Hi all,
New to this forum and have had my Explorer for about 4 years. Love it, great car and my wife loves it. Happy wife, happy life right. Great experiences thus far until we need to get it fixed. Bought all the extended warranties and maintenance plan and had all the services done regularly. Then reality strikes when you need something fixed.
I won't mention my other horrible experiences with the local dealer but rather talk about the current one Im dealing with. We got the black screen of death last Wednesday when phone bluetooth, radio and Sync screen went. So i called the dealer and spoke with one of the lead mechanics and he couldn't figure out what the problem could be. Then he said he would leave a message with the service desk and the service manager to call me back the next day. I got no calls. So 3 days later I said, maybe I should call and so I did. I talked about the symptoms of the issue and also brought up the issue about the replacement ACM they told me takes 2-3 weeks to come in they were supposed to replace. 3 months later, no part yet, anyway, he needed to check on the part and ask about what the problem with the black screen so he would call me back the next day. Well, he didn't, so i called on Saturday to follow-up, he said parts dept had the ACM(idk why no one called me) and that I needed to bring the car in to check out the black screen. So I made an appt for yesterday. Took the car in early morning and they would replace the ACM(they called it an amp) and troubleshoot black screen. So, i called yesterday for the status of the repair. They said they replaced the ACM(how do you know it works with the black screen and no radio) and are doing circuit testing for the black screen, and will need the car to stay overnight to be looked at tomorrow. I told them my wife needs the car Friday afternoon so they need to be done, call me when it's ready. Soooo, i call in today(Friday) at 1:30 to find out the status. I spoke with service manager because Im already fuming, he said he would check and call me back.. Hurray, he called me back 10 minutes later. He said, they discovered it's the APIM and that they need to get the ES number off of the APIM but it's read through the screen(which is not working) so they'll have to wait till Monday to call the mainland(continental US) for further steps in troubleshooting the issue and if there's further information they need, he'll call me. So by now, I'm headed to pick up my car and I talked to the service desk. Attendant tells me when I can I bring the car back. I tell her, don't you have to call to find out further steps?? She said, "hold on, let me check with service manager". She comes back and tells me that they completed the first step which is call the mainland and troubleshoot the issue. So they determined it was the APIM. Second step is they needed the serial number off the APIM so they can order the right part and Ford can approve it. Mind you my car was there for almost 2 days. So finally I said, "you mean to tell me that after my car was here for almost 2 days, i need to bring it back so you can get the serial number of the part that needs to be replaced? Also, I'll need to bring my car back again when the part comes in to get it replaced?" She said yes
So I get home and log into My Ford and enter my VIN, Audio Accessory Interface Module $650.67.
You know, my wife has had Fords for 20+ years and have been going to the same dealer that long as well and receiving excellent service until they were sold. Everything went downhill from that point on.
We purchase these warranties and maintenance plans in hopes that our investment is working when we need them to and reliably. If this is the kind of service I'm going to get for paying thousands more for, I think I would buy something else but a Ford.
Anyone with any suggestions???
