I went to Sunshine Ford with the intent of buying a 05-06 Mustang Coupe. I was told by the more than ambitious sales person that they just "happened to have" a 2005 Mustang Convertible that was their last one and they would let me have it for a special price.
I should have suspected something was wrong when the vehicle was not on the lot. The sales person said it was around back and she would have to go get it. The sales person drove the vehicle out from the service department bay and on to the lot. I asked her why it was in the service department. I was told that they had just replaced a part on it that they had used to repair another vehicle. This is not an unusual thing for some dealerships to do.
The convertible had 410 mi on it and I was told that milage was from the owner of the dealership using it as a demo. Again this was an acceptable answer. When I asked the sales person why the sticker was taped around the edges, water marked and lying on the passenger seat I was told "someone left the window open and the sticker got a little wet. Don't worry though we got it all dried out.". I ended up purchasing the vehicle.
From the day I took delivery of the car, there was always a slight underlying mildew odor. Not that you could really put your finger on, but it was very slight.
I took the car home and for the next six months the Mustang was garage kept until the weekend I had to work on my daughters car. The Mustang was moved out to the driveway. Unfortunately, that weekend it rained extremely hard. That Monday I tried to get in the car. The smell of rot and mildew was all through the car, it wouldn't start, the radio was not working at all and the rear defroster was cycling on and off.
I eventually got the car started and limped it to Monroe Ford in Monroe NY. Their service department found that there was a major leak in the car and it had been draining all over the ECU causing electrical problems. I left the car to be repaired. Eventually they found the leak, there was a 3" seperation between the fire wall and the dashboard that had never been sealed.
Sunshine had told me the sticker had been water marked from rain. Not true. It had been water marked from condensation that had ocurred when the carpet had become saturated and eventually condensed on all the windows. Sunshine had told me it was in the shop because it was used for parts for another car. Not true. It was left in the shop to be dried out and to keep it from collecting more water. Sunshine had told me that it was the owners demo. That might have been true, but he probably didn't want to drive it when it had become soaked and started to smell.
This car had been manufactured with the defect from day one. A 3" gap between the dashboard and the firewall just doesn't grow there. Sunshine Ford chose to ignore it and pass it on to a customer. Unfortunately that customer was me.
After the car was dried out by Monroe Ford and the carpet replaced it still smells of mildew and there were (and still are) occasional unexplained electrical problems. The GM of Sunshine Ford, Joseph Colandrea walked by it and said it still stinks and his service department would be more than happy to take a look at it. I was eventually called by the service manager at Sunshine who told me, "We can't find anything wrong. As for the smell, it's not our fault that Monroe Ford didn't get rid of it, it's not our problem.". The initial problem that should have been addressed WAS SUNSHINE FORDS PROBLEM and they chose to ignore it and instead dump a leaky car on a customer.
Ford Motor Company customer service (or lack of) has been no help. So far it has been an endless litany of "passify the customer" and as soon as they are off the phone you are forgotten.
I'm STUCK paying for a car that smells like low tide and a dirty locker room. I can't sell the thing outright because it smells too bad and I won't trade it in because I'm not going to take the hit because Ford can't properly manufacture a vehicle that doesn't leak and won't accept responsibility for when they screwed it up.
Ford can thank Sunshine Ford for being able to slide damaged vehicles onto unsuspecting customers though.
B
Middletown, New York
U.S.A.
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