So after about two hours a different person than who checked him in came into the waiting room and told Ron they did the diagnostic and it showed this spark plug dome clearance problem so Ron needed to buy a new engine. Ron told them him drove it in and he was driving it out. The guy said that it could cause more damage to the engine and he shouldn’t drive it. Ron told him he was leaving with the car!
That seemed to cause them some problems because it took them almost another hour to bring Ron the car. It was the person who checked him in who came into clear the paper work with Ron over what was done. When Ron questioned them on what spark plugs they put in she said none they did not even do anything like that. She showed him the paperwork and it said that they put it on the diagnostic machine and it gave an error code meaning that the spark plug was seized with an intrusion of coolant fluid. The suggested thing was to try to remove the spark plug.
Instead they did the oil change, checked the fluids, and rotated the tires. The standard stuff for an oil change. They discounted the $360 dollar diagnostic tests $100 because Ron told them to not do it but they had already started it, they don’t say if they completed it. When he signed in the woman tried to tell him he needed the 60,000 mile fluid flush and it would cost $650.00. Yet she did not tell him and the paperwork did not say how much each fluid was or cost.
When he got home Ron told me the other part of this. Our car is the top of the line with all option. It has had all maintenance done at the dealership along with us having bought the “butler service” keeping the paint job as grand as possible by redoing the clear coat after doing touch up work. It has a very high resale price. The dealership has been sending us offers to buy the car back or give us a great trade in for it. Seems they have wanted it back so badly someone thought if they went in and told this senior citizen that their car that would be paid off next month and was 7 years old needed a 10 grand engine replacement they might get him to deal the car away to them.
The thing that I stick on is after they told Ron that and he said no he was taking the car home it took them an hour to bring it out from the garage to the waiting room area. Why. Did they just not do anything for a couple of hours and then tell him that thinking he would be too scared to try to drive it home? So then they had to do the service he had an appointment for? Or did they do it and had something else going on that they had to do to get the car ready to come back to the front? It took three hours to run the diagnostic machine, do the oil change and fluid check, and rotate the tires. Seems a long time to me. I would love to hear the thoughts you all have. Hugs.
Scottie's Playtime 
I have a program with the dealer who sold me my car. We’ve always had that with that dealership. We get the standard as you stated it, with tire rotation, fluids check, oil change of course, and I think since the car is modern there is some sort of switch flip they do to get a little report on everything. I get an appointment, then if things haven’t happened and they believe they’ll have it done in around an hour, I wait. If somebody’s had something bad, sometimes it will take them longer to get to my car, but they always ask if I’m staying, then tell me how long they’ll be.
Pretty much everywhere I’ve ever taken a car for service has done it that way. I don’t have a clue what to tell you about this experience; it does seem as if something commission-generating could have been going on in somebody’s sharp-pencilled pea-pickin’ brain.
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Hi Ali. We have had issues with this dealership before. We also had a service agreement for 6 years that provided a bunch of stuff including a check / redo of the paint bad spots and reapplying the clear coat. But this is the same dealership that crashed our car on their lot and it took four or five months to repair / return it to us. They refused to give us weekly updates, instead we had to fight for new information. Ron once had to wait four hours for an oil change. If I had known I would have followed him in the van and brought him home. But you expect an oil change to take 45 minutes to an hour at most. Trust me this is the last time we are going to do business with that dealership. Hugs
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Good! Maybe give them some poor reviews, or even call their local chamber of commerce. You guys have had a long, bad experience with them. You can’t be the only ones.
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Good idea Ali. I will share it with Ron. Thanks. Hugs
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I don’t want to say what I think, but this is the bowdlerized version.
You might want to find somewhere else to get service done. With this level of customer service, you might watch for “Under New Management” signs if this place is convenient.
They either took that extra hour to do the service you asked for in the first place or it took them an hour to erase the “FRAUD” written all over the report.
Sorry – but this is truly offensive behavior. Those jackals even forced you to pay most of the price for a service you refused.
I would have been tempted to call a cop (probably a bad idea) to have the vehicle returned to you, but what with them holding your car hostage I think you came out of this about as well as you could have once the shearing process was started.
And she showed Ron the paperwork?!? If she did not then give him a copy that’s a red flag. And it makes it harder to support any complaint you might make public. (She didn’t happen to hold it so that the car ID was hidden, did she?)
Reporting this stuff on local message boards is at your option, but people should be warned. Only if it’s safe, though.
I don’t know if you can tell, but this episode really upsets me.
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Hi MDavis. Please don’t censor yourself, feel free to express your opinion. The dogs the love gravy knows Ron did when he got home. He was pretty clear what he felt they were trying to do and that they were crooked as the tRump admin. This is the same dealership that jerked us around after they crashed our car on their lot and charged us 500 to replace the battery. We won’t ever use them again. It is Sam Galloway Ford in Fort Myers.
They have Lincoln dealership area on their compound and now Ford is shutting down the Lincoln brand. I guess they are trying to make up for their losses. She did give Ron the paperwork and it contradicted what he was told by the first time. Then when he started asking questions she back tracked fast claiming they never tried to do what the suggested error code said was the remedy. They never tried to take the spark plugs out. As a neighbor said, no spots on the driveway, no skipping or issues. It has run great since Ron brought it home. They tried really hard to keep Ron from driving the car home, they kept pointing out it could do more harm to the engine. Ron said what do you mean, you said the engine needed to be replaced so what more harm could it do to drive it.
I understand you are upset. Ron was fuming so bad when he got home he just couldn’t calm down. I am upset. I love what Ron told them. I drove it in here and I will be driving it home. As for the local message boards I don’t know any or use them so I really wouldn’t know where to put it. Hugs
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Ethics is apparently an outdated, unnecessary, human condition. It’s all about the money these days.
I had a bad experience with a Ford dealership near here. I named names when I blogged about it. Out ’em Scotty. It won’t make a dent in their policy, but if one person avoids getting screwed there, you will have banked some karma.
I’m still pissed at Joe Mahan Ford, Paris Tn. Devious fuckers. The repair shop is run like Felonious Orange is in charge.
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Hi Shell Digger. We have told all the neighbors and turns out others have had bad dealings with them. This is the same dealership that crashed our car on their lot and jerked us around for four or five months repairing it. They also charged us nearly 500 dollars to replace the battery. Trust us we won’t be dealing with them again. When we bought the car 7 years ago it seemed a different attitude in the service area. We had one of those service deals that included a program to fix small paint issues and reapply clear coat to it. But over time the changed, got sloppy with much longer wait times. They stopped providing free snacks and drinks in the waiting area, and the last few times we took it there Ron had to clean marks off the interior where they left marks from dirty hands. Not only will we not ever go back there I doubt Ron will ever buy another Ford. Ron felt abused, used, and like they were trying to extort him. Hugs
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