Well i havent been on here to much lately as i bought a 2007 Mustang GT convertable to play with for the past few months.

Anyway i took my 07 F150 Harley into the dealership today to fix a few problems i have noticed with it in the 1st year. My first problem was that my AC didnt seem to be very cold, especially considering my other 2 Ford vehicles. My second problem is that if i let my truck sit for a week or more, the battery would die. With the new Mustang around, my truck sits around alot, so when i did want to drive it, i would have to boost it.

So i dropped the truck off yesterday to have them fix those things as well as do an oil change. Today they called me and told me it was ready to go.
So i get there to pick it up and they give me the bill and it was close to $250.
I was like what kind of oil did you guys use? It turns out they charged me $79 because they found nothing wrong with the AC, and said that it was within in where it was suppossed to be. They also charged me $100 to diagnose my battery dying issues, i allready replaced the crappy factory battery with the Optima yellow top one when i first bought the truck. They said that the ford trucks draw power when they are locked and turned off. I told them the truck should last more than a week without having to get boosted.

So i argued with the service manager nicely, but firmly, that there was no way in he!! i was going to be paying for something that should be covered under warrenty, and just because Ford seems to think crappy AC, and killing batteries is acceptable to them, it isnt to me. He told me that Ford doent cover their costs unless their is an actual problem they can repair. I know in the past on other vehicles i have had them look at things that didnt seem to be 100% and they couldnt find anything wrong, but never charged me for it!

Needless to say they waived the charges, but it really made me mad that they tried to charge me for problems with my truck with only 10000 miles and only 1 year old.

Has anyone else encountered this before? Because for the past 10 years this service department was the main reason i even dealt with the dealership in the 1st place. Now i am thinking it is time for a new dealer!

 

Go to another stealership


My truck has sat at the airport for weeks, never had an issue with the battery.

 

I'm sure this dealer has played this game with others who didn't fight it. Contact your local better business bureau (or the Canadian equivalent) and contact Ford's customer service. Report these SOB's. Do not give this dealership anymore business, but don't just walk away.

 

That's not exactly true. There are labor ops for NPF or no problem found. They don't pay worth a damn, but they do pay.

 

Every year I go in during inspection time and tell them to check the a/c and they never charged me.

 

Thanks for the replies guys, i knew it sounded fishy which is why i refused to pay for it.
I will definately make a call to Ford to file a complaint about their attempt at charging me for things that should be covered under warrenty.

Quintin do you guys charge customers if they ask you to look at a problem, and no problem was found, or at least no problem as far as Ford is concerned?

 

Just a bad dealership trying to make money since they aren't selling any vehicles.

 

If a vehicle is under warranty and we cannot duplicate the problem, or there is no problem found (intermittent concern that is not acting up while the vehicle is in our possesion), we do NOT charge customers for that whether the vehicle is in warranty or out of warranty. That is complete BS. I would be pissed off as well.
The customer has to authorize every single charge that we do at our store. Did they tell you about the diagnostic charges at the time that you dropped off the truck? If they didn't, then they had no right to charge you without your knowlege of it. Just a bad dealership that gives dealerships in general a bad name.

800-392-3673 = Ford Owner Relations

Call that # above and report them.

 

x2 and it only takes a few minutes to check if something is draining the battery. If something is draining the battery, start pulling fuses and get an idea what circuit it is, at least that's what I've been doing for years on older vehicles. If no drain from the battery, it could be the battery itself. I've seen brand new batteries go bad within months, not many but it does happen.

 

Under warranty, no. Out of warranty, usually yes.

 

Mine sat for 6 weeks this past winter and it still started in -30c and that is with the weak OE battery! I have taken mine in for a couple things that the dealer did not find a problem with and there was no charge. I have owned a few new vehicles and have never been charged for diagnosis while under warranty and that is with Chev, Dodge, and Ford.
I would call Ford. Sounds like the dealer is trying to either make an extra buck by charging both you and Ford or he is too lazy to remit back to Ford.

 

Guess who im calling 1st thing in the AM!

I am glad i posted this as i was starting to wonder what the heck was going on.
Thanks again everyone!

 

When you let your truck sit for 6 weeks, did you have the factory alarm on?

Man here they are telling me that it is okay that my truck drains the battery in a week!

 

b.s.

I've been deployed for 4+ months many times and my vehicles (all F-150's in the sig below) sat without being run. The batteries were all good and the truck started the 1st or 2nd crank every single time

it IS NOT NORMAL FOR THE BATTERY TO DIE in 1 week

 

You've got some crooks running that dealership man! Call Ford, contact your local BBB (And YES the BBB is in Canada), and call an attorney if you need to, just make sure if you are going to make that much of a stink about it, that you go after reimbursement for time, effort, and legal fees...

You will also want to spread word of mouth to all your friends and neighbors regarding this dealer...