OT sluggo's Friday afternoon rant maybe long probably boring.....

[sluggo72]

it started the week before Memorial Day. My wife and I went over to Annapolis for the weekend. We took her car. Whe got back, and when I leave for work the next day in my 2011 Ford Explorer with 40,000 miles I notice a lot of road noise, wtf. I look around to find the sunroof in the tilt position. Now how did it get there?? I didn't put it there. So I push the button to close it, nothing. My heart about sunk,because I knew that sound of silence was expensive. Oh well I need the oil chNged anyway so I take it back to the dealer. I ask them to see what's up with the sunroof,and let me know
When they call back they say 'well the switch failed and therefore it went to ground(?) and therefore the sunroof went to tilt ' okay can you just crank that closed and ill move on. No,they say the motor is burned out as well, therefore we have to detach the arm etc. that's the best we can do, btw the labor to do that is the same as repairing it, the part is only $100 so to get it closed it will cost you $371 and to fix $471. At that point I am fixed to be tied. I tell them I can't believe ford has designed a product that when it fails it costs the customer almost $400 to close a window. Best we can do sir. Okay fix the whole thing, but note I know I am getting ripped off not necessarily by you but by ford. Sir well you are out of warranty. Don't remind me, now that's said I've used the GD sunroof maybe 5 times in the 5 yrs I've owned it. Fix it and please call ford and tell them for me they designed a bad product,and you mr service writer tell your service manager to do this please,he should have more weight

Well I go to pick up the car and ask if they have called ford. No sir, okay where's the service manager. Here's where things go south. I asked why they didn't call ford. They say 'you're out of warranty'. Hey I know that, but I was hopefull you fight for me, and show ford the error of their ways,maybe you know fight for me. Maybe there has been other explorers with the same kind of problem and there is a secret wArranty or something. Not his job, you call ford( which I did and they referred me back to the dealer)
Btw he's been at ford 20 yrs and never heard of a secret warranty. To which, and this is true, well I worked at a Pontiac ,Nissan VW dealership for 6 yrs and they had them there
So now he begins to mock me,' anyone here ever hear of secret warranty ' in front of all the service department. It went more downhill from there. I paid my bill and left

Fast forward to yesterday, we are headed back to Gettysburg for my 40th class reunion and spent the night in Hagerstown MD. On the way up,it just pissed the rain the whole way. I don't think anything about it(we take my car this time). This morning we jump in the car to finish our journey, well it's like raining instead the car!! There 's water coming from the switch set.
Now I am having a real debate, maybe the roof didn't close correctly, but I am afraid to hit the switch. Anyway I do, the sunroof opens!!! But guess what ??? It won't close!!!
Now what??? I m in Hagerstown with the sunroof open, and it's suppose to storm the next 3 days!! It's 6 hrs home, it's going to storm the whole way!!!
So I write this from the ford dealership in Hagerstown they promised to do their best. I tell them just close the sob and I'll deal with it a home. They'll see what they can do. That was 1130 it's 2 now. And the car hasn't moved. Not really their fault, but thank God I am nowhere near the ford dealership in Huntington!!

Nothing much happening for my reunion to 7 pm, it's only an hour away, I hope I make it!!
A rental car my be my future

 

[ClarkstonMark]

I've never heard of a secret recall either.
Silent recall, yes. Technical bulletin, yes.
Either way, the service manager was a db. There are plenty of assholes working in the auto service industry, especially in the more rural areas.

How do you only have 40k miles on a 5 year old vehicle?

 

[sluggo72]

I've never heard of a secret recall either.
Silent recall, yes. Technical bulletin, yes.
Either way, the service manager was a db. There are plenty of assholes working in the auto service industry, especially in the more rural areas.

How do you only have 40k miles on a 5 year old vehicle?

I didn't say secret recall I said secret warranty. You know something the manufacture knows the screwed up, it's not a safety issue so if you complain they'll cover it. Example my wife's Nissan the leather on my wife's steering went bad rather quickly but still was out of warranty They covered it under what the factory rep said 'was a secret warranty'
40,000 miles ? Easy I live 3 miles from work and 4 miles to my marina. Only 2 places I go!!! Except to Marshall games which are a mile!!!

 

[Yanks49]

I had issue with 2008 Nissan a few months ago that was obviously out of warranty, but as far as I was concerned it was a design flaw. Contacted Nissan customer care who referred their regional office to me and within a couple weeks I had a check to pay for the majority of repair. Can't hurt to complain directly to Ford.

 

[sluggo72]

I had issue with 2008 Nissan a few months ago that was obviously out of warranty, but as far as I was concerned it was a design flaw. Contacted Nissan customer care who referred their regional office to me and within a couple weeks I had a check to pay for the majority of repair. Can't hurt to complain directly to Ford.

Thanks. As noted I did that they referred me back to the dealership and said that's the best they could do!! It ain't over though!!!

 

[Victor E. Bell]

Find a bar.

Not a happy story, Sluggo. Having met you I'd say the service manager has a pretty big set of nads treating you like that in front of people. Just sayin.

 

[Yanks49]

Thanks. As noted I did that they referred me back to the dealership and said that's the best they could do!! It ain't over though!!!

Be persistant and thorough with your explanation. They should not have referred you back if it's a Ford corporation flaw. Not the dealer's fault.

 

[sluggo72]

Find a bar.

Not a happy story, Sluggo. Having met you I'd say the service manager has a pretty big set of nads treating you like that in front of people. Just sayin.

Thanks!! If I can get to the reunion, there'll be plenty of bars!!!

 

[Art]

Your best bet is to be persistent directly with Ford. Dealer is unlikely to help unless you've done quite a bit of business with them.

 

[ericstratton-rushchairman]

With all the rain here in Dallas the windshield wipers stopped working on my 2009 Audi Q7. It has 52k miles. Had it for 18 months where I've put 7k miles on it. So I take it in... wiper motor crapped out. $1300 to replace. Hell I paid $26k for the car. I decided to drive with wipers.

 

[sluggo72]

Your best bet is to be persistent directly with Ford. Dealer is unlikely to help unless you've done quite a bit of business with them.

Okay , I agree, other than the service manager being a jerk to me, you are correct, the dealership didn't design the car, ford did. Now that said, how do I contact Ford? I've already talked to their consumer 800#, they gave me a case#,and said you have to call the dealer?? I questioned them on that three times, an they insist, you have to call the dealer. So how do I deal directly with Ford??

 

[ClarkstonMark]

With all the rain here in Dallas the windshield wipers stopped working on my 2009 Audi Q7. It has 52k miles. Had it for 18 months where I've put 7k miles on it. So I take it in... wiper motor crapped out. $1300 to replace. Hell I paid $26k for the car. I decided to drive with wipers.

$100 part - easy DIY

 

[Art]

$100 part - easy DIY

True, but for $100 you get a reman. OEM new is $400 retail and the dealer isn't refunding the core value. But even with that, it's an hour labor max.

 

[Whaaaaaaaany]

As a product design engineer, I'm more perplexed that they think the default position of the window being tilted open rather than closed is acceptable. Seems the default position should be closed so that rain doesn't get in people's car. But who knows, maybe they do that so they can physically get into the workings if need be to fix it.

 

[sluggo72]

As a product design engineer, I'm more perplexed that they think the default position of the window being tilted open rather than closed is acceptable. Seems the default position should be closed so that rain doesn't get in people's car. But who knows, maybe they do that so they can physically get into the workings if need be to fix it.

My thought as well!!

 

[ClarkstonMark]

As a product design engineer, I'm more perplexed that they think the default position of the window being tilted open rather than closed is acceptable. Seems the default position should be closed so that rain doesn't get in people's car. But who knows, maybe they do that so they can physically get into the workings if need be to fix it.

Probably an actuator with a worm gear. If it gets stuck, it cannot go to a default position, unless there is a clutch of some type

 

[Yanks49]

Okay , I agree, other than the service manager being a jerk to me, you are correct, the dealership didn't design the car, ford did. Now that said, how do I contact Ford? I've already talked to their consumer 800#, they gave me a case#,and said you have to call the dealer?? I questioned them on that three times, an they insist, you have to call the dealer. So how do I deal directly with Ford??

https://corporate.ford.com/contact-us.html?contactMainTopic=VehicleServiceIssues

 

[BowieLion]

If you have a Twitter account, tweet @FordService It worked for me as I got an almost immediate response to DM them and they handled my issue.

 

[thecoolestfish]

it started the week before Memorial Day. My wife and I went over to Annapolis for the weekend. We took her car. Whe got back, and when I leave for work the next day in my 2011 Ford Explorer with 40,000 miles I notice a lot of road noise, wtf. I look around to find the sunroof in the tilt position. Now how did it get there?? I didn't put it there. So I push the button to close it, nothing. My heart about sunk,because I knew that sound of silence was expensive. Oh well I need the oil chNged anyway so I take it back to the dealer. I ask them to see what's up with the sunroof,and let me know
When they call back they say 'well the switch failed and therefore it went to ground(?) and therefore the sunroof went to tilt ' okay can you just crank that closed and ill move on. No,they say the motor is burned out as well, therefore we have to detach the arm etc. that's the best we can do, btw the labor to do that is the same as repairing it, the part is only $100 so to get it closed it will cost you $371 and to fix $471. At that point I am fixed to be tied. I tell them I can't believe ford has designed a product that when it fails it costs the customer almost $400 to close a window. Best we can do sir. Okay fix the whole thing, but note I know I am getting ripped off not necessarily by you but by ford. Sir well you are out of warranty. Don't remind me, now that's said I've used the GD sunroof maybe 5 times in the 5 yrs I've owned it. Fix it and please call ford and tell them for me they designed a bad product,and you mr service writer tell your service manager to do this please,he should have more weight

Well I go to pick up the car and ask if they have called ford. No sir, okay where's the service manager. Here's where things go south. I asked why they didn't call ford. They say 'you're out of warranty'. Hey I know that, but I was hopefull you fight for me, and show ford the error of their ways,maybe you know fight for me. Maybe there has been other explorers with the same kind of problem and there is a secret wArranty or something. Not his job, you call ford( which I did and they referred me back to the dealer)
Btw he's been at ford 20 yrs and never heard of a secret warranty. To which, and this is true, well I worked at a Pontiac ,Nissan VW dealership for 6 yrs and they had them there
So now he begins to mock me,' anyone here ever hear of secret warranty ' in front of all the service department. It went more downhill from there. I paid my bill and left

Fast forward to yesterday, we are headed back to Gettysburg for my 40th class reunion and spent the night in Hagerstown MD. On the way up,it just pissed the rain the whole way. I don't think anything about it(we take my car this time). This morning we jump in the car to finish our journey, well it's like raining instead the car!! There 's water coming from the switch set.
Now I am having a real debate, maybe the roof didn't close correctly, but I am afraid to hit the switch. Anyway I do, the sunroof opens!!! But guess what ??? It won't close!!!
Now what??? I m in Hagerstown with the sunroof open, and it's suppose to storm the next 3 days!! It's 6 hrs home, it's going to storm the whole way!!!
So I write this from the ford dealership in Hagerstown they promised to do their best. I tell them just close the sob and I'll deal with it a home. They'll see what they can do. That was 1130 it's 2 now. And the car hasn't moved. Not really their fault, but thank God I am nowhere near the ford dealership in Huntington!!

Nothing much happening for my reunion to 7 pm, it's only an hour away, I hope I make it!!
A rental car my be my future

Oh man I feel for you. I had the EXACT SAME PROBLEM with my 2013 Ford Escape. Sunroof opened three times when it rained (while i was sleeping overnight) and burned the motor each time.

They kept replacing the burned out motor, never even thinking to try and figure out why the sunroof was opening in the rain.

My story has a 'happy' ending as I was able to get Ford to buy the car back (via the BBB). This was even possible because my car was < 18 mos old.

Wish I had some advice.

 

[PortlandLion]

Okay , I agree, other than the service manager being a jerk to me, you are correct, the dealership didn't design the car, ford did. Now that said, how do I contact Ford? I've already talked to their consumer 800#, they gave me a case#,and said you have to call the dealer?? I questioned them on that three times, an they insist, you have to call the dealer. So how do I deal directly with Ford??

What always works for me, after I hit the wall using my best political correct voice, I just call her (I assume it is a woman or someone in India) a f__ken c__t, which always puts me in touch with someone up the food chain that can actually solve my problem.

 

[step.eng69]

it started the week before Memorial Day. My wife and I went over to Annapolis for the weekend. We took her car. Whe got back, and when I leave for work the next day in my 2011 Ford Explorer with 40,000 miles I notice a lot of road noise, wtf.

Nothing much happening for my reunion to 7 pm, it's only an hour away, I hope I make it!!
A rental car my be my future

Sorry for your dilemma sluggo, similar troubles when my wife and I got back from a week visit at my daughters in Alabama.

• Walked into the house about 6pm, house temperature at 90 degrees the A.C. unit shut down while we were away. I just dumped $2500 in the outside unit last summer. Wtf ?
  
• Dreadful smell in the house, wife found the surge protector to the small refrigerator in the spare bedroom off. Food spoiled, call for major cleaning up project.
  
• My grandson is borrowing our 2011 Chevy while home from college and using the car for work. The car is in the driveway with a flat.
  
• To top off the evening, my daughter ordered me pizza with extra cheese….not the light x-tra sauce and onion.

 

[bwifan]

well since its friday and nearing happy hour I offer this up to many of you.... maybe take the edge off your bad fortunes today...

 

[Michael.Felli]

it started the week before Memorial Day. My wife and I went over to Annapolis for the weekend. We took her car. Whe got back, and when I leave for work the next day in my 2011 Ford Explorer with 40,000 miles I notice a lot of road noise, wtf. I look around to find the sunroof in the tilt position. Now how did it get there?? I didn't put it there. So I push the button to close it, nothing. My heart about sunk,because I knew that sound of silence was expensive. Oh well I need the oil chNged anyway so I take it back to the dealer. I ask them to see what's up with the sunroof,and let me know
When they call back they say 'well the switch failed and therefore it went to ground(?) and therefore the sunroof went to tilt ' okay can you just crank that closed and ill move on. No,they say the motor is burned out as well, therefore we have to detach the arm etc. that's the best we can do, btw the labor to do that is the same as repairing it, the part is only $100 so to get it closed it will cost you $371 and to fix $471. At that point I am fixed to be tied. I tell them I can't believe ford has designed a product that when it fails it costs the customer almost $400 to close a window. Best we can do sir. Okay fix the whole thing, but note I know I am getting ripped off not necessarily by you but by ford. Sir well you are out of warranty. Don't remind me, now that's said I've used the GD sunroof maybe 5 times in the 5 yrs I've owned it. Fix it and please call ford and tell them for me they designed a bad product,and you mr service writer tell your service manager to do this please,he should have more weight

Well I go to pick up the car and ask if they have called ford. No sir, okay where's the service manager. Here's where things go south. I asked why they didn't call ford. They say 'you're out of warranty'. Hey I know that, but I was hopefull you fight for me, and show ford the error of their ways,maybe you know fight for me. Maybe there has been other explorers with the same kind of problem and there is a secret wArranty or something. Not his job, you call ford( which I did and they referred me back to the dealer)
Btw he's been at ford 20 yrs and never heard of a secret warranty. To which, and this is true, well I worked at a Pontiac ,Nissan VW dealership for 6 yrs and they had them there
So now he begins to mock me,' anyone here ever hear of secret warranty ' in front of all the service department. It went more downhill from there. I paid my bill and left

Fast forward to yesterday, we are headed back to Gettysburg for my 40th class reunion and spent the night in Hagerstown MD. On the way up,it just pissed the rain the whole way. I don't think anything about it(we take my car this time). This morning we jump in the car to finish our journey, well it's like raining instead the car!! There 's water coming from the switch set.
Now I am having a real debate, maybe the roof didn't close correctly, but I am afraid to hit the switch. Anyway I do, the sunroof opens!!! But guess what ??? It won't close!!!
Now what??? I m in Hagerstown with the sunroof open, and it's suppose to storm the next 3 days!! It's 6 hrs home, it's going to storm the whole way!!!
So I write this from the ford dealership in Hagerstown they promised to do their best. I tell them just close the sob and I'll deal with it a home. They'll see what they can do. That was 1130 it's 2 now. And the car hasn't moved. Not really their fault, but thank God I am nowhere near the ford dealership in Huntington!!

Nothing much happening for my reunion to 7 pm, it's only an hour away, I hope I make it!!
A rental car my be my future

We are but a speck in the scheme of things. Just an insignificant mammal on an obscure planet in an unknown galaxy among BILLIONS and BILLIONS of other galaxies in one universe attached to possibly BILLIONS AND BILLIONS of Universes.

IT JUST DOESN'T MATTER!

When was the last time you danced in the rain? I say, walk to your reunion and let it pour cats and dogs. When people at the reunion ask what happened, laugh hysterically telling the story.

 

[LaJolla Lion]

sluggo,

I just went through something very similar and I saved about $1700. There are warranties that exist beyond the life of your car, but you need to call the company themselves and ask which ones are out there. My wife had an Equinox that apparently had an oil consumption issue, but it was never really a problem for us because the care never went over 4000 miles without an oil change. Long story short is there was a known issue on her exact make and model for the year we bought the car. The oil would not leak but simply get eaten up which in time put stress on the cylinders and drive train.

The service person tipped us off by asking if we ever had an oil consumption test. I said no, why would we. He then explained to us that the damage the car had was usually due to the oil running low. I printed out the oil records for the car which exist via On Star and we had all of the receipts. He stated that it may have been low a few times without us knowing. That tipped us off to a possible issue and we called GM about it after seeing this as a known issue online. There was a warranty that went out to 10 years and 120k miles. We had to fight with the service manager to get us covered since we didn't bring it in for the warranty work initially, but we eventually wore him down and stated this is a recall you guys told us about. GM stated it was a known issue and we aren't paying for this. He asked for our oil records and thankfully 2 of them showed the oil was down 40%. He then tried to say we should have been checking our oil after every other tank which is a crock of **it on just about any modern car.

Bottom line, check with Ford and never take a Dealerships word for anything. They don't make money off of warranty work and they are paid based on the profits they bring in. The service managers tend to be a bit slippery so avoid them if you can. Needless to say we are out of that car as I never wanted it to begin with, but my wife wore me down. It was just the final straw (car lived in the shop) and I don't see myself ever getting into another GM product in my lifetime.

 

[step.eng69]

We are but a speck in the scheme of things. Just an insignificant mammal on an obscure planet in an unknown galaxy among BILLIONS and BILLIONS of other galaxies in one universe attached to possibly BILLIONS AND BILLIONS of Universes.

IT JUST DOESN'T MATTER!

View embedded media

View embedded media

But it does matter Felli, We Are...Penn State & cosmic matter.

 

[LafayetteBear]

What always works for me, after I hit the wall using my best political correct voice, I just call her (I assume it is a woman or someone in India) a f__ken c__t, which always puts me in touch with someone up the food chain that can actually solve my problem.

Think "f__ken" is spelled with an "i." Intriguing strategy, tho. I feel tempted to employ it quite frequently, but have always assumed it would not work.

 

[sluggo72]

sluggo,

I just went through something very similar and I saved about $1700. There are warranties that exist beyond the life of your car, but you need to call the company themselves and ask which ones are out there. My wife had an Equinox that apparently had an oil consumption issue, but it was never really a problem for us because the care never went over 4000 miles without an oil change. Long story short is there was a known issue on her exact make and model for the year we bought the car. The oil would not leak but simply get eaten up which in time put stress on the cylinders and drive train.

The service person tipped us off by asking if we ever had an oil consumption test. I said no, why would we. He then explained to us that the damage the car had was usually due to the oil running low. I printed out the oil records for the car which exist via On Star and we had all of the receipts. He stated that it may have been low a few times without us knowing. That tipped us off to a possible issue and we called GM about it after seeing this as a known issue online. There was a warranty that went out to 10 years and 120k miles. We had to fight with the service manager to get us covered since we didn't bring it in for the warranty work initially, but we eventually wore him down and stated this is a recall you guys told us about. GM stated it was a known issue and we aren't paying for this. He asked for our oil records and thankfully 2 of them showed the oil was down 40%. He then tried to say we should have been checking our oil after every other tank which is a crock of **it on just about any modern car.

Bottom line, check with Ford and never take a Dealerships word for anything. They don't make money off of warranty work and they are paid based on the profits they bring in. The service managers tend to be a bit slippery so avoid them if you can. Needless to say we are out of that car as I never wanted it to begin with, but my wife wore me down. It was just the final straw (car lived in the shop) and I don't see myself ever getting into another GM product in my lifetime.

Onstar = GM. Ford says they never have heard of that!!! Lol.
Hagerstown Fors worked on my car for over two hrs. Couldn't get it to close. They put some type of sunroof duck tape on it to get me home !!! It will at least stay dry.
They charged me $0.00!!!
I gave them some money to give to the tech that worked hard on my car!! The least I could do !!!

 

[emrtmakesshiteup]

Don't forget to let us know what happens Monday! Just reading about your experience made me want to rip their heads off. You may have the last laugh with those aholes. You can now mock them for f%&#ing up the job and inform them you are making a formal complaint with Ford and their owner and/or manager about their attitude. Imply local social media and or letter to the editor if you think that would help. Don't give up trying to contact Ford. There was a good chance you got someone who was just being lazy or it was a case of the left hand not knowing what the right is doing, relative to policy. Keep trying and you'll find someone (or a way) to help you!
edit! On second thought, if you were to go and inform them you are going to go to a competitor and ask them to give you a number to call to complain about acme ford, acme would help you. If not, then indeed, A&P ford would give you some direction!

 

[SCBlueFan]

Onstar = GM. Ford says they never have heard of that!!! Lol.
Hagerstown Fors worked on my car for over two hrs. Couldn't get it to close. They put some type of sunroof duck tape on it to get me home !!! It will at least stay dry.
They charged me $0.00!!!
I gave them some money to give to the tech that worked hard on my car!! The least I could do !!!

A long time ago I had an issue with the driver's window of an Accord. The dealer quoted me a price for the repair because it was out of warranty. I said "fine. Just make sure to save the old part. I intend to send it to Honda and find out why a part I rarely used would give out so quickly." When I picked up the car, there was no charge for the repair. The dealer told me that they lobbied Honda on my behalf and convinced them to cover the cost.....sure they did.