eajohnston

Would you mind giving me some advice on dealing with a local Ford dealership in Austin, Texas? It's a long story, but my truck had a major front suspension failure on May 17, 2017. The truck is a 2015 F-150 Platinum with less than 36,000 miles (~33,500 miles). I called Ford roadside, and they reimbursed the tow to the closes Ford dealership, which is Maxwell Ford, here in Austin.

Long story short, Maxwell Ford claimed that the problem was caused by the dealership that sold me the truck--Bolton Ford in Lake Charles, Louisiana. The truck--which was the sales manager's truck at Bolton Ford--had a leveling kit installed on it by Bolton Ford at the sales managers request. It was on at the time that I purchased the truck. Maxwell has contended the entire time that the leveling kit caused the suspension failure. Maxwell never sent it to Ford for any type of warranty reimbursement or anything like that...rather, some young kid just made the decision that it wasn't covered.

After the truck was in the service department for two-and-a-half weeks, I finally spoke with the service manager at Maxwell Ford. When I asked him why my truck was in the shop for two-and-half weeks, the service manager got very defensive, and even threatened me by saying that "he could make the whole process start over." (I.e., that he could have his guys not work on the truck and start the whole process again.). Bolton Ford (the Louisiana dealership ultimately paid for the repairs).

Well, after almost three weeks, I picked up the truck on Monday, June 5, 2017. By the time I drove it less than 10 miles to my office, the truck was making an awful noise. I immediately notified the service technician, then left the truck in my garage at work. I returned the truck to the dealership on Thursday morning, and took the tech for a ride in the truck. He asked if it did this prior to brining it in for service, and I said, "No" because it had never done this before.

As of today, the truck is still in the shop. I was informed that no one has looked at it yet, but that the front hub of the 4x4 wants to engage, and that they believe that this is because of hyperexnteded vacuum wires from the leveling kit. When I asked the service manager why this would suddenly happen now, he responded that "it must be a timing thing" and that "maybe I didn't notice it before." I have video of the sound, it is very noticeable.

So now I have been without my vehicle for almost a month, and they released the vehicle to me without it being fully repaired. Additionally, they guaranteed--both the service manager and the service technician--that the truck was safe and driveable at the time I picked it up. I don't trust the service manager, and right now he has quoted me anything from $500 to $4500 to fix this problem.

Any help will be greatly appreciated!

Martian

Well, for one, I'd definitely get on the phone with Ford actual and let them know about the attitude you got from that service center, and follow it up with an email to them for your own records.

eajohnston

Any idea of who to follow up with? What's the best number?

Martian

When I had a problem, I started with the Quality Assurance manager at the dealership where I bought the truck. If you have to, you can also look up who the district manager is and try and put a word out to them.

nwebster

The issue is Maxwell Ford. Don't go there. Their service is awful.

texasjgh

Hate the hear that. I've dealt with a couple of dealerships that would do anything to avoid paying a warranty claim. I had an engine fail in my 2011 f250 at 128000 miles. I was sitting in the middle of a county road making a phone call. Ended the call and started driving and a major knocking noise came from the motor. I somehow got my insurance to pay for the engine which was around $16K. ford tried to tell me that my engine over heated from bad diesel that caused my injectors to malfunction and stick open which in turn melted my glow plugs off and they fell into the oil ran through the motor. First off my truck never got hot so thats crap. second it took 6 effing weeks to do the motor swap. I finally got my truck back after continuous phone calls on my part to get status updates and it doesnt start right. Its almost like it misses while it was cranking rather than just starting right up. Took it in and they couldnt figure it out. Then my four wheel drive on the fly doesnt work. Take it back in and they forgot to hook up some wiring harnesses. Still doesnt work after that and they tell me my front hub assembly has gone bad and I needed to replace it. I went back and for with the dealership on this as it worked fine before I brought it in. They wouldnt budge so I ordered the part elsewhere and replaced it myself. My motor still never started properly up until the day i sold that truck. I took it in 5 or 6 times for the issue and they never figured it out even though the motor was brand new. Long story short, some dealerships suck and their service is pathetic. I've had a couple of dealings with Mac Haik and they have treated me very well.

mitcdenn

I've moved out of LC, but I bought my truck from Bolton Ford and they were always great to me. From sales to ongoing warranty repairs they have always been great. What have they said about the suspension issue?

Jamie Lampert

I don't live around you but I have had issues with my ford dealer. I suggest talking to the general manager. Tell him what is going on. In my case he had no idea that it was taking them 3 weeks to get an audio control module for my truck. The GM walked right in there.

eajohnston

You are right, Bolton Ford was very helpful, and paid for the initial repair, which was the replacement of the control arm and others. As soon as I picked it up from Maxwell Ford, the truck started to make noise on the right side. Maxwell Ford diagnosed it as needing "4x4 actuators in the front, front hub bearings, and vacuum hose extensions."

They--of course--did not explain why this wasn't fixed initially.

eajohnston

I actually had the truck towed to Johnson Sewell Ford in Marble Falls. I was so sick of dealing with Maxwell Ford. I've had good luck with Johnson-Sewell.

At least when I called the service manager at Johnson-Sewell, his response was "we'd love to earn your trust and business." That sure beats the response of "I can make this process start over."