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Hallelujah! I've been given the solution!

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Alex Bruene

By Alex Bruene
in The Water Cooler

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Alex Bruene

Alex Bruene

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Currently, we are so backed up at work, that we have untouched diesel orders stemming back to August (we are actually re-writing some ROs to not break the 60 day rule).  Naturally, there are a lot of people complaining to Ford customer service about our turn around time.  We explained that we are having an issue with staffing, and with record rates of 6.7s coming in for engine replacements, things are backing up.  Ford seems to think the solution is as simple as hiring more diesel technicians!

 

Around here, diesel technicians are dropping like flies...  Some retiring, and others taking the high road to work on fleets...  And with how difficult some jobs are becoming, and how poorly they are paying, and how crappy (some) dealership benefits and hourly rates are, can anybody blame them? 

 

And, according to a to remain unnamed source, the issue is at the dealer level, nothing to do with the mothership.  If we can't hire techs, then we are supposed to train the staff we already have, so they can "legally" do diesel work.  Problem is, nobody wants to leave the comfort of powersteering flushes and brake services to replace 6.7s for 18 hours... 

 

So, the solution then again becomes HIRE MORE DIESEL TECHNICIANS!

 

Rant over. Thanks for reading.

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Jeff Clyde

Jeff Clyde

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I have been off work since Dec 25 2011, when I contracted Bacterial Meningitis. I was in a coma for 7 days and in ICU for 3 weeks. I came away with some light sensitivity issues with my vision, deaf in my left ear, and lost all low frequency sounds and a lot of high frequency loss in my right ear. Also as a result of the hearing loss, I now suffer severe and debilitating Tinnitus.

I can have one on one conversations face to face, but cannot understand speech on a phone or tv, or in a group situation. I did have a Cochlear Implant in my left ear, but it doesn't work as a result of the damage caused by the Meningitis. Right now I am going through the process of determining if I want to pursue an Auditory Brainstem Implant.

My main stumbling block for working is the Tinnitus, as it gets brutally worse when I am around a lot of noise for any period of time. My remaining hearing allows me to hear a lot of noise fairly clear, but speech is very difficult to understand.

Realistically, I will never return to a dealership/ garage setting again, especially full time. Since being off have been approached by a few fleets, and other facilities that would like me to do casual work for them when I return working, so I may just end up freelancing.

My timeframe for work is unknown, as I am still dealing with other medical issues caused by the Meningitis.

 

I keep up with my training; my dealer has me still active in the system, probably because I am "still" doing warranty repairs. I also try to get my hands dirty with past customers trucks and friends trucks that need attention.

It could have been worse is how I look at it, and just keep going one day at a time, and now my cooking skills are getting honed quite well !!

 

Sorry for the long post !

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Matt Saunoras

Matt Saunoras

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Last week we had a competing dealers service director call the parts dept one day (anonymously) inquiring about the shops diesel tech.  Naturally parts gives out my name thinking of a job to be sold.  Parts guy warns me and not even a minute later I get paged to take a phone call.  The guy beats around the bush for a while asking if I'm content with where I'm at or if I knew any other diesel techs.  At the very end of the conversation I finally had to ask him where he was calling from (after he mentioned 28 bays).  It was a large dealer less than 20 miles away in Ohio. 

 

Made my day and solidified my case.  Once again, I am the hero for not leaving.  We can't get techs either.  We have a brand new building going up with 5 car racks and 3 truck racks.  They want us in there by the end of October and we've had an ad in the paper for 2 months now.  No hits, no maybes, nothing.  No asset students on the horizon and nobody I can personally think of that I want to work next to. 

 

Was I so out of line for demanding a 40 hour guarantee?  Not anymore apparently.

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Alex Bruene

Alex Bruene

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I got called again yesterday by a dealer that's about 20 minutes east of me.  Turns out their diesel tech handed in his notice yesterday, and is also leaving the Ford game.  They asked me the typical questions...  Told me to name my price...  Then asked if I knew anybody that's looking...  I said we're looking, and have been for a long time.  We get resumes, but none that meet our criteria.  

 

I have a pretty open relationship with our SM.  I told him straight up about the call.  Then, we discussed the situation that dealers are facing regarding the lack of trained diesel techs (again).  He (again) told me that dealers have been bringing this issue up at Ford meetings, but Ford doesn't seem to realize (or care) that they are in fact responsible for causing the issue at hand.  :scratch:

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DieselD

DieselD

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Ford will NEVER acknowledge anything like that. It is almost as bad as dealing with the government and you will get either no response or a canned reply.

yep....Never expect them to acknowledge they are one of the biggest contributors to why skilled guys wont put up with being screwed day in day out. In the two years I have been away from flat rate I look at the times they are expecting to pay you guys for some of these major repairs(6.7 head tsb comes to mind) and it blows my mind. I do not regret getting into this buisness one bit as it has led me to where I am today however I strongly suggest a different path to those that come to me asking about getting started......I think this may be a trend everywhere from storys of lack of techs.

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mchan68

mchan68

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....... and situations where you are granted PRIOR APPROVAL from Ford and INSTRUCTED by Ford to move forward with a particular high dollar repair, only to have the claim kicked back after the repair is put through, like what just happened to me yesterday, certainly doesn't help matters either. I too, am on the verge of telling my SM to stick all these warranty diesel repairs coming in, up their asses, pending the outcome of the aforementioned case in question.

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Fredsvt

Fredsvt

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Hi Jeff,

 

Sorry to hear that you've been through so much, but good to hear you're still with us.  I sympathize about the tinnitus, I have it as well, though not as bad as you.

About your tinnitus, do you know what the decibel reading of it is?

 

I had gone to an audiologist two years ago, as part of a big issue with mold infestation in my house, I was sick for a full year.

 

  The audiologist ran a whole gamut of tests on me, luckily I have no hearing loss, which floored him, but I do have what he termed "moderate" tinnitus.  My decibel reading was 7 db.  He explained that may not sound like much, but when it's "internal" it's loud.  I need background noise and a fan at my bedside to sleep properly, and sleeping and my first 15 to 30 seconds in the morning I have NO tinnitus.  Mine started after a bicycle crash when I was 8, when I slammed the side of my head on the ground. 

 

He mentioned another patient that had severe tinnitus, due to an illness.  Her reading was 25 db.  From what he told me, she was ready to end it, as the noise was unbearable.  At some point, she put pressure by mistake near her ear on her neck, and the sound stopped in one ear.  They found the damaged blood vessels and did a bypass, and restored the blood supply to her inner ears and she's free of the sound.  Oh, how I wish......

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Alex Bruene

Alex Bruene

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....... and situations where you are granted PRIOR APPROVAL from Ford and INSTRUCTED by Ford to move forward with a particular high dollar repair, only to have the claim kicked back after the repair is put through, like what just happened to me yesterday, certainly doesn't help matters either. I too, am on the verge of telling my SM to stick all these warranty diesel repairs coming in, up their asses, pending the outcome of the aforementioned case in question.

 

Hey, Chan...

 

It sounds like your problem is above you, and being downloaded on you..  Forget about all that nonsense and come work for me!

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Bruce Amacker

Bruce Amacker

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No tinnitus here, but I did have regular ear infections for as long as I can remember. My regular MD told me about 15 years ago to irrigate my ears with rubbing alcohol daily to kill bacteria in the ear canal. Holy smokes, so simple! I keep a squirt bottle in the shower and just shoot a small stream into each ear while I'm in the shower, I haven't had an ear infection since.  My dad suffered with this his whole life, too, and was always using prescription ear drops which did not work. Too bad..........

 

Is this off topic? :haha2:

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lmorris

lmorris

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Posted

....... and situations where you are granted PRIOR APPROVAL from Ford and INSTRUCTED by Ford to move forward with a particular high dollar repair, only to have the claim kicked back after the repair is put through, like what just happened to me yesterday, certainly doesn't help matters either. I too, am on the verge of telling my SM to stick all these warranty diesel repairs coming in, up their asses, pending the outcome of the aforementioned case in question.

I hear ya. We are still trying to get a claim paid where the engineers told us 3 times to change the high pressure fuel system on a 6.4L with a previously installed drop in engine. You may recall this one, I posted it earlier, we ended up replacing the short block because after all that crap they decided they didn't like the CMP/CKP readings. It's been months and they kick it back on every attempt.

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ktmlew

ktmlew

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Ford will NEVER acknowledge anything like that. It is almost as bad as dealing with the government and you will get either no response or a canned reply.

yep....Never expect them to acknowledge they are one of the biggest contributors to why skilled guys wont put up with being screwed day in day out. In the two years I have been away from flat rate I look at the times they are expecting to pay you guys for some of these major repairs(6.7 head tsb comes to mind) and it blows my mind. I do not regret getting into this buisness one bit as it has led me to where I am today however I strongly suggest a different path to those that come to me asking about getting started......I think this may be a trend everywhere from storys of lack of techs.

 

I work at Pep Boys in the Raleigh NC area. My last paycheck was 56 hrs after working 83. The next one won't break 50 hrs for 80-83 worked. The managements response is "you just have to dig harder for work on every ticket"...what fucking ticket? We have no general service tech and today I did the first oil change at 10:47AM. Previous vehicle was headlight on 2007 Nissan Maxima. You know what you have to do to change a headlight on those? According to NoData remove the front bumper. Customer refused the repair after getting the estimate. It took 45 mins for them to decide to back-it-out!

 

We have nearly no work and too many techs. The 50-70 flat-rate hr a week guy has spent the last week at the hospital getting his heart checked-out. This is the 3rd time in 1.5 years he "fell-out". He works 12-9PM and every Sunday. That gives him 7-8 bays and zero competition. 

 

We have 2 Master Techs, me and another that has been there 20 years. No guarantee. I will be job hunting tomorrow on my day off. Management just doesn't get it. Never will. We are replacable...or ARE we? I'm 55 and have been turning bolts since i was 12.

 

They just can't comprehend that someone with my experience should be guaranted SOMETHING just for showing up every day.

 

They disagree.

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ktmlew

ktmlew

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No tinnitus here, but I did have regular ear infections for as long as I can remember. My regular MD told me about 15 years ago to irrigate my ears with rubbing alcohol daily to kill bacteria in the ear canal. Holy smokes, so simple! I keep a squirt bottle in the shower and just shoot a small stream into each ear while I'm in the shower, I haven't had an ear infection since.  My dad suffered with this his whole life, too, and was always using prescription ear drops which did not work. Too bad..........

 

Is this off topic? :haha2:

I need to try that. I have tinnitus also.

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Matt Saunoras

Matt Saunoras

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I can't get my last 6.4 shortblock paid for either.  Diag is spot on, all outlined in the hotline contact.  I have a feeling the discrepancy is in the labor ops but that's beyond me. I've done all I can do.

 

I can't believe my service manager continues to have a job.  He does so little throughout the day it blows my mind

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