Paul Cerame Service is poor. - Rich
My 2016 Ford Focus, while I wouldn't call it a lemon, is a huge disappointment. It is a car that has had too much work needed within or immediately outside the warranty period. About two years ago when a little bit of time/mileage was left on the 3/36 warranty, I noticed that it struggled to maintain on hills if your foot wasn't on the brake. I'm not meaning for an extended period of time. I mean in the time that you adjust your footing on the brake or shift to the gas pedal.
I realize that to some extent that cars can 'slip' a little bit in these situations and I told the service manager at Paul Cerame Ford this when he tried to lecture me on this. I said, I've driven over 500K miles, for 33 years and with multiple cars, so I have a clue what to expect. I said, this car stands out as one that doesn't hold it's position well.
Anyway, just over 2 years ago I took it as this was a noticeable problem. It was covered under warranty and it was 'fixed' and I didn't think about it too much. Bad clutch, authorized Ford dealership fixed it. I'm probably good. I didn't think about a warranty on the new clutch. The warranty I found out that I was given was a 12 month/12K mile warranty. To me a clutch is an item that you should have for a while.
From https://www.stoneacre.co.uk/car-service-and-repairs-q-and-a/how-long-does-a-clutch-last
"Most clutches are designed to last approximately 60,000 miles before they need to be replaced. Some may need replacing at 30,000 and some others can keep going well over 100,000 miles, but this is fairly uncommon."
Okay so my first clutch, it went out at around 30K, my next clutch started failing within the first year I had it and I thought maybe this is something that isn't covered? I don't know, I'm driving another car commonly and I don't do excessive hill driving and I don't do excessive hill parking, so you know I might sense I have an issue and I might just shift to my other car or not run into the situation again where it is slipping for another little while and 'out of sight, out of mind'.
I'm reading that they are commonly designed to go about 60K miles before being replaced. But, the (Cerame/Ford) warranty on their replacement clutch was a weak 12month/12K miles. It's like don't count on our quality parts/workmanship for too long. I pointed out that having such a weak warranty indicates that you all don't have much faith in your parts/work. If you did, you'd give a better warranty. So he defended it of course and started to cite customer satisfaction since 1995 or that's where he was going. I shut him down as how is that relevant to me. I had a clutch that fails kind of early on the car and their replacement clutch isn't any better, if anything the part/work didn't last even that long. Instead of owning up the fact that perhaps they aren't perfect he went into a defend the dealership mode and deal with it mode. That's a fine way to treat a customer who has gotten work done there on multiple occasions.
As I indicated, I wasn't very quick on dealing with this as I have another car I commonly drive, I have a busy life and it's not real convenient for me to drop the car off there. You know time passes and you neglect. It was all: Call Ford if you have a beef. No, let's see how we can keep you a happy and loyal customer. No let's look at it and see if clutch replacement didn't work out well or let's see if you can advocate on your behalf to Ford. No nothing, just a snarky 'what do you expect me to do about it'? I guess if there is a risk that they won't have a nice payout for work they do, then well, sorry buddy, we don't care. I guess it doesn't matter if you've taken your car to them for work on multiple times before. Tough luck, bring it in an you'll or someone will pay out of the butt. First time, there is a risk that they might get a handsome payout, it's screw you, call Ford.
So, I said, "Because I didn't report the problem with the replacement clutch soon enough, this is a well tough luck buddy moment." He said this is a Ford problem. I said, how is it just a Ford problem if you did the work on the replacement clutch and it became apparent that the work wasn't taking too well or lasting that long?
I rolled back recently when I shifted my foot on the brake for a moment into another car. Now, it wasn't a high speed impact or anything, but it was still annoying. I told him you know if I were driving my other car, I wouldn't have had this circumstance. I said actually in most cars, I've not had this sort of issue. I said, even after your 'fix' I still had the problem, but I didn't address it soon enough. He was of course unmoved and why would he be? Apparently customers mean nothing to the service department unless they get a big fat payout.
So, yeah, if you want service or someone to work with you, Paul Cerame isn't the place. If their service treats their customers like this, I can't see a situation in which I'd buy a car from them. Why so when there is a 'risk' that they wouldn't get a nice payout for work, they shut you down?
If a dealership treats me right and takes into account the customer experience and customer concerns, I will be loyal to a fault. However, if they are. Sorry buddy, your tough luck, too bad about our work and it not working out well for you. Well, then I have no use for them and I will let anyone who cares know.
So, Paul Cerame, consider me a lost customer forever. I probably will never buy another Ford Focus and I certainly will never consider you when looking at cars or considering where to get maintenance work done. Not only have you lost a customer now and in the future, but to potentially to anyone I have influence with they will be aware about how you treat customers in the service dept. Bommarito on the other hand knows how to treat it's customers.
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