Krause Family Ford — Local services in Woodstock

If I could give zero stars I would. A little back story on the purchase: While visiting family in Florida, we purchased a Blue Certified used 2021 Expedition from another dealership. During the test drive we noted a small clunking noise when breaking/down shifting and pointed it out to the sales person. After our drive, the manager and a tech drove the vehicle. They stated they didn't have the time today to deep dive into finding out what was causing the noise since we were leaving the following day, but that it was nothing major and we could take it to any Ford dealership when we got home and they could look at it. It took about 2 weeks for us to get it to the dealership once we were home, but we were told it wasn't a serious issue so we got it there when our schedules allowed. The first time I dropped it off they told me they couldn't recreate the issue. The second time, I drove the vehicle with the service manager until I could point out the issue. Once the sound became obvious the manager took over driving and made it clear that was not a normal noise. They thought the problem was the drive shaft. I asked for a loaner vehicle and was told that they didn't have any. After some back and forth they finally relented and gave me a loaner. The drive shaft was replaced but they determined that that didn't solve the problem and that there was actually an issue with the transmission. They needed to rebuild it which would take a few weeks. Being very upset that I was sold a with transmission issue I told them I no longer wanted the vehicle. I wanted my money back and I would buy something brand new. They told me I was out of the 7 day return window. They said I could trade it in but I overpaid for the vehicle so I wouldn't get what I owed on it. I had not even made my first payment yet. We decided to continue with the rebuild. 2+ weeks later when I got the vehicle back, I am driving it off the lot and I continue to hear the clunking noise. I called to tell them I am having issues still and they said I could bring it back again. Once again told me they couldn't recreate the issue. Over the next few weeks the noise persisted and the gears seem to start catching/shifting harder than before. I take the vehicle back two more times, asking for the manager to ride with me. Instead they had a young tech ride with me (twice) and he told me this is a normal for this vehicle. I wanted to know why it was considered not normal the first few times I brought it in, but now it was fine. I was told they compared it to two newer vehicles and they did the same thing. The next time I took it back my husband came with me and stated that we disagreed but were told there wasn't really anything they could do about it. Fast forward a few months and we are traveling from Atlanta to Baltimore on Christmas Eve to visit family. We make it to Knoxville before we are having severe issues and the transmission gets stuck in 5th gear. Thankfully we were able to make it to a dealership just before closing. They test drove the vehicle and told us that the transmission was smoked and that we will need to replaced it. We explained that we already had it rebuilt about 2 months prior and had been told by another dealer that the "issues" we were having were normal. Now we were stuck in Knoxville on Christmas Eve, with no loaner vehicles available and 7 hours to go on our drive. Thankfully, we were able to find a rental company that hadn't closed for the day yet and ended up with a vehicle half the size. When I called Krause ford to explain what was going on, they stated they were sorry they weren't able to recreate the issue when we had brought it back to them before. I reminded them that I DID in fact recreate the issue for them and they told me it there wasn't anything wrong with the vehicle. It took 24 days to get my vehicle back and I had to drive all the way up to Knoxville to pick it up. 2 of the 4 payments I have made on this vehicle I haven't even had it in my possession. I wouldn't trust this dealership to rotate my tires...

The communication with my service advisor was non existent. For the duration of a little over 2 weeks (on a repair that was supposed to take a little over a week) that the vehicle was with Krause family ford I could not get responses via phone or text, or even get anyone to ANSWER the phone until the last two days (which was after I had called sales and reported this issue). I had to drive to the dealer 6 different times to get updates on my truck due to this. But, thats not anywhere near the worst part. The repair to the truck required some disassembly of the front end as the condenser had to be replaced. The day after picking up the truck, I tried to use the windshield washer and it was non functional. Upon inspecting this, I found that the service tech did not hook the washer nozzle hoses back up during reassembly, so I fixed that. After finding this, I looked over the rest of the truck for other issues. I found two wiring harnesses that have retainers to hold them to the fan shroud and/or front support, and both were left hanging loose where they can rub on other components, so I fixed that. While my truck was in for the repair, they also performed the first 10k mile service which consisted of an oil and filter change and general inspection. Both the service tech and the maintenance tech missed that the secondary coolant reservoir was over an inch below the minimum level, so I had to buy the fluid and top that off myself. This reservoir was not low 10k miles ago when I bought the truck, so I can only assume some fluid was lost during the repairs and the service tech simply didnt top it back up. When I crawled under the truck I found the worst problem out of all this. Both the oil drain plug and the oil filter had been left loose. The filter had not yet begun to leak but was barely hand tight and took over a turn to be snug. The drain plug on the other hand was 3 threads out and actively dripping on my driveway. this was less than 50 miles after I picked the truck up from Krause service department. Had I not inspected their work and found these problems, they would be buying me an engine best case scenario, and the oil slick that 15 quarts of oil would have caused could have killed someone. Unfortunately, im stuck with these guys due to a maintenance contract that I paid for when I bought the truck. My advice to anybody reading this is, dont pay for the maintenance contract and lock yourself into these guys doing your service, and if you already have you should bring your own tools to check over their work before you pull out of the parking lot, which is unfortunately what im going to have to do from now on in order to get my moneys worth out of the maintenance contract. This work was allegedly done by their best diesel truck tech according to the service advisor, so god forbid you get another tech. It's also worth mentioning that one repair which was done was due to a rock damaging one of the front parking sensors, which obviously is not covered by warranty. I was quoted 261 dollars for the part and 1 hour of labor to install. When I picked the truck up I was billed 506 dollars for the repair. When I questioned this, my service advisor stated different numbers than he originally told me, and also admitted he didnt know it needed to be painted which was on him, and then stated that he marked the repainting of the new sensor down to their cost as a favor to me. If you didnt quote it from the start, you shouldnt be charging me for it at all. Thats not a favor, thats just you screwing me less. Thanks Will.

On a positive note, the purchasing experience was excellent and I have no complaints there. However, I cant say I would buy from them again because while sales was great to deal with, service was horrible and its all the same business. I cant support sales without that benefitting service, so I will have to try a different dealer altogether next time.

Update Found that they left the lug nuts loose on all 4 tires. Nearly lost...

My experience with Krause Family Ford was an absolute nightmare. I went in to buy a 2024 Mustang GT, and from the moment I walked through the door, the lack of basic courtesy was shocking. I spent over three hours there, and not once was I offered so much as a glass of water until I asked for it. I've visited plenty of dealerships, and this treatment was beyond unacceptable. Given my name, Muhammad, and the fact that I’m a person of color, I can’t ignore the feeling that racial bias was a factor in their complete disregard for me as a customer.

But it only got worse. They couldn’t even get my contact information right they entered my phone number and email incorrectly, and even after I corrected them before I left, nothing was updated. This error caused chaos when I tried to set up my Chase account for my car loan. If I hadn’t caught the mistake, I could’ve faced fines for late payments due to their incompetence. This kind of negligence is infuriating, especially when it could have cost me financially.

The dealership also promised that my sales agent, Ben Duggard, would follow up with me about ceramic coating for my car, but he never reached out. I had to track down another employee, Mike Stimmel, myself to get any kind of response. Even after I confirmed an appointment and asked for a loaner car, I showed up to find they didn’t have anything ready.

The day after my car was supposedly finished, I called to check on it, and they claimed they didn’t even know where my car was! After calling Mike again, they suddenly “found” my car within two minutes. Adding insult to injury, Ben tried to claim my phone number was wrong even though I had been speaking to his manager with that same number multiple times. The excuses were endless, and no one seemed to take responsibility for anything.

In all of this, Mike Stimmel was the only one who seemed to understand the situation and genuinely helped me out. He was the one consistent source of support and knew exactly what was going on. If not for Mike, this process would have been even worse.

Do not buy a car with Ben Duggard. His lack of follow-through and accountability made an already bad situation worse. Overall, I’ve never dealt with such unprofessionalism for a major purchase, and I wouldn’t recommend Krause Family Ford to anyone. The lack of communication, follow-through, and basic respect left me disgusted. Avoid this place if you value your time, money,...