I have a 2018 F150 Lariat that I took into the local Ford Dealership for warranty work last week. Here is my list:

1. Front center jump seat trim piece issue.
2. Right tail light fills with water.
3. Both for lights cracked and condensation build up.
4. Transmission downshift than accelerate thump issue.

I told the rep. that I could leave it from Saturday when I dropped it off until Thursday when I would pick it up (5 days). By day 3 I hadn't heard anything so I called to get some info. Rep told me that the parts needed to be approved by corporate for warranty before they could be ordered. When I asked about the Transmission he told me that the mechanic drove it and found it was in Tow/Haul mode, so he put it in Normal mode and everything was fine. I questioned him as to how it could even be in Tow/Haul mode because I was certain it defaults to Normal at start up. He began to back pedal his story and told me that he would have to talk to the mechanic that drove it again to find out what he found. I gave them until the following Saturday before I went to actually pick it up (7 days after I originally dropped it off) and the parts were still not in and no work was completed. When I got in the truck, there was only 0.1 mile added to the odometer from the day I dropped it off (which means they obviously didn't test drive it). I needed the truck, so I took it anyways with no work accomplished. But why is it that I feel like I was fed lies and they neglected my vehicle?

I previously owned a Chevrolet and when I would take it in for Warranty work, it would be completed in 3-4 days.

 

 

Dealers are independent for all brands. Find another dealer.

 

Typical of many dealerships. Never give them that long to fix it. They will do nothing until the last day. Try to get a loaner and tell them you need it asap. Also make sure you see on the work order exactly what the problem is as you described it. If it isn't on the work order, it will not be communicated to the tech or communicated wrong. So ask to look at it and make them change it.

 

To me, it's disappointing when the dealer is the one to make a person dislike their vehicle. It's the same story over and over here on the forum(s).

I don't get it...

 

Because you were and they did, unless that .1 mile was extremely telling to the mechanic who test drove it.

I'm very fortunate. My local dship is very good regarding service and timeliness, at least for me. Whenever parts have been required, the service writer checks inventory prior to me bringing in my vehicles (on my third F150 and second company car Flex with this dship). I schedule an appointment for my oil changes and I'm in and out within an hour. If warranty (and/or overnight), I'm told the duration of the stay and they have yet to miss. These types of stories are head scratchers, but there is good and bad everywhere, I suppose. Hope you get some resolution with this or another dship.

 

Sounds like you're dealing with a ****ty dealer, I'd suggest finding a new one.

 

If they are all independent, then my assumption is that they could care less about me if I argue with them and they could tell me to go pound sand and never return. I just wish they would have been a little more honest with me up front. This dealership is only a couple miles from my home, so going to the next dealership would be a drive, so I'm hoping I don't have to resort to that.

I guess I was just looking for some direction here on how to handle this with THIS dealership so that my future visits and relationship going forward would improve (and also to vent a little on this forum before I go say something I regret to the dealership that will get me on a list to never return).

THANKS!

 

Just remember to keep your cool with them or nothing gets done if they are that kind of dealer.

As for Chevy dealers I had the opposite experience that you had. They NEVER fixed anything and then later tried to blame be for the problems. Something was draining the battery and the truck was bone stock. Turned out to be a stuck relay that I discovered about 9 months after the first dealer screwup.

 

As stated above, don't go in guns a blazin'. Although they are privately owned, you can still get Ford corporate involved, at least as another point of contact. However, they may not be any more or less helpful. Where I live there are several Ford dships in the county, so that isn't a huge deal, but I get that you have one close to your home. I'm 4 miles from my dship. Below is based on you dealing with a service writer originally and not the service manager. The service manager can do the job of a service writer. What follows is just blocking and tackling. I believe there is at least one Ford dship mechanic on this forum, maybe that person(s) has additional insight. Not sure if this is what you are asking for, but I hope it helps. I apologize in advance if it doesn't.

Checklist:
Set appointment

• Have all your speaking points written out before calling the dship.
• Call and speak with the service manager.
  • Be direct, succinct, and stick to facts
  • Be pleasant at all times (not saying you wouldn't, but still important). That should keep you off any list, though I wouldn't lose much sleep about that.
• Tell the service manager what happened on your recent visit (stick to facts) and that you are making a good faith gesture to continue to work with this dship.
• Ask/insist that the service manager be your point of contact, the service writer has already proven to be less than helpful, so you are moving on.
• Ask/insist on loaner vehicle, due to warranty (standard fare, I suppose) and previous shameful service.
• Tell the service manager what needs to be done to the truck
• Ask service manager if your truck requires any other warranty work due to TSB, or whatever
• Confirm that they have the parts to do the requested work
  • If not, when will they have the parts to do the requested work?
• Ask the service manager to ask the mechanic what was determined to be the transmission problem found during the .1 mile test drive. To which you probably will not get any satisfaction, and simply reinforces that you need management involved. Service manager should have that response for you when you drop off the truck.
• Based on the above, agree to an acceptable date to bring in the truck and how long the dship needs to have your truck to complete the work.
• Confirm that the service manager will be at work that day. If not in that day either reschedule or ask for another contact. I'd reschedule, but that's just me. Maybe confirm the day before, so if you end up needing an alternate contact, you can get it then, or postpone.

Day of service

• Continue to deal with service manager.
• Be pleasant
• Review the service order to confirm that everything is addressed per your earlier conversation.
• Agree to the work on the service order.
• Pick up loaner

At this point, it's in their court. Sink or swim. I've employed the above (in some way, shape, or form) for various problematic service issues in numerous arenas. Nothing more than asking people to take responsibility and do their jobs. At least there is some accountability (hopefully) now that management is involved. Not rocket science. You may just have a crappy dship. This should confirm it one way or the other for you. Not sure that you can ask for any compensation if they miss the dates or don't perform as agreed upon. But, you'll know you need to move on and find another dship. Hope you get some satisfaction.