jimbabwe
Well-Known Member
- Thread starter
- #1
Hey all, I apologize if this has been asked before. I'm curious to hear about your experiences with the Service department at your local Ford dealership, good or bad?
Here in SE Georgia, I'm having a tough time with the dealership situation in my area. There are only 2 dealers, both of which are around a 30 minute drive from my house, which is already a pain. As a result of having so many people in that radius, I feel that the service department at either dealership is constantly overbooked/overworked.
In addition, in my experience, the technical knowledge is also lacking at both dealerships. In the time I've had my car, I've dealt with:
1) Poor A/C performance, even after they replaced the compressor and condenser (see my thread here). I begged the dealer to take another look, but was simply told "if it's blowing out 15 degrees cooler than ambient, then it's performing up to Ford standards" and was turned away (so in the 100+ deg GA summer heat the best I can expect my car to blow out is 85 deg!? give me a break!). I had to eventually take the car to an independent shop to diagnose and fix the issue, which ended up being too much oil in the system, most likely because when the dealer replaced the compressor they blindly added oil. Now it works like a charm.
2) When replacing all four tires, the dealer I guess didn't realize that the rim/tire setup was staggered, even when I directly pointed it out to the Service agent before handing the car over. They mixed up the rims and put a rear rim on the front axle. As a result, when I was 2 miles leaving the dealer, smelling burning rubber and intense vibrations in the wheel, had to turn around. They originally replaced the tire and rim, but didn't think they needed to replace the STRUT it was rubbing against! It took me driving to the dealer (leaving work, 30 min drive each way), made them put the car up on the lift, and take the tire off, to show them the strut was also damaged (going off of a hunch, because clearly the tire and rim were rubbing against SOMETHING). When dropping the car off, the Service agent told me "don't worry, we deal with Shelby's all the time"
3) In addition, I'm currently in the process of obtaining a new hood, as I am also dealing with the rusting issue. Ford approved the repair about a month ago, and I have to keep calling the dealer to try and schedule an appointment. I just keep getting a "we'll call you back soon" answer.
4) Not me, but I've also had co-workers go to these dealers and also have bad Service experiences. A new Escape went in to replace the back seats because the stitching was coming out after a short time, and they BUTCHERED the repair job. The car was kept for about a month just to replace the back seats.
Recently, I had a horrible creaking noise from the rear every time I accelerated or decelerated, which turned out to be the infamous wheel bearings going bad (after only 21,000 miles!). After the above other experiences, I decided to bite the cost of the bearings and replace them myself, as I already have the tools to do so, and didn't feel like driving 30 mins both ways and having them possibly screw something else up.
Needless to say, all of these experiences have left me rather disheartened. Obviously, most of us take good care of our cars, but for me it's rather disappointing that I've had to keep on top of the dealer this much, and have to do so much work and worry about the car every time it goes in. If this is the case, what point is there to me or anyone I know to buy a Ford in the future, knowing the Service departments around me are this far away and this bad?
Am I alone here? Do you experience the same thing in your area? I'm curious to hear if this is might be a local thing, or a more widespread issue at other Ford dealers. Sorry for the rant, thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.
Here in SE Georgia, I'm having a tough time with the dealership situation in my area. There are only 2 dealers, both of which are around a 30 minute drive from my house, which is already a pain. As a result of having so many people in that radius, I feel that the service department at either dealership is constantly overbooked/overworked.
In addition, in my experience, the technical knowledge is also lacking at both dealerships. In the time I've had my car, I've dealt with:
1) Poor A/C performance, even after they replaced the compressor and condenser (see my thread here). I begged the dealer to take another look, but was simply told "if it's blowing out 15 degrees cooler than ambient, then it's performing up to Ford standards" and was turned away (so in the 100+ deg GA summer heat the best I can expect my car to blow out is 85 deg!? give me a break!). I had to eventually take the car to an independent shop to diagnose and fix the issue, which ended up being too much oil in the system, most likely because when the dealer replaced the compressor they blindly added oil. Now it works like a charm.
2) When replacing all four tires, the dealer I guess didn't realize that the rim/tire setup was staggered, even when I directly pointed it out to the Service agent before handing the car over. They mixed up the rims and put a rear rim on the front axle. As a result, when I was 2 miles leaving the dealer, smelling burning rubber and intense vibrations in the wheel, had to turn around. They originally replaced the tire and rim, but didn't think they needed to replace the STRUT it was rubbing against! It took me driving to the dealer (leaving work, 30 min drive each way), made them put the car up on the lift, and take the tire off, to show them the strut was also damaged (going off of a hunch, because clearly the tire and rim were rubbing against SOMETHING). When dropping the car off, the Service agent told me "don't worry, we deal with Shelby's all the time"
3) In addition, I'm currently in the process of obtaining a new hood, as I am also dealing with the rusting issue. Ford approved the repair about a month ago, and I have to keep calling the dealer to try and schedule an appointment. I just keep getting a "we'll call you back soon" answer.
4) Not me, but I've also had co-workers go to these dealers and also have bad Service experiences. A new Escape went in to replace the back seats because the stitching was coming out after a short time, and they BUTCHERED the repair job. The car was kept for about a month just to replace the back seats.
Recently, I had a horrible creaking noise from the rear every time I accelerated or decelerated, which turned out to be the infamous wheel bearings going bad (after only 21,000 miles!). After the above other experiences, I decided to bite the cost of the bearings and replace them myself, as I already have the tools to do so, and didn't feel like driving 30 mins both ways and having them possibly screw something else up.
Needless to say, all of these experiences have left me rather disheartened. Obviously, most of us take good care of our cars, but for me it's rather disappointing that I've had to keep on top of the dealer this much, and have to do so much work and worry about the car every time it goes in. If this is the case, what point is there to me or anyone I know to buy a Ford in the future, knowing the Service departments around me are this far away and this bad?
Am I alone here? Do you experience the same thing in your area? I'm curious to hear if this is might be a local thing, or a more widespread issue at other Ford dealers. Sorry for the rant, thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.
Sponsored