Just wanted to vent a little. Bought a very nice 2004 Ford focus zlt with low miles for a excellent price. 5 days later the brakes hang up on the front. we have the extended warrenty bumber to bumber for the next 3 years or 100,000 which ever comes first. My wife calls the dealer cause it is her car and says hey I am bringing the car in to get everything sealed and while it is there the front brakes are hanging up and the calipers need to be replaced. The dealer takes the car does the sealing and then tells her we drove the car and the brakes are fine you must have had some dust in them thats all. My wife brings the car home (big mistake) and I check the brakes by touching the roters (another big mistake). and they burn my fingers. Now my wife has probably repaired as many cars from simple brake jobs to total rebuilds as most mechanics. I found out she brought the car home cause she was so mad she was going to hit the guy. He told her most women think the brakes are bad when it is just a little dust. They had not driven the car 1 mile. Heres my beef
Why is it when a woman takes a car into a repair shop or to get tires fixed etc. they treat them like a dumb woman. This is the 2000’s not the 1800’s. This is not the first time this has happened to my wife or other women I know and it really gets my blood boiliing. I for the life of me don’t know how the sex of a person can determine the intelligents. Fortuneatley the dealer called me today. We, shall we say had a chat about how my wife was treated. They will be sending a car out for her to drive and picking up her car to fix it. I should have never had to talk to them! I don’t think they will ever question my wife again but what about the other lady’s who bring a car in for repair. my daughter in-law is a little calmer. A repair shop where she bought her new car was giving her a hard time and treating her like a “woman” all she said was excuse me while I call my lawyer and see what I can get for breech of contract. The car was repaired correctly for a change. This is Idaho does it happen in other states?
harleybob,
unfortunately this happens in all states. i spent 45 years in the service departments of several dealers before retiring and 35 of those years were as the service manager. it really burns my tail because the only people in service departments and many other retail businesses that get any attention are the ones that give their customers a hard time. the customer deserves more of your attention than the owner of the business. it is the customer that brings the money to the business and the owner only divides it among the employees. i kept track of my customers and 70% of the automobiles brought in for service or repairs were broght in by women. they not only brought in the bulk of our firm’s income, they did not come in trying to tell you what was wrong with the vehicle, but they listened to the questions asked by the service personnel and gave honest answers which helped us to diagnos and repair their vehicles. while the men would come in and try to tell you what they thought was wrong and did not want to be confused by the facts of what was really wrong. i am retired for several years now and i do not miss the men customers. give me the ladies any day. i apoligise to your wife and daughter on behalf of the automobile service business. they should not have been treated as second class people.
mike
I second Grumps. I worked in the auto service industry for 20 years including service manager for a number of different products.
As a gross generalization, women tell you the problem and men tell you what they want you to do (regardless of how much they know or not).
Example:
woman: My brakes seem to pull the car to the right especially when I stop.
men: I need a brake pads.
possible solutions: brake pads, brake calipers, front-end/suspension or tires with pads being the least likely.
woman: my car jerks when going up hills.
men: I need spark plugs replaced.
possible solutions: spark plugs, plug wires, cap or rotor, fuel or transmission.
I have always found that women are generally more helpful when explaining what is going on and equally accurate when pre-diagnosing.
That being said, there are exceptions to all generalizations. Now that I have my car serviced by others I find myself doing the same things and have to correct myself. I try and say this is what’s going on and I’d start to look here if I were fixing the problem.
Sorry about your mishaps. Looks like business as usual for much of the auto industry.
jed
After 32 years in the auto repair industry, some working for indepentdents, a brief stint at a dealership and during the last 14 years as an independent myself, I have seen it all. The one thing I could always count on was that women customers responded well to being treated like people with car problems instead women and worse, women that can’t possibly know anything about anything.
I was always amazed at how many women were sent by their spouse/significant other to do their bidding as regards repairing the car, often after failed and botched attempts at same. When a man brought a vehicle in for repair, I often didn’t know anything either, judging from the way they’d tell me how to fix the car, or what needed to be done.
Women on the other hand, always asked me what was wrong when the car does this or that, something they weren’t used to hearing or feeling while driving. Intuition, not ego, led them to bring the car in and get some help, advice or even repairs. I was patient with all customers but I have to admit it was always a pleasure dealing with women because I knew I wouldn’t have to spend much time getting them to listen and to understand what I was saying in regards to the problem with their car. Yes, of course there were exceptions as in all things, but more than likely, an excellent exchange took place between myself, the shop and the female customer.
The classic all time…I’ll call it an incident…was when a guy sent his wife in for air conditioning service. The lady said something to the effect that her husband told her to take the car in and have ‘that guy that does all the air conditiong around here’ pour in some new coolant. I didn’t even crack a smile, but I explained that it wasn’t quite as simple as that and showed the lady the air conditioning machine, explained that it would measure the amount of refrigerant, clean the system and fill it with the correct amount.
The lady asked the price, I told her and she said ‘let’s do that’ and after the work order was signed…which showed all estimated charges, which weren’t exceeded, the work was done and she drove happily and ‘cooly’ away. Hubs arrived not long after that and began ranting and waving the receipt in my face and I explained all I had explained to his wife and what I had done, showing him the equipment also. He insisted I’d ripped HIM off and that all the car needed was some coolant poured in. He wanted his money back in spite of his air conditioning now working much better than before.
Here’s the punchline. I said that I couldn’t do that as I’d done the repairs agreed upon, signed for and that the results were as I had said they would be. He didn’t agree, saying something very closely to: ‘She’s just a women, she don’t know nuthin, she shouldn’t have signed anything’. I didn’t comment on that, though I wanted to. Needless to say, he never sent his wife in to my shop again to do his bidding.
Din’t mean to hijack the post harleybob, but I know right where you’re coming from and and how it made you feel. To answer, yes, women are treated as inferiors elsewhere, no question. I see it not only in the auto trade, but in many other trades/situations as well. Ok, off the soapbox, reading the rest of today’s FAOL posts ! Thanks harleybob!
Cheers,
MontanaMoose
My wife goes in and tell the Service Representative, that there is a annoying squeak, when she makes a turn. That the squeak is coming from the steering column.
They look at the vehicle, and tell her that they cannot find anything wrong.
I take the vehicle in, tell them, there is a rubbing sound when the steering wheel is turned. It is more noticeable when the temperature is cold.
They check it out, and tell me the steering wheel boot needs to be lubricated. They lubricate the boot, squeak disappears.
Geico Commercials, are not the only place you can see Cave Men. There are plenty more of them that work at auto dealerships nationwide…
Just to be honest men get a fair amount of jerking around by some servise departments. I have never told some one how to due there job, well only people I supervised and only then when they were being showed what to do. I bought an 1991 S10 pickup new off the lot, had and issue with the throw out bareing going out, about the thrid time it went out I went to the local libary and check out a buyer consumer guide( this was after about 500 of my money on a new car for repair) and found that the bareing had issue and was recalled and replaced with a new design. To say the least I was not happy and the servise manger was almost forced fed a buyer consumers guide, they replace the bareing for the thrid and last time and I never had a problem with it again. but when I took in the car for servising and they found something else wrong they would send a new be to tell me about it and giving him the full story about the bareing and consumers guide with the service manager lol must have been a test under fire because I never got mad about something that wore out that is life. But to replace a bad bareing with old stock after they knew that design was faulty just to use up stock on hand just turned my crank.
Ghost.
While attitude is not forgivable there are things that should be noted in this discussion. The issue of replaceing a throw out bearing at no cost to you is the responsibility of the manufacturer and they have to agree to pay the dealer todo the work. Sometimes they won’t do the painfully obvious and the service manager or service writer is only the messenger. Make sure you focus your anger at the right people.
As for mechanics… We as mechanice to know
Hydraulics
Engine theory
Transmission repair
Front end suspensions
Electronics
Fuel injection and Computer diagnosis
Heating and Air Conditioning
and lots more.
They are given tools that don’t really do the job required (testers are poor at best and service manuals and training don’t really cever the depth needed). Many dealerships are not large enough to have mechanics specialize in just one area so they need to do multiple disciplines. Training can take several weeks a year in each area further cutting your time to access his knowledge. Being a mechanic is not a well respected or highly paid job either, not to mention dangerous. Its no wonder the “repair system” is broken.
jed
The system may well be broken, but it’s not irrepairable.
I’ve been on the other end of the service “thing”, and have found if they will just LISTEN to what I’m saying, instead of the little voices in their heads that say “it’s only a woman … what does she know?”, everyone whould come out ahead.
Jed
My discuss was with not replaceing the bareing with the new design when there a was a recall on the old design the recall had happen 6 months before the first one was replace. Once I under stand the 2nd might have under stood but the 3 time now I was just plain upset when I had to do the home work and found out that the baring was recall and when it was recalled. Then haveing to prove to the service manger that it was recalled, this was just down right poor sevice in my book and nothing more then that, once they found out I was willing to do the research I was treated in a much better with less hasle on repairs.
Ghost.
I am not going to name the dealer or the time but I at one time bought my wife a brand new Jeep Cherokee wagon. This was just after our first son was born and I wanted her to have something safe and reliable to drive the new family around in. After just 3 months I received a recall notice to bring the jeep in and have a part on the carburator replaced because as the recall said “when going around a sharp corner the carburator could backfire and cause it to catch fire” Wow I said, this is serious. I asked her to take it to the dealer the next day and have the work done. She went with her sister and our new infant son. She was told the work was completed, received the paperwork noting such and returned home. You guessed it…two blocks from home, she went around a corner “POP” the car stalls and flames begin to come out from under the hood. She fled the car with sister and son and purse. Someone out front called the fire department, she called me at work and I raced home. The car burnt to the ground. A black hulk. Fortunately she had the paperwork in her purse, I went straight to the dealer, asked to speak to service manager, showed him the papers saying the work was done and he agreed it was so. I then proceeded to tell him what happened, he summoned the mechanic, the (stupid) mechanic said, “Well, we actually didn’t have the part and I figured since it was OK up to now it would probably be OK forever” Law suit, we win, they loose. Stupid is as stupid does. I have not lost my faith in Jeep, just dealers.
DH and I went to a major department store to buy a sewing machine. It wasn’t mine, it was for my beloved because he was tired of fighting with our old one… I asked where sewing machines were, we were pointed to slightly south of where TVs were sold. The woman in the department started to ask me if I planned to sew denim, makes quilts, etc. I pointed to my better half, stated that he is the one with patience for cloth, I just tie flies. The woman smiled, turned, and proceeded to train the questions to him.
I try to remind folks that it is the 21st Century.
Stereotypes are what we tolerate.
There was something on TV recently regarding selling automotive “services” to the average JOE/JANE consumers. I don’t recall the setup but in essence it was selling new muffler bearings,changing tire fluid etc. It was a spoof of course but it was amazing the numbers of “takers” both men and women. But mostly…
Mark