Complaint Review: Ford Motor Company - Nationwide

Summary of events

After nearly 40 years of owning Fords (11 of them) I can truly say I am no longer a loyal Ford customer.

November 20th 2015 purchased a brand 2016 Expedition from Sawgrass Ford in Sunrise Florida 14501 West Sunrise Florida 33323.   As we drove our new vehicle home we noticed that the Sirius radio kept cutting in and out while losing the satellite connection.

November 25, 2015 first repair visit to fix Sirius radio.  Vehicle was in the shop all day. Unable to be fixed they advised me that they had to order an antenna.

December 3, 2015 returned to have the antenna replaced. The antenna was replaced.  After picking up the vehicle and driving home from dealer I found that radio still had issue. It was still cutting in and out and was getting a message “searching for satellite” I immediately  returned to the dealer Sawgrass Ford and spoke with Service advisor.  Since the antenna replacement did not correct the problem now I was advised that they would need to order a new audio module. They would need to order parts and get back to me with a date to return with the vehicle.

December 8, 2015 returned to dealer to have audio module replaced. After picking up the vehicle and driving home from dealer I found that the radio still had issue. So I again returned to dealer and spoke with Service advisor.  They were surprised I had still had a problem and I was advised that they would now need to replace the antenna wire and replace audio module again. Parts needed to be ordered so they would get back to me with a date to return with the vehicle.

December  16, 2016  I returned to dealer to have audio module and the antenna wire replaced. Driving home from dealer I again find that the Sirius radio still had issue and continues to cut in and out. I returned to dealer and spoke with Service advisor. Again they are surprised that the problem still exists. They would now advise me that they need to replace another section of cable and add a splitter.  Again parts had to be ordered.  So I waited for another date to return.

At this point I was extremely disappointed with my purchase. Having paid over $55k for a brand new vehicle you do not expect to have these issues. So I tried to contact the sale manager in an attempt to request another vehicle.  I contacted Sales Manager John Trioa of Sawgrass Ford. We had brief conversation where I explained the issues. I clearly stated that my expectations when purchasing a new vehicle did not include this aggravating repair issue and I requested another vehicle. He told me he would get back with me.  I have never heard from him or any other manager again.

Monday December 21^st I made my forth visit to your dealership to have the Sirus radio fixed. The vehicle was in your shop for two days. I also provide service advisor with several videos showing the radio losing the satellite signal while I was driving.

By now I was really upset and greatly disappointed in my purchase. So on December 24^th, 2015I wrote a very nice and detailed email to the president of Sawgrass Ford. David Menten. 954-851-9022  Mr Menten did reply to me the same day. He gave me the usual “ I am sorry to hear it”  said he would look into it and passed it on to his shop foreman Mike Pallins. Mike did call me however I have never heard from Mr.Menten again. He has no concern for me or my dilemma.  Throughout this entire ordeal I have only spoken with one manager,  Mike Palins the shop foremen and my service advisor who are both extremely nice and willing to help.  I have never spoken with another Manager at Sawgrass ford until I sent in a very poor survey. Then I got a call from the service manager only to again say he was sorry about my problem and they were waiting for the Ford sound engineer to come up with a fix.

On Weds December 23, 2015 picked up vehicle. On my drive home the satellite signal was lost six or seven times. I immediately sent a text message to the service rep to advise her that the issue was not fixed. And as I had done in the past I also sent her several iphone videos showing the issues with the Sirius signal.

Having reached no resolution and being extremely frustrated I attempted to contact Ford Motor directly. They only way to reach anyone at Ford with my issue was to complete an online complaint with their customer relations department. So on approximately 12/25 through 12/28/2015 I filed an online complaint and requested a replacement vehicle.

I received a reply email from the Regional Service manager  Scharlene Calderon | FCSD CCT | FCSD Regional Customer Service Manager 866-631-3788 x 77785

Here is her reply to my most serious complaint

Good Morning:

               “ My name is Scharlene and I am a Regional Customer Service Manager for your region. As the RCSM my job is to ensure that the dealership is utilizing all of our available resources to facilitate a repair. I understand that you have had to visit the dealership several times for your radio concern on your 2016 Ford Expedition and I sincerely apologize for the huge inconvenience that it has caused. At the customer relationship center we do not facilitate the Lemon Law however, I have conducted a good faith review and unfortunately I am unable to approve your request for a replacement or repurchase of your vehicle. If you would like to purse the state lemon law there is information in the back of your owner’s manual that will provide further information on how to do so. In addition, what I can do is work with the dealership to ensure that your issue is taken care of. At this time they have ordered an additional part that should be arriving tomorrow and they will test drive the vehicle once it has been installed. They have also already reached out to our Ford technical experts for further assistance. Should you wish to move forward with my assistance once the vehicle is repaired and back in your possession I will be happy to look into providing goodwill due to the inconvenience that this has caused. Please let me know how you would like to proceed, thank you. “

 So basically Scharlene a Regional Customer Service Manager told me “I sincerely apologize” like everyone else. and then she referred me to the back of the owner’s manual to file a lemon law case if I would like to do so. Wow what a great way to treat a loyal customer. I was just blown away by the total lack of commitment by anyone at Ford to keep a loyal customer happy who paid over $55k for a total lemon.

 January 2, 2016 fifth visit. During this visit they had to access the dash board. While removing the radio and dash assembly the dash and center console were damaged. The damage was shown to Mike Palins the service manager. They advised me that parts would need to be ordered to replace the damaged console but that they would need to paint and touchup the dash. During my drive home the Sirius satellite signal was lost again. I videotaped the signal lose with my iPhone.

Over the next two weeks I drove vehicle throughout the Miami Dade county area and lost signal multiple times. I sent iphone video’s to the service advisor. I was advised to bring the vehicle back because they had a Ford engineer coming to see the vehicle.

January 19, 2016 returned for my sixth visit to have the Sirius radio fixed and to now have the damaged dash and console repaired. The dealer was going to replace the antenna again with a different one. Vehicle was left with dealer till January 25, 2016

January25, 2016 I picked up the vehicle from the dealer. The Sirius radio was now working fine however as a result of fixing the Sirius radio the gps navigation system was no longer working. The screen showed no GPS signal. I sent a text massage and a iphone photo to the service advisor. She told me that I would need to wait till Monday Feb 1^st so that they would be able to check with the Ford engineer. I was not given a copy of the service invoice for this visit because they had not finished inputting the work codes. I have requested it via email and received it several days later.

On February 18, 2016 I sent a certified letter of notification for final repair to Ford Motor in Dearborn MI. In the state of Florida where I live this is the process required to proceed with a lemon law case. On Feb 23 2016 I received a voice mail message from Sonya Hall who stated she was a Legal Analyst for Ford. She stated someone would get back with me in the next couple days to setup the final repair visit. By the 26^th I had not heard from anyone so I called Sonya Hall and had to leave her a voice message. On Feb 29 2016 I received a call from Ms Hall and she stated my appointment was set for March 15^th , 2016 So I have to wait another two weeks.