Before I start, let me just warn you. This is going to be mostly a long rant, but I do have some questions and I would appreciate anyone who takes the time to read the whole thing and respond. Here goes:
Let me start off by giving you some background.
When I first started having problems with my Throw-out Bearing (TOB) back in July/August, I searched around here on SVTPerformance for reputable dealers to get quality work done at. I had only had the car since May 26, so it is still very much my baby at this point. Well, Bob Bell Ford is extremely close to me (Glen Burnie) but I had heard some bad things about their service department. So I decided to take my car to Sheehy Ford in Gaithersburg because I was told by many that they do very good work. Well, long story short, my car was in the shop there for 13 days for a job that, according to the TSB, takes 4.3 hours. Given, they had to balance my tires as well (got new ones), but still. Should have been a 1-3 day absence from the car. I got the "we're waiting on parts" response. :nonono: They did replace my transmission cover plate (which includes a new input shaft and TOB) under TSB 04-1-34, but I still don't think that justifies the 13 day wait. That fixed my clutch/TOB problems very well. Only problem is that it came back after about 3-4 weeks and I've been dealing with it since it came back. However, that doesn't piss me off too bad because numerous guys have this problem over and over again and eventually after a few fixes, the planets align properly and the problem goes away. But I still needed and wanted to get it fixed. I just bought the car, why should I have to deal with it?
So, after work on Thursday, November 4th I drove my car the 47 miles (1.5 hours one way, thanks to traffic on the beltway) to Sheehy Ford in Gaithersburg again. I gave them a laundry list of things to do, including the following:
- Check TOB and clutch pedal vibration
- Check rear-end for cause of vibration on deceleration
- Re-position rear, passenger side spring isolator
- Front-end alignment (if necessary)
- Normal 20,000 mile check-up procedure
- Check for possible missing wheel weights on all 4 wheels and re-balance using Road Force machine
- Check brake pads, calipers and rotors for wear
Now when I dropped the car off, I said I realize that there are a ton of things to do on my list but that I don't want my car to be here for 12 days like it was last time. The service writer and service manager that I talked with both said it shouldn't be a problem. Man should I have gotten that in writing. :nonono:
Well, here I am today (a full 15 days later; 12 days if you're only counting business days) ready to pick up my Cobra after work. There's only one problem... THEY'RE NOT COMPLETELY DONE THE WORK!!! Apparently, they found a whole boatload of things that needed to be fixed in the rear-end when they took it apart to re-position the spring isolator. Apparently the differential looked to have been re-sealed at one point or another (something that J.R. pointed out when he was under my car) and that the entire IRS looks to have been dropped from the car (more than likely for the addition of aftermarket bushings or something of that nature, according to the Sheehy's tech). This may have been why my car wheel-hopped so badly. There were just a great number of loose items in the car's rear end, so they investigated further and found that the differential seems to have been re-sealed or something of that nature at one point. I personally checked with the Ford dealership in Florida where my car had been serviced while in possession of the other owner and neither I nor Sheehy could find anything on the faxed maintenance report about the rear being messed with at all. I guess the person before me broke something in the rear at the track and got it fixed at a speed shop or something. I digress...
So basically, they still have to do the following:
- Replace the differential/IRS (warranty)
- Replace the driveshaft (warranty)
- Continue to work-out the clutch issue; will probably replace entire clutch assembly (warranty)
So I called up the service manager this morning to basically make a complaint. He was my service writer before he was promoted to service manager, so I dealt with him the last time I had my car there. I asked him why in the 2 times that my car has been in their shop, has it been in their possession for a total of almost 28 days. He said that he knows it's been a long time, to which my response was well, why has it taken so long? I said the repairs that are scheduled for my car couldn't have taken more than 10 or 11 hours. His response was that he only really has 2 guys that are qualified enough to work on the Cobras and that it takes a while to get parts in for them most of the time. I didn't feel like talking about it anymore, so I just let the conversation end and I told him that I would like to speak with him directly when I come up there today after work. He said that would be fine. I need to call him to make sure that he doesn't leave before I get there as I'll be leaving Annapolis around 4:30 or so to get there.
Basically, I would greatly appreciate some thoughtful and appropriate advice on what to yell at him for. I would also like to know what you guys think I should do about the fact that he wants my car back to do some more serious work on it. I figure getting a finish date in writing and an estimate of how long the work itself will actually take in hours would do the trick. I'm not sure how to go about asking this though.
Anybody that read this whole thing, I really appreciate it and I hope you will take the time to respond.
Thanks a bunch everyone!! :thumbsup:
Let me start off by giving you some background.
When I first started having problems with my Throw-out Bearing (TOB) back in July/August, I searched around here on SVTPerformance for reputable dealers to get quality work done at. I had only had the car since May 26, so it is still very much my baby at this point. Well, Bob Bell Ford is extremely close to me (Glen Burnie) but I had heard some bad things about their service department. So I decided to take my car to Sheehy Ford in Gaithersburg because I was told by many that they do very good work. Well, long story short, my car was in the shop there for 13 days for a job that, according to the TSB, takes 4.3 hours. Given, they had to balance my tires as well (got new ones), but still. Should have been a 1-3 day absence from the car. I got the "we're waiting on parts" response. :nonono: They did replace my transmission cover plate (which includes a new input shaft and TOB) under TSB 04-1-34, but I still don't think that justifies the 13 day wait. That fixed my clutch/TOB problems very well. Only problem is that it came back after about 3-4 weeks and I've been dealing with it since it came back. However, that doesn't piss me off too bad because numerous guys have this problem over and over again and eventually after a few fixes, the planets align properly and the problem goes away. But I still needed and wanted to get it fixed. I just bought the car, why should I have to deal with it?
So, after work on Thursday, November 4th I drove my car the 47 miles (1.5 hours one way, thanks to traffic on the beltway) to Sheehy Ford in Gaithersburg again. I gave them a laundry list of things to do, including the following:
- Check TOB and clutch pedal vibration
- Check rear-end for cause of vibration on deceleration
- Re-position rear, passenger side spring isolator
- Front-end alignment (if necessary)
- Normal 20,000 mile check-up procedure
- Check for possible missing wheel weights on all 4 wheels and re-balance using Road Force machine
- Check brake pads, calipers and rotors for wear
Now when I dropped the car off, I said I realize that there are a ton of things to do on my list but that I don't want my car to be here for 12 days like it was last time. The service writer and service manager that I talked with both said it shouldn't be a problem. Man should I have gotten that in writing. :nonono:
Well, here I am today (a full 15 days later; 12 days if you're only counting business days) ready to pick up my Cobra after work. There's only one problem... THEY'RE NOT COMPLETELY DONE THE WORK!!! Apparently, they found a whole boatload of things that needed to be fixed in the rear-end when they took it apart to re-position the spring isolator. Apparently the differential looked to have been re-sealed at one point or another (something that J.R. pointed out when he was under my car) and that the entire IRS looks to have been dropped from the car (more than likely for the addition of aftermarket bushings or something of that nature, according to the Sheehy's tech). This may have been why my car wheel-hopped so badly. There were just a great number of loose items in the car's rear end, so they investigated further and found that the differential seems to have been re-sealed or something of that nature at one point. I personally checked with the Ford dealership in Florida where my car had been serviced while in possession of the other owner and neither I nor Sheehy could find anything on the faxed maintenance report about the rear being messed with at all. I guess the person before me broke something in the rear at the track and got it fixed at a speed shop or something. I digress...
So basically, they still have to do the following:
- Replace the differential/IRS (warranty)
- Replace the driveshaft (warranty)
- Continue to work-out the clutch issue; will probably replace entire clutch assembly (warranty)
So I called up the service manager this morning to basically make a complaint. He was my service writer before he was promoted to service manager, so I dealt with him the last time I had my car there. I asked him why in the 2 times that my car has been in their shop, has it been in their possession for a total of almost 28 days. He said that he knows it's been a long time, to which my response was well, why has it taken so long? I said the repairs that are scheduled for my car couldn't have taken more than 10 or 11 hours. His response was that he only really has 2 guys that are qualified enough to work on the Cobras and that it takes a while to get parts in for them most of the time. I didn't feel like talking about it anymore, so I just let the conversation end and I told him that I would like to speak with him directly when I come up there today after work. He said that would be fine. I need to call him to make sure that he doesn't leave before I get there as I'll be leaving Annapolis around 4:30 or so to get there.
Basically, I would greatly appreciate some thoughtful and appropriate advice on what to yell at him for. I would also like to know what you guys think I should do about the fact that he wants my car back to do some more serious work on it. I figure getting a finish date in writing and an estimate of how long the work itself will actually take in hours would do the trick. I'm not sure how to go about asking this though.
Anybody that read this whole thing, I really appreciate it and I hope you will take the time to respond.
Thanks a bunch everyone!! :thumbsup:
