Dealerships or is it just mine...

[jhelrey]

I'm outside of the bumper to bumper warranty. The dealership is saying if I bring the truck to them for XYZ issue, and the issue doesn't present itself when the mechanic is diagnosing the issue, I'm on the hook for the diagnostic charge. If the issue does present itself, the diagnostic charge is covered under my Ford ESP in which they will fix XYZ at no charge. This is a concern with a few issues I'm having that are intermittent.

Is this just my dealer or all of them?

First truck I've owned that has a warranty yet, let alone an extended warranty.

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[Snakebitten]

Not all dealerships will take the same approach. But I find the whole attitude towards the warrantied customer pathetic.

 

[Paul Neubauer]

I have been extremely happy with my dealership trying to fix an odd headlight issue on my truck. They have put me in a service loaner for 50 of the 80 days they had my truck and Ford is paying for the rental charges for the first 30 days. My truck is back at the dealership as of today to continue trying to fix the problem and I was given another service loaner and Ford will cover the repairs even though it is no longer covered by the 3 year 36 warranty.

 

[powerboatr]

i can say over my lifetime of fords, this has never happened to me. IF something is amiss, i have never been charged a diagnostic fee if issue is not present or easy to find
i am sure though there are horses rear ends in auto world that simply screw the customer at every turn
which is a sad state affairs, its like they do not want repeat customers in the showroom or something?

unlike my 1984 s10 blazer rear main seal blowing oil right out engine.

 

[jhelrey]

Sounds like I need to try a different dealership.

 

[redline]

I have found this with ford dealers… I have had jdm and euro cars/ truck and,have never had the warranty grief that I have had with ford…

it is a let down on the brand vs other I have had… if ford did not make a great truck I would switch

 

[Jaylars]

One of my dealerships charge a $170 diagnostic fee. It is ridiculous when it's a warranty issue. It's at the dealership right now for the mysterious and obviously common battery/electrical gremlins issue and the recalls. MTF.

 

[TheGoatman]

My dealership had stated this as well and really leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Imagine spending that kind of money on a pickup truck. It breaks and need to go through the hassle of getting it fixed. No rental. Need to arrange getting picked up& dropped off, then being told if they can’t replicate it, you’ll be charged almost $200 and the trucks still broke.

 

[Static]

It seems like a lot of dealerships will do what we let them get away with. When I took mine in for a dead battery they tried to tell me they didn't think it would be covered under warranty, like they were seeing if I would just fold and pay for one myself. I told them that was fine, but I'm not paying for anything so if they find a problem that isn't covered I'll just go someplace else. They came back later and were happy to tell me battery was then replaced under warranty. I'm not saying demand things that you aren't entitled to, but know what you should get and call them out when they try to screw you out of it.

 

[Murrk847]

Its not uncommon. Its a piss poor customer service approach. I dont go into a dealer with a warranty claim without video proof because of it. If they try to still charge you, open a case with Ford. I have noticed once corporate gets involved the bull**** stops.

 

[TheGoatman]

Its not uncommon. Its a piss poor customer service approach. I dont go into a dealer with a warranty claim without video proof because of it. If they try to still charge you, open a case with Ford. I have noticed once corporate gets involved the bull**** stops.

Mine didn’t want to see the video

 

[Kodiak]

Mine didn’t want to see the video

Yikes! That is really bad.

 

[Gros Ventre]

It is not uncommon for a set of symptoms to not be present when taken in. That said, a "Diagnostic fee" is BS. Go find another dealer or repair shop out there. I find my Dealership reliable and quite open to working with them. Lithia Ford of Idaho Falls. They've done some major work for me. I have done nearly all of the work on my cars & trucks over the years, to include a 92 Suburban bought new that went 30 years. Yet I've reached that phase in life where I'm now having much of that work done by my dealership. I am doing planned and progressive maintenance on my F-150, mostly because when you live in Wyoming it's no fun to have something fail while on the road in February with -40ºF and 30 kt winds. For example, on that Suburban I found that the electric fuel pumps lasted about 100,000 miles... And since no fuel pump means you're stuck... I'm replacing fuel pumps at about that interval just on GP. Again, I've found my dealer to be staffed by trained mechanics, sound service advisors, and a straightforward take care of the customer attitude. Having spent a career operating, maintaining and repairing nuclear submarines, I have a good basis for judging my dealership. If yours doesn't measure up to this, find one that does.

 

[sbi]

It's not a Ford issue per se, all dealers of all vehicles will charge you diagnostic fee, even if they can reproduce the issue but you elect not to fix it, but you do have extended warranty so I don't understand why would they want to charge you, it should be covered under the ESP.

 

[B-real]

This is seeming to be more and more common among the mainstream vehicle dealers (the "premium" brand vehicle dealers like BMW, Mercedes, Lexus, etc. still realize that their customers value good customer service). It is definitely dealership dependent, and each year it seems like another dealership who didnt have this up front diagnosis fee adds it on (I work with a lot of different dealerships for my job in maintaining a fleet).

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