What would you do?

[Levitan]

Hey Guys, I bought an '89 Festiva a couple weeks ago, cool lil' car. Pulled to the right pretty bad. I jacked the front end up and discovered, backyard style, that I had a passenger side, outside tie rod that was shot. So, I replaced it. Everything else on the suspension seemed fine. Anyways, took it to my local Tires Plus to have it aligned.....$70+ for toe in and out only, what a rip off. The mechanic told me, after he told me he was quitting Tires Plus to go to work somewhere else, that my tires were a little worn so it might pull a little to one side. I could see where the right front had some inner wear on the tread, so I swapped it with the right rear which was like new. So, 2 great tires on the front. The car drove straight down the road, but, man, you hit a bump and it wanted to put you into the wall at Talladega! Today, I was driving by TP and stopped in, told them my situation. The Manager said "well, we wouldn't have worked on it if the front end needed repaired...that would be illegal." A different mechanic, who I did business with in the past and am satisfied with, threw it back on the alignment rack. My rack and pinion is toast and I saw it with my own eyes. Anyways, I told the manager I was not very happy and he asked me what I wanted to do. I told him I need to fix the rack and he said he would realign for free. Well, I got to talking to my cousin, he says what they did was illegal and that I oughtta go back in there, freak out and make them fix the rack since they did an illegal repair job. And if that doesn't work, contact their corporate office.
I thought about meeting them half way and purchasing a new rack and having them install it and realign. What would you do? Thanks in advance.

[monkeyracing]

Sounds like a plan.

[GenevaDirt]

Well....what they did was illegal....but the problem with your rack was an existing one and nothing they did. I would tell them I want my money back for the alignment but you can not hold them responsible for the expense of the a new rack and replacement, they didn't cause it. I would use the existing problem to your advantage to get your money back but thats all you should expect. IMO

[NovaSS]

When you took the car in what did you say?

If you asked for an alignment they are not reguired to go looking for something else, just to do what you asked. Sure a good mechanic would look around just to see if anything else might be wrong and if something is found to inform you and let you make the call on how to handle it. If you refuse the extra work they may make you sign a waver due to safety issues before you take it home.

Now if you took the car and and said " the car is drifting around and I put a tie rod end on it can you do an alignment and see what else is the problem" then they would have to go looking around, try to find a problem and report it to you with a new estimate.

As a former service advisor for Ford if some ask for a certain job I would write it down as "customer request an alignment" Thats all they got. Of course I would ask them if they had a broblem and wanted us to check it out first, this way everbody is covered. They get their car fixed and we did a complete service.

NEVER REQUEST A REPAIR TO BE DONE OUTRIGHT< YOU ARE LIMITING THEIR LIABILTY. ALWAYS ASK THEM TO CHECK IT OUT FIRST. sure it will cost a little more but its worth it in the long run.

Do they owe you a free rack? I dont see how. If you asked for just an alignment thats all you get. If you asked them to check it out first they may owe you some free labor for an aligmnet after the rack is installed. They may be nice and have you pay for the rack and them install it, labor free to make you happy. Just be nice, if you go in demanding stuff they will put up a wall and it will turn into a big fight, most shops want happy customers but they will not stay in bussiness giving away free parts and labor.

[FB71]

Hey Nova, what dealer did you work at? MD or DE?

[Pu241]

Fix the the rack or have someone else fix the rack and get your free alignment!
Be happy they offered that!

[elcamino1]

^ I agree.

[DuritzCrows17]

Yeah go grab a rack and then bring it back.

[Levitan]

For starts, I would like to clarify a couple things. I had no intentions of demanding a free rack or freaking out on them, that's my cousin who said that. As a newbie, I don't want to start my fordfestiva.com field trip having everybody thinking I'm an a-hole.

Second, I told the manager and the mechanic both to double check the front suspension so I didn't waste my money on an alignment. I was very specific in telling them what I had done and what I wanted done. The mechanic failed; period.

Third, I scored a good rack for $25 today from a guy who had seven Festivas. He gave me a couple good pointers. He said he has a rebuilt head for $100 if anybody needs one and a radiator with fan fyi.

Fourth, I'm going to see if they will put the rack in, realign for free, and throw the good alignment guy a $20 for being cool about it. If not, I will put it in and have them realign it for free.

Fifth, are we still friends of the Festiva?

[GenevaDirt]

Fifth, are we still friends of the Festiva?

we are all family here....no one is mad at you ....just offering advice on how to handle it. Good Luck

[freshtiva]

You met some guy with seven festivas :shock: :lol: Id be interested in the rad with fan if its off of an 1989 with auto tranny and a/c. Sounds like you are handling the TP problem in an appropriate manner to me.

[packrat427]

Everyone expresses their opinions and responses in a different way .

We have all been there and done it , for the most part , as for the bad experience at a shop or dealer .

Like Genevadirt said , we are like a Family here .
Nobody was mad , just trying to help a Festiva Friend out , from their past experiences .

[Levitan]

Cool! I really didn't think anybody was mad, I was kinda just being funny.

As far as the radiator, I'll check on it for you.

I did go back to TP today and got a refund. This was the original manager. He copped an attitude. So, long story short, I acted professional, he didn't....... refund.

I'm going to count the turns when removing the tie rod ends and see if I can get it close enough. I was going to try the self alignment, but that looks hard to this novice.

Thanks for everybody's input!

[freshtiva]

Spray paint part of the tie rod and end before you remove it, then you'll see exactly where it was before you removed it. Counting turns would work too.