With a different antenna you'll probably have to adjust the trimmer capacitor in the back of the radio to match the antenna. This takes a special plastic screwdriver tool and not too much force. Not sure if the FEH radios have one or not.

Good Luck, Don

 

Well done breaking it? Or... unclear.

I'm in worse shape now. The dealership kept my vehicle from 7 AM Tuesday to 4 PM today (Wednesday) and when I got it back it had BODY DAMAGE under the antenna which they are now blaming on me as though I brought it in that way. It's my word against the service techs and apparently if you don't have a Quicktime VR 360 video of your vehicle before you drop it off, the dealership is free to claim any damage THEY cause was there when you brought it in.

I have not been so pissed in my life... I won't mention the dealership name yet on the very tiny chance we can somehow speak to someone with a clue tomorrow ("He has already left for the day.") rather than the derogatory, lying cheats I dealt with today. I now have zero confidence in this particular Ford dealership to do service, since if they take 2 days to replace a radio antenna and return the vehicle with body damage they disclaim all liability for, who knows what they'd do if I brought it in for something safety-related or hybrid related requiring a hybrid tech.

/livid

 

Sorry about your dealer being crap.... I've had hit or miss with dealers. I'm happy with the one I bought my car from, they've been very good but I have to drive 20 min to them. There is a dealer much closer, but after they tried to tell me it was going to cost $250 to read the check engine code off my old ZX2, I never went back. I found my current dealer because when I called them they said "check your gas cap... if its loose or missing just wait for a week and it'll clear on its own--otherwise bring it in and its one hour labor rounded up." It was the gas cap. The gas cap thing is well known by all dealers... and the first one should have suggested it too...but clearly they wanted to line their pockets...Too bad.... cost them a car sale.

 

can you take a pic? my boyfriend is a ford tec and said this kind of thing happens all of the time, but any good dealership will own up to the mistake and fix it (they have insur for this very thing) he thinks that if he can see the damaged area, he might be able to tell you what they did to cause it.
he also want to know if this is your first warranty repair. if it is, tell them when you get your CSI (customer surevy) that you make it very clear that the dealership was horrible and made you very unhappy, usually, they will then bend over backwards to assist you with all of your needs/concerns

 

I can't believe I just paid $198 to get an antenna repaired, had my vehicle in the shop for 1.75 days, AND got body damage which they are calling me a liar and swearing up down and sideways must have been there when I brought the vehicle in.

Wouldn't they in due diligence NOTE pre-existing body damage on a vehicle, particularly if it were near an area they know they'll be working during that service visit, precisely to avoid instances where a customer claims they damaged something when in fact it was already there? So *WHY* am I now being told repeatedly and progressively more rudely that I must be mistaken, they didn't possibly damage the body panel the antenna is located on, nevermind the damage clearly came from blunt force inside the vehicle outward, etc. They claim I said my antenna "flew off while driving" when in fact I told them it broke while I attempted to remove it.

sigh... I already have to drive 15 mins to get to this, nearest, dealership. I bought my vehicle across town, 30 minutes away, and apparently that's where I'm going to have to take my vehicle in the future. At least that looks like the only option. (And can you believe, the manager I talked to said, "Good luck. We're all the same. That fine print you signed disclaims us of any liability.") Rude, arrogant and awful perplexing thing to say when you're also holding the position that you "couldn't possibly have caused that damage".

I'm 32 and felt like I was treated as a 19 year old... They don't realize I know every inch of my vehicle. I clay barred it and waxed it (5 hours one weekend) and I garage it and I was heartbroken when I broke the antenna. I am not the person a service tech or dealership should try to pass off body damage as pre-existing, hoping the customer won't notice or won't be certain it wasn't there before the service visit. I just wish to hell I had a photo of that body panel, with my vehicle in the service bay, that morning. As if that'd help... they'd just say it was Photoshopped or some OTHER redfire Escape.

People really make me sad sometimes. This couldn't have been a simpler service experience. An opportunity to gain a new customer and put them at ease. Instead they screwed up every single step of it AND injured my vehicle in the process.

{/vent... for now}

 

I'll take a pic tomorrow, but I can tell you what they're claiming is the antenna was torqued/bent so hard that its mounting below the body panel was pushed into the body panel and dented it from the inside out. They claim *I* did this and that it was like that when I brought it in. Nevermind that's NOT the case, the panel was absolutely smooth and I'd put Maguiar's Quick Detailer on it to clean up that area so they didn't grind dirt/pollen into my paint working on the area. The antenna breaking was a fluke, but it broke clean off with threads still in the mount and it was never, ever torqued or bent in such a way as to flex it at or below the mount.

I also noticed a scratch that wasn't present, in line with the dent but on my door panel, while showing the disaster to my husband this evening. The dent isn't huge but it is quite noticable and so very frustrating because they absolutely caused it... I just can't seem to prove that. Customer has no say with these folks...

The only good news is my antenna is repaired and reception seems fine. They locked it down but good though so I'm afraid my aftermarket antenna is probably never going on. Given my karma seems insanely bad right now, I'm not going to go through another broken antenna experience anytime soon.

PS: I didn't press for the antenna repair to be done under warranty, even though technically I feel I could and should have. Removing an antenna is not some improper use or treatment of a vehicle; many people remove their antennas before going through a car wash, and many pay car washes remove antennas before running vehicles through their brushless washes. Still, I didn't make a stink and they didn't even bother to tell me they wouldn't cover it under warranty until around noon today, fully a day and a half after they first got the vehicle in for service. My service guy kept making a big deal about how he tried to get it covered as warranty and I feel like that pressure he put is making his boss that much less receptive to the issue now at hand -- that being the body damage. It's like he thinks I'm out to get something for nothing, and I tried repeatedly and calmly to explain I am fine with it not being covered under warranty, what I take issue with is that they damaged my vehicle in the process of the repair (and took 1.75-2 days to do it, at that.)

 

my bf said that after they take the wheel well off, sometimes, they use a hammer to help with the removal of the antenna. from your last 2 post, it sounds like that may just be the case. but still post the pic, and i can tell you more tomorrow. very sorry that this is happening to you and your FEH.

 

If you had told them the antenna "flew off while driving" why wasn't it warranty? Hmmmmm........

That tells you they are so full of crap, and they are just trying to get out of paying for the damage.....

You definitely do NOT want to go back to that shop again.

 

It's in my husband's hands, now. This has been an absolutely appalling experience and I still have a sick feeling in my stomach over the whole ordeal. I gave all my documentation to my husband, including a copy of my service appointment request I made on the dealership's website. It specifically shows I stated the antenna needs to be replaced because it broke off as I attempted to remove it. Not the various conspiracy theories the dealership has conconcted to make it remotely plausible that the body panel dent was pre-existing and caused by the antenna breaking off forcefully somehow.

Waiting for sunshine to take a photo. The sad thing is we're not talking about a giant dent, but the fact of the matter is it's damage that was sustained while my vehicle was being worked on/in the shop, and apparently that's supposed to be fine by me. Take vehicle in for minor repair, get vehicle back almost 2 full days later *with* new damage, pay up and have a nice day, sucker! ...

sigh

I'm absolutely freaked at taking my vehicle in for future service. I think even the tint shop I still need to set up an appointment with would have gotten their work done in less than 2 days and *not* damaged my vehicle in the process.

Oh, and one of the two plastic trim bits I need? They put on the invoice that it was installed. Upon inspection of the damage (which I had to ask for; they wanted me to pay up and go away sight unseen), I noted the trim piece (a screw cap/cover on the splashguard/weather stripping piece at the base of the windshield) was still missing. No one told me when that piece would be in, and no one apologized for it ostensibly taking 2+ days to get the part -- a part that is on every single Ford Escape on their lot, hybrid or no...

 

The regular Escape units, at least the CD-6 and Mach 300 units, do not have this adjustment.