Everyone has heard about the horrific racial discrimination going on at Ford Country. They "hock-up" interest rates for minority females. I am a single mom who made the mistake of walking into this dealership with my 18 year-old daughter, and I got "car-jacked."

I was driving a rental because my car was totaled a week earlier. I told the salesman I needed to get a car before my claim was settled within the next seven days. “Don’t wait until the last minute,” he said. We looked at sticker prices on cars lined-up in the lot, before we saw the least expensive car parked in the center of the aisle. The salesman, Jacob Medrano immediately came over and popped open the trunk, opened the driver's side, sat down, and pointed out the dash. When he heard I was specifically looking for the Focus, and that I had an X Plan employee discount, he ushered us inside. Before we crossed the threshold, I asked him if there were any other colors for that model and he said, "Yes, we have all the colors in the back."

Initially, he came up with a 13% APR. He said maybe I should ask my X Plan member to make a call to Julie Machado, Director of Finance, to drop her name and grease some wheels to get a preferred rate. I told him to show me what the car would cost with the X Plan, in writing, and I would bring in the 8% E-loan I had at home. He later came back with a 7.75% APR. I told him I knew there was no one in financing that time of night, and I did not want to get "screwed" with a rate, that would change the next day. "We have someone for finance on the phone, and we can lock in a rate tonight," he said. Then my daughter and I browsed through the catalog and drank a complimentary soda and bottle of water for two hours.

He came back again with a 6.25% APR, and two different monthly payments. One reflected a $500 computer cost, and the other did not. First, I selected the computer option, but after speaking with the Ford employee who gave me the X Plan discount, I changed my mind. We agreed getting a $500 rebate on the cost of the car would be a better option for us. When I told the salesman I didn’t want the computer, he said, "I'm sorry... you can't change it. You're locked into that monthly cost with the computer.”

After that, I asked him when could I select the exterior and interior colors for my car and he said, "Your car is the white one in the lot." I said, "Why?” He said, "All of the paper work I've been showing you has that car's VIN #." So I said, "I don't want the display model, it could be a lemon. Is it a 2005? I know you guys are "pushing" the Focus because of the Dell computer campaign, but I want a choice of which car I get. I wasn't taken for a test drive, I'm being forced to get a computer, versus a lower monthly rate, and I'm not happy. The first thing you said was you have ALL the colors in the back. We've been here looking at the metallic red exterior with the charcoal interior for over an hour!” He said, "I'll go check on what we have in the back." He came back and said, "We have another white one, a black one, and a red one that costs $900 more." I said, "For the color?” And he said, "Yeah, the color red costs more... no, I'm just kidding. The red one has more features. You don't want the black one because the paint develops swirls after a few years of exposure to the sun. A white car stays cooler in the summer, and you said your previous car was white."

Then the finance person, Carol J. Olsen joined the group. I asked her if I could change the computer and she said, "No." Then I said, "I don't want to pay more for a car I really don't want. Forget it, I can't drive two cars home anyway." So he said, "I can return the car to Enterprise for you in the morning, and you can drive this car home tonight. You're looking for the lower monthly rate?" The finance lady summoned him into her office. When we saw the finance lady, later on she said "I have to cancel the computer tomorrow, so I'll type up two contracts with both monthly rates, so you don't have to come back tomorrow. This way, the rate is locked in and you can drive the car home tonight. He's just being a "dick" because he doesn't want to type up new paperwork. I don't know how Enterprise is going to pick up the rental. You might have to come back tomorrow anyway."

After that the salesman left, and I stayed with the Customer Care people. They were training a new guy who said, "You have to press the trunk button three good times before the trunk will pop open." When I told him no one gave me a demo of the car's features, he also sat in the car and said, "Here's your air, your defrost, your radio, and CD player. The ignition remote is not working, so I'll switch it our for a newer version of the Stealth and reprogram the control."

The senior customer care agent, Brenda Vanscholack was the last person I spoke with at 9:45 p. m. on 02/23/05 when I gave her the keys to the rental, and she said, "Are you alright. You don't look happy." I said, “The last thing I should have done was buy a car at night. What happens if something is wrong?" “Call us right away," she said, "And we'll take care of it."

Two day later two hubcaps fell off the car on the highway. The air circulation light would not come on. The passenger airbag light was flickering wildly whenever my 74 lb., 10 year-old daughter sat in the front seat. The back seat was missing the mats, and the driver's side mat had black tar marks. I had to get out and yank the trunk open manually. Because no one explained the volume/speed radio, the side mirror vibrated when I accelerated and the volume lower when I stepped on the brake.

The next day I spoke to Jacob who said, "Bring it in and we'll fix it. I'll have the caps replaced and service will repair any problems. I'll fill it up with gas, and detail the interior. We want our report card to get As. Getting a B is unacceptable."

On 02/28 I dropped off the car in the Service Dept. The senior Customer Care person drove me to Enterprise to get a rental. I told her, "Your dash looks like me except I don't have an A/C button. It's hard for me to explain why I think the air button isn't working." The salesman asked her to take notes for the parts and service area.

They kept the car until 03/05. For a week I tried to contact the Customer Relations people and left 3 messages for three different people Anna, Chuck Harvey, and Gary Conner who never got back to me. When I went to pick the car up on 3/5, the car was filthy, low on gas, missing the backseat mats, and I was given a work order showing the latch was replaced in the trunk. The order mentioned my concerns, but did not report any repair. The hubcaps were back on, but when I moved closer to inspect them, three of them popped off with one touch. The Service guy Bob said, "These would have come off again on the highway. I guess I have to replace them with new hub caps." When I asked about the mats and the detailing, the Parts guy said he could replace all the mats but they had to be ordered from California, and they would not be available until 03/07. That's when they would fill up the tank and wash the car. I asked about my green slip since my check had been cashed on 02/24 and they said to pick it up from the front desk.

When I got my green slip the monthly rate on the envelope was the amount with the computer. I saw the finance lady, and she said. "The computers are going crazy.” She merely scratched it out with her pen. I noticed that the price of the car on the green slip was higher than any price shown to me. The porter told me I would have to drop the rental back at Enterprise and take the shuttle back to pick up my car. I gave the rental keys to the Parts guy who said he would give it to the Customer Care lady. I drove away disgusted.

The next morning, in the sweltering heat of the day, I searched for the air conditioning button. I discovered by reading the manual and pulling over on the side of the road that this car did not have A/C!!! What kind of discriminatory, deceitful person would sell a schoolteacher with two children a car without air conditioning in the desert of Las Vegas?

On 03/07 I drove the car back to exchange it for the same model with A/C. The customer relations guy, Chuck Harvey I tried 3 times to reach finally called me back. When I saw him that evening. He said, "Your monthly payment will go from $258.18 to $351.31, the term of your loan from 60 months to 72 months, and your rate from 6.25% to 7.75%. The trade-in value on your car is now $8000, and we're taking a $501 loss on the resale of this car. Now that the summer months are coming, a car without A/C is going to sit on the lot for a year. The value of the car depreciated the minute you drove off the lot. I understand that you had the car for only 4 out of 12 days, and the rest of the time it was in service, but there's nothing I can do. This time around you're not giving us a down payment, the A/C cost $910, and there's 200 miles on the car. New cars with low mileage are harder to sell."

I asked him how would he like it if someone said the same thing to his mother, wife or daughter? I sobbed in the lobby of Ford Country and he did not offer to get me a tissue or take me into a private room. I told him he should add the commission the Salesman received to the cost of the trade in. The salesman lied by omission. He offered the option of installing an A/C for $2000 up front, and said the salesman was on vacation and unable to explain why he sold me a vehicle under false pretenses.

I am letting loose to end this fraud and scam of minorities. This dealership lacks integrity and “everything is driven” by dishonesty. I got “punked” by the people at Ford Country and plan to contact William Clay Ford to express my dissatisfaction with the deplorable treatment of minority females.