Ford Car Parts 2020

[ambenz]

I wanted to post an experience I had with getting parts from Ford, via there dealer network. Usually when I need special car parts my Autoparts store doe not carry, I go to my local dealers "Parts Department" and go thru 20 questions, but eventually, get what I need. Fast forward to 2020 and the era of cell phones, laptops, and touchscreens and ordering parts on-line.

I figure since the dealers parts department is only a couple miles away, and that they may have my specialized hardware kit on there shelves for the service department common needs, I might be able to fix my issue.
Turns out my passenger front caliper would "clunk" when braking so I took off the wheel and found the bottom screw holding the caliper shoe plate was loose. So I tried to tighten and stripped out the assembly, so I need a caliper hardware repair kit. Like they will know that at the dealers Parts department...*sigh*

So I take the time to look it up on-line at https://parts.ford.com/en.html . I printout part numbers and everything! Gosh, they are gonna love my prep work! I was suprised this dealer (Friendly Ford in Roselle, Il) wasn't on the list of authorized dealers on the Ford Parts.com website...the dealer farther away is a pick up dealer for website ordered parts though. But since I was going to talk to the guy at the close dealer, I figured it was no big deal...besides they might have it and I can walk out the door with it.

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So with part numbers in hand, off I go...and at the parts counter the guy said my list wasn't the correct part numbers and that you just cant order the repair kit or hardware kit anymore, without ordering the whole caliper with core charge!!!! Are you serious? WTH! So I told him about the website I got the info from and we proceeds to tell me that sites and info is wrong!
So I told him, I guess I'll find out...I was steamed! So it got me thinking how this dealer wasn't a website parts dealer and wondered what is Ford doing with there products????
Seems like if you are not in there "PARTS NETWORK" the dealers only can get larger, higher priced assembly's or they must have "in house" parts not for sale to the public. So I went back and ordered the parts on line. We will see if I can get these parts through authorized website dealers.
Looks like I won't be fixing it today.....

Just a FYI for all you Ford guys!

 

[Lassen Forge]

Maybr that's why they're not an authorized FordParts dot com dealership...

Some parts departments are full of it, er, themselves... they'd rather not be bothered by we plebian walk in customers, and want to make sure they get their pound of pecunium for the privilege of making you grovel. Strangely enough, I go elsewhere. :

I had an oddball problem with a 500-4 to 550-4 conversion we were doing and Honda got the parts we needed in a couple weeks. Turns out some of the parts were not in stock, so someone pulled strings and had them shipped from Japan.

Then there's Mecedes - I don't care what it was, if I needed a part for my old gray market Mercedes diesel the local dealer would have it for me, even if he had to have it shipped from Stuttgart (which he actually did once). I was trying to repair the wiring on our old Unimog at work, someone had bastardized it so severely you couldn't get anything to work right. Under the hood it was a nightmare, and sure enough, the dealer once again came to my rescue with printed fische sheets, parts numbers, and the stuff to get it closer to normal.

It's stuff like that that kept me brand loyal for a long time...