How a service visit should work

[grizzly]

My days of laying in the driveway to change my oil are long gone so I depend on dealer service. I recently switched dealers due to a horrible experience when I tried to trade in my Ranger for a F-150. Now that I have recovered from that rape I needed to find another dealer for service. I wasn't crazy about their service department anyway. I went back to my old dealer who I have never purchased a vehicle from but have had many cars and trucks serviced there. This is the way it should work....

Called up and got a 9:00am appointment for "The Works". Arrive for service. Greated by service manager who takes down all my info. Tell him I will be waiting for vehicle. Head to the waiting room(s). One is a quiet room where you can work on your laptop or the main room. The main room has a movie playing on a big TV with surround sound, coffee, tea, and a cabinet packed with snacks. There's comfortable seats to sit in and watch the movie. After an hour manager comes and informs me tires rotated and checked, battery is good, fluids filled, oil is changed. Go out to my truck to check everything and it all looks good and they even washed my truck.

For those of you who count on a dealer for your service if you are getting bad service just find another dealer. There are good ones out there you just need to find them. My new dealer's waiting room was pretty busy. The old dealer's waiting room was empty most of the time. Now I realize why.

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[NurseNeil]

I am with you. I am even going to name drop. I use to take my Mustang, T-Bird and wife's Escape to Parkway Ford South, here in Winston-Salem NC. After a while I got tired of customer no service. I rolled some dice and went to Crossroads Ford of Kernersville about 30 mins from my house as oppose to the 10 mins the other one was. I went there to sell and buy my T-bird for my current Ranger. I appreciated the fact I didn't feel like a fish in a shark tank when getting sold my vehicle. They are not way over the top and have the small town family feel.

 

[Joeiconic]

Good, but that‘s pretty much every experience I’ve ever had in 35+ years of having dealers service my vehicle.

 

[landiscarrier]

It really baffles me how dealers and businesses in general can’t seem to comprehend that good service will bring people back….and these people/customers will tell others. It’s the simplest thing any business can do.

 

[AzScorpion]

The service industry as a whole out here is sub par! So I wasn't expecting much when I bought my Ranger and was pleasantly surprised when I went to get my first free oil change. When you pull up there's a whole team of people there and someone will come to you while you're in your vehicle, fill everything out and ask you what service you're there for. They inspect your vehicle with you and note any previous damage then show you where the waiting room is.

Much like the OP's it's a nice seating area with coffee, tea and some snacks with a tv and free wifi. I always ask for the first appointment and I've never waited more than an hour to have an oil change and tire rotation done. My truck has always been spotless when receiving it, tire pressure set to what I tell them (32psi) and oil life % reset to 100%. They do offer a wash but of course I tell them do not wash my truck. lol

The dealer is Peoria Ford on Bell Rd and if you're local they've been great to deal with. I read many horror stories here and on other forums from dealers who can't even get a simple oil change right so I guess for once I'm lucky to have found a good one here amongst all the bad ones out there.

 

[WesternFlyer]

any of you want a seat of the pants, am i about to die moment.....take it to the local high school and have the auto shop class take care of all your maintenance needs.

I’m just going to let the neighborhood kids take a crack at it…

 

[AzScorpion]

any of you want a seat of the pants, am i about to die moment.....take it to the local high school and have the auto shop class take care of all your maintenance needs.

I actually did that once and it was a tech school for automotive. I was young and broke and needed the tranny rebuilt in my '70 Challenger and knew a few people who had theirs done their with good results. They're always supervised and IIRC I only paid for the parts and it came back in working condition. I knew the person I sold it to and he drove it for several years trouble free so again they're not all bad you just have to do your homework like anything else.

 

[AzScorpion]

I’m just going to let the neighborhood kids take a crack at it…

You might be better off with this guy Matt? ?

 

[WesternFlyer]

Service matters. The dealer I bought it from, Lexington Park Ford in Maryland. Was the absolute best. Waiting room just as you described. Top notch service, and the manager of the dealership would come check in. I ended up helping a friend’s elderly dad buy a vehicle there, and the manager agreed to a 150,000 mile bumper to bumper warranty!

My prior dealership experiences in Ventura County were mediocre.

Fingers crossed I can find a dealership with excellent service here in Georgia.

 

[WesternFlyer]

You might be better off with this guy Matt? ?

Hey I think you pulled my picture off of Brandon’s “ Post those beautiful faces, don’t be shy” thread ???

 

[Joeiconic]

any of you want a seat of the pants, am i about to die moment.....take it to the local high school and have the auto shop class take care of all your maintenance needs.

I had an uncle that let the local cosmetology students cut his hair. He wore hats a lot.

 

[9zero1790]

we should have a thread for dealer experiences. post the good and bad so we know who to use. eventually the poor quality dealers will be forced to improve if enough folks stop using them.

 

[AzScorpion]

we should have a thread for dealer experiences. post the good and bad so we know who to use. eventually the poor quality dealers will be forced to improve if enough folks stop using them.

IIRC there is one on here somewhere but with all the posts now I'm not sure where it is.

 

[Samsquanch]

The biggest problem I’m having lately is just scheduling service visits at all at any of the local Ford dealers. I wanted to use my FordPass points recently to pay for an oil change and I couldn’t get an appointment inside 3 weeks!

Ended up taking it to a local independent shop down the road who is good but way overpriced. I didn’t feel like laying on my freezing driveway in January! I’m looking to buy one of these fancy oil extractor pumps and start doing my own again. I’ve read that testing has shown they get out nearly all the oil possible and sediment isn’t really a concern.

 

[Jmarler]

I did a oil change at the dealer and they asked me to do a survey. After I completed the survey I received a voucher for a free oil change. So if you get offered a survey I would do it.

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