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- #21
I really do not want to be known as the guy who does nothing but bellyache and complain, but I seriously seem to find the worst customer service just about everywhere I go. My luck with the local Ford dealer has been similar.
I bought the Fusion a year and a half ago (used), with the stipulation right on the bill of sale that they would fix the damage to the driver's quarter panel where someone has gotten too close to a garage wall or doorway or something. I had to call them after two weeks to remind them that this work needed to be done, and then of course I had to leave the car with them for the day. Got there to pick it up, and it was clear that all they did was brush on some paint from a touch-up bottle. It looked like my child did it. So I had to make arrangements to drop the car off for another day to have them do the same thing. Then I had a lengthy and somewhat angry (on his part) conversation with the sales manager, about what "fix" means, and how it is most definitely not to be confused with "repair". In the end he wound up giving me a bottle of paint and told me to fix it myself. I know where my next car will not be purchased from.
About three months in (once it got fairly cold), the passenger seatbelt stopped working. It would not come out far enough to get around any passenger larger than my six year old, and it wouldn't retract back into the pillar. I had to argue a bit again, but they did replace the belt tensioner under warranty. When I got in the car to go home, I found the trim piece to cover the bolting bracket at the roof level sitting not just on my center console, but right in the path of the shifter, which made me wonder how anyone could have drove the car from the shop out to the parking lot without seeing it. I didn't bother to complain. It took me two minutes to put it back on, but still. Ridiculous.
A few months later I got a recall letter about a steering wheel bolt. That service went just fine, although it took all day.
Then just a few months ago I got a check engine light and scanned it first before I took it in. It was an emissions part (related to the EGR valve system), which doesn't surprise me on these new cars. You can see the oil consumption in the tailpipes. It's awful, but that is a different story. I've also had problems with the windows in this car. The driver's rear window stopped working this summer, and suddenly started working again while the passenger front stopped. So I asked them to look into that too. The car had been in for hail damage repair previously, so I figured somebody didn't put a harness back together properly. $1100+ later, I am told that the emissions part is NOT part of the drivetrain, and therefore not covered under warranty. The windows was a failed electronic module which was also not covered under warranty. So what's the point of the warranty then? The guy flat out told me, "You have to read the really fine print."
My wife was with me that day, so she had jumped into the car and took it home while I went in to pay. Three days later, I go to drive the car and think, gee, did you check all the windows? No. Sure enough, the passenger window works, but the auto-up and auto-down functions do not work. Every other window in the car has full-auto windows. How could a tech miss the fact that this wasn't working properly?
I seriously don't know if I am just really unlucky when it comes to stuff like this, or if customer service is a long lost part of history that will never again be anywhere near the level that it used to be.
I bought the Fusion a year and a half ago (used), with the stipulation right on the bill of sale that they would fix the damage to the driver's quarter panel where someone has gotten too close to a garage wall or doorway or something. I had to call them after two weeks to remind them that this work needed to be done, and then of course I had to leave the car with them for the day. Got there to pick it up, and it was clear that all they did was brush on some paint from a touch-up bottle. It looked like my child did it. So I had to make arrangements to drop the car off for another day to have them do the same thing. Then I had a lengthy and somewhat angry (on his part) conversation with the sales manager, about what "fix" means, and how it is most definitely not to be confused with "repair". In the end he wound up giving me a bottle of paint and told me to fix it myself. I know where my next car will not be purchased from.
About three months in (once it got fairly cold), the passenger seatbelt stopped working. It would not come out far enough to get around any passenger larger than my six year old, and it wouldn't retract back into the pillar. I had to argue a bit again, but they did replace the belt tensioner under warranty. When I got in the car to go home, I found the trim piece to cover the bolting bracket at the roof level sitting not just on my center console, but right in the path of the shifter, which made me wonder how anyone could have drove the car from the shop out to the parking lot without seeing it. I didn't bother to complain. It took me two minutes to put it back on, but still. Ridiculous.
A few months later I got a recall letter about a steering wheel bolt. That service went just fine, although it took all day.
Then just a few months ago I got a check engine light and scanned it first before I took it in. It was an emissions part (related to the EGR valve system), which doesn't surprise me on these new cars. You can see the oil consumption in the tailpipes. It's awful, but that is a different story. I've also had problems with the windows in this car. The driver's rear window stopped working this summer, and suddenly started working again while the passenger front stopped. So I asked them to look into that too. The car had been in for hail damage repair previously, so I figured somebody didn't put a harness back together properly. $1100+ later, I am told that the emissions part is NOT part of the drivetrain, and therefore not covered under warranty. The windows was a failed electronic module which was also not covered under warranty. So what's the point of the warranty then? The guy flat out told me, "You have to read the really fine print."
My wife was with me that day, so she had jumped into the car and took it home while I went in to pay. Three days later, I go to drive the car and think, gee, did you check all the windows? No. Sure enough, the passenger window works, but the auto-up and auto-down functions do not work. Every other window in the car has full-auto windows. How could a tech miss the fact that this wasn't working properly?
I seriously don't know if I am just really unlucky when it comes to stuff like this, or if customer service is a long lost part of history that will never again be anywhere near the level that it used to be.
