Hello Everyone
I thought I would share an interesting experience with two dealership service departments this week.
First of all, I have an 05 Mustang GT that I purchased from Star Ford in Glendale, Ca on December 28 2004, the car has just over 10,900 miles on the odometer.
A few days ago I noticed the the silver trim plate on the sill plate on the driver side (the piece that says Mustang) had been coming loose on the end, so I stopped by Pasadena Ford in Pasadena Ca when I got off work to ask if this would be covered under warrenty.
The service writer looked at the part and said he would have to 'take a picture of the part and the odometer then submit it to Ford for a decision regarding warrenty work, and I got the call today letting me know that Ford denied the claim.

So after I got off work today I decided to call Star Ford, the dealer where I bought the car, explained the situation about the part including what Pasadena Ford told me. My service advisor couldn't believe that Pasadena Ford had to take pictures and send in a claim as he (my service advisior) said he has never had to take pictures in over three years for warrenty claims.
He just asked me to bring the car in and have his manager look at the problem.

I drove straight to Star Ford and the manager was waiting for me. He didn't even look at the car, he just told me 'we'll order a new part and call you when it comes in'

I find it interesting that one dealership will deny warrenty coverage (per Ford) while another dealership will replace the part no questions asked/

 

Looks to me like an easy decision for future maintenance and purchases.

 

I called the service department of one Ford dealer today about the TSB on Hestation after a long cruse. They told me they would have to drive my car until it duplicated the problem. They even suggested that one of their service advisors may have to drive it home and keep it over night. Needless to say I told them that would never happen.

I called another dealership and the service manager told me to bring it in and they would fix it based on my word.

I'm glad that there is more than one dealership in my area.

 

Thanks for the post man.

I'll make sure to NEVER go to Pasadena Ford for anything.

Would you recommend Star for service / warranty work?

 

Yes, I would recommend Star Ford for service/warrenty work.
When I have to have work done on the car (warrenty or service) I like to wait for the car, and usually I'm on my way within an hour.
Of course if you want to wait you need to get to the service department as early as possible.
--------------------
More on Pasadena Ford...
Before I got my 05 I had to shop around to find a dealer to accept X-Plan, and most dealers wouldn't accept plans on the Mustangs, in fact most dealers we're charging between $3,000 and $5,000 over MSRP.
I was able to get my car at X-Plan from Star Ford on a special order.
While I got my car at X-Plan from Star I heard that the person that sold me the car at a plan price got in trouble from management when they heard about the sale, so I believe they stopped accepting plans for a while...not sure if they accept them now.
Pasadena Ford was charging over MSRP and wouldn't even discuss plans.

The highest markup I saw from Pasadena Ford back in March of last year was on an 05 Mustang GT 'Vert.
Upgraded wheels/tires $4,995, Market Adjustment $10,000 Total $48,000.

I don't think they are marking up on the Mustangs any longer as I didn't see any additional stickers on the cars on the lot when I was at Pasadena Ford the other day.

 

Im sorry about your experiance at that that dealership , I have been a service manager for 8 years at a ford dealership and have only been told by ford one time to take pictures of a concern and even then it wasnt to deny a claim , but so they could let the engineers take a look at the concern ( a 5.4 valvecover on a f150 that literally blew apart ) . Im glad star ford is taking care of you and that you relise every dealership needs to be judged on its own merits .

 

I'm not blaming the service writer from Pasadena Ford in the way he handled my problem...it could be the policy of the dealership to take pictures of problems and sent them to Ford for their decision to honor or deny the warrenty.
I just found it interesting in that Star Ford told me to bring the car in and have the service manager make the decision on replacing the part under warrenty.

Maybe Star agreed to replace the part since I bought the car from them and have had them service the car since buying the car.

 

I'd be inclined to agree with you. It would be in Star's best interest to keep you as a customer

 

More than likely Pasadena Ford is on Ford's Digital Imaging Prior Approval Program. The shop I worked at prior to where I am at now was on the same program. Placing blame on Pasadena Ford is not the correct thing to do. They are merely following a process dictated by FoMoCo relating to glass, paint and soft trim repair. Star Ford is obviously not on theis program. Just my insiders .02 worth.

 

My local dealer Towne Ford (Bay area). the Service Manager is the best. I have had the noisey rear end when making right hand turns for about six months. Now that it's getting warm out it's getting louder. I drive up to the service bay Friday and showed him the TSB (that i got from this site). He took a quick look at it, turned to my advisor and told him to order the parts ...no test drive or anything.

 

Well, I really like my dealership and their service department but they are obviously on Ford's Digital Imaging Prior Approval Program. The have to take a pic of just about everything. I have been to another dealship in the area but they we horrible (Haldeman Ford RT33 Hamilton NJ). Took it there to try to get a different tech fix my seat squeek and dash rattle. Guy comes out and says he wants to go for a ride, OK so we go the dash is rattling lightly the whole time he SWARES he doesn't hear anything. They sent me home and told me to come back when it does it.........yeah right

 

[quote=Tiberius1701]More than likely Pasadena Ford is on Ford's Digital Imaging Prior Approval Program. The shop I worked at prior to where I am at now was on the same program. Placing blame on Pasadena Ford is not the correct thing to do. They are merely following a process dictated by FoMoCo relating to glass, paint and soft trim repair. Star Ford is obviously not on theis program. Just my insiders .02 worth.[/quote

First of all I NEVER blamed Pasadena Ford for denying my warrenty claim for the part in question...All I did was bring up how one dealership would take pictures, send them to Ford and let them (Ford) decide whether to accept a warrenty claim and replace the part, or (as in my case) deny the claim, while another dealership would accept the claim no questions asked and order a new part.

What I can't understand is after we pay anywhere from $20,000 (V6) to $30,000+ (GT) that Ford claims comes with a 'bumper to bumper 3 yr/36,000 mile warrenty' and then deny a claim for a defective part that costs about $25.00 to replace.

 

I apologize if you took my comments in that fashion but to me it sounded like just because the fact that Star Ford could do something that Pasadena Ford couldn't you were somehow faulting them. Again accept my sincere apology.

It is true that very few dealers are on Digital Imaging-this is kind of a penalty for being high in certain repair areas-namely metal, paint, trim and glass. It helps to keep costs in line, while I do not agree with their methods, dealers must follow Ford's rules.

Do I think they (Ford) were wrong in their judgement? By all means yes! Did the pictures show what the cause was, did the advisor make a proper description of the fault? I do not know. However, where I am at I would have replaced that for you without question. If I were involved with Digital Imaging, I would have called the contact number and argued for you-this I have done before and have been successful-just not at the store I work at now.

It is a great thing that you got the part replaced just the same!

 

<<I'm happy that Star Ford is going to replace the part for me, but if they had denied the claim I would have ordered the custom parts on my own...but by Ford replacing them I was able to save the money. Thanks again for your help.>>