disaster at my local dealership

took my car in they did the 100k mile plug change, oil change (had another 1k left but wth), and fuel filter change. They inspected the ignition wires and reported A-OK shortly after I had it back it started a plug knock so I took it back to the dealer and they said I need the carbon removed, computer reprogrammed and my wires changed.

Took my car in no problems it left with issues and now they want to charge me 500 dollars to fix the issues it didn't have. I called Ford who logged it and sent it to the rep at the dealership. I then waited 6 hours and called and he said Ford never told him (pffft, yeah right). Now on Monday they are going to have a pow-wow about this but my point is you have on my paperwork you checked the ignition wires then the next day the spark plug wires need to be replaced (270 dollars might I add). All along they said they would check the wires and if bad would tell me and I said just replace them with the plugs if so.

Long story short this is the first Ford I ever owned and now I understand why Toyota has taken over their slot as manufacturer #2. Outcome I hope will be right or I will go up as far as I can at Ford and when that fails I will file the paperwork for a small claims lawsuit (which I have never done before) against them.

I will let others know good or bad and if bad I will spread the word on which dealership this is so others do not fall into their trap.

Reply to
Dark Alchemist
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I'd simply try another dealership. What makes you think this sort of thing doesn't happen at Toyota dealerships?

Reply to
SayWhat

So they tried to save you some money on your wires then had to replace them, whats so wrong with that?

Long story short, spark plug wires with 100,000 miles are most likely shot. Go buy a damn Toyota, what makes you think the maintenance will be any cheaper???

Reply to
Scott

We had a Toyota twice....Each time the sales department deliberately tried to cheat us (the cars were purchased eight years apart and from the same dealership). In addition, on the second car, Toyota finance screwed up the payments and reports so badly that two years after we had sold the car, they continued to try and bill us for payments. I finally had to go to court to get them to fess up and make amends. Car dealers are for the most part, pretty ruthless and dishonest sorts who are in business to sell cars at the highest possible profit margin. Because car deals are negotiated rather than sold at a fixed price, the system is rife with abuse. I have managed to survive by doing what all good consumers need to do, I get all of the facts and shop. I use the Consumer Reports new car price service, I shop via the internet and the news paper and I am willing to invest 20-30 hours if need be to get the best price. The service department is viewed by some dealers as a great place to make additional profits. In some areas, consumers are at the mercy of the service department because of proprietary service information. This is not always the case and in fact, may not usually be the case, but the fact that it does continue to exist is frustrating for consumers. It also goes a long way toward making car salesmen one of the most despised and distrusted of professions right next to lawyers and politicians.

Reply to
Reece Talley

etc etc etc

this kind of thing happens everywhere, sometimes its coincidence that parts fail just as the car is being serviced, that's just bad luck and certainly makes the garage concerned look incompetent, but it does happen, on the other hand of course there are garages out there that add unnecessary extras to the customers bill, but this is not exclusive to ford, again it happens in just about every industry you could think of, unfortunatly filing a law-suit against a company after the event (in this case) may prove a waste of time, you need to be prepared for this eventuality before hand and prove certain things (such as the leads were in good order) prior to your service. since you have now paid for a new set, attemting to recover any monies may be tricky but i wish you good luck, just bear in mind that regardless of how you may feel towards this particular garage, the guys working there are human like you and me, errors can occur, you find out who the cowboys are when they either appologise and rectify the problem, or attempt to cover up and charge you more money.

steve (UK)

Reply to
steve

Ignition wires age and fail. Some are defective even when new. It only takes a pinpoint failure of the insulation to cause a miss when carrying 25,000 Volts. And there is no simple way to inspect for that -- the common resistance test tells nothing about the quality of the insulation. Those things just present themselves one day. Sometimes simply manipulating the wire when replacing a plug will make the problem appear. It happened to me, except that I had no dealer to blame - it was me doing the work. Many will recommend replacing plug wires as routine maintenance, similar to changing fluids. For all those reasons, newer cars use COP - a coil per plug arrangement, with no high voltage wires (though they seem to have problems of their own).

That much said, $270 for just replacing a set of plug wires is unreasonable. Even at the dealer's price, a set for my V8 Explorer was less than $100. And it should not take a skilled mechanic more than 1/2 hour to do the job. If, however, it required some diagnostic work, scoping the ignition, etc, it's probably not that out of line. As consumers we have a choice: I have the tools and manuals and troubleshoot my own cars. You may do the same. Or you can shop around. The independent mechanic down the street may not have all the fancy equipment, the courtesy van to take you back to work, or the slick service writer in suit and tie, but he is probaby still well qualified to change oil and replace plugs. And he will be happy to install aftermarket wires which cost half the dealer's price.

Reply to
Happy Traveler

Reply to
Dave

Eight years passed, they were under a different management and, this is the big reason, my son (he was 22) insisted that he buy the car there. So, while I would never have gone back on my own, there were mitigating circumstances.

Reply to
Reece Talley

Dude. $39 - 6 plugs for my V6 Buick AND a set of wires. 45 minutes of nice and slow, almost tranquil therapy working with the car later, everything is installed and working. Smoooooooth idle restored. :)

$24 for a set of wires. The V8 set was $32. $53 including tax for 8 plugs and set of wires. $270 is - hell, I can get my water pump replaced for that much.

I used aftermarket wires. So they last 3-4 years. At $24 a set, it's the price of a couple of air filters(darn car uses those new rectangular ones that cost about $10 each).

The thing is - the aftermarket wires and the OEM wires - same specs, lettering, and so on - turns out they were made by the same manufacturer, which isn't really surprizing as these things come from the same dozen or so sources and the rest is repackaging and labeling. The same holds true for spark plugs - maybe a dozen manufacturers and the rest is marketing.

Reply to
Joseph Oberlander

One of my local Ford dealer is ALSO a Toyota dealer. If you go to THAT dealer, which would you choose? A Ford or a Toyota? You would end up being stuck in the middle.

~CyberWolf

Reply to
CyberWolf

They use the same techs to work on both the Ford and Toyota vehicles but charge at least $10 an hour more when they work on Toyotas. The wire sets costs more for the Toyota as well. At

100K both the Ford and the Toyota should be having the wires changed for the SECOND time, in any event. ;)

mike hunt

CyberWolf wrote:

Reply to
BenDover

Blame the dealer, not the manufacturer.

Reply to
Childfree Scott

EXACTLY!!!!!!!!

~CyberWolf

Reply to
CyberWolf

Well, I never owned a Toyota but they must be doing something right or Ford is doing something awefully wrong to have Ford now #3 vs its long time stand #2 position.

At least it all worked out because I caught them in their web of deceit with their own words (sorta hard explaining why all that you just wrote down you did 1 day later you wrote down it needs to be undone). So, they ate the labor cost, replaced the wires, and reprogrammed my computer with all the updates since it was made. Just have to be extremely awake when messing with dealerships period and honestly had they not taken care of it I would have won in court simply because all they did was in writing (to my luck). Can't take a car in no problem and leave after a repair job and something is broken only to be asked for 500.00 dollars to undo their (intentional or not) screw up.

Reply to
Dark Alchemist

They only fixed their intentional or not screw up after I caught them on their own notes saying to undo what they had done. So, yeah I would never go back to Performance Ford again.

Reply to
Dark Alchemist

Wires were 61.11 the rest of that was in labor charges and the additonal

230.00 for fixing what they had messed up. Its all taken care of now but never again will I go back to that dealership after I caught them in their game.
Reply to
Dark Alchemist

True but it all makes people leave Ford. I mean there has to be some reason Ford is now #3 and Toyota is #2. Either Ford is doing something wrong or Toyota is doing something right.

Reply to
Dark Alchemist

You know whats funny? I was told by the dealer that the plugs are double platinums and are supposed to last 100k miles (I see that in the manual) and that the wires the life of the car. WTH? Wires last 300k+ miles? Ahem, yeah okay I said not know Ford's but I still think 50k+ on wires is excessive (glass type or not).

Reply to
Dark Alchemist

Actually Ford in number two and Toyota is still a distant third in the US. Ford sells more 'F' series trucks alone then Toyota sells total vehicles, including Lexus.

mike hunt

Dark Alchemist wrote:

Reply to
MikrHunt

scott snipped-for-privacy@my-deja.com (Childfree Scott) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com:

I would virtually NEVER take my car to a dealer for servicing - they are a complet RIP-OFF!!

Find an independant mechanic - recommended by some of his own customers.

I had a guy who would send me away sometimes because he said something I thought was needed was not.

You need to find an HONEST and smart mechanic - and when you do - TELL OTHERS about him!

Crazy Greek

Reply to
Crazy Greek

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