Joyce Ford

Pity, What’s up with Chicago and Ford dealers. I’ve lived here 30 years and as soon as I adjust to one they go bankrupt or close. I go all the way back to Northshore Ford in Wilmiette. Another great dealer gone… Joyce was good to but…

I took my car to Joyce Ford twice for service. The first service was okay, they did the Ford ‘works’ and there wasn’t any issues, just took a while to get the car done.
The second visit they came to me stating my car needed new brakes, rotors all the way round and that it was close to the brakes being completely worn. now at the time the car had barely done 17 000 miles it was in mint condition. They then took ¾ hours to do the service and replace the brakes. A month or so later my oil light came back on. Questioning whether they actually did something to my car for the charges. Im glad they closed down and i’ve found a better dealership who are quick, effective and know what they’re doing.

Just an FYI Joyce Ford has closed as of May 1, 2012.
In short, i am very frustrated and a bit confused. I traded in my 2011 Kia Sorento to purchase a new Explorer in March 2012. The sales rep, Pete, was incredible. Not to mention I love the new car.
However, I paid $ 120 for a plate transfer that they NEVER processed. When I figured this out, and after I made a few phone calls, I just decided, «fine; I will take the $ 120 hit and transfer the plates myself.» Well, it was not that easy…
It seems Joyce Ford never even had a title issued for the car. Without this, I cannot register the plates to the new car. Now, I need to file a complaint with the state, which could take months to resolve. In the mean time, I will travel with my Ford «bill of sale» and a copy of my complaint in case I get pulled over. I hope this is sufficient.
Interestingly, despite an extensive search of the web, I cannot find ANYTHING related to Joyce Ford shutting down. It is as if they boarded up and walked away from everything (and yes, the building is literally boarded up now).
Does anyone have any information about what happened? Why has nobody even mentioned the closing of Joyce Ford?! If you have any information or resources that may help my situation, I would greatly appreciate it.
Thanks.

I’m not sure how places like this stay open, pretty sure this place wont be much longer. Even after I made an appointment and gave them all my vehicles information two days prior to come in for an oil change, they couldn’t find me in the system. Then I waited 3 hours for them to tell me I needed brakes and rotors, which is fine, but it took and additional 3+ hours to get that complete. My neighborhood mechanic could have this work done in an hour tops. Frustrating, if there is anyone looking to open up a decent Ford dealership, The City of Chicago is begging for one.
Occasionally I’ll read a review like this and dismiss it because of one experience, but the other side of this is that this place is an very old, decrepit building with no amenities, awful waiting space, there are abandonded desks, no outlets, it’s dirty, the list goes on.

In lue of a new chapter in my life I have decided to write this review… And not just any review:
Review 900!
Plus a new car purchase!
What could be next?!
I love, Love, LOVE my new Ford Focus Titanium hatchback! Allow me to share a few bullet points demonstrating the pleasure it was dealing with Joyce Ford.
–First off, it is the ONLY Ford dealership left in the Chicago city limits, plus the last few car dealerships remaining on Chicago’s Motor Row. If you step inside the building and onto the show floor, you’ll notice the building was obviously constructed to solely house cars (it dates back to 1905). Of course, a few minor interior decorating tweaks have been made, but if you ask someone at the front desk for a picture of the building in its heyday, it looks quite similar (they have a Ford History book available). A little fact is that it was the first Ford showroom outside Detroit! Who knew?!
–Pete is simply the «go to» man. While I expected to be confronted and turned off by a classic dealer when stepping into a car dealership, he was quite the opposite. My partner and I were offered upfront to take a car for a testdrive ALONE without being awkwardly accompanied by an employee. Even better, they just needed a copy of our drivers license and advised us to take the car for a roll down Lake Shore Drive. Mind you, they prepared the test car in 10 minutes on a cold winter day when there was at least 6 inches of snow on the ground.
–I was able to test drive a second car right off the show floor with all the upgrade features (moon roof, loud speakers, larger tires, and interior lighting and leather seats)…Little did I know that it would be the car I would drive home that same day with the only con being the need to be «color-​blind» (since I had originally wanted a blue color)!
–I was offered $ 500 off for being a first time car owner and another $ 500 for being a recent college graduate. Cha-​ching!
–Pete spent an hour after store closing to show us every single (and I mean EVERY) feature of our new purchase so we were comfortable with it and able to take advantage of all its perks.
–This dealership has an auto repair shop connected to it, which is quite convenient (luckily I haven’t needed to take my car in yet, but I do have a coupon from the mail they sent with my VIN card).
–After purchasing the car at the dealership, we receive a lifetime of FREE car washes, holla! Even better, I’m helping out our country’s drowning economy by buying a Michigan built car.
–For those interested in buying a new or used car, definitely stop by Joyce Ford. There’s free parking in the rear lot and the option to schedule a test drive on their website (just be aware that you may receive a few calls to confirm).
Originally my partner and I thought we wanted to buy a Hyundai Velsoter so we wanted to try one out before making any final decisions. Pete let us know that there was a Hyundai dealership just a 5 minute drive south on Michigan Avenue. He was such a proud salesman that he knew we’d be back. Joyce Ford just so happened to be our first and last stop while shopping around for my first car. It couldn’t have been a better experience.
In memory of my next life chapter, my beautiful pearl white Ford Focus Titanium adopted the name «Snowball» based on the snowy day she was purchased. I’ve learned to love her color :)

Having had a Honda and experienced really good customer service and communcations whenever I took my car to be serviced by a Honda dealer, I just can’t help but wonder why Joyce Ford doesn’t attempt to improve their customer experience and make taking your car there more pleasant.
There’s just no getting beyond the fact that the waiting area is a dump. The service department seems terribly disorganized, they communicate with the customers very poorly. But, they do good work (at least for me), and they are reasonably priced. And, they are the only Ford dealership in the city. I take my car there for oil changes — I’ve learned to take a book to read — cause this ain’t Jiffy Lube, and they move at their own speed.

I am writing this review while in the buying process, so it really could be used to capture them accurately.
I have been to a lot of dealerships from Car Max, Hyundai Roger Auto Group, Western Ave Nissan, Midway Dodge, and this place was great. It provided the closest experience to buying at Car Max, no doubt. [CLARIFICATION — Midway Dodge are a bunch of crooks/​scam artists with 90% of their stock coming from sight-​unseen auctions. Western Ave Nissan are a bunch of untrained guys that will sell you a car and not know what features are ever in it – no lie.] I have felt no pressure during the entire process starting from the sales mgr — Mike to the finance mgr — Gene. I even negotiated my trade-​in, and agreed on the terms of used truck I wanted, plus agreed on the «We Owe» doc already. They actually agreed to fix/​replace, etc. all for the items of the «We Owe» without me even signing the finance agreement – which was mind blowing! I left last week and plan to go back today to inspect the car and sign the doc’s.
Really important to note, that unlike other dealers in the city, they DO NOT buy cars from auctions, nor do they price your trade-​in against auction prices, but instead market-​prices – which are higher. Also, they gave me the Car Fax immediately prior to even requesting financing. And they gave me the AutoCheck & CarFax, which both were clear. Some places will only give one to hide comments on the other because they don’t always capture the same stuff.
There is nothing in this deal that could make me sour… unless they sell me a lemon, which I couldn’t verify for months. And if that’s the case, I will be recanting everything.

Joyce Ford makes me understand and relate to the Incredible Hulk on a very close level. Just thinking about this place makes me want to turn green and smash some cars.
I had my purse, which contained my only car key, stolen so I had to have my car towed here to get new keys cut. I called ahead and told the shop that AAA would be dropping off my car. After a day or two of not hearing back I called to check on the status of the car. I know how mechanics can get backed up and am totally understanding of these things but not even having them call me with an estimated time frame already had me a bit annoyed.
When I finally got someone on the phone they told me they didn’t have my car. I, in turn, start to freak out a little. Where is my car? Did someone steal it? Was that guy I let take my car the other night really a AAA tow truck driver? I explain to the man that my car MUST be there. He tells me he’ll call me back. About 45 minutes later I get a call that they found the car. Excellent. I mean … I’m not happy they lost it in the first place but at least it’s not stolen and in a chop-​shop somewhere on lower Wacker.
Two days later (which in my opinion is a really long time for key programming) I get a call from one of the guys in the shop. He tells me the keys are finished but there’s something wrong with the electrical security system. The conversation looked like this:
Mechanic: We’re not sure what the issue is but the security light is still on and the car can’t be driven until it’s fixed.
Me: Ok. I’m guessing you should probably figure out what it is and fix it so I can come get my car.
Mechanic: I need your approval to go ahead with the work.
Me: Are you telling me this is going to cost me more money? How much?
Mechanic: It’s going to cost $ 70 an hour to figure out what the problem is and then depending on what we find we’ll go from there.
Me: This wasn’t an issue before I sent you the car. You’re programming the keys to the electrical system and now you’re telling me there’s an electrical problem with the car that didn’t previously exist. It sounds to me like this is something you guys caused and I shouldn’t be responsible to pay for it.
The guy refuses to do anything until I agree to pay the labor fees for them to figure out the issue. At this point I am beyond angry. I am not a mechanic but I know enough about the process and have enough common sense to know that this issue should be resolved without involving my wallet. I also immediately assume that since I am a woman with a rather meek telephone voice they feel like I won’t have a clue and that they can get one over on me.
What I do instead is call my mechanic friend and explain the situation. He asks me for the number to the dealership and the name of the mechanic and says he’s going to call and talk to them for me. 30 minutes later I get a call from the mechanic at Joyce Ford asking for my friend by name. I say, «No. Sorry. This is Shannon.» At which point the mechanic just hangs up on me. 5 minutes later my friend calls me saying my car is fixed and ready to be picked up. He confirms my assumption that the issue was something they messed up and that yes they were probably just trying to get more money out of me.
Altogether I feel that the service I received from Joyce Ford was completely unacceptable. What if I didn’t have a mechanic friend? What if I was any other person that knew nothing about mechanics or cars? How much would it have cost me? How much has it cost other customers of Joyce Ford? After telling several of my friends the story the majority said they probably wouldn’t have even questioned it and would have wrongly paid the extra money however much it was. My situation with Joyce Ford was about as crooked as crooked gets when it comes to mechanic services. The blatant sexism and assumption that I am an ignorant car owner is one thing, but to top it off Joyce Ford boasts that they are the only female owned Ford dealership in Chicago!!! Really, Joyce!!! Really?!?
Neither the mechanic nor anyone at Joyce Ford ever bothered calling me to let me know my car was fixed. I felt I was already getting raped on the original price of $ 270 for two regular keys without remotes but all the rest was just the fat stinky cherry on top of my garbage sundae. I will never do business with this establishment again and I strongly urge anyone else to think twice about it as well.

Their communication is pretty horrible … but once we were able to convince them that we did indeed bring our car to them, and that they had ordered us a part for our window, they fixed it pretty quick. Now the window works, so they have that going for them.

This place should receive negative stars. My car was towed here after it broke down and was under warranty. This is the only Ford dealership in the Chicago area so I didn’t get a choice. Geez, a little healthy competition would really be good for Ford dealerships because it is abundantly clear that these people DO NOT GIVE A SH*T.
They kept my escape for an entire month, that’s right people, a MONTH. They never returned a single phone call or bothered to give me any updates whatsoever. Every piece of information I wanted about my car I had to personally seek out through repeated phone calls checking in… which by the way is no easy task. You call them and someone picks up then transfers you to service, where you will wait on hold for 5 – 10 minutes then likely will get someone who doesn’t know what’s going on with your car putting you on hold for another 5 minutes. Eventually someone by the name of Candice will pick up the phone and give you an update but usually these are very vague and her «estimations» of completion are always wrong, i. e:
At 1 week, I was told I’d have my car in about a week, at 2 weeks I was told they had to wait on parts and it would be another couple days, at 3 weeks I was told it would be done in 2 days, at the most 3 days later. 6 days later I actually got my car back.
I spoke to Rudy the mechanic repeatedly where he explained that he was the only dealership in Chicago and they have 1 guy who works on transmissions. He also told me that he has had a lot of full cars that needed to be worked on. Here’s a thought Rudy… HIRE MORE MECHANICS! You obviously have enough demand from your customers in need of transmission repairs to warrant it.
The fact that this is the only Ford dealership in Chicago is enough to make me certain that my next car will NOT be a Ford and I would strongly advise anyone needing any maintenance on their Ford in the Chicago area to seek out the suburbs. It might seem like a pain in the ass but trust me, their convenience of being in the city is no convenience at all.

Wow, this place is my new favorite place in all of Chicago. Very good people work there! My car wouldn’t start on a this very cold morning. Its seems my 8 year old battery had just give up the ghost. So I trekking 1.5 miles to an auto parts store that was suppose to be open. I waited over 30 minutes in the freezing cold (waited on a Thursday 8– 9:15 am). After the blood started to freeze in my fingers I got creative. I found out there was a Ford dealership 4 blocks away (Joyce Ford)! I called and sure enough they were there. So I hiked another 5 blocks. They were bright eyed and welcoming! This was very nice after hanging out in negative windchill.
Thank you Joyce Ford for the help! I will be back next week for a breaks check and oil change! I will also send everyone I know to you guys!
Unilocalers! If you are reading this review… let me say you should NOT hesitate to go here. These people are seriously nice people, very genuine. They will help you with maintenance or to buy a car, I noticed they did that while I was there. Too bad I wasn’t there to do that.

Went back for needed service, and again a great experience! Fair pricing, good customer service, and a free wash to get all that salt and dirt off my car. Works for me!

I don’t know about the other people that went here but I recieved great service! I brought my car in for an oil change, to replace a part, and some other things. I wanted to go home as they said it might take a couple hours so I asked where the nearest EL was. But Ray, the service manager, was the sweetest and said that he advised against walking to the redline at Cermak/​Chinatown and gave me a ride back to my apt! I was ever sooo greatful!!!
I returned back about two weeks later to get a part installed and they didn’t charge for the labor as Ray said it only requred a couple screws. On top of that, he asked if I wanted a complimentary car wash! Service doesn’t get better than that people!

We started our car shopping at Joyce Ford and luckily it got better as we kept shopping. The experience wasn’t horrible, but I learned more from the Ford website about the Escape Hybrid than I did from the salesman.
Most of our questions were answered with a «uh, let me check» or an answer that didn’t really make much sense.
We ended up buying a totally different vehicle, because of the vehicle, not the salesman. But I would recommend a trip to a suburban Ford dealer before going to Joyce Ford (they are the only dealer in the city limits I believe).

Having moved from Chicago and being forced to find a new shop, I learned from my trustworthy mechanics here that Joyce only claimed to have fixed our air filter box– which was rusted shut via a, well, rusty bolt. Apparently they did nothing to the filter or the box, but charged us for the privilege anyway. Our mechanic down here said that nobody had opened it and changed the filter/​replaced the bolt. So… we got shafted.
Due to the salt used on the roads in Chicagoland to remove snow, the underside of your car will rust quickly if you have to park on the street. If that doesn’t get you, the potholes will. It’s important to befriend a good mechanic… I am so annoyed by Joyce charging me erroneously that I’d advise you to go elsewhere.
Sigh…

I’m surprised by the negative reviews written about Joyce Ford since I had a wonderful experience. I am originally from WI and was extremely skeptical of prices here in Chicago. I chose a dealership for repairs because of my skepticism even though Joyce Ford is the only Ford dealer in the city. However, for the repairs to my Ford Focus the price was extremely reasonable. The car was fixed in a timely manner.
Everyone was very friendly. In fact, after I dropped my car off one of the employees gave me a ride to the el so I didn’t have to walk.
I highly recommend this dealership for repairs. Staff was friendly, reasonable prices, and fast service.

I’m surprised at the negative review and it is comical that a person’s happiness is the quality of the television. Perhaps they should have walked half a block to hear live jazz at the velvet lounge or strolled to the blues museum down the street. That said, I bought a 09 escape hybrid at this dealership in the fall of 08 and have had nothing but pleasant experiences with them. Michael, the salesman, was incredibly easy to deal with and was not pushy at all. He presented the various options matter of factly and let us choose while not forcing any unwanted packages. We have had the car in for some additional equipment after the fact and they were prompt, reasonable and complete. I highly recommend this dealership
2 years after that last review — -we have been going there for service– most recently this morning when the tire pressure light came on. They have the best service department. Friendly, kind, even for something like putting air in the tires (and we tried to tip the guy after and he refused to take it). Will buy another care here.

Joyce has a run of the place: they’re the only Ford dealer in the city. Subsequently, when my Focus started shaking violently and I needed a means of transportation, they got my bidness – by default. And by default, they kept it… much longer than I would have liked.
They’re nice people, I’ll give you that: Rudy could not have been more polite or more active when they failed to fix what was wrong TWICE. The people there were working and constantly engaging customers, which is saying something.
The knock is for obviously not getting the work done right the first time – though they did not charge me for subsequent repairs – but the real lasting impression was the communication – that is, the lack of it. There is no reason for me to have to call – and every time, for that matter – to get a status check or to inquire on a completion date; there is really no excuse for that, especially when you’re not getting the job done. This is a clear fail on the part of management and whomever handles training, and said people need to realize they have no cache to lean on these days.

The Unilocaler who started this review bascially took the words out of my mouth. This place is a dump and the bathroom smells bad and the tv looks like someone bought it for $ 20 from the pawn shop. I brought my van in for an oil change at this location in 2002-​03. The stupid thing was that I was told that the oil change would take 45 minutes, but it turned in to 6 hours… WTF…this place was backed up with so many cars that needed to be worked on. This was because the service area garage was too small and could only hold so many cars at a time.
Then the owner-​Maureen Joyce cracked a really bad joke when she saw I was waiting for my car for all that time, but not once did she get up go into the service area to ask her staff what was taking them so long to complete an oil change. That to me was a poor display of conduct for an owner to not have some kind of better management skills. After that day I went to another Ford dealership where the service was much better and more efficient. I sent Joyce Ford an email telling them their service sucked and that I would not be returning for any other work to be done on my car ever again.
By how the dealership didnt respond to the email clearly told me that they didnt give a rat’s ass about how bad their service was. I wouldnt bother wasting time and money on getting your car serviced or even purchasing from this place because it seems like the owner has no real set structure on quality and keeping the place clean and presentable to customers. Not to mention an aggressive staff trying to sell you a car when the majority of the people bringing in their cars for service are still paying on their cars or are currently not in the market for a new one if they’re done paying for their current vehicle.

I took my Explorer for the 60k Check Up. Ray was great to deal with. The truck was ready when promised and the cost was the same as advertised. No upselling on other services.
Nice to go to a no head ache place!