Here's the deal. I just bought my FX4 last Friday from a dealer down in Houston. Drove it for the weekend and noticed some things that needed attn, so I brought it into the local Ford shop Monday morning. I was going to have a few things taken care of:

• Radio unit replaced (under warranty) - acting up, drained my battery over the weekend.
• Passenger side view mirror replaced/repaired - cracked plastic housing
• Foglights installed - Someone ripped them off the truck prior to my buying it
• Tow Hooks installed - Ditto w/ the fogs

As I'm dropping the truck off Monday morning, the contractor that handles all the audio/visual for the dealer is there and I am now first on his list of customers. He's a very friendly, polite gentleman and assures me the radio is in good hands.
My Ford Service Rep is someone I've never dealt with, however. I run down the list of items I want to have looked at, he gives me some out of this world figures for pricing, I go and talk to my buddy in the parts department and give him the heads up that they'll probably be asking for parts to put on my new truck, and to 'do what he can' for me. He obliges.

I'm not one to wait around for a phone call when it comes to my vehicles. If I have one in the shop, I visit at least once a day to let them know I am very interested in how things are coming along. By lunchtime on Tuesday, I had already received 3 phone calls from the a/v guy saying the radio was being installed as soon as the new one came in that afternoon. I hadn't heard anything from my Service Rep, so I stopped by on my lunch break. He said they had to order some parts and they should be arriving that afternoon. I asked if I could take my truck home, he said he wouldn't suggest it because if i take the truck off the lot, i essentially go to the back of the line. Plus, he knew I had a second vehicle to drive around in.

Anyways, cut to yesterday afternoon, I'm up there for the 3rd or 4th time this week, again, just checking on things. I talk to my Service Rep, ask how things are going, and he says they needed to order some bolts for the tow hooks, but they should have been in. So he makes a call, sure enough, they are in, so I basically let it be known that I'm comfortable extending my lunch break by a few minutes if that's what it's going to take for them to get those bolts on and return my truck. (This is of course assuming everything BUT those bolts have been taken care of already.) He tells me it will be done that afternoon, at the very latest early morning. We went back and forth with me telling him i needed my truck that day, i am leaving town Fri. 6pm rolls around, no call, no truck.

8:30 this morning I call up there, we chat for a minute, and sure enough, they only BEGAN working on the truck TODAY!! W.T.F.!! So now I've owned my truck for 7 days, and 4 of those have been spent in the shop just *******ing sitting there! I told this dude I was leaving town mid day today, and they wait until the morning of to START working on my truck.

As my supervisor would say, that's that sh** that burns me.

Needless to say, I'll be having words with the management up there. This dealership sucks big ones. Their service dept sucks, their salesmen are non driving idiots, and they don't secure their lots. But they know they're the only Ford dealership within 30-40 miles of here, so what do they care?...


/rant

 

I feel you. I been there b4

 

man that sucks...i think i'd be finding a way to make it to a different dealer even if i had to go out of my way someone who has better customer satisfaction than them.

hope everything gets worked out for ya!

 

Hopefully that's the end of your dealership visits.

 

Skip any manager and call the owner directly. I guarentee he will take care of you and probably give you some comps if you explain everything in a calm and rational manner. I have had the same issue with the local dealership and the next dealership is too far away to switch. One call early on, and I've recieved red carpet service ever since. A follow up call to him after the issue is resolved to say thank you is a good idea to show him you appreciated the extra effot he put in. When they call you with the follow up 'How was your service experience", be brutally honest about your dis-pleasure.
I've been in the QA field for 20 years, and the owner will understand that if you are not happy, you are WILL tell everyone who will listen about your sub-par experience.

Just my 2 cents


Jeff

 

what dealership in houston?

i went to tomball ford yesterday my airbag light came on and they would not back the warranty for my airbags because of my lift. go to planet (which i hate for the most part) and they take my truck and actually backed the warranty and said there was no reason a lift would void the warranty on the airbags. dealerships have gone to crap. all they want is more money.

 

I bought it from Texas Direct, but the dealer here in Abilene that keeps giving me problems is Arrow Ford...

 

man that sucks. to make a long story short my stepmom had a chrysler pacifica (worst idea ever) for about 5 months. shes only driven it about 2 months worth of time because the dealer replaced the 02 sensors 4 times the computer 2 times and a coil 2 times. we traded it and my dads old suburban for a brand new 2006 f350 super duty with a 5.4 (best idea ever).

 

And this is why my truck hasn't seen a stealership since I bought it!!