My Local Ford Dealer Frat House

I can't count the times I wish I had a small sound recorder with me.
This. To the OP, if it bothers you that bad, record it and make the Ford hierarchy get a copy.
When I was a Ford tech, the employees were pretty much old school and had clean mouths.
The service manager, however, could lie through his teeth to all the customers and they would all believe him when he was done. All except one. That one customer took proof of his lies to the owner and the owner finally walked him to the door. Kicking and screaming, I might add.
 
Love the generalization that "Ford" is slow at service. Last I checked, Ford doesn't own the dealer and run the service department.

Find a new dealer... Several of the dealerships near me have it pretty good when it comes to service - definitely not all, and not even all within one chain/family... I take my Ford's to a dealer that is a 1/2 hour away and use the same service advisor every time... And had one issue, one time - which was handled professionally and calmly by all involved. Spoke volumes about how they did work...

Just have to find them.

Now, should Ford know that one of its dealers is a Frat house? That's another story...
 
Love the generalization that "Ford" is slow at service. Last I checked, Ford doesn't own the dealer and run the service department.

Find a new dealer... Several of the dealerships near me have it pretty good when it comes to service - definitely not all, and not even all within one chain/family... I take my Ford's to a dealer that is a 1/2 hour away and use the same service advisor every time... And had one issue, one time - which was handled professionally and calmly by all involved. Spoke volumes about how they did work...

Just have to find them.

Now, should Ford know that one of its dealers is a Frat house? That's another story...
As noted I never use this dealer but they are local and its on a flip.
I drive another 10 miles to another dealer where you do not see this nonsense.

I gave them a review this morning and it will be cleared in a few days.
Fair but Frat House was mentioned.

In defense of the other poster most people see the Ford name out front and that is who gets the credit for slow service unfortunately.
 
Car dealerships can be really dumb places. The car sales culture and BS is really obnoxious. Especially when there is a gong involved.

I work in parts for a dealer, basically on every counter and handling the BS/"situational situations." We were off in our own area prior to a fire in our body shop that wrecked our internet and electrical. I got moved into what is supposed to be the service manager's office, and I HATE it. Way too close to sales, and the service department drama. Nothing quite like described by OP, but absolutely inappropriate as in yelling, toxic drama, and just old school salesly stuff. For some reason the service drive is where blow ups and stuff happen. And then there's the frenzy over the new cars, and the salespeople constantly looking for the keys, and people grabbing keys without asking. If I hear about keys on this stupid Trail Boss one more time I am calling the locksmith. And the used cars too. We got a boatload of garbage in and the salespeople are out there making TikTok videos or whatever. Also, I will be on the phone with a customer and people will just come in and start talking to me like I'm a robot. Mind you I'm using an old school hand held office phone, it's not like I'm on a little Bluetooth thing and they can't see I'm on the phone, it is clearly obvious I am on the phone.

I am starting to throw it back through. We got some red tag sales event box, and the next salesperson I saw I was like "hey y'all need to put this red tag stuff up right now" and made them take it up front. 🤣
 
No pics of this FORD frat house? 🥲🥲
Screenshot_20211203-220633_Gallery.jpg
 
You know, I get how you feel about the place. Not my style - BUT must work for others because the place is still open. If the business is successful, the business model must be working. Each entity has it's own "corporate culture" and gathers others into the fold that fit that "culture". Not just employees, but customers too.

This I've found especially true with smaller businesses. The same can be said of almost any organization that doesn't have "higher ups" watching the lower echelons.

I saw several smaller distributors swear off buying or stocking products because the selling company supported a different local (state institution) college. Made no sense to me, but wasn't my business.

Just like you, I would not go to the dealership you mentioned, and the self selection process of customers for them will continue. One day, they might run out of customers and be forced to reckon with their culture, but most likely not.
 
Like most organizations, it starts at the top with the owner/manager. If staff see him being inappropriate then they feel fine being inappropriate too and he selects for staff over time who don't find his inappropriateness offputting enough to leave.

I'm also no fuddy-duddy, and I generally have a dirty mind and thought process, I think in mostly four-letter words, but because I'm an adult what the world gets is the highly filtered version of my thoughts. When I speak to customers I may be thinking a whole bunch of four-letter words but what comes out is highly polished and acknowledges their concern, answers their questions, and it's all wrapped up in a general tone of politeness as a gentleman. Like it or not there just is a socially acceptable way to run a business and anything less is not confidence-inspiring and shows poor judgment.
 
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You know, I get how you feel about the place. Not my style - BUT must work for others because the place is still open. If the business is successful, the business model must be working. Each entity has it's own "corporate culture" and gathers others into the fold that fit that "culture". Not just employees, but customers too.
I've seen plenty of businesses that keep the doors open in spite of their corporate culture. The real issue as a business owner for me would be lost customers for stupid reasons like a rude guy on the phone. Sure, there may be enough customers still coming in to keep the business open but even if the guy on the phone is turning off 5% of potential customers with his rude responses, that adds up. Many businesses don't know how to get out of their own way but somehow stay open.
 
Car dealerships can be really dumb places. The car sales culture and BS is really obnoxious. Especially when there is a gong involved.

I work in parts for a dealer, basically on every counter and handling the BS/"situational situations." We were off in our own area prior to a fire in our body shop that wrecked our internet and electrical. I got moved into what is supposed to be the service manager's office, and I HATE it. Way too close to sales, and the service department drama. Nothing quite like described by OP, but absolutely inappropriate as in yelling, toxic drama, and just old school salesly stuff. For some reason the service drive is where blow ups and stuff happen. And then there's the frenzy over the new cars, and the salespeople constantly looking for the keys, and people grabbing keys without asking. If I hear about keys on this stupid Trail Boss one more time I am calling the locksmith. And the used cars too. We got a boatload of garbage in and the salespeople are out there making TikTok videos or whatever. Also, I will be on the phone with a customer and people will just come in and start talking to me like I'm a robot. Mind you I'm using an old school hand held office phone, it's not like I'm on a little Bluetooth thing and they can't see I'm on the phone, it is clearly obvious I am on the phone.

I am starting to throw it back through. We got some red tag sales event box, and the next salesperson I saw I was like "hey y'all need to put this red tag stuff up right now" and made them take it up front. 🤣
I saw a bunch of that............well said!
 
That particular dealership sounds ripe for a discrimination lawsuit. That's on them. I wonder if the "silent partner" is aware of the day to day dealings?

As many have stated, I too am no fuddy-duddy. But there's a CLEAR line for me in public. And there's no way I'd want my wife or daughter going into a place like that. It sounds like that place is just a total barbaric tool shop from one end to the other.


BTW - I get the reference and understand the intent, but to say it's a "frat house" also lays some generalizations at the feet of fraternities that, while often deserved, are not always 100% true. My fraternity was adamant about treating all people with respect when I was in school (admittedly many years ago). Our fraternity was well-liked by many sorrorities because of the way they were treated at our parties. Doesn't mean we didn't party and act foolish; we did. But we very concious of our public image and made sure to protect it. Individual fraternity chapter house examples are just like individually owned car dealerships, gun stores, restaurants, etc ..... some are great and some are abysmal; their location reputations will proceed them.
 
I’m glad I’ve never been in the waiting room of my dealership lol 😂. I just know that my service advisors are good about upsells well at least most are. I was trying to sell a filter the other day because we are required to check everything like that no matter what work they are having done and I brought it to him like we are supposed to do so he can show the customer dude walks to the customer and leaves the filter on his desk telling them it’s dirty and they said no I was like well did you think if maybe you showed them it was dirty that they would of bought it because they aren’t just taking your word then. I don’t know that Subaru has any type of points they give customers though. And then we have the slick advisor who will just tell you to do it if it needs it and add it to the customers bill 😂. The only thing he doesn’t do that on is batteries because they are expensive.
 
Yeah I don't go to Ford Dealer or Hyundai much anymore. Hyundai dealer makes you sit in a kennel for a waiting room elbow to elbow with people. Ford takes too darn long, and even after they offered a Quick Lane, they are anything but.

There are too many nice places with lounges that will allow me to chill out and get some work done on the computer that I don't need them.
After experiencing Lexus service, it’s hard to go back to the “peasant” class. My parents had their car at the local dealership, when I drove their loaner to get their car back it was a first-class experience all the way through. One of the local Ford dealers actually has a nice waiting room and they’ll even pay for your Lyft/Uber ride if you refuse the shuttle.

Now, the local Toyota dealer - a sad state of affairs. It’s usually older people or Uber drivers huddled around a TV that doesn’t have cable/satellite(or even a Roku/Amazon Fire for that fact), no coffee or donuts like in the past. The showroom is bare.

The worst IMO? Subaru dealers. The new Subaru customer is affluent and outdoorsy or a wannabe rally/autocross driver but yet the local dealerships treat them all as second-class citizens.
 
Always loved Ford Authorized Dealer invoices, $6.00 sparkplugs, $24 fuel filters.
And this was back in 1991. When I quit supporting Ford-Lincoln-Mercury d-baggery.
There are plenty of decent vehicles out there, just avoid Dearborn & you have a 75% chance of happiness.
 
Car dealerships can be really dumb places. The car sales culture and BS is really obnoxious. Especially when there is a gong involved.

I work in parts for a dealer, basically on every counter and handling the BS/"situational situations." We were off in our own area prior to a fire in our body shop that wrecked our internet and electrical. I got moved into what is supposed to be the service manager's office, and I HATE it. Way too close to sales, and the service department drama. Nothing quite like described by OP, but absolutely inappropriate as in yelling, toxic drama, and just old school salesly stuff. For some reason the service drive is where blow ups and stuff happen. And then there's the frenzy over the new cars, and the salespeople constantly looking for the keys, and people grabbing keys without asking. If I hear about keys on this stupid Trail Boss one more time I am calling the locksmith. And the used cars too. We got a boatload of garbage in and the salespeople are out there making TikTok videos or whatever. Also, I will be on the phone with a customer and people will just come in and start talking to me like I'm a robot. Mind you I'm using an old school hand held office phone, it's not like I'm on a little Bluetooth thing and they can't see I'm on the phone, it is clearly obvious I am on the phone.

I am starting to throw it back through. We got some red tag sales event box, and the next salesperson I saw I was like "hey y'all need to put this red tag stuff up right now" and made them take it up front. 🤣
Right in the feels with talking to me while I am on the phone. I have a 2 27" monitor setup (I bought myself) so sometimes it is hard to see me when I am on the phone. But it should be pretty obvious I am on the phone because I am talking right? Nope, they keep talking to me and then get mad at me when I am on the phone or do the "hey real quick can you tell me..." I have had some service writers in the past literally walk up to me while I am helping someone on the retail counter and say "They can wait, I need this taken care of" which they then get a nice earful from me about whoever I am helping gets my undivided attention and when I am ready to help them I will give them the same attention I am currently giving my customer in front of me. For a while we had a whole thing about who is a more important customer, service is our biggest which I fully acknowledge, but my argument is the most important customer is the one I am currently helping.

We also get writers and porters bringing customers into the back counter when they have all been told numerous times not to. It gets cluttered and we have warranty return parts stacked as well as our "wall of fame" with cartoon pictures and memes of all the employees I have done over the years. Nothing offensive, but they are all inside jokes.
 
They just called begging to buy my car. When you keep cars nice they always want them.
I said sorry because I know from the past you are not competitive buyers.
Because they never were.
 
I had a pleasant dealership oil change experience at my local North NJ Chevy shop yesterday. But it was jarring not seeing a single new car in inventory. Not one! They usually have their main and backup lots full of new cars. Even the showroom was empty but for 2 used cars they parked inside so it would not seem like the place was out of business. It was just eerie walking around empty lots. It reminded me of when my old Saab dealer was holding out against hope waiting for new cars to arrive from Sweden when GM was in the process of offloading the brand - the new cars never arrived and the dealer finally went bust. Hope this semiconductor shortage thing is sorted out soon. What a disaster.
 
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