AIMLESSLY UNBALANCED

posted 06-28-06
Kicking back , taking a little break , my good little boy trolls the net for me , while I check my mail.
I have traveled all over this beautiful country. One thing that bites my ass , is a auto repair shop that takes people for a ride , and I'm not talking about in bed either. Seeing this picture reminds me of a dealership called Harpeth Ford in an expensive little B. S. town in Tennessee.
A friend's Ford van had a knocking in the steering wheel. The good folks at Harpeth said their FORD certified mechanic found the belts had slipped in the expensive Bridgestone tires having 3,000 miles on them. They were not covered under warranty. The Service Writer explained new tires would fix the problem. Of course he recommended the highest end tires which included warranty in the price , however , mounting , balancing , valve stems , tire removal , tire mounting , tire weights and labor were extra.
OK , her van is in the shop getting new tires. When we returned to her house to wait it out , the phone was ringing like crazy. Yep , it was that nice little man , you know , the Service Writer at Harpeth Ford , he was all excited , out of breath , and trying to explain that her ball joints were busted on both sides of her steering. They needed replacing to ensure proper front end alignment after mounting the new tires. Not knowing any better , she authorized the work. Now any good man would know , those ball joints were causing the steering wheel knocking. The so called tire belts had not slipped. How does a tire belt slip anyway , after it's been cooked in an oven ? If that FORD certified mechanic had looked in the first place , would'nt he have seen the real problem ?
The good folks at Harpeth Ford took my friend for 1,500 hundred dollars. And , NO , she has'nt been back since. In the meantime , I've been learning a few things about cars. That extra little bit of knowledge has paid for itself more than once , since that little episode. And , you won't find a Ford in my drive way. American auto makers wonder how foreign car makers beat them every year. Well , it's no wonder to me.
I hope this little story helps someone out there.

I copied this from another blog. Are they talking about Harpeth Ford here in Franklin ? Their blog does not say where they are. I did rewrite some of this post to clean up the language.

I got a response from her. It is Alexander Ford-Mercury. 07-07-06