ocn's vacation, day 1:

So, one or two of you may recall a thread on my first service visit with my Fiesta. It was to get a second key programmed for the car. That key was incorrectly cut by someone at Ford, so round two was necessary. This morning was round two. I got to the dealership at 7:50 for my 8:00 appointment for something that should take about 3 minutes.

At about 8:40 I started doing the bad customer thing... I started walking around outside the shop, looking for my car. Found it. Tech was in his bay, at a desk on a laptop, looking up info on how to do the programming. He was stumped. I walked in and introduced myself as the car owner. He said the key worked, but he could not get the transmitter to program. He had a procedure printed out, laying on my front seat.

Part of the procedure was to lock the doors electrically using the control inside the car. He said he couldn't do that because my car must not have a lock button. I calmly pointed out to this Ford Certified Technician the lock button in the center of my dash. After complaining briefly about Ford "always moving things", he tried again a few times. He pulled the key apart to check the battery inside. Battery good.

I jumped in the car, read the 3 paragraphs of instructions he had printed, and promptly programmed my own transmitter on the first try. The Ford Certified Technician thanked me and I was on my way.

Fiesta's been out now for what, almost a year? And I'm sure the new Focus has similar electronics.

Should I trust them to change my oil?

Edited June 4, 201114 yr by ocnblu

NO WAY!

Love it!!!

NO!

Don't trust them to change your oil.

I worked at a GM Quick Lube for about 2 weeks before I got fed up and quit. The lack of BASIC knowledge appalled me. "The Sup" claiming that Hyundais were Hondas "That's just their new logo" (about the Hyundai H) The oil gauge was broken too, so we had to figure out how much oil we were putting in the cars by "the number of clicks" and "The Sup" knew the capacities for all cars (no reference needed) "That's a Honda (which was actually a Hyundai); it's gets 4 clicks."

It's very hard to find a good mechanic these days, especially someone who respects your $h!. I've had to fix things on my Camaros right and left from where one of my shops (and I actually knew these people real well) kept effing up the paint. Finally, my body guy (who I've known and dealt with for over 10 years now) offered to fix the last debacle for free just because he felt bad for me.

It's not just the dealers and chains that can be clueless and inept...my local independent shop which I've used the last 3 years (BBB ranked as the best in the state) has done a few annoying things in the time I've been going there..somehow they've managed to lose all the screws that hold the air cleaner housing in place and some of the screws from the front lower fascia and grille (I think they had to remove them to replace the radiator back in '09). I'm not 100% they did it, but I find it hard to believe those screws/bolts would go away on their own..

Edited June 6, 201114 yr by Cubical-aka-Moltar

This is why I do all my own work. The few times I've sent a car to get tweaked, its always wrong...

Told the guy to ONLY put a LSD rear in my wagon... otherwise, don't bother. Of course I get a one legger.

Got my brakes bled... since the car was manual brakes, they couldn't fit the vacuum unit over the master cylinder... so they relocated all the crap on my firewall.

Took the radiator in to replace a plastic side tank... they replaced the WRONG side!

Jiffy Lube... oil filter loosens up next day while 1000 miles from home, had to tighten it on a red hot car on the shoulder of I-95 with no jack.

Jiffy Lube also vacuumed all the fuses out of my sister's Firebird... when the car wouldn't start, they found all the fuses in the vacuum canister and put them in random spots. By the time she got home, half the fuses were blown... its a wonder the car didn't burn to the ground. Took me forever to dig up replacements and get them all straightened out.

You know, I don't have 100% success... but at least I don't have 100% failure... which is the case when I try to get something done by a "mechanic". Only thing I get done at this point is tires... and I'll eventually buy a tire machine and balancer.