This is a copy of the email I have now sent TWICE (3/13 & 3/16) to Steve Buss, owner of Buss Ford with no reply. I can only assume this is how Buss conducts business and I am posting my experiences for others to make an informed choice before doing business with this company. (I searched Buss Ford on usacomplaints.com before I did business with them and found no reports)
Again, this is MY personal experience, maybe (hopefully) it's NOT business as usual for Buss Ford, but they ARE my experiences, and I believe that Buss has been given a reasonable amount of time to respond to me, so I am choosing to pass my experiences on... Please pardon the length but it accurately accounts for my experiences.
Hello Steve,
I am emailing you to let you know that unless an attempt is made to retain my business, I will no longer be a customer of Buss Ford for ANY product or service in the future. Although I understand that your time is very valuable as a key member of your organization, I would ask you to read what I have written before you forward it on to someone else to contact me, as I feel I have gone down all avenues available and am making one last effort to communicate my experiences with you. Please pardon the length, but I wanted to include as much information as I could.
I would also like to preface this email by letting you know that my issues are still unresolved, and I would like to allow Buss the opportunity to resolve them.
Roughly a month ago (2/13) I brought my 2005 Ford Taurus to Buss Ford's service department to have some maintenance performed. The things that I intended to have serviced included:
1. (The main reason for my service visit) On-board fuel-economy instrumentation erratic-in the past six months, I have experienced a progressively worsening problem with fuel function readings. For example, I used to fill up on an empty tank and get around a 300 mile to empty readout, however, in the past 6 months or so, it has progressively gone down to 200 miles after a fill up. Also, I can drive as little as 50 miles on a full tank and the fuel gauge will register a 1/2 tank of gas. Also, average miles to empty readout has been progressively worsening as well, in the range of 12-15 MPG (on readout). Although I was not necessarily sure these problems were anything beyond an instrumentation malfunction, I obviously want my onboard fuel economy to register more accurately.
2. A month or so before I brought my car in for service my check engine light came several times-wanted to have this looked at and addressed. I passed on my concern that this may be related to the fuel readout problem - the only reason I thought that they may have been related was due to the fact that I took my car to Auto Zone and had them hook their computer up to my car and the readout of the error code related to a fuel issue.
3. Needed new tires X4.
4. Rotors needed re-surfacing.
5. Needed new wiper blades.
5. Needed trans flush.
6. Needed oil change
I made an appointment with Jason to drop my car off on Friday February 13th with the understanding that the car may or may not be ready for pick up Friday afternoon/evening. I called Jason Friday evening and he said they didn't get a chance to look at my car and they would look at it first thing Monday morning. Monday came and went with no contact from Buss Ford.
On Tuesday (3/17) I called and inquired about the status of the repairs and found out that Jason was not working Tuesday. The service representative I spoke with, Bob, advised me that Buss had attempted to call me Monday and I asked him what number he called. He gave me a number that was an out of area number (713-387-1800) which I see printed on my final work order as my "residence phone" and told me that that was the number he had for me. I let him know that this was not my number at all and they must have confused me with another customer. At this point I begin to get mildly irritated.
On Friday Jason told me that I would be picking up my car Either Friday or Monday "At the latest", now it's Tuesday and I am finding out that a whole day (Monday) has gone by needlessly due to a clerical error and Buss Ford not being able to contact me to go over and approve work to be performed. I approve the charges and agree on a price of $930 "out the door" for the services listed above. I am told that the computer system that monitors the gasoline consumption is "not always accurate" and that Buss hooked up a computer to my car and got a reading over 24 instant MPG.
I re-iterate that the instrumentation has gotten significantly more erratic and I thought that there was a bigger problem that was not being addressed. I was told that there were no problems found with the fuel system and to basically ignore the fact that the instrumentation has gone from reading 300 (ish) miles to empty on a fill up to 200 (ish) miles to empty on a fill up, along with the other erratic behaviors mentioned in #1, my main reason for bringing my car in for service in the first place.
When I came to pick up my car on Tuesday evening I was given a price by Bob of $970, and was told that "Jason must not have included tax in the work order", keep in mind we discussed "out the door pricing" ($930). After several minutes of convincing Bob that my agreed price was $930 he agreed to take off shop fees to bring my price down to $930. Again, mildly irritating, but mistakes do happen.
Although I felt uneasy about the fact that the problem had not been addressed, I paid and left after Bob told me that it's basically just a "unreliable system" of measuring fuel economy. (Still, after only driving 50 or so miles, the gas gauge shouldn't be on 1/2 tank, I shouldn't be getting 12 MPG gallon readout when 6 months ago I was getting 18-20 MPG readout-a huge difference.)
On 3/11 less than a month after picking up my car (and less than 200 /- miles) while driving I noticed that my gas gauge had flat-lined, basically gone to a static position well beyond the red "E"-line. I also noticed a message that read "Fuel Comp Err". I immediately called Buss Ford and Spoke to Jason and told him what was happening. I also told him that my average MPG had worsened and were now at 11 MPG. I expressed frustration due to the fact that this issue was related to the issue I brought the car in for a month ago. Jason told me that I would have to pay $50-100 to diagnose the problem if I was to bring it in again. I expressed my unhappiness with this as the issue should have been addressed a month ago, and told him that I didn't think it was fair that I would have to pay for diagnostic charges at this point.
Now keep in mind that I also wanted to have additional work done at Buss, work that Jason had put in a quote in my invoice (#164421) in addition to having the fuel system addressed, again. I expressed this to Jason and told him that I wanted to come back to Buss, but it certainly didn't feel fair that I would have to be inconvenienced by diagnostic fees at this point because there was clearly something that was overlooked in the first place. (I understand mistakes happen, just don't penalize ME for them!)
Jason advised me that he would have to check with his service manager Bob and get back to me. He told me to expect a call back Wednesday. I ended up calling Jason back at around 11AM on Thursday because I had not heard back from him. Based on his reaction when I called (he said they got "bust Wednesday night") and by the time I was on hold, I am certain that he had not talked to Bob until this point, which really irritated me-I understand I am not your only customer, but I was promised a call back Wednesday and it's 11AM on Thursday-even if there was no time to call me back Wednesday, you're service dept. Has been open for 4 hours at this point... He put me on hold and 3-5 minutes later Bob came on the phone telling me that I hadn't told Buss about my erratic fuel gauge/computer problems when I first came in. Nonsense, I told him, this was the reason I brought my car to a Ford dealership in the first place. Bob went on to tell me about a Ford bulletin that stated that my vehicle was susceptible to sulfur deposits/buildup; and that before any items were replaced and or repaired, Ford was strongly advising customers to choose gasoline with minimal sulfur levels; Bob also told me that Ford recommends BP gasoline, and even told me that a Chevron fuel additive may help the issue. He offered to provide me with a complimentary bottle of the additive as well.
At this point I decided to move forward with the additional 2 items Jason had originally quoted me and told Bob I wanted to bring my car in. Bob transferred me back to Jason to make an appointment. Jason told me that I could bring my car in Tuesday and I began to confirm pricing on the quoted items. Jason went on to quote me a total of over $700, which according to Jason, reflected a "savings" as opposed to doing these 2 maintenance items separately (Strut Bearing replacement and Wheel Bearing Replacement) Now keep in mind that the combined total Jason put in writing a month ago on my work order was $500 for these 2 items. The reason I confirmed pricing was due to the "misunderstanding" of out the door pricing in my last experience with Buss. When I inquired about why the total had gone up by over $200, Jason replied by looking up the quote and answered, "I must have not included parts".
At this point I am REALLY starting to feel like Buss ford is trying to take me for a ride. This is now the 2nd time Buss has made a significant accounting error in their favor. I express my concern to Jason and he advises me he will "match" the price he put in the quote; (oh boy, you're going to honor your promise, WOW, sorry, you're not doing me any favors here.)
I tell Jason that I am not going to keep my appointment and that I will not be returning to Buss and I want to tell Bob why and Jason transfers me to Bob's voicemail. I leave him a message and several hours later call him back only to find out he has "gone to lunch". (WOW, I hope he's enjoying his lunch hour, all I want at this point is a reason to come back to Buss as I don't want to shop around for a new dealer) Several hours later, I call Bob back again after not hearing from him, and ask if he got my voicemail. He says he did. Wow, ok, apparently Buss doesn't care about me at all even though I just dropped almost $1,000 and am needing $500 in additional work. I told Bob that I needed a reason to come back to Buss. He tells me that they are going to honor the original quote which is "much less" than I would pay anywhere else. Now keep in mind that although this may be the case, Buss should have put themselves in MY shoes. I'm not going to feel like Buss is going out of their way to keep me as a customer by following through with what was promised in the first place, especially after Jason tried to charge me an additional $200 and all of the other "errors" Buss has made this far. I told Bob I was not asking for Bob to give away the store, but I really needed a reason at this point to pass another Ford Dealer on my way to Buss (a 30 minute drive from Crystal Lake) Bob told me that in his "30 years of doing this that he has never seen where a discount would redeem errors and retain customers" HOGWASH. What planet are you on Bob? Although people are repairing cars right now in the current economic climate rather than buying cars, I can't see how he can leave my money on the table! Again, I did WANT to come back to Buss, I just needed Buss to, in some way, show understanding that I have not had the best experiences to date. I wasn't even asking for anything in particular, I just needed a token gesture of good faith. I didn't quantify what that should have been, I just figured that Buss could come up with something...
Bob even said himself "Look, we haven't done anything to earn your trust at this point"... So I tell him: "EARN IT BACK!", give me a REASON to come back-I'm 28 years old, I'll buy many more cars and have these cars serviced and maintained many more times, do you really want this to be the last contact I ever have with your dealership? Bob basically said yes by saying nothing. I could hear him sipping his drink and could imagine him staring off into the distance, he was just not interested and this was painfully obvious. Basically he told me that he couldn't' do anything but honor the quote. At this point, I have been on the phone with Bob and Jason for an hour, and I have missed a 12:00PM appointment that my wife and I had.
Sorry Buss Ford. That doesn't cut it.
Here's a re-cap of what I experienced to date with Buss
1. My main reason for bringing the vehicle in for service was not addressed, and I was accused of "not telling Buss I was experiencing these problems"... Why didn't someone at least tell me about the gasoline additive a month ago??? (which I am not convinced will solve the problem-I bought it yesterday and don't have high hopes) My car's gas gauge and all instrumentation is totally unreliable and I have no idea how much fuel is in my tank because of this. Not a good thing if I run out of gas with my baby in the car!!!
2. Buss wanted to charge me additional monies to have this problem "re-evaluated" a month later
3. My car sat on your lot needlessly for a day because somehow another customers phone # was entered into my account information in your computer system.
4. The total you tried to charge me was $40 more than agreed price
5. Buss tried to overcharge me more than $200 on additional work on my 2nd service visit.
I'm sure if you were in MY shoes you would feel uneasy at this point as well.
Why should I choose Buss Ford again, even thought I want to, I want to feel like you guys appreciate ME-the little guy. The guy that keeps YOU in business.
Apparently Buss Ford doesn't appreciate ME, the little guy. So I choose to take my business elsewhere. The most powerful tool a consumer can use.
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