DARCARS Lanham Ford DARCARS Ripped me off for Extended Warranty Lanham MD

On Tuesday, July 17, 2018, I dropped my car off at DARCARS Ford Lanham for a 7:00 am appointment. I took my car in because I have been hearing a knocking sound in my dash when the air conditioner is on and I was afraid that my air conditioning would go out. Also, one of my turn signals was not working.

No one had called to give me an update by noon [five (5) hours later] so I decided to call. I was told that someone would call and give me an update after lunch.

By 2:30 p.m. [nearly eight (8) hours later] no one had returned my call, so I called again and was connected with the service department.

I was left on hold for 25 minutes and told someone would call me back in 10 minutes. I explained that I had stepped out of the office to call and that I had already been on hold for 25 minutes. I then asked to speak to the service manager.

I was put on hold again, and then hung up on.

Right after that, the service manager, “Wanda,” returned my call. She basically told me that there was a backup from yesterday (which no one told me about this morning or called me about yesterday to explain that my car might not be looked at until 3:00 pm or even fixed the same day). She also told me that someone would get back to me by the end of “their” day, which is 6:00 p.m.

I originally purchased my car at the Branch Avenue dealership which is near where I live and was told some years ago, that I could no longer have my vehicle serviced at that location, and that I had to take it to the Lanham location. This was a huge inconvenience, but what choice did I have – pay elsewhere, for what I already paid for here, DARCARS package, etc. This is the fifth (5th) ford that I have had and the fourth (4th) vehicle that I purchased from that particular dealership.

With the service conditions as they are, I will definitely not be purchasing another vehicle from DARCARS for myself or any of my children. Furthermore, I will not be recommending that anyone else purchase a vehicle from this dealership.

In all the years that I have had my five (5) Ford vehicles, I have never experienced such poor service.

I would think that after having purchased five (5) Ford vehicles (4 of them being top of the line, very expensive vehicles); having the DARCARS package since 2000, and purchasing a very expensive extended warranty from this Lanham location, I would get better treatment.

I am very disappointed.

So, yesterday, almost immediately after I posted the above narrative on the DARCARS site (https://www.darcars.com/contact.htm), someone from DARCARS decided to call me and let me know what was wrong with my car. No one apologized for hanging up on me or for the way that an 18-year, loyal customer was treated.

I was told that the problem was an actuator flap that would be $650 for the part and that it was not covered by the very expensive extended warranty that I purchased and that the labor would be over $1,000. I was also told that the very expensive extended warranty that I purchased would not cover the cost of the diagnostic and that would cost me $172; and the diagnostic printout that was given to me was not from a diagnostic machine, but was from a manual examination.

When I picked up my car, there still was no apology, my car had not been washed as I requested, and the cashier had an attitude.

I went on line, out of curiosity to find an actuator flap and I found one for around $106. The part that I found on the Ford Parts site (parts.ford.com) for $603.40 is an Actuator Assy, Part #14B351 that is described as Luggage Compt/Tailgate Lock Controls for 2007-2009 models of my car. The customer representative mentioned “door” and I found an Actuator Assy (part #14A626) described as Front Door Lock controls for 2006-2014 models of my car.

The clicking noise that I hear only happens if the A/C or heat is cut on. What does this door or tailgate accessory have to do with the A/C and heat?

I would also like to know what good my very expensive extended warranty is if it does not even pay for diagnostics –which I thought that it did – but the loophole is that it pays for diagnostics of only what is covered under the extended warranty – this is exploitation in its lowest form. Hence, I will also not be recommending that anyone purchase an extended warranty.

Now, I feel cheated, deceived, and defrauded.