I moved to Fergus from Minneapolis in the summer of 2017 and purchased a 2016 Focus from Nelson Ford due to my Ranger being 20 years old. The purchase process went smooth enough, but my experiences with their service center are curious, and cause the apprehension I came to feel regarding past experience with auto mechanics/service centers to return to me.
The first time I brought a vehicle to them was when my '98 Ranger started showing me an air bag warning light. I made an appointment with Nelson Ford to have them see what the problem was. When they were finished I got in my Ranger to leave and discovered when I pressed the brake pedal to put it in gear (manual transmission) it went all the way to the floor, and I had no brakes. I had no problems with the brakes before bringing it to Nelson Ford service center.
I understand that my Ranger was/is old, but I found it strange that after they had it in their shop I ended up with no brakes. Stranger still is the fact that the person who drove it out of the shop and parked it in the lot didn't have, or didn't mention anything about brake issues with my Ranger when they drove it out of the shop and parked it in their lot. Apparently the brake line ruptured while it just sat parked in their lot. I understand that rust can cause that, but I still find it strange and reminiscent of past experiences I've had with auto mechanics/service centers.
My old apprehension returned to me and I was a dissatisfied customer, and let them know it. Now I had to leave my Ranger with them because I couldn't drive it with no brakes and now had another mechanic bill to pay for something that happened while they had it. They gave me a break on the cost of replacing the damaged brake line, because they "felt bad for me". Ok, fine..., but that was perceived by me as a red flag warning telling me to keep an eye on these guys.
About a year later I brought my 2016 Ford Focus in to them for an oil change. When they finished I drove it home and parked it. The very next day, the very next time I drove it a low tire pressure warning came on. After checking the air pressure on all four tires I discovered that the air pressure was down to only about 15 psi on all four tires while the info on the tire said max. pressure should be no more than 51 psi. I had no issues with tire pressure before bringing it to Nelson Ford, and while I chose to not have the wheels rotated (I'd only put about 2000 miles on it over the last year since purchasing the vehicle from them) I assumed that they would still check the tire pressure in accordance to their 25 point inspection that they advertise that they do with every oil change.
Because the problem arose the very next next time I drove it, it appears to me that either they didn't do the full 25 point inspection and my low pressure warning light did not warn me of the low pressure while driving it back home, or they did check the tire pressure and either found no issues, or took care of them.
Since I didn't get any low pressure warning when I drove it back home after they finished the oil change it is either very slow to warn of low tire pressure, or all four of my tires somehow deflated down to about 15 psi at the same time, as it sat parked in my driveway.
So now I'm more apprehensive than I was before. While I am not necessarily complaining or blaming them, I do feel that it is all quite odd, and felt I should write this review as an FYI for other folks to know about and consider..., especially if they have had similar experiences with the Nelson Ford service center in Fergus Falls, MN. read more