Ripoff Report Needs Your Help!
X  |  CLOSE
Report: #1143047

Complaint Review: Fred Martin Superstore - Norton Ohio

  • Submitted:
  • Updated:
  • Reported By: Ali — Copley Ohio
  • Author Not Confirmed What's this?
  • Why?
  • Fred Martin Superstore 3195 Barber Rd Norton, Ohio USA

Show customers why they should trust your business over your competitors...

Is this
Report about YOU
listed on other sites?
Those sites steal
Ripoff Report's
content.
We can get those
removed for you!
Find out more here.
How to fix
Ripoff Report
If your business is
willing to make a
commitment to
customer satisfaction
Click here now..

Today we called Fred Martin Superstore and asked to speak to a sales person about leasing a car. He told us to come in because it was the "end of the month" and their managers where doing "crazy deals" the man took our name and phone number and told us to ask for "John Martin"

We arrived at 130pm, to the main Fred Martin Superstore building. We talked to the lady at the front desk, told her we were there to inquire about leasing a car that we had saw advertised online and that we were told to talk to "John Martin". After about a min. a elderly man who did not introduce himself came and took us to a desk. He looked my fiance up and down and said "is this car for you?" to which my fiance replied "yes" The man then had him fill out just his name and his income on a sheet of paper. My fiance is retired USMC but still quite young, having gotten out from a injury that occured while serving our country. We live on veteran disablity and the money he recieves from attending college, it's not alot but it was more than enough to cover the car plus car insurance.

The man got up and left for about 15 min. He came back with a copy of my fiance's credit report and said "you will need a co-signer" we told I could co-sign but that my credit was bad. My fiance's credit was actually quite good but he does not have a long credit history. The man said then said "how much can you put down?" we said $1000.00 The man said nothing but got up and left for another 20 min.

He did not return, instead a man named "Michael Blasdel" came over to the desk and said he was a "financial specialist" he asked us to come with him to his building. Since we did not expect to get a super nice car and were just looking to lease anyway we said fine but I should have known when we got into a golf cart and he handed me a rag and told me to clean off the seat (it was raining) so I could sit down. Oh did I mention that I am 6 months pregnant, and it is visable so it's not like he coudnt see that. My fiance took the rag and helped me wipe down the seat for me, himself and his brother. Mike then hauled a*s and I mean I was hanging on, over to the other building which was full of broken down cars.

We walked in through what I sincerly hope was the back door, through a dingy storage room where a lady blocked the hall way that was only big enough for us to walk single file and did not move until Mike told her to, even though it was obvious we were trying to get by. We were finally seated in a room with several cubical style desks We explained, again, that we were trying to lease a car, then Mike actually had us fill out the real paperwork including our incomes, our bills, and our histories. He said "let me run this" and did not return for 20 min.

When Mike did return, he explained that my credit was bad because of some old debts (which I already knew) but that I also had alot of good credit, and that my fiance had good credit but almost no credit history, having only ever had 2 debts, which is why he needed a co-signer. He explained that with out a larger down payment we were looking at payments of at least $350 a month (we had told him $250 was the max) and then he said "Excuse me I have to take this call" and picked up his phone, with us sitting right there across from him, with our financal information in his hand. Mike was on the phone for about 10 min. LITERALLY with us sitting right there, discussing over the phone someone co-signing with their grandma as soon as they got their first paycheck.

After 10 uncomfortable min. of him on the phone he said "sorry I dont normally take phone calls when I have customers" and left it at that, never explaining why me and my fiance were any diffrent. Mike then said "ok let me go see if I can get a bank to approve this" and left for 40 min.! When he returned (we were just discussing leaving) it was obvious he had just been to lunch as he was still chewing (and believe me the way he chewed it was clearly not gum). He said "sorry, still waiting on a answer from the bank. Had a few but they all wanted larger down payments." Then he said "do you mind waiting 15 min.?" (it was now 330pm) I asked how much longer this was going to be and he said "why do you have something else to do?" to which my fiance said "i guess not" and Mike told us "why dont you go out and look at cars? it's stopped raining"

Unbeilevably Mike then got up, walked to the cubical directly next to us and started helping another person! A older looking man, who had *just* walked in. He began asking the man (he was sitting right next to us so we could hear him) to fill out the same paperwork and asking him what he was looking for. So out of respect for privacy that we had, we went outside and looked at a few of the cars, which we're all old, some of them had rust, most of the interiors where dirty and one car even had a busted headlight. Mike came out with the other customer who was having a cigarette, and walked over to us and said "see anything?" to which i replied "most of these cars are older then the one we currently own (a 2007)" he said "these are good cars" and went back to the other customer and they went inside.

We waited outside, in the cold (it was 45 because of all the rain) with me on my feet at 6 months pregnant for about 20 min. Mike had taken our I.D.'s and Drivers Lisc. for "paperwork" so we were kinda stuck there. at 415pm, and with it starting to rain again I had finally had enough, went inside where we found the older man waiting at the cubical next to us, while Mike back at the original cubical, was on the phone with ANOTHER customer saying, "yes i have your paperwork. here's my cell, i'll call you later" I immediately said "I want me id so we can leave." to which he said "oh yeah, i wasnt holding them hostage or anything, i was just waiting for the bank and the office to get back to me, guess they are really busy today. I can check for you though."

I said no i just wanted to leave, i'm pregnant and hungry and he can just call us later. Mike then said "as soon as you walk out the door is when they'll call haha." i couldnt tell if he was joking or being rude so i just said "yeah... right" and we turned around and walked out. As we were walking back to our car, in the next parking lot over, in the rain, we heard a voice behind us of the older customer and Mike. My fiance had just been wondering if they couldnt do anything for us, why did we have to wait there for 3 hours and walk out in the rain? WHEN to my utter amazment overheard Mike telling the older gentelman "sorry about that, low income people with bad credit applying and it took too long for them i guess"

I immediatly said loudly to my fiance that clearly they were predjudice against veterans and low income people and how I would make sure to leave a review online for the world to see. Mike stopped talking, and we got into our car and drove away furious at the waste of time and the rudeness.

This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 04/30/2014 03:34 PM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/fred-martin-superstore/norton-ohio-44203/fred-martin-superstore-rude-to-veterans-and-pregnant-women-gives-out-personal-info-to-ot-1143047. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year. Ripoff Report has an exclusive license to this report. It may not be copied without the written permission of Ripoff Report. READ: Foreign websites steal our content

Search for additional reports

If you would like to see more Rip-off Reports on this company/individual, search here:

Report & Rebuttal
Respond to this report!
What's this?
Also a victim?
What's this?
Repair Your Reputation!
What's this?

Updates & Rebuttals

REBUTTALS & REPLIES:
4Author
4Consumer
0Employee/Owner

#8 Author of original report

Some more inforamtion about The Fred Martin Superstore

AUTHOR: Ali - ()

POSTED: Friday, May 02, 2014

Was so enraged at the obvious attempt to cast doubt on the validity of my complaint, which was 100% true, I decided to write reviews on other websites. I refuse to be bullied into changing my opinon and I think every American should have the right to write an honest review of a buisness without, what in my opinon, is an employee coming on and attempting to cast doubt. Know this "robert" the more you defend what I think is your company the more reviews will be posted about my perception and expierence of what happend there. Here are some links:

One of my other reviews.

yelp.com/user_details?userid=8S7RN60tFSSyttsJ-8gmEw

Other peoples reviews:

yelp.com/user_details?userid=UO7JT8e8SoR2ZcSlrOXU0w

bbb.org/akron/business-reviews/auto-dealers-new-cars/fred-martin-superstore-in-barberton-oh-14000112/complaints

http://www.cars.com/dealers/2908/fred-martin-superstore/reviews/?sortBy=lowest-rated&filterBy=all-results

I probably would have let this go, and you know what i'm not even mad at the salesman who told someone my personal information, it could have been a slip up or mabey he was just an *** but I am not a liar, I am a us veteran, and a mom who felt she was treated like crap and wanted nothing more then to post my opinion of what happend for what felt like a huge dealership giving me the shaft for being poor.

Respond to this report!
What's this?

#7 Consumer Comment

Some helpful advise

AUTHOR: Robert - ()

POSTED: Friday, May 02, 2014

In the continued spirit of helpfullness,  I will leave you with this bit of advise.

When you claim to NOT read something, it is not a wise idea to then reference things that were said in the part you claimed to not have read.  You didn't do this once, you did it twice.  It shows a pattern of lying and puts a big question mark on the validity of your entire posting.  

 

Respond to this report!
What's this?

#6 Author of original report

Final Update on Fred Martin Superstore

AUTHOR: Ali - ()

POSTED: Thursday, May 01, 2014

Hello again "Robert", I didnt bother to read your crazy rant. I will only ask this question: if you DONT work for that company then why do you feel the need to keep harrassing me? are you just a internet troll, or just someone who likes to accuse people of being liars, even though you were not present at the time of the incident? mabey you just have no life and like being a jerk, in which case i feel sorry for you.

Now as to my original complaint about fred martin super store: it is only my OPINON that i was descriminated against because we were veterans, living on veterans income and not having tons of cash to throw around and the fact that i was pregnant, you were right, was not discrimination it was just rudeness on the part of fred martin superstore, guess i should have titled it "no regard for pregnant womens comfort and saftey in addition to terrible customer service" perhaps that would have been better".

Anyway at the very least it was TERRIBLE customer service. Also AGAIN I heard the salesman telling another individual about my private situation, which i did not authorize and which 3 other people, my brother in law, my fiance, and the other customer who the salesman was directly talking to. over heard.. if you look around the web, and at the bbb website you will see this is not the first time they have disclosed peoples private information, including one bbb complaint that says "they were not discreet in disclosing my credit score."

I filed a complaint with the BBB, i did not want anything in return other then to let the BBB know that fred martin superstore gave away my personal information. Thats the best part about the 1st amendment, i have the right to say what i want as long as it's the truth (which it is) :) besides all of this is my opinon and perception of what happend.

But this is my last update here, the proof is in the pudding so to speak, and i urge anyone reading this to do their research before purchasing a car from fred martin superstore. there are 38 complaints with the bbb against them at the time i am posting this, and a couple on this website also. We have already purchased a car else where with 0 problems, and i'm ready to move on.

Respond to this report!
What's this?

#5 Consumer Comment

Let's Recap shall we..

AUTHOR: Robert - ()

POSTED: Thursday, May 01, 2014

 First of all this is a PUBLIC web site and as such the PUBLIC is going to comment.  Oh and surprise.surprise not everyone is going to agree with you.  So what do you do, when you don't like what was written you take the automatic and standard step of accusing the person of working for the company.  Well if you take a look around this site you would see just how stupid that makes your claims look.  I have NEVER worked for this company, or any car dealership for that matter.

Let's look at your report again..your title stated that they discriminate against Veterans and Pregnant Woman.  Contrary to what ever world you are living in you have failed to show even one incident.  In fact you seem to at the very least exagerate the truth, and at worst outright lie.

 even going so far as to state "car dealerships arent miracle workers" and the that the best thing we did was "finally leave"

- Lie #1

Wait a minute I thought you didn't read past the first Paragraph...those comments were later

Because we dont have huge incomes we should have to wait outside in the rain?

- Lie #2

No where in your report did they state that you HAD to wait outside in the rain.  And NO WHERE did you show any indication(other than your own warped mind) that you were outside because of your income.  That seemed to be your choice.

or you would have read that the man took one look at me and my boyfriend and sent us strait to the shady part of dealership, with me being pregnant on the back of a golf cart.

- Lie #3

NO..According to your acccount, which in this case I am glad you were so detailed.  You walked in, talked to a Salesrep, he took your fiancee's credit and ran it coming back after 15 minutes.  You told him you could co-sign but had bad credit and could put down only $1000 and he then went away for another 20 minutes.   So right there it was 35 minutes and only AFTER they checked your credit before they took you to the "shady" part of the dealership.  Hardly taking one look at you and shuffling you off to the other building.  Or are you going to come back and claim that the building they took you to had a big sign that said "Pregnant and Vetrans Only".

Should I keep going..okay.

they called my fiance 3 times, and sent him 2 texts telling him he was approved.

- Yes and they told you that you were approved when you went to the "shady" part of the dealership.  You were just approved if you paid more than you said you could afford.   I never once said that $1000 was too small of a down payment.  But IF you have bad credit, have only $1000, and can only afford $250/month you are going to be very hard pressed to get a decent car.  As I said they are not miracle workers, they are a business.  Oh and do you know what I didn't mention here....that this has anything to do with you being pregnant or your fiancee being a veteran, because that has no affect on this.

Now of course I expect your next update will be that you went to an excellent dealer who not only rolled out the red carpet, they got you into a new $40,000 BMW with $0 down and only $50 a month...of course..right?

Since we did not expect to get a super nice car and were just looking to lease anyway we said fine but I should have known when we got into a golf cart and he handed me a rag and told me to clean off the seat (it was raining) so I could sit down. Oh did I mention that I am 6 months pregnant, and it is visable so it's not like he coudnt see that.

- Yes, and since you like to see the most negative thing.  Had he wiped the seat down for you, you would be here saying something close to "The salesman seeing that I was pregnant assumed I couldn't even wipe down a seat and forced me to stay standing up while he wiped down the seat before he allowed me to sit down".  Or perhaps something like "How dare the salesman think that just because I was 6 months pregnant I couldn't walk to the other building and forced us to get in the golf cart".

If it makes you feel better to put up some front that the reason you don't have a newer car is because you are pregnant and that they hate veterans, go right ahead.  Sometimes people just need a little fantasy land to get away to.  Hopefully you will come back to reality at some point.

The ONLY possible valid complaint you have is if the Salesman did make those comments to the other person.  However, with your exagerations and lies...it is impossible to tell if that even happened.

BY the way I really wonder what you expect the BBB to do?  Do you expect them to force the dealership to give you better loan terms?

Respond to this report!
What's this?

#4 Author of original report

Fred Martin Superstore called us to tell us repeatedly to tell us we were 'approved'

AUTHOR: Ali - ()

POSTED: Thursday, May 01, 2014

After making us wait for 3 hours, 30 min. of which was outside in the rain, then in my opionion, coming on this very website under the name "Robert" to continue to harrass us and make us feel bad because of our bad credit, even going so far as to state "car dealerships arent miracle workers" and the that the best thing we did was "finally leave", UNBELIEVABLY and with no sense of shame, they called my fiance 3 times, and sent him 2 texts telling him he was approved.

REALLY?? i thought our credit was so bad? i thought $1000 was nothing, i mean clearly not enough for a down payment, according to "Robert". We have filed a complaint with the BBB as well, i dont really care if this country does not respect it's veterans (btw i am one too!), i dont care if this dealership has no respect for women that are pregnant, but it really annoys me that because i'm "low income" it's ok to share that information with another customer, and that if i write a report about it online, someone comes on claiming it's my fault because i have bad credit.

 What does their poor customer service have to do with my credit? Or does The Fred Martin Superstore only treat people with perfect credit and lots of money like customers and the rest of us like they are doing us a favor by even trying? And really, because we dont have huge incomes we should have to wait outside in the rain? if our credit was so bad and our down payment was so low, why call the next day?

Respond to this report!
What's this?

#3 Consumer Comment

They Did You a Favor...

AUTHOR: Jim - ()

POSTED: Thursday, May 01, 2014

Is you only concern the amount of the monthly payment and you thought a CAR FLEASE was the way to go??? Not being able to put together the deal was a blessing.  In a CAR FLEASE, you are the one who gets sheared.  Your insurance would increase, you would have paid legitimate sounding but purely BOGUS front and back end fees and you would have been paying for non-warranty work for a car owned by somebody else. 

Oh yes, at the end of the FLEASE, you would have been on the hook for generally exaggerated and phoney wear and tear charges.  Getting involved in a CAR FLEASE is a super great deal...a super great deal for the dealer.  That's why the CAR FLEASE is pushed so much.  Indeed you were blessed by what happened.  Bottom line...stay away from the FLEASE!

Respond to this report!
What's this?

#2 Author of original report

you obviously didnt read

AUTHOR: Ali - ()

POSTED: Thursday, May 01, 2014

Hello "Robert" (i'm sure you work for Fred Martin Superstore, just another example of their excellent customer service right?), it is clear to me that you did not infact read my "novel", or you would have read that the man took one look at me and my boyfriend and sent us strait to the shady part of dealership, with me being pregnant on the back of a golf cart.

While I'm sure you would find that ok for your daughter, wife, or mother, that was not ok for me. Also the discrimination was when he told ANOTHER CUSTOMER our personal information, or how about when we told him our veteran status, and he immediately started helping other customers? Are you telling me The Fred Martin Superstore treats all their customers this way? I hardly believe that or how else would they be in buisness?

Finally, if you have a problem with people writing, full, clear, accurate and TRUTHFUL reviews (and it's clear you do or you wouldnt have called it a 'novel') I would suggest you dont read them, dont worry i read the first paragraph of your obviouosly false and slanted rebuttal and didnt waste my time with the rest.

Respond to this report!
What's this?

#1 Consumer Comment

Where is the discrimination?

AUTHOR: Robert - ()

POSTED: Wednesday, April 30, 2014

 Seriously, I read your novel and throughout the entire thing I noticed several things.  But the one thing I missed is exactly how you were discriminated against because your fiancee was a Veteran and you are Pregnant. Because NOTHING in your report showed that.

But what did I see.  Well I saw a couple with $1000, and severe credit issues complaining that the dealer couldn't find a car for them with a $250/month payment.    Yes, that is why they call it a credit HISTORY, because it shows historically you have failed to fulfill your obligations.  Guess what, dealers aren't miracle workers.  There are just some people that can not get financing.  It has NOTHING to do with you being pregnant, it has NOTHING to do with your fiancee being a Veteran.  It has to do with you in combination with your PAST CREDIT ISSUES not having enough money to make a car payment. 

You were at the dealer for 3 hours...giving extream detail of your every moment.  So how come if this was such a big problem for you didn't you leave earlier?   They had your ID..okay so ask for it..oh wait you did.  And what did they do?  They gave it back to you.  If they refuse call 9-1-1 and let them know you are being held against your will.  They would have your ID in your hand before you dialed 9-1..

Honestly it sounds like they did nothing different than many car dealers do, make you stand around and wait hoping to break you down into getting a car.   The only redeaming thing you did was to FINALLY get up and leave.

As to this one comment..

WHEN to my utter amazment overheard Mike telling the older gentelman "sorry about that, low income people with bad credit applying and it took too long for them i guess"

- Funny...not one mention of you being Pregnant or your Fiancee being a Veteran...Ummmmm

Respond to this report!
What's this?
Featured Reports

Advertisers above have met our
strict standards for business conduct.

X
What do hackers,
questionable attorneys and
fake court orders have in common?
...Dishonest Reputation Management Investigates Reputation Repair
Free speech rights compromised

WATCH News
Segment Now