Hi Neil,

It''s very rare for a Service Manager to actually refuse to tell a customer what parts are on order if any parts actually are on order, and I can't imagine any Service Manager doing that. This might be happening because there *aren't* any parts really on order, perhaps because they just don't know what to do next.

I would suggest that your friend get the name & telephone numner of that dealership's factory Zone Rep. (get it from the dealership), and take it up with that person. The Zone Rep. will make an appointment to meet your friend at the dealership, and examine the vehicle and authorize necessary repairs. These Zone Reps have to cover a number of dealerships in each Zone, so it might take a little while to hear back form them, that's normal. Just as an aside, once a new vehicle has spent a total accumulated time of 30 days in the service department for the same problem, it's at that point that Ford will start to entertain the idea of a buy-back as a lemon. I did that myself, I had a 1992 custom van that wouldn't go downteh road straight, and after spending a month all total in the service department, they bought it back from me, it had 8000 miles on it at the time. I have since learned that Ford internally uses that 30 day figure as a threshold, because that is the same time period that many states lemon laws have as a considseration, so Ford looks at it that way too in many cases.

Best of luck to your frined,

------------------
Mike Troyer
Performance Products, Inc.
National Distributor of Superchips
(540) 862-9515
Email: mtroyer@compuserve.com
Performance Products F150Online Superchip ordering system: F150Online Superchip Ordering System
National F-150 Online Rally Event Organizer

 

Thanks Mike.

I too was pretty surprised when he told me that nobody would tell him what parts were "supposedly" ordered.

Anyways, I'll pass the info along to him. He finally got a call back from the owner of the dealership today and he is looking into it, so we'll see where it goes from here.

Neil

 

30 days in the shop and he can get a new truck(LEMON LAW)!!!!! I know for a fact, as I've stated before I am a Technician at the local Ford dealer. That must be some rinky-dink dealer huh?

 

A friend of mine has had his 2000 F250 SD Supercab shortbed 4x4 at the local dealership for over 3 weeks. It has V10 & automatic tranny and around 20K miles on it. He took it in because there was a vibration/noise coming from somewhere in the drivetrain.

The service department rebuilt the rear end, but that didn't fix it. Next they worked on the transfer case and then replaced some parts in the transmission. The problem still exists.

Right now the truck is just sitting in the dealer's shop collecting dust because nobody knows what to do with it. The service manager keeps telling him that they are waiting on some parts to come in, but refuses to tell my friend what they have ordered or what they plan on trying next. He is getting the run-around from everyone at the dealership (including the owner), and Ford Customer Assistance hasn't been able to do squat.

He is just about ready to get the BBB involved. Does anybody else have some suggestions on what to do?

Thanks.

 

The plot thickens...

Well, the owner of the dealership isn't very happy with his service people right now. It seems that the Tech that was working on it left last week to take his scheduled one week vacation. Nobody was assigned to take over his duties, so the truck sat untouched for a week.


Actually, it's a pretty average size dealer in a town of 100,000+ population. They are even SVT certified. The next closest "big" dealer is in a town 100 miles away. Oh well, we'll see what happens next.

 

Well, I hope it all works out for you, Neil.

Good luck!

------------------
Mike Troyer
Performance Products, Inc.
National Distributor of Superchips
(540) 862-9515
Email: mtroyer@compuserve.com
Performance Products F150Online Superchip ordering system: F150Online Superchip Ordering System
National F-150 Online Rally Event Organizer

 

If its been 3 weeks and they still don't have it fixed I would just wait for the 30 days to end and get a brand new one under the lemon law.

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2000 F150 XLT Reg. cab
4.6 Triton Engine
4x2 3.55 rear end gear
sliding rear window
automatic keyless entry
white styleside short box

 

That's what I've been telling him to do, make the dealership eat it. I think he might have gotten it out today, but I'm not sure. They never did tell him what the parts hold-up was.

One thing is for sure, that dealership has lost a lot of future business just because of this situation.