Dealer story: warning contains rants..

[Dirtman]

Need to vent. Disregard if you don't like rants.

My Lincoln mkx is the only vehicle I don't work on. It's the only car that's 100% under warranty and lincoln has "special" treatment which I love. I need work I either get it picked up or they give me a ride.

Anyway evap code, leak... no problem send it over and tell them something is leaking (I'm thinking the capless filler neck) but they said it had a hole in a hose and replaced the hose. No problem fixed back in 6 hours and I barely had to put pants on.

100 miles later same code comes back. Now I'm curious so I run my scanner on it and it's a leak code so I test the vent solenoid by shutting it off and opening the purge valve. No vacuum in the tank. So I take the hose off the purge and pull manual vacuum. Test the tank and it holds pressure. So the purge valve has to he bad.

Take it back and tell them what I did, gave them the last work slip... they say ok and they say they replaced the purge valve. This time it was overnight but no big deal. Got it back another 100 miles code is back.

At this point I'm furious. So I go and look at the purge valve. Take it off and can clearly see it's not changed. Its filthy. I go back in person and talk to the service manager and say this work was not done that's on the slip. He says I don't believe it I'll take it back in and I'll see it gets fixed. I walk back out and put 2 witness marks on the bolts with my leatherman.

Picked it up today, the purge valve has not been touched. They said it was replaced. Code will be back in the next reset. What do you do now? I know nothing about dealing with dealer BS. Granted I can fix it in 10 minutes but why should I? I paid for the "special" treatment. Thanks for detailing my car and giving me rides but all I want is my effing car fixed.

 

[JOLENE_THE_RANGER]

spray paint it yellow. tell him to send you a picture of a different color one on there before you go get your car.

 

[adsm08]

Call the customer care hotline.

FoMoCo tracks customer satisfaction on warranty repairs very differently than they do on cash jobs. And so few of those warranty surveys get returned that a single bad one can take a dealership from the high 90s to below 50% on CSI, which is something most dealer principals look at very closely.

This will get that principal hot under the collar, light a fire under his service manager, and probably get the tech light on fire.

Also, witness marks scribed in bolts is not a reliable method as the bolt doesn't get replaced, and the mark is going to end up close to where it was before. Mark the part itself.

 

[Dirtman]

Call the customer care hotline.

FoMoCo tracks customer satisfaction on warranty repairs very differently than they do on cash jobs. And so few of those warranty surveys get returned that a single bad one can take a dealership from the high 90s to below 50% on CSI, which is something most dealer principals look at very closely.

This will get that principal hot under the collar, light a fire under his service manager, and probably get the tech light on fire.

Also, witness marks scribed in bolts is not a reliable method as the bolt doesn't get replaced, and the mark is going to end up close to where it was before. Mark the part itself.

Dash cam was running too but cant see anything from the tech since it was on the lift. Got a number to call? Pm me if it's private cause I've called the dealer and ford and got no response.

 

[Jim Oaks]

spray paint it yellow. tell him to send you a picture of a different color one on there before you go get your car.

There's no disputing they changed it this way. LOL.

 

[adsm08]

Dash cam was running too but cant see anything from the tech since it was on the lift. Got a number to call? Pm me if it's private cause I've called the dealer and ford and got no response.

The only number I have is the 1-800-392-FORD number, which is probably the one you called already.

Try this link: https://www.fordcvp.com/login.php?bid=1&cid=gb&tid=12

I don't know if you will get far with it, since Ford has kind of spun Lincoln into their own thing.

The other thing I have found to be highly effective is a BBB complaint, although I would leave that as a last resort. I had to do that on my last computer. I had an accidental damage plan that I shouldn't have been sold, and everyone I talked to was telling me there was no way I bought it without extending the warranty. They could see it was there without the extended warranty, but wouldn't honor it. Same story from everyone, taking hours on hold to get it. I hung up, filed a BBB complaint, and the next day I was getting calls from the VP of customer satisfaction. Not just his office, but the man himself.

 

[Dirtman]

Thanks Adsm. I'm calling that in the morning. My mkx doesnt need to pass inspection for another 18 months so I can fix it but its fords problem. I should not be responsible.

 

[Dirtman]

I've never gone to another dealer though... if I take a car I bought from dealer A. Does dealer B. Still have to fix it?

 

[adsm08]

I've never gone to another dealer though... if I take a car I bought from dealer A. Does dealer B. Still have to fix it?

Yes. The factory warranty is through Ford, not thought the individual dealership, so it will be honored at any dealer that sells FoMoCo products.

 

[Bird76Mojo]

I've filed more than one BBB complain in the past with zero f*#@s given by the businesses. One was HP computers. They had hundreds of thousands of laptops failing due to a well known fault in the motherboard, due to heat softening solder, and they still refused tens of thousands (maybe hundreds of thousands) of people service. They only serviced those that were very persistent, and when they "fixed" those laptops, all they did was to install another motherboard that had the same defect as the original. It was enough to get them past the warranty period though. Many people fixed their by inserting a copper penny in just the right place with thermal paste, and those fixes lasted longer than the ones serviced by HP.

The BBB thing is a joke IMO.

 

[Curious Hound]

BBB only really has claws if the business is a member. It costs money and not everyone sees it as beneficial. When I had my electrical contracting business, I joined the BBB. I can't say it ever did me any tangible good or harm.

 

[Dirtman]

Yes. The factory warranty is through Ford, not thought the individual dealership, so it will be honored at any dealer that sells FoMoCo products.

In that case im going to a different dealer in the morning and trying my very best not to slap them to death with my 400 page warranty bible. I looked up the part... its 66 dollars. Could have been done and fixed but at this point its freaking principle.