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It’s Matter of Trust and Distrust
Do vehicle owners tend to trust the dealerships they bought their car or truck from to provide only the best care and service possible to ensure continued customer loyalty? Many of us do. However, in some cases this is a mistake.
Today, we will learn from a recent FordTechMakaluco YouTube channel episode, in which an experienced Ford mechanic---disgusted by how dealership service centers are treating their customers---reveals to viewers a real-world example of a beautiful 2017 Ford Explorer that has obviously had immaculate care from its owner…but not so much by Ford service department mechanics.
What makes the story even more remarkable is that not just one, but two separate Ford dealership service centers worked sequentially on this beloved truck attempting to swindle its owner out of thousands of dollars in service and repairs---that did not really happen.
In the video, we will discover ways that some dealership service centers learn to cut corners and fraudulently charge their customers with bogus repairs using tactics liked canned sealants to fake a repair when a vehicle is still under warranty.
That said, here is the video in its entirety that serves as a good lesson on how a good mechanic can catch another mechanic’s scams.
Hey Ford! This is Why Your Customers Don't Trust Ford Dealerships to Fix Their Cars!
And finally…
For additional articles about how car owners are getting scammed by service department mechanics, here are some selected informative articles on a “Car Repair Scam Outed by Mechanic is a Lesson to Car Owners” and a “Common Brake Repair Scam in Major Name Tire Centers.”
Timothy Boyer is Torque News automotive reporter based in Cincinnati. Experienced with early car restorations, he regularly restores older vehicles with engine modifications for improved performance. Follow Tim on Twitter at @TimBoyerWrites for daily new and used vehicle news.
Image courtesy of Pixabay
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Comments
The Ford dealer where I live
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The Ford dealer where I live wants to charge me $2,000 to fix and install a leaking ptu or power trans unit. Discovered after a oil change. Do that sound right. They claim the part cost $1,100 and the labors about $900.00 .
I have owned several brands
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I have owned several brands of vehicles and have never had a positive experience any dealer service department.
BMW:
1) told dealer to check belts and hoses while having coolant changed. Two days later lower coolant hose explodes leading to warped head and gasket failure
2) Driver's wiper arm linkage snaps during monsoon. Can't see anything.
I tell the "Service Manager" that I left the wipers running while warming up car and they got stuck in ice and that probably bent something. Check motor and entire assembly. They replaced a $10.00 part plus $150 labor. 1 week later linkage snaps during another monsoon. I go back and dealer quotes same repair. I tell them that something is bent that is causing stress on the part that is breaking. They tell me that they are just trying to save me money. How about saving my life by knowing how to repair a kind of important safety feature of any car. They only fixed the real issue after I screamed at them to replace the whole bleeping assemply or sell me the part and i'll bleeping do it myself.
Audi:
Quoted $2500 to fix a pin hole in exaust. Went to local shop and they welded in a flex pipe. $150.00 repair. Drove anther 50 K mikes, no issues.
Ford:
Sued Ford because my wife's Fusion had transmission issues.
Dealer continually denied there was any problem and said the the tranmission was slamming 2nd and 3rd gears because it had to learn my wife's driving habits. I finally demanded that I go on a test drive with the shops transmission specialist, and after 20 miles and countless gear slamming issues, he admitted that there was a problem.
Dealer made 2 attemps to fix with no improvement. I Googled the issue and found the cause. Ford actually had a TSB for the repair. I printed out the TSB and gave it to the service manager when I went in for the 3rd attempt. The ignored it and tried a different repair. Needless to say it did not work.
One day my wife and I were shopping for an new car when the transmission suddenly went into limp mode just as we were crossing a busy highway. We were nearly T-boned as a result. We had the car towed to a different dealer and they towed it back to the original dealer. Somehow they could not find any issues with that death trap and told us to come pick it up.
Mazda:
Cross threaded oil plug. I fould leaking oil before and damage occurred.
Mechanic was also lazy and only attached the skid plate with a few bolts.
Dealer also did tire rotation and overtorqued lugnuts making it impossible to change a flat tire. Called AAA and they towed the car to a tire shop. Because the shops were closed I had to hotwire a hotel. That screwed up my vacation.
Sorry for the rant, but why should I have to tell a so called expert how to fix something. And pay $$$$?
I now do most simple repairs myself (oil changes, brakes, shocks) I also re-tourqe lugnuts any time a shop removes a wheel. I also found a really good local mechanic. My nightmares are gone and I have saved a huge amount of time and money.
2018 F150 platinum. @ 101k…
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2018 F150 platinum. @ 101k miles it had the following failures at one time. Hood latch failure, R/h headlight assembly went out, no horn, no adaptive cruise, no remote start. The dealer charged 3 hrs diagnostic $675.
Wit a quot of almost $9.6k to replace failures. After 3/4 of a day and a VOM. We found a rusted bolt nost to the r/h radiator support which contained a ground lug for those components. All is well now. No response from local dealer!