Hello All,
I'm just curious if any of you fellow Alabamians have any recommendations on a good Ford service department around Birmingham? Jim Skinner Ford in Centerpoint and Pell City Ford are the closest to me.
Several weeks ago I took my truck ('03 F350 6.0PSD King Ranch) back to the dealer for some warranty work. The dealer is located over an hour away from me and they really ***** me off! I won't mention the dealers name but they are located in Sylacauga.
They had my truck for a week, then I called them to check on it and they said it would be ready in 20 minutes. I said I would come the next day to get it to give them plenty of time to finish. I called them the next morning to see if I could come get it and their response was " Sure, Mr *** your truck is all ready to go and will be waiting on you". Well, that was BS! I got there and they were still working on the main repair that I had brought it in for and hadn't even touched the two other items on my work order yet. I sat around there for almost 5 hours waiting on it. Then, to make matters worse, when I got in the truck to leave the check engine light was on.....it wasn't on when I dropped it off to them. I was ready to go, so I just left with the light on and the truck had NO power on the trip home. When I got home, I disconnected the batteries and reset the computer. It's fine now.

Now I need something else repaired but I don't want to take it back to them.
Any suggestions???

 

Hey dragula, I'm grew up in C'burg(right up the road from Sylacauga) and just recently moved to Auburn to go to college. I can tell you not to take it to Picklesimer and Limbaugh Ford. I know I worked there!! Though I have a feeling I'm too late... Anyways I can't really tell you a place to go as I can tell you not to go anywhere in C'burg. My dads Dodge has never been the same since he brought his truck to a garage in C'burg for scheduled maintanance where they kept his truck for 2 weeks and never fixed the problem. Ever since he has taught me to do all maintanance work myself. My mother recently moved to Alpine(across the Dam from Pell City) I believe that Pell City Ford is pretty honest, but don't hold it against me. Good Luck on choosing.

P.S. for any yankees Sylacauga is pronounced (sila-kaga).

 

Never heard much bad on Jim Skinner or Town and Country - both in Bham. I have been lucky. The only warranty issue I have ever had was replacement of a flakey AM/FM/cassette player in the 2000.
I have had AWFUL!! experiences in the past with some area GM dealers (company vehicle issues).
I hate it, but it's true - I just don't like dealer service.
Good luck - I think you might need it.

 

Your feeling is correct.

Let me tell you what happened (sorry it may be a little long):

I bought the truck used (w/only 14k miles on it) about 6 weeks ago and was told that it had been thoroughly checked out by a mechanic and everything works perfect. While test driving the truck, I open the sunroof and it won't shut back. It stops about 3" short and makes a heck of a noise. So much for everything working. They said it will take time to fix it so I come back two weeks later and leave it with them. They were supposed to do 3 things to it while they had it. I watched the service writer write down all three items on the service order:

1. Replace sunroof
2. Detail the truck (they owed me this from when I bought it)
3. Fuel up the truck (they also owed me this from when I bought it)

After arriving there to pick it up because they were supposedly done with it and waiting almost an hour for them to bring it out, it was very clear that the truck had not been detailed. I tell the salesman and he ask the detail guys if they can get right on it. They say yes. 30 minutes later they come out and get the truck. It takes them almost an hour and half to finish "detailing" it. This consisted of washing the outside and spraying Armorall on the tires. The inside had NOT been touched. This was not my idea of a "detail" but I'm ready to go, so I don't say anything. Keep in mind that the inside NEEDED to be detailed after the mechanic had replaced the sunroof there was dust everywhere from removing the headliner plus there was grease on the steering wheel, center console, door handle, and grab handle. Getting grease off of that king Ranch leather is a little touchy.
After another 20 minutes, someone comes and gets the truck to go fuel it up. They step out and I step right in behind them and the first thing I see is the check engine light is on. It's 5:00pm by now and I just left, ticked off. I disconnected the batteries later and that reset the computer and it's been running fine since.

My Salesman was very nice and helpful but I can't say much for the service department. I won't go back there for ANYTHING!

It's surprising how few dealers realize that they have to have a good service department in order to keep future sales up.

On a different note, I was originally looking at new '05 model trucks and I have to say that the saleslady I was dealing with at Jim Skinner was GREAT! Even though I didn't buy a truck from her, she was very helpful and she literally gave me her best price right off the bat. Which beat every other dealer around on new models. If you're looking at new trucks, I would be glad to share her info. She was quoting $1500-2000 below invoice on the first price she gave.
I hope their service department is as good, because I may try them next time.

 

I wonder if the owners, managers, etc. of dealerhips (not just Ford) realize the effect of their service staff.
I also wonder if they realize how quickly and easily word spreads? Take your example here for instance.
Do they realize people talk and bad news travel fast?
Based on what you describe, I would NEVER buy from them.
And that is a shame.

 

I have bought 2 Fords from Long Lewis and used there service dept a lot. I have never had a problem, always quick service and take care of any problems I have. I would and have recommended Long Lewis to anyone.

 

Well My experience with Picklesimer is this... I worked there and my parents wanted a new 2003 Expedition and to trade in a 99 Firebird. So we went there hoping for an employee discount, we talk to the salesman and he goes to talk to the manager to see what my discount would be. He comes out later and says that it is around $3000 off the price we would agree on. I didn't mention that they had already test drove the Firebird and gave a trade in value for it before the salesman went to the manager; but anyways the 3000 off for employee discount was taken off from the trade in price that they had previously gave us. It was just a bunch of crap. The parts office is expensive. I went there just recently needing a temp. control **** for my f150 and they were going to give me the wrong color lens for $12. Then I went to Carl Gregory Ford in Auburn and found the correct color lens for $8.89. Needless to say I only look, not touch at Picklesimer now.

 

Dragula, I know it's a long drive for you, but I use Sunny King Ford in Anniston. I have purchased many(6) Ford's in the past 15 yrs from them. I have never had a complaint about their service dept. I also have not had that many things go wrong either, at least that I couldn't fix myself. I only use the dealer for the things I have no chance of myself, like your sunroof. My wife has also purchased 2 Mitsubishi's from the same dealership. The first one had a clunking noise in the front when going over bumps after 3 visits with no success, they offered to buy it back if they could not fix the problem on the next try, no questions asked. Because of that I gave them another chance, and they found a faulty viscous motor mount, problem solved. They seem to go out of their way to make you happy, but this is only one person's opinion, I'm sure there will be others.

 

Well, I'm finally ready to take my truck to the dealer for some warranty work and thought I would read through this again to find a dealer. Think I'll give Jim Skinner a shot first since they're convenient for me. I'll try Long-Lewis next time if JS doesn't work out.

As far as Sunny King goes, I don't think I'll be giving them any money;

FIRST: When I was looking at 05's a few months ago, I emailed them. They said they would match or beat anyone's price. I presented them a price that another dealer gave me and they wouldn't come close to it. I found this out after driving all the way out there.
SECOND; They made a ridiculous offer of $6000 for my '99 F350 Supercab diesel as a trade in. The salesman who test drove it said there was something wrong with the six speed transmission. I watched him driving it. He had no idea how to drive the diesel with the 6spd. I sold the truck two weeks later for $13k and had over 30 phone calls over the next week from my ad in the paper. The guy that bought it took it to a local truck shop to have them inspect it before he bought it and they told him the truck was in great shape. They drove it too with no problems.

 

I bought my 04 used 2 months ago from Ken *** in Troy, AL. I was a little unhappy with the salesman as he had told me the truck was all serviced and checked out when we were talking the deal. But after final details I wanted to get more info for the time line for future maint. Well the reality was it was not serviced at trade in but was serviced 2000 miles prior to trade in. It was sort of a small detail but trust is sometimes in the details. I did have to take it in for an EGR issue and they put an update in the computer. So far so good but next EGR hic-up it will be disconnected.

Bottom line so far no problems with Ken *** Ford service folks. But I still try to do all the preventative maint. I can money and time saved........Good Luck