SilverBacon

Just another update...

Ford is playing games with me and I have had enough. No one at my local dealership or Ford Corporate is returning my calls or calling back like they said they would. Apparently, no Ford dealership has to accept a trade for a buy-back vehicle. So, I am at my local dealership who doesn't stock base V6s, so I am screwed. The only other dealer that has to take my contract is the selling dealer, but alas they don't have what I want either. Oh, and I am not allowed to order a car because it is not in the contract which says I must be done with this in 60 days. It has been almost 30 so far...

I called my person at the BBB Auto Line to discuss this and she is not sure why another dealer even agreed to take my contract anyways. She is going to try and get in contact with Ford again and discuss what is going on. This is turning into a huge mess and we are seconds from exercising our ability to take a cash buy-back of the car and go somewhere else. Ford is really screwing us over.

Rash

That really sucks. Who told you that you aren't allowed to order a car? I'd be willing to bet that's wrong. They are required to provide a replacement that is "substantially identical". BBB couldn't give you a direct answer about this? I would ask for a higher up at BBB if the person you talked to didn't know.

I won arbitration on a 2002 Mercury Mountaineer tha basically fell apart within 6 months. I ordered my replacement since they didn't have what I wanted in inventory. No problems. Of course, at that time it wasn't BBB, it was something called the Dispute Settlement Board. Still, it should work the same way.

If all else fails, you could always refuse the BBB settlement and go through with actual lemon-law. I bet if you even threatened to do this, Ford would magically find a way to order your vehicle.

lodom

They should have ordered a new car, had it prioritized at 1, and had it in 5 or 6 weeks after they couldn't locate one. Their handling of this problem is sad to say the least.

kerafaith

Been where you are & done that. My 03 was a lemon & Ford agreed to the buy back. I was told that I only had 30 days & therefore, would have to get an 04. However it being September of 04 & Ford was already building the 05. My GM at my dealership couldn't find a comparibable 04. So he contacted Ford & got the deal extended. I was then able to order exactly what I wanted. And I am sure we are all fimialiar with the IUP screw up that Ford had. Well, my car was on hold from September until the week before Christmas, when it was finaly submitted to the plant & scheduled. It was built the week they came back from their Holiday brake. It was then held for another month with a whole shippment of cars for quality control.

So, stay on the dealer, the general manager of the dealership & Ford. Get a print out of your state Lemon Law & threaten them with just the mention of a Lawyer. And whatever you do don't let up. As soon as I ordered my 05 I called my dealer twice a week, somethimes more. And when it was on hold for Quality Control I called daily. They even tried to get me to get IUP Lite so they could go ahead & get the car built, but I stood my ground. It got to where the ladies who answered the phone knew me by voice. And I had never even met them .

And above all else. Good Luck.

SilverBacon

So, the Ford buy-back lady finally called us back after the BBB called her to ask what was going on. She claimed that Ford is working "as fast as needed" at the situation. What the heck type of response is that? Absolutely horrible customer service on Ford's part. I am taking kerafaith's advice and am gonna keep on them starting tomorrow. We are going down to the dealer with the contract, gonna discuss this with the GM, and get something done.

This situation is getting ridiculous and the car needs to be back in the shop, but we were banking on letting them deal with that when they buy it back. Hopefully, tomorrow gets things rolling again...they're either finding me and giving me a time frame on when I am getting a new Mustang or I am gonna ditch Ford all together and buy something else. The loss of the cool/fun factor sounds well worth not having to deal with this anymore.

IWantMyNewGT

SilverBacon

Today, we actually made progress on the buy-back! We went to the dealer and asked for the GM after we couldn't get ahold of our contact there. We explained the situation to him and he was just like "Alright, lets get this solved." He showed me the Alloy Mustangs he had on his lot and showed us his numbers for the extra features on them, but I didn't want to pay for things I didn't really want or need, so I turned that option down. Then he pulled up a few on the computer, I told him I was willing to pay about $400 in additional features as long as I wanted it. So, he got some people to start calling the dealers with the vehicles and sent us on our way home with my cell number in hand.

An hour later, he called just to inform us about the progress he made and how no dealer wanted to trade with them. Later in the day, the Ford corporate lady got involved and we basically told her that if Ford is willing to take the cost of the Side Airbags, Sirius, and Shaker 500 on the model at our local dealer, we will take it today and this can be over. Apparently, corporate can play funny numbers with the $800+ we owe in milage fees on the old one, so they are working on that. The GM even said he'd rather give us theirs than wait around for a base one apparently coming from the factory on Monday to another dealer in the area. So, we shall see...Monday or Tuesday they expect to have this resolved now.

Hollywood_North GT

All this from a company that is rapidly hemorrhaging market share and just mortgaged its OWN FACTORIES to stay in business.

You'd think they'd EVENTUALLY get a clue, wouldn't you?

SilverBacon

Ughh...Ford Corporate is full of a bunch of idiots. Flat out, worst customer service of my life. Our person from the Reacquired Vehicle Division at Ford tells us she will call us back with one answer, then doesn't call back for days and then when we finally get ahold of her we don't get an answer. She keeps misplacing our paperwork that we fax her and that our dealer faxes her. The dealer is even unpleased with her service towards them. We've been calling the BBB to get them involved again and, magically, when they call her, she calls us back right away. Today we were told some higher ups in another building have to approve the vehicle we want that our dealer is willing to give us, but just days ago her managers in her building were supposed to have that power. How is it that Ford can tell a dealer they can't give us a particular car, but they can't make a dealer give us an equally equiped car nor ship us one from the factory. I am so confused as to what Ford can and can not do and to when this is going to be resolved.

We are thinking of rejecting the settlement, going thru arbitration, and getting the car actually declared a lemon. Ford just agreed to reacquire the vehicle, so they can resell it, but if they want to mess with us, we can mess with them. A lawyer is probably our best bet right now because Ford has been playing games with us for a month and we still don't have a new car.

Seriously, I am losing all respect I had for the company over this. I love the car, but the company is just ruining everything...

Hollywood_North GT

Three words: GET A LAWYER! If they jumped when the BBB called them, they'll downright start to panic if you get an attorney who knows what he's doing. As it stands, they're f*cking you around, and personally, I would be preparing for war!

This is the rot that Mulally needs to cut out of the company, PRONTO! Defective products are one thing, but refusing to stand behind them is quite another.

IWantMyNewGT

I agree. This sort of thing is EXACTLY why Ford is continuing to lose market share. When I spend $30K on a car I shouldn't have to hope I got a good one, knowing I'll be left twisting in the wind if I got a lemon!

I realize that many other car companies are no better (VW for one), but Ford HAS to become better then the rest if they are to regain lost market share and earn repeat business, IMO.

SilverBacon

Well, we kept on Ford's case all day today, mentioned the lawyer thing to them and we have supposedly solved our problems. There is an Alloy Grey V6 Automatic w/ Dark Charcoal interior in transit from the factory. It was supposed to arrive at another local dealer on Monday, but there is some delay in the train or something, so any day now it is supposed to be here. After that, there will be a couple days worth of paperwork and then the car is mine. Well, we've heard this story before, but hopefully this time it works out. I'll keep ya'll posted when the story changes or when I, just maybe, get a new one.

Imatk

This is just awful... I really hope you get your car like you SHOULD have gotten a month ago.

If you don't I would sue HARD.

And I doubt anyone would blame you for never buying a Ford again. Their customer service has always been a little suspect from my experience but this is just plain wrong.

Glenn

keep calling and checking on it location.

lodom

Ask them for the DORA, so you can keep up with progress on the car. The only problem is the car can actually be on the lot and the system will still say it is in transit, since it doesn't update daily.

SilverBacon

I sat in my future Mustang today! No, I did not get the keys or anything, but I inspected the Mustang with my name on it. Ford has been screwing around with the paperwork for the past few days and has made no progress at the corporate end. Our local dealer at least got the car in and has it waiting for us when Ford gets everything done. They are a bunch of idiots at corporate because they overnighted us a letter from our buy-back person saying that our contract will be void soon for not chosing a car. The same lady who has been dealing with us this whole time and knew we were waiting for a car to come wrote this letter, basically saying we were not working with Ford. What the heck? She knew for the past week or so that the car was supposed to arrive any day and the dealers had already agreed to trade for it. So, we called her boss today and left a voicemail expressing our displeasure as we just want this situation solved. There is a car sitting on the lot reserved for me, but they can't give it to me because she is an asbolute moron. She told my dealer that they couldn't do the paperwork until they had possesion of the car, but when they called her saying they got it, she asked why they didn't tell her earlier because she could have done the paperwork with just the VIN. I will not sign my name for another Ford anytime soon...

Hollywood_North GT

Here's exactly what I would be doing now >>

I would have my LAWYER prepare a letter to whomever at Ford corporate you've been dealing with, expressing your extreme displeasure, and implictly threatening them if they persist in playing games that will result in you being disadvantaged further.

I would make sure that he 'cc'd that letter to all the corporate bigwigs, Mulally included.

ENOUGH with this sh*t!

SilverBacon

Ford is full of idiots.

Today's conversation with Ford corporate included:

-Being told that we are being difficult to deal with and they can just send us back to the BBB and they can deal with us
-There is another 3-4 day delay for Ford Motor Credit to approve the deal
-The lady said she wasn't calling us back because of our attitudes
-We may have to pay an addition 160 dollars to Ford because they no longer make V6 Standards and the difference in price to a Deluxe is that amount
-No dealer has to accept our buy-back including the selling dealer, no dealer has to trade, no dealer has to do anything with us

Wow...just wow. They are absolutely ridiculous! We have played by their rules and been patient with them, haven't gotten a lawyer yet, and they act like they are doing us a favor by buying the car back. There is no way in hell we are paying an additional 160 because they don't make the car anymore. Not our fault, you gave us a lemon, now provide an equal replacement like you agreed to. Screw Ford.

Hollywood_North GT

As it stands, they're not taking you seriously and they're laughing their azzes off.

It's OK to vent to us, but honestly dude, you should apply your energies towards following my advice above. It's time to roll out the howitzers and let them know they're about to get a poundin'! Time to take care of business!

Please tell me you are documenting EVERYTHING.

Imatk

Well honestly at this point I don't know that I would want the car.

On principal alone I would bail. But I guess you have to make that decision.

If you want the car I would pay the $160 bucks. Get it over with and just move on.

If you would rather sue them... then do that.

I know 160 bucks is 160 bucks but is it worth the hassle?