Poll- rate your total 22 SD purchasing experience

[akirby]

13 hours ago, Latebraking said:

 No explanation or understanding about why from the dealer, or Ford, I would assume. 

Do you really not know the answer?

[wrench69]

On 12/5/2021 at 11:12 PM, CodyH said:

It sounds like everyone hates Corwin around here. I have 2 trucks on order with them right now. both 350 powerstrokes. I too have to drive to the dealer to get communication. A Budy of mine got his in a few weeks ago. it showed up out of the blue after about 7 weeks with zero communications from Corwin. He called them 3 weeks after doing his build and they told him there had been no activity. Then a few hours later he gets a Ford email thanking him for placing an order. I put 500 deposit on each is all but I'm annoyed that spending roughly 180K doesn't get me some updates. I have 2 more vehicles to buy in the next 6 months and they could care less about earning my business. I went to Corwin because people had bad experiences with Kendell. Should I go shop around or what? Ordered 11-9-21. order acknowledgments from ford that day and crickets since. tried to go in and ask about allocation and priority number changes and they told me wait 2 weeks and if there has been no activity they will change my priority number. I just want my trucks already. 

 

CodyH, my truck showed up at Corwin (Nampa, ID for everyone's reference) two days ago, and I picked it up today.  The process of signing the paperwork went smoothly.  After reading about a few people getting screwed over by unscrupulous dealers, I was a bit concerned.  My fears turned out to be unwarranted, because they honored everything they said they would- X-plan pricing, trade-in value, sales tax exemption, military cash, etc.  They didn't even try very hard to upsell me on the extended warranty crap- I said "no thanks", and he said "ok".  Overall, it was a pleasant experience at the tail end of this.   However, the lack of communication during the overall process was highly annoying, to say the least.  I don't know if this is the new normal, but it seems like it is heading in that direction, unless you get a sales crew that is willing to go above and beyond, or at least understand what customers value the most- not being kept in the dark.  Well that, and not being screwed over end game.  Overall, I am happy with Corwin in Nampa, but I wish the communication was better.

 

 

[marinerjoe]

I suppose I should at least comment here so I can come back when I eventually get my truck. The ordering process was uneventful. I emailed my desired build to my salesman and I received confirmation from Ford on 18 October. In the middle of November I had him remove Adaptive Steering and the 5th Wheel Prep. Other than the first email from Ford, nothing. We shall see what happens after New Years.

[CodyH]

On 12/22/2021 at 8:31 PM, wrench69 said:

 

CodyH, my truck showed up at Corwin (Nampa, ID for everyone's reference) two days ago, and I picked it up today.  The process of signing the paperwork went smoothly.  After reading about a few people getting screwed over by unscrupulous dealers, I was a bit concerned.  My fears turned out to be unwarranted, because they honored everything they said they would- X-plan pricing, trade-in value, sales tax exemption, military cash, etc.  They didn't even try very hard to upsell me on the extended warranty crap- I said "no thanks", and he said "ok".  Overall, it was a pleasant experience at the tail end of this.   However, the lack of communication during the overall process was highly annoying, to say the least.  I don't know if this is the new normal, but it seems like it is heading in that direction, unless you get a sales crew that is willing to go above and beyond, or at least understand what customers value the most- not being kept in the dark.  Well that, and not being screwed over end game.  Overall, I am happy with Corwin in Nampa, but I wish the communication was better.

 

 

That's great to hear. how long did your whole order take from entry to arrival? I'm getting settled down about the wait by now but you know how it is. other than this forum everyone I personally know has been super happy with Corwin that's why I went there in the first place. congrats on finally getting your truck delivered. 

[wrench69]

On 12/31/2021 at 3:43 PM, CodyH said:

That's great to hear. how long did your whole order take from entry to arrival? I'm getting settled down about the wait by now but you know how it is. other than this forum everyone I personally know has been super happy with Corwin that's why I went there in the first place. congrats on finally getting your truck delivered. 

CodyH, it was just over 3 months from order to delivery.  About 2 weeks after I placed the order, I dropped all options that I could do aftermarket (bedliner, 5th wheel hitch, mud flaps, floor liners, wheel well liners).  I figured this would help, and I guess it did, because it was scheduled the next week.  Today, I got the hitch installed, and they charged me $100 less than quoted.  Overall, I've been pretty happy with these guys (communication notwithstanding).

[jd_lover]

The entire process at the dealer I ended up with was awesome. 10 weeks from order late September to arrival at dealership early December. Another 2 weeks before I got it. Part of it was getting the spray in bed liner and tonneau cover installed. Part of it was a snafu with my financing. Somehow the online application submitted before I got the final numbers in. It took the bank a week to reprocess and send me new check. That wasn't the dealers fault - I used my credit union. No local branches, so everything was online. I managed 10 weeks by not going for a lot of optional content I just didn't need. I do wish we had ordered the Lariat instead of the XLT, but the difference in price for the things we did want was too much to justify. Did the same with the bed liner and tonneau cover - had dealership install. They pointed out if you want a spray in liner you want it done locally anyways, as the local shops will take out the bolts, spray the bed and then replace the bolts. That way if there's any repair work that needs to lift the bed off the frame you haven't just ruined the liner. The difference was minimal, and I got to support a local company.

 

Dealership itself was awesome: I spent a few hours over a couple of evenings going over the order with the salesperson before we placed it. No pressure sales, no pressure to use their financing, no pressure to buy an extended warranty. No mention of the service plan (bought one for my '14 Fusion from a different dealership. What a joke. Did not get my money back on that. I'm at 91k miles and still have the original brakes. I'm going to swap those out this year not because they're close to failing but because the rotors are showing some rust according to the last inspection). Reasonable fees. They didn't do X-plan pricing - too much hassle for small dealership. I went with them because they were honest with me, I could clearly see where they were making their money, they didn't gouge, and the dealership fees were reasonable, without some B.S. made up fee. I could have gotten the truck for about $1k less at the local mega dealership, but I would have been clicking "F" on the purchase experience. That salesperson ignored my wife (guess who drives the F-150 most of the time, and the Expedition before that. Wasn't me), they tried the hard sell, and the B.S. fees were laughable. 

 

 

[ice-capades]

19 minutes ago, jd_lover said:

The entire process at the dealer I ended up with was awesome. 10 weeks from order late September to arrival at dealership early December. Another 2 weeks before I got it. Part of it was getting the spray in bed liner and tonneau cover installed. Part of it was a snafu with my financing. Somehow the online application submitted before I got the final numbers in. It took the bank a week to reprocess and send me new check. That wasn't the dealers fault - I used my credit union. No local branches, so everything was online. I managed 10 weeks by not going for a lot of optional content I just didn't need. I do wish we had ordered the Lariat instead of the XLT, but the difference in price for the things we did want was too much to justify. Did the same with the bed liner and tonneau cover - had dealership install. They pointed out if you want a spray in liner you want it done locally anyways, as the local shops will take out the bolts, spray the bed and then replace the bolts. That way if there's any repair work that needs to lift the bed off the frame you haven't just ruined the liner. The difference was minimal, and I got to support a local company.

 

Dealership itself was awesome: I spent a few hours over a couple of evenings going over the order with the salesperson before we placed it. No pressure sales, no pressure to use their financing, no pressure to buy an extended warranty. No mention of the service plan (bought one for my '14 Fusion from a different dealership. What a joke. Did not get my money back on that. I'm at 91k miles and still have the original brakes. I'm going to swap those out this year not because they're close to failing but because the rotors are showing some rust according to the last inspection). Reasonable fees. They didn't do X-plan pricing - too much hassle for small dealership. I went with them because they were honest with me, I could clearly see where they were making their money, they didn't gouge, and the dealership fees were reasonable, without some B.S. made up fee. I could have gotten the truck for about $1k less at the local mega dealership, but I would have been clicking "F" on the purchase experience. That salesperson ignored my wife (guess who drives the F-150 most of the time, and the Expedition before that. Wasn't me), they tried the hard sell, and the B.S. fees were laughable. 

 

Congratulations on your dealership experience! 

[jd_lover]

15 minutes ago, ice-capades said:

 

Congratulations on your dealership experience! 

 

Thanks! The cherry on top was I kept finding out after we had ordered that other people had the same experience with this dealership. The farmer we buy our milk from is on his fourth super duty from them. He buys one every 10 years.  

[Ngwidener]

I haven’t gotten mine yet so I can’t quite rate the overall experience. Having said that, the communication from the dealer has been pretty poor but after doing some searching, it seems to be the new normal. 

[sarge144]

I would give the entire experience an A+.  Ordered in April of 2021 and dealer gave me a discount of over $4000 off of MSRP.  I changed my initial order twice but my salesman took care of everything with no issues.  My salesman was great every time I checked in with him, about every 6 weeks.  My only issue was that I received notification from Ford that my truck was at the dealership but it was not - it actually came in 8 days later.  Other than that the Ford tracking info was right on.  
 

When I picked up the truck they spent 45 minutes with me making sure I knew every feature and helped set up my iPhone with Sync.  No surprises when completed the paperwork and no silly add ons - price was exactly what I agreed to in April.  Could not have been any better.  

[Latebraking]

On 12/18/2021 at 8:44 AM, akirby said:

Do you really not know the answer?

 

akirby,

 

I can speculate, after reading other comments & responses from other members on this forum,  but nobody in the custody chain, from the dealer to whomever I speak to at Ford has provided an explanation.  I've been told different things: 'I know as much as you do',  'it's scheduled', or 'in production'. Just before the holiday shutdown, I was told by the dealer it's "in production", which he said meant it's being built. He also stated it takes up to two weeks for the build to complete, so there was no expectation that it would be built before the shutdown. It's been since 5/27.

[Quigs]

I am going to pick up my truck this afternoon, but since I've already talked to the finance guy and everything I figured I'd write my thoughts to this point.  I will definitely update if anything crazy happens this afternoon (I haven't seen the truck yet after all.)

 

Ordering experience: A from my dealer, D from previous contacted dealers

The dealer I ended up ordering from (about an hour away) was excellent for the initial ordering, probably because I already did all the work and was well-informed through research exactly what I wanted.  I emailed the dealer saying I had an X-plan pin and sent over my build sheet from Ford.com.  He replied that they will take the X-plan and to come in and get the order submitted.  I made an appointment and we were in the store for like 15 minutes max while he put in the order, had me review it, sign it, and give a $500 deposit.  He said he'd get the order finalized and submitted ASAP, which I got the confirmation email from Ford three days later.  As much as I would've liked to get the confirmation of the order immediately upon leaving the dealership like others have posted, it is a very small, rural dealership with maybe like five people total working in sales.  They have a very small lot and probably small allocation, but their reputation for customer service was good and they do not charge any processing fees at all (VA allows for maximum of $799 which every other dealer charges) so it made it easy to go with them.  Previously contacted dealers were all very difficult to deal with either not wanting to talk at all as soon as I mentioned X-plan or not having the ability to listen to what I was telling them.  Apparently they couldn't understand that I didn't want to buy any of the trucks that were on the lot because I wanted the 4.30 rear end but NOT a Tremor.  They just kept sending me Tremor after Tremor even after I told them repeatedly that I would be placing an order and not buying off the lot.  Very annoying.

 

Waiting experience: C+

The dealer was upfront that it would be a long wait for the truck, which I already knew from researching these forums and others anyway.  There was absolutely zero engagement from the dealer during the wait unless I initiated it, which is fine by me to a point.  I didn't want to be over-bothered (though that's mostly a concern in the pre-ordering stage) but some better answers would've been nice.  It was pretty much the standard "you don't understand how this works" type response until I replied back that I actually had very good information (much thanks to @ice-capades and others) and then I would get a more in-depth answer.  It just took a little prodding.  But, the part that would've really won me over with customer engagement would've been getting an email or phone call from the dealer that my truck had arrived and that they were working on getting it ready for me.  It's a very small dealership like I said, it's not like they have vehicle arriving every single day and I was able to make an account with the trucking company that brings them all their vehicles and could see that they average a delivery of 3-4 vehicle every few weeks.  But instead I had to email him yesterday that I saw that the truck had been there since Tuesday and asked when I could come get it.  Overall though I don't think I got the run around from anyone, it was just a far cry from what I would consider even average customer service based on my time working in sales and other retail myself.  They certainly had room to do more with customer engagement, but I can't knock them too hard for my high standards.

 

Financing experience: B+

My discussion with the financing guy was over the phone since the dealer is an hour away but my credit union is local.  I wanted to have the check from the bank before going out to the dealer.  Overall the financing guy was very nice and helpful, though he did push pretty hard to get my to finance through them.  I don't mind the sales pitch, but what I do mind is when someone ASSUMES what payments I'm comfortable with when we've never even met.  He made some somewhat derogatory statements assuming which interest rates and length I would be "the most financially comfortable with."  However, I tossed him a bone and told him my rate and he was just like "oh...well sounds like you have it covered then."  After that he was back to being nice and helpful, I just wish people would learn their customers first before making assumptions about their financial situations.  Again, high standards I guess, but I feel like learning your customer was Sales 101 back when I was a Sales Manager.  I again had to be armed with information from the forums as he quoted me the X-plan price that included the two price increases that occurred after I ordered.  I explained to him that the price is protected from Ford.  He said he had never heard of that before (regarding X-plan specifically) but then did say that they hadn't done an X-plan deal in a couple years with how the market has been.  To his credit though, he asked for some time to look into it to try to see what he could learn and he would call me back.  An hour later he called and said that he called Ford directly to make sure he got the best information.  At the end of the day my order IS eligible for price protection and he ran my VIN and order and everything through Ford.  Basically he said that he has to invoice it at the current X-plan price but would then strike me a check for the difference ($1545).  Overall I can't complain with the dude putting in the work to find the answer and get the ball rolling.

 

Financing experience with my credit union: A+++

Always top notch service with them.  Had everything done and walked out with a check in 20 minutes.  Rates can't be beat.

 

Delivery experience: TBD (will come back later once I have the truck)

 

Anyway, just wanted to share so far.  It's been a long six months, but I'm excited that the time has finally come.  Hopefully everyone else can continue to arm themselves with information that is so kindly given here to better the dealer experience at least a little bit.

[mattdm]

Outside of the agonizing waiting game mine was pretty seamless. Dealer did everything in their power to help so I cant fault them on that part of it.

Was told on the phone before I even set foot in the dealership what sort of pricing to expect and that there was no negotiating on these trucks currently, I was aware of the market situation and basically expected this anyways. Ordering was straight forward we went over my options, I signed a build order and left a deposit. My sales guy gave me his cell number and I always got fairly prompt responses when I did reach out for updates(I was respectful of his off time and only texted him during dealer hours).

 

Almost 7 months to the day later my sales guy calls and tells me my truck is currently getting offloaded from the transport. He said the shop was fairly backed up but he was going to try to get it through PDI ASAP. I hadn't heard anything the rest of the day so i stopped by after work that day, He told me it wasn't through PDI yet but threw me the keys and left me to go check it over(plastic wrap on the seats still and all!). After play time we did some preliminary paperwork and he said it would be ready to go the next evening. The next afternoon I get a text that everything is ready to go. Breezed through all the paperwork and within 40 minutes I was driving out of the parking lot.

Edited January 29, 2022 by mattdm

[FirstFord22]

On 11/8/2021 at 2:23 PM, Jeff T said:

I began my F-350 ordering experience with the local Ford dealership nearest me (Bessemer, AL). I have bought more vehicles there than I can count since it opened in 2001, so no-brainer, or so I thought. My best way to sum up the ordering process at Town and Country Ford was as follows:

1) Sales guy assumed, I guess, that it was a "definite sale" given my history, so, offered no incentives, and REALLY low-balled my trade (2013 F-150 STX, less than 100k miles). 

2) Got 2 crucial items on my order build sheet wrong, one being the color. Also "added" an option "for me" that I didn't want. Good thing I reviewed it.

3) When I mentioned checking for a PCO, totally blew me off, then much later said I had one that was "about $1000". 

 

Needless to say, I then approached Long Lewis Ford in Hoover, AL (about 15 miles away). Process was seamless, sales guy was also kinda a "car guy", which is really rare, at least in my experiences. Most importantly, they worked really hard to earn my business. Offered $1000 off MSRP, matched a $500 rebate, let me know about my $2000 PCO when it came in. (I knew about it already, but it was nice of him to let me know anyway) They also got all the options (and color) correct the first time. When my truck was shipped, I went in and they pulled up the entire VVR so I could see the rail car number to keep up with tracking. Ordered May 17, drove it home from the dealer Sept. 14. Nothing negative to say about my (2nd) Dealer experience from start to finish.

 

I can only speculate as to the first sales guy's issues, other than what was stated above. I ordered a F-350 XLT regular cab 2wd 7.3, MSRP was $45,650. One guess was that the profit margin on a non diesel, non-Super or CrewCab wasn't enough for him to bother with. Either way, it was worth the wait.

Apparently it’s the majority of dealerships that operate that way. My order couldn’t have gone smoother, but that’s where it ended!

 

I reached out to the sales rep several times, but he wouldn’t reply to my emails. I then went to the dealership to get my question answered by someone else (it was a simple question about a leveling kit and tires). The rep sees me in the parts department, so he tells me he got my emails but was waiting for the answer before replying to me (BS). 
 

So, I go to dealerrater.com and give the dealership a poor review with the caveat I would change it if their customer service improved; enter the sales manager. SM writes me back telling me that isn’t how they do business, and moving forward he will now be my point of contact. I’m confident you can see where I’m going with this. 
 

I email the SM about my build, but he doesn’t reply. Basically, the SM does the exact thing the SR did after telling me that isn’t how they do business. 
 

I then went to the GM, but still don’t have my questions answered: removing the spray-in, tonneau or 20” black wheels. I did order the BAP and two items are part of that package. 
 

Ready for the best part: I requested my first status update from cyberdman Thursday night. I wake up Friday afternoon (because I work nights) to a reply to my request asking if I’m sure it’s an F250 and not an F350. What are the odds they fubar’d the order when entering it! My order form shows an F250, but of course I can’t get in touch with the SM.

 

So far, in my short two months, I am beyond frustrated. Hopefully it’ll be worth it in the end! 

[Ralph K]

Dealer was upfront with me that there's going to be 3-6 months wait. It sucks but I knew what I'm getting myself into upfront