Getting disillusioned on Lincoln 'service'

[jcthorne]

I need to vent a bit. Took our new MKT in to the Lincoln dealer where we purchased it for its second trip to service. This time primarily for an oil change, a small rattle in the instrument cluster and a driver window that squeeked when rolling up/down. Also the oil life indicator has not worked since the car was new. Dealer has looked at it before and previously agreed (after discussing with Ford) that if it was not registering by 5k miles they would deal with it. I made an appointment a week in advace via Ford/dealer online site.

 

Never got a followup so called, they told me to just bring it in.

 

What should have been a one day service with a ride to my office is now a 3 day ordeal. Was not ready monday evening due to parts, so they 'arranged' for a rental car. When I arrived after work, the Enterprise office was unmanned and they had to call someone out. 2 hours later I was driving home in a real POS chevy HHR that was dirty, had an empty tank and barely could do 65 on the freeway. (I am not kidding).

 

Tues, I spoke with dealer service writer twice and was informed first they were working on the car replacing the instrument cluster and could not find a problem with the window. Later I called and the car would not be ready and to keep the rental another day.

 

Wife used the rental during the day to travel to work and dropped the car off at my office for me to return it to the dealer. Since not ready I drove it home but never made it. About 2 miles from my home the HHR overheats and warning light comes on. I pull into a strip center parking lot and steam wafts from under hood. I get out and call wife to come get me. Look back and the car has flames under the engine compartment. I let wife go, grab my laptop off the passenger seat and call 911. FIre truck and sherrif show up. Put fire out and have car towed to storage lot. Enterprise brings me another HHR to my house. At least this one drives ok, now I know there really was something wrong with the first one all along, not just typical very underpowerd 4cyl.

 

This morning, speak with State Farm (my insurance co) seems enterprise wants to file a claim for the car.....

 

I still don't have my MKT back but I will this evening repaired or not. I also want to have a 'sit down' with the service manager but not real sure what to say.

 

The first service visit was a fiasco as well. Just a replacement of the ecoboost badge that had paint missing/chipped turned into a 3 day bodyshop ordeal due to a screwdriver happy idiot that PRIED the badge off and broke a chunk out of the composite rear door.

 

And we wonder why Lincoln cannot compete in the near luxury car market? I am a diehard Ford fan and I think the worst part about this whole situation is that the wife is about ready to give up on her new 50k truck as a bad decision and move on. I have no way to make her happy with her Lincoln again, her pride of ownership is about gone.

 

If I could undo this deal and get her Explorer back and reverse all the funds, I would in a heartbeat. I love the car but the dealership makes the experience very poor.

[silvrsvt]

That sucks about the HHR....

 

Anyways, I'd call and complain to Ford/Lincoln about your dealership experience, and try to find another dealer if you can. With Ford wanting to eliminate sub-par Lincoln dealerships...well not providing exceptional customer service is a good reason for Ford to kill off that dealership.

[BORG]

You got an HHR too? Is this the daily rental car of choice these days? Everybody I know gets stuck with HHR rentals!

 

I've been buying Lincolns for years and the excellent service experience is why I keep coming back. Experiences may vary.

[Deanh]

aside from the MORON that pried off the badge theres NOTHING really out of the ordinary here. Dealers dont stock millions and millions of parts on a "just in case" premise. The issue is diagnosed first then the necessary parts are ordered. And knowing full well the complexity of vehicles in todays market, to expect a "quick fix" on pretty much anything that ISNT routine maintenence is expecting a bit much. Add to that a shitty rental experience and I can semi understand the customers slight over reaction....that scenario would pi$$ anyone off, but the HHR experience is NOT the dealers doing.........

[stpatrick90]

You got an HHR too? Is this the daily rental car of choice these days? Everybody I know gets stuck with HHR rentals!

 

I've been buying Lincolns for years and the excellent service experience is why I keep coming back. Experiences may vary.

 

I got stuck with an HHR rental on business in Southern Cali a couple of months ago and never thought any automaker could make a car as shitty as the PT Cruiser was but somehow GM succeeded at this dishonorable task.

[jcthorne]

aside from the MORON that pried off the badge theres NOTHING really out of the ordinary here. Dealers dont stock millions and millions of parts on a "just in case" premise. The issue is diagnosed first then the necessary parts are ordered. And knowing full well the complexity of vehicles in todays market, to expect a "quick fix" on pretty much anything that ISNT routine maintenence is expecting a bit much. Add to that a shitty rental experience and I can semi understand the customers slight over reaction....that scenario would pi$$ anyone off, but the HHR experience is NOT the dealers doing.........

 

 

No, the HHR is not directly the dealer's doing although Enterprise is the dealers subcontractor and they really need to provide better rental cars. A Chevy HHR is not a reasonable replacement for a Lincoln MKT. This is why Ford pays a higher reinbursement rate for Lincoln repair rentals than for Ford. Providing the loaner car IS the Lincoln dealers responsibility, the fact that they subcontract this to Enterprise does not get them off the hook for doing it correctly. Ford provided this rental, says so right on the contract.

 

This part SHOULD have been in stock. They knew the problem before I arrived, it had already been diagnosed on a previous trip and I made the service appointment a week in advance. They had plenty of time to have the part on hand. They did not even try, nor did they communicate this until late in the day after the rental office was closed.

 

I had hoped that the dealer service experience at Lincoln would have been better than what I had come to (begrudgingly) expect from Ford dealers. So far its the same level of incompitence.

 

I see that others have had at least some good experiece with Lincoln service, hope that happens to me sometime. Going to a different dealer would be a major PIA. There are 2 Ford dealers nearby but the next nearest Lincoln dealer would require me to take time off work or schedule a rental car for even simple maintainance. Would be cheaper and less time consuming to do it myself at that point so what advantage is there to me?

 

Wish me luck in not loosing it this afternoon when I meet with the service manager.

[Deanh]

No, the HHR is not directly the dealer's doing although Enterprise is the dealers subcontractor and they really need to provide better rental cars. A Chevy HHR is not a reasonable replacement for a Lincoln MKT. This is why Ford pays a higher reinbursement rate for Lincoln repair rentals than for Ford. Providing the loaner car IS the Lincoln dealers responsibility, the fact that they subcontract this to Enterprise does not get them off the hook for doing it correctly. Ford provided this rental, says so right on the contract.

 

This part SHOULD have been in stock. They knew the problem before I arrived, it had already been diagnosed on a previous trip and I made the service appointment a week in advance. They had plenty of time to have the part on hand. They did not even try, nor did they communicate this until late in the day after the rental office was closed.

 

I had hoped that the dealer service experience at Lincoln would have been better than what I had come to (begrudgingly) expect from Ford dealers. So far its the same level of incompitence.

 

I see that others have had at least some good experiece with Lincoln service, hope that happens to me sometime. Going to a different dealer would be a major PIA. There are 2 Ford dealers nearby but the next nearest Lincoln dealer would require me to take time off work or schedule a rental car for even simple maintainance. Would be cheaper and less time consuming to do it myself at that point so what advantage is there to me?

 

Wish me luck in not loosing it this afternoon when I meet with the service manager.

Enterprize is NOT the dealers responsibility in the slightest, they just supply the loaner car not a direct replacement, and they dont even have to do that, Ford pays Enterprize they dont TELL them they have to do anything other than supply transport, they could have put you in ANYTHING. Loaoner cars are most definitely not the norm as in prior years, although i am talking from a Ford, not a Lincoln perspective. Parts are an anomoly, basically dealers do a search and get the closest one possible, but unfortunately there can be delays...i myself waited 6 days for a power window switch, but working at a dealer I must have more patience because I am familiar with the process. Not apologizing just offering a different perspective, I know we all embrace the magic bean philosophy ( just add water ) but unfortunately in the ever increasing complexity of repairs that simply is not the case. I do wish you luck though and hopefully your talk with the Service director will calm some of the storm. However, you cannot hold them in any way responsible for the Enterprize debaucle....the dealership and Ford have NO control over that at all...their communication skils on the other hand are an obvious weakness....

Edited May 4, 2011 by Deanh

[jcthorne]

Spoke with the service writer. Truck will not be ready today most likely. Seems they can only work on one item at a time. Car sat for better than a day waiting on the instrument cluster that should have been there when I dropped off the car and they did not even look at the window squeek until today when the cluster was installed. Mechanic told service manger 'no problem found' He looked at it and found the squeek so back it went to the service bay....

 

Yes, the dealer and Ford DO have a say on what enterprise provides. The rep is an in dealer location under direct contract to the dealer. Yes Ford does have standards for loaner cars for Lincoln customers. And, unlike ford car repairs, I am ENTITLED to a loaner of simiar type vehicle from the first day of a repair. Its a paid part of the contract/warranty. Its part of why a Lincoln is more expensive than a similar Ford. I PAID for this abuse. An HHR is not a similar type vehicle to an MKT in any form. Service manager admitted that and intends to work with Enterprise for future. I was supposed to be given a Ford Edge or Flex. Either would have been fine.

 

If the part could not be there for the appointment, I should have been told before I brough the truck in. Or at the very least when I arrived. Not just hold my truck hostage for 4 days while I am reduced to a POS. If I had any idea this was going to drag out this long, I would NEVER have accepted the HHR in the first place. It was only supposed to be overnight when I took it. The dealer has no idea how to manage a service department. Work is not scheduled at all, its only managed by crisis. Work is done as needed and reacted to, never planned. This is NOT acceptable way to run a service department. Ford will know if they don't already.

 

I heard through the grapevine that my scathing report of the last service visit with the busted rear hatch has some folks on notice and hence the direct involvement of the service manager from the time I made the appointment. If someones job is on the line this time, they best just start looking. I hope someone does loose a job over this. If that is the only way they and the dealership can learn.

 

Thanks for everyones input. The venting does help.

[timmm55]

Lincoln dealers need to have their own loaner cars at least for larger market areas. . Locally I see that BMW, Mercedes and Lexus have their "Courtesy Cars". I did an advisor training stint at a Mercedes dealership, the loaner cars were all just the C class, even if they brought in an S Class. Still a hell of a lot better than an HHR!

 

 

If Lincoln wants to really be in the same league, they need to step it up.

Edited May 4, 2011 by timmm55

[PREMiERdrum]

The loaner situation will be remedied by the new Dealership Standards, requiring Lincoln dealers to only use Lincoln loaner cars. Still, sorry about your experience. If some numbnuts took a screwdriver to my truck trying to pry the badge off, it'd take a lapdance from Pippa Middleton to get me back to that place.

 

Are there any other Lincoln dealers around you could try out?

[Deanh]

Spoke with the service writer. Truck will not be ready today most likely. Seems they can only work on one item at a time. Car sat for better than a day waiting on the instrument cluster that should have been there when I dropped off the car and they did not even look at the window squeek until today when the cluster was installed. Mechanic told service manger 'no problem found' He looked at it and found the squeek so back it went to the service bay....

 

Yes, the dealer and Ford DO have a say on what enterprise provides. The rep is an in dealer location under direct contract to the dealer. Yes Ford does have standards for loaner cars for Lincoln customers. And, unlike ford car repairs, I am ENTITLED to a loaner of simiar type vehicle from the first day of a repair. Its a paid part of the contract/warranty. Its part of why a Lincoln is more expensive than a similar Ford. I PAID for this abuse. An HHR is not a similar type vehicle to an MKT in any form. Service manager admitted that and intends to work with Enterprise for future. I was supposed to be given a Ford Edge or Flex. Either would have been fine.

 

If the part could not be there for the appointment, I should have been told before I brough the truck in. Or at the very least when I arrived. Not just hold my truck hostage for 4 days while I am reduced to a POS. If I had any idea this was going to drag out this long, I would NEVER have accepted the HHR in the first place. It was only supposed to be overnight when I took it. The dealer has no idea how to manage a service department. Work is not scheduled at all, its only managed by crisis. Work is done as needed and reacted to, never planned. This is NOT acceptable way to run a service department. Ford will know if they don't already.

 

I heard through the grapevine that my scathing report of the last service visit with the busted rear hatch has some folks on notice and hence the direct involvement of the service manager from the time I made the appointment. If someones job is on the line this time, they best just start looking. I hope someone does loose a job over this. If that is the only way they and the dealership can learn.

 

Thanks for everyones input. The venting does help.

yup venting does help....but heres a sidenote...how many cars should Enterprize buy to appese everyone?...thats THEIR money, not Fords, they dont buy cars to cater solely to service customers, and if none are avail its tough tamales...so its a no win sometimes when someone expects a similar car...you should have worn a disguise when driving the HHR to save embarassment.....people seem to expect the world, personally if it were me I wouldnt mind anything if it was on someone elses dime, but thats just me, and it may be a reflection of me working at the dealership level for 25 years. I have the capacity to accept mistakes and errors if theres a valid excuse. In this case Enterprize didnt have a replacment car to satisfy your demands...ok, I can handle that...but a car blowing up...rthats salt in the wound for sure., but is that anyones fault?....as for the dealer, they probably should of ordered the part and let you know when it arrived before dragging you in...there IS blame there, unless the problem turned out to be different from initial diagnostics...which, crazily enough actually happens! If that wasnt the case then yes they can be held accountable...communication with customers is paramount, because lets face it, when someone visits a service dept for anything else than routine maintenence then usually they arent the happiest of campers from the get go.

Edited May 4, 2011 by Deanh

[Deanh]

Lincoln dealers need to have their own loaner cars at least for larger market areas. . Locally I see that BMW, Mercedes and Lexus have their "Courtesy Cars". I did an advisor training stint at a Mercedes dealership, the loaner cars were all just the C class, even if they brought in an S Class. Still a hell of a lot better than an HHR!

 

 

If Lincoln wants to really be in the same league, they need to step it up.

its ALL about containing overheads...especially with a struggling franchaise....the profitability on the three comparos you threw out there is SUBSTANTIALLY more than a Lincoln dealer...

[FordBuyer]

Lincoln dealers need to have their own loaner cars at least for larger market areas. . Locally I see that BMW, Mercedes and Lexus have their "Courtesy Cars". I did an advisor training stint at a Mercedes dealership, the loaner cars were all just the C class, even if they brought in an S Class. Still a hell of a lot better than an HHR!

 

 

If Lincoln wants to really be in the same league, they need to step it up.

 

I think you said it all.

[Deanh]

I think you said it all.

I would expect so, one thing I have witnessed with "higher" line cars is the customers sense of entitlement that comes with it. I would hope Lincoln gos that route, this poor guy has gone through hell, something that could have been avoided with same make loaners. Unfortunately the practice of loaners comes at a price...in higher MSRPS and ATP's to cover the additional overhead. But that said, when Lincoln gets its act together and produces the cars it is capable of, and which I believe ARE coming, the desirability will adress both issues.

[Harley Lover]

Spoke with the service writer. Truck will not be ready today most likely. Seems they can only work on one item at a time. Car sat for better than a day waiting on the instrument cluster that should have been there when I dropped off the car and they did not even look at the window squeek until today when the cluster was installed. Mechanic told service manger 'no problem found' He looked at it and found the squeek so back it went to the service bay....

 

Yes, the dealer and Ford DO have a say on what enterprise provides. The rep is an in dealer location under direct contract to the dealer. Yes Ford does have standards for loaner cars for Lincoln customers. And, unlike ford car repairs, I am ENTITLED to a loaner of simiar type vehicle from the first day of a repair. Its a paid part of the contract/warranty. Its part of why a Lincoln is more expensive than a similar Ford. I PAID for this abuse. An HHR is not a similar type vehicle to an MKT in any form. Service manager admitted that and intends to work with Enterprise for future. I was supposed to be given a Ford Edge or Flex. Either would have been fine.

 

If the part could not be there for the appointment, I should have been told before I brough the truck in. Or at the very least when I arrived. Not just hold my truck hostage for 4 days while I am reduced to a POS. If I had any idea this was going to drag out this long, I would NEVER have accepted the HHR in the first place. It was only supposed to be overnight when I took it. The dealer has no idea how to manage a service department. Work is not scheduled at all, its only managed by crisis. Work is done as needed and reacted to, never planned. This is NOT acceptable way to run a service department. Ford will know if they don't already.

 

I heard through the grapevine that my scathing report of the last service visit with the busted rear hatch has some folks on notice and hence the direct involvement of the service manager from the time I made the appointment. If someones job is on the line this time, they best just start looking. I hope someone does loose a job over this. If that is the only way they and the dealership can learn.

 

Thanks for everyones input. The venting does help.

OP, I think you've been dead on correct in your assessment of the situation, including the crap HHR. The only ones arguing with you work at dealers, imagine that.

[Deanh]

OP, I think you've been dead on correct in your assessment of the situation, including the crap HHR. The only ones arguing with you work at dealers, imagine that.

and certain others are voicing opinions based on exactly what experience at a dealership level? IMAGINE THAT!............not arguing, trying to offer perspective from a different angle...there are ALWAYS two sides to a story...and somewhere in between is a happy medium.....a LOT of this is just plain bad luck.....but as is the norm the finger gets directly pointed at the Dealership...it MUST have been their fault Enterprize supplied an HHR, they must have sabotaged the first rental, THEY DELIBERATELY dragged their feet getting the parts ( they may have dragged their feet but i sincerely doubt just to wind the customer up ) I say its a mix of bad luck and lacadazical....I dont think ANY of this is deliberate....I hope it all works out for him

[ANTAUS]

I love my Lincoln dealership, I never have to call to be on top of them, they explain to me the process, and if I need a rental they always provide another Lincoln. Through Enterprise...one time the rental car lady didnt have my info on her scree, so shes giving me this whole list of underwhelming lackluster vehicles like Hyundai, corolla, etc and I'm like "Hm no, i dont do death traps", then 'service advisor" came by, fixed the issue, out with a Premium. The service itself was a big reason I kept with the Lincoln Edge, CUV thinking, u know, the smallone...., instead of going with the Ford Edge.

[MY93SHO]

Spoke with the service writer. Truck will not be ready today most likely. Seems they can only work on one item at a time. Car sat for better than a day waiting on the instrument cluster that should have been there when I dropped off the car and they did not even look at the window squeek until today when the cluster was installed. Mechanic told service manger 'no problem found' He looked at it and found the squeek so back it went to the service bay....

 

Yes, the dealer and Ford DO have a say on what enterprise provides. The rep is an in dealer location under direct contract to the dealer. Yes Ford does have standards for loaner cars for Lincoln customers. And, unlike ford car repairs, I am ENTITLED to a loaner of simiar type vehicle from the first day of a repair. Its a paid part of the contract/warranty. Its part of why a Lincoln is more expensive than a similar Ford. I PAID for this abuse. An HHR is not a similar type vehicle to an MKT in any form. Service manager admitted that and intends to work with Enterprise for future. I was supposed to be given a Ford Edge or Flex. Either would have been fine.

 

If the part could not be there for the appointment, I should have been told before I brough the truck in. Or at the very least when I arrived. Not just hold my truck hostage for 4 days while I am reduced to a POS. If I had any idea this was going to drag out this long, I would NEVER have accepted the HHR in the first place. It was only supposed to be overnight when I took it. The dealer has no idea how to manage a service department. Work is not scheduled at all, its only managed by crisis. Work is done as needed and reacted to, never planned. This is NOT acceptable way to run a service department. Ford will know if they don't already.

 

I heard through the grapevine that my scathing report of the last service visit with the busted rear hatch has some folks on notice and hence the direct involvement of the service manager from the time I made the appointment. If someones job is on the line this time, they best just start looking. I hope someone does loose a job over this. If that is the only way they and the dealership can learn.

 

Thanks for everyones input. The venting does help.

 

What you need to do is put everything you said here in a letter and send it to the General Manager of the dealership.

 

Resist the urge to include curse words and snarkiness. Just spell out the fact and why you feel the situation sucks.

 

I'd be interested if he answers you back.

 

Had a salesman come back to parts yesterday. Wanted to know if the Weathertech floor mats that he ordered "a month or two ago" were there for an Equinox.

 

Told him "you didn't order any. You asked price, we told you. We told you we needed to know if it had a post or hook retainer for the drivers mat. You replied that the unit wasn't here yet so you didn't know. You never got back to us so we ordered nothing"

 

" But I need those mats today! I was going to take tomorrow off and I need to deliver the car!"

 

"To bad, should have got back to us with the info we need." I had an internal smile every time I saw him at work today. Idiots been selling cars for 9 years, think he'd know the program by now. He's a selfish BS artist so it's good to see karma kick in once and a while.

[fordtech1]

I am sorry to hear about your experience. Unfortunately this seems to happen a lot. Lack of quality workmanship, communication, and just plain giving a shit, seems to be a issue at almost every customer oriented business. This applies to anything from Home Depot to Burger King or car dealers. Too much "thats not my job".

I still blame a lot of the crappy rushed repairs on a outdated pay system for technicians. Warranty work is a losing battle as far as pay goes. Pay should be based on several things, including repair quality, not a time study on a lab car.

 

Side note : I know some people that work at dealers will post some opinions about how they disagree with me, but I don't care you will not change my mind.

 

BTW from my understanding, any Ford paid "TAP" days (rental) is to be used on a FLM product. I have always been told that only in a emergency should you rent something other than. Also, for us, if we have a customer that needs transportation and our loaners are out we just put them in a used vehicle for a day.

 

All that aside, I agree Lincoln and Ford need to step up the customer service. There's way too much competition. I do applaud the few great dealers. Hopefully you will get your MKT back and repaired correctly.

[RichardJensen]

A couple thoughts:

 

1) Your dealership is not managed well. What FordTech1 said above is relevant: An Enterprise franchise IN a Ford dealership stuck you in a Chevrolet that had not been maintained (doesn't make the Enterprise franchise look good either). That indicates lousy management.

 

Dealership could have, but didn't order a replacement part when they knew a vehicle was coming in. That's lousy management. Dealership could have but didn't do other work while waiting for the part to arrive. That's lousy management.

 

---

 

2) AFAIK, Ford techs can work on LM products, and vice versa. Maybe check with one of the Ford dealerships and see if they'll do your Lincoln warranty work.

 

---

 

But, bottom line, Ford has no direct means of controlling how well or poorly a dealership is managed, and this dealership looks to be quite poorly managed. My guess is that it's either a low-volume 'backwater' dealership for a national chain--a sort of Siberia for poorly performing managers, or it's ran by an in-over-his-head PhD (Poppa had a Dealership).

Edited May 5, 2011 by RichardJensen

[BrewfanGRB]

yup venting does help....but heres a sidenote...how many cars should Enterprize buy to appese everyone?...thats THEIR money, not Fords, they dont buy cars to cater solely to service customers, and if none are avail its tough tamales...so its a no win sometimes when someone expects a similar car...you should have worn a disguise when driving the HHR to save embarassment.....people seem to expect the world, personally if it were me I wouldnt mind anything if it was on someone elses dime, but thats just me, and it may be a reflection of me working at the dealership level for 25 years. I have the capacity to accept mistakes and errors if theres a valid excuse. In this case Enterprize didnt have a replacment car to satisfy your demands...ok, I can handle that...but a car blowing up...rthats salt in the wound for sure., but is that anyones fault?....as for the dealer, they probably should of ordered the part and let you know when it arrived before dragging you in...there IS blame there, unless the problem turned out to be different from initial diagnostics...which, crazily enough actually happens! If that wasnt the case then yes they can be held accountable...communication with customers is paramount, because lets face it, when someone visits a service dept for anything else than routine maintenence then usually they arent the happiest of campers from the get go.

 

I respect you Dean and you bringing the dealer's side of the story to this board. But, this is absolutely wrong headed. First, you seem to have either skimmed the OP's post or not comprehended it. This is warranty work and when the vehicle is receiving a covered repair under warranty he IS entitled (despite your idea that that's a dirty word) to a rental/courtesy. It IS Ford's dime, not Enterprise's. Enterprise shouldn't be INVOLVED at all in the first place. I still wonder what the requirements of the dealer are to comply with the warranty. Can they really put the customer in whatever they want? And if think that giving a courtesy/rental is just being nice, so the customer should take what they are given and shut up about it already, then that's pretty concerning. To me, the customer shouldn't really expect an MKT back, but an HHR is obnoxious. It's not even a Ford-Lincoln product!

 

I'm sorry you think that everyone is "entitled" and you're a wonderful, go-with-the-flow kind of guy. Good for you. Frankly, this isn't even an issue, for me, of bringing Lincoln's service standards up to those of other luxury makes. I drive a Ford product, so if it has a warranty issue, I better be put in a Ford product. If I wanted to drive a POS Chevy every day, I would have bought one.

 

There is a MASSIVE difference between a simple mistake or screw up and sheer incompetence. And Ford's payment schedule for warranty work is irrelevant. Are you seriously arguing that customers should just learn to be more patient and accept mistakes because the dealers aren't being paid well enough to do the work? That's mind-boggling.

 

Edited: For the 3rd time in an effort (probaby unsuccessful) to be less of an asshole in my response.

Edited May 5, 2011 by BrewfanGRB

[BrewfanGRB]

A couple thoughts:

 

1) Your dealership is not managed well. What FordTech1 said above is relevant: An Enterprise franchise IN a Ford dealership stuck you in a Chevrolet that had not been maintained (doesn't make the Enterprise franchise look good either). That indicates lousy management.

 

I re-read OP's posts and from them, didn't interpret that the Enterprise franchise was IN the dealership. I assume it was just the nearest Enterprise and the dealer uses the reimbursement rate from Ford to rent the loaner/courtesy car for the customer. (Or worse, Ford offers a reimbursement rate of "X" and the dealer puts the client in "whatever", pays the least it can to Enterprise and keeps the difference. I doubt that's really true, because even I am not that big of a cynic).

 

I would still be interested in the requirements (since we're still "pre-new rules for Lincoln dealerships") on what the dealer has to provide. Just "A" rental/courtesy car? Or a Lincoln? Or a near-equivalent F-L product? OP's comments after meeting with the manager seem to indicate he should have been given an Edge or Flex.

[PREMiERdrum]

I would still be interested in the requirements (since we're still "pre-new rules for Lincoln dealerships") on what the dealer has to provide. Just "A" rental/courtesy car? Or a Lincoln? Or a near-equivalent F-L product? OP's comments after meeting with the manager seem to indicate he should have been given an Edge or Flex.

 

The *new* Lincoln standards require a comparable Lincoln vehicle as a loaner for all service visits.

[BrewfanGRB]

The *new* Lincoln standards require a comparable Lincoln vehicle as a loaner for all service visits.

 

Right. I guess my understanding that *those* standards weren't yet in place until the new plan for dealership standards was fully implemented. Or am I wrong or misunderstanding you...and that those requirements are in place NOW? It still seems unreasonable, even absent the new standards, that the dealer could put an MKT owner into anything it wanted. (If jcthorne got put into an HHR, what's to stop them from putting him in a Cobalt?)

[Mark B. Morrow]

The loaner situation will be remedied by the new Dealership Standards, requiring Lincoln dealers to only use Lincoln loaner cars. Still, sorry about your experience. If some numbnuts took a screwdriver to my truck trying to pry the badge off, it'd take a lapdance from Pippa Middleton to get me back to that place.

 

Are there any other Lincoln dealers around you could try out?

 

 

As long as Pippa isn't wearing one of those ridiculous hats, I'm in.