Lack of Acceptable (EV) Ford Service

[Piquette]

True story: When returning to the boat ramp after a September outing “On Golden Pond” in Central NH I found another Lightning owner couple had just loaded their boat and were preparing to leave. Of course I went over to say hello. We started off talking about how much we love our trucks, but the next thing they asked was “Where do you get yours serviced.” Easy, I said, you just contact the Service Department at Grappone Ford in Concord, NH. I gave him the name of the service representative I use and told him to ask for him specifically. Grappone Ford has well trained EV service technicians and knowledgeable service representatives that will take care of you. The couple did as I suggested and yes they were taken care of.

I have known this service representative and technician for years. They have been with me now through four Ford EVs starting with an Escape hybrid in 2007. The dealership is a 45 minute drive, and even though there are two other dealers that are closer, it is well worth the effort to take my expensive vehicle to them. They are top notch and I feel they have my back as I undertake the adventure of going full EV. I rely on them completely for all my Ford service and wouldn’t think of going elsewhere.

I wish other owners had dealers as good as Grappone.

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[jmc6020]

True story: When returning to the boat ramp after a September outing “On Golden Pond” in Central NH I found another Lightning owner couple had just loaded their boat and were preparing to leave. Of course I went over to say hello. We started off talking about how much we love our trucks, but the next thing they asked was “Where do you get yours serviced.” Easy, I said, you just contact the Service Department at Grappone Ford in Concord, NH. I gave him the name of the service representative I use and told him to ask for him specifically. Grappone Ford has well trained EV service technicians and knowledgeable service representatives that will take care of you. The couple did as I suggested and yes they were taken care of.

I have known this service representative and technician for years. They have been with me now through four Ford EVs starting with an Escape hybrid in 2007. The dealership is a 45 minute drive, and even though there are two other dealers that are closer, it is well worth the effort to take my expensive vehicle to them. They are top notch and I feel they have my back as I undertake the adventure of going full EV. I rely on them completely for all my Ford service and wouldn’t think of going elsewhere.

I wish other owners had dealers as good as Grappone.

Do you mind sharing the name of your service rep? I have been going to Salem Ford in Salem NH and while not terrible I can't say I am completely satisfied either

 

[Peddyr]

I haven't graced the doors of a Ford dealer, dealership, or anything close to that since I received my truck August of 2022... I not only don't trust that they really have any more knowledge of EVs, or this truck specifically, versus anyone else, but also have not needed anything for them to 'look at' in over 37,000 miles. I will need tires, eventually, but I won't use them for that, either. I don't need a 'tech' to look over my truck for any reason. There is nothing that needs attention, recall, or 'maintenance timing', or not.

Are you still using your original tires after 37k miles?

 

[djstough]

Unfortunately, this is not isolated to just Ford service. I just traded in my last of 4 Benzes in a row. The service departments seem to cater to the blue-hair crowd that is okay with a car that sits for days while they loiter. The service manager argued with me over the accuracy of GPS when I told him my car was sitting in the back lot, after he told me it was in the shop. I had my salesman (who was awesome) go take a picture of my car and then go to service with it. Then it was on to another excuse. Again, I'm glad I didn't have any real issues with those vehicles, but it was a routine issue every time.

 

[TheWoo]

My dealer said they weren't allowed to order parts (light bar, etc) until they examined the vehicle. Very annoying, but at least they were honest. I took my truck in for the 10k service (you know, rotate the tires and check the coolant) at 9.5k miles and waited for 45 minutes while they did that and checked the six different recall/service items. Parts supposed to be in early this week and a call back to drop it off...

We'll see. I don't understand why a VIN isn't enough to get them to order parts so all can be done at once.

 

[MurphysLaww]

It's really weird service. They ask for the vehicle without a good idea of when they actually will start work on it. There were no apparent issues with ours until they got ahold of it, and now we're getting Ford Pass alerts. Obviously, there may be things their diagnostics are finding that the truck isn't reporting, but we're 15 days in now, and they are pointing the finger back at the manufacturer now for the wait, after a couple module replacement attempts that apparently didn't go right.

We had one powertrain alert in March, and it was in for a couple days for that one, and a few for the Frunk. If I had to guess, we're up to 20+ days in the last 11 months. I think Texas Lemon law to be available, it's 30 days. Maybe a 24' would be a better bet. The S/O, who actually owns the truck's family have been Ford only for 60+ years, so getting her to look at a Rivian probably isn't going to happen, and they have given us a rental at $60/day, but I still think she wants the truck back. Probably enough to check into the Lemon law.

I guess they may be off the hook for providing a "comparable" loaner this time. I wouldn't call an EcoBoost base model comparable to a Lightning Lariat, but... In two more times for the same issue, in the next 12 months, and It might be invoked again.

These aren't going to be million mile vehicles if they are sitting at the dealership repair lot most of their lives.

 

[vvgogh]

How do we inform Ford a dealer is overbooking 400%/understaffed 4x to service their electric vehicles? Surprising you on the day of your recall appointment with “this will take us at least a week” for what you expected to be a half day service is a terrible customer experience.

We have no way of understanding a dealer’s service capacity and backlog and degree of understaffing until our time is wasted.

@Ford Motor Company

 

[mr.Magoo]

Are there any strategies for identifying competent dealers for EV service? Is there any recourse when they waste your time?

Same exact scenario for me, except I didn't to item B and no tire rotation needed.
Made the appointment, in person, with my service provider about 5-6 weeks in advance as I was going out of town so they could have the truck for three days (Thurs, Fri and Mon).

I take an Uber to pick it up Tuesday (they knew I was picking it up that day) and it turns out they haven't even touched it, it was parked in the same spot the whole time.
No call saying, sorry we didn't get to it because bla bla bla, can we have it a day extra, no nothing.

I was not a happy camper at that point.

Second attempt I had to argue with them to do the 10,000 service/inspection since I didn't need the tire rotation.
-It's just an inspection, there's no need for it.
-I know, but I still want it done and the service records checked in case there's an issue in the future and Ford somehow decided to deny warranty because I didn't follow the service procedure.
-Its just an inspection, there's no service.
- I KNOW, and I want it done!
FFS!

I picked up the truck and I still get service reminders in the Ford-pass app, so I guess they never checked the box in the system

And the service provider even admitted that the appointments was only good for an oil change basically, anything other than that and you're on a "when we get to it" schedule.

So yes, Ford Service definitely has room for improvement.

 

[Maquis]

My dealer said they weren't allowed to order parts (light bar, etc) until they examined the vehicle. Very annoying, but at least they were honest.

Honest in what way? My dealer ordered the light bar and heated steering wheel parts without ever seeing my truck. If you read the recall/CSP documents, nowhere does it say that the dealer must examine the vehicle before ordering parts.

 

[TheWoo]

Honest in what way? My dealer ordered the light bar and heated steering wheel parts without ever seeing my truck. If you read the recall/CSP documents, nowhere does it say that the dealer must examine the vehicle before ordering parts.

I only meant they told me before I took my truck in, unlike the OP.

 

[MurphysLaww]

I only meant they told me before I took my truck in, unlike the OP.

I think ours told us something similar, G/F told them she wasn't going to do that, and to order the parts then we'd bring it in. That said, they've still had the vehicle for over two weeks working on numerous recalls.

If Ford is having trouble with dealer compliance and sales of EV's, they really don't seem to have anyone to blame but themselves.

 

[lakeguy55]

True story: When returning to the boat ramp after a September outing “On Golden Pond” in Central NH I found another Lightning owner couple had just loaded their boat and were preparing to leave. Of course I went over to say hello. We started off talking about how much we love our trucks, but the next thing they asked was “Where do you get yours serviced.” Easy, I said, you just contact the Service Department at Grappone Ford in Concord, NH. I gave him the name of the service representative I use and told him to ask for him specifically. Grappone Ford has well trained EV service technicians and knowledgeable service representatives that will take care of you. The couple did as I suggested and yes they were taken care of.

I have known this service representative and technician for years. They have been with me now through four Ford EVs starting with an Escape hybrid in 2007. The dealership is a 45 minute drive, and even though there are two other dealers that are closer, it is well worth the effort to take my expensive vehicle to them. They are top notch and I feel they have my back as I undertake the adventure of going full EV. I rely on them completely for all my Ford service and wouldn’t think of going elsewhere.

I wish other owners had dealers as good as Grappone.

Thanks for saving me a lot of typing. Just got back from Grappone this morning for the BCM update. Everything went smoothly and service was great as I've come to expect.

I bought my truck there despite it being an hour away with several other, closer, Ford dealers. This was based on reputation and recommendations from friends. I was especially sold once I watched this. Worth 15 minutes of your time if you want to see how dealerships can behave. And they really do act as she says.

 

[GoHawks]

Adding my experience. I solicited advice from the forum for good Ford EV service in the PNW/Seattle area and received no replies. The dealer I purchased from was 2+ hours away and I was looking for something closer. I ended up with an appointment 3+ months out at my local dealer an hour north of Seattle. They first had me speak to the person heading up their EV department and he spoke to me for 10 minutes about the investment they were making in the EV area. I appreciated that but the 3+ month wait was too long especially for some of the issues I was having. So... I booked an appointment with a Seattle dealer online Friday afternoon for the following Monday morning - no relationship or contact prior. I brought my truck in Monday morning with 5 issues - light bar recall/bcm software update/dash mat replacement/extremely leaking sun roof (main issue)/air dam fault. My rep looked at my list, told me it could be awhile and asked if I could leave the truck. I was traveling that week so wasn't an issue. Recall and Customer satisfaction parts were ordered that Monday of drop off. They brought in a 3rd party to do a leak down test - found the issues with sun roof track alignment and fixed it with a follow up leak down test. They also diagnosed the actuator fault with the air dam - reset the code without resolution, and ended up just replacing both actuators. The entire process took 4 days - I picked the truck up on Thursday on the way home from the airport. At a high level I was happy with the time and resolution. I had no issues with the things some of you are dealing with especially with recall parts. PM if you want specifics about the service departments and dealers I interacted with.

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