Not the Camaro, but my '99 F-150 that I use for work. What would you do?

I needed new ball joints and having just done it on the Camaro I didn't feel like doing it myself on my truck so I took it to the Ford dealer (sorry about the language on this site). I had them replace all 4. I picked it up late Monday night and driving home the front end just had a funny feeling for having new tires and ball joints, so yesterday, having only driven it about 10 miles, I crawled under to take a look and noticed that one of the sway bar link bolts was broken. I called the shop and told them about it and said that one of two things must have happened; 1) the link was already broke, in which case they should have caught it and let me know, or 2) they broke it while replacing the ball joints. His response was that perhaps it broke after I picked it up. I really wasn't too upset until he made that comment. The chances that that happened were zero to none, or pretty close to that. It's just typical poor customer service to take that position. Anyway, he said to bring it back in and they would take a look at it.

I elected not to take a 1/2 day to go back to their shop and so I just went to NAPA and bought a new set of links and put them in. Once I had the old one out so I could get a good look at it, it was obvious it had been broken for quite some time.

So, my question is, Do I just let it go, or do I say any more to the shop. I don't want anything from the shop, other than perhaps them to admit they should have caught it. As a business owner myself, I would want an unhappy customer to let me know...but with that size company would it really make it to anyone that cared? Am I wrong thinking that a dealer replacing the upper control arms (ball joints are integral) and lower bj's, then doing a front end alignment, should look at the rest of the front suspension?

I elected not to take a 1/2 day to go back to their shop and so I just went to NAPA and bought a new set of links and put them in. Once I had the old one out so I could get a good look at it, it was obvious it had been broken for quite some time.

So, my question is, Do I just let it go, or do I say any more to the shop. I don't want anything from the shop, other than perhaps them to admit they should have caught it. As a business owner myself, I would want an unhappy customer to let me know...but with that size company would it really make it to anyone that cared? Am I wrong thinking that a dealer replacing the upper control arms (ball joints are integral) and lower bj's, then doing a front end alignment, should look at the rest of the front suspension?

Like any thing else, people make mistakes and this was missed.

But by doing the repairs yourself, you did not let the dealer remedy the situation. Had they found it, you would have had to pay for parts and labor since it had been broke for awhile.

Still I would take it to the dealer and talk it over with them.

I would call the Ford Customer Relationship Center at : 1-800-392-3673(FORD)
I did this a couple of years ago when my car needed $4000.00 worth of repairs three weeks after the warranty expired and they were very helpful. They take their service center reputations very seriously.

Give it a shot. I'm pretty sure they'll listen.:hurray:

Dave...
You need to call them and say that after your inspection, it was determined that it had been broken for quite a while however they should have caught it during their repair of the vehicle. The End.

After that just let it go, because it is not worth getting upset over.


Kev

I will put it this way!!

A Buddy of mine that had been in the trade said somebody told him that was still in the trade that a certain very "craftsman"-like service enter did a frontend rebuild years ago here in town and left all the b/j cotter keys out!!

I figure they settled out of Court for at least $100,000 OR more??

pdq67

Thanks for the replies. :thumbsup:

I don't want to offend anyone on TC that works as a mechanic, but the more I think about this the less confidence I have in that industry. This truck was actually looked at by 3 different shops. The one where I had the safety inspection for re-licensing. They are the ones that failed the ball joints. The tire shop that put on the new tires and did a "complimentary" front end inspection and again told me I had bad ball joints, and then the Ford dealer that installed the new bj's.

Here is a picture of the bolt. I don't think there is any question that it had been broken for quite a while.

3748

Since I've thought about it for a while, I've gotten a little more ticked off. It was not just an inconvenience, but a potential safety issue. Luckily it was just a stabilizer bolt and not something more critical.

Fwiw, I have ta do an R&R on my 2003 Accent's clutch m/c and slave cylinder and I'm still under warantee and I CAN'T take it into a Dealer b/c I DON'T feel that I can trust anybody anymore so I am going to do it myself!!

I get the ordered AutoZone parts Friday at noon!!

Oh, and btw, less than 44,000 miles on her!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NOT happy at all after running Suzuki corn-poppers way past 200,000 and 100,000 miles FINE!!

But Suzuki QUIT selling "Corn-poppers" after GF--M got to them I figure!!!!!!!!!!!!

And they advertised it too!! Got Suzuki's ad at WORK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

pdq67

I had the F250 superduty at ford last week ,the truck is like driving a basketball at 60 mph the front end is bouncing around so much . It's a company truck and leased by them from E.................... leasing . everything has to be approved to be repaired .Picked the truck up , they changed the oil ,replaced 2 light bulbs , replaced the door switch , checked the front end ( said everything was tight ), and did a 15 point safety check . Truck still drives like a basketball and they billed E................... leasing for $ 420 .

Hey, PDQ67 here is a Suzuki dealer... near you.

Smith Suzuki
700 Vandiver Drive
Columbia, MO 65202
Phone: 573-499-0700

I had the F250 superduty at ford last week ,the truck is like driving a basketball at 60 mph the front end is bouncing around so much . It's a company truck and leased by them from E.................... leasing . everything has to be approved to be repaired .Picked the truck up , they changed the oil ,replaced 2 light bulbs , replaced the door switch , checked the front end ( said everything was tight ), and did a 15 point safety check . Truck still drives like a basketball and they billed E................... leasing for $ 420 .

what do you mean basketball.......

ok guys...he is the deal, good technicians are very...and I mean very hard to find. I am lucky in my shop the newest tech started in 1987! If we look at a car and miss something it is our job to make it right..I won't go back and do it for free, but I will eat the labor or something like that...gotta make that customer happy. My guys get paid by the job, so the more they can do the more they make. No saleman make commision, so we are very ligit. The tech that missed the broken sway bar probably caused himself a loss of a .8, plus it draws question to his ability to diagnose and repair a car. If I was his service advisor, I would always double check his cars.....the customer does not have to fix it, but as a service advisor, we have to inform them...just think, if something went wrong and it caused a accident....that ford dealer is now liable.....

Thanks TJ,

What I was saying is that it is GM who own's the great little-bitty 1,000 cc, 3-banger corn-popper engine Suzuki used in their Chevy Sprint and Geo and Chevy Metro cars has PROBABLY talked them outta the high gas mileage market!!

No GM competition and so GM doesn't have to compete so they will just sell us what they f-- want to, and to heck w/ us!!

I hope CHINA come's over here and sell's a bunch of GOOD $8 to $9,000 corn-poppers like the GM engineered Cheri that they pretty-much STOLE off GM so that our KIDs can afford cheap NEW cars while working at Micky-D's and they end up tanking GM!!!

pdq67

Rex,

Thanks. I appreciate your perspective.

I stopped to talk with the service manager yesterday and of course he was out to lunch.

Dave,

Good luck w/ your deal AND I really hope it all works out fine in the end for you!!

I guess I've been burned too many times by Service Dept's and Shops to ever trust any of them.

My Buddy across the street told me about one or two here in town that are in his words "HONEST" enough that he uses them.

I'm going to check them out the next time I need something done to onna our vehicles.

Again, good luck and have a nice day, later....

pdq67

I would certainly mention something to the shop manager to let him know.

Here's my story, about a GM dealer:

I took a 2000 Silverado in for recall work (rust issues with the frame) and after it was done the counter guy gave me a sheet and told me that while it was up there they did a free "courtesy inspection" of the whole vehicle to look for any issues. I was happy that they did this so I took the sheet and looked it over. There were parts of the car with scales next to them (red, yellow, and green) to indicate if a part of the car needs replacement or work. I noticed that the fuel filter, belts, and battery were all red, so I asked the guy about it. He told me that they looked like they needed replacement and he could set up an appointment if I needed one. I said that would be fine, except for the fact that I REPLACED ALL OF THOSE PARTS MYSELF A MONTH EARLIER. I asked him if his techs even LOOKED at the parts they suggested for replacement and he stammered something about going by mileage instead of condition. Disgusted, I wished him the best of luck with his scamming (in front of a waiting room full of people, by the way), took my keys, and walked out.

I would certainly mention something to the shop manager to let him know.

Here's my story, about a GM dealer:

I took a 2000 Silverado in for recall work (rust issues with the frame) and after it was done the counter guy gave me a sheet and told me that while it was up there they did a free "courtesy inspection" of the whole vehicle to look for any issues. I was happy that they did this so I took the sheet and looked it over. There were parts of the car with scales next to them (red, yellow, and green) to indicate if a part of the car needs replacement or work. I noticed that the fuel filter, belts, and battery were all red, so I asked the guy about it. He told me that they looked like they needed replacement and he could set up an appointment if I needed one. I said that would be fine, except for the fact that I REPLACED ALL OF THOSE PARTS MYSELF A MONTH EARLIER. I asked him if his techs even LOOKED at the parts they suggested for replacement and he stammered something about going by mileage instead of condition. Disgusted, I wished him the best of luck with his scamming (in front of a waiting room full of people, by the way), took my keys, and walked out.




:hurray: Good for you. Been in a simular situation with a dealer and haven't been back.

Doug,

That happened to me once when I took the wife's '89 Astro Van in to see about getting sparkplug wires on it b/c I'd bruised three ribs rotating my BB on my stand.

The Dude say's something like "Oh, we did a computer run on your van and it need's 12 things done on it b/c their are all past due. It's going to cost about $800 tp $900 but you've got the extended warantee so not to worry."

I looked at him and said, "Funny, I don't have any extended warantee and I've pulled maintenance myself on all that crap not a month ago!" and he stammers and cough's and then look's his paperwork over and say's, "Oh, I got the wrong Van!!"

I continued and asked him about the sparkplug wires and he said they would cost like $75 for the set and another $225 to put them on and I almost exploded, but didn't!!

I said, "Get my Van out here", and he said, "You want us to leave the dog-house off?" And I said YES!! and left!!

Went across the street and bought a set of s/p wires for $24 and a day later, I got to looking and ended up standing on the ground working through both doors and installed the wires in an hour hurt like I was!!

And my second Son helped me install the dog-house when he got home!!

Talk about a rip-off!!

NOT HAPPY AT ALL...................................

This crap has become a "BUSINESS STRATEGY" nowadays!!

pdq67