Well I had my 5K oil change today at the dealer I bought it from since I have the plan that is paid until 75k miles. My truck is sparkling clean except for the light dust that gets blown around.

After the oil change, the porter parked it on the exit of the service bay and I noticed it was wet. I was like WTF?

Me: "Did you take it to a car wash?"
Him: "ummm.. no we hand wash it"
Me: "Was that on my work order?"
Him: "No."
Me: "Then why was it washed?"
This is while I'm doing a 360 degree inspection, and I touched the edge of all 4 rims to make sure there are no nicks or scratches. The hand is faster than eye, and to my relief no nicks. I was thinking that there might be since most car washed have rails.

Him: "We all give our customers a courtesy wash, if you don't want your truck washed, you have to let your service manager know"

Me: "ok":o

This is my 2nd black vehicle. The only people that ever touched my trucks are a) the detail folks when I bought it from the dealer b) me and c) a detailing shop that has won 11 years straight for best car wash and detailer.

Next time, I will have to specifically ask them not to. How do I know the mits were clean? How do they get on the roof? With long handle brush, maybe? I'll never know? Aggghhhh!
I was really expecting some rim scratches when he said they washed it.

Their intent is all good and true, but for someone like me who spends hours of preserving our trucks it doesn't bode well when some one else washes our trucks.

 

ChesterC, the same thing happened to me when I took my truck to the Livermore dealer to have the foglight replaced. I was extremely pi$$ed off when they brought the truck back wet and told the service manager about it. They said the same thing to me and told me their water will dry spotless. I told them to get someone out there to dry it for me with a chamois. Some dude gets out there and gives it a half-a$$ed dry and I told him to forget it. Probably a dumb idea to have them dry it anyway.

I was really mad since I had just washed it myself the day before.

You should be getting a survey in the mail in regards to your visit. Definitely fill it out and let Ford know how you feel. I did.

 

Thanks for the advice BillP.

I just became more pissed since the service manager that helped me out today has been the same one I have been dealing with for the last 3 years. My old 2001 XLT Screw was known around that dealership(big Raider sticker, nice stereo), and almost all the old timers there know me personally. And they always brought it back to me in some funky AM radio station in Espanol. I sort of made a name for myself when I made a scene three years ago when they messed my F-250.

But he!! yeah. You want some customer feedback? I'll give them some customer feedback!

 

I understand where you both are coming from, but you're complaining about a complimentary service (though half a$$).

Does the same hold true if you didn't take as good a care of your car? I think I would be more upset if there were damage as opposed to being upset someone else washed it.

Obviously the dealer isn't going to care for the vehicle the same way anyone of us would. But I wouldn't slam the dealer on the survey for providing a FREE car wash.

I would, however, suggest that they offer the wash to the customers when the vehicle is brought in. That way, the person with the 84 Escort gets the much needed wash and you can turn them down.

I will definately keep this in mind when I take my baby in for her first oil change in a few weeks. I may even ask them to describe their car washing practices.

You've piqued my interest!

 

Thanks dermaestro!

I was thinking of the same thing also. Maybe the service rep MUST ask it as a SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) to ask if we would care for a courtesy wash.

I think they will honor this request since it will be for their benefit.

 

Yeah. I got mad one time when I took my 91 Nissan Pickup in for some big service and it didn't get washed...and believe me, it needed it.

Guess they thought the dirt was holding it all together!

 

I'm suprised they even did a courtesy wash, but i'd be PO'ed too. especially if they did it on an automatic one. i cringe at the thought of them driving my truck through one of those
and then a cheap spray wax cycle to mess my polish job all up too

i usually have to wash my truck before i take it to the dealer anyway though, cuz once i took it there when i had them check out the rear window seal to be replaced, and the guy with just a piece of paper, no clip board or anything, puts the paper on my dirty tonneau cover and starts filling out some form leaning on the truck as a table. i about flipped on teh guy! Its one thing if the truck is clean, i'd still be POed, but the truck is dirty and he's rubbing the dirt it!
Then after they replaced the rear window seal, they didnt' hook up the 3rd brakelight right, so i had to take it back. the truck was slightly dirty, but not filty, but i'm watching the guy take out the light and he's doing aight, so i leave to go check out the new 02HD on the showroom floor. I walk back to check on the guy working on my truck, and he's got some screw drivers just sitting on my tonneau cover, a power drill just thrown on the roof, and he's standing on the side fender step with one knee on my tonneau. I almost flipped right there! I told him to get those tools off my truck before i stick em where the sun don't shine he could have at least put a towell on teh truck and set the tools on top of it. I guess he figured i'll never see the roof, why worry about scratches from just throwing a drill up there. Now i watch em through the whole time they are working on my truck

o yeah, just remembered another bad experience from teh dealer. LoL. my truck was about 1 month old. The passenger doors were keyed, and there was also a big paint defect, so i took it in for them to repaint. they had the truck 2 days, and in that time they put 90 miles on the truck!!!!! They definately heard about that one when i checked the odometer from what it was when i dropped it off.

 

Sorry, DerMaestro, I disagree with you. A wash means water, soap, and drying the last time I checked. Bringing out my truck after it was just rinsed down with water does not qualify as a wash in my book. In fact, it made me wonder if they somehow got grease or dirt on it while they were working on it. I don't know. I wasn't back there watching them work on it.

BTW, I do not care if I brought in an Escort, Focus, T-Bird, Cobra, or my HD-F150, I would not want my vehicle being returned in that condition.

They knew how clean it was when they brought it in. It was not dirty in my case so there was no need to rinse it off.

Sorry but if you're going to be Blue Oval certified you need to live up to it and finish the courtesy service, not do it half-a$$ed.

I work for a company that prides itself on customer service and we work hard to keep our customers happy.

If you take your Lexus in they not only rinse it, they wash and dry too. That is what I expect if you are going to 'wash' my car.

 

hey bill, just noticed you hit 500 posts! Congrats bro!
4,100 more and you'll be caught up with me

 

Thanks, HD356. It will take a long time to catch you. Besides, I can't type as fast as you

 

When I bought my 02 back in August, I asked the saleman not to wash or wax the truck at all, I'll take it as is. Guess what, both hand washed and waxed... I am still trying to get the wax out of the edges of the flame decals. Anyone have a way to get ride of the wax thats embeded there?

 

Get yourself a detail brush. I have one made out of horsehair which is soft and will not scratch. Works great for getting wax out of cracks and crevices.

Once you get all the wax off try Zaino. Absolutely no residue so you won't have to worry about it anymore.

 

yup, what bill said. that was also one of my major reasons for getting zaino and switching from liquid glass. LG was great, but it made the plastic trim turn white where it got on it. Zaino leaves no white residue. Still got a little white LG residue on a few spots, but when i do a dawn wash/claybar/rezaino process this spring, that will take care of any thats left
zaino rocks!

 

Wife's taking the truck in tomorrow morning for it's first oil change. I made sure to tell her not to have them wash the truck.

I've read too many horror stories of washing and bad driving/parking at the dealer that I've got my wife all paranoid too.

They've been really good so far, though.