dealer refusal to perform recall service

[victorp]

I have never with any car company had a dealer refuse to perform a factory recall, but now that I have purchased a Ford, I have. Ford has issued two recalls concerning the seal of the roof glass and the windshield on my Mach-E. I contacted the closest dealer, Watertown Ford in Massachusetts, and was unequivocally told they would only perform the service if the car was bought from them. Since mine was purchased elsewhere, they would not perform the recall. One of the major pluses of dealing with a reputable nationwide company is not to have this kind of treatment. Any ideas?

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[breeves002]

That doesn't make any sense. Dealers do have the right to refuse to work on a vehicle but that is weird. For the glass recall they will outsource too so that makes absolutely no sense at all unless they just won't do glass work.

Just use another dealer. Dealers suck for most mainstream brands unfortunately. If you can find a good one hold onto it.

 

[victorp]

That doesn't make any sense. Dealers do have the right to refuse to work on a vehicle but that is weird. For the glass recall they will outsource too so that makes absolutely no sense at all unless they just won't do glass work.

Just use another dealer. Dealers suck for most mainstream brands unfortunately. If you can find a good one hold onto it.

Thank you. I just feel frustrated that Ford does not have a policy requiring its dealers perform its recalls OR that it does not make it attractive enough for its dealers to want to do the service. Argh.

 

[fmtexmme]

Have you contacted Ford about the dealer refusing to do the recall work?

 

[victorp]

Have you contacted Ford about the dealer refusing to do the recall work?

Another sore subject. I tried to contact Ford using the call function in the FordPass app. The phone answers, they tell my it will be recorded and that I can give comments at the end, and then hangs up. Three times. Another Argh. But, I will try to call directly. Thank you.

 

[jackienopay]

Ford customer service 800-392-3673 or 800-334-4375. I believe both numbers lead to the same voice prompt, although one is for marketing and the other is customer service.

 

[markboris]

I can see a dealer refusing to do the work but I would think being a safety recall they should be required to do the work no matter where the car was purchased. We know from reading about dealers on this forum they are all different and have their own ways of doing things.

I live 5 minutes from the closest Ford dealer (the only one in my town) but purchase all of my Ford's from my dealer 3 hours away like I have for almost 30 years. I have brought the last four vehicles purchased from my dealer to the dealer here in my town and they have performed all warranty and non warranty issues without question.

 

[breeves002]

A dealer isn't required to work on your car and if they aren't EV certified...while they can do some things...like this recall, they may not.

It sucks but it is what it is. Refusing the business is weird though, they don't even have to do anything but call a glass company.

 

[JonathanEzor]

I have never with any car company had a dealer refuse to perform a factory recall, but now that I have purchased a Ford, I have. Ford has issued two recalls concerning the seal of the roof glass and the windshield on my Mach-E. I contacted the closest dealer, Watertown Ford in Massachusetts, and was unequivocally told they would only perform the service if the car was bought from them. Since mine was purchased elsewhere, they would not perform the recall. One of the major pluses of dealing with a reputable nationwide company is not to have this kind of treatment. Any ideas?

Had a similar experience with a recall inspection for my Pacifica Hybrid at my closest Chrysler dealer just yesterday. (I bought it from another, more distant dealer because this one couldn't get me the van when I originally needed it.) Oddly, there were posters all over the waiting area suggesting that customers rate the dealership on Yelp! and Google, so I did. For Ford, I would also have reached out on Twitter to Jim Farley and Mike Levine.

While it is true that dealerships are independently owned and operated and thus can refuse non-buyers, they are also under contract to Ford, and they have responsibilities to the brand and its customers. {Jonathan}

 

[sainttail]

I talk to my local dealership last week and he said they are waiting for more information on the recall so can not setup a time yet to do it. (I bought my Mach E from another city but they did not have an issue with that, just that Ford had not told them how to do the fix yet)

 

[Iknownothing]

Had a similar experience with a recall inspection for my Pacifica Hybrid at my closest Chrysler dealer just yesterday. (I bought it from another, more distant dealer because this one couldn't get me the van when I originally needed it.) Oddly, there were posters all over the waiting area suggesting that customers rate the dealership on Yelp! and Google, so I did. For Ford, I would also have reached out on Twitter to Jim Farley and Mike Levine.

While it is true that dealerships are independently owned and operated and thus can refuse non-buyers, they are also under contract to Ford, and they have responsibilities to the brand and its customers. {Jonathan}

State dealership laws are extremely favorable to the dealerships. They are protected by law much more than normal “franchises” so Ford is limited in what they can do (if you remember, there was a massive fiasco in the mid 2000s when Ford realized they had oversaturated the market and tried consolidating their dealership footprint; also why Tesla couldn’t sell cars using their direct model in some states). In addition, most dealership groups are tied to multiple car brands, so they prioritize their dealerships’ business performance not the individual brand of cars they sell. As to why, remember the Dealerships are paying the taxes to most of these states, not the corporate entity. Most of these laws are old, established long before the internet and modern global supply chain processes, so they made sense at the time.

Dealerships make money on used cars, high demand cars when they can add markup, and service. They make very little money from the higher volume ”commodity” vehicles and recall work - though good dealership recognize these are ways to get folks locked in for future repeat service business.

The reality is there are great dealerships run by people who care about their customers and there are others who just want to get paid. Ford tries really hard to coach their dealerships and incentivize good behavior but they can’t really do much to punish bad business practices.

 

[rgparham]

I have never with any car company had a dealer refuse to perform a factory recall, but now that I have purchased a Ford, I have. Ford has issued two recalls concerning the seal of the roof glass and the windshield on my Mach-E. I contacted the closest dealer, Watertown Ford in Massachusetts, and was unequivocally told they would only perform the service if the car was bought from them. Since mine was purchased elsewhere, they would not perform the recall. One of the major pluses of dealing with a reputable nationwide company is not to have this kind of treatment. Any ideas?

My sister used to work for FORD and had to deal with these issues in the 90's. Call the company and they will address the issue with the local dealer.

 

[SirronD]

At least your dealer told you BEFORE you drove 1 hour (each way) to get to your SCHEDULED APPOINTMENT with the description of...
Repair:
- PANORAMIC ROOF GLASS RESEAL 21S42 and WINDSHIELD RESEAL 21C22

only to be told by the technician that "We don't do that service".

Me: "So Why did you schedule the appointment! "
Dealer: "That was Ford... not us!"

 

[NoVAguy]

I talk to my local dealership last week and he said they are waiting for more information on the recall so can not setup a time yet to do it. (I bought my Mach E from another city but they did not have an issue with that, just that Ford had not told them how to do the fix yet)

Just dropped mine off today for my issue with the panoramic glass roof. I was experiencing creaking noise coming from the rear of the roof, dealership attributed the problem to part the recall and advised me they'd be ordering a new roof. Found that interesting as the recall notice only mentioned resealing (not replacing) the roof.

 

[StrWhtMME]

Had a similar experience with a recall inspection for my Pacifica Hybrid at my closest Chrysler dealer just yesterday. (I bought it from another, more distant dealer because this one couldn't get me the van when I originally needed it.) Oddly, there were posters all over the waiting area suggesting that customers rate the dealership on Yelp! and Google, so I did. For Ford, I would also have reached out on Twitter to Jim Farley and Mike Levine.

While it is true that dealerships are independently owned and operated and thus can refuse non-buyers, they are also under contract to Ford, and they have responsibilities to the brand and its customers. {Jonathan}

Just a thought, if you have no wind noise, why do the recall? I would only let Safelite remove and replace windshield. Which is probably the vendor they will use. Dealerships usually outsource windshield work.

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