Customer relations

[NASSTY]

Ford has nothing to do with it. Dealerships are privately owned. Some dealers offer loaners and some don't.
My dealer does but it may not be a truck, might be a Focus?

 

[smurfslayer]

@Owen Grady,

None of what follows is meant to pour salt on you or cause an affront.

The manufacturers warranty only requires that they repair or replace defective parts within the covered period. The law and the warranty say absolutely nothing about keeping us in vehicles. I know that’s frustrating, I’ve been successful at both a lemon lawsuit and a warranty covered engine repair on a Mustang with some bolt ons. The Mustang was down for 3 months! I ended up buying a heavily (ab)used Ford Exploder to kick around in after it became a little too cold for my tolerance on a motorcycle.

The only thing you can do is develop some patience. That is not easy when you’re in a situation like this.

You should be able to engage the regional customer service rep. if you aren’t able, have the service manager help you get them in touch.

You need to be accommodating to the dealer too. Remember, you’re one customer, they probably have 20 more they’re working with for all things from routine service to why the he** did this motor blow up and everything in between. I’m not saying that the dealer has acquitted themselves well here, just that getting spun up about it won’t drive the issue to resolution any faster.

if the truck still starts, I’d suggest this:

go to the dealer and demand the truck or a root cause. They either know what is wrong, or they don’t and if they don’t by this time, they won’t. Ever.

if they have the root cause, make them write it down, estimate the time to repair.
if they don’t have root cause, tell them to make the truck ready and document on the ticket: Unable to resolve problem, customer asked for vehicle back. Don’t accept it unless the receipt says “unable to resolve problem”. You need them to admit they have had the vehicle for nn days and weren’t able to fix it.

THIS is what you take to Ford C/S.

Don’t leave without a receipt indicating they can’t fix it. The service writer won’t want to do this, get the service manager. “You’ve had it 2 weeks, tell me what’s wrong or cash me out and give me the receipt saying you’re not able to fix it. Not ‘unable to reproduce’ - unable to remedy/fix/address - whatever - the customer’s concern.

And yes, they will write this on a receipt, it was a nice bit of evidence in my decades ago suit.

Go to another dealer and ask them if they can handle it. Some of them are actually honest about it and some will equivocate. Be wary of equivocating.

Use this as leverage to get them to split a max length ESP with you. at cost pricing is viewable from Flood Ford online.

Remember, it’s not directly the service manager’s fault, or the service writer’s fault. They may be overbooking the mechanics, or the mech’s may simply not know what’s what. We don’t know, but we do know they’re not progressing the issue to resolution.

I can’t speak to Eurotrash dealers, many on FRF have referred to me as a Europhobe and they’re not wrong. Ducati rather soured me on marques from the olde country. I can speak to other US manufacturers and I’ve heard some 2nd hand chatter that the Japanese mfgrs are equally hard nosed if something does go south; the difference is that they go south more rarely with Japanese cars & trucks.

Focus your energy on getting the truck fixed, that’s your immediate concern. If not at the current dealer, go to another.
Address the poor customer service you’ve gotten asynchronously and don’t let them off the hook.

 

[simmsb873]

Customer service is something Ford could improve on for sure. It seems like every time we bring one of our company vehicles in for service theres some sort of issue. They can't get you in for 3-4 weeks, made appointments only to show up and they don't have you down, etc. Our current dealer is the third one we have used over the last 10 years which makes me think its just Ford in general. We average about 4-5 vehicle purchases a year so I've been able to start scheduling everything through our sales rep which has helped a little. I'm sure they have customers who purchase way more than we do but we spend enough to where she doesn't want to lose our business so she goes out of her way to handle everything.

It shouldn't be that way though in my opinion. Whether you buy one vehicle every ten years or ten every year you should be treated well after your purchase. I've had a lot of different personal vehicles over the years though and unfortunately most brands are the same.

Infiniti- Best overall service in my opinion. I had a worn out old G-35 yet they treated me like a king anytime I brought it in. Always put me up in a newer loaner and never once had any issues with scheduling, service, etc.

Lexus- Close 2nd.

Jaguar- Last place! It was almost like the reps were trained to treat you like you were beneath them. My mom had a Range Rover at the time and got the same vibe every time she dealt with Land Rover.

 

[TXRaptor]

@smurfslayer Great piece of advice. You must be a lawyer or at least play one on TV...

PS. The thought crossed my mind that the OP is yet another one of our friends many aliases...

 

[NE Raptor]

I came from GMC and any time my vehicle needed warranty service, they had a loaner waiting for me and it was always a brand new vehicle. I haven't had the raptor long enough to need anything yet but if I am not provided something to drive while in for warranty work then I would take to a dealer that would take care of me. If it is universal across Ford dealers then in my opinion that is horrible customer service - especially considering we are all forking upwards of $70k for these trucks. I dont need to leave in another raptor but something comfortable to drive should be a courtesy Ford can provide when there is down time due to a manufacturer defect. This may be what separates a good dealer from one who goes by the bare minimum to comply with Ford.

 

[Owen Grady]

Dont bring so much to the thread @TXRaptor you must be a ford customer relations rep or at least play one on frf

Ps. I now suspect txraptor of being one of the numerous trolls with another alias

 

[TXRaptor]

Dont bring so much to the thread @TXRaptor you must be a ford customer relations rep or at least play one on frf

Sorry, I am not one, nor do I play one... hahaha, you gave me a good laugh, though

 

[smurfslayer]

@smurfslayer Great piece of advice. You must be a lawyer or at least play one on TV...

damn dude? did I call you names?

try to help a Raptor brutha out and get called a lawyer. that’s pretty vile.

:-/

(edit to add: that’s a smirk smiley, I didn’t take umbrage )

I have however had to learn a bit about the law and it’s been a good pick up over the years. I owe this to my mom and dad. They told me repeatedly only 3 people in this world would look out for me and we were all 3 of them. I lost one this year.

That’s not to say I haven’t spent a lot of wasted or inefficient energy on unproductive complaining. Far from it, I’ve definitely written my share of missive’s like OP. Hopefully something good comes from my experience.

 

[EricM]

I do not think Ford has ever offered a "free" loaner program, so I have never expected to get one. The 3/36 warranty is simply to fix what is wrong. After buying 6 Ford vehicles, I am surprised this is the first time you realized it.

My wife's Cadillac, which costs much less than my Raptor, gives her a free loaner every time she stops in. They just recently asked her to make reservations ahead of time for a loaner car, but it is always a brand new car with similar features to her own.

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, she get a brand new 2019 XT4 as a 5-day loaner from the dealership. This was not a car they had as a loaner, but she talked to the GM and he pulled one off of the lot for her to "test drive" while her XT5 was getting serviced. They have excellent service and we have never even bought a car from them.

All the "original" SVT vehicles owners got free loaners when they were in for service. Not sure if they offered that when it was resuscitated in 2010 for the Raptor. Current Raptors are not SVT products anyways.

Dealers vary wildly. Try another one.

 

[Raptorguy1]

My local dealership does loaners and I did not even buy my car/truck from them. And don't listen to #mamula. He does not even own a Raptor but brags about how much he will save when he gets one.

It's not so much Ford, but the dealer. I've always gotten a loaner because I'm a regular customer and they know I'll be back in a couple of years to buy again.