Reputation

cbriggs · April 25, 2015

It is hard for us at the dealership to convince customers that we are not "stealerships", and try to build and maintain a reputation with customers of being trustworthy, honest and fair. I personally try very hard in our small town to prove this day in and day out. Today an occasional customer of ours came in with a concern, and was sent to us by another dealer. She had a misfire concern at 125,000kms, and had it diagnosed and repaired at this dealer. Ended up being caused by carbon tracking in the spark plug boots, as in tsb 14-0180. They replaced plugs and coil boots. Unfortunatly our service advisor and apprentice tech missed the spark plug replacement on her 100k service, also her last fmpp service. The repairing dealer told her if her plugs were replaced at 100k this would not have happened. I'm not sure that is true, as the coil boots wouldn't have been replaced on fmpp unless they showed a concern then, but there was no misfire concern at that time. This is besides the point. The whole point of this story is the invoice she brought us for said work. She was charged $488 labour to diagnose a misfire and replace plugs and coil boots. Their invoice does not show the labour rate or hours billed, just a price. I struggle to understand how this job could achieve that amount. At Mitchell flat rate I can find 1.0 eec system diagnose (which is our standard rate as soon as we plug in the ids), and 1.4 for spark plug re and re. I guess if I really wanted I could add in engine ignition system diagnose for .7 . Her bill was over 600 to have her (6) spark plugs replaced. We were prepared to refund her for our oversight, but we are struggling with the price, as our "out the door" bill would be under $350.

Keith Browning · April 25, 2015

Jim would have been all over this. When I read the term "Stealership" it makes my blood boil as this kind of thing is an INDUSTRY-WIDE problem. If I had a nickel for every truck that came in that a local shop threw hundreds of dollars worth in parts at and only God knows how much labor... annnnnd its still not fixed. Hence why it is now at my doorstep. Adding insult to injury, when its all diagnosed and repaired and the bill is presented the customer gives us shit about how much money it cost them to fix it. Did I Mention that the truck was elsewhere first? Same thing goes for the clowns on the Internet forums. They will trust a bunch of armchair mechanics sitting in their living rooms in their underwear surfing the internet before trusting someone with the skills, resources and ability to accurately diagnose and repair their trucks. Dealership or independent is irrelevant as far as I am concerned. Kills me.

We are the stewards of our profession. :grampy:

As for the rest of your story, where do I begin? Did your shop "forget or neglect" to recommend plugs? Was it supposed to be done and wasn't? Was is recommended and the customer declined the service?

I am thinking that service invoices MUST itemize things like labor rates, times and parts details. I would be questioning that as well.

Bruce Amacker · April 25, 2015

this kind of thing is an INDUSTRY-WIDE problem.

This topic comes up here regularly and I agree it's not just dealerships, it's independents as well making it an industry wide problem. I can tell you plenty of true horror stories about both.

I think much of it is due to a tech shortage where inexperienced guys are thrown into jobs that they should not be doing.

On the indy side, 95% of them won't go to training, won't use the factory scan tools, and shotgun parts to fix problems. On the dealer side, they have the tools and training but the flat rate system has things so skewed that politics many times overrides what needs to be done. I have stated many times to friends and family that most shops (OE and indy) I wouldn't take my car to.

:unsure:

nelsona19 · April 25, 2015

If it were my call I'd show her the TSB and explain how it is a known problem. Also, where had she been between 100,000 and 150,000? I would think if she had come back to your dealership again you probably would have recommended the spark plugs at some time in that interval. If I had to refund money I would do it just for the amount that you would have charged her through your shop, not the raping that they gave her.

Jeff_ · April 25, 2015

I'm curious why you were prepared to refund her money for work she had done elsewhere?

At some point customers should be reading their own maintenance schedules and not relying on busy technicians to always check their maintenance history. Am I wrong?

Keith Browning · April 25, 2015

You do have a point Jeff. Trucks I see in the shop I have no idea what maintenance has been done or when, UNLESS it is a regular customer that has service records in the history section of our repair orders. I can make recommendations based on my vehicle inspection or as required to accompany particular repairs.

.

cbriggs · April 28, 2015

The whole point of her agrevation is that on the 96000 fmpp service on an ecoboost it calls for spark plug replacement. The (dealer) that raped her on the repair told her" if they would have changed your plugs at 96k this wouln't have happened". It is my understanding that it is the service writers job to check maintenance history and recommend (or sell) any required or due servicing. That is why we were prepared to refund her. We decided to give her back what esp would have paid us for spark plug replacement under fmpp.

Alex Bruene · April 30, 2015

On FMPP services, I always run the VIN to make sure the advisor has given me the correct service to do based on the interval and package the customer has purchased. Quite a few times I've been handed a work order that says to simply change the oil and rotate the tires, only to find there was supposed to be way more work done.

lmorris · May 1, 2015

Around here our advisors do the opposite. They write up FMPP's with transmission flushes and diff services that don't need them and FMPP ends up not paying, so our dealership gets stuck with the bill.