Focus Bolts falling out - Not Warranty?

tweeked · 12-08-2011, 02:25 PM

Just had a guy at work tell me his 09 Focus went in to Ford this morning due to it making some horrible noises. Turns out the bolts securing the gearbox to the engine were all loose. He has been told this is normal wear and tear and not covered by warranty - here is your bill for $140 to fix

Does this sound like normal wear and tear? What happens if damage has been caused due to this, will they say that is his fault? Car has full service history.

Smoke Pursuit · 12-08-2011, 02:37 PM

13FORD

Tell him to lodge a complaint.

atec77 · 12-08-2011, 02:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tweeked

Just had a guy at work tell me his 09 Focus went in to Ford this morning due to it making some horrible noises. Turns out the bolts securing the gearbox to the engine were all loose. He has been told this is normal wear and tear and not covered by warranty - here is your bill for $140 to fix

Does this sound like normal wear and tear? What happens if damage has been caused due to this, will they say that is his fault? Car has full service history.

The stealer lied
it is warranty

Jim Goose · 12-08-2011, 05:15 PM

Nope... not normal.
The only reason they would unwind and come loose is because they werent torqued up correctly in the first place.

I lost one bolt (bell housing) from my old EL which had 280 000 km and was 13yrs old at the time....

FPV+fteT3 · 12-08-2011, 05:53 PM

My local ford stealer(kloster fraud) charged me $80 to tighten the clonking steering rack in my FPV same spiel as used on your mate less than 20k on the odo I had to pay to get the car from service dept. a call to 13ford resulted in a cheque for $80 in the post from said stealer if Ford tightened the racks properly in the first place there would be no issue same thing here IMO.

Franco Cozzo · 12-08-2011, 07:08 PM

We had a Falcon making a bumping noise from the tray when I was working at Honda.

It had one bolt holding down the tray to the body very loosely, which had a nut on it near the end of its thread, the rest dissapeared somewhere.

**ebxr8240** · 12-08-2011, 08:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FPV+fteT3

My local ford stealer(kloster fraud) charged me $80 to tighten the clonking steering rack in my FPV same spiel as used on your mate less than 20k on the odo I had to pay to get the car from service dept. a call to 13ford resulted in a cheque for $80 in the post from said stealer if Ford tightened the racks properly in the first place there would be no issue same thing here IMO.

There was a re call on steering rack studs / bolts...
They simply welded the back of them.. So they didn't come loose..

svo supporter · 12-08-2011, 09:13 PM

I'd be going right back to the dealer and asking my money back for the whole car. Geez, if they claim these bolts coming loose are normal wear and tear, imagine the rest of the bolts holding the car together.

fatcorty · 12-08-2011, 09:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FPV+fteT3

My local ford stealer(kloster fraud) charged me $80 to tighten the clonking steering rack in my FPV same spiel as used on your mate less than 20k on the odo I had to pay to get the car from service dept. a call to 13ford resulted in a cheque for $80 in the post from said stealer if Ford tightened the racks properly in the first place there would be no issue same thing here IMO.

Brad garlic did the same when I bought my baxr8....swindlers is what they are.

mik · 12-08-2011, 09:28 PM

i would have thought at some time in the last 2 years that during servicing someone would have grabed some spanners and checked the nuts and bolts on the motor/transmission,suspension, while sometimes you can put it on the manufacturer, surely someone would have done that? this is something i do religiousely with ever car i own.

dave351cid · 12-08-2011, 09:31 PM

a mate at work bought a new holden Colarado twin cab 4x4 ute.
his wife took it in for its first service and they tried to charge her $xx for a new fan belt. said it wasnt under warrenty because the car had been driven on a dirt road. they have about one km of good gravel road to their house.
anyway he rang the dealer and asked "WTF, its a 4x4. isnt it built to use on dirt roads ? " ---------- "ohhh ...our mistake. seems that belt is covered by warrenty after all."

next service they tried the same thing with some other "problem" they found. i dont think he is going back to them again.

Bossxr8 · 12-08-2011, 09:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ebxr8240

There was a re call on steering rack studs / bolts...
They simply welded the back of them.. So they didn't come loose..

Wasn't that for the AU?

**Papa Smurf** · 12-08-2011, 10:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bossxr8

Wasn't that for the AU?

Yes, ONLY on AUs

**ebxr8240** · 13-08-2011, 11:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bossxr8

Wasn't that for the AU?

YEP..

morak001 · 14-08-2011, 10:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by atec77

The stealer lied
it is warranty

I'm not sure how warranty claims are handled, is it possible for the dealer to 'double dip'? ie claim from Ford and get the customer to pay? or is it just an initiative to reduce warranty claims?

**ebxr8240** · 14-08-2011, 10:55 AM

The only way I can see them not warranty it..
If they suspect another party has worked on it..
Such as replacing the clutch etc...

svo supporter · 14-08-2011, 11:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by morak001

I'm not sure how warranty claims are handled, is it possible for the dealer to 'double dip'? ie claim from Ford and get the customer to pay? or is it just an initiative to reduce warranty claims?

Like most dealerships, (not just Ford), they'll try and rape the customers wallet, rather than make a claim. Mainly because most people aren't mechanically minded, so they can put it over them. (No offense towards your intelligence either)

tweeked · 14-08-2011, 12:54 PM

Thanks guys, no other work has been done on it other than servicing (on 36000 k's on it) Have passed the 13FORD on to him. Will let you know what happens

atec77 · 14-08-2011, 03:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by morak001

I'm not sure how warranty claims are handled, is it possible for the dealer to 'double dip'? ie claim from Ford and get the customer to pay? or is it just an initiative to reduce warranty claims?

I cant answer that but anything from the stealer is viewed with suspicion if it involves services and money

tweeked · 14-08-2011, 03:45 PM

I struggle to understand why a service dept would do this. Over the cost of the bolts that were gone plus half an hr to replace and tighten, they have made one person never want to buy a ford again due to pushing Fords version of wear and tear (would a toyota dealer do this?) plus he has told anyone at work who will listen. Just crazy and damaging to the brand

tweeked · 14-08-2011, 03:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mik

i would have thought at some time in the last 2 years that during servicing someone would have grabed some spanners and checked the nuts and bolts on the motor/transmission,suspension, while sometimes you can put it on the manufacturer, surely someone would have done that? this is something i do religiousely with ever car i own.

Every bolt checked for tightness in a service? In the real world? you cannot be serious? It would take an hour of grabbing various spanners and sockets, types of bolts etc . An extra $100 every service. These things should be screwed together so they only come apart when you mean to. Now if something comes undone, you shouldn't charge the customer for this.

g220ba · 14-08-2011, 04:25 PM

It's a lot easier for the dealer to charge the customer and get the money straight away than it is to go through the process of making a claim to ford which would involve providing some sort of proof of the fault.

Having said that $140 to tighten the bellhousing bolts?
Were some of them replaced or simply tightened?

It's seems extremely excessive that they would charge what is effectively an hours labour (for most dealers) to tighten the bolts.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mik

i would have thought at some time in the last 2 years that during servicing someone would have grabed some spanners and checked the nuts and bolts on the motor/transmission,suspension, while sometimes you can put it on the manufacturer, surely someone would have done that? this is something i do religiousely with ever car i own.

As it stands most dealers are running a fine line in terms of time in which each mechanic can spend on each car. If the service schedule dictates the vehicles service is to take 1hr then generally the mechanics have to finish within that time frame. If they were to spend an extra .5hr to an hour checking all bolts on each car they service i can guarantee there would be a lot of angry customers that wouldn't have their car on time or even finished.

Don't be fooled into thinking this is a problem directly related to ford or even car dealerships for that matter. I've seen a fair few workshops (not dealerships) that run a very similar system and if anything goes wrong on any car, the day is basically screwed.

It's a system that's basically in place to get as much revenue and as many cars through the door as they can each day at the expense of customer service, it's a shame but it's a reality.

tweeked · 14-08-2011, 05:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by g220ba

Having said that $140 to tighten the bellhousing bolts?
Were some of them replaced or simply tightened?

It's seems extremely excessive that they would charge what is effectively an hours labour (for most dealers) to tighten the bolts.

Most of them where gone, so supply most and retighten

g220ba · 14-08-2011, 06:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tweeked

Most of them where gone, so supply most and retighten

There would be a possibility the dealership has used non geniune bolts in an attempt to save the time and cost of these parts being ordered through the spare parts system. As a result they may have decided to not alert ford of the fault and simply charge the customer to save the hassle of parts not being available and the possibility of the car not being available for a period of time.

I'm in no way saying this is what has happened, i'm simply putting this forward as a possibility as i've seen it happen several times whilst working for another manufcturers dealer. If this is infact the case the service advisor should've advised the customer of the options and the implications of those options and taken it from there. It would also be more profitable for them to charge the customer then it would be to charge ford for warranty repairs.

The very least they should be doing is putting a warranty claim in to ford and awaiting their reply.

FG50T · 14-08-2011, 06:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by g220ba

There would be a possibility the dealership has used non geniune bolts in an attempt to save the time and cost of these parts being ordered through the spare parts system. As a result they may have decided to not alert ford of the fault and simply charge the customer to save the hassle of parts not being available and the possibility of the car not being available for a period of time.

I'm in no way saying this is what has happened, i'm simply putting this forward as a possibility as i've seen it happen several times whilst working for another manufcturers dealer. If this is infact the case the service advisor should've advised the customer of the options and the implications of those options and taken it from there. It would also be more profitable for them to charge the customer then it would be to charge ford for warranty repairs.

The very least they should be doing is putting a warranty claim in to ford and awaiting their reply.

More than a possibility of this being the case

dave351cid · 14-08-2011, 07:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by morak001

I'm not sure how warranty claims are handled, is it possible for the dealer to 'double dip'? ie claim from Ford and get the customer to pay? or is it just an initiative to reduce warranty claims?

i have been told by people who have worked in dealerships that this is a common practice.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tweeked

I struggle to understand why a service dept would do this. Over the cost of the bolts that were gone plus half an hr to replace and tighten, they have made one person never want to buy a ford again due to pushing Fords version of wear and tear (would a toyota dealer do this?) plus he has told anyone at work who will listen. Just crazy and damaging to the brand.

because they are too busy trying to make $$$ right now to see the big picture and how many $$$$ they could make long term if they treated customers as a part of the business ,not as a resorce to be harvested.

v8falconsrule · 14-08-2011, 11:42 PM

unless it is a very well stocked/ large dealership i doubt they would have had bellhousing bolts in stock...in a metro area they may have got parts direct shipped from the warehouse... otherwise i'd be suspicous of exactly what bolts they supplied.

may explain the lack of interest in submiting for warranty?

tweeked · 15-08-2011, 10:12 AM

Well he has spoken to 13FORD and got the same answer - wear and tear.

I am embarrassed to be a pusher of Ford products, I cant do it any more with this situation in my mind.

svo supporter · 15-08-2011, 10:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tweeked

Well he has spoken to 13FORD and got the same answer - wear and tear.

I am embarrassed to be a pusher of Ford products, I cant do it any more with this situation in my mind.

Makes you wonder if a bearing cap was to come loose, whether they'd claim that as wear and tear. After all it cops more of a hammering than a set of bellhousing bolts.

What a joke.