Family Ford

I bought a Certified Pre-Owned (CPO) 2018 Ford Raptor from Family Ford in early/mid March 2020. I'm in California and, as someone who frequently buys vehicles from out of state, I am more than familiar with the logistics and nuances in buying cars from other states. The initial part of the transaction with Family Ford Netcong (hereafter referred to as FFN) went very smoothly with Rick quarterbacking the negotiation, paperwork and contract process. On the other hand, when it was handed off to Ron, their "Sales Manager" (only putting it in quotes as that what I was told he was), the experience began its downward slope. Why? I'll explain. 1) The vehicle was not in the condition as described. Despite a detailed iPhone video walkaround (remember, I am an out of state buyer, so I'm depending on the seller's reputation as well as photos and videos to make my call), the Raptor, when picked up by the transport/trucking company for cross-country delivery, had at least a dozen dings and marks on its BOL (bill of lading). Apparently, the transporter/driver was inordinately thorough and detailed every little imperfection he saw upon loading the truck onto his trailer. Truth be told, this didn't really bother me that much and it is NOT the reason for this review. After all, I'm buying a 2018 used/CPO vehicle with close to 60K miles on the ODO so I'm not really not expecting a pristine or mint truck. Far from it but it was described to me as "super clean" and "no issues". This leads me to my second point: 2) I finally received the truck on Friday, March 13th, after it made its long, cross-country trek to CA. And, on March 16th, the majority of the SFBA was informed of its mandated shelter-in-place quarantine, thereby largely obviating the need for any driving. As such, I didn't any occasion to get familiar with or even drive my new (CPO) Raptor until close to three (3) weeks after that when we got more comfortable with the nuances of the shelter-in-place mandate and what we were supposedly allowed or disallowed to do. That being said, upon finally being able to warm up the vehicle, inspect it and take it out for a spin, I was greeted with an unexpected surprise. As I opened the tailgate, the top panel of the tailgate lift assist just fell off. It appeared to be loose and when the tailgate was opened, the plastic panel just came right off. But, upon closer inspection, I noticed something else...the small, maybe 2" x 2" square of plastic switch or button was missing entirely. If anyone is familiar with a Ford F-150 with a "tailgate lift assist", she will undoubtedly know that there's a little square plastic switch to manually extract the step and "stripper pole". That switch was nonexistent on my vehicle. A CPO Ford that supposedly went through its comprehensive ABCXYZ checklist. But, hey, [non-permissible content removed] happens and mistakes and oversights are made--that is human nature and, if anything, I should just ask to clarify what happened. And, so, I did... 3) A week and a half ago, I got in touch with "Ron", the FFN sales manager to detail this entire experience. In our ensuing communication, he advised me to take it to a local-area Ford dealership to get a quote or invoice or receipt for the plastic replacement part and then send him that documentation for reimbursement. I did *precisely* that last week and the entire replacement part came to a rather reasonable sub-$200 amount. No issues at all besides the time I had to spend to drive to a Ford dealership during a global pandemic to get this sorted. I was fine with it but I'm not fine with the following... The problem is: last week, after doing exactly as advised, I have left Ron three (3) emails with the invoice, (3) voicemails and plenty of messages with his colleagues in an attempt to be reimbursed as he indicated he would. He has said he would be in touch but, in fact, I've never received a single message from him or his team at Family Ford Netcong. What a crying shame that Family Ford is using the excuse of a national crisis and this 2019-nCov pandemic to take ADVANTAGE of its customers (and a trusting, out of state one, at that!) to dodge its responsibility and provide reimbursement for a part that was patently MISSING and/or BROKEN on a CPO vehicle. To top it off, the shipping/transport company emailed me photos of the Raptor upon pickup (before I ever took possession of the vehicle) that clearly show that the trailer lift switch was missing prior to the truck even being delivered to me. Please beware of any business like Family Ford Netcong, mom + pop or corporate, that hides behind the "coronavirus" pandemic to take advantage of trusting customers during this trying time for everyone.