RIPOFF !!! RED SIMON FORD – SAN MARCOS TEXAS – RIPOFF!!! FRAUDULENT, INCOMPETANT AND DISHONEST SERVICE!!!

This week I took my $53, 000 Ford F-350 Diesel 6.0L truck into Red Simon’s Ford for warranty service, and in my opinion my job was misquoted, misdiagnosed, and I was lied to by Red Simon’s employees.

My advice would be to avoid going to this Ford dealership for NEW or USED cars, but ESPECIALLY FOR AUTOMOTIVE SERVICE!

THESE PEOPLE ARE BALD-FACED LIARS. And if there’s one thing I just can’t abide, it’s someone lying to my face.

My service advisor was Felipe, who seemed friendly enough, but when I got the bill for service, it was over $740.00, while he had quoted me approximately $400. I say “approximately” because he explained that he couldn’t quote an exact figure until they diagnosed the problems. Nobody ever quoted me $700+ dollars for repairs, nor did they notify me about that increase in repair price.

But the real problem wasn’t the cost or the overcharge. It was the DISHONESTY.

I picked up the truck on a Saturday after the shop had closed, Felipe had gone home, and I had already turned in my rental car. I paid the bill and started to drive away, then noticed that the returned parts didn’t match the charges on my bill!

If I WERE A WOMAN OR SOMEONE WHO DIDN’T KNOW BETTER, THESE PEOPLE WOULD HAVE ROBBED ME BLIND, WITHOUT SO MUCH AS SECOND THOUGHT ABOUT CHEATING ME.

I went back to the (now closed) shop and asked the technician Jason about the extra part and he said he couldn’t change the price, so that I’d have to wait until Monday.

When Monday came, they refunded the part money, but kept the bill at around $480 even though the actual quoted repairs only justified about $200.

When I drove home, I saw steam coming out of the tailpipe again, and called back to talk to Jason the tech. He told me, “just let it burn out for while and it’ll clear up” to which I replied, “you mean that YOU DIDN’T EVEN CHANGE THE OIL AFTER A TOP END JOB WITH COOLANT LEAKAGE?”

He said that, “it wasn’t necessary”, but when I got home, I drained the engine oil and sure enough, it WAS FULL OF GLYCOL / COOLANT….ONE OF THE MOST DAMAGING CONTAMINANTS TO ENGINE LONGEVITY AND A DIRECT CAUSE OF CATASROPHIC ENGINE FAILURE AND/OR COLD SEIZURE. (The Ford diesel powerplant costs around $15, 000 if you have to buy a new one, so it’s not a great idea to run contaminated oil.)

Now, as a former ASE tech, I can understand mistakes being made. And I can understand technicians that don’t take their jobs seriously. In my years as a tech, I couldn’t make the kind of money that other types of professionals could command with commensurate amounts of training or experience and overhead for tools and equipment. Being an auto tech is a surprisingly challenging job, contrary to public perception.

But what I CAN’T UNDERSTAND IS, BEING LIED TO, DIRECTLY TO MY FACE AND OVER THE PHONE LATER. BOTH VICTOR, THE SHOP FOREMAN, AND FELIPE, THE SERVICE WRITER, LIED DIRECTLY TO ME ABOUT BOGUS LABOR CHARGES. I also asked JASON, the tech, about the changes in PCM updates related to the poor performance of my truck, and he simply replied, “I don’t know much about that stuff.” (this is the “Diesel Certified” guy)

Red Simon has a lot of money tied up in a first-class internet presence (website), every-day TV advertising on local TV stations and a large modern(ish) dealership next to the I-35 freeway.

What they apparently have not learned yet, is that LYING TO THEIR CUSTOMERS AND HAVING A BAD REPUTATION will make all their other investments WORTHLESS and that a complaint like this LASTS FOREVER ON THE INTERNET.

My truck runs WORSE NOW THAN WHEN I TOOK IT IN, the mileage dropped from over 15mpg to 10mpg and I’m now saddled with AGAIN taking off work, renting another car, and finding some other Ford Warranty Dealership to repair the damage done by RED SIMON.

I wouldn’t trust RED SIMON’S FORD to repair my son’s bicycle, and in my opinion, neither should anyone else until they clean up their act and prove themselves worthy of a customer’s trust. I’d like to be able to send my WIFE into a local dealer like Red Simon, without getting ripped off. But when they take advantage of me, a former auto tech, CAN YOU IMAGINE WHAT THEY WOULD HAVE DONE TO HER?

I tried to contact the owner, Red Simon, but he (big surprise) didn’t return my call.

Richard J.
San Marcos, Texas