I should've known better - part two
10-24-2015, 10:52 PM
#21
3rd Gear Member
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Anchorage, AK
Posts: 987
I would like to apologize for the troll comment, after reading all of this, yes I would be very pi$$ed also, hope they get it fixed soon, or give you a new car.
And Ford should adopt a policy to provide an equal vehicle, for cars under going warranty repairs.
And Ford should adopt a policy to provide an equal vehicle, for cars under going warranty repairs.
10-24-2015, 11:32 PM
#22
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: california
Posts: 36
No worries. No need to apologize. My initial thread could've been worded a lot better, but I was (and am) really frustrated by this situation. I really liked the car when I bought it. It's a blast to drive and gorgeous. But at this point I really don't know what the heck Ford is thinking.
10-26-2015, 12:39 PM
#23
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: california
Posts: 36
No call from anyone this morning (dealership or Ford). So I called the regional Ford guy. He was unaware that the dealership never contacted me. Put me on hold for several minutes. He says now that they want me to wait until Friday (five days) at which time he intends to give me an "update." No kidding. I asked him if the thinks that's reasonable at this point and he said "I understand this is frustrating...." which he has said about twenty times at this point. I asked him what resolution Ford is proposing. He said they hope the car will be fixed soon. But he has no idea when that will be. Ford has rejected my request that they repurchase the vehicle, saying "it does not meet the criteria for repurchase."
I'm really disappointed in Ford. This is a brand new car with under a thousand miles on it....
I think I'm going to have to hire a lawyer at this point.
I'm really disappointed in Ford. This is a brand new car with under a thousand miles on it....
I think I'm going to have to hire a lawyer at this point.
11-25-2015, 12:30 AM
#26
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: california
Posts: 36
All:
I've been reluctant to post my opinions until the situation has been resolved, but in response to the question let me summarize the current status.
As I think you know, I bought my brand new 2015 Mustang GT during the Labor Day weekend sale in late August. Since then, the car has been in the shop for about five or six WEEKS for safety-related warranty work following the problems outlined above and in the original thread. When I finally got the car back, well in excess of 200 miles had been put on the vehicle and as I understand it Ford actually sent an engineer out to look at the car.
As a reminder, these problems started at around 700 miles. After two lengthy stays at the dealership, I finally got it back around 1020 miles following the second visit to the shop (which took about a month). I told the dealership I was uncomfortable taking the car back after all these immediate problems and I was told in response to turn in my rental car, take my Mustang, or face storage fees. So I took the car. I had no choice. And then I was back at the dealership a week later with similar electrical gremlins. (Which they fixed. I presently have the car. But still....)
During this whole process and to date, Ford's corporate customer service was ineffective and non-responsive. At one point I was told by Ford's regional customer service manager on a Friday afternoon that my car would probably be ready on Saturday. I asked them to let me know one way or the other, so I could make plans to pick it up. Come Saturday at 5pm, no call from the dealership or Ford's customer service manager. I left messages. No return call. On Monday I reached the regional customer service guy and he had no idea what the status was. He told me to call back on Friday for "a status update." This is after I was told the car would be fixed two days prior. Honestly he thought it was reasonable to ask me to call back at the end of the week for an "update." I was floored. As it turns out the car ended up not being "fixed" for weeks after that. At one point the dealership service manager told me they had no idea how to fix it and they were "back at square one." Several people chalked it up to it being "a new model."
So at the end of the day I have been forced to start formal proceedings over this. Ford denied my request to repurchase the vehicle and since then has gone basically radio silent. They told me to send a fax or a letter to their P.O. Box. No kidding. After they denied my repurchase request, they wouldn't let me talk to someone by phone or email. I hired a lawyer. He made a written settlement offer to Ford in an effort to try to avoid having to go through the litigation process but they didn't even respond to the offer. I have to assume they figure for some reason it makes sense to force me to file suit over this. Some internet sleuthing shows that Ford has been criticized and sued by others for how they approach these situations. I don't think I'm the first to have this experience.
I can't tell you all how disappointed I am. Not only with the car but with Ford. It's really disheartening. On some level, I can understand that even modern cars can't be expected to be perfect. But having a brand new car in the shop for (at one point) about half of the time in the first two months of ownership is just crazy to me. I also find it bothersome that someone other than me was driving the car when it rolled over its first 1000 miles and that they put several hundred miles on my brand new car only to reject all of my requests to make it right by repurchasing the car from me.
I'm not trying to bash Ford or the car or be unfair about this, but instead I'm trying to let the circumstances speak for themselves. I'm not a Ford hater. I grew up loving Mustangs. I wrote a book report on Henry Ford in grade school because even then I was a growing car nut. My grandparents bought a 64.5 and a 65 Mustangs (two cars) when new and I loved hearing stories about them when I was a kid. My grandfather - who played a big role in me being a car nut - was a lifelong FoMoCo guy. My family has purchased Fords, Lincolns, and Mercury cars all brand new over the years. But this is my first Mustang. And this experience has been awful on all levels.
I still think my car is gorgeous. And it sounds great. And I love driving it. But when you've faced repeated warning lights for a variety of safety systems, a failure of the power steering system, other failures like with the traction control for example, then weeks of unanswered questions, made payments for a car you don't have (and the dealership REFUSED to give to you "due to liability concerns"), it's hard to remain enthusiastic about the car. The whole things leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
I also can't forget to mention that while they gave me a rental car for about a month, it was a Toyota.
What does that say? I don't know. But my opinion in sum is that this doesn't say much for Ford. Draw your own conclusions about Ford, its products, and its customer service. But I am far from a happy customer and I wouldn't wish this experience on any fellow enthusiast. I'd love to see Ford step up to the plate and make this right but at this point I have no confidence that is going to happen.
I've been reluctant to post my opinions until the situation has been resolved, but in response to the question let me summarize the current status.
As I think you know, I bought my brand new 2015 Mustang GT during the Labor Day weekend sale in late August. Since then, the car has been in the shop for about five or six WEEKS for safety-related warranty work following the problems outlined above and in the original thread. When I finally got the car back, well in excess of 200 miles had been put on the vehicle and as I understand it Ford actually sent an engineer out to look at the car.
As a reminder, these problems started at around 700 miles. After two lengthy stays at the dealership, I finally got it back around 1020 miles following the second visit to the shop (which took about a month). I told the dealership I was uncomfortable taking the car back after all these immediate problems and I was told in response to turn in my rental car, take my Mustang, or face storage fees. So I took the car. I had no choice. And then I was back at the dealership a week later with similar electrical gremlins. (Which they fixed. I presently have the car. But still....)
During this whole process and to date, Ford's corporate customer service was ineffective and non-responsive. At one point I was told by Ford's regional customer service manager on a Friday afternoon that my car would probably be ready on Saturday. I asked them to let me know one way or the other, so I could make plans to pick it up. Come Saturday at 5pm, no call from the dealership or Ford's customer service manager. I left messages. No return call. On Monday I reached the regional customer service guy and he had no idea what the status was. He told me to call back on Friday for "a status update." This is after I was told the car would be fixed two days prior. Honestly he thought it was reasonable to ask me to call back at the end of the week for an "update." I was floored. As it turns out the car ended up not being "fixed" for weeks after that. At one point the dealership service manager told me they had no idea how to fix it and they were "back at square one." Several people chalked it up to it being "a new model."
So at the end of the day I have been forced to start formal proceedings over this. Ford denied my request to repurchase the vehicle and since then has gone basically radio silent. They told me to send a fax or a letter to their P.O. Box. No kidding. After they denied my repurchase request, they wouldn't let me talk to someone by phone or email. I hired a lawyer. He made a written settlement offer to Ford in an effort to try to avoid having to go through the litigation process but they didn't even respond to the offer. I have to assume they figure for some reason it makes sense to force me to file suit over this. Some internet sleuthing shows that Ford has been criticized and sued by others for how they approach these situations. I don't think I'm the first to have this experience.
I can't tell you all how disappointed I am. Not only with the car but with Ford. It's really disheartening. On some level, I can understand that even modern cars can't be expected to be perfect. But having a brand new car in the shop for (at one point) about half of the time in the first two months of ownership is just crazy to me. I also find it bothersome that someone other than me was driving the car when it rolled over its first 1000 miles and that they put several hundred miles on my brand new car only to reject all of my requests to make it right by repurchasing the car from me.
I'm not trying to bash Ford or the car or be unfair about this, but instead I'm trying to let the circumstances speak for themselves. I'm not a Ford hater. I grew up loving Mustangs. I wrote a book report on Henry Ford in grade school because even then I was a growing car nut. My grandparents bought a 64.5 and a 65 Mustangs (two cars) when new and I loved hearing stories about them when I was a kid. My grandfather - who played a big role in me being a car nut - was a lifelong FoMoCo guy. My family has purchased Fords, Lincolns, and Mercury cars all brand new over the years. But this is my first Mustang. And this experience has been awful on all levels.
I still think my car is gorgeous. And it sounds great. And I love driving it. But when you've faced repeated warning lights for a variety of safety systems, a failure of the power steering system, other failures like with the traction control for example, then weeks of unanswered questions, made payments for a car you don't have (and the dealership REFUSED to give to you "due to liability concerns"), it's hard to remain enthusiastic about the car. The whole things leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
I also can't forget to mention that while they gave me a rental car for about a month, it was a Toyota.
What does that say? I don't know. But my opinion in sum is that this doesn't say much for Ford. Draw your own conclusions about Ford, its products, and its customer service. But I am far from a happy customer and I wouldn't wish this experience on any fellow enthusiast. I'd love to see Ford step up to the plate and make this right but at this point I have no confidence that is going to happen.
Last edited by ChampInSD; 11-25-2015 at 12:32 AM.
11-25-2015, 12:31 PM
#27
5th Gear Member
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: wisconsin
Posts: 2,260
bummer for you, but the servicing dealer bears most of the blame, as they didnt fix the car for you. did you try another dealer? the one you had it at may have a bad service dept. remember the person you talked to on the phone doesnt fix cars and can only go by what the dealer provides for info. every car is fixable, i have seen several buy backs happen at our dealer, but every one was fixed, the issue was that the parts were on backorder and it push it over the time limit. it all depends on the quality of the techs that a paticuler dealer employs
11-25-2015, 06:48 PM
#29
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: california
Posts: 36
I don't blame the dealership. They were very nice. The service manager is a gentleman. The problem is the car. Apparently it has/had software issues that no one ever saw before. That is why Ford's own engineering personnel had to get involved and even they struggled for weeks to diagnose and fix the problem. As I understand it, the dealership footed the bill on my rental car. Ford refused to pay for it. Can you believe THAT? It's unreal. I have never been more shocked at a company (any company, not just a car manufacturer....) having such a terrible approach to making a customer happy when there is such manifest failure with their product. Again: This car is BRAND NEW.
Still no response from Ford so my lawyer is going to press forward with litigation. Maybe it will result in some sort of recall campaign. Who knows. I'm also going to make a formal complaint to the NHTSA since my problems involved safety systems and I experienced what I felt was a dangerous series of problems with the brakes, air bag, power steering and traction control systems.
Still no response from Ford so my lawyer is going to press forward with litigation. Maybe it will result in some sort of recall campaign. Who knows. I'm also going to make a formal complaint to the NHTSA since my problems involved safety systems and I experienced what I felt was a dangerous series of problems with the brakes, air bag, power steering and traction control systems.
11-25-2015, 11:41 PM
#30
5th Gear Member
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: wisconsin
Posts: 2,260
I don't blame the dealership. They were very nice. The service manager is a gentleman. The problem is the car. Apparently it has/had software issues that no one ever saw before. That is why Ford's own engineering personnel had to get involved and even they struggled for weeks to diagnose and fix the problem. As I understand it, the dealership footed the bill on my rental car. Ford refused to pay for it. Can you believe THAT? It's unreal. I have never been more shocked at a company (any company, not just a car manufacturer....) having such a terrible approach to making a customer happy when there is such manifest failure with their product. Again: This car is BRAND NEW.
Still no response from Ford so my lawyer is going to press forward with litigation. Maybe it will result in some sort of recall campaign. Who knows. I'm also going to make a formal complaint to the NHTSA since my problems involved safety systems and I experienced what I felt was a dangerous series of problems with the brakes, air bag, power steering and traction control systems.
Still no response from Ford so my lawyer is going to press forward with litigation. Maybe it will result in some sort of recall campaign. Who knows. I'm also going to make a formal complaint to the NHTSA since my problems involved safety systems and I experienced what I felt was a dangerous series of problems with the brakes, air bag, power steering and traction control systems.
