soaringfalcon

iTrader: (1)

So, I picked up my truck from the Dealer after the Evaporator replacement due to a bad smell in the truck.

On the drive home I came to a stop at a red light with no issues. The light turned green, I took my foot off the brake to hit the accelerator, but before I could, the truck took off. I hit the brakes again and it slowed down. I took my foot off the break and again it took off. Not knowing what was going on, I hit the brakes, pulled over and shut the engine off.

I glanced down at the gas pedal to see that the inside kick panel was lodged on the gas pedal. The tech did not tuck it in before clipping it in place. (see picture)


Begin Venting

It was past closing time, so I fixed it and headed home. As soon as I got home, I noticed that not only did he forget to tuck in the driver side, but he also forgot the passenger side, forgot to snap in the passenger sill plate, dirt all over the inside of the truck, loose clips on the floor, and a myriads of other small things.

The next day I stopped at the dealership as soon as they opened, to report the issues, Service rep did not seem to care. He called over the tech that worked on the truck. He said "oops, my bad" and fixed all the incorrectly installed panels, brushed off the dirt with his hand and blamed the dirt on powdered gloves!!!! And that was it. F-them I thought, I will clean the truck myself, not worth the hassle. And I did not want to get the tech in trouble.
Until the next day, truck would not remote start, tried to troubleshoot, the remote start box was just dangling there, antennae not connected. Reconnected the antennae, secured the box and everything was ok. Now, I figured I will start looking to see what else did he miss, miss-install and break.

You guessed it a bunch of stuff. Too many, to count but here are a few, a gouge on the e-brake pedal, broken tab on the passenger door kick panel, big scratch on the glove box, oil on the windshield, and still dirt everywhere.
At this point I told my wife, it’s about $50 worth of parts, I will just eat it, fix it myself and never ever go to that dealership again. She insisted I call, if not to just let them know about how unhappy I am and how dangerous the “ooops! my bad!” was.

I called and talked to the service manager. He was not made aware of anything, had a conniption, was very concerned with what had happened and is going to fix everything, and offered to detail the truck on top of everything. He is also going to address the issue internally as well. Might be smoke and mirrors but I am taking his word at face value for now and will give them another chance.

I feel bad for getting the tech in trouble, but man, if I ever did that ****ty of a job at work I would be fired!!!

End venting

tanked_darren

I would keep on them.

I forced GM to buy me a new door panel when they nicked mine fixing a door handle.

Feathermerchant

Wow how could they have missed the panel on the pedal? Didn't they have to drive it out of the bay? I hope the Service manager sticks to his word.

kidastra

iTrader: (1)

As a dealership employee, this is just another case of overbooking. Techs don't do a good job cause they feel rushed to complete the job. I'm glad you didn't have an accident, the service manager will stick to his word. I hope they send you a survey on your visit to the service center, keep in mind when you fill it out, score them fair in all areas, don't just burn them on the survey completely as those surveys usually get flushed

RLXXI

That is NO excuse for not completing a job properly, I was a dealer tech for 11 years and had I done such a messy job, I wouldn't be employed.

There is such a thing as taking pride in ones work and if the op is accurate of everything that took place including the tech saying "Oops my bad" that tech is looking for another job.

I'm not saying he wasn't rushed, he probably was thanks to Ford slashing SLTS for warranty work but it's still no excuse for doing such a **** poor job period!!!


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kidastra

iTrader: (1)

I'm not saying it's a good excuse, but it's the reality of the service industry. How many people here don't even trust the dealer to complete a simple oil change, the reputation dealers have are because of this unfortunate trend. Techs who don't go fast enough are usually left without jobs, techs who go to fast and miss things are also left jobless, finding good employees isn't as easy as it used to be, people want a lot of money by doing the least possible, unfortunately that mentality has trickled into management as they were the same kids thinking this way 5-10 years ago, now they have been promoted and try to make the dealership get as much money doing as little as possible. So many valid warranty jobs are refused because they don't bring in enough money, so you lose a tech for X amount of hours where he could have been bringing in more customer cash for the same amount of time. The dealership is lucky the op didn't crash because of this obvious over site. The service writer, and tech didn't care which goes to show the mentality of that dealership, it's sad to think about but what can you do about it, best thing is hit them where it hurts and that place is their wallets, his survey (if he receives it) could be the difference of the dealer making the bonus or not.

RogueGT

I was a Ford Service Director and I operated under the 3-strike principle, come-backs (rework), poor workmanship and misdiagnosis. Only had one tech ever NOT live up to my expectations. Aside from that, with regard to my knowledge of a particular tech, customer input was always taken into account. No-one WANTS to see anyone lose their job.
Incidentally the tech I fired I also helped secure another tech position at another Ford dealer, he was a good tech. Now he has a new 3-strike count.
If the Service Manager is a man of his word, and I don't have any reason to doubt he isn't, he'll make it right. That doesn't mean the tech will get fired, maybe he's a great tech and had a bad day, it happens!!

Feathermerchant

I agree with RNLCOMP. No excuse. If your wife just left you for the mailman or your dog just died, maybe you should take a day off. I hate to see anyone lose their job too.
Rogue - Good for you. Let your employees know what you expect, the consequences and stick to it.

kidastra

iTrader: (1)

I'm glad you and comp took the liberty to put words in my mouth, not once did I defend the tech, I gave a reason why this stupidness happens and what the OP should do with the survey since he already spoke to the service manager, I'm just letting the OP know that just because the service manager fixes the situation doesn't mean you shouldn't be honest on the survey, many people see that survey and they are taken very seriously, lots of money attached to them.

Again I was NOT making excuses. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but please don't speak for me, I am very capable of doing that myself even if I occasionally put my foot in my mouth

Heel70

The driver side lower panel not being securely attached causing the pedal to stick "in throttle" position is a big deal. If I wasn't readily available to pick up my truck from service & had my wife pick it up in that scenario, no telling what would have happened and damage to her / truck or any other motorist involved. Hopefully the SM teaches the service tech a valuable lesson, wouldn't want to see him fired over it though.