Todays dealership experience

[Jccams]

Took my new to me 2019 GT, PP1 A10 to my local Ford dealership for maintenance, 29,000 on the clock. I wanted a Coolant flush, using 3 gallons of my supplied Motorcraft coolant, transmission filter and fluid change and rear differential fluid changed with my supplied Redline fluid. When I arrived for my 8am appointment this morning we discussed what I wanted, no problem. So when he repeated back what they were doing, he said transmission flush. He said it would be as much as a flush, blah, blah, blah, i know the difference. I said I don't want a flush, they don't pull the pan or replace the filter, I want a drain and filter replacement. He said I don't have a qualified technician on Saturdays to do that, or keep the filters in stock, at the time of appointment they assured me they did. I asked if they check transmission fluid level at operating temperature, his reply was, "we can". I then asked if he could print me an Oasis report on my car, much to my surprise he said sure. I drove away with nothing done, but at least I got the Oasis report.

I looked at the report when I got home, there was no warranty work reported, which I find difficult to believe. It looks like he ran a 60 day history. Is it possible to run the complete history?

It is a large dealership, not sure where to go from here. Try and look for a different dealership I guess.

Sorry for the rant, just very disappointing. Comments welcome.

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[Joshinator99]

Maybe try connecting with the service manager and explain what just happened, and ask him the best way to get your desired service done since the service writer who scheduled you obviously didn’t get it done. If that doesn’t work maybe a fellow member on this board will have a suggestion based on where you live.

Good luck! There are SO many bad dealerships of ALL brands. If you find a halfway decent one, you’re ahead of most people.

 

[ORRadtech]

The work you want done is not warranty work, right? Just maintenance stuff. Personally, I'd never go to a dealer for that kind of stuff. I'd find a good local mechanic and go to them. You'll get more personalized service and better quality work.
Dealers are "good" for 3 things
Warranty work
Recalls
And, sometimes, parts.

 

[Jccams]

No it is not warranty work, strictly maintenance. Anyone know of a good shop around ann arbor mi please let me know.

 

[pinksurfer]

The work you want done is not warranty work, right? Just maintenance stuff. Personally, I'd never go to a dealer for that kind of stuff. I'd find a good local mechanic and go to them. You'll get more personalized service and better quality work.
Dealers are "good" for 3 things
Warranty work
Recalls
And, sometimes, parts.

my experience is this all the way.
prior owner of my car had ALL his work done at the ford dealer in ABQ. not a single oil change was the same price but all the services performed were the same.

 

[EchoFiveR3531]

This is why I do everything myself aside from warranty work.

I recently had my D/S rear axle and wheel bearing changed out due to a clicking noise. There is a TSB about it and the dealer took care of it no problem.

Got the car back and it felt like the rear end was a bit looser under power than I remembered. Drove the car a bit and I could tell something wasn't right. I found the bolts for the rear toe link and the control arm were basically hand tight. On top of that they never topped off the diff after removing the axel.

Went ahead and checked every bolt that would have been involved in the process and made sure everything was properly torqued.

The diff fluid not being refilled to spec in my book is just laziness and no attention to detail. The other issues I'm guessing occured because the tech forgot to tighten them with the suspension loaded.

People make mistakes and a tech at a dealer probably isn't going to care about your car as much as you do.

Learn to perform basic maintenance and save yourself some money and frustration!

 

[ORRadtech]

This is why I do everything myself aside from warranty work.

People make mistakes and a tech at a dealer probably isn't going to care about your car as much as you do.

Learn to perform basic maintenance and save yourself some money and frustration!

I don't disagree with you. I still do most of the work on my cars myself. A lot of the reason, besides what you said, is because making appointments, waiting for the day, taking the car in, etc and finding some incompetentcy (like the OP) from the dealer makes it all a waste of time.
Having said that, I don't blame the OP at all for wanting someone else to drop the transmission pan and change the filter. That's a messy job on a lift and many times worse under a car on jackstands in the garage.

 

[EchoFiveR3531]

I actually still enjoy working on my cars even the shitty jobs as I find it satisfying. I also have the luxury of not having to DD my Mustang.

Half of the aggravation like you mentioned is the whole process of appointments, dropping the car off, picking it up, and then you find mistakes......

That being said I do agree its not for everyone and takes a bit of patience and skill along with tools and a good spot to work.

Next best thing as was already mentioned is to find a good independent shop and build a relationship with them.

 

[markayash]

This is why I do everything myself aside from warranty work.

I recently had my D/S rear axle and wheel bearing changed out due to a clicking noise. There is a TSB about it and the dealer took care of it no problem.

Got the car back and it felt like the rear end was a bit looser under power than I remembered. Drove the car a bit and I could tell something wasn't right. I found the bolts for the rear toe link and the control arm were basically hand tight. On top of that they never topped off the diff after removing the axel.

Went ahead and checked every bolt that would have been involved in the process and made sure everything was properly torqued.

The diff fluid not being refilled to spec in my book is just laziness and no attention to detail. The other issues I'm guessing occured because the tech forgot to tighten them with the suspension loaded.

People make mistakes and a tech at a dealer probably isn't going to care about your car as much as you do.

Learn to perform basic maintenance and save yourself some money and frustration!

Was just talking to a friend with a corvette who said his dealership replaced the steering motor under warranty. A week later he took it his regular mechanic for other work and they called him and showed him where out of the 4 bolts 2 were missing and the other 2 were loose! Could have been ugly.
Dealership admitted it

 

[pinksurfer]

buddy at work with a 4dr jeep jeep that's all jacked up and blinged out took it to the dealer for a small recall issue last month. dealer did all the bling and he had their extended warranty that expired a month prior. he was getting the last recall done to sell the jeep.
went to pick it up and rear axle was almost locked up and wouldn't move. they told him he dropped it off like that.
long story but he believes the kid that did the test drive after repair tried to break the 37's loose and blew the diff. after lots of arguing with the shop, rental car for 3 weeks and brand new rear diff/axles.

sad...

I try to do most of my own wrenching but frankly there are some jobs i just don't feel like doing anymore.

 

[LCK22GT]

My wife got stranded on a dangerous curved portion of an expressway, because our Ford dealership did some service and forced the air filter in the box incorrectly, breaking off a chunk of the foam edging which eventually lodged in the throttle body.

Thankfully I’m semi retired now and WFH, and have time to do the routine stuff myself, correctly.

 

[markayash]

buddy at work with a 4dr jeep jeep that's all jacked up and blinged out took it to the dealer for a small recall issue last month. dealer did all the bling and he had their extended warranty that expired a month prior. he was getting the last recall done to sell the jeep.
went to pick it up and rear axle was almost locked up and wouldn't move. they told him he dropped it off like that.
long story but he believes the kid that did the test drive after repair tried to break the 37's loose and blew the diff. after lots of arguing with the shop, rental car for 3 weeks and brand new rear diff/axles.

sad...

I try to do most of my own wrenching but frankly there are some jobs i just don't feel like doing anymore.

When I was a mechanic years ago the good mechanics didn’t like working at dealerships due to having to do warranty work for Peanuts. The guys who had been there forever got the money making jobs like brakes.

 

[Jccams]

I'll be retired next spring. Starting to think I'll just wait and do the coolant and rear end. Still need to find someone to do the trans. I'm not doing that on jackstands. Time is my issue now, so taking it to the dealer seemed like a good idea, guess not.

 

[Justpassingas]

Here’s another inexcusable job done by a dealer. I brang my daughters RAV4 to the dealer for an oil change and rotation. A couple days later she tells me the car is running rough so when I checked the level it’s over filled. The chucklehead technician NEVER drained to the old oil.

 

[lo-fi]

I'm in a position to be in the know on how dealerships work behind the scenes and how much money they make (down to the penny, I'm talking hundreds of dealerships across the country). Good owner/operators are killing it. They could easily pay their techs a bit more money and attract better talent and then hold that talent to a higher standard, they won't part with that little bit of cash. Rather die.

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