if you think dealerships screw people

[hotmustang331]

i know of one case where a kid had a ZX2 that had a blown engine after 11k miles. this car was blue with all sorts of crappy orange stickers on it. the front tires were completely bald, the rears were almost new. the kid was racing the car every chance he got and never once rotated the tires or changed the oil! the dealership ended up freplacing the engine under warranty.

And those are the same type that will go around dissing Fords and saying that "my ford blew up in only 11K miles...they suck" and other retarded remarks. People dont say how many hours they were on the limiter and that they never changed the oil .

I wonder why cars will throw a rod if the oil isnt changed...I never have really understood that . Seems like the rod should never really loose any strength if you dont change the oil....I know that it doesnt lube as well, but what effects rod strength to allow them to blow up?

 

[bdcardinal]

the motor probably burned oil and was low, the bearing got hot and welded to the rod and the rod broke(seen it happen).

anyway, we get a TON of scammers at my work. they insist that their interstate or OEM battery was purchased from us, when we only sell DieHard batteries.

i did 2 tires on a 03 thunderbird a couple weeks ago. the car was taken care of perfectly, it was white btw. anyway, the lady came back a week later and there was a huge red spot on her front bumper, really low like in level with a curb. she said that we caused the damage to the vehicle. i had to go to our security and explain that the mark was higher than any spot on the lift i used, and that i had the bumper at eye level and there were no marks whatsoever. besides a mark that covers a huge part of the bumper is usually noticeable more than a week after it happened.

i had one customer accuse me of not balancing his tires on his AstroVan because he felt a horrible vibration at highway speed. i drove the car and verified the vibration. i checked the balance and it was perfect. i then checked the front end and both front tires had about 2" of play on the idler arms. you could literally rock them back and forth. i showed him the movement and then found his paperwork from the tires saying that we couldnt align it because of the idler arms and him denying the work. he started yelling saying how we never told him and we had to fis it for free. our manager told him that he was there when the guy denied the work, and no we would not be doing anything for free because the parts were OEM and were not any brands we use.

we have a ton of people come in with stripped drain plugs. they accuse us of having stripped them, even though weve never worked on their car ever. at my work we mark all the drain plugs with paint to see if theyve been tampered. its also obvious when they have a big orange fram filter on there, which we refuse to install on any car.

 

[Kraw]

We take responsibility of damages we cause.. The problem is many of the people who work at the dealer will not let the management know when they cause damage to a customers car. How are they supposed to know if it was like that before or if it was caused on the lot. The dealer has to do this to protect themselfs from scammers that have a damaged car and then want somebody else to pay for it.

I have damaged several cars over the years and I just tell the service manager and they fix the car. Maybe it helps that I have worked for the same guy for 7 years now but if a place gave me a hard time over some lot damage I would quit and go someplace lese.

exactly. It becomes MY responsibility to prove that THEY caused the problems... which of course, they know I can't do. Thus, it's my problem. It's bull****. The dealership should do a walk around with you before and after.

It just burns me up that a ****ing dealership repair shop doesn't take care of your car. All those years of trying to keep it perfect, taking it to the dealership thinking that even though you'll pay more, thinking they'll take better care of your car... and no

can't wait until I get my satisfaction survey

 

[blackfang]

If the tech is smart, they write down all scratches and everything before they pull it into the bay.

I try and write it down when I tag the car and note it as i write the ticket and inform them at writeup if I can.

 

[Ram5773]

I bought my 02 GT one month ago from a local Ford dealer and three weeks into it, it ate a valve due to a bad-worn valve guide at 37500 miles. So I took the car in and they told me I had a 100.00 deductable on the powertrain warranty and they would look at it to see if it was covered. They gave a new Ford Fusion to drive while mine was in the shop. The dealer called out the Ford inspector and looked at the head and authorized a new head assembly. They told me I would not have to pay the deductable on the policy and gave me my car back all fixed up. My only negative thing to say about the experience is that every part of my car had a greasy hand print on it. I didn't complain to them, they bent over backwards to help me, I used it as just a excuse to clean the car.

The people who I dealt with, where great, not all dealers are bad. People are very quick to say bad things and are very reluctant to say anything good. Just my two cents.

 

[Skud]

I've only been to one or two good dealers.. Unfortunately, I don't live close to them anymore..

The biggest thing that gets me is the *******s and techs who don't care at all. I always feel nervous when I take my car to a dealer because I know that during the course of the day my car will be in the hands of someone who could care less about it and would deny everything should they drive it into a wall.

I think I mostly feel nervouse because I know what goes on in these places. I don't exactly work in the automotive industry, but I do work in the service industry and I see the shotty work people do. When I do work for other people I have VERY high standards and when I have people do work for ME I want them to perform to those standards. That's why I try and do 99% of the stuff myself. Most people couldn't be bothered to do it "properly"

I wish I could find a dealership that takes pride in their work. I know they exist.

As for the salespeople (sorry DropTopPony), but I try to give them a hard time. If you don't you will get screwed. It's like a battle to the death.. It's me or you and I don't plan on going down without a fight.

I actually had a salesman try to sell me a used car (it had 3600mi on it) for sticker price. Someone has bought it and returned it. The salesman kept telling me it was a "Rare" car and they weren't making anymore and he had to sell it for that much to pay for delivery and transport fees (on a used car??). By the way, it was an '04 Tiburon "Tuscani".

I also had one salesman who offered me $2500 for my trade in and would sell me a stang for $25k.. I told him the trade in was way too low, so he talked to his manager and said "Ok, how about $4500 and $27?".. I got up and left..


Riley

 

[007]

I've had experience at Ford (2 cars) and BMW (2 cars). I've had some bad experiences with a few dealerships and found one good one. They replaced my head under warranty after 15k (warped since day one) without ever mentioning my cat-back, pullies, chip, gears etc. etc. Theyve been great.

The idiots at the other dealership had no idea though... one time I wanted the tires mounted on my 18s so I called to confirm they could do it.

Service guy: "Sure we can"
Me: "Are you sure"
Him "Yes"
Me "Can I talk to the guy that does it because I know lots of places have trouble with low profile tires"
Nother Guy "Hi"
I tell him the sizes "Sure thats fine"
"Are you sure some places cant mount them?"
Him "its fine"

So i drive 45 there and back and drop off 2 wheels and 2 tires. They take them look at them and say nothing... I go home and get the other pair of wheels and tires - another 45 minutes. They take my car, get it round back then come to me and tell me "they cant mount 18s". I then have to take it all back again. I complained and they didnt even want to know. Never went there again, and shared my experience in local forums the same day.

Idiots are everywhere you just have to be on the lookout for em.

 

[5.0's 4 ever]

My dealership kisses our customers ass all the time. They are always so worried about bad surveys that we give away a ton of free stuff, knock off labor and prices of parts, and even cover parts that we were clearly broke by the customer.

These soccer moms are the worst with their suvs, spilling coffee on electronic parts constantly messing them up, hitting their mirrors on signs, then their kids seem to break any interior piece of the vehicle that is not bolted down. But for some reason we will cover just to keep the customer happy.

 

[Kraw]

I'm not looking to screw the dealer, they did good work on the car, and the guy at the front was a super nice guy. I just want them to NOT scratch it when they are working on it Is it too much to ask? They aren't bad scratches. They could be easily buffed out. I don't want free ****. I just want my car to look the same coming out as it did going in.

 

[Superhereaux]

My dealership kisses our customers ass all the time. They are always so worried about bad surveys that we give away a ton of free stuff, knock off labor and prices of parts, and even cover parts that we were clearly broke by the customer.

These soccer moms are the worst with their suvs, spilling coffee on electronic parts constantly messing them up, hitting their mirrors on signs, then their kids seem to break any interior piece of the vehicle that is not bolted down. But for some reason we will cover just to keep the customer happy.

believe it or not, alot of volvo owners are soccer moms eek: shock )

almost every v/xc70 or xc90 i pull in has at least two booster seats in the back and almost every one of those vehicles has a complaint or two about a broken trim piece that's a bitch to replace or a part that is jammed up. warranty? of course.


as for the "rat bastard" customers we don't get many but we still get a few on occasion.
mostly some customer with a jank ass '93 850 with 191,000 miles that comes in for a 9 yr old recall refuses any service to the car, leaves, then comes back demanding free brakes because they weren't squeeking before, new tires because they "weren't that worn down" before or a free detail because it wasn't that dirty when they brought it in.

 

[blackfang]

My dealership kisses our customers ass all the time. They are always so worried about bad surveys that we give away a ton of free stuff, knock off labor and prices of parts, and even cover parts that we were clearly broke by the customer.

These soccer moms are the worst with their suvs, spilling coffee on electronic parts constantly messing them up, hitting their mirrors on signs, then their kids seem to break any interior piece of the vehicle that is not bolted down. But for some reason we will cover just to keep the customer happy.

We had a Service manager that kept goodwilling everything. Key word had. Now the customers are pissed because its time to pay up now.

I get people that put ***** in a hypothetic questions. Well if you were me what would you do? "Sorry I am not you". If you feel the need to tow then you do so, if not then drive it.

 

[DTNODYA]

My dealership kisses our customers ass all the time. They are always so worried about bad surveys that we give away a ton of free stuff, knock off labor and prices of parts, and even cover parts that we were clearly broke by the customer.

These soccer moms are the worst with their suvs, spilling coffee on electronic parts constantly messing them up, hitting their mirrors on signs, then their kids seem to break any interior piece of the vehicle that is not bolted down. But for some reason we will cover just to keep the customer happy.

I hear ya, but unfortunately many dealerships only send the surveys to the 'happy' customers.


Some advise I have for anyone that takes their car to a dealership:

1.) Tell the service writer to please keep your car inside at night if they can.
2.) Write down your mileage when you drop the car off!!! (+/- 20 miles added is sometimes normal, but 50 or more ... **** no!)
3.) Take anything out of your car that is worth more than 20 bucks.
4.) Before you authorize them to do any work (over the phone), make sure the service writer explains to you IN DETAIL, why this work needs to be done. Many times, they have no idea what they are talkin' about, they just go by what the tech says.

Now, I know that is not what the techs or service writers want people to do, but those steps are the best way to try and achieve accuracy and honesty ... which should be most important anyway. Treat customers good (even if you can't upsell them 16 transmissions) and they will come back and spread the word that you are a reputable dealership.