A challenge in living in a remote community is what to do about transportation.
Before we moved full-time to Seaview- I owned a Landrover. You would think Landrovers are a good car for beach life- afterall, they go on African Safaris- right? Wrong. Service for Landrovers is nonexistant in rural areas. Sure- the local guys can work on it- and after putting in an ENTIRE NEW ENGINE FROM ENGLAND- (probably due to something the inexperienced local mechanics did) you figure the 2 to 5 hour trip to civilization- where the service department can be rude to you- is something you might actually put up with. That is your penance for buying an English car.
One day last Sept- while driving back from Seattle with an entire car filled to the brim with campaign signs.... my little beloved Landrover Freelander convinced me of the wisdom of local car maintenance. A few days later- we were off to the local Ford dealer in Astoria. 
I decided that a Ford was a good choice. The most important consideration being- local service. I also justified the purchase with- it was on the lot, we got a good price, it is cute, I like the color, etc. I wanted to buy American- gosh the auto industry is in trouble- it is the right thing to do. I had no idea we would fund a bailout- (don't get me started- on with the story).
Fords have a history in remote communities. The photo above with all the girls -is the car owned by Miss Dorothy Elliott. Her parents built our home in 1905, she later inherited it. Miss Dorothy ran Camp Willapa- a girls camp up in Nahcotta. I figured that if Miss Dorothy parked her Ford on our very driveway- I could continue the tradition.
Another reality in living at the beach- to get anything- you have to DRIVE more than a few hours. This is not good when my BRAND NEW 2008 Ford Sport Coupe had a total mechanical failure with just a few thousand miles on it. Long story- short summary. 1. I am not happy with Astoria Ford at this time. I will refrain from posting how completely upset and angry I am with the way they communicate and how they will say about anything, how unhelpful and rude they were in my time of need...etc. I will be fair- and should they do something to redeem themselves- I will post a happy Astoria Ford post- but at this time... my recommendation is to drive to Longview, WA and go to Columbia Ford. Trust me. My dissatisfaction also has to do with some other experiences with them since the time we signed on the dotted line. 2. The 'Tone Ring' was defective- fell off -or something that resulted in my car being undriveable. This isn't a pleasant experience when one is in the middle of a very busy intersection and hours away from home. (and in the evening) 3. Social Networking in the form of Twitter is very helpful when you want to seek information and help. Ford happens to twitter. Finally- after some rather interesting Ford bashing tweet conversations- I received a call from Ford Executive Office and they have impressed upon Columbia Ford in Longview the importance of a timely repair for me.
The last photo is from the local beach here. See the ship mast? A nice day to drive on the beach and check out the shipwreck.
5 comments:
I wish Sears twittered; I had a long saga with them on a new refrigerator and it was horrendous. I twittered about it a lot over the two weeks it was going on, blogged it too, but never heard from Sears. I did finally get them to replace the fridge (that would not cool) with a new one. The new one dispenses water at the rate of a slow drip, but I'm tired of fighting them.
Hi Nansen,
As I mentioned in my voicemail and on Twitter, I'm sorry you had to go through this. Our dealers are independent from the corporate offices, so we don't always have insight as to what goes on there. I'm confident that the customer service team that was in touch with you will get you the service that you deserve.
I hope this doesn't turn you off on Ford as a brand in general. We work hard to make the kinds of vehicles that people want and value, and we've spent a long time working on our quality, safety and other aspects of our cars and trucks.
As always, you can find me on Twitter if you need any additional assistance.
Scott Monty
Global Digital Communications
Ford Motor Company
@ScottMonty on Twitter
Thumbs down to any car that breaks down that soon (had it happen to me w/Chrysler & Dodge)
Thumbs down to any service dept that forgets the "service" part of their name. (happened to me too)
Thumbs up to any service department that goes the extra mile and beyond (if you are ever in Show Low AZ and need something, Hatch Motor Company is AWESOME).
Thumbs up to @ScottMonty and Ford for being there on Twitter to help
The ironic thing here is that, when you got rid of the Land Rover/purchased the Ford, both vehicles were, essentially, the same company. Up until this past March, Ford owned Land Rover. They sold Land Rover and Jaguar in a transaction for about 2.3 billion to Tata Motors in India in late March.
Good luck with the current Ford fiasco though!
The Land Rover of the desert is a very different creation to the Freelander.
My 1962 land rover is still running on its 1962 engine. The gearbox, I confess, I changed, after my brother broke first gear climbing up the side of a slate quarry. But I ran it with the broken first gear for five years before I changed it.
Sadly, the company forgot that it grew up making go-anywhere vehicles, and started producing shiny boxes with built in electronically controlled faults.
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