Everyone's a Guest at FORD now

[Alloy]

The service rep at the dealer kept calling me a guest so I asked what's the deal.

Ford has changed. There's no more "Customer Service". It's now "Guest Service".

Anyone that owns a EV is an extra special guest or as he joked a HMU (high maintenance unit). I though he was joking but he said EV owners require more time/care.

 

[FordGuy1]

The service rep at the dealer kept calling me a guest so I asked what's the deal.

Ford has changed. There's no more "Customer Service". It's now "Guest Service".

Anyone that owns a EV is an extra special guest or as he joked a HMU (high maintenance unit). I though he was joking but he said EV owners require more time/care.

Most of us dealer management went to Detroit for Ford Immersion training. Its Fords Guest Experience Program. It was actually pretty good, and yes, most, but not all are guests in our stores.

 

[jaxyaks]

Anyone that owns a EV is an extra special guest or as he joked a HMU (high maintenance unit). I though he was joking but he said EV owners require more time/care.

Somehow that doesn't surprise me...lol

 

[calicamper]

The service rep at the dealer kept calling me a guest so I asked what's the deal.

Ford has changed. There's no more "Customer Service". It's now "Guest Service".

Anyone that owns a EV is an extra special guest or as he joked a HMU (high maintenance unit). I though he was joking but he said EV owners require more time/care.

The dealers are scrambling to find ways to add value after bending the customers over the finance desk. As for plugin hybrids and full EVs they need to white glove those owners because they’ll see them once in 100,000 miles not counting recalls.

Ford is even doing mobile service calls like Tesla. I had two guys in a van come do a recall fix on our 2016 Fusion last week. Didn’t need to deal with finding a ride from/to the dealer for a 30min fix.

 

[Alloy]

The dealers are scrambling to find ways to add value after bending the customers over the finance desk. As for plugin hybrids and full EVs they need to white glove those owners because they’ll see them once in 100,000 miles not counting recalls.

Ford is even doing mobile service calls like Tesla. I had two guys in a van come do a recall fix on our 2016 Fusion last week. Didn’t need to deal with finding a ride from/to the dealer for a 30min fix.

They've (Toyota also) some catching up to do with Honda. At Ford the chairs are next to the service rep counter. WIFI was 40mbps. The washrooms were scary and nobody change the coffee in 3hrs. At Honda there's a quiet waiting room, spotless (tag on the wall showing it was checked/cleaned 3X a day) washroom, an espresso machine with real milk/cream and WIFI was 116mbps. Honda sends the customer a survey. The dealer doesn't do it or choose (Subaru and Toyota) which customers are surveyed.

 

[Todd780]

They've (Toyota also) some catching up to do with Honda. At Ford the chairs are next to the service rep counter. WIFI was 40mbps. The washrooms were scary and nobody change the coffee in 3hrs. At Honda there's a quiet waiting room, spotless (tag on the wall showing it was checked/cleaned 3X a day) washroom, an espresso machine with real milk/cream and WIFI was 116mbps. Honda sends the customer a survey. The dealer doesn't do it or choose (Subaru and Toyota) which customers are surveyed.

Lol, the Lexus dealer here has a salon so you can git yer nails did while you wait...

https://www.lexussouthpointe.com/about/

A guy I worked with previously worked at a BMW dealer. While his customer was waiting for his car to be serviced, they went to the complimentary lunch café and had lamb shanks.... And this was 15 years ago. Lots of dealers have some catching up to do.

I think the Guest thing is from Disney. Seriously. About 12 years ago I attended a seminar put on by Disney about how to spoil customers... They referred to customers as Guests. So guessing that's where Ford got the idea from...

 

[calicamper]

They've (Toyota also) some catching up to do with Honda. At Ford the chairs are next to the service rep counter. WIFI was 40mbps. The washrooms were scary and nobody change the coffee in 3hrs. At Honda there's a quiet waiting room, spotless (tag on the wall showing it was checked/cleaned 3X a day) washroom, an espresso machine with real milk/cream and WIFI was 116mbps. Honda sends the customer a survey. The dealer doesn't do it or choose (Subaru and Toyota) which customers are surveyed.

Our Ford dealers are all like your Honda dealer. The Lincoln/ Ford shop just moved their Hyundai store and rebuilt the building for the Lincoln line up same property/ building just opposite side from the Ford store. Was told that Ford was requiring a stand alone store front for Lincoln again or the dealer had to drop the brand

 

[Todd780]

Was told that Ford was requiring a stand alone store front for Lincoln again or the dealer had to drop the brand

I'm guessing that won't bode well for Lincoln...

Don't see a whole lot of them around here.

So thinking the amount of sales would be hard for a lot of dealers to justify a stand alone store front.

Not sure what Lincoln's market share is like. McConaughey only needs so many...

 

[FordGuy1]

Our Ford dealers are all like your Honda dealer. The Lincoln/ Ford shop just moved their Hyundai store and rebuilt the building for the Lincoln line up same property/ building just opposite side from the Ford store. Was told that Ford was requiring a stand alone store front for Lincoln again or the dealer had to drop the brand

That is fact. We are building two Lincoln stores right now.

 

[calicamper]

I'm guessing that won't bode well for Lincoln...

Don't see a whole lot of them around here.

So thinking the amount of sales would be hard for a lot of dealers to justify a stand alone store front.

Not sure what Lincoln's market share is like. McConaughey only needs so many...

Next car for the wife will be a Lincoln. Its uniquely the right combo over the other lux options. And so far our Fords have been rock solid. (27yr former Toyota guy) no complaints

 

[Umbrarian]

More re-definition.

Traditionally, Customers pay, guests do not. Dinner guests are gonna be surprised next month when I give them the bill.

 

[Todd780]

More re-definition.

Traditionally, Customers pay, guests do not. Dinner guests are gonna be surprised next month when I give them the bill.

 

[pmankow]

This is so embarrassingly idiotic and shows how Ford management (as well as anyone who does anything like this) is completely incompetent and unintelligent. Anybody is a guest when they are welcomed into anyone else's home or business. However, when you are there to be serviced in a potential business engagement you are BY DEFINITION a customer. So, basically Ford is just showing how utterly moronic they are by failing to use words properly in order to, in one of the most pathetic attempts at sophistry/marketing I can think of, cater to the lowest common denominator and the most sentimental. What a pathetic joke.

And the funny thing is that calling someone a 'guest' outright is usually done as a hostile reminder that they have overstepped their bounds and could be asked to leave or to behave themselves. Therefore, it is like Ford, in its embrace of stupidity is being unintentionally hostile and aggressive towards the CUSTOMER.

 

[Todd780]

 

[2025 deleted member]

They've (Toyota also) some catching up to do with Honda. At Ford the chairs are next to the service rep counter. WIFI was 40mbps. The washrooms were scary and nobody change the coffee in 3hrs. At Honda there's a quiet waiting room, spotless (tag on the wall showing it was checked/cleaned 3X a day) washroom, an espresso machine with real milk/cream and WIFI was 116mbps. Honda sends the customer a survey. The dealer doesn't do it or choose (Subaru and Toyota) which customers are surveyed.

The appeal of a Toyota is I don’t even know where the service department is.