Dealership matters - my cam phaser saga

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Tread85

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TL;DR: I had been waiting since Oct '20 for a dealership to replace my cam phasers. After going through 3 dealerships, they were repaired within two weeks. The repair itself took a day and a half. I learned that 1) Ford corporate doesn't care if you get crap service from a dealership; and 2) that Ford allocates parts to dealerships by the amount of work they do. Lesson: find a large, reputable dealership. Seems easy enough, but I learned the hard way.

Some of you might remember me posting a while back about how long it took you to get your cam phaser parts, this is the story underlying my inquiry... it's long.

Purchased my '18 FX4 in July '18 from a small dealership about 3 hours from my home. No particular reason I bought from this dealership other than they had the exact spec I wanted at an upfront price of ~$8k off msrp and I was able to negotiate the trade over the phone with no last minute surprises. It was a good deal at the time and my exact spec was hard to find in my area (FX4, magnetic grey, 202, moonroof, adaptive cruise).

Of the three dealerships closest to my home, I had bad sales experiences with the two larger dealerships, so I started service with the smallest of the three. My experience was great until the small dealership got purchased by a dealership group and got moved to a fancy new facility. The service advisor I had disappeared shortly after the takeover and I was soon dealing with a different advisor each time I took it in.

The story really begins in October 2020. Took it in for an oil change, fluid leaking from a front drive shaft and for the cam phaser ticking to be diagnosed. Service advisor called me and said no phaser problem and that lots of noise in the first 30 seconds is normal for a direct injected engine... I told him about the bulletin and to let it sit overnight (this should have been a red flag). He called the next day and said he had a mechanic listen and confirm it. My truck was ready and the other work was done and parts were on order for the phasers and I could come and get it. So I picked it up.

I hadn't heard anything in a few weeks, so I called for an update in late Oct, I'm put on hold so they can talk to their parts department and they inform still waiting for parts. This seemed reasonable to me in light of covid. My maintenance reminder hadn't been reset after I had it in, so I asked if the oil change was actually performed. I wasn't charged for the oil change at the time because I picked it up after hours and the first service advisor told me we'd take care of it when I brought it back in for the phasers - didn't seem unreasonable in light of business changes due to covid. During this update call I asked about the oil change, this service advisor told me not to worry and that the oil had been changed because she could see that it was taken from inventory in the system.

November '20 rolls around and still no update, so I called. Same story, waiting for parts.

December '20 comes, same story. Let us talk to parts department, put on hold, and told still waiting for parts.

Early January '21. I email the service manager for an update. No response. Still no response to this day.

Late January '21. Since every time I called for an update I was told by the service advisor that they needed to talk to parts, I decided to ask for parts when I called. Got a friendly guy, looks it up for me and says we have those parts for you and have for a while... He then puts the phone down and I can hear him ask another employee "they told me they didn't want to do the work, what should I tell him?" I was pissed at this point. He gets back on the phone and asks me if I'd like him to transfer to service. I instantly made up my mind that I no longer wanted this dealership touching my truck, so I told him to tell them that my truck no longer needs the parts from them and he can tell service my truck won't be back to their dealership. No one ever called me. I should have known this dealer was shady, just about every used vehicle I was interested in on their lot was a lemon buyback when I pulled the Carfax (this was the case before and during covid).

Shortly after I called Ford Customer Care to inform them of these shenanigans. I called hoping they'd get me in touch with a dealership who they could expedite parts to and get the work done, that didn't happen. First they tell me that dealerships are independent of Ford and there's nothing they can do. I asked to speak to someone who could look into it and after arguing for what seemed like forever the rep tells me she will escalate to the warranty fraud department since they were denying the work. I eventually got contacted by someone who contacted the dealership to see what was going on. They get all the paperwork from the dealership and now are denying that they ever did the oil change. Unreal. In the end Ford Corporate was utterly useless. They said my issues would be filed as customer feedback and there was nothing more they could do. I did find out through them that the service advisor and mechanic who originally were working on my truck were no longer with the crap dealership - that was the reason Ford said they couldn't tell me whether the oil was actually changed.

At this point I would be around 11,000 miles since a full synthetic oil change if the above is true. I sent a sample to Blackstone. Fortunately, it came back more in line with syn blend at 5-6k than full syn at 11k. Basically, the dealership was lying to Ford. I was more pissed about this than the fact that my phasers hadn't been repaired.

February '21. I take it to another dealership, a small dealership a little further from my home. Great service advisor, only one at the dealership, but good reputation and tells me he'll fix it. I got the oil changed when they confirmed the phaser problem... He tells me he has been getting a number of new customers because of all the issues at my prior dealership. Says he's got a master mechanic who's been a Ford mechanic for 46 years who will be doing the work, awesome. Parts are ordered. I call him once a month until June for an update. I asked him if it would help if I called Ford to see if they could expedite the parts since I've been waiting so long, he says it wouldn't hurt. Called Ford and they said they would have its dealer team contact him to get the parts there. Then the service advisor gets sick and is in the hospital (I didn't ask, but guessing covid). In and out of the hospital for a month. I finally get a hold of him and have an honest conversation about whether I should take it elsewhere, he says he understands, that his health is questionable and that he just lost a mechanic so it might be a while even if everything turned out ok. I wished him well and told him I'd let him know if I take it elsewhere.

At this point, I just want the biggest dealership I can find. Call the biggest dealership within 30 miles of my house (I've got 8 or 9 within half an hour of my house). They get me right in on a Thursday, diagnosis the problem, tell me they'll order the parts which shouldn't take more than two days (I had a hard time believing this given my situation), and then it will be a week or two to get me scheduled. Calls me back on Monday and says the parts are in!!! Schedules me for two weeks out. Out of courtesy, I call the small dealership and let them know I'm taking it elsewhere. This third dealership indicated that it's much easier for them to get parts from Ford than other dealers because of the volume of work they do - I have to believe that because of what I lived.

Dropped the truck off Monday this week and had it back home last night. No more ticking, no more people asking me if it's a diesel, found my dealership!

I haven't mentioned any dealership names because I wanted to share the lesson here without getting specific. I'm in NE Wisconsin, PM me if you want to know specific dealerships.
 

2018ExpyPlatinum

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Gad Zooks! What a story. Like I said before, I'm not going thru this. I'll let it blow up first. I'm almost due for my 30K service. Actually, I need to schedule that. I already made up my mind...will not do phasers if it comes up; will not do the "recall" customer care thing. I'm not going thru the agg. Also made up my mind, next vehicle (what ever that will be) will be a Toyota, Lexus or a Genesis. Yes, I know, they make lemons too. I'll play those odds. Unless a Blackwing really twists my arm.
 

Squark

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This sounds so similar to my experience. The dealer diagnosed the cam phasers and ordered parts. A month later I called back and they said parts were still on order. Another month goes by and I called again. My SA had left the dealership so they put me in touch with another SA who said he'd order parts. A month goes by, I call again, he doesn't remember me, says he'll order parts. Repeat again the next month. Then the SA said the parts should be in, but it's a long parts list so he's not positive, but scheduled me an appointment and said they should be in by the time I come in. They also couldn't guarantee me a loaner since they had to use their most of their loaner pool as inventory to sell. I think it took 4-5 months from diagnosis to repair. I know the dealer is busy and shorthanded, but it was a frustrating experience. I didn't escalate it because they're hurting with COVID, but if I have another experience like that I'll switch to another nearby dealer.
 

ManUpOrShutUp

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I went through a similar process with my CPO and various repairs. I had my failing running boards lubed 3x at the dealer I purchased the truck from before they, eventually, relented and agreed to place one of them. The other running board continued to get stuck, so they wanted me to come in to lube it a 4th time. This dealer is 2 hours from my home and I was more than fed up, so I called and actually spoke to the owner. He says he will look into it and get back to me. I don't hear back so I call him again the following week. This time he goes off on me, tells me they "only" made $3,500 on my truck to begin with and that was before they replaced all 4 tires and the running board. He tells me take it somewhere else because he isn't fixing anything.

I did that and did the same dance with the next dealer for about 5 months. The end of December comes and my truck is finally back in to dealer #2 for replacement of the running board and a bunch of other stuff. I get friendly with the head tech and he tells me that Ford gives them a certain allotment on warranty repairs. He says they under-budgeted for the quarter, so there is plenty left for the repair. As we go through the list of items to check, he starts saying: "You want me to replace this and that? Done." I didn't get my truck back until mid-January, but the service bill was over $15,000. I paid $100 deductible.
 

Deadman

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TL;DR: I had been waiting since Oct '20 for a dealership to replace my cam phasers. After going through 3 dealerships, they were repaired within two weeks. The repair itself took a day and a half. I learned that 1) Ford corporate doesn't care if you get crap service from a dealership; and 2) that Ford allocates parts to dealerships by the amount of work they do. Lesson: find a large, reputable dealership. Seems easy enough, but I learned the hard way.

Some of you might remember me posting a while back about how long it took you to get your cam phaser parts, this is the story underlying my inquiry... it's long.

Purchased my '18 FX4 in July '18 from a small dealership about 3 hours from my home. No particular reason I bought from this dealership other than they had the exact spec I wanted at an upfront price of ~$8k off msrp and I was able to negotiate the trade over the phone with no last minute surprises. It was a good deal at the time and my exact spec was hard to find in my area (FX4, magnetic grey, 202, moonroof, adaptive cruise).

Of the three dealerships closest to my home, I had bad sales experiences with the two larger dealerships, so I started service with the smallest of the three. My experience was great until the small dealership got purchased by a dealership group and got moved to a fancy new facility. The service advisor I had disappeared shortly after the takeover and I was soon dealing with a different advisor each time I took it in.

The story really begins in October 2020. Took it in for an oil change, fluid leaking from a front drive shaft and for the cam phaser ticking to be diagnosed. Service advisor called me and said no phaser problem and that lots of noise in the first 30 seconds is normal for a direct injected engine... I told him about the bulletin and to let it sit overnight (this should have been a red flag). He called the next day and said he had a mechanic listen and confirm it. My truck was ready and the other work was done and parts were on order for the phasers and I could come and get it. So I picked it up.

I hadn't heard anything in a few weeks, so I called for an update in late Oct, I'm put on hold so they can talk to their parts department and they inform still waiting for parts. This seemed reasonable to me in light of covid. My maintenance reminder hadn't been reset after I had it in, so I asked if the oil change was actually performed. I wasn't charged for the oil change at the time because I picked it up after hours and the first service advisor told me we'd take care of it when I brought it back in for the phasers - didn't seem unreasonable in light of business changes due to covid. During this update call I asked about the oil change, this service advisor told me not to worry and that the oil had been changed because she could see that it was taken from inventory in the system.

November '20 rolls around and still no update, so I called. Same story, waiting for parts.

December '20 comes, same story. Let us talk to parts department, put on hold, and told still waiting for parts.

Early January '21. I email the service manager for an update. No response. Still no response to this day.

Late January '21. Since every time I called for an update I was told by the service advisor that they needed to talk to parts, I decided to ask for parts when I called. Got a friendly guy, looks it up for me and says we have those parts for you and have for a while... He then puts the phone down and I can hear him ask another employee "they told me they didn't want to do the work, what should I tell him?" I was pissed at this point. He gets back on the phone and asks me if I'd like him to transfer to service. I instantly made up my mind that I no longer wanted this dealership touching my truck, so I told him to tell them that my truck no longer needs the parts from them and he can tell service my truck won't be back to their dealership. No one ever called me. I should have known this dealer was shady, just about every used vehicle I was interested in on their lot was a lemon buyback when I pulled the Carfax (this was the case before and during covid).

Shortly after I called Ford Customer Care to inform them of these shenanigans. I called hoping they'd get me in touch with a dealership who they could expedite parts to and get the work done, that didn't happen. First they tell me that dealerships are independent of Ford and there's nothing they can do. I asked to speak to someone who could look into it and after arguing for what seemed like forever the rep tells me she will escalate to the warranty fraud department since they were denying the work. I eventually got contacted by someone who contacted the dealership to see what was going on. They get all the paperwork from the dealership and now are denying that they ever did the oil change. Unreal. In the end Ford Corporate was utterly useless. They said my issues would be filed as customer feedback and there was nothing more they could do. I did find out through them that the service advisor and mechanic who originally were working on my truck were no longer with the crap dealership - that was the reason Ford said they couldn't tell me whether the oil was actually changed.

At this point I would be around 11,000 miles since a full synthetic oil change if the above is true. I sent a sample to Blackstone. Fortunately, it came back more in line with syn blend at 5-6k than full syn at 11k. Basically, the dealership was lying to Ford. I was more pissed about this than the fact that my phasers hadn't been repaired.

February '21. I take it to another dealership, a small dealership a little further from my home. Great service advisor, only one at the dealership, but good reputation and tells me he'll fix it. I got the oil changed when they confirmed the phaser problem... He tells me he has been getting a number of new customers because of all the issues at my prior dealership. Says he's got a master mechanic who's been a Ford mechanic for 46 years who will be doing the work, awesome. Parts are ordered. I call him once a month until June for an update. I asked him if it would help if I called Ford to see if they could expedite the parts since I've been waiting so long, he says it wouldn't hurt. Called Ford and they said they would have its dealer team contact him to get the parts there. Then the service advisor gets sick and is in the hospital (I didn't ask, but guessing covid). In and out of the hospital for a month. I finally get a hold of him and have an honest conversation about whether I should take it elsewhere, he says he understands, that his health is questionable and that he just lost a mechanic so it might be a while even if everything turned out ok. I wished him well and told him I'd let him know if I take it elsewhere.

At this point, I just want the biggest dealership I can find. Call the biggest dealership within 30 miles of my house (I've got 8 or 9 within half an hour of my house). They get me right in on a Thursday, diagnosis the problem, tell me they'll order the parts which shouldn't take more than two days (I had a hard time believing this given my situation), and then it will be a week or two to get me scheduled. Calls me back on Monday and says the parts are in!!! Schedules me for two weeks out. Out of courtesy, I call the small dealership and let them know I'm taking it elsewhere. This third dealership indicated that it's much easier for them to get parts from Ford than other dealers because of the volume of work they do - I have to believe that because of what I lived.

Dropped the truck off Monday this week and had it back home last night. No more ticking, no more people asking me if it's a diesel, found my dealership!

I haven't mentioned any dealership names because I wanted to share the lesson here without getting specific. I'm in NE Wisconsin, PM me if you want to know specific dealerships.
I'm a little North West of Green Bay. Where are you located, or what city are the dealers in that you worked with?
 

daveCFPrez

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Damn sorry for your lost time everyone. So is there a way to google the largest dealership in your area, or a way to look up sales?
 
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Tread85

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Damn sorry for your lost time everyone. So is there a way to google the largest dealership in your area, or a way to look up sales?
Legit question. For me, it wasn't scientific. The dealer that worked for me has something like 9 service advisors, is a Lincoln and Ford dealer, does medium and heavy commercial work, and just has the largest dealership when you eyeball the lot.

I wish the two small dealers could have worked out - the first one got bought out as I mentioned and the second just didn't have the bench strength to deliver and Ford obviously isn't helping them stay competitive.
 

Fastcar

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Reading this, one thing I noticed is that a number of replies had the same issue with Ford. Horrible service. Ford seems to have this group in Dearborn that are the repair god's. They determine what a specific dealer can do. The dealer is sorta handcuffed as the Dearborn group are the final word. They say they are working on an issue yet that issue has been a problem for a couple of MY's. I had hoped they had changed. I walked away after my 2014 KR now with the 2021 KR I've been dicked around for a month on a software issue. I won't be fooled a third time. I gotta add, my dealer has been super and I'll name it. Yeomans Ford in Daytona FL
 

ManUpOrShutUp

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Reading this, one thing I noticed is that a number of replies had the same issue with Ford. Horrible service. Ford seems to have this group in Dearborn that are the repair god's. They determine what a specific dealer can do. The dealer is sorta handcuffed as the Dearborn group are the final word. They say they are working on an issue yet that issue has been a problem for a couple of MY's. I had hoped they had changed. I walked away after my 2014 KR now with the 2021 KR I've been dicked around for a month on a software issue. I won't be fooled a third time. I gotta add, my dealer has been super and I'll name it. Yeomans Ford in Daytona FL

Yeah, FordMoCo is awful. Tbh, after 25 years of Ford I'm done.
 

5280tunage

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I have had some very similar issues myself. It's been incredibly frustrating. I spent 6 months fighting with Ford Corp about my turbo rattles and finally they agreed to fix them. But that experience was miserable, substantially worse than any other car company I've ever worked with.

And then compound that with the fact that almost every mom and pop dealership that was very focused on service quality/customer experience, are being swallowed up by the big nationwide companies like Auto-ation, that simply destroys that day one. You lose every good manager, tech, etc. and you're no different then the guy in a Walmart checkout lane. Ford says their dealers are independent, which is true, but I truly wish they would play a bigger role in that end to end experience. Especially if you look at the fact that now Ford wants to do more real-time build/sell stuff.

I still love driving this thing but I truly think my first Ford experience may be my last if things don't shape up over the coming year or two. Really sucks, I really think there was a period of 2-3 years where Ford was really making progress, then a new CEO and :Stupid Me:
 
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