Waconia Ford Ford Motor Company Charged $400 For "Repair" That Doesn't Work, Refused to Refund Waconia, Minnesota

I brought my truck in to Waconia Ford, one of several vehicles I have had serviced there over the years.  I paid them $800 to have my turbo "cleaned out" which seems to be working fine, but based on the rest of the story I wonder if this repair was a scam as well.

My air conditioner was not working properly.  I had a quote from someone else, but wanting a second opinion, I brought it to Waconia Ford where we had been customers for several years.  I was delighted when they called to tell me that the repair of the a/c would be $400 - saving me what I thought was a ton of money.  I even posted to their Facebook page a thank you... which I have since deleted.

I picked up the truck and it blew cold air.  I was happy!

24 hours later, it was not working again.  I brought it back to Waconia Ford.  They called me the next day and told me it would require a new compressor, and an additional $1700.  Mistakes happen.  I elected to not spend an additional $1700 with them (as the two repairs combined then would be $2100 --- several hundred dollars over the first estimate I received).  So, I made arrangements to pick up the vehicle.

They refused to refund me the $400.  It was escalated to their service manager, who actually stated that because he was a "good guy" he was not going to charge me anything additional.  :-)

So, I left them a truck that needed an A/C to be fixed, and got back a truck in identical condition plus a $400 bill.  Henry Ford is probably rolling over in his grave. 

The service business is a tough business.  Sometimes things don't work out well.  Even qualified technicians can make mistakes... I understand that.  However, when a mistake is made by the technician, the dealership has an obligation to make it right.  In this case, $400 worth of fraudulent charges on their part cost them several thousand dollars per year of ongoing business from us, not to mention our replacement car business (I currently own several Ford vehicles).  All they needed to do was the right thing... instead I am simply disputing the fraudulent charges through my credit card company.