32valve

Fords new plan for dealers is all about maximizing thier profits. IE: Hire the dumbest stupidest bodies they can find cheap. All of the good expieranced techs are not aloud to work on most customer vehicles anymore. They are only able to perform warranty repairs so Ford saves money and get the jobs out correctly under warranty.Most of the folks that come in to have small repairs checked not deemed "warranty"with oil changes and maintenence are met with inexpieranced techs.This would explain your alignment being performed with worn parts...................................

1954viper

Do ball joints normally wearout by 42,000 miles? I would have expected better. Just asking...

150SlickRick

Sorry to hear about your problems, dealer service departments are going downhill. I had my oil changed Friday and I told em the ecoboost engine requires 5w-30 oil. No problem said the service writer. On my way home I read the ticket: they put in 7 quarts of 5w-20! Wrong oil and 1 quart too much! And it says 5w-30 on the oil filler cap! Idiots
Now I gotta find a new dealer, you too I think.

Fx4_04

Ok whats with all the bashing on techs? And no that is not FORD's plan that is the dealerships fault. I am a ford mechanic i work mainly on diesel's but i am a very meticulus well trained mechanic our shop foreman is one of the mechanic's and the shop manager is a former mechanic. The independent shops around here rely on us soooo many times for proper diag and everyday a truck is towed to us from an independent. In example today a gentleman had a no start condition on a 6.0 diesel another independent shop put a cam sensor in it still no start customer paid a second tow to our shop and 20 minutes later i had him back on the road. Independent shops (some) have very skilled techs. Our dealership is different from most ford shops as we are also peterbilt and mitsubishi. Our dealership is higher paid than most shops in the area (tech's) and we do not work flatrate which makes it better. It is not fords fault that the dealership does not control their people they cannot monitor all the dealers the only way for them to even notice it is to complain. Back to the original post. I would wait until they admit the ball joint is bad then nail them with the fact that they should have seen that after the first alignment when it came back and they should cover some of the cost of the tires at least IF they refuse call ford and go to another dealer explain it to them have them put in a hotline request and try to get ford to help. I work for ford the dealer (at least ours) would help

johnwill

In addition to being idoits, as you call them, they are probably idiots as well . . .

zacharyz

Maybe he's French.

32valve

FX04 not bashing you. But, Have been a Ford Tech for 28 years.Senior Master since inception. ASE master/Md truck master(not that it matters) Work on Diesels 6 days a week. Ford has been pushing this on our dealership for a couple of years.Our dealer also pays well, but only on flat rate scale.See alot of simple repairs turn into major problems due to this new concept.

Fx4_04

Well there not pushing it on us we employee fully certified techs and that is all the customer gets to work on their vehicles. NOT bashing on you but we have a senior tech and he cant fix toast i am master certified will be senior in two years to meet my ten year requirement its all in how the tech treats the customers vehicle our shop will not employee or keep employed anyone that doesnt respect customers vehicles or continues to misdiagnose or misrepair customers vehicles. If i knew the truck was just there for an alignment and now its back our shop foreman would be all over me to find something cause he understands the way a vehicle works as he was a tech for many years and still is. I have seen alot of great senior masters im sure you are an excellent tech. It probably has to do with us being a commercial dealership not working on cars no quick serve lane no alignment racks no tire balancers all of that work is subbed out to independent specialty shops in our area and ford pays for it. We have missed some bad ball joints before and sent it out for alignment BUT the alignment shop always catches it if we dont. I would just like to restate i am not bashing on you and you seem like a decent guy but it is at the dealers discretion to take care and manage their tech's. BTW we used to be flatrate it sucked we got paid 14.5 hours for 6.0 head gaskets CANNOT BE DONE. But i would take the hit on time to make sure the customers truck was done properly and i understand this is all talk but i can provide several numbers of people that ask for me to work on their trucks including my father whose field service truck is still in warranty.

Fx4_04

One other thing alot of great techs such as myself and 32valve are quitting and moving on due to flatrate it cuts our throats on alot of jobs i am fortunate to not work flatrate but have and will never again. Everyday on the ford message boards another senior master is quitting due to the fact they cannot properly fix a truck in the alloted time. They are tired of not getting paid for their work. So i guess i can really see where it would be pushed on other dealers like 32valve said but it has not affected ours.

Fasttimez

Alot of the problems can be solved at the dealership level if the service manager and shop foreman (if there is one) are former techs themselves. More and more the service managers are nothing more than pencil pushers that are there to look out for the bottom line of the service department. The same for the service writers. Alot of dealerships employ young techs either straight out of one of the many automotive schools now or techs from the local Pep Boys or Firestone for the purpose of handling non warranty work at lower hourly wages, while the certified Ford techs get all the warranty repairs and the occasional "gravy" ticket. This is what leads to alot of the non warranty comebacks. It's also why the certified Ford techs get pissed because now they have to fix some other techs f*% up.