Is Ford Service really this bad?!

[jacknifetoaswan]

I won't comment on the loaner with your son and pitching a fit to get the loaner but I will agree that whatever you dealt with is out of line. But as you said the other dealer you have gone too has been great (thus far) proving that there are some good guys out there. You are correct, it is either done or not done, period. I will say though that to do that particular recall most of the interior and other things need to come out of the car because of the crappy way Ford installed it. There is recourse and I would call Ford to let them know that a recall has not been completed but marked completed. They will make an investigation into that case and should re-open the recall on the vehicle. I have had a handful of vehicles come in stating the recall was complete in OASIS but the recall was opened back up? I called on it and one of the top dogs told me that they investigate flat rating and if not done, they charge back that dealer, other things happen and the new dealer can complete the recall and still get paid for it. IMO going to the FTC and whatever else is overkill but that is my opinion, like many government agencies they don't give a crap either.

I absolutely agree that there are some good dealers out there, but I continually hear horror stories about Ford dealerships and their service centers. At this point, unless it's warranty work that HAS to be done by a dealer, I'll never take a vehicle to a Ford dealer, but I have that luxury, as I can do most of my own work.

Regarding the rear camera recall, I get that it's a crappy repair. That doesn't excuse the fact that the dealer said it was complete, marked it as complete in Oasis, then had the gall to tell me that they followed the recall campaign to a "t" and my vehicle was not eligible for harness replacement. Then, when I contacted Ford about it, corporate told me to deal with the dealership, and couldn't advise me on having the recall marked as incomplete in Oasis, so I could go to another dealer.

Getting involved with government entities was a last ditch effort. The Customer Success Manager, Marty Maghakian, made a lot of promises. He assured me that he would usher the vehicle through the recall process, personally, and that in the past, Jones had dealt with service techs receiving recall parts, and rather than completing the recall at a low flat rate, would throw away the parts and mark the recall complete. He was put in that role to fix the issues and resolve their reputational issues, which culminated in an audit from Ford corporate (and I believe the NHTSB) and probationary period for the dealership. His words. He promised me a call back the next day, and said he'd have me scheduled with their senior tech in charge of vehicle electrical systems. He never called, and I was offloaded and had to escalate both within the dealer and external to the dealer.

This type of thing should not happen.

JR

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[ColonelAngus]

Both my local dealers have been fine for service work. I think 45-60 minutes for an oil change is standard now a days

From time of arrival, getting a tech on it, finishing paperwork, and out the door... yeah I'd say anything under an hour is reasonable.

 

[Austin Bronco]

Same experience for me for the most part. Bring vehicle in saying the right wheels is making a weird noise. Drop it off, wait a week to get a call that it’s ready. When I show I ask, “ well what was it?” Tech responds “ we couldn’t duplicate the problem so we called it good” WTF!?! Ready apparently means, we did Nothing. Then I drive the tech and manager around so they can obviously hear the issue. Turns out a wheel bearing was jacked up, and they were just going to give it back to me to drive around. Sounds safe with my 2 young kids. Let us sit another week then got it back. Whew,

 

[ultimateone]

Both my local dealers have been fine for service work. I think 45-60 minutes for an oil change is standard now a days

Agreed and the same for other car and truck makes

 

[EMBronco]

My local Ford dealer has been great the couple of times I've needed to take my Bronco in, and I didn't buy the Bronco from them. I always call and schedule an appointment to drop it off, and they've always had it done on time. One of the things I really like is the Service Techs will send text messages with short video clips of what they fixed.

Since Ford dealers are independently owned, I'm sure the service experience can vary widely from one dealer to the next.

 

[wjtinfwb]

Most Ford dealers are bad... but it's not unique to Ford. Our Jeep experience was equally disappointing and my wife's Acura has to receive its warranty work at the Honda dealer next door (same owner) as the Acura store closed their service department for remodeling in early 2020 and its not reopened since! When I lived in North Atlanta, had a great Ford dealer (Billy Howell Ford in Cumming), an independent dealer with a pretty good service department. My local North Florida Ford dealer options are bad, worse and too far. The local dealers wouldn't consider honoring my Bronco reservation at MSRP, one wanted 5k over list to order, the other demanded 35% over MSRP to order. Ended up going to Bessemer Alabama (Town & Country Ford) to order and had an excellent experience. Now my Big Bend Sasquatch is due for a oil change and the local dealer tells me 7-10 days for an appointment and leave it with them. Their "Quick Lane" is non existent and just a banner hanging over the door. A friend who is owns an independent shop in Georgia tells me it's a perfect storm of people keeping cars much longer that need repair, some degree of parts availability issues due to supply chain and the biggest is, the lack of labor and skilled techs. My last oil change at a Ford Quick Lane shop resulted in me watching the tech pour 5 quarts of 5w20 Synthetic Blend oil into my Focus ST, which calls for 5w30 and I'd specified full-synthetic. I made them drain out the incorrect oil and they had to send a driver up to another shop to obtain the full synthetic 5w-30. The "tech" who worked on my car knew absolutely zero about the oil requirements of a turbo, only muttering a "most Ford's use 5w-20". Just stopped at Wal-Mart this morning and picked up the necessary supplies to do the change myself, $45 and I'm all set to get dirty!

 

[subg]

My dad is the service director at the dealer I frequent. I have it pretty cushy I just drop my Bronco off at his house and drive his Bronco for the day while he takes mine to work with him.

Let me get his number please, I'll drop mine off at his house in the morning.

 

[subg]

Dealers here are all short handed on tecs.

They are also union.

You can't drive down dealer row without seeing a group on strike every other month.

Best to drop the car off for even an oil change until labor is up to par.

 

[OscarHTX]

My mother in law took her Ford in for severe rough idling, took them 3 months to figure it out. No loaner the entire time and that was her only vehicle. When she finally got her vehicle back it was better but still rough at idle.

 

[holdentx]

I absolutely agree that there are some good dealers out there, but I continually hear horror stories about Ford dealerships and their service centers.

This is one of the poor qualities of the human race. We (humans) are very quick to complain about things, and rarely spend the time to say anything nice.
In general, the things you hear about any company that deals with the general public (Ford, Verizon, Comcast, your power company) are all negative, because we love hitting the keyboards when we are mad. Do people take the time to start a thread online and post about something good their power company did for them? rarely.

So before assuming Ford service is "the worst" because you only hear horror stories, remember you are only hearing one side of a much bigger story.

And P.S. The Ford ESP does have rental reimbursement if your car is in the shop for something warranty related.
If you did get a free-loaner from someplace in the past, it wasn't free.....you paid or it somewhere else along the way.

 

[Discusman68]

All depends on the dealership. The dealer closest to me is terrible do I go 20 miles to a much better dealer who doesn’t mark up(got my bronco at msrp) and is very conscientious!

 

[Pb.Slinger]

Dealership services aren’t what they once were. I don’t trust dealers to do anything short of required warranty repairs. I do all of my own maintenance and mods.

 

[ChrisB351]

Maybe if we get back to “Quality is job 1” dealers wouldn’t be swamped with warranty work. There’s no reason brand new vehicles should need this much warranty work with todays technology.

As long as humans are building them there will be problems. Doesnt matter what the brand is. The factories still have to deal with staffing as well. If 10% of the assembly workers called out it would definitely put a kink in the process.

 

[Rspayde]

Let me get his number please, I'll drop mine off at his house in the morning.

Hey you drive all the way down here and I will drive your bronco to the dealer and give you the keys to my wifes Hyundai for the day. Just don't put any living beings in the rear seats.

 

[HOSSMAN]

Why so bitter? Nevermind....

Bitter? Not at all my friend, simply answering everyone as I said I would

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