Spark Plugs from Hell SUCCESS!!

[kbldoc]

I Agree,
The Technicians do know the cars pretty well and don't get me wrong there are a lot of good techs working for the dealers but there are some service advisor's that don't know there butt from a hole in the ground and get customers to pay ridiculous prices for work and the task does not justify the price

I didn't mind the $100 deductible, other then I believe the work they did on the alternators is what caused the MAFS to go bad, but when he told me it would have cost me $500 - $600 to replace the MAFS and $500 + $40 for each broken plug that was total B.S and he should not be representing ford.these type's of people give the whole company a bad reputation not just him.
I understand and believe the risk on replacing these poorly designed plugs but it was actually the easiest spark plug change i have ever done.

If they had the same success as i did would they have came back and said, hey it went well its only going to cost the amount for a tune up.
NO! he told me me it was the same no matter what happened.

Still have 15,000 miles left on the extended warranty so I will have to find a different dealer to work with from now on.
any suggestions?

Sorry about the whining but is good therapy.LOL

Thanks for the feedback

Having spent 26 years as a dealer line tech, I can tell you, you will save money in the long run going to the dealer, can't tell you how many repairs I have done over the years from other shops crap work. the dealer is more familar with your car then anybody out there, now I am not talking about performance work but every other aspect of your car, yeah it's exspensive, but if the dealer can diagnose a problem in 1 hour labor at 100.00 versus 2 hours labor at 80.00, did you really just save money?

[billyboss]

Having been a line tech,service writers are not nessacarly my favorite people either, they have caused me lots of grief over the years,but there are some good ones out there, I generally do my own maintanace on my vehicles, but I highly recomend Larry Nelson in the hd truck center at earnhardt in chandler, he can take care of your stang also, you just have to request him, he has always been awsome with me and I have never had to take my stang or my excursion back after a repair, he is honest and no BS, he always makes sure my cars are right, and has never had an issue with mods on my car,
good luck

[kbldoc]

Thanks Billy,
I will look him up next time.

Having been a line tech,service writers are not nessacarly my favorite people either, they have caused me lots of grief over the years,but there are some good ones out there, I generally do my own maintanace on my vehicles, but I highly recomend Larry Nelson in the hd truck center at earnhardt in chandler, he can take care of your stang also, you just have to request him, he has always been awsome with me and I have never had to take my stang or my excursion back after a repair, he is honest and no BS, he always makes sure my cars are right, and has never had an issue with mods on my car,
good luck

[mikebna]

Good info on getting the plugs replaced.

You are dead on about the service writers, they are totally $$$$ driven and have to make a quota and their performance is based on how much they charge on average ticket price written up. Warranty repairs and oil changes are the lowest paying tickets by far!

Don't let the mechanics off the hook either, because they will play the service writers like a book, and allot of them are to be performance driven by average ticket also, so they will hand the service writer a laundry list of items and the service writer has to present it to the customer for approval. I have personally seen mechanics at stealerships sit around and play on the computers to burn time and have more billable hours on the clock per repair and customer.

[billyboss]

I have to disagree with you, service writers performance is based on customer satisfaction,the survey's are what matter, as far as the technicians go,they give you a laundry list because if they don't Cover thier ass some SOB will blame everything on them that happens to thier car on the tech that worked on it last, example, I had my car in for an oil change and now my timing belt is broken,how come you didn't tell me I needed one,so now I have bent valves and I would have replaced the belt had you told me. Todays society is totally based on everything being some one elses responsibility. I have been on both sides of this fence, you wonder why it cost so much to have your car worked on, oil change 3/10ths of an hour, which is 18 minutes,in that time you have to go to the dispacther to get the work order,go get the keys,go get the car,order your parts,go wait in line to get your parts,rack the car, change the oil and filter, write down everything you see and give an estimate on it,so that you don't get blamed for anything,test drive the car,park the car,turn in the keys and paperwork,you people on the cust side have no Idea what a brutal enviroment a car dealership is

[mikebna]

I couldn't agree with you more, as I have worked for a couple of service departments at some large dealerships in my time, and rather than write a book about it,like you did, I just covered a couple of scenarios that happen is all.

[kbldoc]

This is great to be able to hear both sides,
I have a couple of friends that work as technicians in Recon and hear their stories about how this works all the time.
The only reason I go to the dealer to have work done on my car is because the tech's are certified and my car is still under warranty.

If I take my car in for an oil change and the timing chain goes out I wouldn’t blame the dealer, if the oil takes out the timing chain that meens no oil was put back in, other then that they have nothing to do with each other but I get your point.
The reason I suspected the alternator killing my MAFS is because this could have been electrically related, sh$t happens and I still paid the deductable and didn’t argue the fact because I couldn’t prove it.

As for the survey's, I was told they have them sent to the dealer and they fill them out, I have only received one survey in the last 5 years.

The problem I had with the service advisor was the ridiculous prices he quoted me, and I still didn’t get dinner and a movie,

THANKS,