I hate dealerships!!

[HUA99XLT]

So today I finally went to my local Ford dealership to have the cruise control wiring harness replaced that was part of a recall. Now I've known for a little while that the inside and outside door handles needed to be replaced on my driver's side door. It's been kind of tricky getting out of my Explorer because you have to pull on the handle just right, BUT, it worked. Anyway, while I was at the dealership the mechanic who drove my Explorer inside noticed the funky door handle and the Service Dept Manager came out and asked me if I wanted them to take a look at it. I agreed thinking "well, I'll see what they quote me to fix it." After their "diagnostic" the SDM came back out and said that it would be $485 parts & labor to replace the inside handle, outside handle, and lock actuator, plus an additional $70 to paint the outside handle (which they couldn't do today). I declined the repairs and paid the $60 I owed them for the "diagnostic." Then I went to a nearby Sears to do some shopping and what do you know I can't get out of my vehicle.

Once pulled, the inside door handle was stuck in an outward position and would not budge, and since the actuator is shot I couldn't simply unlock the door and open it from the outside (by rolling down the window of course). So I drove to the fire station I belong to (which is basically my repair garage since I live in an apartment haha). After crawling out through the passenger side I did some fenagling (sp?) and managed to get the driver's door open. I took the inside panel off and then discovered what a mess they made. After some experimenting I managed to get the door back in the condition it was previously in, so that I could at least get out of my X.

Needless to say I was extremely p***ed off at this point. I basically paid them $60 to break my door. I should've known better than to let them look at it. Oh well. So now I need to order a new lock actuator and the inside and outside door handles. I remember reading a thread about replacing the outside handle in which someone had a website where you come order them already painted. I did some searching but couldn't find that thread. If someone has the link, it would be greatly appreciated. Also, if anyone has done any write-ups on replacing the actuator please let me know. That looks like it's going to be a b**ch.

Well, if you read all of that, thanks for letting me rant. I needed to vent haha.

 

[410Fortune]

$60 to look at it, I love that

Stealerships
$99 just to tell you "we could not duplicate the problem"

$485, heck how much is a whole new door? $14,895?

There are plenty of shops out there hurting for business these days, an ma or pa shop could have given you an estimate FOR FREE, imagine that a free estimate???????

LOL

 

[Willard]

I remember once my dad took my explorer in for a diagnostic at the dealership here (this was before I had the explorer).

They charged him (who knows how much) and gave him a list of what needed to be fixed, after he declined any repairs. After we got it back it was running much worse. What do you know, they sabotaged it, leaving off a couple hoses and some wiring. We haven't been to that place since. I can't believe they can do that and get away with it, that could have caused serious motor damage in our case.

 

[410Fortune]

ha you better believe it happens every day! an informed consumer is a protected consumer!

google search grease monkey rip off

You'll see, local news channels with hidden cameras paying hundreds of dollars for services NEVER PERFORMED

Sabatoge is the name of the money making game, some of these business will pray on the un-informed.... I mean a woman comes in and says I need an oil change... next thing you know shes getting a new transmission, new front end, new battery, everything, and never needed any of it. I have witnessed this with my own eyes both with my mom and my wife......some places are RUTHLESS

my moms touareg needed front brake pads at 27K miles, the computer, said check front brake pads
they are $85 at Autozone
dealership wanted $4000 for ALL NEW EVERYTHING at 27K miles? come on.........

 

[blueka]

I had a similar problem when I bought my Explorer.

The day after I got it, the front chains broke. It wouldn't run, so it was taken to Fords. They told me it would cost me $370 to diagnose the problem. So they diagnosed no compression. I knew that the engine could be left in the Explorer for the repairs, but they quoted me $3200 to remove the engine, not repair it, just remove it, it would need another $5000 to repair it and replace it. needless to say, I declined their gracious offers.

I do most of the stuff myself now... no more dealers

My girlfriend had a similar problem with her '07 Ranger, the clutch failed shortly after she bought it. The dealer swapped a new clutch under warranty but left the tranny cradle loose.. it was knocking for months before they admitted it was them and took it in to repair it.


Si

 

[HUA99XLT]

I remember once my dad took my explorer in for a diagnostic at the dealership here (this was before I had the explorer).

They charged him (who knows how much) and gave him a list of what needed to be fixed, after he declined any repairs. After we got it back it was running much worse. What do you know, they sabotaged it, leaving off a couple hoses and some wiring. We haven't been to that place since. I can't believe they can do that and get away with it, that could have caused serious motor damage in our case.

Speaking of getting away with it... After discovering what they had done I was going to go back and b**ch them out but I decided not to for two reasons. 1. I didn't want to take the chance of getting arrested for disorderly conduct. Since I work for the police dept that probably wouldn't be good for job security, haha. 2. I noticed on the invoice they gave me it states how they advised me of the repairs and that I declined, then it states "note-door may or may not open." So, even if I would've raised hell it wouldn't have gotten me anywhere since they have that down on paper. Sneaky buggers. They knew they screwed my door up (or they did it on purpose) and they covered their butts. Makes me so mad.

 

[Ford_Nova]

I had a similar problem with them. I went to a dealership wanting to know how much it would be to fix my Ex. I flat out told him what it was and was still going to charge me $70 to find out what the problem was. Needless to say that $70 went to buying what i needed to fix it.

Also got to looking at what shops get paid to do this kind of work. It was the famous "death rattle" case 5.6 hours to do the front. 15.6 hours to do the back. Imagine what they would charge to do that. Rear timing chain requires motor to be removed, and most things probably wouldn't be hooked back up.

also with dealing with Aamco transmissions. I took my nova up there because i could not move my car because the clutches were burnt up in it. Just to do that it took them a week, charged me $820 and didnt even hook up my vacuum so i had no 3rd gear

An instructor was telling me a month or so ago that dealerships and such "go for the kill" in other words. They charge an arm and three legs for something and actually had one guy say this. "We try to get the most out of them we can, we dont care if we see them again or not."

 

[HUA99XLT]

"We try to get the most out of them we can, we dont care if we see them again or not."

Scumbags! Haha. Not to go off on another tangent here, but that's what I hate about us living in such a consumerism-based society. These businesses are all about how much profit they can make. How much they can nickel and dime (or in this case $50's and $100's haha) all us little people. They don't care how many people they screw over, as long as they make as much money as possible. Grr...

Sorry, that was kind of off topic.

After doing some more searching I found a write-up for the actuator replacement, in case anyone else needs it. http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=220721

 

[Glen4X4]

Thats a load of crap with them screwing up your door and the outrageous prices they charge....I try to avoid a stealership to work on my vehicles at all cost.

 

[99xlsdude]

I had a door handle and door latch replaced at a local auto body shop for $150 - including labor, parts, and painting. (driver door) Not as inexpensive as doing it yourself but certainly a lot easier.

 

[TheJackal]

I'm not a big fan of the dealer, either. Had it out with them and a Firestone place once, too. I'd like to do more myself, but I'm at home right now, and after this year I will be in an apartment too which means no repairs or even oil changes myself anymore. That's gonna hurt, too.

 

[HUA99XLT]

I'm not a big fan of the dealer, either. Had it out with them and a Firestone place once, too. I'd like to do more myself, but I'm at home right now, and after this year I will be in an apartment too which means no repairs or even oil changes myself anymore. That's gonna hurt, too.

Yeah, I know how you feel. Like I mentioned above I live in an apartment too and it's stated in my lease that there is to be absolutely no vehicle maintenance done in the parking lot. That's one advantage of belonging to the fire dept I guess. Anytime I need to work on my Explorer I just pull it into one of the bays, plus the majority of the tools I need are usually there for the borrowing.

 

[gijoecam]

I thought the handles came color-keyed... When I bought mine, they asked for the paint code off the door sticker, and mine showed up White to match the truck perfectly?? I know nobody painted them for me... They came direct from the Ford Parts Distribution Center....

-Joe

 

[HUA99XLT]

I thought the handles came color-keyed... When I bought mine, they asked for the paint code off the door sticker, and mine showed up White to match the truck perfectly?? I know nobody painted them for me... They came direct from the Ford Parts Distribution Center....

-Joe

That's what I thought too. I swear I remember reading a thread on this site about someone ordering one that came color-keyed already. Where did you order yours from? A local Ford dealer? Or from a website?

 

[HUA99XLT]

Well, I ordered a new inside door handle and new door lock actuator from http://www.fastpartsnetwork.com/ for total of $101.20, including shipping. I know I could've probably found them cheaper on ebay, but I looked last night and didn't see any and did not feel like waiting. I'm still trying to figure out what to do about the outside door handle. If I can find a website in which I can order one that's already painted to match, then I'll do that. Otherwise I'll probably just get a couple of generic springs and make them work.

So, if at this point I assume that I'm not buying a new outside handle, then I'll have fixed this problem myself for approx 1/5 the cost of having the Ford dealer do it.

 

[gijoecam]

Where did you order yours from? A local Ford dealer? Or from a website?

Ford Employee Parts Network.

 

[96eb96]

Ford Employee Parts Network.

Do Ford Employees get good prices on parts?

 

[gijoecam]

Yup. From what I can tell, it's right around the same price the dealers get them for... Not a tremendous savings over someplace like www.fastpartsnetwork.com, but a bit of savings none the less (and no shipping charges either).

-Joe

 

[HUA99XLT]

Well, I finally finished this repair yesterday. I took me awhile because I kept finding other things that were wrong, and I really was only able to work on it on my days off. All in all, I replaced the door lock actuator, outside handle, inside handle, door panels plugs (since the guy at the dealer messed mine up), and I had to fix that one spring in the door latch. The total cost for parts was about $160, which is quite a savings because the dealership was going to charge me $550 P&L to fix it. Plus, they didn't notice the bad spring in the door latch, so who knows how much more they would've charged to fix that.

Something I learned while doing this is that if you're not satisfied with a price one dealership gives you, don't assume that they're all the same. Both of the dealerships I went to wanted $30 for the outside door handle, but the first one wanted an additional $70 to paint it whereas the second dealership only wanted $30 to paint it.

Anyway, the door works great. I'm happy. Thanks to all the people who do write-ups on this site. I couldn't have done it without ya.

 

[spinnn]

Yep

Stealership!!!
Is Funny Cause It's TRUE!!!

My chick has a 05 Corolla...went to Stealership for engine light...02 sensor plus gas cap...Guess how much for the labor to R&I the gas cap?

$45.00! No typo

Since she already paid 1.5 hours for the labor on the sensor, you think they'd cut her a break? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Since she's a loyal customer who's been paying their insane labor rates for the last 2 1/2 years, cut her some slack? NOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Problem is that I can't find a decent mechanic where I live, I always get my trux back with more wrong than when I dropped it off...and it's too freaking cold now to turn wrenches outside in a foot of snow. I'm moving to a place with a garage next week. Thank god, I can work again.