Dealership service denied

[MayhemMike]

they are not required to work on your car. I know a small dealership with limited resources that operates this way as well. Basically it is the service managers choice. Ford doesn't run their business either so they are not going to demand they do anything.

Warranty states any Ford dealership. Non warranty work ,they are not under any obligation.

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[Ducati1098]

Warranty states any Ford dealership. Non warranty work ,they are not under any obligation.

Any Ford dealership CAN service your vehicle is different than every Ford dealership MUST service your vehicle.

 

[Scooter2]

So, I’m going to come at this a different way – you can scream and yell and cry, or, you could make an effort to grease the tracks.

Should you have to? Nope. But life’s not fair, is it?

Maybe go to the dealership of your choice and talk to the Service manager – about anything… Mods you do yourself, mods you need pros to do – Broncos - whatever.

Maybe, idk, a $10 box of doughnuts on a Friday Am, or 2 crappy AMC tickets, whatever. Doesn’t matter if he/she knows what you’re after or not - It’s pretty simple to 'make friends' and move up that priority list, but you do you.

 

[DaveH]

So, I’m going to come at this a different way – you can scream and yell and cry, or, you could make an effort to grease the tracks.

Should you have to? Nope. But life’s not fair, is it?

Maybe go to the dealership of your choice and talk to the Service manager – about anything… Mods you do yourself, mods you need pros to do – Broncos - whatever.

Maybe, idk, a $10 box of doughnuts on a Friday Am, or 2 crappy AMC tickets, whatever. Doesn’t matter if he/she knows what you’re after or not - It’s pretty simple to 'make friends' and move up that priority list, but you do you.

This is great advice. Decide what you want, and then figure out how to get that even if it is not how you think the process should work.

 

[ColoradoKid26]

In a previous dealer life, I used to say:

We are obligated to service your vehicle under warranty.
However, OUR customers will come first, and we'll get to your vehicle when we can.

It's not Burger King....

 

[CarGuy]

However Ford advertises the ability to have your vehicle serviced at their dealerships across the country leading me to believe that they have a contract to uphold. They also advertise free loaners which nobody seems to get any longer.

My thoughts exactly!

 

[CarGuy]

I just spoke to another dealership nearby and they said "sure we'll service your vehicle." Loaners are only for customers who bought cars there - not a big deal for me. First appt. is 3-weeks out. Seems to be hit/miss with each dealer. Still amazed by this and the lack of customer focus.

 

[Evergreen]

So, I’m going to come at this a different way – you can scream and yell and cry, or, you could make an effort to grease the tracks.

Should you have to? Nope. But life’s not fair, is it?

Maybe go to the dealership of your choice and talk to the Service manager – about anything… Mods you do yourself, mods you need pros to do – Broncos - whatever.

Maybe, idk, a $10 box of doughnuts on a Friday Am, or 2 crappy AMC tickets, whatever. Doesn’t matter if he/she knows what you’re after or not - It’s pretty simple to 'make friends' and move up that priority list, but you do you.

"You may not like to hear it, but you're going to need to bribe them to do their job."

 

[CarGuy]

"You may not like to hear it, but you're going to need to bribe them to do their job."

That's what attorneys are for.

 

[Rick Astley]

It's funny, because their ability to service vehicles is always dealerships' argument against direct sales. If they can't even do that, can we finally get rid of stealerships?

Sure, you always have the ability to go to an independent service shop. That has not changed and I'm sure they are just sitting around waiting for your call.

Sometimes the independent shops don't invest the tens of thousands of dollars into each OEM's diagnostic equipment and proprietary tooling.

For a fun time, talk to anyone in the autobody world and ask how easy it is to get parts for a Tesla. 6-month delays for parts has been consistent since before covid lockdowns and hasn't changed since.

 

[tock13]

The whole “staff shortage” BS is played out. We hired when we needed to fill positions at my company. The issue is all dealerships are interested is making as much money as possible while giving as little output to the customer as possible. Covid is over but they will milk this as long as we put up with it. Nobody has the tools at home to work on modern vehicles anymore so they know it is ‘bend over and don’t complain’ or ‘come back in a month’.

 

[Ducati1098]

The whole “staff shortage” BS is played out. We hired when we needed to fill positions at my company.

It’s really not though. Find me a young kid out of high school now days that wants to actually work hard, get their hands dirty and perform some difficult manual labor that also requires specialized training.

Is that what your job is? Because if not you’re comparing apples to oranges.

When kids now days can get $18/hour working at McDonald’s doing mindless work, they aren’t flocking to become automotive technicians

 

[Andrew72]

I'd agree with you. I'd also say if they don't have enough folks to service existing customers they've made a choice to just take care of them, which while inconvenient for some folks works out for the folks who did buy from them.

my wife works for a dealership and you are exactly right. they do not have enough techs for the amount of work coming in. Also have parts issues just like everyone else. As far as the loaners go. They don't have enough inventory due to trouble getting cars. Just like rental car companies hanging on to cars with high mileage now.

 

[AzureGray6G]

It's kindof a double hit.............. at a time when even their CEO admits that they have quality control issues ............ it appears to be harder than ever to get the defects that are oftentimes caused by poor quality control fixed ? Maybe if they would really address their quality control issues, Mr Farley and Ford wouldn't have to burden their dealer network with as much work ?

 

[Andrew72]

I have a 2009 f250 (with 40k miles on it) that I bought new from a local dealership and they don't want anything to do with it. "It's a 12 year old truck" they said.

many do not work on any over 10 years due to not being able to get parts. They will not install parts from other places such as rock auto due to liability issues. She has scheduled repairs for older cars, but those are ones they can get the parts for.

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