Ford dealership experiences are really starting to sour on me

[jcartwright99]

21 minutes ago, akirby said:

 

 

Banned.  Should have done it years ago.

You’ve had a busy day!

[sullynd]

2 hours ago, FordBuyer said:

 

So how many Ford dealerships have you dealt with?

Yeah, I lucked out as the small Ford dealer twenty minutes away that had our Flex in stock turned out to be awesome. I’ve serviced my last four Ford’s with them and bought my last three from them. The big Ford store closest to me is awful. I have twenty options within thirty minutes of me though, so if something happened with my preferred store I’d go somewhere else. 

[Chrisgb]

I must be one of the few that have a great dealer: Hudson Ford in Hudson, Wi. I have another one six miles from me that I had had a lot of frustration with service, and went to the one 17 miles from me for brakes on my 160,000 mi 2000 Focus in 2014. Never saw the car again and drove home in a leased 2014 Focus. They were very up front with me about the repairs needed on the '00 in addition to brake linings, and I decided to put the money on the new one. I've since bought or leased three more new vehicles since then including my 2021 Ranger. Appointments for service and sales are kept,  good sales staff and competitive up front pricing. I service both our vehicles there and will keep coming back, like apparently many of their customers do..

They advertise being the #1 Ford Dealer in Wisconsin, in a town of 15,000.

[Anthony]

10 hours ago, FordBuyer said:

 

So how many Ford dealerships have you dealt with?

 

In this area? Three.  Each has been worse than the next.  Service and support are well below par, but the sales portion is golden. 

 

I also need to note that I am a very polite and non-confrontation person.  I'm not the type of person who tries to turn everything into a fight or always wants to speak with a manager and always try to give the benefit of the doubt.  But I am persistent.  I can imagine how they are with people who just roll over and accept the poor service.

 

 

9 hours ago, snooter said:

Did you take a photo?..answer----no...deal with it...sensitive types may find this offensive

 

This proves my point.  On what planet is it considered normal to take a photo of me handing a set of keys to dealer?  You obviously think there's an issue too if you think this is a necessity.  

 

 

9 hours ago, akirby said:

 

 

Banned.  Should have done it years ago.

 

Thank you.

 

 

6 hours ago, Chrisgb said:

I must be one of the few that have a great dealer: Hudson Ford in Hudson, Wi. I have another one six miles from me that I had had a lot of frustration with service, and went to the one 17 miles from me for brakes on my 160,000 mi 2000 Focus in 2014. Never saw the car again and drove home in a leased 2014 Focus. They were very up front with me about the repairs needed on the '00 in addition to brake linings, and I decided to put the money on the new one. I've since bought or leased three more new vehicles since then including my 2021 Ranger. Appointments for service and sales are kept,  good sales staff and competitive up front pricing. I service both our vehicles there and will keep coming back, like apparently many of their customers do..

They advertise being the #1 Ford Dealer in Wisconsin, in a town of 15,000.

 

I wish this were the case around here.  I'm not sure if it is because domestic vehicles in my area are the minority and dealers have a harder time attracting talent or just people who care, but they just don't want to put any relationship effort into anything except the sale. It seems Ford and other domestic dealerships are the training grounds for employees to move into other brands as I never seem to see the same person twice.

 

 

[Gurgeh]

8 hours ago, Anthony said:

 I'm not sure if it is because domestic vehicles in my area are the minority and dealers have a harder time attracting talent or just people who care, but they just don't want to put any relationship effort into anything except the sale. It seems Ford and other domestic dealerships are the training grounds for employees to move into other brands as I never seem to see the same person twice.

 

...which is an extremely bad business approach in today's automotive world. Service is often a much bigger revenue source for dealerships these days than sales. Treat your customers right in the service department and they keep coming back.

Edited August 6, 2021 by Gurgeh

[akirby]

3 hours ago, Anthony said:

 

I wish this were the case around here.  I'm not sure if it is because domestic vehicles in my area are the minority and dealers have a harder time attracting talent or just people who care, but they just don't want to put any relationship effort into anything except the sale. It seems Ford and other domestic dealerships are the training grounds for employees to move into other brands as I never seem to see the same person twice.

This is strictly a guess but around here the domestic dealerships are generally a lot older as are their franchise agreements.  Most of the import dealers are much newer and much more eager to please.  Downside of having a very large and very old dealer embedded base.

[Flying68]

I love my Lincoln dealer, even through the ownership change, have purchased 2 cars from them (a used LS and a new MkC) plus had my Thunderbird and now my Expedition serviced there.  Small, 1 service advisor/manager, know the GM, sales staff gets a bit of turnover every now and then.  I really didn't like either experience I have had at the two Ford dealers in town (bought from one, but not the other).  My Expedition I bought from an out of state dealer, did everything over text messaging and a phone call or two.

[ice-capades]

A more recent factor in the last year, due to the pandemic and people's change in priorities, is that a lot of dealerships have lost staff that decided to leave or not return. This is particularly true in the sales departments. My dealership traditionally operates with 6-8 but was operating with only 3 up until a few weeks ago. One left the business to go into real estate and another was let go because he was unvaccinated and refused to wear a mask. So, for now, the sales department is running with only 1 sales representative and the sales manager. And this is at a dealership that has one of the lowest turnover rates in the state. 

 

And when they do hire more staff, they have to train them in sales, dealership practices, etc. and the new staff will spend a couple of months learning at least the product knowledge so that they can pass all the tests that Ford requires for certification, etc. So, dealerships in many cases are working short staffed, working with less experienced or newer staff and trying to provide the level of service that customers expect. Even in normal times, it takes a lot of work to assemble a team that has the product knowledge, experience, professionalism and other skills to provide customers the assistance and answers they require. 

[Anthony]

I will retract my previous comment. I actually got a resolution!  

 

After I emailed a second time this morning, the dealership manager wrote back and said he miscommunicated and there are in fact two keys with the vehicle.

[jcartwright99]

25 minutes ago, Anthony said:

I will retract my previous comment. I actually got a resolution!  

 

After I emailed a second time this morning, the dealership manager wrote back and said he miscommunicated and there are in fact two keys with the vehicle.

 

Good to hear!

[Anthony]

I retract my prior retraction.  My Ford dealership experiences are like a friggin' Greek tragedy.  

 

Guess who just got their final lease bill that includes a fee for a missing key?  

 

I just don't understand how incompetent these people are and still have jobs, let alone return customers.

 

 

[FordBuyer]

13 hours ago, Anthony said:

I retract my prior retraction.  My Ford dealership experiences are like a friggin' Greek tragedy.  

 

Guess who just got their final lease bill that includes a fee for a missing key?  

 

I just don't understand how incompetent these people are and still have jobs, let alone return customers.

 

 

 

When I turned in my Crosstrek, Subaru gave me a checklist and returning both key fobs were on it. Also included was cargo shade and the extra floor mats that came with it. I would have been docked if anything was missing that came with the vehicle. Standard practice. 

[Anthony]

1 hour ago, FordBuyer said:

 

When I turned in my Crosstrek, Subaru gave me a checklist and returning both key fobs were on it. Also included was cargo shade and the extra floor mats that came with it. I would have been docked if anything was missing that came with the vehicle. Standard practice. 

Standard practice does not equate with my dealerships. I turned in two keys and they marked it as only returning one and now I’m being charged for it.  
 

Luckily I have the email from the dealer general manager that it was returned with two keys. But once again I have to do the legwork to resolve their issues. It is truly pathetic. 

[Anthony]

I called Ford Credit and they took the charge off for the "missing key" with no hassle.  I paid the balance for the disposition while on the call, so this is done, done and done.

[FordBuyer]

4 hours ago, Anthony said:

I called Ford Credit and they took the charge off for the "missing key" with no hassle.  I paid the balance for the disposition while on the call, so this is done, done and done.

 

There you go....all is well. And I have an appointment to have my rearview camera replaced 9 months after initial recall.