Horrible dealer experience today

[bdcardinal]

I still want to know how they managed to charge for a recall. I dont know how Honda works, but in Fordlandia its highly verboten to charge for a recall.

Mazda managed to charge for a recall in a round about way. It was on early 2000s Miatas, to replace the PCM. Well 2 keys are required to be present to make the new PCM work, and people tend to lose keys a lot. Mazda said it was not their fault people lost keys and the car was issued with 2 when it was new.

 

[stodgey]

OP if you are telling us the truth you need to call the car manufacturer and report this behavior.

 

[ledslinger]

When they told me they didn't have the part I made a second appointment for the next day. They told me the part would be there but I called the service dept to verify, before my daughter takes the car in. The service dept won't do the customer the courtesy of verifying the part, instead they transfer you to the parts dept. When I was there the first time and made the appt, they told me it would take a half hour to do the job. No problem when my daughter took the car except it took two and a half hours. No charge. I was warned that if there was any modification to the wiring for alarm etc, they would charge full price. Impressive to get a free recall repair on a 12 year old car. So for a half hour of work it required eighty minutes of driving and four and a half hours of waiting.

 

[morris]

make a sign put it on top of the car , park it in front of the dealer. i have seen it work.

 

[Vikas]

My dealer charged me minimal (1/2 hour) to re-wire my after market remote starter but had warned me that they could not stand behind it. That was very fair.

In the retrospect, I don't think you need to picket outside the dealer. They had your 12 year old car in twice, once with your daughter taking it in. A bad dealer would have made money on this car but this dealer did NOT. You know that manufacturers pay very little for this type work. Your dealer most likely lost money on this deal.

- Vikas

 

[CROWNVIC4LIFE]

Originally Posted By: morris
make a sign put it on top of the car , park it in front of the dealer. i have seen it work.


Just found out Pompano Ford Lincoln Mercury charged my sister 603 bucks for her 30K mile service for her 07 G.M.Q...I think that place deserves sign on top of the car.

 

[Hootbro]

Originally Posted By: CROWNVIC4LIFE


Just found out Pompano Ford Lincoln Mercury charged my sister 603 bucks for her 30K mile service for her 07 G.M.Q...I think that place deserves sign on top of the car.


That cuts both ways and your sister could actually get more involved with what car maintenance is actually about and not get taken next time.

 

[oldmaninsc]

Originally Posted By: Hootbro
Originally Posted By: CROWNVIC4LIFE


Just found out Pompano Ford Lincoln Mercury charged my sister 603 bucks for her 30K mile service for her 07 G.M.Q...I think that place deserves sign on top of the car.


That cuts both ways and your sister could actually get more involved with what car maintenance is actually about and not get taken next time.


Boy aren't we charming and full of sympathy today! Many people - male or female don't know enough about cars to know if they are being lied to or not. Some service advisers take advantage of this and try to sell many unneeded services.
I've been working on cars and trucks for several decades and I've seen first hand how much pressure they can put on people. Classic example - when I bought the Trailblazer I had the dealership change the oil while it was under warranty. Every time I went in for a warranty repair they tried to get me to have the oil changed at 3K miles, or the antifreeze flushed at 30K miles, etc.

 

[ledslinger]

The dealer gave me nothing but what they were required to do by Honda. Yes warranty work is slim margin compared to retail service. They knew that going in. What they had and what they failed at was a potential customer walked in their door without any cost to them. They could have nurtured a relationship but instead they have a family that will never go near the place, and will tell anyone else to do the same. It would have been so easy for the service writer to have said "please hold while I verify the part in stock" A two minute courtesy that would have save me and my daughter over 3 hours. Besides their appointment process is worthless. It is first come, first served whether you made an appointment or not.

 

[stodgey]

Originally Posted By: ledslinger
The dealer gave me nothing but what they were required to do by Honda. Yes warranty work is slim margin compared to retail service. They knew that going in. What they had and what they failed at was a potential customer walked in their door without any cost to them. They could have nurtured a relationship but instead they have a family that will never go near the place, and will tell anyone else to do the same. It would have been so easy for the service writer to have said "please hold while I verify the part in stock" A two minute courtesy that would have save me and my daughter over 3 hours. Besides their appointment process is worthless. It is first come, first served whether you made an appointment or not.


Wow, well stated.

These short sighted clowns only care about the short term quick buck, if they can't make that they don't care. Sure that is stupid when it comes to business sense but many dealers have management that are often nothing more than family relations lackies and are not customer oriented business professionals with a large dose of ethics.

Of course this lack of focus on the customer trickles down to the lowliest employees who soon learn that the only thing that matters is making the fast buck at the expense of ANYTHING ELSE!

 

[Hootbro]

Originally Posted By: oldmaninsc
Originally Posted By: Hootbro
Originally Posted By: CROWNVIC4LIFE


Just found out Pompano Ford Lincoln Mercury charged my sister 603 bucks for her 30K mile service for her 07 G.M.Q...I think that place deserves sign on top of the car.


That cuts both ways and your sister could actually get more involved with what car maintenance is actually about and not get taken next time.


Boy aren't we charming and full of sympathy today! Many people - male or female don't know enough about cars to know if they are being lied to or not. Some service advisers take advantage of this and try to sell many unneeded services.
I've been working on cars and trucks for several decades and I've seen first hand how much pressure they can put on people. Classic example - when I bought the Trailblazer I had the dealership change the oil while it was under warranty. Every time I went in for a warranty repair they tried to get me to have the oil changed at 3K miles, or the antifreeze flushed at 30K miles, etc.


My apologies if I came off somewhat gruff but I get tired of this victim mentality. I am not expecting people to know how to tear down and rebuild a car but if they just did the basics of popping open an owners manual and understanding the maintenance schedule, they can mitigate 90% of the B S extras a dealer may push on them.

Most people have the capability to learn and know this stuff, they just choose not to and will continue to pay the price for their ignorance. If they are mentally unable to understand, then they have no business operating a vehicle to begin with.

 

[The_Jeff]

Originally Posted By: oldmaninsc
Originally Posted By: Hootbro
Originally Posted By: CROWNVIC4LIFE


Just found out Pompano Ford Lincoln Mercury charged my sister 603 bucks for her 30K mile service for her 07 G.M.Q...I think that place deserves sign on top of the car.


That cuts both ways and your sister could actually get more involved with what car maintenance is actually about and not get taken next time.


Boy aren't we charming and full of sympathy today! Many people - male or female don't know enough about cars to know if they are being lied to or not. Some service advisers take advantage of this and try to sell many unneeded services.
I've been working on cars and trucks for several decades and I've seen first hand how much pressure they can put on people. Classic example - when I bought the Trailblazer I had the dealership change the oil while it was under warranty. Every time I went in for a warranty repair they tried to get me to have the oil changed at 3K miles, or the antifreeze flushed at 30K miles, etc.


I'm pretty sure my dentist and plumber are ripping me off. Both are things I want "fixed right". If I let an unlicensed plumber wreck my house, my insurance might not pay. And they don't have "shade tree dentists"...

It's my hope that calling a plumber "once" and giving him a blank check will get my house in order for years and years. I understand the psychology of letting a mechanic do the same thing.

 

[CROWNVIC4LIFE]

Actully HOOTBRO that was a very arrogent response.

Normally that does not happen to her but at the time her husband was very ill and on life support and her daughter who is 1500 miles away was also very ill...When she dropped the car off she did not ask the price of what it would cost cause she had other things on her mind...She said that will not happen again and cut the dealer loose..She is going to use my independent from now on.

Now HOOTBRO if this was somebody with a Toyota I doubt you would have been so arrogent with your answer.

 

[Hootbro]

Originally Posted By: CROWNVIC4LIFE
Actully HOOTBRO that was a very arrogent response.


I stand by my statement. Sure you will eventually get over it.

 

[Vikas]

Originally Posted By: ledslinger
The dealer gave me nothing but what they were required to do by Honda. Yes warranty work is slim margin compared to retail service. They knew that going in. What they had and what they failed at was a potential customer walked in their door without any cost to them. They could have nurtured a relationship but instead they have a family that will never go near the place, and will tell anyone else to do the same. It would have been so easy for the service writer to have said "please hold while I verify the part in stock" A two minute courtesy that would have save me and my daughter over 3 hours. Besides their appointment process is worthless. It is first come, first served whether you made an appointment or not.


Everybody knows that I have very low opinion of general auto repair industry. However, in this particular case, dealer knew that he did NOT have a "live" one. He can look at the VIN number and knew that you were not the type to line their pockets by doing 7500 mile "service" on that car. You said it that you do all the maintenance yourself.

Look at it from the dealer's perspective. Doing warranty work (at least on Honda/Nissan) is pretty much losing business from dealer and technician perspective. Forget margins being slim, it is more like margins being negative. They are contracted to do warranty work but they hate every one of them.

Even if they had verified the parts availability and treated you right, you had no intention of giving them any more business. You certainly would not have come to this forum and told us about it. The dealer would not have got any positive publicity out of you.

All I am saying is that on bad stealership scale, your experience ranks pretty innocuous. I am surprised that you do not see it that way.

- Vikas

 

[oldmaninsc]

Originally Posted By: Hootbro
Originally Posted By: oldmaninsc
Originally Posted By: Hootbro
Originally Posted By: CROWNVIC4LIFE


Just found out Pompano Ford Lincoln Mercury charged my sister 603 bucks for her 30K mile service for her 07 G.M.Q...I think that place deserves sign on top of the car.


That cuts both ways and your sister could actually get more involved with what car maintenance is actually about and not get taken next time.


Boy aren't we charming and full of sympathy today! Many people - male or female don't know enough about cars to know if they are being lied to or not. Some service advisers take advantage of this and try to sell many unneeded services.
I've been working on cars and trucks for several decades and I've seen first hand how much pressure they can put on people. Classic example - when I bought the Trailblazer I had the dealership change the oil while it was under warranty. Every time I went in for a warranty repair they tried to get me to have the oil changed at 3K miles, or the antifreeze flushed at 30K miles, etc.


My apologies if I came off somewhat gruff but I get tired of this victim mentality. I am not expecting people to know how to tear down and rebuild a car but if they just did the basics of popping open an owners manual and understanding the maintenance schedule, they can mitigate 90% of the B S extras a dealer may push on them.

Most people have the capability to learn and know this stuff, they just choose not to and will continue to pay the price for their ignorance. If they are mentally unable to understand, then they have no business operating a vehicle to begin with.

Again you really don't know what you are talking about. Dealers will often tell you - "We know better than the manual - we work on these vehicles every day."
So most people will believe the dealer! This has nothing to do with being a "victim" it's about some dealerships taking advantage of people when they can.
That being said - I've mentioned before that I have had dealings with one dealership that tried to tell my wife she DIDN'T need something (wheel alignment) that I had told her to have done on her car. But this is the exception not the rule.

Originally Posted By: Hootbro
Originally Posted By: CROWNVIC4LIFE
Actully HOOTBRO that was a very arrogent response.


I stand by my statement. Sure you will eventually get over it.


IMHO Your response to crownvic4life was pretty sad! Have a great day!

 

[CivicFan]

Originally Posted By: engineerscott
Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
They aren't cheap, a dealer's parts dept can actually not be eligible for certain programs and incentives if they have excessive idle inventory. Plus it makes absolutely no sense to stock a part that does not sell on a regular basis or can be acquired either same day or overnight. That's the dealer owners capital sitting on a shelf collecting dust.

Also there are some recalls where a dealer is not allowed to stock the part. The parts can be on a restricted ordering status and the vehicle's VIN and repair order number must be provided when the part is ordered. Mazda's recall on the Mazda 3 and 5 power steering is one example.


Everything you say is correct and defensible. What is not defensible is to tell the guy that the part is on the shelf waiting for him and that the car will be turned around in a day when that is not so. The technical term for that is "lying".


A lot of people fear transparency and think that the person they are talking to is an idiot. It is very hard for people to admit that they might have messed up. In this case it might be in the culture of the dealership.

 

[CivicFan]

Originally Posted By: Hootbro
Originally Posted By: CROWNVIC4LIFE
Actully HOOTBRO that was a very arrogent response.


I stand by my statement. Sure you will eventually get over it.


It's a fallacy to assume that everyone wants to learn about the inner workings of cars. The truth is that for a vast majority of the people, a car is an appliance to reliably go from point A to point B and sometimes to enjoy doing that.

That is why there are retail outlets selling services. When they mess up (or rip off people), as it happened with the OP, it goes contrary to the nature of the business arrangement.

 

[ledslinger]

do the same. It would have been so easy for the service writer to have said "please hold while I verify the part in stock" A two minute courtesy that would have save me and my daughter over 3 hours. Besides their appointment process is worthless. It is first come, first served whether you made an appointment or not.

Everybody knows that I have very low opinion of general auto repair industry. However, in this particular case, dealer knew that he did NOT have a "live" one. He can look at the VIN number and knew that you were not the type to line their pockets by doing 7500 mile "service" on that car. You said it that you do all the maintenance yourself.

Look at it from the dealer's perspective. Doing warranty work (at least on Honda/Nissan) is pretty much losing business from dealer and technician perspective. Forget margins being slim, it is more like margins being negative. They are contracted to do warranty work but they hate every one of them.

Even if they had verified the parts availability and treated you right, you had no intention of giving them any more business. You certainly would not have come to this forum and told us about it. The dealer would not have got any positive publicity out of you.

All I am saying is that on bad stealership scale, your experience ranks pretty innocuous. I am surprised that you do not see it that way.

- Vikas

Quite a stretch to suggest they knew my potential future spending when they don't even know if they have an ignition switch on the shelf. My daughter lives in Chicago, and I live near Kansas City, I'd like to have a service facility I could use in an emergency.

Warranty work is an opportunity to generate a customer, even if you lose money on the job, which I suspect is rare. Rudeness or anything less than your best is short-sighted as a business person.

Your powers of prediction are off again, I may have reported to many my pleasure of getting a recall repair on a 12 year old car. Kudos to Honda.

Your time must not be very valuable if you consider 40 minutes of driving and 2 1/2 hours of waiting "inoccuous." Possibly my rudeness barometer is off living in semi rural Missouri vs. the big city. I think my local Honda dealer would have at least felt bad about it and apologised.

You apparently have very low expectations about how to be treated in a service situation. If living in an area where people are friendly and generate business relationships makes me jaded, I guess I'm just lucky. Is my situation the ultimante in dealer reamings, not by any strech. It is only what happened to me in a situation that I'm fortunately rarely in.

 

[SteveSRT8]

Anyone can say whatever they want, but the stealerships in my area continue these crazed tactics which actually drive away clients!

I too have WAY better things to do than sit around 3 hours. Then they always say "if there's any problems just bring it back in!"

I don't want to spend my life in a waiting room. So I vote with my dollar. They rarely see me at all.