I went out to change my oil (got about 8000 miles). Had the dealer do it at 3400 to get the first service thing done. Got under the truck (man I love not having to use a floor jack) and got a socket to remove the pan plug bolt. Put the socket on to see if it was the right size and the freaking plug turned in my hand!! Thing was only finger tight....been that way for almost 5000 miles...

That'll be the last tme I go to the dealer for service unless it's warranty..and I will be writing them a letter to let them know. I know anyone can make a mistake, but c'mon....this is an oil change..even the rookies they have doing those ought to be able to get this right.

 

If you want something done right, do it yourself.

 

I have to agree with McD.

At least it doesn’t sound like any damage was done. I made the mistake of letting someone else change the oil in my old truck once and it will never happen again.

 

I had bought a new 88 Mazda MX6 GT. The dealer gave me my first oil change for free. After the oil change, got home and checked the oil level, it was a quart over full. Have never had anybody change my oil sense.....

 

Fumoto drain valve! worth every penny

 

BiggZiff's point is well taken, but it extends farther than that. If domestic manufacturers want to do well (and GM and Ford have been hurting bad) they need to revamp their service departments.

My wife owns a Mercedes. Not only was it cheaper to buy than my Lariat, but every time it goes in (even for an oil change) it comes back washed and vacuumed. This would never happen at a Ford dealer.

 

My first jobs out of high school were in garages. Oil changes, seemingly quite simple right...were screwed up more times than I can remember. Over full, under full, loose drain bolts, oil filters put on with the old gasket still there, wrong grade of oil in diesels and on and on. I would NEVER take my vehicle to anyone for an oil change. Very glad you didn't have any harm come to your truck. In fact I hate to turn my truck over to anyone for anything When I had my liner sprayed I could see the guy leaning over the side of the bed to tighten the bed bolts back and I just cringed every time he leaned over because with my luck I just knew he was gonna rub a belt buckle or something and scratch the hell out of it, luckily it turned out fine.

 

Well, the last time Ford service got near my truck it took me almost 9 weeks to get the part they damaged replaced....And that was only thanks to some of the helpful posts in this forum. And remember, they admitted the error in the first few minutes.


SuperCrewDude, I had the same experience, working during high school, and college, Ford dealership, then independent garage. When I 'had' the lube rack we did a 32 point oil change and lube, up to and including pulling a wheel off to check the brakes.
I tried hard, I had the right tools, and I cared about the customer. I still did some lousy work at the beginning. And I spent a lot of time fixing the things the guy before me messed up. And when I moved on to the ‘real’ mechanical work, the guy that took over the rack was a 50 year old alcoholic. He was replaced by a young doper, who was replaced by a guy fresh out of prison for murder. He was pretty good, but the day he cleared parole, he quit.
Lube and oil is not a prestigious position in a dealer shop. Today it’s usually an 18 year old kid, an illegal, or a guy ‘on the way down’ from drugs/booze.
Or a stoned illegal eighteen year old kid…
Chris

 

I hear you Chris.

It was really quite sad to see the poor quality individuals that were brought in while I was in these places. Like you said, these were not prestigious jobs. I was like you though and it came from my dad...I treated their car no matter what it's condition like I wanted mine treated. I still carry that advice with me about doing a job like I want it done, to my current job at Lorain Assembly. These vans aren't mine yet I know somewhere somebody is going to sign the papers for one of these and his/her hard earned money deserves something they can use for years to come without trouble. We have over 2,000 people building our van. It's hard to find 2,000 with that mentality. I only wish our Union brothers and sisters could see the big picture on how Japanese carmakers are taking over. The big 3 in the future is shaping up to be Toyota, Honda, and Nissan and that really disappoints me.

Forgive the speech, but the whole point of this thread just drives home how much business can be gained or lost by simple service and respect for a customer no matter how directly you contact them. Indirectly like myself or directly like the dealership staff.

 

Not defending either companies service record, but their financial difficulties have jack to do with the product or service.
Do some research, it is entirely due to pension plans, and union benefits. Many states have the same problem. People are living far too long, and are too healthy.
All the pension plans from times past, ranging from Social Security, down to Joe's tire shop, were based on men's ages, and men's life expectancy. Also on medical expenses that were deemed 'reasonable to expect'.

Men live much longer than predicted, even just a few years ago.

Women are in the workforce, and live longer, but retire at the same age... No provision is even legal for that, but it adds a huge expense.

Medical science has progressed to the point that they can cure or treat many fatal conditions.
End result, people that should have died (according to the actuarial tables that the pensions were based on) are still alive, racking up HUGE medical expenses, paid for by the companies.

Societal changes are taking place where many thousands of retired autoworkers suddenly have large young families on their medical insurance, as many grand kids are being raised by retirees, adding a huge and completely unexpected load to the retirees insurers.

Nowadays it's normal to see a Grandpa with a grand child or three on his free corporate paid insurance, as the parents are flaked out on drugs somewhere.

The 20 year old kids of autoworkers, rather than be in the army or starting a carrier, etc. are still living at home, on the corporate insurance.
All these things are why GM spends more on HMO stuff than on cars.
Look for big changes in the next few years…
Chris

 

Chris his point isn't entirely untrue. There are a ton of things factoring into Ford and GM's declines. Speaking for Ford since I work there I can tell you the beginning of Ford's stock plunge was the Explorer/Firestone fiasco. True that's not related to service, but I've watched it fall steadily and quickly since then. I never expected our stock to fall to the $9 range it's in now, but that was a publicity nightmare and really put a black eye on us and we've been told this by management that Ford has been trying to revamp their dealerships because of poor customer evaluations. It plays a part, but it isn't the sole cause of their woes. You can also say that Ford/GM's dependency on big truck and SUV sales for profits are hurting from rising fuel prices. The money makers aren't selling as many as before. You are right that healthcare is crippling them too. As a union benefit recipient I can agree with you just the same.

Like it or not the Big 3 and the UAW have to deal with each other. The UAW, however much anyone hates them, are slowly beginning to realize what's happening to our American auto industry. They're acknowledging the rise in sales and market share of Japanese/Asian companies. At least that's a start. As a union member I need them to see that because it directly affects their membership totals. If we can't sell our products it means layoffs. Look for them to bend some in this next contract. How much isn't known, but I expect some things to change. Healthcare WILL be the #1 issue at the table.

A 20yr. old living at home must be a full-time student to still be eligible for coverage. Even then I think there's an age limit somewhere. Otherwise at age 18 they come off of mom/dad's. We get audited all the time by insurance providers to prove eligibility otherwise they are removed. We have to submit proof.

 

You make some great points, SuperCrewDude, and of course I'm not denying those points, they are all right on the money.
My point is that it's not the reason for the overall problems.

I never imagined that the companies are the 'best they can be'. I worked for a company with 58k employees for 14 years. inefficient doesn't begin to cover it.
Ever wasted 2 million dollars in a week? I have. Got an award for it...
Saw the division head flush 24 million in a month. He was then promoted...
Not unusual at all. And you pay for this stupidity as a costumer, which about 75% of the folks in the USA are.

Even with this kind of 'management' the company was way into the black, every year. So into the black, that it was attacked by a hostile takeover. My division was sold, to generate quick cash to fight off the attack.
Sadly, I know about stupid businesses.

The exploder thing, while real in an absolute sense, was mostly media generated. Ford didn't understand for a long time that the facts were not important, it's how it looks on the news.
Firestone never did understand the problem because the Japanese don't think the same way.

We all remember exploding Pintos’ rolling Samaris, exploding Chevy trucks, self accelerating Audi’s, evil SUV’,s not to mention silicone breast implants, alar on apples, etc.

The worse things are for American companies, the better the media like it.


Media damage is far worse than bad service, bad parts, etc.
If you think I'm wrong, look at Wendy's.
Nobody with an ounce of brains thought the finger story was real. Yet it could have killed the chain, and has cost a lot of jobs.


If you do the math you will be surprised at how little the car/truck end has to do with the car companies problems. Not my idea, check about 100 editorials and news articles, mostly in the financial sections.

And of course, this in no way excuses bad business practice. <TABLE cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=0 width="95%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD></TD><TD width="12%"><LABEL for=rb_iconid_9></LABEL></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>


On living at home, my nephew is still on his father's union insurance at 25. He does live at home, as many kids do till the mid twenties now. When the contracts were being negotiated, the usual leaving home age was 18.5.
The trick for insurance after 20 usually involves school, which goes on forever nowadays. This is his last year, but he can buy insurance through his father's company for about half what it costs others.

His father, in aerospace, where this problem is also coming up, has insurance coverage through work for his ex-wife, his son, his new wife, and both her kids from another marriage. So that's 6 on his insurance... it will be seven, he’s adopting her oldest(17) daughter’s illegitimate kid.

The Court ordered coverage for his ex-and his son... He pays very little, and they have great coverage.

Again, this is type of situation is beat to death in editorials, and financial news pages.

Even more expensive, no retirement plan ever allowed for people 80 up to be alive, much less active and using medical money like it was water.

Oh well, SuperCrewDude, I have high jacked this thread, Sorry to others reading it, that aren’t interested.
Chris

 

Ya, we've definately veered off course on this thread just a bit.

Different unions i.e. railroads, plumbers/pipefitters masonry and on and on have vastly different contracts. I can't speak for any of them but my own in the auto industry. Ford in general is vigilant in auditing us for illegal dependants and I have no problem with that at all.

It's hilarious what you mentioned about the wasting money and getting promoted. Not hard to believe either. O.K. I won't blab any more on this either.

Apologies to Biggziff for wrecking his thread.

 

Opp's you pushed my rant button.
I am 6 months out of school working at a ford dealer. I spent 20 grand to go to the top auto tech school in the country and another 8 grand to be fully ford certified. I had a multiple job offers before i graduated. the one i took is paying me back the 8 grand for the ford training. Yes i do alot of oil changes But i can also diag a check engine light in less than a hour. The oil changes I do get the same quality work as anything else. That means the underbody cleaned of any leftover oil. hood wiped down if it got dirty. Not all of use lube guys are stoned 18 year olds. I graduated top of the school with a 4.00. I still have a lot to learn but my goal is to change the way most people feel about dealer techs. The way I do this is one customer at a time ( and ranting on internt message boards) Sorry for the long post but it rubbed me the wrong way.

 

4.6Ranger, As a rant goes, it's a fair one.
Show me where I said everyone working at the bottom was drugged, etc.
Many are, and most are ‘training’ up, or demoted down.
Sorry but that’s the real world. Ugly place, but it has it’s points.

Perhaps in my post I didn't make clear that sometimes the guy on the rack is going to go up the ladder. I thought I did make it clear, as I was where you are, and then I was the heavy line mechanic, then the service writer, then managed the parts department.
Decided that I was never going to be the owners son, no matter how hard I worked, so I went independent.
Owned my own shop in the 70's, sold out and tried a different path.
Started at the bottom again, this time in retail auto parts, worked up to managing stores in three states. Got tired of the hours, BS, etc.

Went back to being my own boss, and for the first year my only employee. Went with computers that time.
Did OK, built up to five people, then my health sagged, and I retired.

Notice that I started at the bottom three times. I think that's the only way to know a field.
Hardly a slam at people on the bottom, is it.

I believe you will go far, and I hope you keep your good attitude towards doing a good job.
If you think you are 'typical' of the people that work the lower ends in our society, then wait a few years and then say that again...

Where you live also makes a huge difference.
When you travel this country, it's like going through a time warp. You can get culture shock just changing states.


I'm far more impressed by your willingness to speak out than a 4.0 grade, in any modern class.
So Rant away, it keeps us other ranters on our toes.

Chris