Great Dealer JC Lewis in Savannah GA

[losthawaiian]

I would like to start this story by everyone imagine a story you have ever heard about a new car buying experience, and see if mine beats yours. It starts off one spring day in Savannah Ga, my wife and I went into JC Lewis Ford just to look at the new 2015 Ford Edge Sport and had one of the best vehicle purchase experience thanks to Mike Schum. We fell in love with the 2015 Ford Edge Sport, and drove one home that Friday night thanks to James Eady aka “GREAT NEWS” Business Manager. On the second day the Edge we had a huge rain storm and found a leak that got water all over the driver floor board. We were quite upset and took it back to JC Lewis to complain and spoke to Mike again and the General sales Manager Ashley Hill. They we courteous helpful and ordered another Edge (VIN #2) from out of state to replace it, and gave us a loaner until it came in. You know it a total new design and I just got a bad one right. Well we got to pick up the second Edge about 4 days later and completed the new paperwork and drove home the second Edge. Second day owning it (see a pattern here) we started to get all kind of sensor errors and crazy stuff happening to the truck. The cross traffic sensors, blind spot sensors, HVAC system, front power windows, front camera system, and several other system all failed. Again we took it into JC Lewis and worked with Dan (The Service Man) and once again Ashley and Mike we great and got into another loaner. This time I called Corp Ford Motor Company and got to Speak with Jill a regional service rep. After a few phone calls and voicemail tag Corp Ford was completely unhelpful and gave me the worst impression of Ford and how they wouldn’t stand behind their product. I have owned several other ford to include Mustangs, Ranger, and Expedition and been happy with those cars. After 2 weeks of Corp Ford service support I was about ready to return everything and go to another brand. Anyone in the South knows once a Ford guy always a Ford guy, but this experience made me want to go to Dodge, GM or almost any other brand. After another week I couldn’t hold it in and had to start venting my anger about the Edge, and Ashley took the grunt of it. Ashley was clam and understanding and was totally embarrassed by this. Ashley and Mike got us the 3 VIN and let us drive it for a few days and this one was great. This is the Ford product I love loaded with ECO-Boost power and smooth ride and nice quiet interior. 3rd one is the Charm as they say. We have had this 3rd VIN for a week and no issues. If it was not for the Crew at JC Lewis Ford, Ford Motor Corp would have lost a loyal customer forever. JC Lewis NOT Ford Corp. has won my family as customers with the over the top Sales and purchasing experience thanks to Mike Schum and “GREAT NEWS” James Eady. And for earning back my loyalty to Ford by standing behind the product that JC Lewis sells and doing everything to make our family happy with our new 2015 Ford Edge Sport.

Thanks JC Lewis for making everything end up right since everything went wrong in the beginning

[WWWPerfA_ZN0W]

Knock on wood! Hard to believe you had to go to #3 to hit the jackpot! Good on the dealer to make it right

[FordService]

...if it was not for the Crew at JC Lewis Ford, Ford Motor Corp would have lost a loyal customer forever...

 

I'm so glad to hear your dealership took excellent care of you, losthawaiian! I'd like to get this feedback documented so they'll get a digital pat on the back. To make that happen, PM me your full name, best daytime phone number, dealer information, and any specifics you'd like me to include (if they differ from above). I'll do the rest!

 

Crystal

[PaulSchott]

Nice to hear a good dealer story for a change. I wonder what will become of the first 2 losers? They can't sell them as new because they were already registered. Maybe they can sent them to NHTSA for crash testing LOL.

New model and initial production can be a problem for any manufacturing. The engineers make assumptions about how components function in real life situations and the production people aren't used to the assembly nuances for a while.

They will get their act together eventually.

[anile_eight]

We got our 15' Edge Sport from JC Lewis in Savannah also.... The dealership and purchasing experience was good. We had Rodney and he was very helpful, kind and let us do the decision making - He did not try to force anything on us. They were great help and had to source the vehicle from a nother dealership as the specific options we chose they did not have. Once we got it we noticed a couple of things. The following is partially a reflection of the JC Lewis Ford dealership but more on Ford as a company...

The biggest issue I had was they gave us a car with a partially dirty/damanged interior. This is our FIRST ford and truthfully we were not impressed (especially my wife). There were black hand and finger prints all over the sun visors. Also there was a sizable gash in the front part of the dash. On a brand new car this was extremely dissapointing. In addition, the first day we had the car we were testing out the Ford Sync system and it kept crashing on us. There was an update that had been out for about a month before and the dealership never updated the car before they gave it to us. I was not going to waste my time taking it the 45 min to the dealership so I did it myself. The entire point is, it is a new car (our first Ford) and I would expect everything to be up to date and clean, it was not.

 

In their defence they did take care of us and we eventually had it replaced (they had the car for a week...) When we went to go and pick up the car they again gave us a dirty car...The service rep did tell us it was dirty and they never cleaned it. They said friday was their busy day. I called twice to get updates and told it was ready at 4:30. I did not get there to pick it up until 5:30 which was plenty of time to clean the car. The car is garaged kept at home and it was very clean when I took it in. When we got it back, the car was dirty and clearly it had been sitting outside for the past week. In addition, AGAIN there were black grease finger prints on the headliner and sunglass holder... Not to mention we asked the service rep about some other fit and finish questions we had asking if this was normal. Long story short, no they were not normal. We have overspray drips on almost every single panel.

 

Other issues with the car - the driver carpet was coming off and falling down by the OBDII port whic was a very serious hazard for the driver. The headliner needs to be replaced (ford's decision) as they cannot repair it because it is pulling out by the sunglass holder. There is a bubble in the steering wheel covering. One of the wheels was not painted/finished correctly and there is bare metal showing around one of the center caps. The trim finishing was not consistently applied to the car some panels are flush and some have large gaps like they have shown on here (in the ford edge sport section under review you car).

 

Mechanically the car seems to be fine which is important to me but the fit and finish has left A LOT to be desired about which is most important to me wife. At the beginning of this process I was truly considering an SHO for my car when I replace it in a couple of years but after all of these issues with the fit and finish, I am seriosuly reconsidering that thought. I think I will go back to the germans where I came from.

Edited December 18, 2015 by anile_eight

[akirby]

It's certainly not right but unfortunately that's par for the course for a brand new model. Ford's initial quality on brand new models has been terrible the last few years. I attributed it to trying to make too many changes at the same time (new platforms, new drivetrains, new suppliers, new features) and was hoping it would get better but that hasn't been the case yet.

 

That's why I'm waiting a few months for the 2016s hoping they get all these issues worked out.

 

Some of that is on the dealer though - they don't have those same excuses for the car being dirty.

[anile_eight]

It's certainly not right but unfortunately that's par for the course for a brand new model. Ford's initial quality on brand new models has been terrible the last few years. I attributed it to trying to make too many changes at the same time (new platforms, new drivetrains, new suppliers, new features) and was hoping it would get better but that hasn't been the case yet.

 

That's why I'm waiting a few months for the 2016s hoping they get all these issues worked out.

 

Some of that is on the dealer though - they don't have those same excuses for the car being dirty.

I agree I am dissapointed with both for their reasons. Peolpe wise has been a decent experieince. Only a hand full of times did they not call me back the days they told me they would... Nice people though.