Griffin Ford Review By Jay Silveus

Took my truck to Griffin Ford on 8/2/18. They diagnosed a check engine light issue to be coolant getting into my engine. Not good, but, under warranty. I was told they would not be able to do any work on it for at least 1.5-2 weeks as their engine tech was so busy. They had 4 cars in front of me he had to work on. However, I could not take the truck home and "schedule" a time or even have Griffin call me a day or 2 before to have me bring it in. I get that it likely is not a good idea to drive the truck in this condition, but, long story, but, this has been going on since 5k miles and now had nearly 20k with no one able to diagnose it. Griffin knew that, but, did not matter as that is their "specialty shop" go to market strategy. Each tech has only 1 specialty and that typically is 1 person per specialty. On top of that, and really the kicker, they offered no loaner or rental. Of course, I would prefer a loaner, but, was willing to do something as I needed a vehicle for work. This too is their decision as a dealership. Others do offer a loaner/rental. Due to the long history of not being able to diagnose the problem till now, I decided that I could live for 1.5 weeks. This turned into a total of 4+ weeks. Picked up the truck on 9/17. It was completed by 9/14. Service Advisor did not proactively communicate with me that things were getting extended, I had to call in more than once. We had a big vacation planned for over a year where we would need the truck to pull a camper. The reason we bought the truck… Well that did not happen. We had to change our plans and spend even more money to rent a small pop-up as we weren't going to cancel the trip. During this process, Griffin Ford hired a new Service Manager and while he did a lot to remedy the pain in the butt this truly was, the damage was done. I cannot say what the future holds, but, there is room for improvement in the customer service delivery. As a stark contrast, while this was going on, my Chevy Traverse check engine light came on. I took it to the Chevy dealer we normally go to and their customer service and proactive communication along with a loaner ready within 5 min of arrive at the shop was top notch. This difference in customer service is what prompted me to write this review. Hopefully Jeff can remedy some of this.Update 10/4/18Spoke with Service Manager and he explained more of the things he was able to do to help me out with this. In fact, I give Jeff, new Service Manager a '5'. Much appreciate his efforts to make things right. In addition, I like their initiative to get more Tech's cross-trained so they can be more efficient when certain Tech's get backed up - this is a great move toward a focus on Customer Service! Consider this a 4.5 star rating. Getting closer to a '5' and I will be taking my truck back to Griffin for service in the future.