The term "stealership" wasn't earned for no reason | Page 2 | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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The term "stealership" wasn't earned for no reason

soemtimes i wonder if were too hard on th customer service and the people, after all theyre just trying to do what theyre trained to do by the company (or the dealership manager or whoever is the big man in charge)... i mean i dont work at the dealer, but i assume they get passed a sheet of paper with what "should" be done and they just read it out to you and theyre trained to do this, even if they know it isnt needed... after all, theyre just tryna make a buck and not get fired, right?
 



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Lol, unfortunately I doubt changing brand changes this S.O.P. in any way.
I did have triplets set of broken exploders in my yard when i picked the screen name out... I'm down to non-running twins here now at this point... not sure whether to call that a positive or negative status adjustment, lol. Maybe I'll scrap one of the twins on Monday and just pretend like it's an overall net gain. 😆🤣🤣
 






more explorers= more parts fpr running vehicle!!!! and mroe things to tinker with!!
 






soemtimes i wonder if were too hard on th customer service and the people, after all theyre just trying to do what theyre trained to do by the company (or the dealership manager or whoever is the big man in charge)... i mean i dont work at the dealer, but i assume they get passed a sheet of paper with what "should" be done and they just read it out to you and theyre trained to do this, even if they know it isnt needed... after all, theyre just tryna make a buck and not get fired, right?
I hear what you're saying, but I've also made cops run a tear down their cheek after trying to give me the "I'm just doing my job" line... I mean, if we were in Russia or North Korea, maybe I would be a bit more sympathetic to the excuse; but we are in America and their actions are voluntary.
~≈≡ℳ³³³≡≈~
 






true! but i always wonder if its them, or the people training them... with cops they enforce the law, so its slightly different... to me at least... at the dealer, big brother is always watching... and i bet some of them dont know what theyre saying, they just read off the page and are nearly programmed to just say it... dunno, wonder what the inner workings of the dealer is like also, everytime someone says the truth about the inner workings of a company, they seem to alway sbe fired...
 






My wife dropped her 2015 Edge off at the Ford dealership to have some recall work done. I picked her up and never went into the building. They must have looked at her like she was a roasted chicken. They texted her to say that she needed nearly $1,800 in maintenance done. The vehicle has 100k miles on it and runs perfectly fine. All the items they listed was tagged "Needs immediate attention" in bold red letters. Then they hit you with shop charges that amount to almost 12% of the invoice amount. So all in the maintenance items would have been well over $2k.

The one charge that really chapped my arse was for replacing the cabin air filter. I just replaced this filter about six months ago. My wife works from home full time, as do I, so we don't put a lot of miles on our vehicles. We never drive on dusty roads and living in the Mid Atlantic area, we have zero dust issues at all. That filter might have 4k miles on it at most. It doesn't need to be changed. It literally took me two minutes to change the filter and I paid $10 for it at NAPA. The stealership wanted $80 to replace it! Then they wanted $700 to change the spark plugs. I know the upper intake has to be removed but it isn't THAT big of a job. All together there was six maintenance items they recommended to be completed..... for over $2k! I wonder, would they have done this if I had dropped off the vehicle?
I'm glad you posted that. Thanks. People need to keep all maintenance paperwork and know what's been done to the vehicle and also know what your manufacturer recommends to be done. They're are thieves out there. Crooked as can be. Everyone needs a good mechanic and I'm not talking about those national chains that I consider mcdonalds drives threws and don't care much about you just to make the bill "super-sized"
 






more explorers= more parts fpr running vehicle!!!! and mroe things to tinker with!!
Yes. That was exactly my mentality. And it did work...-ish... kinda sorta, definitely did not play out in the manner I had envisioned when initially purchasing a twin, & then the triplet back up "for parts only" vehicle that is now become the keeper, that also still ain't fully mechanically operational, and also incurred and suffers from a dmv/dot clerical error(all them not me) that is irreparable and totally screws me with a title issue that allows me to use but not legally sell or scrap!
 






My wife dropped her 2015 Edge off at the Ford dealership to have some recall work done. I picked her up and never went into the building. They must have looked at her like she was a roasted chicken. They texted her to say that she needed nearly $1,800 in maintenance done. The vehicle has 100k miles on it and runs perfectly fine. All the items they listed was tagged "Needs immediate attention" in bold red letters. Then they hit you with shop charges that amount to almost 12% of the invoice amount. So all in the maintenance items would have been well over $2k.

The one charge that really chapped my arse was for replacing the cabin air filter. I just replaced this filter about six months ago. My wife works from home full time, as do I, so we don't put a lot of miles on our vehicles. We never drive on dusty roads and living in the Mid Atlantic area, we have zero dust issues at all. That filter might have 4k miles on it at most. It doesn't need to be changed. It literally took me two minutes to change the filter and I paid $10 for it at NAPA. The stealership wanted $80 to replace it! Then they wanted $700 to change the spark plugs. I know the upper intake has to be removed but it isn't THAT big of a job. All together there was six maintenance items they recommended to be completed..... for over $2k! I wonder, would they have done this if I had dropped off the vehicle?
I'll go you one better - on a non-Ford product. Truck had LESS than 25K, and was 8 years old (still less than 30K). Took it in for a recall on the airbags - waited for it. They came back 20 minutes later, said my truck NEEDED immediate repairs, over $5,000 worth. I had basically no complaints, the vehicle runs and drives fine, and gets its' oil/filter change on a recurring basis (less than every 4k miles), and other maintenance done at an independent shop.
I gave the guy a bit of a dirty look, and told them to "put in the airbags, and do not to touch anything else"..
Guess they didn't like my attitude - Took them almost 3 hours to get those driver/passenger airbags in, and I haven't gone back there..
Oh yea - Took the truck over to my 'independent' repair shop, which we have a good relationship with. Didn't tell them anything, just said 'give it a good look, front to rear'. Said EVERYTHING was fine. Then, I showed him the invoice from the dealer - he was astounded - said "MAN! You dodged a bullet, didn't you?"..
 






Yes. That was exactly my mentality. And it did work...-ish... kinda sorta, definitely did not play out in the manner I had envisioned when initially purchasing a twin, & then the triplet back up "for parts only" vehicle that is now become the keeper, that also still ain't fully mechanically operational, and also incurred and suffers from a dmv/dot clerical error(all them not me) that is irreparable and totally screws me with a title issue that allows me to use but not legally sell or scrap!
in that case, keep driving it!!!! and if the parts vehicles sort of run, they can become backup vehicles and their presence can be justified! maybe: 1 daily, backup, parts... :D:D:D
 






in that case, keep driving it!!!! and if the parts vehicles sort of run, they can become backup vehicles and their presence can be justified! maybe: 1 daily, backup, parts... :D:D:D
Cannot legally sell, so....
I'm thinking once I am sufficiently disgusted, oh wait: that date's long past... umm, ahh—>☝At some point, I'll either remove all identification markation and park it for the last time on top of the front steps of the DMV 🤔... I'm thinking parked upside-down would be most appropriate.
OR
Maybe anonymously donate it to some sort of motor vehicle's department car💣ing association (so long as they promise to vaporize it, of course) LOL😆🤣😂😅😃😎😶🤐🥸
Disclaimer: I claim dis 'err is ah joke.
 






My wife dropped her 2015 Edge off at the Ford dealership to have some recall work done. I picked her up and never went into the building. They must have looked at her like she was a roasted chicken. They texted her to say that she needed nearly $1,800 in maintenance done. The vehicle has 100k miles on it and runs perfectly fine. All the items they listed was tagged "Needs immediate attention" in bold red letters. Then they hit you with shop charges that amount to almost 12% of the invoice amount. So all in the maintenance items would have been well over $2k.

The one charge that really chapped my arse was for replacing the cabin air filter. I just replaced this filter about six months ago. My wife works from home full time, as do I, so we don't put a lot of miles on our vehicles. We never drive on dusty roads and living in the Mid Atlantic area, we have zero dust issues at all. That filter might have 4k miles on it at most. It doesn't need to be changed. It literally took me two minutes to change the filter and I paid $10 for it at NAPA. The stealership wanted $80 to replace it! Then they wanted $700 to change the spark plugs. I know the upper intake has to be removed but it isn't THAT big of a job. All together there was six maintenance items they recommended to be completed..... for over $2k! I wonder, would they have done this if I had dropped off the vehicle?
Grand daughter ran into same thing when Honda replaced her air bag only if paid would have cost more than 4000
 






Stealerships techs are paid by "flat rate" meaning the more they sell the more they make. Dealerships will also double bill labor ... An axle shaft, wheel hub and brake job? Your paying full labor for all three even though you've got to take the brakes apart to do either the hub or the axle. I made a lot of money at one shop but I hated how they treated customers by double billing. It amazes me that customers keep going back.
 






Yea really great of you guys to characterize all dealerships as being "Stealerships" as a Ford technician with 33+ years of experience I really hate that term, I'll bookmark this thread and remember the comments and make sure this "Stealership" technician avoids chiming in with help next time around some of you might need my 33 years of experience. :( rant off I'll stick to my first gen area from now on.
 






I can relate but it does vary by dealership so I don't paint with too broad a brush.
Case in point - 2013 Chrysler van with several failed roller rockers. I heard the noise - knew what it was and pulled the valve cover (rear bank of course) to confirm. One bad rocker - three suspect. I wasn't confident to do the repair so took it to the dealer we bought it from - they are close but not in our town. They repaired it and while it cost me - they never recommended any other service. Just addressed the issue at hand.
Months later - we took the van to the dealer in town that has a bad reputation with everyone to have a radiator flush (long story) thinking it's just a flush - what could happen. Well - my leak free van suddenly developed a leak that was so bad (heater hose - probably where they hooked up the flush) they wouldn't flush it until they replaced a hose and my flush ended up costing over $700. I was free to pick it up and leave but it was leaking so bad at that point I didn't want to drive it home so I had to let them roll over me. Of course, before that even happened, they let us know about over a $1000 worth of stuff that needed to be done while they had it.
Of course, they are going simply off of the recommended maintenance schedule. If you aren't in a habit of getting stuff done at the dealer or do it yourself then they have no record of it being done - so if it isn't in their computer then it needs to be done and based on your mileage it's urgent!
So - I asked one dealer to fix something for me - they did it and didn't try to upsell anything. I should mention as it's relevant - I tore it apart - I inspected the cam lobes on the bad rockers and I caught it in time - the cams did not need to be replaced. And they never suggested that the cams be replaced when they worked on it.
I asked another dealer to fix something for me - they broke something during the process and told me that they wouldn't do the first thing until I paid them to fix the second thing - and then told me I needed to let them do a half dozen other things as well.
 






Yea really great of you guys to characterize all dealerships as being "Stealerships" as a Ford technician with 33+ years of experience I really hate that term, I'll bookmark this thread and remember the comments and make sure this "Stealership" technician avoids chiming in with help next time around some of you might need my 33 years of experience. :( rant off I'll stick to my first gen area from now on.
You can get bent out of shape over this thread but it is a fact that dealerships take advantage of customers by often recommending unnecessary work and charging an arm and a leg to do most work they perform. I don't blame the mechanics for this. I blame the management of the dealership, the owner and/or the auto manufacturer. Our Edge had major transmission work done under warranty at this dealership just 25k miles ago. They know this work required a drain of the fluid to complete but they still tried to nail us for a transmission drain and refill. I wouldn't mind if they said this is service we recommend if it hasn't been done recently. They wanted to make my wife think their list of items "Needs immediate attention" and this is exactly the bold text in red way they presented the items to her. They wanted her to think that not doing these items immediately would cause major issues. This isn't by far the first experience like this we have had with a dealer regarding service. Just to get the transmission fixed properly was a battle we fought with another other Ford dealer in our area for two years before this dealer stepped up and repaired it properly under warranty. I give them credit for doing this but it doesn't mean they are service angels 100% of the time. Maybe you don't operate this way and if you don't then kudos to you.
 






I would like to know what the engineers were thinking when they designed the timing components of that engine. They are probably the same engineers who made the water pump an internal design for the 3.5L/3.7L transverse mounted engines.
and the same engineers for the pins in the damn glove box
 






Yea really great of you guys to characterize all dealerships as being "Stealerships" as a Ford technician with 33+ years of experience I really hate that term, I'll bookmark this thread and remember the comments and make sure this "Stealership" technician avoids chiming in with help next time around some of you might need my 33 years of experience. :( rant off I'll stick to my first gen area from now on.
hey man, sorry you feel that way anr i can understand how you feel- no one likes getting their job insulted, especially when you take pride in what you do! from your posts previously, you are obviously not in the demographic we are talking about here, and admittendly we could have done with a bit more understanding of your feelings, as it is much essier to remember the negatives and generalize the negatuves upon the vasy majority which may not be ripping you off, such ad peiple like you. just that most of us here have had negative experiences with dealers, which has turned us away from them, and ut is more common that we believe it should be... were not saying all dealers are like this, were just stating our experiences... sorry that this upset you, as i completely understand how you feel, as you probably do amazing work and take pride in it and many of us would love people like you as our service techs ay the local dealer...
 






Stealerships techs are paid by "flat rate" meaning the more they sell the more they make. Dealerships will also double bill labor ... An axle shaft, wheel hub and brake job? Your paying full labor for all three even though you've got to take the brakes apart to do either the hub or the axle. I made a lot of money at one shop but I hated how they treated customers by double billing. It amazes me that customers keep going back.
As to paying the crazy pricing and going back, from a psychological P.O.V.—> People who have no foundational knowledge base for a subject tend to first make no deviation from brand / exact reccomended parts, ect. and secondly will go with the insanely asinine motto of "When in doubt, pick the most expensive one on the shelf, that's all you can do." It makes no logical sense and has no scientific validation, but such is very common, reinforced by like knowledged persons in group mentalities, and (at risk of catching hell fir stating a fact) is especially common in women.
The only effective positive outcome is if something later goes wrong, nobody can say to them: "well you shouldn't have cheaped out" or similar: people with insecurity issues &/or fear of embarrassment can't risk the potential for such a commentary.
 






Yea really great of you guys to characterize all dealerships as being "Stealerships" as a Ford technician with 33+ years of experience I really hate that term, I'll bookmark this thread and remember the comments and make sure this "Stealership" technician avoids chiming in with help next time around some of you might need my 33 years of experience. :( rant off I'll stick to my first gen area from now on.
30 years ago with the last new car my dad bought, he dropped it off at the dealer for a 30k mile service. The 2nd service was done at a small auto repair garage, that tech pointed out how the factory rtv sealant on the transmission pan was still intact and the transmission was never serviced. They never did anything to the car, just moved it 3 spaces over from where it was 1st parked. Five years later there was a class action lawsuit against the dealer. It's like a bad police officer, once you have dealt with one, the trust vanishes.
 



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Ill just count my lucky stars that I can fix my own things
And
Can't even afford to think about a dealership
...other than parts ...
 






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