Comments on seaviewwa: Another Ford update:

I've had this sort of thing happen with my car all...

2009-04-10T08:40:00.000-07:00

I've had this sort of thing happen with my car all the time. It's so frustrating and really a waste of money for the mechanics in the end. I'd take it to another mechanic, perhaps they can figure out the problem.

What a great blog you have. You are so lucky to li...

2009-04-10T08:22:00.000-07:00

What a great blog you have. You are so lucky to live in such a beautiful place. Looking forward to visiting again. Gift Blogger. x

Ford have a strange warranty scheme. They pay thei...

2009-04-09T23:48:00.000-07:00

Ford have a strange warranty scheme. They pay their dealerships peanuts to do warranty work.

I bought a new transit van. After a couple of weeks i took it in to get 'grinding' noise from back axle sorted. Each time they denied there was one.

After several visits I persuaded a mechanic to drive around the block with me. He agreed there was a nasty grinding but dealership still denied it.

While talking to the mechanic, he told me that they get next-to-no-money for warranty work.

I wrote to Ford head office with a complaint. About the level of service, and about the claim that they didn't pay enough for warranty work. They replied with the service managers name and instruction to ask him personally.

They took the van in, said it would be ready by 4pm. When I went back, I was told I couldn't have the van for 6 weeks as they had to order in the part. I asked for loan vehicle, but they declined, saying I should have paid for the Ford 'super-duper' warranty.

I told them to put the van back together and I'd bring it back in when they had the part. Again, they declined, saying they couldn't let the van out of the workshop with a known fault. I suggested that they'd let it out many times before. "AHHHH but we know about it now" was the reply.

I kicked up a fuss, but was told the only way I could have my van back, (which was less than 6 months old still) was to 'WAIVE' the warranty 'in writing' so that they were no longer responsible for the vehicle. (Or, I could tell him the name of the mechanic who'd informed me of company policy)

As I couldn't afford 'not' to have a van for 6 weeks, and I wasn't about to lose a man his job, I reluctantly agreed to their 'black-mailing' technique.

Here's hoping you don't meet the same attitude.

Pete.

What you need is a little tape recorder. Turn it ...

2009-04-09T14:20:00.000-07:00

What you need is a little tape recorder. Turn it on everytime you drive. Then you'll have a recording of the noise when it does happen.

'Course, if you're really frustrated, you could take it to another mechanic and have them find/fix the problem ... then sue Ford in small claims court for reimbursement if it's under warrantee, because they refused to fix it when you took it to them.