pfbz

I was heading out of town for the long weekend last Thursday. Truck loaded, my two dogs on board. About 45 minutes out of town I started getting a severe miss and flashing CEL on my 2011 Ecoboost when climbing on the highway... This has never happened before. It went away, came back again, went away again, with the CEL light off.

I was still close enough to flip back to town, and go right to the dealer. "Yes sir, we can take a look. $133 minimum diagnostic fee, even to just read the codes... We could care less if it is still under extended warranty"
They read the codes, takes about 60 seconds. Misfire in Cyl. #3.

They pull the coil and plug from #3, and see that the plug is (was) fine, but the boot is arcing. They tell me I need six new plugs and six new boots [plugs were less than 3K miles old], and they can do this for a mere $580. PLUS the $130 diagnostic fee.

REALLY? $710 dollars to fix an arcing plug boot? My old 996 Turbo has notoriously difficult-to-change spark plugs that require removing the entire rear clip, and even at ridiculously expensive Porsche dealer pricing, they don't charge that much for a spark plug change...
...and even if I was willing to pay the absurd pricing, they only have three boots in stock. They need to keep the car overnight, but they can arrange a rental car on my dime. But rental car companies don't allow dogs... So that really does me no good.

So I suggest they just replace the one plug they already have out, and the one boot they already have off with a new plug and boot, which they do have in stock, and let me go on my way. They refused...
Refusing to do anything other than the absurdly overpriced work that they don't have all the parts for anyway, they put the OLD plug and OLD boot back in the truck (grand total of about 15 minutes of actual work on the truck) and charged me $133.
So I went to the parts counter, bought a new boot for ~$4 and a new plug for ~$10 (both marked up about 50%+ over list price), took it easy for another 20 minutes back home with no further CEL's (no hills). Changed the boot and plug myself in less than 10 minutes. Went to another local dealer, bought another 5 plugs and boots and changed them all for good measure. Less than $60 in parts and less than 30 minutes to change the other five plugs and boots. All is good except for losing a day and a half of my long weekend.

Way to go dealer! And way to go Ford for fostering this kind of mentality at your "independent" dealerships!

Instead of earning a grateful customer and saving the day, you come off as complete money-grubbing customer-alienating jerks.

It also made my decision easy to NOT get a 2015 F150. I would far rather have an out of warranty truck and deal with actual mechanics at reputable non-dealership service shops than worry about Ford dealer service shenanigans.

CreepinDeth

I didn't know dealers sold boots individually myself......

Sounds like you got your diagnostics $$$ worth and avoided the dealer rape charges. Most people don't realize how bad all dealerships are, and this is nothing exclusive to Ford.

They all should have banners in the shops saying "XYZ we exploit naive people"

Manuellabour247

Um, which dealer was this? If they are that bad and shady to you, then they'll be as bad or worse until somebody says something.

pfbz

BL3Z-12A402-A

$1.54 on Tasca, $2.44 list price, $4+ at the dealer.

I expect a dealership to overcharge... But their quote comes out to about $1,200/hr of actual work.

CreepinDeth

Sounds like they quoted you on replacing the plugs and wires for shop time.

Plug removal does require some other things being removed to get to them from what I read. Go on Googlemaps and write a negative review so others are aware of their practices.

pfbz

MEDVED Ford, Castle Rock Colorado.

The crazy part is that despite the incredibly slimy feeling the dealership left me with, I'm not sure it would have been a much different experience at most other dealerships... What have other dealerships charged folks for a simple plug change?

The reality is that Ford corporate tries so hard to deny any warranty coverage and pays the dealers so little for warranty work, the dealer try and make it up with this kind of 'take advantage of the customer' business practice.

CreepinDeth

Dealerships all try to overcharge to make the most profit.

Charging people 8 hours labor book time for something that takes them 5 hours.
They claim the mechanic did it faster so it's profit margin for them.

pfbz

Without rushing in the slightest this is 30 minutes of work tops. I could likely do it in 20 minutes without trying very hard.

It's hard to imagine a mentality that justifies charging $580 bucks for 30 minutes of super-easy work and $60 in parts.

I understand book hours vs. actual hours and the extra margin it provides a dealership, but there is a limit to how much I'll be over-quoted before I complain about it, and this dealership blew through that threshold and more.

ThomasM

My local dealer wanted around $400 plus plugs and cops (if needed) for a plug change in my 2010 5.4 3v. It was the last revision of that motor so it had the 1 piece ( none breaking plugs). I passed at the offer and bought all the plugs from autozone for 4 bucks less( per plug) than what they said at the dealership and changed them in 45 minutes with no hurry ( 4 year old daughter "helping"). So yea dealerships prices are high everywhere.

Cowpig

they all suck, the jeep dealer in alexandria va raped me .... but i fought them via the credit card company and won after proving they knew the problem was a fuel filter but kept finding other causes first ($$$). reported them to BBB too, not that it matters

the ford dealer here kept my truck several weeks total - why? because its under warranty, they only have 1 guy authorized to do warranty, and when he's out they cannot fix it (none of the other "mechanics" are allowed to work on it per FORD). No rental cars in town and no loaners either ... so warranty = no vehicle. knock on wood my truck has been okay for a year since all my troubles with the pcm, cat's, etc ... but I agree, it doesn't inspire repeat business

if i get another truck someday - going back to dodge
if i go with a sports car = camaro (not a fan of the newest mustangs)

nice thing about not being brand loyal is I can take my business elsewhere - but again, all the dealers suck (the local chevy/jeep dealer here kept a work vehicle for a month due to a recall with a head gasket ... warranty, recall, no vehicle for a month!)