To anyone who will listen to another sad story of Big Automotive dealers taking advantage of the little people.
I hope this story reaches millions about the negative effects of Ford customer service practices and beliefs in not satisfying their consumers and not providing a product that will eventually cause financial hardship and burden along the way.
I bought a 2000 Ford Mustang in November at the Cal Worthington Dealership in Long Beach. You never forget your first real car purchase. I was excited and felt somewhat liberated that I would finally own the Mustang that I so desired over the years. That car symbolized to me freedom and the American dream. It embodies everything that is attainable if we just put our best foot forward and we dream big in away that can never be questioned or challenged. That Cal Worthington commercial that runs in the late night hours of the evening, that challenges every consumer sensibility by drawing you in to see this little old guy who can help you purchase the American dream.
So I like most American consumers believe that the deal I will receive at Cal will be fair affordable and righteous. Oh but not so! I purchase this black 2000 mustang with the hood scoop and spoiler on the back and I can remember with such finality the car salesman saying this warranty will last you the term of the loan. If anything goes wrong you're covered.
This is where it all goes really bad and I'm sure plenty of Ford owners can attest to this reality. I start having issues with the car in 2005 2006. The electrical is just gone in both windows, the car is hesitating to start etc. And I take it to the dealer and tell him can you look at my car?
I explain to him the problem and let him know I have a bumper to bumper warranty and it should cover the repairs on the car. The warranty I speak of is a Premium Care warranty, 78,000 miles or 78 months with an expiration date of 10/08 including a $50 deductible. He takes a look in his system and says according to our records your warranty expired in October. Of course I don't believe it because remember what the car salesman said, If anything goes wrong with the car you're covered. I told him impossible I have a Premium Care warranty that is suppose to cover everything for the term of the loan. He tells me you have to contact the dealer who did the deal because they are the only ones who can fix the issue. I figure what's left for me to do.
I go home try to hunt down old paperwork with no luck. Over the course of 3 months the car goes from bad to worse (but it's still running) I go to another dealer and ask them to see if they can fix it and once again explain the warranty situation. They say no can do! And send me to the finance department to get some insight into what they can do.
The finance guy says, You look covered according to the contract but the dealer should not have sold you a new car warranty on a used car. That's a big red flag. He stated the warranty looks fraudulent.
Now I'm on the pursuit to locate the original warranty with all the info. My car is fast taking a downward spiral into the bad car abyss and I'm drowning financially with it. Before I can put on a scuba suit and gear up my car completely breaks down and I am forced to take it to PEP boys to get it fixed until I can get some resolution to my mysterious warranty from Ford.
I finally locate the warranty and BAM the car breaks down, stopped in its tracks at the shopping center next to Trophy's restaurant. I tow that bad baby back to my home and get on the horn with Cal Worthington and Ford Corporation trying to get someone to acknowledge hey we screwed you royally and would like to rectify the situation. I talk to Angie the warranty clerk at Cal Worthington who demands that there's no way they did the info wrong it's all headquarters fault. We just send it to them to input. You need to provide me some documents, she says. I stated, Don't you have the documents in house. She tells me, No we don't keep paperwork from 4 years ago.
What the hell do they do with such important legal documents? Shred them! Does Enron come to mind anyone? I fax her all the information and tell her my car is not working I need to get this piece of crap fixed and I need Ford to honor the warranty that I paid for that I haven't been able to use for a year. She gets the documents and gives me the usual bull s* run around and says we did make a mistake on your warranty information but it's still not our fault (headquarters).
I tell her I need to get my car fixed how do you intend on fixing this. She tells me you have to take the car to a dealership and we will provide paperwork to show proof that there was a mistake and we need to correct it.
I call triple AAA have them take the car down to Pearson Ford and explain extensively to the guy Eric exactly what the situation is with the car and warranty and that Ford will contact him with all the info as stated to me by Angie. So I'm feeling good I feel like Ford is finally going to step up and provide the exceptionally customer service that you can only find in the good old USA. Nothing is that easy.
I call Ford Headquarters the next day to see where they were with correcting the fraudulent warranty and you know what they say to me we can't fix that for 7 days. Are you kidding it took them 2 minutes to enter in bad information and now they want 7 days. No way.
I tell the clerk you need to take care of this now. I can't afford to be without a vehicle for any longer. This is causing me loss of time at work and the payment of a rental car. She wants to debate this with me. After being the most angry and obnoxious consumer I could possibly conjure up in my being, she says, I'll go ahead and change it but it's still expired. If I could have come thru the phone line and grabbed some necks it would not have been pretty.
She then stated since you dropped off the car on the 10th of October the warranty isn't valid any way. Ford what can you say, they are going to stay true to being ass* even at the bitter end. I told her I realize it's expired because it took you a year to fix the incorrect info. I just want to get the repairs done that I should have been able to do during the entire year my warranty was valid. No can do again.
I talked to a supervisor who then proceeded to conference call everybody involved. She called Angie, Eric and Legal and everyone said the same thing, Oh well I am not responsible and ultimately I don't care. She has the audacity to tell Eric on the phone Rhonda will come down and pay the $700 to pick up her vehicle. I never agreed to that! Can you say lawsuit. This woman is actually making statements on my behalf. Not so smart if you ask me.in the end Ford and their crew of fraudulent dealers, angry warranty clerks and bad customer service reps decided you need to pay.
Yea we made a mistake but that's not our problem and if you never buy another car from us who cares because you know what half of the company is being laid off, stock options are down to $7 dollars a share, we haven't created a quality product since the 1960's and we will probably go private just to stay afloat. You know what Ford I will see you in Court because I believe in the American Dream.
I believe that a dealer can MAKE PROFITS IF THEY PROVIDE YOU WITH A PRODUCT THAT THEY THEMSELVES BELIEVE IN AND STANDBY and they believe that the Ford consumer should be a customer for life and not a customer until their vehicle breaks down. Bring back the sprit that was once true American innovation but start with your Ford drivers first.
Rhonda
San Diego, California
U.S.A.
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