This morning I drove over to my Ford dealer that sold me my truck, just to get an oil change. (with all the snow and cold I figured I would let them do it.)
I then told him to rotate the tires.
I am going to Florida for bike week and figured I would get the truck ready.
I was sitting in the waiting room and the guy who wrote down my info sits down next to me. He proceeds to tell me that my rotors are all torn up and I really should have them fixed.
Now, I almost fell off my seat because for those of you that don't know my situation, this is the 4th time I have been at the dealer for the brakes and the dealerships keep telling me its normal wear.
Well, I hit the lottery today. They replaced my rotors, pads rotated the tires and did an oil change all for $37.50. I could of sh*t my pants.
Its amazing that you can't get anything done at a dealer unless you buy the vehicle from them. At least in NJ.
OASIS FORD

 

Maybe you dont understand that selling dealer loyalty is the most important thing when getting your vehicle serviced. If you come into our dealership with a vehicle you bought from us, you get treated like GOLD! If you bring in a used POS you bought down the road thats 2 1/2 years old and has 35,999 miles on it and demand warranty work or a loaner car or anything of that sort...be prepared to get shot down, and as well you should...(unless of course your traveling, and have a break down, these customers are usually treated as priority and fixed within 1 working day). When it comes to maintanence, warranty repairs, or any service concern, your selling dealer for the most part, should take care of you... Most important thing is not to get defensive, and irrate...as this will get you NOWHERE!

 

Ya gotta love it when that happens. My wife took her civic in for an oil change and checkup, the guy checking the brake fluid spilled it all over one of the disc brakes in the front, so they replaced both sets up front for free and they had 40,000km on them at that point. WOOHOO!!! That should last awhile.

 

oasis ford, where is that? lol i need some warranty stuff taken care of...

 

Hey MrBig, so I guess what your saying is that Oasis is a good dealer?? I have a few things I need to get taken care of and I wasn't sure what dealer in the area was good for service. Just wanted to get the computer flash and the oil change and tire rotation. Did you make an appointment or did you just go there and they had time to do it? I know with the ponitiac dealer I used to go to I had to usually wait a week to get in for service. By the way... my rotors look just like yours....how many miles do you have on your truck? Maybe I could luck out too

 

jhartz,

What about those that have just moved cities, have low miles, and are looking to start a relationship with the local dealer. Are they given any credit by the new dealer or are they still sent to the back of the bus?

Just curious because that is the story I am going with on my first visit to the local place after buying 300 miles away. Hopefully, I can put on my best poker face as I pour on the sob story.

 

While I SORTTA agree with you, I still think its total BS to get treated like you own dodge when going to a different dealer. Heres my story. I buy most of my vehicles up in Connecticut. My brother works at the dealership so I get treated fair, get the D plan or whatever it is and I like to support my family. I buy it from them its just one more day there in business and my brother gets a paycheck so he can provide for his family. Same with my other brother, he works for AT&T, I have never used another long distance carrier, ever in support of my brother. Anyway now im here in south jersey and get attitude and treated like crap from the Ford dealer because I didnt buy it here. Understand that when I brought it in it was less than a year old and had less than 14,000 miles on it. I understand the loyalty aspect of it and take care of your customers first. But all in all its still a Ford and they should treat Ford owners with a little more respect than they do. I really wish I could find a good dealer that I could trust in South Jersey to work on my truck. I have a few issues that need to be taken care of and I just dont have time to go to Conn. for a week and get them taken care of. Although itanence, warranty repairs, or any service concern, your selling dealer for the most part, should take care of you... Most important thing is not to get defensive, and irrate...as this will get you NOWHERE! [/B][/QUOTE]



While I SORTTA agree with you, I still think its total BS to get treated like you own dodge when going to a different dealer. Heres my story. I buy most of my vehicles up in Connecticut. My brother works at the dealership so I get treated fair, get the D plan or whatever it is and I like to support my family. I buy it from them its just one more day there in business and my brother gets a paycheck so he can provide for his family. Same with my other brother, he works for AT&T, I have never used another long distance carrier, ever in support of my brother. Anyway now im here in south jersey and get attitude and treated like crap from the Ford dealer because I didnt buy it here. Understand that when I brought it in it was less than a year old and had less than 14,000 miles on it. I understand the loyalty aspect of it and take care of your customers first. But all in all its still a Ford and they should treat Ford owners with a little more respect than they do. I really wish I could find a good dealer that I could trust in South Jersey to work on my truck. I have a few issues that need to be taken care of and I just dont have time to go to Conn. for a week and get them taken care of. Although its looking like im gonna have to take a week off work to do it.

 

Truth is always best, tell them you just moved, had a very good relationship with your previous dealer. And tell them you are now living there and that you need a new dealer, and that you insist on getting your truck serviced at a professional department... You should get a good response. Best thing you can do in this lifetime is to make a friend at a Ford dealer.... Then and only then will you get the all important GOLD service!! You guys with ins at the dealers know what I mean.... And if you dont, im sorry...

 

I mean no disrespect at all....honestly, I don't. But...that's BS. If a dealer is selling Ford's and they agree to Ford's terms (fixing ALL Ford warranty problems that come in), then they darn well better fix warranty issues instead of acting like common crooks and pick-pockets. My father has worked for car dealers all his life (mechanic) and I've worked at a few dealers, so I know how 'some' people can be at 'some' dealers. It's shameful sometimes. But part of dealing with service departments is knowing as much as you can before you go in. It's much easier to raise the BS flag when they start feeding you a line. This happened to me once not too long ago, but I had already gotten them to do what I wanted so I just played along like I was the stupid moron he thought I was

Having said that, I bought my truck in Victor, NY and have had no trouble at my local dealer in OH. Although, I DID run into the sales guy I was talking to before I decided to go to NY. That was sort of awkward His loss though. If he can't sell it to me $700 below X Plan price with all incentives intact like the other guy did, well...you gotta do what you gotta do.

 

Dealers that treat you like this should not have any expectations that you will purchase your next vehicle from them. Businesses that want to keep customers should treat them all like gold, 'cause that's where the gold comes from. It doesn't matter where the relationship starts (new car sales, used car sales, repair, body-shop, or even the parts counter.) Every interaction represents the potential to build a relationship, or **** a soon to be ex-customer off.

 

And that attitude right there costs ford billions per year in lost sales. And they wonder why people buy hondas and toyotas.

 

Dealerships, regardless of whether or not they sold you a vehicle are obligated by Ford Motor Company to service your vehicle for any warranty repairs, period, point, blank, end of sentence. This goes for Ford or Lincoln-Mercury dealerships, meaning that, depending on the vehicle of course, you can take your Ford to a Lincoln-Mercury dealer for service or vice versa. Some dealers won't go for this, like a Lincoln-Mercury dealer servicing an SVT vehicle, since technically they can't touch it without at least one SVT certified technician.

Now, how well they take care of you is a whole 'nother ordeal. After warranty assistance is often based on customer loyality...get your services and regular maintenance done at Joe Schmoe Ford regularly, and if worse came to worse and you had some kind of catastrophic failure after warranty, they might just foot the bill for you.

Sometimes, people who buy several vehicles from a dealership are treated in a higher regard than the guy who just moved into town and is looking for a dealership to take care of his vehicle, be it with regular services or warranty work. I've personally witnessed this at work myself. While I don't necessarily agree with it, I can see the reasoning behind it. And for what it's worth, every Ford dealer except the most recent that I've purchased from treated me like crap afterwards whenever it came to service.

So, your mileage may vary in regards to dealer service.

 

NO, the reason they lose billions a year, are the people (like a few on this forum) that think every little noise, squeak, rattle and every little stupid thing that you could possibly find that is wrong with your truck should be covered under warranty... Like when its -20 and snowing and you want to know why your wipers dont clear your windshield? 30-40 sets of wipers were warrantied alone in our dealership this winter so far, all because of some frozen wipers. People are too damn lazy to clean them off.. When granted some of it is legit warranty issues, a MAJORITY of it is BS! And what happens, yes Ford has to pay for the repair, the loaner, the warranty administrator, and the parts dept for disposing and handling of the parts, they pay for you to be satisfied, and in turn drives prices up on our cars and trucks... Billions a year is spent on keeping the customer happy. Alot has to do with inner dealership operations, but for the most part, Ford is paying out the butt to keep the customers it has left.... Just MHO.... And I dont work for Ford corporate if you can believe that....

 

I went back and re-read jhartz posts, and there are a few points I agree and disagree with.

I think that's ignorant behavior. The idea is to establish a new customer base; if Joe Schmoe brings his 2-1/2 year old POS that he bought at Used Cars R Us down the road with 35,999 miles on it, and he's treated like dirt at the dealership when he asks for a loaner car or has a few problems that can be taken care of under warranty, what do you think he's gonna do when it comes time to trade in his used POS and/or buy a new car? Service departments die because of stupid behavior like that. No, no one really likes working on cars under warranty at dealerships. But with the constant reduction of warranty pay times from Ford, coupled by sales increases from other brands, dealers with half brain at least cannot afford to do this. Any business is good business. At your dealership, that might fly. At mine, you'd better be reading the classifieds looking for another job, friend. ANY customer is gold, regardless of what they're standing in front of you for.

This I can agree with. Buying a car is the next biggest investment one will make, short of buying a house. But see the above paragraph too.

Should. But do they? Not always. The Ford dealers I've bought vehicles from treaike dirt at the dealership when he asks for a loaner car or has a few problems that can be taken care of under warranty, what do you think he's gonna do when it comes time to trade in his used POS and/or buy a new car? Service departments die because of stupid behavior like that. No, no one really likes working on cars under warranty at dealerships. But with the constant reduction of warranty pay times from Ford, coupled by sales increases from other brands, dealers with half brain at least cannot afford to do this. Any business is good business. At your dealership, that might fly. At mine, you'd better be reading the classifieds looking for another job, friend. ANY customer is gold, regardless of what they're standing in front of you for.

This I can agree with. Buying a car is the next biggest investment one will make, short of buying a house. But see the above paragraph too.

Should. But do they? Not always. The Ford dealers I've bought vehicles from treated me like crap whenever I had a warranty concern. Part of this may have been because I'm a tech at a competing dealer in town...but other than that, I'm no different than any other customer. We have several customers who've bought vehicles from hundreds of miles away who still see us for warranty concerns and services, so it's not just me.

Truer words were never spoken. I can understand and sympathize when someone's hopes are shot to pieces the first time their car or truck breaks. But please don't shoot the messenger. After the vehicle leaves the assembly plant and you sign on the dotted line in the F&I office, Ford is more or less out of the picture. Customer satisfaction is entirely dependent on the dealership. Ford designs them, tests them, and builds them, we just try out hardest to sell them fairly and keep them running. It's not an easy job on all fronts.

 

Well, just for the record the dealer that i bought the truck from didn't even ask or care were i bought the truck. He was polite, asked what the truck needed, and came back to me later with the news I've been waiting to hear."were going to fix your brakes"
As for the other dealers that I went to I have bought vehicles from all of them. The last appointment I had was at Malouf Ford. I purchased a 2001 ford f150 lariat supercrew from them. I spent enough money there. I went back to them for the 2004 f150 and they wouldn't give me the same deal that Oasis Ford did. There loss.
Now I know......Oasis will get my buisness.....the other dealers can go F#@K themselves.....oooh did I say that my brakes are finally fixed