Regina Ford Dealership Lives Up to Worst Cliché

Let's start from the beginning...

At the end of June our van broke down on the way back to Okatoks, Alberta. The van was towed to the Okatoks Ford Dealer where the staff promptly replaced the fuel pump at a cost of nearly $800.00.

It was pointed out to us many times that the work and the part was under warranty which was good for one year or 20,000 KMs.

Ten days ago I go to start it and it doesn't get any gas. Next day, starts fine.

On the advice of Jan's younger brother, a talented mechanic, we take it to the Ford dealership, in spite of their reputation for evil, just in case it's the fuel pump so that it'd be under warranty.

"But," he says, "Don't tell them anything about the fuel pump being under warranty or they'll make an excuse to get out of doing the work for free."

So, after it broke down on the road, stranding us, we tow it to the Ford dealership on Broad Street in Regina and don't say anything about the fuel pump breaking down eight weeks earlier.

It's $100 just for walking in the door of a Ford dealership service center!

The next business day the service counter woman phones me and says, "It's the fuel pump, it'll have to be replaced, which is costly because the gas tank has to be removed..."

"That's impossible," I say, turning angry.

"Why?" she asks.

"Because we just had it replaced eight weeks ago."

"Where?" she asks.

"At the Ford dealership in Okatoks."

"Well," she says, "sometimes these things happen, parts just don't work for some reason or other."

This woman, as I would later learn, is as smarmy as any professional excuse maker there is.

Exasperated that she didn't suggest the work would be covered under warranty by Ford, I very curtly tell her, "I'll be having that work done for free under the warranty. There's no way I'm paying $800.00 every two months for the same part breaking down!"

She hemmed and hawed, then asked if it was a genuine Ford part used at Okatoks (which are much more expensive than after market parts.)

"I assume so because it was so bloody expensive."

"Then bring in the receipt and that'll be fine," she says.

We bring in the receipt and are told the fuel pump is on order from Edmonton and will take another day. It'll be under warranty and there's nothing to worry about.

Next noon hour we get a call saying the van's all done. Turns out it wasn't the fuel pump after all, it was a fuse that wasn't seated properly in it's little fuse holder (in a second fuse box under the hood.)

@%&@!!!

Sure, as soon as it's on their dime, it's a 25 cent fuse that isn't positioned right in it's slot, not an $800 fuel pump job. Who reading this thinks if I hadn't said it was under warranty they wouldn't have replaced the fuel pump for another $800.00 and not discovered the fuse problem?

I'm still full of rage. I demanded to speak to the service technician, which you're supposed to be able to do. I was told he had gone home and his team leader, not him, would call me back the next day.

The team leader probably told him to find what was really the problem after they found out they would have to do the work for free.

Bloody crooks!

By the way, there was a $12.50 shop consumables charge for wiggling the fuse. Did he get some dirt on the end of his finger and have to buy 12 paper towel rolls to clean his finger tip? They charge this for a squirt of WD40. It's bull shit. Give me the rest of the can, if that's the case. And show me where you paid twelve dollars for it.

Crooks. Absolute crooks.