Beau Townsend Ford — Local services in Vandalia

We brought our truck into Beau Townsend Ford on Thursday, April 17 while traveling through Ohio en route to Montana, towing a 5th wheel camper. The truck was experiencing a warranty-covered sensor issue that had been temporarily addressed at our home dealership (Capital Ford) in Raleigh, NC, due to the part being on indefinite backorder. The Capital Ford service manager advised us to come back after our cross country adventure was complete. Hopefully the part arrived by then. However, when the warning light reappeared in Ohio, he recommended not continuing our cross-country trip, as the truck could potentially enter limp mode. We shared this full history with Beau Townsend’s service department, including contact info for our Raleigh service manager and confirmation that the part could be overnighted. Despite this, we sat in a nearby campground for eight nights, incurring over $450 in unexpected camping fees, all while waiting for a repair that should have been handled in a timely and professional manner.

The delay was not due to part availability or shipping — Raleigh had the part and offered to ship it immediately. Instead, Beau Townsend’s repair manager made it clear the hold-up was about whether they’d get paid for the warranty work. As a customer, this issue should never have been shared with or impacted us. Payment coordination between two Ford dealerships should happen behind the scenes — not at the customer’s expense.

Worse still, we had to continually follow up with multiple calls just to get updates. We were never proactively contacted about status, timing, or resolution. Had the dealership simply prioritized customer service and made the necessary calls on Thursday, the part could have been installed Friday or by Monday at the latest. Instead, we were delayed a full week — arriving late for our work commitments in Montana.

We understand that parts delays and logistics happen. What we don’t accept is being caught in a "tug of war" between two dealerships over payment, while no one communicated with us or seemed to prioritize getting us back on the road.

As full-time RVers who depend on timely service and good communication, we unfortunately cannot recommend Beau Townsend Ford. This review will be shared on Yelp and across our social media platforms to inform others who may find themselves in a similar situation.

*Sidenote - Our experience with Capital Ford in Raleigh, NC was AMAZING - They took care of us all the way through the process the Service Manager Dean was in constant communication with us and even called us today to follow-up to make sure (one week later) that everything was going great with the truck and thanking us again for being customers. Beau Townsend Ford could take some customer service lessons from Dean and the team at Capital Ford in Raleigh, NC!

Edited response: Thank you for your response. The ultimate work performed by your dealership was good. My point is, as a customer with a warranty issue, we should have been taken care of without any knowledge of the backend between two dealerships. Our disappointment was with the delay by the service manager that told us nothing could be done until they figured out how they were going to get paid. Which, cost us at least 4 extra nights - conservatively. You certainly did diagnose the issue and you were very clear sending pictures and pointing fingers but those issues should have been taken up with Ford Management Reps. We are a Ford customer with a Ford warranty we should have been taken care of without being casualties of the behind the scenes - is our...

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