Dealer Damage while doing recall work.
Fleet Mechanic
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 1,519
Likes: 134
I had the same issue with my local dealer. Had it in for warranty work (leaking door seals on all doors and carpet fix issue). Got it back and the rear outside painted door handle had three to four nice deep gouges in it. Like someone grabbed it with a wrench in the shop. Very weird.
End of the story, they took it back and replaced the door handle. They were good for it.
Not sure employees can’t just do good work. Granted the leak guy is an “outside” contractor but still.
Matt
End of the story, they took it back and replaced the door handle. They were good for it.
Not sure employees can’t just do good work. Granted the leak guy is an “outside” contractor but still.
Matt
Mountain Pass
Joined: Jul 2019
Posts: 175
Likes: 7
From: NW Suburban Chicago
The problem I see is if you don't get the safety recalls done at all or done in a timely manner, you may be on the hook liability wise if something should happen and someone gets hurt.
My Ford dealer is also a top rated Lincoln dealer in the same building/shop. In fact my 2019 is going in this Friday for the front seat latch and seatbelt recalls and I'll get a nearly new Lincoln as a loaner.
My Ford dealer is also a top rated Lincoln dealer in the same building/shop. In fact my 2019 is going in this Friday for the front seat latch and seatbelt recalls and I'll get a nearly new Lincoln as a loaner.
Senior User
Joined: Oct 2019
Posts: 233
Likes: 2
Look for a little advice as I have been dealing with this for three weeks now and still no satisfied. I took my truck in on 2/24 to get the door latch fixed for issues with freezing as well as the carpet shielding recall. I went to pick up the truck on 2/26 and would not take delivery as they had used black silicon for the door latches and you could see it in various spots and was not uniform. It's a white truck and was very noticeable. They kept the truck to fix my concerns and redid them using clear silicon. Not sure why they didn't do that in the first place but apparently ford sends black in all kits for this. I went to pick up truck on morning of 2/28. They corrected the silicon issue I had but I then noticed on the inside two slight rips in my interior on the arm rest in the exact same spot on both front doors. My best guess is they used a screw driver to pry them off and that is when the damaged occurred. I brought this to their attention and they agreed to send me to an interior guy to fix and promised it would be OEM. I took it on the following Tuesday for them to look at it. They then ordered the fabric and again was told it would be OEM and they could easily fix it. They got the material in and I dropped it off this morning 3/10 to be fixed. Went to pick it up and the job does not look even close to OEM seam is not even nor is the fabric tight like it was before. Plus there are now scratches on the plastic on the door handles. It made me sick to my stomach. Yes the truck is 18 months of but this is damaged I have no caused. I told the guy I was not happy with the work and he stated he could fix it. I called the dealership and asked to speak with the service manager and of course it is after 5 so he isn't there and no body that makes any decisions like that can be reached. Is it completely unreasonable for me to request them to order new door panels to correct the issue and do you think that is something they would do? I know every dealership is different. Thanks for your input.
Senior User
Joined: Oct 2019
Posts: 233
Likes: 2
Simple services are as bad or worse than recalls. an oil change pays the tech about .3 hours labor at an extremely reduced labor rate. Therefore, they can't use real technicians to do this because they make too much money per flag hour. They hire lube techs, basically people who have rarely if ever turned a wrench before, to do oil changes and tire rotations as well as sell filters and such. Recalls are often the same. Because people have an expectation of getting their recall done immediately, they train the lube techs do perform many recalls which also helps reduce their real cost for performing the recall. Ford sets the labor reimbursement for recalls, and it's always lower than what it would be even under normal warranty rates. The result is people working on vehicles that aren't really qualified to do so.
Senior User
Joined: Oct 2019
Posts: 233
Likes: 2
The problem I see is if you don't get the safety recalls done at all or done in a timely manner, you may be on the hook liability wise if something should happen and someone gets hurt.
My Ford dealer is also a top rated Lincoln dealer in the same building/shop. In fact my 2019 is going in this Friday for the front seat latch and seatbelt recalls and I'll get a nearly new Lincoln as a loaner.
My Ford dealer is also a top rated Lincoln dealer in the same building/shop. In fact my 2019 is going in this Friday for the front seat latch and seatbelt recalls and I'll get a nearly new Lincoln as a loaner.
Fast forward to 2009 and I had a customer bring his 2001 F150 into the shop for the recall. He left it with us and the service advisor wrote it up and the porter parked it as it awaited the repair. While sitting out there, it caught fire and burned up! The customer wanted to know what Ford was going to do about it and the answer was nothing. He had been sent numerous recall notices for several years and failed to act on it. He ultimately simply had to turn it in to his insurance company.
Mountain Pass
Joined: Aug 2017
Posts: 169
Likes: 7
Some things never change. Way back in 1995, I was fresh out of school, and bought a GMC Sonoma brand new. First new vehicle I had ever owned, and was very proud of it. Any way, I had to take it back to the dealer a couple weeks after I bought it to have something done. Don't even remember what, but when I went back to pick it up and got in it to go home, noticed a big blue pen mark on the center console where they had obviously filled out some paperwork and "missed". Well, they tried to clean it off, which just made a bigger mess and made it look worse. They ended up ordering a new console lid to replace it, but I've never forgotten that. Lesson learned. I do everything I can on my own to my vehicles now.
Junior User
Joined: Apr 2017
Posts: 79
Likes: 2
Nothing new to add here, only agreement with most. I have only bought 3 new cars in my time. Not one of them has been back to the dealer, for all the reasons already stated above, and more, I don't want some idiot "burning out" in their driveway, beating it around town on the "test drive" etc.. When I buy a vehicle, I hope to have it for many years, driving and maintain it accordingly. I try to do everything I can myself. I am fortunate to have a independent guy do what I cant. I worked with him on a previous job and got to see his work first hand, before his work was of any concern. He is a good mechanic, very fussy about how things go, etc. He got tired of the being abused by the company BS and opened a shop. The place is always clean and well kept. his work ethic is the same as the garage appears.. Knowing his work, I started going to his place and am very loyal to him. He isn't the cheap but I am willing to pay the price for quality.
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New User
Joined: Aug 2018
Posts: 16
Likes: 0
Just here to update. The service manager called yesterday and they are ordering new door panels and trim pieces. Glad they are taking responsibility and fixing it for me.
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Mountain Pass
Joined: Apr 2018
Posts: 140
Likes: 0
From: Houston
You are EXACTLY right! In 2001 Ford issued a recall for the F150 cruise control deactivation switch. The switch would leak brake fluid and could catch fire, even if the vehicle wasn't running because the switch still had some power running through it. The first part of the recall involved disconnecting the switch until they came out with the redesigned switch. You may recall hearing about f150 trucks catching fire in the driveway or garage.
Fast forward to 2009 and I had a customer bring his 2001 F150 into the shop for the recall. He left it with us and the service advisor wrote it up and the porter parked it as it awaited the repair. While sitting out there, it caught fire and burned up! The customer wanted to know what Ford was going to do about it and the answer was nothing. He had been sent numerous recall notices for several years and failed to act on it. He ultimately simply had to turn it in to his insurance company.
Fast forward to 2009 and I had a customer bring his 2001 F150 into the shop for the recall. He left it with us and the service advisor wrote it up and the porter parked it as it awaited the repair. While sitting out there, it caught fire and burned up! The customer wanted to know what Ford was going to do about it and the answer was nothing. He had been sent numerous recall notices for several years and failed to act on it. He ultimately simply had to turn it in to his insurance company.
Sad the guy lost his vehicle due to putting it off.
Mountain Pass
Joined: Apr 2018
Posts: 140
Likes: 0
From: Houston
Good news, thanks for the update.
Logistics Pro
Joined: Mar 2019
Posts: 4,064
Likes: 13
The dealer Ive been going to generally has 3 people at the service counter, 2 guys that have been there for years, that I would call service advisors, and a young girl that I think is the service writer. Oh, for oil changes they have a young guy at another desk who schedules those.
Last recall appointment I made, they said that they prefer it to be there first thing in the morning, reason being that they have 8 guys ready to work. He made it sound like after a certain time, those guys have jobs for the day. I dont see how it would ever be possible to know who is actually going to work on the vehicle, and it doesn't seem likely the same one will work on it next time. It seems like it would be hard to actually give any recognition to the person who is actually putting hands on the vehicle.
Mountain Pass
Joined: Jan 2020
Posts: 176
Likes: 11
Glad they are taking care of it like this. Our 2001 Expedition XLT had a water leak when we purchased it new, they had forgotten to seal a seam on the firewall. They had to take the entire dash out and put it back in, they ripped the vinyl on both front doors while taking it in and out. When we went to pick it up we noticed and went right back in to them. They told us a similar thing, dont worry we can have our interior guy fix it and you wont even know its there. Their "fix" was to melt / patch the tears and then color paint match them. The repair itself is still OK, but they had to do it twice more over the next few years because their paint wears off and you can see the repair below again and again. Still have it today, pushing 200k miles, and the repairs on both doors are obvious. In hindsight, I should have just made them replace the door panels.
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