanic check it out. He inspected it, and used mechanics stethascopes to listen toth e rear “noise”. Not surprised again, the rear sounded better than a new car and was in perfect condition.
Jones service, not only lied to me, they potentially put my wife and daughter in a dangerous situation. If I had not checked the fluid and my wife and daughter where out on the highway and the rear decided to break, in worse case the rear could have locked and a multiple roll over crash could have insude. This of course can be fatal. Even in least case, the rear breaks, and they are stranded on the highway until help comes.
I did not trust them when I had to go in for this recall, and am totally positive they are decieving not only me, but who knows how many other customers and even putting them not only in a finacial bind, but in danger also!
Please, please, do not go to this service center. If you do, be sure to have the car cheked out again by another, trusting source.
November 9th, 2010 at 11:45 pm
These guys are 100% crooks. The do not want to fix anything under warranty. As soon as the warranty on a auto is over the problems are non stop.
My warranty ended in September, since then over $7k in repairs they wanted me to make on a 6 year old truck.
I will never ever buy from them again, and will be telling everyone I know, stay away from Jones !!!
March 9th, 2011 at 9:42 am
Would never recommend anyone deal with Jones Junction. I bunch of liars from the top down. The 2 salesman I dealt with.. DJ Sidebottom and Rydan Nelson flip flopped blaming each other but the truth is they advertised a truck for $5990 on their intrenet site, when i called they confirmed thats the price and they would honor it and told me to print the offer and bring it in to the office. Once i got there the story changed and they told me the price would be $7990. After explaining to the service manager the entire situation and that I had driven 45 miles to get this vehicle based on phone discussions with 2 sales reps he said it was a mistake and they can’t honor the advertised price. Proceeded to try to get in touch with General Manager Tim Carter or Resident Agent Danny Jones….both ignored my emails and phone calls, haven’t heard from either. Went to the Better Business Bureau which all they responded was “They were not in complete aggreement with the facts feel that no further dialog is necessary”. I didn’t persue arbitration because it would cost me money out of pocket and my personal time, it wasn’t worth it when i was able to deal successfully with Norris Ford in Dundalk. I did not speak with a single person at Jones Junction that i would ever do business with…..they are a bunch of shady characters who know how to admit blame but give you the circle jerk about how it was someone elses fault within their company and no one takes responsibility.
March 9th, 2011 at 10:07 pm
Legally you dont purchase the vehicle until you drive it off the lot. So if you would of gotten a lawyer involved you would of gotten your money back
July 1st, 2012 at 3:11 am
The following is a true story of my encounter with these creeps back in 2008.
The first mistake I made was letting the completely incompetent mechanics at Jones Nissan fumble around with the electrical system on my Quest after I clearly explained that
the battery was discharging, sometimes within a matter of a couple of hours. I even told them to check the wiring harnesses as my thought was a short direct to chassis. Their
finding… a loose battery cable. Apparently they don’t teach their mechanics that open circuits don’t discharge batteries. I told them to keep looking and they then
eventually decided it was the break switch ($275). Two weeks later, car catches fire due to the short actually being in the cable assembly for the fan. I managed to get the
fire out and the temperature of the engine back down long enough to limp the car back to Jones. Fan, fan housing and electrical harness ($900), not to mention that when I go
to get the car back they announce that their “loaner” was actually a rental ($205, partially discounted after complaining). I also notice when I pick up the car that the rear
power window ($295) no longer works (though it worked fine when I was venting the smoke from inside the car on my way there)!
But wait, it gets worse! Two days after I get the car back it was especially cold morning when I notice that LOTS of fluid is now leaking from the bottom of my car. Seems one
prerequisite for being a Jones mechanic is not to have passed 5th grade science. Fire = heat, metal expands when heated, contracts when cooled, doh. Limp car back to Jones
where they swear that God has miracled the car to spontaneously leak oil, gas, break and transmission fluid from every joint! (estimated $2500)
Now it’s time to add insult to injury, bring on the Wilford Brimley and John Travolta look-alikes! After doing some research on what the best replacement car would be, and
being “assured” by these shysters that they would “take my plight into consideration when pricing a new vehicle”, I decide to give them a shot despite my misgivings that I was
rewarding failure and looked at a 2007 Murano with 6200 miles on it. Not only did they come out in the end $7,000 dollars higher than either Sheehe or Carmax did for the same
car with the same features and lower mileage (after they added a crapload of fees and lowered the value my now “ruined by their hands” car at $800), but the finance price
would be over $770 per month.
The last I heard from these con men they were trying to sell me a stripped down Santa Fe (a BIG step down from the car they were responsible for destroying in the first
place!!!) As one local mechanic told me when I asked if he could check the car out and verify whether the fire had caused the leakage, Sure youre right, but youll never get a
mechanic to state that in open court because they might have to get a job there someday. Meanwhile, I did some research on the web and discovered several complaints, non-
membership in the BBB, legal proceedings, etc. I decided it would be best to get my car off their lot as soon as possible before they got the idea to take it hostage… too
late!
“Things are always darkest just before they go pitch black.”
Kelly Robinson
I now found out just how underhanded and dishonest some of their employees can be, as well as the few that could be trusted. Since my car was parked behind the Hyundai
dealership, I went there first to get my key. There I had an employee state that I owed him $146 dollars for 4 days of a rental car (Remember that loaner I mentioned before?).
Despite having a bill stating that I had paid in full, this moron still refused to give me my car and told me to “Go ahead and get the police, I don’t care!”.
Seeing that dealing with a slime-ball like this wasn’t going to get me anywhere, I stopped by the Nissan dealership next door where I dropped the car off originally to get a
copy of the bill so I could go across the street to the State Police barracks and come back to have the moron arrested for grand theft auto. When I asked to have a copy
printed out, the service attendant didn’t understand as the bill CLEARLY stated it was paid in full. That’s when things got interesting. The service person called the Nissan
service manager at home. While she was on the phone, the moron from the Hyundai dealership I was just at, took control over the bill and we both watched in disbelief he began
altering the bill right before our eyes!!! When the service person called him to see what the heck was going on, he yelled into the phone there was “No way in hell I was going
to get my car!” (And Im thinking, Inferiority Complex? Power Play? Whats this guys major malfunction?) At this time the service manager from the Nissan dealership (still on
the phone from home) said “I don’t care what says, give him his keys. Send over Jim there to get the keys and dont come back without them.” Luckily, honest heads prevailed and
I got my car off their lot as quickly as I could!
So help me God, I will never, ever patronize any Jones establishment as long as I live. Would you want to deal with an outfit like this? Life is way too short for this nonsense.