Wrong Gooseneck hitch installed

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~Tomboy~

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Joined
Nov 17, 2004
Messages
26
City & State/Province
Spring Branch, TEXAS
Need some advice....
We bought a new 2008 F250, gave the dealership all the specs on what kind of gooseneck hitch we wanted installed. When we went to pick it up and upon examining everything, I suddenly heard my husband yelling #@%*# (bad words) for all to hear. I went over to see what was wrong. They installed a draw tight, fold down gooseneck hitch, which requires a 1 foot square cutout in the bed. We had wanted a flip over gooseneck hitch.
Their fix is to weld a plate where the cut out is and install the correct hitch.
I'm worried about the strength of welds on the repair, what do you all think??? Is it as strong?
What would you do.
 
Tomboy,
I'm sorry for your delema.
A weld joint is just like a glue joint, if it is done right, the joint will be stronger than the base material. the problem is finding a ford mechanic that is a good enough welder.
Good luck,
J.D.
 
The way I see it you have two options:

1. Raise enough stink you get a new pickup box or another truck and let them sell that one to someone else.

2. Take it to a good tig welder and have it done right. Then have it sprayed with spray-in bedliner to hopefully seal it against corrosion (bottom side also), my biggest concern in your case. Then have the dealership pick up the tab. You'll never know it's there if it's done right.

Best of Luck

cfpinz
 
A week after we bought my wife's new truck (16 miles on it), she informed me that there were runs in the paint under a taillight. When I looked at it, there were also sanding marks in the body putty they had used to make repairs! They denied knowing anything about it and said things like that often happen at the assembly plants and it was no big deal, they could sand it out and repaint it and noone would ever know the difference. Wrong! It was already too late for that! I told them to put a new bed on it or keep it. They said they couldn't do that, but I made a call to General Motors corporate headquarters and found out that GM had no record of that truck having been damaged and repaired during assembly. They made a call to the dealer and informed them that yes they would put a new bed on the truck and would furnish me another new truck to use while they had mine. Turned out the outside contracted detail man that put the bug shield and running boards on it, backed it into something and fixed it without telling the dealer. I didn't care what happened as long as I got a new bed. (Not that I didn't trust them, but I did crawl under it and mark the bed in a couple out-of-the-way places before I took it back to them!)
 
TomBoy, you have an opportunity here. I would act like I wanted the bed replaced or a different truck but then mention if it was Linex'd it wouldn't look so bad. I bet they will Linex it for your for free. Mine cost $450.
 
I agree with Flaboy?, as the area around the ball will be suported by the frame of the hitch anyway.
 
Ya there is nothing wrong with the type of hitch they used except for that it is not what you want.

I would take the opportunity like Flaboy said and get some cash or a bed liners or something for the mistake but leave the hitch.

Be tough don't let them slide.
 
Well here's where things stand.

We already had paid for the Linex liner which they are going to remove and redo after they install the correct hitch. Hubby will crawl under and make sure (as best he can) everything looks ok. If we don't like what we see, they will buy it back or exchange it out. We'd prefer an exchange, but guess what, nothing on their lot compares to the one we bought :mad: If we order a new truck we miss out on all the incentives which means more money.

All we want is a truck like the one we bought, without repairs to it, and at the same price.

Ford Motor Co. washes their hands of anything saying it's the dealers problem because its an accessory. The dealership used a subcontractor to install it.

The dealership will not put a new bed in.

So I guess we'll wait and see what the repairs look like and go from there. It's been almost a week since it was sent back, I'll keep you posted on the outcome.

I am so frigging mad, this has absolutely ruined my good
feelings about getting a "new" truck.

Thanks for your responses.
 
Loose the incentives? Hognuts! They screwed the order up and they should fix it. Either a new bed or a new truck WITH the same incentive that was going on at the time of purchase PERIOD No way on earth you should spend that kind of money and be stuck with something you don't want just because THEY screwed it up. Unbelievable!
 
~Tomboy~":2myejgx9 said:
Well here's where things stand.

We already had paid for the Linex liner which they are going to remove and redo after they install the correct hitch. Hubby will crawl under and make sure (as best he can) everything looks ok. If we don't like what we see, they will buy it back or exchange it out. We'd prefer an exchange, but guess what, nothing on their lot compares to the one we bought :mad: If we order a new truck we miss out on all the incentives which means more money.

All we want is a truck like the one we bought, without repairs to it, and at the same price.

Ford Motor Co. washes their hands of anything saying it's the dealers problem because its an accessory. The dealership used a subcontractor to install it.

The dealership will not put a new bed in.

So I guess we'll wait and see what the repairs look like and go from there. It's been almost a week since it was sent back, I'll keep you posted on the outcome.

I am so frigging mad, this has absolutely ruined my good
feelings about getting a "new" truck.

Thanks for your responses.
Click to expand...

That is BS... you are letting them pull one over on you.

Get out the paper/ reciet that says the hitch they were suppose to install and tell them that is a contract. They did not hold up their end,,, installing the righ part,,, so you are not going to hold up your end,,, paying the bill.

They CAN fix it even though they don't want to. Don't believe any of that junk that they CAN"T do this or that.
 
I understand you didnt get the hitch you wanted I just want to relay my expierence. I had a foldover hitch installed 6 years ago . As they were cutting the big square out I said isnt the hole supposed to be in the middle? "yeah" said man cutting as he just realizes hole is about 3" off center . They welded the cut out part back in. After hitch was installed I got some touch up paint and painted to match. After 6 years of post/panels my 01 F-250 bed has so many scratches you cant tell up from down anyway. I really like my fold over just my .02. :lol:
 
The saga continues.

After a week with our truck hitch supposedly being changed out, we called the dealership to find out what was going on.

They told us that they are now at war with the subcontractor over this whole incident. So they took the truck back to their own body shop to work on.

My husband decided to go to the body shop to find out what the heck is going on. When he got home he looked despondent and said he was fed up with the whole thing. That it would be a week or so before we would get the truck back.

I am now fuming. Called Ford Motor Company up again, and just like before they wash their hands of anything. So I called the owner of the dealership, he had no knowledge of any of this, promised he would get back to me this afternoon. Sounded concerned, so time will tell.
 
I hope they gave you a loaner. This may shock some of you, but I bought a brand new 97 F350 (only new vehicle I'll ever own) and wound up having to have a trans seal put in it under warranty. They tried to give me an Escort as a loaner. After I informed the owner of the lot his hatchback would never be the same after I shoved a round roll in the back, he gave me a truck to use. You pay for a truck, you need to have use of a truck.

cfpinz
 
I'm with flaboy, I would tell to stick the truck. I would have gotten them to order me a new truck, with all the bells and whistles, at the price you had originally negotiated with them. Their problems with the subcontractor are not your concern, and the dealership could have sued the hitch installer to make up any monies they lost on the deal. They're just being lazy and trying to stick it to the person least likely to cause a fuss.

Rod
 
Another update.

The owner of the dealership called us last night and said they will replace the bed of the truck. It will be ready next week.

We did not ask for a loaner because we have an extra truck, but if it was needed I would have fought for that also.

I'm sure this is not over, we'll wait and see what it looks like, and hope everything is done right.

From what I found out there was miscommunication between the dealer & sub, each blaming the other, with us stuck in the middle.

Ordering a new truck with the dealership was turned down earlier because they could not guarantee the incentives. Ya right!

I'm not giving up.
 
Yeah I'd have just thrown the keys at them and told them to keep it by now... New trucks cost too d@mn much money for some ignoramus to screw it up and then them to tell you they'll only do the quickest spit and baling wire repair they can possibly make and you'll just have to eat it... that's TOTAL BS.

You paid for a new truck, you paid them to do a very specific installation on it, and they dropped the ball in trusting some outsourced idiot that didn't read the work order... I wouldn't accept anything less than how it would have been done had it been done right the first time...

If the dealer won't make it right, toss the keys on the desk and find another dealer that's reputable... JMHO! OL JR :)
 

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