Good Dealership Experience this time!

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In a recent topic here, I posted about a bad experience with a local Ford dealer.

At the suggestion of my parents, I called the dealership from which I bought the car. (Skinner and Damulis) This was a dealership that my parent have patronized since the late 80s. Not just buying vehicles , but my father bought a 1987 F250 in 1989 with a lot of issues and practically rebuilt it from parts he bought there. In the mid 90s we were one of the first people to order a TJ wrangler. There was a problem with the order and the owner personally gave us a car (some sort of new small ford) as a loaner for 3 or 4 months ton use while we waited on out wrangler.

So, when I called the service manager, he did not claim to have never heard of a focus with a bad motor mount. He was well aware of the issue and told me to bring it in.

I was in and out in 20 minutes. They agreed (tech and service manager according to "invoice" ) that the motor mount was bad and lost its fluid

The car is night and day difference!

The steering wheel doesn't vibeate. The change in the door cup holder doesn't rattle. No more vibrations in the pedals. No , ore growing. No more jackrabbit starso because the engine is flopping around. Heck, I can't even hear the engine!

As someone who works in a sales based company, skinner and Damulis does it right. Treat all customers and potential customers right. If my next new car is a Ford or Chrysler .... I will buy it there.

Amazing how different the experience is sometimes
 
Originally Posted By: redhat
And that's what's it all about... glad your car is all fixed up miller.


Glad to hear you found a needle in a haystack!

If only MOST of the $tealerships
behaved the way they did...unfortunately
MOST $tealerships are the exact opposite.
 
Just wondering if you think the local to you dealer gave you the runaround because you didn't purchase the car there? Or, are they just generally incompetent touch holes? Or some of both?

Glad this dealer fixed it to your satisfaction.
 
Good to see your issue was resolved. Seems like they would have been more inclined to help you from the beginning since you are a "returning customer." I know it shouldn't work that way since its a warranty issue, but unfortunately it does.

The local Ford dealer to us is this huge thing from the next city over. They sell both GM and Ford. On top of that, they own 1 of 2 Chrysler dealers and the Hyundai dealer. Parents had a bad experience with them with his 2011 Tahoe and never returned. Dad bought his truck from a different Ford dealer about 20 miles north. He has had that truck for about 2 years now (out of warranty IIRC) and they still call every 6 months or so and ask how he likes it.
 
Good to hear that customer courtesy and competency have not exited the way of the dinosaur.
Be sure to reward them with your business.
 
That is good to hear. I have to say I have always had pretty good luck with the dealerships. Only a few stick out in my mind as bad. One when I had my new Stratus in 1996, the rest were all at the Local VW dealership.
Two good ones that stick out in my mind are as follows.

When I took my 98 Z28 into the dealership on a wrecker with a grenaded rear end and all the track info still on, they covered it under warranty. Service manager's words were "Rough day at the track?" Me: "Yep, how much will this cost." Service Manager: "Warranty work, thing is only 6 months old". Me: "Awesome" Walked across the street bought donuts and coffee for all the shop folks. They were always real good to me after that.

Second was with my truck. When I purchased it the knock sensor code was present. Pulled the intake replaced the sensors and it came up again. Took it to the dealer, told them what was going on. They had their drivability guy take it for a spin and scan it. Sure enough bad new aftermarket knock sensor. They didn't charge me a penny, should have been 100 bucks. Bought new GM sensors and installed them. That was 4 years ago no problems since.
 
My Mazda dealer has been excellent. I try to treat then as professionals with respect and it appears they respect me also. Never a problem so far with Dodge dealers, Jeep dealers, Subaru dealer and now Mazda. To call all dealerships as stealerships tells me something about those who constantly complain. ed
 
Originally Posted By: ls1mike
That is good to hear. I have to say I have always had pretty good luck with the dealerships. Only a few stick out in my mind as bad. One when I had my new Stratus in 1996, the rest were all at the Local VW dealership.
Two good ones that stick out in my mind are as follows.

When I took my 98 Z28 into the dealership on a wrecker with a grenaded rear end and all the track info still on, they covered it under warranty. Service manager's words were "Rough day at the track?" Me: "Yep, how much will this cost." Service Manager: "Warranty work, thing is only 6 months old". Me: "Awesome" Walked across the street bought donuts and coffee for all the shop folks. They were always real good to me after that.

Second was with my truck. When I purchased it the knock sensor code was present. Pulled the intake replaced the sensors and it came up again. Took it to the dealer, told them what was going on. They had their drivability guy take it for a spin and scan it. Sure enough bad new aftermarket knock sensor. They didn't charge me a penny, should have been 100 bucks. Bought new GM sensors and installed them. That was 4 years ago no problems since.


Your experience mirrors mine; my Mazda dealer and BMW dealer know I instruct at HPDEs and I've never had a single issue with warranty coverage or with scheduled maintenance.
 
Originally Posted By: sayjac
Just wondering if you think the local to you dealer gave you the runaround because you didn't purchase the car there? Or, are they just generally incompetent touch holes? Or some of both?

Glad this dealer fixed it to your satisfaction.


That and a 25 year old isn't going to drop 50k on a vehicle any time soon. They are in a more affluent area and don't care about my business
 
So far in my local I have yet to find a bad car dealer for VW, Honda, Acura, and Subaru. They can be more expensive yes but all have been excellent.
 
Well, on my way to work this morning I tried to start it at a stoplight with it already running haha.

I got caught at a long stoplight (usually red for 3-4 minutes). Went to go and forgot the car was in neutral so nothing happened - couldn't feel the car running so I thought it was off.

Luckily it won't engage the starter with the engine running!
 
Crown Buick in my area -- well, the suburbs -- has always treated me right. I bought the Park Avenue from them, and it was a grand car for the 6 years I had it. Now the Regal was not purchased from them; but it has the CPO warranty with 4 free oil changes, and they've handled the first two without trouble. I'm due to visit them for a GM recall, something to do with controllers for the front turn signals. Crown has booked me for this Saturday, and say it will take about 2 hours.
 
Originally Posted By: Eddie
My Mazda dealer has been excellent. I try to treat then as professionals with respect and it appears they respect me also. Never a problem so far with Dodge dealers, Jeep dealers, Subaru dealer and now Mazda. To call all dealerships as stealerships tells me something about those who constantly complain. ed



Not ALL dealerships are $tealerships, just MOST of them, after all
the word "$tealership" didn't get to be common usage among consumers because only a few customers were ripped off.
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Most generally, I feel that the servicing dealer's business attitude, customer service comittment, honesty and integrity of the service dept. is more important than the brand name of the vehicle.
 
The rear brakes on my Parents 2013 Focuscape were pulsating pretty bad at 30K miles.

The pads are nearly gone and the rotors pitted and warped quite badly.

Generally, brake issues are NOT warrantied from what I understand. They brought it to this dealer, got a free loaner for the day (while work was being performed).

Guess they got all new rear hardware. Only thing they had to pay for was rear pads. No labor!

I was telling them to NOT bring it to the dealer because I could get the OE parts on Rock Auto and do it cheaper. Didn't realize it was going to be warrantied (except pads).

They ended up paying ~110 for NYS Inspection, Oil Change and new rear brake hardware/pads.
 
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