[RandyR]

Well, I really liked my dealer....until today. Took the car in for the PCM reflash TSB--high idle at startup, occaisionally hard to start, sometimes shifts gears at the wrong time. I also have the buzz behind the instrument panel that there is a TSB on--symptoms exactly match my car. I printed both bulletins and took them with me. The lady running the service dept. today acted like I was wasting her time, and basically said that the high rpm idle was normal, and that they can't do any warranty work unless they can duplicate the problem. The starting and shifting problems are sporadic--there is virtually no chance that I can duplicate them on demand. As for the buzz/rattle, I was informed that one of their technicians is at school this week, and there was no way on earth that they could even listen to the car until sometime next week. She had no interest at all in reading the TSB printouts that I had found from this website.

 

[ciscoford23]

Well it sure sounds to me like she was trying to blow you off hoping you wouldn't come back. As a tech I can tell you that noise concerns are the worst kind of jobs for us to get. Ford won't pay us unless we can find something wrong. So if we drive it several times a day and can't duplicate it or have a hard time figuring out what the noise is then we are screwed. I do think they should have at least performed the TSBs for you and then have you come back another time. Also Ford would have paid for at least the Reflash even if they couldn't duplicate it. Since your concerns match the TSB, Ford would have paid.

 

[HEVeng]

Funny.

My F-150 had a bad injector at 1000 miles. Ran the codes and it came up injector #7. I went to the dealer and told the shop manager. He didn't have a tech available, so I asked for the PC/ED manual and a WDS to confirm and I would tell him what to order. Got a weird look on that one. :lol:

The trans had a low speed shifting problem. There was a TSB released for it, so I took the truck to the dealer. They wanted four hours to duplicate the issue. Total BS. Ford will pay them a flat rate for the reflash, so why they wanted to mess around I didn't understand. Just do the job and get paid! Make the customer happy. I never got it reflashed and the ATF was starting to look/smell burnt. Oh well, Ford Credit's problem (lease was up 12/30)...and ultimately the person that buys it later when it fails out of warranty.

 

[ming321]

My experiences with my local dealer have been mixed. Seems like if you just want your oil changed or regular service they are happy to see you. However, if you bring them a problem or a TSB, they do all they can to make it sound like it's your problem or that the problem doesn't exist. And my service advisor does a terrible job of follow up. I always have to call to find out if/when my car is ready and whoever services my car always leaves dirty footprints or some "mark" that he was there.

I've owned Honda's, Chrysler's, MBenz, Lexus, VW, Infiniti, Nissan among others. Lexus clearly had the best service- almost to the point of being overly helpful. Unfortunately, my experiences with Ford & Chrysler have been the worst. I know it's a local dealer issue, but Ford needs to spend more time working with their dealers to keep their customers happy.

 

[fusionowner]

Ford sends out so many customer satisfaction surveys they ought to know which dealers are doing this and which are not. Therefore, it IS a Ford problem. Since Ford has at least twice the dealers they need with their current market share, they should start booting any dealers that treat customers like this. As a previous poster said, look at how Lexus dealers treat you...a business model for true success.

My dealer has been okay, not great, but if I EVER have to deal with treatment like this my next car will certainly be a Lexus IS350!!! 8)

 

[urnews]

My local dealer, Sherwood Ford, Lincoln, Mercury of Salisbury, MD, has been very nice to deal with so far. I give them high marks in all of the surveys. But, I agree with a previous poster that poor dealership service is definitely a Ford problem. Boz