Gross incompetence or complete dishonesty?
Let me preface this review by saying 2 things: First, I have NEVER in my life written a google review - good or bad. Second, my father has been a mechanic for decades and I grew up around cars, so I know enough to know when things aren't adding up regarding cars.
I brought my car in because it was having hard starts, poor acceleration, and poor performance in general. It was also throwing a low fuel rail pressure code. I just moved to the area about a year ago and didn't know a good shop around that I could take my car to, so I unfortunately decided to just take it to the local Ford dealership service center at Prestige Ford. I knew I'd likely pay more, but figured it might just be more convenient/quicker.
They assessed my car and the service representative told me that the purge valve was the issue. That seemed strange, given the code I was getting, but I just wanted my car fixed asap. I paid over $700 to have the purge valve replaced. When I picked up my car the check engine light immediately came back on and the car continued to have the same issues. I brought the car back the same day. It was reassessed. I was then told that the fuel pressure sensor was not functioning, and I was told that THAT repair would be over $200. I questioned why that issue had not been diagnosed initially and noted that the initial code was for low fuel rail system pressure - the fuel sensor should have been top of list to check. No good explanation was given for why this was not initially addressed/assessed. I also expressed frustration at the fact that the purge valve repair seemed to be erroneously done, as it had not corrected ANY of the issues in my vehicle - I was told that was not the case, and that they had done a test of the purge valve which showed that it was failing. Nevertheless, the co-occurrence of these issues still seemed suspicious to me. In any case, the representative offered to do the sensor repair for the cost of parts only. I agreed, again out of convenience.
After leaving my car there for several more days waiting for the part to come in, I received a call and was told that, "after digging into the issue," it actually looked like there was an issue with the high pressure fuel pump AND cam shaft. A repair that would cost over $3500. Why, I wondered had they not "dug into" the issue initially - before I paid over $700 (would have been $800 if I had paid for the fuel sensor repair) in OTHER, seemingly erroneous, repairs. To say that I had a loss of confidence in the service center at this point is an understatement. So, I told the service representative I would be coming to pick up my vehicle with the intention of taking it elsewhere for a second opinion.
When I picked up my car I was made to wait quite a bit of time for the paperwork to be completed. It seemed, though I can't be sure, that the mechanic had not even written up the notes yet. I also asked the service representative to explain to me again the issue. Once again, things just weren't making sense to me. However, I'm not a mechanic, so I called my father and had the representative explain it to him. The representative was only able to partially answer my father's questions and the mechanic was apparently "unavailable" to speak directly. To be fair, my father did say that their diagnosis COULD be accurate - BUT there was just too much incomplete information and the sketchiness of the whole experience absolutely called for a second opinion. If that had been that, I'd be fine and would not be writing this review. But sadly, that's not the end of this bad experience.
When I finally got in my car to drive away, it would barely start. I was almost unable to get it out of the parking lot and limp it 3 miles down the road to the other mechanic. It had never driven this poorly before - not even close. It was actually unsafe for me to be driving it at that point. All I could think was that they had somehow made my car WORSE.
At the other mechanic shop, I explained the experience I had just had. The technician came over to the car, and with my husband and I standing right there, popped the hood. He looked down at the engine and looked back at me and asked whether I had driven the vehicle there and I replied yes, but barely. He said he was surprised I had been able to get it there because the FUEL PUMP HAD NEVER BEEN PLUGGED BACK IN. He pointed to the clip, which was CLEARLY UNPLUGGED. He clipped it back in and in 2 seconds my car was drivable again. It's still exhibiting some issues - and it remains to be seen what those actually are. However, it is safe to say that I will NEVER bring my vehicle back to the service center ant Prestige Ford, and I will strongly advise everyone I know to avoid it as well.
I also deeply question whether the fuel pump being unplugged was just gross incompetence or some kind of play to make it impossible for me to leave the service center and force me into the repair. read more