ComplaintsforLake Ford, Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  03/25/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I purchased a vehicle in March of 2023. I purchased an extended warranty for the vehicle that went through lake ford. Its an extended warranty company they own. Recently my vehicle had warped rotors I replaced the rotors and when doing so found both front calipers are not working properly. I called the extended warranty company I was informed I can take vehicle anywhere. I called lake ford to see if they had calipers and was told one was 3 weeks out. I called another **** dealer was told they can get it in 3 days. A request was put In to the warranty company to get vehicle fixed. It was denied cause warranty company claimed vehicle is within 40 miles of selling dealer so has to go back to dealer. This is no where in the contract about a 40 mile range tie back. I was not waiting for a 3 week turn around when I can have the parts in 3 days. I purchased the calipers and repaired myself. I called lake ford to talk to someone about the contract and I keep getting pushed away and now they are pushing for me to cancel my contract. I feel since they have miss lead there customer and now changed a contract that was signed that. They can cancel the contract with a full refund and offer the extended **** bumper to bumper warranty at no cost to me since they have lied to me. If I knew any of this i would have just purchased the full **** bumper to bumper. Also since they as lake ford dont want to reach out and deal with the situation feel they are being fraudulent in there activities since they own the extended warranty company and make all final decisions. Again the signed contract from them says nothing About a 40 mile range tie back.

  

  Business response

  03/27/2024

  I spoke with ***** today and we are all good now. We definitely made some mistakes on our end and we should have handled the entire situation much better. ***** was more than fair and accepted our apologies.

  Customer response

  03/27/2024

  [A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response.  If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. 
  
  Regards,
  
  ***************************
  

• Initial Complaint

  12/01/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  November 20 I took delivery of a 2023 **** Bronco at Lake Ford. My sales person ******************************* walked to service and requested they install wheel locks that come with the Bronco. Briefly, a service advisor told me I was good to go. When I asked about the 5 lug nuts and the key to the locks I was told they were in the glove compartment, they weren't. Technician said he put them in the glove compartment. The service manager sent him out to my home to search the vehicle! The customer is always wrong in her response.She claimed she was proud of saving the dealership 80 dollars by not readily handling the error. Why would I make this up? Cannot remove the Bronco` Four wheels or the spare. She has taken no action. 5 lug nuts, and 5 wheel locks they replace. Estimate from *********** to remove locks without key ****** dollars. HELP!

  

  Business response

  12/08/2023

  This was a minor issue that we should have handled much better and never let it get to this point. I have left a voice message for **************** to give me a call and we will rectify this situation. 

• Initial Complaint

  04/30/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  At my previous visit to the dealer I had mentioned, among other things, that a mechanic had given me a heads up that I needed my struts reviewed as they were making my tires wear poorly. When my vehicle was returned, I was told that the struts were all fine and that the mechanics even took it for a test drive and there was no noise to be concerned of. Assuming I could trust their judgement, I took their word for it. There was some issues with a salesman as well, but regardless of the total reasoning, my trust with the mechanics was eventually ruined. I took my car in to a third mechanic for my latest oil change and mentioned that my card was loud while driving (the same noise the Lake Ford mechanics said was fine). They did my oil change and discovered all four struts, and some of their connecting parts, were ruined. They had also ruined my tires which Lake Ford had installed just in Feb 2022, and had only ~22k miles on them. Eventually I ended up talking to the service manager at Lake Ford about my complaint and her only offer was for me to tell the current mechanic to stop working on my car, drive it to the dealership, and allow the previously negligent mechanics to do the service themselves at a discounted rate. This is entirely unacceptable. If Lake Ford had done their due diligence as this other mechanic had, my tires may have been salvaged (approx $1200 value), and some of the connecting parts to the struts may have been too. I should not have to A) penalize the mechanic who correctly diagnosed the issue by taking the order back to the dealership and B) have to be further inconvenienced to drive my damaged car out to Lake Ford to have them do the work they should have done in the first place. To be clear, out of three mechanics, Lake Ford was the only one to miss the issue at hand, and now they are penalizing me for it because I won't take the car to them. In reality, the total cost should be covered by them, but I would settle for the cost of the tires.

  

  Business response

  05/10/2023

  ************ has been a great customer ever since he purchased his Escape from ** in November of ****. He has serviced with ** at least 10 times. On his most recent service visit, January 2023, the following items were addressed:

  Line 1: Perform Multi Point Vehicle Inspection
  Line 2: Perform Complimentary Exterior Vehicle Wash
  Line 3: Recall 22S43 - Transmission Shifter Cable Bushing
  Line 4: Customer states the plastic panel on teh passenger side fell off and he doesn't have the pieces to pit it back on
  Line 5: Customer states there is a plastic piece near the bottom of the windshiled that is coming off
  Line 6: Customer states his headlights are burning out quicker than normal on each side
  Line 7: Customer states he went to another shop and was told his struts and shocks needs looking at in the future
  Line 8: Oil change and tire rotation

  ************** did inspect all 4 struts (Line 7) and noted on the Repair Order: "shocks and struts look fine". We pride ourselves on not upselling or selling unnecessary repairs to our customers. If the strut seals had failed and were leaking, that would have been evident to our technician. The reason our Service Manager asked for the Escaps to be brought into our shop, was to double-check the opinion of the other service center.

  We are in the business of selling necessary repairs to our customers...that's how we get paid. Had our technician felt the struts were leaking or comprimised, we would have informed *********** and recomed they be replaced. *********** is asking that we refund him for service repairs he had completed at a different service facility. While we value him as a customer, the work was completed elsewhere, with his authorization and he refused to allow ** to verify his concerns. We cannot refund a customer money that wasn't spent at our service facility.

  I encourage *********** to contact our Service Director, *****************, at ************ to discuss the matter further if he wishes.

   

  Customer response

  05/10/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
  
  In addition to the technician saying the struts "looked fine," I was also told they took it on a test drive and it sounded fine, despite the tires being very loud. Having new tires now I can tell the instant difference and my car makes virtually no noise at all. I paid $100 for a warranty on the tires that they are essentially now voiding and it is absurd that I am supposed to give Lake Ford unlimited chances to find the issues and give them the business until they do it correctly.

  
  The fact that the only way a tech at Lake Ford thinks that a strut is a "necessary repair" is when it is actively breaking down and leaking, despite it already causing other wear and tear on the vehicle is disturbing.The excuse of not "up-selling" is pretty poor also. How about explaining what you found or didn't find and let me make the decision on if I feel it is worth it or not? The technician at the new mechanic stated that while it is possible that the struts weren't leaking when they were at Lake Ford, the poor wear on the tires indicated that there was a deeper issue and that lead him to find the struts to be the problem. I did not tell them to look at the struts, they did that on their own. It's all over their notes that the tires were extremely loud and poorly worn in an odd pattern. The fact Lake Ford is the only one of three mechanics that got a heads up and still could not correctly diagnose the issue is appalling. 

  
  There was opportunities to have this rectified well before I actually took my car to another mechanic. I was contacted by someone at Lake Ford who "took over my account," and I had explained to her that I was unhappy with the service I received. She asked for me to bring the car in, but I told her I didn't trust Lake Ford Service anymore because in addition to the poor service they allowed for a blatant conflict of interest by allowing their sales team to have access to the information about the cars as I was pressured by a sales rep using that information after I had my car serviced and she left it at that. She told me that sales rep was no longer there, which to me means they new what he did as I did not mention a name.

  
  When my car was first diagnosed at the new mechanic, I also emailed this same person and told her prior to giving them the OK to do the work. I was told the service manager would call me and she didn't. The next day, the manager did reach out and said she tried to call but couldn't get through or it was the wrong number. I have had the same phone number for years, longer than I had been a customer a **********************, there is no reason there should have been another number on my account and even if there was two, would you not try both? By the time the manager was able to connect with me, she said the best she would do is to give me a discount if I cancelled the current service and bring it there. So after having previously left my car at Lake Ford for a few days for them to make the repairs they didn't make, I was supposed to cancel my current service (burning bridges with a business that actually did the detective work), arrange to pick up my car, drive it to Lake Ford, and leave it there for a few days for them to do the work they should have in the first place and neglected to do. Her response was that she would arrange for me to have a rental as though that makes up for the whole thing. 
  
  What does calling your Service Director do that you can't do right here? So that this complaint will be closed and you can privately tell me you don't care that your mechanics didn't do their jobs and now I'm paying for it instead of handling it right here for your "valued customer." You feel I don't deserve a refund for the services because they were done elsewhere, but the tires that are under warranty and failed due to your negligence were purchased and installed at your facility and that is the refund I am looking for. Since you feel that you need proof that the damage was real and things needed to be replaced, I can definitely add pictures from the mechanic showing all four tires worn almost into the red on their gauges after having only ~22k miles on them and just over a year of my 3-year warranty you are not going to honor.
  
  Regards,
  
  ***********************

  

  Business response

  05/16/2023

  We feel we have responded to *************** concerns and unfortunately, he does not agree with us. We will not reimburse customers for repairs they authorize to be completed elsewhere. 

  Customer response

  05/17/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
  

  It appears I'll have to take ************* to get my issue resolved as the company is unwilling to understand they are 100% at fault for the damage to my car and can't wrap their head around why I would dare take my car to a more reputable mechanic to have it repaired than to risk bringing it to them again.
  
  Regards,
  
  ***********************

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩