Ferman Ford

Hello, I wanted to share my recent experience with the service department. My 2015 F-150 had a large cloud of white smoke coming from the exhaust when it was started after sitting unused for more than service department. My 2015 F-150 had a large cloud of white smoke coming from the exhaust when it was started after sitting unused for more than a day. I took it to Ferman Ford, 24825 US Hwy 19 N, Clearwater FL 33763, August 31, 2022 for service. My adviser was Jeff Vuncannon. He called the next day and I sent him a video of the smoke cloud and described the issue. I got a call back 30 minutes later and was informed that the issue was the oil feed tube for the turbocharger. Jeff said this was a known issue with my truck and Ford had put out a service bulletin about the issue. I had Ford's PremiumCARE warranty on my vehicle. This warranty covers everything on the truck with the exception of maintenance or cosmetic issues and specifically mentions that it covers the turbocharger. Jeff told me my warranty did not not cover the issue and wanted almost $900 to fix it. I told him repeatedly that the warranty covered these types of issues. I even had him pull up the website where it clearly stated that turbochargers were covered. He insisted that I could either pay the cost of the repair or pay $150 for a diagnostic fee for the less than 30 minutes it took him to show the video to the mechanic assigned and learn it was a known issue. I requested a service manager and was transferred to William Pannier. I went through all this again and he also told me that the warranty would not cover the repair. He gave me the number to Ford customer service and advised me to call them. After several transfers and a fair amount of time on the phone with Ford I reached Ford's pre-approval line for warranty work. The woman there was great. She gave me the number of the service bulletin, the part number the dealer needed to run and my claim number. She confirmed that the repair was covered and the service bulletin had notes about coverage. When I asked, she confirmed that the dealership should have called Ford warranty pre-approval and not made the customer do the leg work. I called William back armed with the information from Ford. I gave him all the info and he called back later saying the repair would be covered. A few days later I picked up my truck and requested a survey as I was unhappy. Both Jeff and William tried to talk me into leaving a positive review. I told them I felt I had received poor service. If I had not spent hours on the phone I would be out almost $900. I refused to give a positive review. A few days later I saw my truck still had the white smoke cloud after a cold start. I called Ferman and left a message for a different service manager, Joe Wheeler. I got a call back from William who said Joe was unavailable. I explained my truck was still not fixed. He said before he would make an appointment we had to discuss the survey. He said that he would not feel “comfortable “ working on my truck if I did not leave a positive review. I told him I had already paid a deductible to have the warranty repair and he could not just refuse to fix the issue. He said he could refund the deductible and refuse to fix the issue. I replied that would be great. After the service I had received thus far I would be happy to go somewhere else. He backed off from that statement saying he would do the repair, but again pressured me for an assurance I would leave a positive review. I was very uncomfortable. I refused to make some sort of positive review promise as the truck was not even fixed yet. He eventually made an appointment for me but it felt like he was trying to extort a positive review from me and holding the repair of my truck hostage until I made some sort of promise to do so. On a positive note he did arrange for me to have a loaner vehicle for this second attempt to fix the issue. I drove up to Ferman again and dropped my truck off with Jeff a few days later. I sent him a new video of the smoke from the truck. He asked me to wait while he showed it to the mechanic. They both came back a few minutes later. The mechanic said that after the oil line repair white smoke continues to come from the exhaust for 500 to 1000 miles. I was never told this when I picked up the truck or when I called back to make a new appointment. The mechanic was right and the smoke has burned off now, but I wasted half a day again driving up to Ferman to drop off the truck. I am very disappointed with the whole experience. I love my truck but have had several bad experiences at dealers. None were as bad as this but I have not felt like a valued customer. Sadly, these experiences will influence what brand of vehicle I buy next. More

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