My experience today started late Friday when the battery in the Ford Fusion went out. I intended to replace it myself Saturday, but I had to work and I was super busy so I had no time and of course they are closed on Sundays. I also found out that my car needed a safety recall. Today, I took it to Auto Nation Ford in Katy and was nicely greeted by the service advisor Tom. At first everything went pretty smoothly; I got the car turned in, was explained the warranty policy clearly, wrote up the recall repair, and was given a ride to work. This is the extent of the pleasantries. I already expected that my car was no priority since I was a walk in with a minor issue and a simple recall. So the time frame was never an issue. Some time about lunch, I got a call from Tom to follow up and say the recall tech reported my rear brakes were in need of immediate attention. I immediately thought this was off. The car was purchased just over a year ago and had new tires and brakes installed just prior to us purchasing the car. I didn't say anything yet. I let the car get the work it needed and asked if I could get a shuttle ride back to Auto Nation Ford. When I spoke to Tom, he seemed a bit more than annoyed with me, however he obliged my request and asked what address I'd be at. I responded with the Audi store right down the street from him and his response was, "call me back with the exact address with zip code" then THEN HUNG UP!!! I thought this was an uncalled for response, but I politely called back a couple minutes later and left a message with the address with zip code. After I declined the brakes, his tone seemed to change and I always had to leave a message. I would urge Auto Nation to listen to those calls. When I got back to Auto Nation to pick up the car, Tom handed me my report to give to the cashier, told me to see them and never looked me in the eye. No hand shake, thanks for coming in, summary of services performed, nothing. Just plain piss poor customer service. So I left. When I got back to the shop, I inspected my brakes myself and immediately knew the technician did not actually inspect anything. It was clear my wheel was never removed and the measurements i took didn't tell me my brakes were bad, so I turned right around to discuss this with Tom. When I got there, Tom was obviously less than excited to see me come back. I asked point blank how the technician determined that my brakes were in the red, as we say, which means needs immediate attention, and what the measurements were on the pads and rotors. He proceeded to look up the report from the technician and tell me the rotors were fine, but the pads were only 2 millimeters thick. I asked him to contact the technician and ask how he measured the brakes. He does and the technician tells him he didn't measure them, it was a visual inspection. Last I knew eyeballs aren't a measuring tool. While we might be used to spotting bad pads and rotors, we still have a responsibility to prove our findings. It was pretty clear this tech had only an up sell on his mind, not my best interests. Needless to say, I advised this tech be spoken with about his unsavory method. I made it clear that I did not appreciate what I considered deceptive practices. My diagnosis, brakes might be a yellow, but I measured the pads at a 5, not 2. I took the wheel off and measured the inner pads at 5 as well. Maybe I'm taking this too personally. I am a tech too, after all, and this is almost insulting. I take the responsibility of caring for a customer seriously. The money will come, bit it doesn't need to come in the form of a bogus report prepared by a reckless technician. I will not deal with Auto Nation Ford in Katy TX any further. I have photos that prove that my brakes are not in immediate need of service, and barely show they even need to be looked at.
Jacob Greenmun
Jul 17, 2017
