Jim Ellis Ford Sandy Springs - Service Center

So, let me tell you about my "Jim Ellis Experience". I own a 2008 Ford Fusion (I know, certainly not your target demographic for customer) that has 3 pending recalls. So, I scheduled an appointment via t own a 2008 Ford Fusion (I know, certainly not your target demographic for customer) that has 3 pending recalls. So, I scheduled an appointment via the online scheduling tool at Jim Ellis Ford in Sandy Springs (since that's close to my house). I put it out for a couple of weeks (to ensure that the necessary parts would be available), scheduled for evening drop-off on Thursday, for a 7:15am appointment. I figured that would give your service department all day Friday, and even some time on Saturday (although it shouldn't be necessary, given the scope of work) if necessary to effect repairs, so that I had my car back for Monday (knowing the service dept doesn't work on Sunday). At no point in time did anyone ever contact me to review my service appointment request prior to me dropping my car off, nor did anyone ever contact me to tell me how to go about doing a drop off. So, I wind up going over earlier than I planned, to make sure the department was still open and I could hand my keys to someone. I arrive and am greeted (as per that giant poster on the floor) warmly. And that is the very last time the entire service department experience met your proclaimed "Standards". The person that greeted me asked the nature of the visit, and I indicated I was there to drop off a vehicle, per the evening drop off service, for a 7:15am appt the next morning (Friday morning). I was asked who my Service Agent was (like I was supposed to know that, although I did eventually find the name on the confirmation of appt email I received that had absolutely no useful instructions in it at all), and eventually once that was determined I was told "he's with another customer but if you care to stand in that line right there he'll be with you momentarily". This is exactly why I scheduled a drop-off in the first place, so I could just hand my keys to someone and leave. After waiting about 10 minutes, Martin comes up, still helping another customer, but does ask me my name, and asks for the keys, and he said he'd take care of everything and call me at the phone number he asked me to provide with an update. And that is LITERALLY the last time I heard from him. I called back on Friday at 3pm just to find out the status, since no one told me anything, no one called me, and the estimated time for the two recall repairs per online research was about 5 hours. I was "transferred" to Martin, which resulted in nothing be being disconnected. I called back, and was transferred again, to voice mail. I left my name, the nature of my call, and my phone number, just wanting to get an update, since no one had ever, at any time, given me any indication of how long my car would be held captive by Jim Ellis Ford. And, you guessed it, no call back at all on Friday. So, today, I got up and drove up to the dealership service department, hoping against all hope that I would get a better response this time. I was again greeted warmly by someone who could not help me other than to say "Marty isn't in today, but maybe if you wait over there another Service Agent can help you". ARE YOU FREAKING SERIOUS?!?!?!?! It's 2021. Every single iota of information regarding any business transaction anywhere is carefully cataloged in a computer system. I work for IBM, and I can tell you the entire service history of every client and every service engagement down to the exact time that they contacted IBM about service, every single entity that every engaged on that service, every action they took on that service, every different service agent that ever engaged on that service, every escalation that occurred during that service, and every time anyone engaged with the client about that service. Yet, Jim Ellis Ford's service department couldn't look that up, and I had to talk to a Service Agent. Okay, sure, I'll wait. Well, about 10 minutes later, a very nice Service Agent came to help me. And here is the entirety of the help he could provide: 1- He could tell me that they had my car. Well, no xxxx. 2- He could tell me that one of the techs had checked out the ticket. Um, I should hope so. 3- He could tell me that said tech was not working today. Well, that's stupid unhelpful. 4- He could tell me that the repairs themselves should only take a few hours. So, that perfectly aligns with what the internet said. 5- He could tell me that even then, standard easy service is a 2-3 day turn around. What the actual F????? Are you serious???? A "few hour repair" takes 2-3 days to turn around???? 6- He could tell me that they are understaffed, and that was causing delays, and that they couldn't even take walk-in service any longer due to the backup. Okay, sure, that's understandable. Everyone is having staffing issues, especially those companies that don't want to pay competitively. But, whatever. What he could not tell me was if my car had even been started with the repairs, or if it would get done on Monday, or really anything of any real use. So, to be clear, at no point in time did anyone from Jim Ellis Ford ever reach out to me to explain that a "several hour" service would be a minimum of 2-3 days to turn around. No one at Jim Ellis Ford ever talked to me at all about the repairs or service request (although the nice Service Agent I talked to today said that absolutely should have happened). Even when I dropped the car off, no one indicated that Jim Ellis Ford would be holding my car hostage for 2-3 days (and over a weekend, including a Sunday when you aren't even open) meaning I would be without my car from Thursday evening until **HOPEFULLY** Monday evening. And, more importantly, apparently no one in your entire company can actually tell me with any certainty when I might get my car back because your computer system apparently is so poorly designed that only the one Service Agent that I handed my keys to is able to access it and get all this data. With actual up-front communication about the fact that I would be without my car for at least 4 days, I could have taken other steps. I could have made different arrangements, planned differently, something. But, there was none of that. No communication at all, until I was standing there this morning, pretty much pissed off that I had to leave my house a second time just to get the common courtesy of some communication. Fortunately, there is an entire internet out there with lots and lots of places to tell this story to, so that others can know to avoid causing your service department any further issues by taking their business elsewhere. Update: After being told on Saturday by the Service Agent I spoke to that he would ensure I got a call first thing Monday Morning with an updated status by my Service Agent, that, of course, did not happen. Instead, I called around 11:30am, and actually got my designated Service Agent (you know, the one that has not contacted me at all the entire time, even when I left a detailed voicemail on Friday indicating I desired information). I was then informed that they had not even *STARTED* on my car (even though a tech checked out the ticket on Friday morning) and that it would likely be Wednesday or Thursday before they would be able to get the work done. So, after no one telling me this wasn't a one-day repair activity, or that they were backed up, or even responding to my call, and forcing me to go onsite again to talk to someone who can't really tell me anything, I'm told it'll be a few more days as if that's something I should have expected and understood. For recall repair work, mind you, that should only take a few hours to complete that I scheduled weeks in advance to ensure that the Service Department could have any required recall parts onsite to effect the repair. More

FYI_ I DIDN"T work with Jeremy Ellis, but didnt see my service advisor listed, The issue wasn't even with the person I worked with, it was with the techs who recommended services for things that don't exi service advisor listed, The issue wasn't even with the person I worked with, it was with the techs who recommended services for things that don't exist and wanted to charge me 3x what we got them replaced from another location by--------------------------------------Disappointed after years of being a loyal customer. We bought my 2013 F150 from Sandy Springs Ford in 2014 with 150 miles on it. Brand new! Before they were acquired by Asbury Automotive, we really like this place. Then as the large corporate cancerous culture took hold, the customer service and honesty went down the drain. I took my Truck in as it was over heating, and they recommended over 3k in services. I was about to pull the trigger as I don't have time to deal with these things...but we got a second opinion as suggested by my father in law. I just had the truck fixed for 1k (yep, 1/3 of their quoted price. One of the items quoted by this dealership was explained to me by our second opinion as "this doesn't exist, this isn't a thing". We are also looking to buy a new car, and now we will take our business elsewhere once the car shortages are over. Not saying everyone at Jim Ellis is dishonest, but they tried to take advantage of me, and they almost had me. Run, don't walk away from this dealership. Gave two stars as the original sales people at this location were good to deal with, even though they promised me loaners every time the car was serviced and I was told they don't do that anymore, and wouldn't provide rentals for free either. Further, now that I think about it, it took them around 4 weeks to repair a in warranty transmission on my wife explorer and wouldn't provide a loaner or rental car for that either. I expect some canned response from the owners saying "we are disappointed to hear about your experience and if you call us we will try and make it better. Ha, you had your chance. This seems to be par for the course at this place since they were acquired. Sort the reviews from lowest to highest and hold on. You won't have enough time to read all the negative reviews. I assume they buy positive ones to try and bury the negative ones. Shame shame! More

I have dealt with this dealership for a while now. I had an issue in May with the service department and I tried to contact them via phone to bring me vehicle back in, due to the service department failures an issue in May with the service department and I tried to contact them via phone to bring me vehicle back in, due to the service department failures. It took me to contact Ford Corporate to get my car scheduled for an appointment. That took almost 3 months. When my car went in for the appointment, it sat there for 6 weeks not touch due to the service department not knowing what to do with some ford performance items. I couldn’t contact anyone nor could the Ford Corporate Supervisor contact them as well. When I picked up my car after 7 weeks, my car experience another scratch from the shop. Which the service manager (William C. Hembree) noticed and service representative David noticed as well. Both employees blamed each other and no one took the responsibility for my car being scratched. I then contacted the GM of the dealership and him and I with the two employees involved had a conference call to settle out the scratch my car experience at the shop. When I bought my car back and picked it up the service department did a poor paint job on my car. When I question the quality of the paint they told me that this was the best that they could do, which meaning a touch up job. My car still have visibility of paint issues and no one at the dealership really didn’t think it was a big deal. At first this dealership under Nalley Ford was very professional, but since under Jim Ellis Ford. I’ve experienced poor customer service. Jim Ellis states that they offer the best customer service but in reality the dealership does not. As a customer you should not have to argue about the quality of the service with the team at Jim Ellis Ford. But this issue has been ongoing from May until the end of October. This is very unacceptable, I would not recommend this dealership to anyone. They want you to purchase a new car, but when it’s time for the dealership to take ownership, they do not deliver. More

Quick attention and very courtesy. Told how long it would take and kept me informed. Nice waiting room would take and kept me informed. Nice waiting room More

Mark Thompson was my service advisor. He was very nice, sharp, and professional. The service department performed well. sharp, and professional. The service department performed well. More

Great service & pleasant staff. Made me feel at ease & quickly got my car serviced. I will come back all the time quickly got my car serviced. I will come back all the time More

Did not service my vehicle properly. I was charged for services and I have a service plan. services and I have a service plan. More

your free offer car wash was a scam. They only washed the front of car. Left the back dirty which could not be seen when I drove off. front of car. Left the back dirty which could not be seen when I drove off. More

The old dealer did a terrible job on the brakes using after mark pads without telling me . The first thing Ellis came out and told me after checking the breaks was that the initial pad replacement was do after mark pads without telling me . The first thing Ellis came out and told me after checking the breaks was that the initial pad replacement was done with after market pads and did I know this ? The answer was no . Dishonest to say the least ! Ellis did the job the right way and I am very satisfied . The service contact gentlemen was excellent. Thank you More

Great service department with honest diagnosis and pricing. Really appreciate the veteran / first responder discount as well. Nice they acknowledge service to country and the community! pricing. Really appreciate the veteran / first responder discount as well. Nice they acknowledge service to country and the community! More