Called Ford - TERRIBLE experience

[tdwatts]

I called Ford yesterday.

tldr; Over the course of 1 hours 47 minutes I spoke to 12 people, was hung up on, listened to Ford try to sell me a med alert bracelet (and other items) before someone took 3 minutes to, kind of, fix my problem.

My company has a call center, if I treated customers like this, I would be out of business very quickly. @Ford Motor Company

I thought the issue was straight forward - I logged into Ford.com site to check my car's service history. The site claimed I was not the owner of the vehicle and need to contact Ford to correct the issue.

At 1pm I made my first call. After 5 minutes the first rep advised that I needed to speak to someone in the Customer Relationship Center and transferred my call. I spent 14 minutes on the phone with the next rep who eventually told me that their department's records were correct and the issue could be resolved by Ford Marketing. So, she transferred me. The next rep said that marketing can't help unless I wanted to buy a new car, so she attempted to transfer me back to the Customer Relationship Center. After hearing "Please Hold" a few times I heard a message that my call could not be completed and the line went dead.

I immediately called back. After discussing the issue for seven minutes, the rep advised that I need to speak with someone with FordPass. This is when things got really odd. A recording advised that before my transfer is completed Ford had some "opportunities" for me. The IVR tried to sell me a med alert bracelet, after selecting no, it tried to sell me roadside service, then it tried to provide me with monthly covid tests. Next, I got stuck in a loop of offers to get extra money on my social security check. I don't know why they thought I was on social security, but I kept selecting no, and kept getting the same offer. After several no's, I hung up.

I immediately called back, again. The next rep kept putting me on hold trying to get info from a supervisor on how to get the issue resolved. He said I needed to speak with Ford Pass or Ford Credit. I advised him that I paid cash for the car so I have never dealt with Ford Credit. He told me he was transferring me to Ford Pass, but I was connected to Ford Credit's IVR. The IVR kept insisting that I provide and account number (don't have one) or my social security number. I entered my social and was told that there was no record of my account - wow. I sat and waited without entering any info but was told that there were higher than normal wait time, they were "unable to handle" my call and to call back later. The IVR then hung up on me.

I immediately called back, yet again. After about two seconds of silence I was greeted with an IVR wanting to know if my issue had ben resolved with the current call.

I immediately called back. After talking with the rep for less than a minute, in the middle of a sentence, I got the same IVR wanting me to rate my experience.

I immediately called back. This rep told me that I needed to talk to Ford Pass because there is a "lag in delay between systems". I am not sure what she meant. She also said I needed to reset my password. I asked here how that could solve the issue and she put me on hold. She came back on the line and said she was talking to a supervisor. After 22 minutes into the call she said she was transferring me to Ford Pass. A recording came on in Spanish. I listed for about 45 seconds before a rep came on the line. She said "Thank you for calling Lincoln." Of course she could not help as she "worked for Lincoln, not Ford". She transferred me to another rep. He told me that only Ford Credit (even thought I paid cash for the car) or the dealer could help. I asked him why the site said to call Ford, not the dealer. He said he would not transfer me to Ford Credit because they were "too busy" to handle calls.

I immediately called back. The rep said she knew exactly how to fix the issue and about three minutes later she had me log back in to Ford.com. The message was gone. There was no service history. When I asked her about that she said that I needed to contact the dealer to find out why they have not updated my records. The has been to the dealer for the glass recall work. I assume Ford knows it has been done since the alter no longer appears in the Ford Pass app. The dealer also replaced a strut that was bad and did my 10k mile service.

@Ford Motor Company - By the way, I am still stuck on 1.7.1. It's really annoying that my car was delivered in June 2021 but will not properly save radio presets (among other issues) and all the newer cars have BlueCruise. Ford's website still claims "BlueCruise functionality expected 3rd quarter 2021CY."

Sponsored

 

[Mach-Lee]

Sounds like everyone transferred you wrong. If this happens again to someone, you can go to account>help in the FordPass app to directly chat or call (800 336-0486) FordPass.

Transferring ownership clears the service history on the vehicle FYI, you won’t see anything show up afterwards.

There is a TSB/fix for 1.7.1 released today that your dealer can perform.

 

[Ford Motor Company]

I called Ford yesterday.

tldr; Over the course of 1 hours 47 minutes I spoke to 12 people, was hung up on, listened to Ford try to sell me a med alert bracelet (and other items) before someone took 3 minutes to, kind of, fix my problem.

My company has a call center, if I treated customers like this, I would be out of business very quickly. @Ford Motor Company

I thought the issue was straight forward - I logged into Ford.com site to check my car's service history. The site claimed I was not the owner of the vehicle and need to contact Ford to correct the issue.

At 1pm I made my first call. After 5 minutes the first rep advised that I needed to speak to someone in the Customer Relationship Center and transferred my call. I spent 14 minutes on the phone with the next rep who eventually told me that their department's records were correct and the issue could be resolved by Ford Marketing. So, she transferred me. The next rep said that marketing can't help unless I wanted to buy a new car, so she attempted to transfer me back to the Customer Relationship Center. After hearing "Please Hold" a few times I heard a message that my call could not be completed and the line went dead.

I immediately called back. After discussing the issue for seven minutes, the rep advised that I need to speak with someone with FordPass. This is when things got really odd. A recording advised that before my transfer is completed Ford had some "opportunities" for me. The IVR tried to sell me a med alert bracelet, after selecting no, it tried to sell me roadside service, then it tried to provide me with monthly covid tests. Next, I got stuck in a loop of offers to get extra money on my social security check. I don't know why they thought I was on social security, but I kept selecting no, and kept getting the same offer. After several no's, I hung up.

I immediately called back, again. The next rep kept putting me on hold trying to get info from a supervisor on how to get the issue resolved. He said I needed to speak with Ford Pass or Ford Credit. I advised him that I paid cash for the car so I have never dealt with Ford Credit. He told me he was transferring me to Ford Pass, but I was connected to Ford Credit's IVR. The IVR kept insisting that I provide and account number (don't have one) or my social security number. I entered my social and was told that there was no record of my account - wow. I sat and waited without entering any info but was told that there were higher than normal wait time, they were "unable to handle" my call and to call back later. The IVR then hung up on me.

I immediately called back, yet again. After about two seconds of silence I was greeted with an IVR wanting to know if my issue had ben resolved with the current call.

I immediately called back. After talking with the rep for less than a minute, in the middle of a sentence, I got the same IVR wanting me to rate my experience.

I immediately called back. This rep told me that I needed to talk to Ford Pass because there is a "lag in delay between systems". I am not sure what she meant. She also said I needed to reset my password. I asked here how that could solve the issue and she put me on hold. She came back on the line and said she was talking to a supervisor. After 22 minutes into the call she said she was transferring me to Ford Pass. A recording came on in Spanish. I listed for about 45 seconds before a rep came on the line. She said "Thank you for calling Lincoln." Of course she could not help as she "worked for Lincoln, not Ford". She transferred me to another rep. He told me that only Ford Credit (even thought I paid cash for the car) or the dealer could help. I asked him why the site said to call Ford, not the dealer. He said he would not transfer me to Ford Credit because they were "too busy" to handle calls.

I immediately called back. The rep said she knew exactly how to fix the issue and about three minutes later she had me log back in to Ford.com. The message was gone. There was no service history. When I asked her about that she said that I needed to contact the dealer to find out why they have not updated my records. The has been to the dealer for the glass recall work. I assume Ford knows it has been done since the alter no longer appears in the Ford Pass app. The dealer also replaced a strut that was bad and did my 10k mile service.

@Ford Motor Company - By the way, I am still stuck on 1.7.1. It's really annoying that my car was delivered in June 2021 but will not properly save radio presets (among other issues) and all the newer cars have BlueCruise. Ford's website still claims "BlueCruise functionality expected 3rd quarter 2021CY."

Good morning! Can you send over a private message with your VIN and the name and location of your preferred Ford dealer? I'd like to assist with this 1.7.1. concern. Thank you!

 

[Chuck]

I called Ford yesterday.

tldr; Over the course of 1 hours 47 minutes I spoke to 12 people, was hung up on, listened to Ford try to sell me a med alert bracelet (and other items) before someone took 3 minutes to, kind of, fix my problem.

My company has a call center, if I treated customers like this, I would be out of business very quickly. @Ford Motor Company

I thought the issue was straight forward - I logged into Ford.com site to check my car's service history. The site claimed I was not the owner of the vehicle and need to contact Ford to correct the issue.

At 1pm I made my first call. After 5 minutes the first rep advised that I needed to speak to someone in the Customer Relationship Center and transferred my call. I spent 14 minutes on the phone with the next rep who eventually told me that their department's records were correct and the issue could be resolved by Ford Marketing. So, she transferred me. The next rep said that marketing can't help unless I wanted to buy a new car, so she attempted to transfer me back to the Customer Relationship Center. After hearing "Please Hold" a few times I heard a message that my call could not be completed and the line went dead.

I immediately called back. After discussing the issue for seven minutes, the rep advised that I need to speak with someone with FordPass. This is when things got really odd. A recording advised that before my transfer is completed Ford had some "opportunities" for me. The IVR tried to sell me a med alert bracelet, after selecting no, it tried to sell me roadside service, then it tried to provide me with monthly covid tests. Next, I got stuck in a loop of offers to get extra money on my social security check. I don't know why they thought I was on social security, but I kept selecting no, and kept getting the same offer. After several no's, I hung up.

I immediately called back, again. The next rep kept putting me on hold trying to get info from a supervisor on how to get the issue resolved. He said I needed to speak with Ford Pass or Ford Credit. I advised him that I paid cash for the car so I have never dealt with Ford Credit. He told me he was transferring me to Ford Pass, but I was connected to Ford Credit's IVR. The IVR kept insisting that I provide and account number (don't have one) or my social security number. I entered my social and was told that there was no record of my account - wow. I sat and waited without entering any info but was told that there were higher than normal wait time, they were "unable to handle" my call and to call back later. The IVR then hung up on me.

I immediately called back, yet again. After about two seconds of silence I was greeted with an IVR wanting to know if my issue had ben resolved with the current call.

I immediately called back. After talking with the rep for less than a minute, in the middle of a sentence, I got the same IVR wanting me to rate my experience.

I immediately called back. This rep told me that I needed to talk to Ford Pass because there is a "lag in delay between systems". I am not sure what she meant. She also said I needed to reset my password. I asked here how that could solve the issue and she put me on hold. She came back on the line and said she was talking to a supervisor. After 22 minutes into the call she said she was transferring me to Ford Pass. A recording came on in Spanish. I listed for about 45 seconds before a rep came on the line. She said "Thank you for calling Lincoln." Of course she could not help as she "worked for Lincoln, not Ford". She transferred me to another rep. He told me that only Ford Credit (even thought I paid cash for the car) or the dealer could help. I asked him why the site said to call Ford, not the dealer. He said he would not transfer me to Ford Credit because they were "too busy" to handle calls.

I immediately called back. The rep said she knew exactly how to fix the issue and about three minutes later she had me log back in to Ford.com. The message was gone. There was no service history. When I asked her about that she said that I needed to contact the dealer to find out why they have not updated my records. The has been to the dealer for the glass recall work. I assume Ford knows it has been done since the alter no longer appears in the Ford Pass app. The dealer also replaced a strut that was bad and did my 10k mile service.

@Ford Motor Company - By the way, I am still stuck on 1.7.1. It's really annoying that my car was delivered in June 2021 but will not properly save radio presets (among other issues) and all the newer cars have BlueCruise. Ford's website still claims "BlueCruise functionality expected 3rd quarter 2021CY."

If you work for a company with a call center then you know that call centers have 100%-200% turnover per year. With a large company like Ford where they may have hundreds or thousands of call center reps it can be very tough to make sure that everyone is trained on every situation. Especially when their tenure is expected to be a year or less. I'm not excusing the problem but the problem is real. That's why many companies have moved away from voice and toward chat because each rep can handle 4-6 chat customers at once.

 

[tdwatts]

I have a lot of sympathy for the issues in running a large call center. The "great resignation" going on has impacted us all. If it had been only one or two people that couldn't help I wouldn't complain, but as many people that couldn't help and the obvious incorrect handling points to bigger issues.

 

[Indy Mike]

Good morning! Can you send over a private message with your VIN and the name and location of your preferred Ford dealer? I'd like to assist with this 1.7.1. concern. Thank you!

I have had similar call center issues experiences and am also stuck at 1.7.1. Should we not be on later version? We took delivery in February 2021. Where do I send our VIN numbers?

Sponsored