Keim Ford in Columbus sucks!

[BigBadStang]

My dad's crown vic died and wouldnt start. so he was in the area and had it towed to Keim. they called him back and told him the fuel pump was out, and the estimate was $932.00!! :eek:
ok...fine, maw and paw are retired, and cant justify putting that kind of $ for a fuel pump, so he told them to roll it outside, and he would have it picked up. he showed up with a tow truck, and dad went in to pay the almost $100 diagnostic fee. when he came out, he realized that the car had never been moved from the same crookedly parked spot it was left in with the doors unlocked and the battery ran down to dead and the fuel door left open. he gets the car home, and i go to help him fix it. we take the engine cover off to put a p.s.i. guage on the rail, and notice the cover had not been removed either so the best we can guess is that he paid 100 bucks to have someone put their ear up to the tank filler neck when the key was turned on. :mad:
we checked the p.s.i. and nothing.
went and bought a pump and filter for $135, and to my delight, didnt have to drop the tank! we were able to get it out by letting the rear axle drop, then we could get to the opening on the top of the tank! :bigthumb

how in the hell can they justify that high of an estimate when you dont have to drop the tank? with just handtools and doing it in dads driveway, it took 2 hours. the pump we bought wasnt a cheapee autozone part either.

i know not all shops are bad, but it seems like none of them have any morals anymore and are out to f*ck anyone they can!
i called the service manager to at least let them know that we know they screwed dad, and he more or less told me to f*ck off in a polite manner.
so i am telling anyone who will listen to stay the hell away from Keim Ford! (Columbus bruthas and sistas... ya listenin?)

[bobtsgt]

I stay away from dealership service all together. They think that some people will pay the higher $$$$ to get the simplest things done. most older people will fall for it while some wise up and take it to several other places to get prices. You 2 were smart for doing it yourself.

[cstreu1026]

If I had seen it hadn't been moved they wouldn't have gotten a damn dime from me! The service I have gotten at Ford dealerships SUCKS!!!!. Thats reason number one why we replaced our Exploder with a Grand Cherokee.

[Ranger50]

How old is it?

Typically if it's more then 4 yrs old, the price reflects no one wants to work on it.

But let's look at it this way.... 932, did/does that include the minimum diagnostic fee? If it DOES, were are at 832. Most motorcraft pumps are 250-400 bux, so we are down to 432, at the HIGH end. IF diag fee is an hour of labor, that's 4 hrs to replace the pump and reinstall tank, and test drive to verify repair. Sounds "fair" to me for a warranty job on time, Even if it can be done in less time. I mean I can do Jeep Liberty ball joints in 30 min, even tho recall/warranty is 1.2hrs, does that mean I'm going to work on it for less just because it's "cash"? :confused:

Just putting out the other side of the coin. There is some itemization that is missing here BADLY.

Brian

[jared]

sadly shops go by the book. if the book calls for 4 hours to do a job then you pay XX/hour for 4 hours even if it only takes 30 minutes...thats how the mechanics make their money. turning over jobs in less time than billed cause they get a big portion of it.


glad you didnt take the raping and did it yourself!

[BigBadStang]

I know how the motor manual works. i was an ASE master tech for 8 years (10 years ago). I know alot of shops get a bad rep from the few that do try to screw people. the short term gain by screwing people will soon be eclipsed by the lack of customers in the long term. Just about every shop i have ever been affiliated with eats the diagnostic fee if you get the repair done there. the estimate did NOT include the daig. fee. He had already paid to get the key b-4 he seen the car had not been moved. a high estimate isnt the real problem. it is just that...an estimate, not a bill.
its the fact that charging 100 bucks to have someone put their ear to the filler neck while someone turns on the key, then leaves the fuel door open, doors unlocked, and dead battery.
btw it is a 2003 model with 41k miles on it in pristine condition.
i probably wouldnt have been pi$$ed enough to post had it not been for Mr. A$$hole the service manager talking down to me like i am a total idiot, and guaranteeing me that a "proper, and thorough diagnostic exam was performed"...his words verbatim w/o even speaking to the tech, or the service writer. what a clown.

[88ssp]

I got stuck in mansfield and bought my own pump and it was 260 for them to change it (it was raining and stuck at Wal Mart). 1.5 hours of labor flat fee.

[Ryan218]

ill second that...took 42 days from them to put a new tranny in our 05 escape.... 2 days of that was wating for the tranny to get there...the next 40 days...well i dont know what the hell they where doing...looking at it?

[BigBadStang]

ill second that...took 42 days from them to put a new tranny in our 05 escape.... 2 days of that was wating for the tranny to get there...the next 40 days...well i dont know what the hell they where doing...looking at it?


42 Frickin days? holy crap...wtf is their deal? :eek:
they could have whittled one out of an aluminum block in that amount of time!!

[Ranger50]

They were probably working on other stuff in the meantime since you didn't seem to be concerned with it. Or the job, under warranty, doesn't pay enough to make it worth the effort to fix right away, the job pays 2hrs for 8hrs real world time. Plus don't forget, every day is a new day and what was leftover is low priority, unless parts are there the next day or two, literally. Most service writers forget to get the held over repair vehicles rotated back into the system for repair.....

Ford is screwy to get reman units from anyways. The parts dept doesn't buy from Ford, they have to buy from an authorized "distributor", which bills Ford, who then bills you. Plus let's not forget about remans that have restrictions on them because they are junk to begin with......
Then if you have to get warranty (they could be on a restricted basis which means a warranty guy/"engineer" has to come out, inspect the failure, then he can take his time to authorize repair even if the parts are right there available to fix.) or EasyCare involved... Might as well buy another vehicle in the time it will take to get it fixed.

[Ryan218]

one thing is we have a 36,000 mile warranty on the trans in the Escape.....

[BigBadStang]

try not paying the bill for 42 days, or leave it sit there after the work is done for 42 days and see what happens...
i know this is sometimes common practice, but it doesnt make any of it right. they seem to be like insurance companies... if you owe them one cent, they want it right now "or else"...but when the tide is turned, its "whenever the hell we feel like it, and there is nothing you can do about it".

and the media wonders why people walk into places loaded for bear and open fire.

[tmotorsports]

The guys that do all my work both worked at dealerships for many many years and finally got away from them and opened their own shop and are taking all of their customer pay work from our local dealerships.1 because they are excellent mechanics.2.because they can do any job the dealerships can do,better then any of the mechanics they have for half the price and are still making good money.Chillicothe is not a huge city and the labor rate alone at dealerships here is almost $80.00 and hour.Thats rediculous.

[cstreu1026]

If the deaelrs there are only charging $80/hr. I would be surprised. I seem to recall it being closer to $100/hr around here, but then again I could be wrong.

[Ranger50]

HA!

Try the dealer I worked in service for was $57/hr!!! That was only because they have no business. The "competition" is only at $40-45/hr. :eek: Even tho they charge twice as much labor time for a given job.

[dedpedal]

They are among the first group of people who will stand in front of the firing squad when this country goes into anarchy and I will be one of those pulling the trigger.

[BigBadStang]

:agree:

amen brother...tell it again!!
:)

[Timido]

The diagnostic fee where I worked at was $89 I am sure they were upselling anything related to the repair.

diagnostic fee
Fuel filter
Fuel filter labor 0.7
fuel pump
pump labor probably about 2.0 hours max

You should have got that escape lemon law - bought back