Nightmare Ford dealer service

[yamlro]

Sorry about the rant, was looking for some advice.

I ordered an ARB Twin Onboard Air Compressor from the official Ford Accessories website and also prepaid for installation through Ford. The product page said it fits all 2021–2024 Broncos (no mention of 2-door vs 4-door).

https://www.ford.com/product/bronco...78942721?gmcid=marketplace-gs-cta-accessories

Ford shipped the part to a Ford dealer for installation. After starting the install and getting pretty far into it apparently, the dealer told me the part wasn’t compatible with my 2-door model and required extra labor and parts. They had already drilled into the frame and cut wiring harnesses, and told me the car is now apart and not operable. 12 hours of labor apparently so far (pre paid installation paid for 2)

It’s been almost 3 weeks and there the earliest possible chance it could even be done is in December now. They said they are working with ford and ford engineering to get it installed, and that they are asking for to cover the extra labor. They say they can’t put it back together without charging me additional labor beyond what I already paid Ford if ford doesn’t cover it. I never approved extra costs, and now my vehicle is stuck there, undriveable.

Not sure what to do at this point, either to keep waiting, pay the extra installation, or just demand my bronco back in whatever condition and hope they put it back together correctly.

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[VirginiaHeritage]

The only fitment exception listed is Raptor and Everglades. Sounds to me like they botched the install and are trying to cover their asses.

If it were me, I would talk to Ford directly and find out if the dealer is full of shit on fitment. Get that documented and then proceed with negotiations. You shouldn’t have to pay for their incompetence. You should get a free loaner car also.

 

[Phil B]

It comes with a ton of wires that are not used unless you have air lockers and the instructions are not terribly clear about it. This is what I had left over after I installed mine.

 

[23OBX2.7]

If you signed a work order with specified work scope and price hold them to it or insist on complete reassembly and return the hardware and pay nothing since they did not deliver.

Escalate it to Ford direct immediately.

 

[CalvinT]

They had already drilled into the frame and cut wiring harnesses, and told me the car is now apart and not operable.

I installed an ARB and compressor mount in my Bronco. There is no need to drill holes or cut the Bronco wiring harness. Also the engine compartment is the same for 2 door and 4 door Broncos. The difference is between the front and rear axles.

I'd contact a Ford factory representative.

 

[motaresto]

+1 on all comments above... it's purely dealer incompetence.
Contact a Ford Factory Rep, don't pay a dime more to the dealership and have the dealership give you a loaner car free of charge until it is resolved. They need to make good on the botched install.
If you haven't already I would also suggest you take a look at the install instructions for good measure as it will give you a good sense and talking points reference of exactly what was to be done to install the unit.

 

[SmilingSasquatch]

Definitely contact Ford corporate ASAP - sounds like the dealer screwed up the install and is trying to make you pay for their mistake.

 

[DarthLincoln]

I haven’t bought any Ford Accessories that required installation that I could not do myself, so I don‘t have direct experience here, BUT it sounds like your dealer is at fault.

1) the instructions say nothing about needing to drill into the frame.
2) you paid for “installation” not a fixed number of hours. So unless you have other mods that required the dealer to perform extra work, I would not accept responsibility for paying for the additional labor.

 

[DALOLA]

Nice. Ford Corp will not do jack with a dealer. You're going to have to figure out how to resolve this with the incompetent dealer. I would probably go directly to the owner of the dealer, and plead my case. Good luck, you're gonna need it.....

 

[JC-]

I had them installed in my (2) Two doors, nothing needed cut. Although one jackass did drill holes in my fender of the Stroppe to mount the switch because he was too stupid to read the instructions and see that there was a place for it on the mount.

 

[yamlro]

Thanks for the advice everyone, I will be calling Ford parts on Monday and the dealer to get a loaner car while we figure it out

 

[Kevin Scarbel]

Sorry about the rant, was looking for some advice.

I ordered an ARB Twin Onboard Air Compressor from the official Ford Accessories website and also prepaid for installation through Ford. The product page said it fits all 2021–2024 Broncos (no mention of 2-door vs 4-door).

https://www.ford.com/product/bronco...78942721?gmcid=marketplace-gs-cta-accessories

Ford shipped the part to a Ford dealer for installation. After starting the install and getting pretty far into it apparently, the dealer told me the part wasn’t compatible with my 2-door model and required extra labor and parts. They had already drilled into the frame and cut wiring harnesses, and told me the car is now apart and not operable. 12 hours of labor apparently so far (pre paid installation paid for 2)

It’s been almost 3 weeks and there the earliest possible chance it could even be done is in December now. They said they are working with ford and ford engineering to get it installed, and that they are asking for to cover the extra labor. They say they can’t put it back together without charging me additional labor beyond what I already paid Ford if ford doesn’t cover it. I never approved extra costs, and now my vehicle is stuck there, undriveable.

Not sure what to do at this point, either to keep waiting, pay the extra installation, or just demand my bronco back in whatever condition and hope they put it back together correctly.

When you called Ford corporate, what did they say?

 

[dagarbronc]

I installed the Ford ARB twin compressor on my 24 2 door heritage—as previously noted the installation instructions were not great and the provided harness had lots of extra wires/connections. The mount was a bit complex, but not too much for a mechanic to install. My dealership is staffed by mechanics that don’t have much experience with things beyond basic stuff.
it took about 4 hours total for me to install—just a 50 something guy that’s been wrenching on my own vehicles for 40 years.
My dealership pays attention to google and other reviews—rate them poorly and fully explain your situation - in as many places as possible in addition to contacting Ford. My dealership knows me because I called them out and rated them poorly but fairly to get them to acknowledge and fix their poor service.

 

[Zstngz]

Sorry about the rant, was looking for some advice.

I ordered an ARB Twin Onboard Air Compressor from the official Ford Accessories website and also prepaid for installation through Ford. The product page said it fits all 2021–2024 Broncos (no mention of 2-door vs 4-door).

https://www.ford.com/product/bronco...78942721?gmcid=marketplace-gs-cta-accessories

Ford shipped the part to a Ford dealer for installation. After starting the install and getting pretty far into it apparently, the dealer told me the part wasn’t compatible with my 2-door model and required extra labor and parts. They had already drilled into the frame and cut wiring harnesses, and told me the car is now apart and not operable. 12 hours of labor apparently so far (pre paid installation paid for 2)

It’s been almost 3 weeks and there the earliest possible chance it could even be done is in December now. They said they are working with ford and ford engineering to get it installed, and that they are asking for to cover the extra labor. They say they can’t put it back together without charging me additional labor beyond what I already paid Ford if ford doesn’t cover it. I never approved extra costs, and now my vehicle is stuck there, undriveable.

Not sure what to do at this point, either to keep waiting, pay the extra installation, or just demand my bronco back in whatever condition and hope they put it back together correctly.

Contact Ford headquarters

 

[Brian_B]

I’d agree that a bad review would probably get more attention faster than calling anyone at Ford Corporate - but you should try talking to the service manager or owner first

At the very least they should put your vehicle back to stock and refund you - if they got in over their head that’s their fault, and they have resources they could have called to find more info if the instructions weren’t clear.

Most dealers around where I live refuse to honor any installations purchased or scheduled via Ford Performance online. They will happily quote you a shop rate to do the install though - but that’s usually multiples higher.

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