Preface: The following review should not be construed as a generalized depiction of the service department as a whole, as I suspect the "service" I received was/is not the prototypical level of "care" and "service" one would expect from a well established dealership. It is merely to bring to light the shortcomings of a particular Service Advisor.
On Thursday, the 5th of November, I placed a call to Wittmeier Ford at which time I was put in contact with a Service Advisor named Steve Wilson. I advised Steve that my wife and I had been experiencing numerous problems with our 2014 Ford Focus. After briefly explaining that my 9 month pregnant wife has been driving this vehicle and due to the vehicles erratic operation my main concern at this point is the safety of my wife and unborn child, as the vehicle has intermittent problems with its transmission. For the sake of transparency, I also advised Steve that this vehicle has had previous [transmission] repairs at Oroville Ford. At this point, I was provided an appointment for Tuesday the 10th; 5 days later.
Understanding that they were just "booked-up" and that Tuesday was the first available opportunity they would have to diagnose a problem, I immediately acquired a rental vehicle for my wife to drive. After all, my main concern was for the safety of the passengers in our vehicle. Although the appointment was for the following week, my wife and I decided to drop the vehicle off early as the vehicle was useless to us at our location, and perhaps they would have a cancellation and could "squeeze" our vehicle in.
Coincidentally, that did indeed happen. Steve Wilson called me a few hours later an informed me that he was able to have a tech look at it, and "there's nothing wrong with it." Now typically I don't mind such assertions, in fact, I rather enjoy the fact that someone could state with such conviction that my concerns are unwarranted. Sarcasm aside, I stated I have to disagree and perhaps it should have been driven/observed longer. Steve responded with "I guess I'll have them take another look tomorrow and we'll get back to you." On the surface this may sound like a diligent effort to validate my concerns, however, it only raised my suspicion about their level of "service"; could they have overlooked a safety concern that would have placed my wife and her passengers in harms way? Perhaps a more plausible speculation is that, in an attempt to be deceptive, they merely attempted to pacify my concerns by retaining the vehicle one more day. I guess there's no price tag on safety; $47 per day rental car.
As expected, I received a call from Steve Wilson the following day, and again, he did in-fact utter the same dismissive "there's nothing wrong with the car" response. Being a bit skeptical, I conceded and advised Steve that I would be down there shortly to pick up the vehicle. Now at this point, I am certainly hoping that the vehicle is operating in a safe manner. Within the hour, my wife and I, picked up the vehicle and she drove it home. Being the trustworthy sole that I am, I decided to test drive the vehicle. Upon doing so, I immediately noticed the symptoms for which we brought it in to them in the first place.
Per Ford Corp, I immediately returned to the dealership and advised Steve, that since I disagree with your findings, I request to have an engineer come out and inspect the vehicle. To my surprise, this is were the complete lack of respect and concern for our safety began. Upon being informed that I would like to request an engineer, he responded, and I quote, "well, we'll just have you take it back to Oroville then." I advised him that I am not obligated to take it back to them as it is a warranty concern and you can assist with this request.
Additionally, I asked him not to "push this under the rug" and that "I've been in the car industry for 12 years," and "in fact, let me get your business card, let me get a business card for your Service Manager as well." Steve responded with "ok" and set out to obtain those cards.
As I am standing in the service bay awaiting Steve's return, It dawned on me how unprofessional and what a complete lack of duty this man just demonstrated. To be clear, Steve had just advised a Ford customer to drive 23 miles at highway speeds in what is subjectively an unsafe vehicle. More so, Steve made an attempt to pass the problem off to another dealer.
Upon his return, I asked Steve, why he'd ask me to go to Oroville Ford? He stated that "they have all the records on it." Did this clown really provide me with the most ridiculous excuse as to why he was sending me to Oroville? Again, this is a warranty issue and with that, service and all repair records can be obtained nationwide. In an attempt to patronize me upon my departure Steve uttered the words "have a good night sir."
C'mon man, get it together...you've demonstrated to this family your inability to render good judgement and professionalism.
-The Anders Family read more