Dale Jarrett Ford Warranty Services
Dale Jarrett Ford Warranty Service
Ford Service Adviser Dominick Santevecchi
I took my baby in for her first check up last week. When she dropped her top,all I heard was a squeaky hinge noise unless I cranked up that shaker 1000. I love the sound of the Roush Exhaust to mush to listen to music 100% of the time. Besides, I never know if the Shaker 1000 head unit is going to sound like a broken record or not. That being said, I had to bite the bullet and turn my keys over to a complete stranger for the first time. The most important thing for me was knowing it would be serviced at a high end dealership that is used to taking care of high performance machines. I have been to many Ford dealerships in NC and SC and had no problems driving just over an hour if needed.
I first visited the dealership on my way to the beach many years ago. The last time I stepped into the showroom at Dale Jarrett Ford, I was in staring in the grille of multiple high end mustangs including a new 2007 Shelby and a couple custom eXtreme conversions. The people there were real nice and the showroom was more impressive then any I had seen. I knew at that moment that when I got my Mustang, I would make the trip to Indian Trail, NC for my maintenance. Heck, I drive 70 miles for new tires because I like the tire service (a blog post for another day). You can all call me crazy for driving any distance just for basic maintenance, but why the hell do you think I bought this car in the first place? I bought it to chill out and enjoy the open road.
So I hold my breath and call some stranger and tell him I want to give him my keys. I was connected with Dominick Santevecchi, a Ford Service Adviser at Dale Jarrett Ford. Dominick’s team has seen plenty of high performance cars go down their line, including a Ford GT just a week before. I explained my situation and he was more then happy to help even though he was potentially going to have to test drive the car with the top down in 40 degree weather. I left the house early and got there right when the service department opened. Dominick knew he was taking my baby and had one of the technicians park it in the garage instead of outside. I guess you can say he had me at hello. Mr. Santevecchi put up with my multiple concerns with a friendly jab or two that left me feeling perfectly comfortable that my car was in good hands. He also followed up with me throughout the day on the status.
Knowing that I had just bought the car, he had his team give my baby a once over to see if anything was in need of some maintenance. Usually, you would think this is a dealerships way of finding a few hundred dollars worth of quickies to do for some extra cash. As that was my expectations, I was quite surprised to find out that all I needed was a new fuel filter (no big deal) and suggested that I clean my cold air intake. The filter was nasty – I should have been so embarrassed. Dominick went into great detail on what I needed to do in order to clean it. I went straight to the auto parts store after picking her up to get the kit (explained in my next post). Jim Lewis, one of Dominick’s service technicians, handled my care with the utmost care. I will definately continue to say good things about these two and the dealership.
At the end of the day, the service team at Dale Jarrett Ford exceeded my expectations and was well worth the drive to be serviced by the best. I cannot emphasize enough on how amazing everyone there was to work with. From Dominick all the way to the people at Enterprise and the nice lady who checked me out when I picked my baby up. If you ever need service to your ride make sure to call Dominick Santevecchi, Ford Service Adviser at Dale Jarrett Ford. Tell him “Big Dawg” sent you!
Dominick Santevecchi
Ford Service Adviser
Dale Jarrett Ford
88 Dale Jarrett Boulevard
Indian Trail, NC 28079
704.261.8822
800.849.8521
I would love to hear about your experience with Dale Jarrett Ford. Please comment.
February 11th, 2008 at 8:00 am
I am in touch with Todd Fincher, the Service manager at Dale Jarrett Ford, to figure out what is going wrong. I have a new Shaker 1000 that wont even load a CD and my top still squeaks like a cheep motel bed. I spent 2 hours in their showroom on Saturday with my 2 year old son only to learn the radio that came in was my old radio in a new box. I wonder if I inherited someone else’s radio. Domonick told me they are “talking to Detroit” about my convertible top. He also told me that I had to use the soft boot to stop the squeak. It upsets me when I know more about my car then the people servicing it. The soft boot is not standard and he learned that on Wednesday after a short heated discussion.
I am giving the dealership a chance to make it right. I will wait patiently for Todd to return my call. This post may have to go through an overhaul here soon based on my experience this last weekend. Stay tuned to see how Dale Jarrett Ford handles the warranty situation.
February 11th, 2008 at 8:18 am
Dominick called and will get back in touch with me when the new radio comes in. I will once again turn my car over to them as they take another look at the drop top to try and find out where the squeak is. To me a squeak is metal on metal. Something is loose or not lubed and that is a recipe for a major fix years down the road.
Lets hope I am not stuck in a Focus with front end damage again (that was so embarrassing). I take that back, I just want this experience to end on a happy note – Spring time with a beautiful car, cruising with the top down (not squeaking) and the option of playing a CD or not.
February 11th, 2008 at 9:15 am
Mr. McDowell,
I would like to start by saying that I apologize for the confussion about your radio chassis not being here. While we try very hard to make every customer’s visit be a good experience, we do sometimes make mistakes. As for the squeak while your top is down, most customers find that when the soft boot is applied it keeps the top secure from bouncing up and down and also eliminates wear and tear on the frame.
Concerning your rental vehicle, while I understand you own a Ford Mustang and probably do not want to drive a Ford Focus, it was provided as transportaion. This vehicle was provided as a courtesy at Dale Jarrett Ford’s expense, not Ford’s expense, or your selling dealer’s expense.
February 11th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
Todd,
Thanks for getting back to me. I threw the Ford Focus out there for comedic relief. I gave the people at Enterprise some good credit in the last paragraph of my post. Believe me, I was very appreciative of the car. Your response to this post is a good example of how you value your customer and I have appreciated that since day one.
I wrote this post as a way of saying thank you since I was very impressed with everything I saw (nothing wrong with some free public recognition). It is unfortunate that we are in this situation and I am sure it will be resolved. I for one hate morning radio and could not find a single song I wanted to hear on my way in today (I was a bit bitter this morning after 45 min of morning show nonsense).
I am still trying to understand the use of optional equipment to fix an annoyance on a car that is only 2 years old and spent most of its life with the top up in Wisconsin. I can understand putting the boot on for long trips but for your basic running around it is a pain to take off and on. I do not like leaving the top down in parking lots as I am sure many people can understand. There is also very little room in the trunk when I have to put a car seat in there, tools, my gym bag and laptop bag. I am not complaining (I love my shaker 1000) but the Mustang wasn’t built to carry a lot of items in the trunk. If it can’t be fixed then I just need to make sure my tunes are working properly so I don’t have to listen to the squeaking all day long. Just knowing where the squeak is would be nice as well. There are to many beautiful days in the Carolinas and that top will be down quite often.
WHAT AN AMAZING WEEKEND WE JUST HAD! Thanks again Todd for getting back to me. These comments will be removed and parsed into an adjacent post once everything is ironed out. I prefer keeping this post in a %100 positive spin for Dale Jarrett Ford. You are still the best dealership in the Carolinas and I will continue to let people know that.
February 11th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
I had a much better commute this evening. I love driving a Ford and I wouldn’t want it any other way. I disabled some previous comments because they took away from the positive theme of this post. Besides, anything broken can be fixed.
http://www.grubbdawg.com/grubbdawg/957-the-ride-84
February 11th, 2008 at 11:43 pm
Let me know what happens by email if you don’t post. You aren’t the first person with a radio issue.
February 12th, 2008 at 8:04 am
Thanks Jeff, will do. I know about the problems with the Shaker 1000 and I think that is why I am waiting. My thoughts are that they are replacing a bunch of them. I would rather wait for one that will work for the lifetime of the car then jump the gun. The guys at Dale Jarrett are the best in the area so I have no doubt that when it comes in, my baby will be in good hands. Stay tuned.
….
Thew guys at DJF were amazing. They found the squeak in the drop top and got the new Shaker 1000 installed. It was an amazing weekend to cruise around and I was stuck inside with a messed up foot. Oh well…I will be ready for the next sunny day.
March 18th, 2008 at 10:00 pm
ON 3/18/08 I LEFT MY FORD ESCORT AT DALE JARRET DEALERSHIP FOR A TUNE UP. WAS CALLED AND TOLD THE BILL WOULD BE 1100.00 THIS VEHICLE IS OLD. I ONLY WANTED A TUNE UP. WAS TOLD THERE WAS A $82 CHARGE. AFTER REFUSING TO PAY FOR SOMETHING I DID NOT ASK FOR I WAS TOLD NOT TO COME BACK TO THE DEALERSHIP. I WAS PLANNING ON PURCHASING A NEW VEHICLE IN THE VERY NEAR FUTURE. I WILL NOT BUY FROM THIS DEALERSHIP. I WILL TELL OTHERS HOW I WAS TREATED. EVIDENTLY CUSTOMER SERVICE IS NOT IMPORTANT TO YOUR DEALERSHIP.
DENNIS PHIFER
March 19th, 2008 at 6:33 am
Dennis, just out of curiosity, what did they charge you for? That seems like a steep bill for a tune up unless they found problems with your car that made it inoperable. Most people do not have an extra grand laying around to play with so I am surprised they didn’t ask you before making any additional repairs. Were they giving your car a good once over for potential issues? Some times if you feel the repairs are unwarranted, a second opinion would help. If they just told you about issues they found during your tuneup, I would say they were just looking out for you. If their repair sheet is filled with a bunch of fillers it may be the other way around. What were they charging you the extra grand for?
April 4th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Obviously Dennis left his comment and went away. I was hoping for more information. It has been a couple of weeks since he let us know about his issue with Dale Jarrett Ford. All I can say on this one is, if you have an old car that is not running good, chances are it needs more then a tune up. I prefer for the dealership to look over my car for potential issues so I can be proactive and not break down. Dennis, who we be to blame if you drove off the lot and something happened to your car the next day? Would it be Dale Jarrett Ford since they just serviced your car and “must have done something”? Or would it be your fault for not doing the preventative maintenance?