My Ford Escape that I bought brand new in 2003 lasted 120K miles before the transmission and catalytic converters blew out. Car was worthless at that point (6K in repairs) so I decided to buy a used vehicle from the dealer and take the small trade in value for the damaged Escape
Drove off with a 2002 Ford Windstar with fairly low miles for the cost and year of the car (69,000 miles). I was even able to get a 60 day mile warranty with it. With a family of 4 (2 young kids) I was feeling good we had a reliable car to get around in.
32 days and 600 miles later (within the warranty) the check engine light went on. No problem, don't panic. Still have a warranty, have barely driven the car. It runs fine, I didn't notice any change in driving. My first thought was get it to the dealer right away, and just have them take care of this minor problem because it's in the warranty period right? WRONG!
Turns out I needed a new intake manifold gasket (a small piece of rubber that seals and prevents air leaks in the manifold) Service department tells me it is $560 to do the repair. I tell them I have a warranty. They tell me my warranty doesn't cover that. I'm not happy, but I read the fine print on the warranty when I get home and sure enough, they have clever language in their to exclude this particular problem. I can except that even though I'm not happy about it.
I explain that I think it's unfortunate they consider this repair not relative to the engine of the car, but I've been outsmarted by crafty salesman ship and a warranty not worth the paper it is printed on. Again I can get over that. What I cannot get over is the fact that once I explain I cannot afford to pay to have the repair done and would not be replacing the part, Fox Valley Ford said they had to charge me $160 diagnostic fee. Basically they wanted $160 to tell me that there was a problem with the new vehicle I bought less than one month ago and that the problem would not be covered under the warranty I had, and that even if I decided not to have that problem fixed, they would still charge me $160 just to tell me that. A diagnostic takes all of 5 minutes to complete. A computer is hooked up to the car and a code is spit out that identifies the problem. Ford felt they could not even do that in good faith or under the warranty without sticking it to me.
I work two jobs and support a family of 4. We are living hand to mouth right now. I literally cannot afford it. I have no idea how are bills are going to get paid some months. I'm struggling to keep my family in our home and maintain my sanity and then I have to deal with situations and people like this. I had to swallow my pride and borrow money from family just to get this car because we had no working vehicle once my other ford literally fell apart after only 6 years and 120k miles. None of those things matter to Ford and they shouldn't. They aren't a charity organization. I get that. But what they did was plain and simple "a rip off" regaurdless if I could afford to pay for it or not. I asked for consideration and Fox Valley Ford Manager Brian Collins in regard to the diagnostic fee and he told me to pound sand and fork over my money. This is how Brian and Fox Vallley Ford treats their customers. I've owned 4 ford vehicles since I was 18. This will be the last.
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