Schmitt Jack Ford

On July Mr*** came to Jack Schmitt Ford Lincoln and we installed new tires and balanced the remaining tires on his vehicle. We put the new tires on the front of the vehicleOn multiple occasions Mr*** came back to us stating stating "a very strong pull to the left"Mr
*** set up an appointment to have the back tires rotated to the front and then go for a test drive with the service manager to show him that it will not pull with the old tires on the front of the vehicleUpon arrival the service manager road tested the vehicle before any tires were rotated and had a technician with him for the road testNo pull was noted by either individualThen road tested with our fixed ops directorAgain no pull was noted or detectedThe service manager then took the customer for a test driveAfter two blocks Mr*** stated that he could tell the vehicle was betterWe then proceeded to go on the highway at speeds of 70MPH and the customer confirmed that he could no longer detect a pull. He then asked what we were going to do since the new tires were obviously causing the pullThe service manager advised Mr*** that the new tires were still on the front and that there was no tire swapping because we could not feel the pull or recreate the issue when we drove it and we wanted him to show us the concern that he had since we could not replicate itMr*** then stated "Oh, I guess there is nothing wrong with it then."On September 30th Mr*** came back to the dealer stating that he had now been at *** and that they very quickly found his issue to be a "radial tire pull"He stated that they put the tire on the right side and that the vehicle now pulls to the right*** *** the general manager and *** *** the service manager went for a ride with Mr***, Mr*** requested that the service manager drive the vehicleWhile driving the vehicle at highway speeds we could not recreate the customers concern of any sort of pullThe vehicle drove straightSince there was no duplicating of the customer concern, but *** had made a diagnosis of a "Radial Tire Pull", as a good will gesture we offered to replace the right tire with a new tire to provide a solution to the customers concern he thinks he is havingMr*** declined that he wanted that done and left upsetMr*** demanded a full refund and new tires on top of that to satisfy him as a customerThat simply was not a reasonable request. We went above and beyond for Mr*** with trying to recreate this issue and even offered to replace that individual tire that he felt was causing the issue despite being unable to determine any real issue We had our most experienced, knowledgeable people trying to recreate the customers concern and on multiple occasions this did not happenWe feel that the diagnosis by *** was done to "upsell" the customer services that were not likely neededThe request to pay for new tires, refund previous costs, and pay *** service fees was an unreasonable expectation

Re: [redacted] complaint. We are very sorry to hear of Mr. [redacted]s issues with the Explorer SYNC system. Mr. [redacted] has been a good customer of Jack Schmitt Ford and we realize that he services his vehicles with us regularly and has purchased from us multiple times in the past. When a customer...

brings their vehicle in to us for service with an issue such as this, Ford Motor Company dictates the sequence of actions to diagnose and resolve an issue. For resolving any issues with equipment there is a tight protocol that must be followed. We (My Service Manager and I)  spoke to Mr. [redacted] last week and reviewed with him that on the occasion that he had brought the vehicle in and had the issue with the system in 2014, this protocol was followed and resolved his issue at that time. His understanding of an “upgrade” in 2014 does not mean module replacement, it means software update.  When we spoke he seemed to be trying to convince us that Ford says its our fault for not putting a new module in the vehicle in 2014, which is not the case. If Mr. [redacted] would have needed an APIM module replacement in 2014 and did not receive it, his SYNC system would not have worked for the three years after. This is not the case. Mr. [redacted] received a software update which repaired the concerns that he was having at that time per the field service action 12M02. We have been in touch with Ford regarding Mr. [redacted]s current problem, and we even attempted to get an exception for him from the manufacturer. We did this as a courtesy to try to help a long time customer.  Ford has denied that request and stated to both us and Mr. [redacted] that they will not be providing assistance in the repair. I am attaching a copy of the notice that Mr. [redacted] was sent by Ford Motor Company.   In addition, I am attaching copies of the last six repair orders for work done at our dealership on subsequent visits. These 6 repair orders mention no concerns from the customer regarding any SYNC related problems. For what we feel are obvious reasons, Ford does not allow us to remove/ discard/ replace vehicle components as a first option when something has an issue. Instead we follow the protocol mentioned earlier. A comparison would be like if a person broke their ankle and the doctor just removed their foot and replaced it with a prosthetic one as a first option. Or if someone went to Best Buy with a computer problem on their laptop and Best Buy’s first action were to hand them a new one. So reviewing the history and repair orders internally we determined that the technician and advisor did follow protocol on their previous visit and they reprogrammed Mr. [redacted]’s module and got it going again. There is no basis for Mr. [redacted]s claim that we should have replaced the module in 2014 other than that he read online that lots of people were having problems. Our response to that is simply this- in 2017, show me a component on a vehicle (or any product for that matter)  that there aren’t hundreds of documented complaints about on the internet. This is machinery that wears, breaks, becomes outdated, etc. and part of ownership after the warranty period is that you may have repairs necessary. Ford has record of sending a notification to Mr. [redacted] regarding the update. Mr. [redacted] claims he never received it, but mailing a notification is the legal extent of Ford’s obligations. It is not the responsibility of the manufacturer or the dealership to notify by phone or in person, it is the responsibility of the owner to periodically check Ford’s website or contact the dealer. Mr. [redacted]s claim that we said “if we do this for him then we have to do it for everyone” is correct. Replacing this module for Mr. [redacted] would no doubt be classified as “implied warranty”.  As a dealership we rely on the manufacturers warranties to govern what is paid for and what is not paid for on a vehicle. It can’t be the responsibility of the dealership to pay for or decide what is paid for once manufacturers warranty is expired. Paying for Mr. [redacted]s replacement of this component would mean we would have to extend the same offer to other clients in his situation or even owners of other vehicles who have issues that fall outside of the manufacturers warranty. We did offer to Mr. [redacted] that we would perform the repair at a 10% discount- less than he would pay for the parts and labor anywhere else and to try and keep him happy and keep him as a client, but as he states here this was not satisfactory to him. We certainly understand the frustration. It is frustrating when you have to repair anything on a vehicle, unfortunately as a dealership we can’t take on the responsibility of covering repairs for customers that fall outside of warranty. Thank you for allowing us the opportunity to respond.  -[redacted], General Manager