F1Lombie

On Monday, I scheduled an appointment to bring my truck in today (Wednesday) at Bell Ford to troubleshoot a mysterious hesitation issue I'm having when the AC and radiator fans are both running.

Long story short, when the service guy is checking me in, he says, "We're blessed with a lot of work, so it'll probably be a couple of days until we have your truck back to you."

He then said the truck probably wouldn't even be started until tomorrow.

So I asked him why it wouldn't be seen on the day of my appointment. It's not like I dropped in. Also, since I need my truck for work (and will have to rent a vehicle while it's in the shop), I asked if I should bring it back tomorrow instead.

He quickly replied, "Oh, no, you need to leave it here today. Your appointment simply secures a place in line for your truck to be seen when we can get to it. If you need it by Friday, I wouldn't leave it here today."

It can take time to troubleshoot an issue and complete repairs, especially if parts need to be ordered - I get that. What pisses me off is making an appointment only to be told they won't even pull the truck into the garage until they get around to it.

Are other people experiencing this? Is this the new normal in service standards? Or perhaps troubleshooting jobs don't get prioritized or maybe because I have an extended warranty?

I wanted to bounce this off other members before I decide how to escalate it.

Thanks,

F1L

Martian

That's an interesting way of doing things... You may have better luck doing what I did and finding a place that doesn't even take appointments. It was entirely first come, first server. I took the day off work and dropped the truck off first thing in the morning, had my exhaust replaced and AC evacuated / recharged before noon. Maybe look for a shop like that? Or call other dealers?

F1Lombie

Thanks, Martian. Unfortunately, Ford ESP requires warranty repairs to be done at an authorized dealer and I'm not aware of any dealers who operate without appointments. (Though the dealership I took it to this morning might as well, as my appointment didn't count for much.)

I'm wondering if it has something to do with the nature of the work - troubleshooting - versus a repair job that's defined?

Martian

And they won't give you a loaner? Will your insurance?

SixShooter14

Same at other brand dealers too.

My coworker had his '14 Kia broken into. They broke the driver door window. He was on vacation in Orlando at the time. So he had an auto-glass place there do the repair before he drove it back to Memphis.

He gets here and rolls the window down. But it only goes half way back up. So he calls the Toyota dealer where he bought the car in April of this year. They agree that it's covered under warranty and he makes an appointment with the Toyota dealer to fix it.... He takes it in 10mins before his appt. they say "You'll need to take it to a Kia dealer. We can't work on it." THEN WHY DID THEY MAKE THE APPT???

So, he calls the Kia dealer, same thing. It's covered make an appt for 1pm on Tuesday. He shows up at noon. They say "thank you, we're pretty busy, we'll probably get to it on Thursday or Friday" then why not make the appointment for Thursday or Friday?

SCORGE

Our dealer has appointments, but they're the kind that your vehicle is actually started on at said scheduled appointment. Odd, make an appointment to wait in line....kinda defeats the purpose.

F1Lombie

Exactly.

When the service advisor says, "We'll add you to the schedule on Wednesday at 8am," I expect a technician to be slated for the job at some point before I drop the truck off, so the appointment can be kept. I don't expect to be dropped into an open queue.

From my perspective, an appointment is a commitment on both parties. I commit to be there at a certain time and they commit to start working on it when I show up.

If my expectation is out of line and that's not how dealerships operate any longer, then I won't waste my time escalating it. That's what I'm trying to find out here.

Sorry to bitch, guys. I'm just pissed that I took the morning off work to meet my commitment and instead of Bell Ford doing their part, I'm going to be on a 1000 mile road trip this weekend with a truck that's about killed me twice...

SCORGE

Feels good though, right? lol

F1Lombie

Lol...not as good as a properly working truck!

achyness

That's garbage. My dealership has appointments set, which yes it might be a half hour or an hour wait before they get to your vehicle, but they get to it that day no matter what.