Ripped off by my local Ford dealer.....

[triumphrider-1]

The actuator for the temperature blend door on my 2010 Ford F-150 makes a knocking noise if you turn it to far towards the hot setting. It will stop if you turn it back towards the cool.

Today I took the truck in to Columbiana Ford for an oil change before I go on vacation, and told them about the bad actuator. They said they would try to get it fixed under warranty.

I get a phone call stating that the actuator isn't under warranty, and it's $310.00 + tax to fix it. They also tell me it's only a $40.00 part, but it's 3-hours of labor.

I tell them not to fix it and just do the oil change.

I go in to pick up the truck and my bill is $101.00! They charged me $59.99 to tell me that my actuator is bad. The bill said the did a run out pin test. It doesn't take a master mechanic to know it has a bad actuator. I can't believe I just paid $59.99 to have them tell me the actuator I told them was bad, was bad.

I've been conserving money to take my family on vacation for a few days, and just pissed away $60.00 for nothing.

I'm so pissed off.

I'll have to pass this on to my father, his '07 is doing the same thing.

I would give the 800 number a try, worst happens is they do nothing. I'd probably look at going to another dealer for future visits/issues. We do that for our trucks and get a lot better treatment (if its feasible for you).

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I have a 2010 Ford F-150, and I can't even get the damn actuator fixed under warranty. I even purchased an extended warranty so I can be sure the drivetrain is covered. I guess the actuator under the dash is no longer covered because I have 39,000 miles - because the actuator somehow suffers wear and tear driving.

I asked my brother about this tonight, after the 3 year / 36k mile bumper to bumper warrenty is up you are only down to whatever you have for powertrain (IIRC 6 year/60k miles). Since the blend door actuator is a far cry from a powertrain component... it is in fact out of warrenty unless you got some bumper to bumper package in your extended warrenty (most are only powertrain)

So the dealer did not rip you off, they played by the rules you agreed to when you bought the truck.

You still might try customer service since you are not that far out of warrenty... otherwise for $40 (from a dealer, so like what $20 aftermarket ) I would look into fixing it myself and moving on.

http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/x,carcode,1444700,parttype,10721

 

[Ozwynn]

what he is upset about is then charging him $59 for a diagnosis that he handed them.

 

[armadillon]

Agreed. The single point here is that you did NOT give them permission for additional charges. They just did work for free. Demand a refund. To be honest, I would have never signed the paperwork for the bill. That's going to make things a little bit tougher.

This seems like something you would have raised hell about! Jim, why did you sign that invoice in the first place?

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

what he is upset about is then charging him $59 for a diagnosis that he handed them.

So they are supposed to always take the customers word with what is wrong?

Gotta know exactly what is wrong before you can quote money to fix it, and why would you stake it on a complete stranger's word? And at hearing something is not covered by warrenty how many people do you suppose would want to know what it would take to go ahead and fix while they already have it sitting at the dealer?

We just got burned by something similar at work this week. The guy's "diagnosis" was a major diversion that had nothing to do with the actual problem... but if we had done it our way he would have been screaming bloody murder we were ripping him off until "checking the vitals" turned up a bad spark plug.

 

[doorgunner]

Reminds me of a war story.....

anyhow, Jim.....if you didn't agrree to it...don't pay for it....You already do enough to promote Fords....

they need to promote YOU for a change!


and blank Congress while I'm mad.....

 

[Ozwynn]

So they are supposed to always take the customers word with what is wrong?

Gotta know exactly what is wrong before you can quote money to fix it, and why would you stake it on a complete stranger's word? And at hearing something is not covered by warrenty how many people do you suppose would want to know what it would take to go ahead and fix while they already have it sitting at the dealer?

We just got burned by something similar at work this week. The guy's "diagnosis" was a major diversion that had nothing to do with the actual problem... but if we had done it our way he would have been screaming bloody murder we were ripping him off until "checking the vitals" turned up a bad spark plug.

then you will never be allowed to work on any of my equipment. If I walk in and hand you a diagnosis and tell you what I want done then that is what I want done. I do not want to hear 2 hours later that I need a new oil cooler line and it is going to cost $1800 when I walked in and told you it needed a new oil cooler line...... and I am certainly not paying for 2 hours of trouble shooting for a diagnosis I handed you.


thats the problem with dealerships now......... they are all rip off shops.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

then you will never be allowed to work on any of my equipment. If I walk in and hand you a diagnosis and tell you what I want done then that is what I want done. I do not want to hear 2 hours later that I need a new oil cooler line and it is going to cost $1800 when I walked in and told you it needed a new oil cooler line...... and I am certainly not paying for 2 hours of trouble shooting for a diagnosis I handed you.


thats the problem with dealerships now......... they are all rip off shops.

That is fine, don't let the door hit you.

Because I know when I blindly change your oil cooler line and it is in fact a leaking gasket that is puking on the the line you are going to oh so very happy to be at my counter because we didn't check it and I wasted your time and money charging you for an oil cooler line and installation without fixing the problem. You don't realize how little some people know about mechanical things that try to do their own diag, few people that come in the door with a "diagnosis" is that is accurate.

We had one guy come in saying his JD Powershift needed a clutch. BTW a Powershift transmission (optional) is much like a manually operated automatic... there is no main transmission clutch. It did act very much like a weak clutch, but really it was the differential lock clutch linings coming apart and plugging the filter... It would have been a bummer if we had the customer pull it in and ordered in the clutch stuff, split the tractor and found a complete lack of clutch rather than check into it before hand and done some digging on our own. The competition actually did shoot them a price on changing the clutch...

Another guy came in with a 4455, had to crank forever to start. He suspected low compression and it needed at least an inframe at 5500 hrs, usually they go twice that before they show any signs of getting weezy and even then the amount of cranking would have been suspicious. A little diag later and he was happy to be running again with a rebuilt injection pump, cracks right off like a new one.

We do get approval before we do anything more than we were asked, and they can have all the parts we rip out they can carry. No secrets here... could be why we have outlasted 2 CIH dealerships and are currently on our third JD dealership since opening in '87.

Really now that I think about it, a lot of times it would be in our better interest to just do what they say. That way we could fix it twice.

 

[06RangerXLT]

Well if youve paid it theres nothing you can do. youve accepted the work and paid what was due. BUT, next time you will know that unless you authorize work, they can try and charge you for whatever they want, but cant get away with it.

local ford dealer tried to charge me to re-check a spark-plug i paid them to install after the miss-fire didnt go away from their "fix". somewhere in the means of $40. i just grabbed my key and walked out, got in the truck and drove away. i told then to check their work i paid for, not run a diag on the trucks miss-fire again.

lesson learned when dealing with dealers. they can stiff ya, but you can do the same.

~We had a guy come in, 20,000kms on his 2012 camaro. 12,000miles. bald rear tires, wanted them covered under warranty. he "drifts his car" professionally. well because in GM's warranty there is nothing saying the car is not made for drifting, he got brand new tires as they didnt last long enough as they were rated.

 

[Ozwynn]

That is fine, don't let the door hit you.

Because I know when I blindedly change your oil cooler line and it in fact a leaking gasket that is puking on the the line you are going to oh so very happy to be at my counter because we didn't check it and I wasted your time and money charging you for an oil cooler line and installation without fixing the problem. You don't realize how little some people know about mechanical things that try to do their own diag, few people that come in the door with a "diagnosis" is that is accurate.

you need to think for a second who is posting in this thread...... Jim Oaks is an experienced mechanic. I am an experienced mechanic. I may lack the tools and the facilities to do it myself but when I tell you the oil cooler line was rubbing on the frame rail and has a hole in it then that is the problem I want addressed.

When Jim Oaks takes his '10 F-150 in and says it is having this problem then you can bet he already did the research.

I have been experiencing problems with a certain International dealership charging me for work they are not doing and doing other things that are completely not needed (like replacing cracked quarter fenders that are still serviceable and a tail light bracket that is not rusted out, just rusty or charging me 1/2 hour labor to order parts for repairs I did not authorize (and did not get completed) or charging me $500 to change a high pressure A/C hose they did not replace, or instead of replacing the HVAC filter they just turn it around and charge me $70......)...... All because they think I know nothing about diesels and big rigs (I used to own 18 power units). Unfortunately I am stuck in a maint. contract for another 3 months that I didn't read thorough enough and don't get my title back until the end of the contract.

So I know where Jim Oaks is coming from on this. As far as the part being out of warranty...... well it states 3 years or 36,000 miles........ but charging $59 for a diagnosis he handed them is just wrong....... specially when they told him it might still be under warranty....... which I bet is the only reason he agreed to let them check it out..... they knew it was no longer under warranty so they blatantly lied just to get him to spend more money there.




Now I will go back and read the rest of your post.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

you need to think for a second who is posting in this thread...... Jim Oaks is an experienced mechanic. I am an experienced mechanic. I may lack the tools and the facilities to do it myself but when I tell you the oil cooler line was rubbing on the frame rail and has a hole in it then that is the problem I want addressed.

When Jim Oaks takes his '10 F-150 in and says it is having this problem then you can bet he already did the research.

And even though I have been on Jim's website for over 10 years and have bumped into you on it for more than a couple years I wouldn't know either of you if you walked in the door. The guy you meet at the dealer is likely a stranger to you, he has no idea how much you know.

So I know where Jim Oaks is coming from on this. As far as the part being out of warranty...... well it states 3 years or 36,000 miles........ but charging $59 for a diagnosis he handed them is just wrong....... specially when they told him it might still be under warranty....... which I bet is the only reason he agreed to let them check it out..... they knew it was no longer under warranty so they blatantly lied just to get him to spend more money there.

In their defense they probably had no way of knowing how many miles were on it when they actually told Jim they would try to get it worked on under warrenty. Usually that kind of conversation happens when you bring in the keys and set the whole thing up. Unless Jim told them they would have no way to know until they got in the truck.

I don't know how a '10 F-150 is set up, but the blend door actuator may have a module or something that is tied into the powertrain that would have been covered under warrenty.

I don't know, I think I have probably said more than enough without actually being there

 

[adsm08]

I don't think Ford really cares.

In most cases, Ford will do more than you think. Especially if you have a history of new vehicle purchase.

If you call them up, tell them that you went in and asked if your blend door motor was still covered and your issues with the hard starting when cold, you might get something out of them.

I do agree, it sounds like this service department is a joke, but sometimes the vehicles are just ornery and don't cooperate. Your cold-start issue may be like that.

The blend door is a crock. In that situation I'd have run the VIN and base number, printed a part coverage report, and told you it isn't covered if that's what I found.


Heck, I'll even run them now to double check if you want me to. Just PM me the VIN. But I'd find some other dealer to get the truck worked on from here on out. Even if you have to go a town or two over.

 

[tony314]

Another reason not to trust dealer mechanics or dealerships ( doesn't matter what company either ).

 

[doorgunner]

Another reason not to trust dealer mechanics or dealerships ( doesn't matter what company either ).

I trust dealers.......and my President.....and my Congress....and my postal Service.....and my Ethanol...and my Prozak.....(but i keep both eyes on em too)

 

[Sasquatch_Ryda]

Another reason not to trust dealer mechanics or dealerships ( doesn't matter what company either ).

Thanks for that.

Don't paint us all with the same brush.