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How wrecked are your local dealers service departments?

Not returning calls and leaving voice mail full is not acceptable at all. Sitting on a truck with a minor issue for a week after scheduling an appointment, nope. Ignoring hand delivered notes to call a customer, nope. Not buying it at ALL. But yes, COVID and work force crisis made poor customer service open season.
 
SolidAxleorBust said:
Not returning calls and leaving voice mail full is not acceptable at all. Sitting on a truck with a minor issue for a week after scheduling an appointment, nope. Ignoring hand delivered notes to call a customer, nope. Not buying it at ALL. But yes, COVID and work force crisis made poor customer service open season.
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** EDIT**

So it look like the Active Armor app with AT&T blocked the calls from the dealer, so I didnt get the calls - F'ing Technology LOL.
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Well, today I dropped the truck off to have them recheck the alignment they did and see why my brake pedal rattles on bumpy roads like its about to fall off. They addressed the brake pedal before and the fix lasted 2 days and is worse now. So typically is they don't tell me they need it for a couple days they call me by 5pm to pick up the truck - either its fixed or they have to order parts. So today I decided to have my daughter take me and drop me off around 4:30 to try and beat rush hour traffic. I get there and I know its not good since the truck is not in the service drive waiting, and all the service writers are gone but one guy. Of course he just knows my truck is still in the techs bay - so I am without a vehicle for work tomorrow. No call to tell me they needed it another day. When I dropped it off the service writer told " I will call you later and let you know what we need to fix it.". Well, that didn't happen.
 
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I avoid dealerships at all costs. Id rather sweat or freeze and bust my knuckles to do a repair or service than have someone with no vested interest or care about my truck come even close to my vehicle(s) wih a wrench.

HarryN said:
The President of Ford openly stated that no one wants to work for Ford because the pay is so low. Manufacturing wages are literally the same as 40 years ago at Ford.

The service techs don't stay because again - the pay is low per "repair hour" - and the number of minutes assigned to do a repair is less than it takes - sometimes only 30% of reality. So if the tech gets a warranty repair to do, they are essentially working for free for at least half of it.
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I worked for Ford as a Facotry trained master tech 20 years ago. The pay was crap, but better compared to the cost of linving back then. The problem was Ford had PO5 and PO7 programs back then (maybe still today??) where the customer would come in for a repair, see the cost and throw a fit. The dealer would call Ford, and they would do one of these to a repair and the customer had a tiny deductable, Ford ate the parts cost, the dealer ate the cost to pay me the tech and the customer is happy and the dealer doesnt have a screamer in the service lane. All is well right? No, they would cut hours SIGNIFICANTLY for every job. For instance a cylinder head replacement for a ford modular paid about 20-23 hours depending on the year, model or options (lightning, etc). Those jobs at best took 18 or so hours as there was ALWAYS a torch job and broken bolts, not to mention time on the lift waiting for parts. The dealer would consistently cut those jobs down to 6-8 hours making me in a perfect world work for 10 hours, but most days 14 hours, for FREE.

So I can understand why techs are leaving dealers since pay to cost of living has such a huge disparity, and Im sure they are still doing these types of deals for "Firends and Family".
 
I received a text today. More then a week after going in, from the service writer. He says, I have a note to call you from last week, but I cant find your truck! Did you pick it up? :oops: :oops: :oops: :oops: :oops: I ran down the fact phones were not being answered, voice mail always full, 2 hand delivered notes not responded to and that as far as I can tell Colorado Springs Colorado is the closest dealer with service available. So I zipped tied the transmission cable away from the exhaust until I have an out of town trip. Then I will have them pre-order the part. His response was good luck. And I did not even get a chance to hit him with " I will never enter a NM Ram dealer ever again for anything"
 
mdsonofthesouth said:
I avoid dealerships at all costs. Id rather sweat or freeze and bust my knuckles to do a repair or service than have someone with no vested interest or care about my truck come even close to my vehicle(s) wih a wrench.



I worked for Ford as a Facotry trained master tech 20 years ago. The pay was crap, but better compared to the cost of linving back then. The problem was Ford had PO5 and PO7 programs back then (maybe still today??) where the customer would come in for a repair, see the cost and throw a fit. The dealer would call Ford, and they would do one of these to a repair and the customer had a tiny deductable, Ford ate the parts cost, the dealer ate the cost to pay me the tech and the customer is happy and the dealer doesnt have a screamer in the service lane. All is well right? No, they would cut hours SIGNIFICANTLY for every job. For instance a cylinder head replacement for a ford modular paid about 20-23 hours depending on the year, model or options (lightning, etc). Those jobs at best took 18 or so hours as there was ALWAYS a torch job and broken bolts, not to mention time on the lift waiting for parts. The dealer would consistently cut those jobs down to 6-8 hours making me in a perfect world work for 10 hours, but most days 14 hours, for FREE.

So I can understand why techs are leaving dealers since pay to cost of living has such a huge disparity, and Im sure they are still doing these types of deals for "Firends and Family".
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Ford Dealer denied to warranty a broken door lock recently because of scratches on the Bezel . Went in for some crappy trim clips as an employee drove a van into a post. They want 6.96 EACH. Yes, each. We needed 40. 6.00 on Amazon. I get it, you have to mark stuff up. But all the games chase away buyers........NOT any buyers but US! Those that buy 75K + vehicles with lots of profit, no credit nightmares, in and out. Those are NOT the buyers you want to send to out of state competitors, We want a fair shake and SERVICE. I don't need the cheapest price, but a fair price and service. How much yah making on those crappy Hornets?
 
Why would someone call a service department more than once / day and leave a message? That just clogs up the system for everyone and accomplishes nothing. Not saying that RAM is not having issues, but that just ensures that things will be worse.
 
Deltron said:
The RAM dealer here in Sierra Vista has been pretty good about getting trucks in. It was Lawley until a few months ago which sold to Ed Morse. Seems to still be generally OK other than Click, Lawley and Miller along with the STAR guys can't seem to figure out half the problems with my wretched '22.

The other vehicles all three have serviced have all been satisfactory.
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Fellow Sierra Vista here. I've found that the dealer is pretty good as service goes, just a little high on their prices.
 
HarryN said:
Why would someone call a service department more than once / day and leave a message? That just clogs up the system for everyone and accomplishes nothing. Not saying that RAM is not having issues, but that just ensures that things will be worse.
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There was no one answering, voice mail was full the entire time. And hand delivered messages were not returned. Only time I received smoke signals was over a week later via text and he could not find my truck. And it was about every other day for 5 MINUTE diagnoses. Look, I get it phones are pure evil for Americans today. But I say screw that, if you don't communicate I wont do business. So many companies are getting rich by answering the telephone device. yes, including mine lol. We have a hard 2hr return call for voice mails when we miss a call. 90% of contractors today don't answer phones for example, so the other 10% get rich. The Ford Commercial service near me never answers any phone calls and yet they are all standing around picking noses when you go in. ( not any more, no more business for them either)
 
So, what you are saying is the new norm of no customer service, and no phones being answered, no messages returned is reasonable. Ok, worse then I thought.
 
SolidAxleorBust said:
So, what you are saying is the new norm of no customer service, and no phones being answered, no messages returned is reasonable. Ok, worse then I thought.
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Norm? No.

But sometimes people can be a little over Zealous thinking they if they don't get an answer right away they should just just keep calling through out the day.
 
When I call my local-yolkal dealership i often get service person right off the bat or call back within 15 minutes or so. Small town advantage. There best service person left 9 years ago or so … sad day.:( She was great! I told the boss/ head salesman that the service person was the most important position in the whole building … he lowered his head and said she went for her dream job. Hard to beat a federal government gig I guess.
 
mdsonofthesouth said:
I avoid dealerships at all costs. Id rather sweat or freeze and bust my knuckles to do a repair or service than have someone with no vested interest or care about my truck come even close to my vehicle(s) wih a wrench.



I worked for Ford as a Facotry trained master tech 20 years ago. The pay was crap, but better compared to the cost of linving back then. The problem was Ford had PO5 and PO7 programs back then (maybe still today??) where the customer would come in for a repair, see the cost and throw a fit. The dealer would call Ford, and they would do one of these to a repair and the customer had a tiny deductable, Ford ate the parts cost, the dealer ate the cost to pay me the tech and the customer is happy and the dealer doesnt have a screamer in the service lane. All is well right? No, they would cut hours SIGNIFICANTLY for every job. For instance a cylinder head replacement for a ford modular paid about 20-23 hours depending on the year, model or options (lightning, etc). Those jobs at best took 18 or so hours as there was ALWAYS a torch job and broken bolts, not to mention time on the lift waiting for parts. The dealer would consistently cut those jobs down to 6-8 hours making me in a perfect world work for 10 hours, but most days 14 hours, for FREE.

So I can understand why techs are leaving dealers since pay to cost of living has such a huge disparity, and Im sure they are still doing these types of deals for "Firends and Family".
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I don’t fully understand this.

Are you saying that if a tech works 40 hours Monday to Friday and completes 25.0 hours of “book repair time” for whatever reasons , his paystub will reflect 25.0 hours of pay at his journeyman rate?
 
SolidAxleorBust said:
Ford Dealer denied to warranty a broken door lock recently because of scratches on the Bezel . Went in for some crappy trim clips as an employee drove a van into a post. They want 6.96 EACH. Yes, each. We needed 40. 6.00 on Amazon. I get it, you have to mark stuff up. But all the games chase away buyers........NOT any buyers but US! Those that buy 75K + vehicles with lots of profit, no credit nightmares, in and out. Those are NOT the buyers you want to send to out of state competitors, We want a fair shake and SERVICE. I don't need the cheapest price, but a fair price and service. How much yah making on those crappy Hornets?
Click to expand...

Dealers do some shady messed up stuff. My trust in them is as low as it gets...

raoul_duke said:
I don’t fully understand this.

Are you saying that if a tech works 40 hours Monday to Friday and completes 25.0 hours of “book repair time” for whatever reasons , his paystub will reflect 25.0 hours of pay at his journeyman rate?
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What Im saying is a tech works flat rate, meaning if a job PAYS 8 hours if its done in 4 or 12 you get paid 8 hours. Why I left the dealership is I had several months where every pay check I had a couple of these PO5 PO7 jobs where Id work 18-23 hours and only get paid for 8 of them. Figure a hard worker works 60 or so hours a week I only got paid for 16 to 24 hours for actually working 60+. To me thats messed up and one of the big reasons why I left Ford.
 
mdsonofthesouth said:
What Im saying is a tech works flat rate, meaning if a job PAYS 8 hours if its done in 4 or 12 you get paid 8 hours. Why I left the dealership is I had several months where every pay check I had a couple of these PO5 PO7 jobs where Id work 18-23 hours and only get paid for 8 of them. Figure a hard worker works 60 or so hours a week I only got paid for 16 to 24 hours for actually working 60+. To me thats messed up and one of the big reasons why I left Ford.
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Worked at a VW dealer as a trainee when I got out of high school. Hourly pay of $5.25. Mechanics on flat rate were making $10+ an hour. One day the service manager was talking about a raise, $10, meaning going on flat rate. I wasn’t fast enough to work that way, so I left and went to work at a Detroit Diesel shop.. Never worked in a shop that had flat rate pay again.
 
64poncho said:
Worked at a VW dealer as a trainee when I got out of high school. Hourly pay of $5.25. Mechanics on flat rate were making $10+ an hour. One day the service manager was talking about a raise, $10, meaning going on flat rate. I wasn’t fast enough to work that way, so I left and went to work at a Detroit Diesel shop.. Never worked in a shop that had flat rate pay again.
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I was fast enough 99% of the time to make extra or break even on hours worked vs hours paid. But when manufacturer and dealer make tha6 impossible thats when there is an issue. Even my mentor who had 30 years on did those jobs at a MAJOR loss.

But yeah as an apprentice you wont make money on flat rate until you figure out the nuances of the vehicles you work on. Fortunately the Ford Asset program was nearly 2 years of class and apprenticeship so when I switched from hourly to flat rate I was more than ready to work alone and make it.
 
mdsonofthesouth said:
Dealers do some shady messed up stuff. My trust in them is as low as it gets...



What Im saying is a tech works flat rate, meaning if a job PAYS 8 hours if its done in 4 or 12 you get paid 8 hours. Why I left the dealership is I had several months where every pay check I had a couple of these PO5 PO7 jobs where Id work 18-23 hours and only get paid for 8 of them. Figure a hard worker works 60 or so hours a week I only got paid for 16 to 24 hours for actually working 60+. To me thats messed up and one of the big reasons why I left Ford.
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Interesting i did not know techs operated as piece workers.
 
mdsonofthesouth said:
What do you mean by "piece"?
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I guess what you refer to as “flat rate”.

Job A says it takes 1.0 hour so you get paid 1.0 hour at your flat rate, just like cutting and bailing hay by the ton.

Is there some sort of act of god clause where you dig into a eight year old car and bolts start breaking or something like that?
 
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