Complaint Review: FORD MOTOR COMPANY LATHAM MOTORS - Columbia Street, Latham New York

In June of 2005 I ordered an F-150 Pick-Up from Latham Motors in Latham, N.Y. My spouse had just bought her new F-150 Pick-Up from Jack Byrne Mercury-Ford in Mechanicville, N.Y. in March of 2005. She and I were highly satisfied with the dealer and their ability to fix a few minor problems. I would have ordered my F-150 from Jack Byrne except the salesman who sold my spouse her truck said they were no longer taking any orders for 2005 Trucks (now this was in June).

I called around and Latham Ford said they were still taking orders which is how I happen to have ordered the truck from them. When the truck came in it was obvious to me that there was missing equipment that was on all the other F-150 trucks in their lots. I ordered the largest V-8, the towing package to tow the highest amount. Yet the truck was missing a transmission oil cooler and a power steering fluid cooler. Both of these items were on my spouses truck and yet it has the small v-8 and has no towing equipment whatever. I brought it up to the dealer and they of course woud look into it, whcih they never did.

(Word to the wise-if a car or truck is not exactly as you know it should be do not take it or sign over a check or make any payment until it is exactly as you ordered, otherwise you will never get anything you are promised from a car dealer). It is better to walk away from the car or truck than to put up with years of lies and promises as i have had to put up with. So nothing was done even though I visited the dealer more times than I visit the bank . The dealer service people say it was optional equipment yet on the sticker on my spouses truck the coolers are not listed as optional.

In fact the dealers ordering information does not list them as an option. Not a single F-150 that is equipped with the two coolers lists them as an option on the wiondow stickers. When you call the Ford Customer service line you get a bunch of minumun wage idiots who do not know a lightbulb from a lug wrench. The answers i got were it is optional equipment. I also heard that Ford motor vehicles do not come with transmission coolers or power steering coolers.

So whats on my spouses truck and all the other Ford F-150's optical illusions? In Ford own rag they send out to people who buy their vehicles I pointed out the issue and page that had an F-150 clearing showing the underside of the truck with the coolers attached in a two page color spread. Yet Ford still insists their vehicles do not come with transmission and power steering coolers. They even had a supervisor keep repeating a "mantra" to me that this is optional equipment over and over until I had to hang up. I mean I took all the options available for towing which is why I wanted the truck.

Eventually the Latham Ford dealer told me that I have to have Ford authorize the installation of the missing equipment. Hows that for customer service. The customer has to contact Ford directly and have them tell the dealer to install what they left off of one of their vehicles. I wrote to Mr. William Clay Ford at the American way in Dearborn, Michigan and I get a phone call from some dumb upward mobility type telling me that the Ford excutive Board will not install the equipment. Now its not widely known that Mr Willaim Clay Ford could not handle the stress so he had to get out of the way so he was most likely not involved. All this upward mobility type asked was if the truck was drivable.

Well of course I drove it home and there it stays in my driveway . I do not think they believed me it has only 76 miles on it. I am in now in the fourth year of paying for it plus the insurance. Fortunately for me I have a Dodge Ram 1500 Pick-up that is also equipped for towing so i have been using it while the Ford sits with the disk brakes rusting and the battery dead. It is a useless vehicle for towing. Yet Ford refuses to put two items that one of which sells for $91 not counting the labor .

Ford dealers and service people and Ford executive people all exactly like lawyers, they never return phone calls. One of the service people at the Latham Ford dealer more or less accused me of tampering with the odometer. He asked me "what's your secret"? I do not know if a digital odometer can be changed but I had no reason to even try. My truck still has the cheap paper floor mats in it. I intend to put it on ebay and let others know this is what you can expect from Ford Motor Company when you buy any vehicle from them. We do not regret the Jack Byrne Ford dealership purchase since this dealer could not do enough for my spouse. Unfortunately we have two other Fords a mercury Sable and a Town car.

This experience over what can only be described as a trifle, is indicative of what you can expect from now on when buying any car From Ford. We will not be wasting any more time or money on Ford Motor Company garbage after this experience. We think we have been very patient and had given many people from Ford plenty of opportunities to fix this sub-standard vehicle. The next pick-up will be a Toyota.

If there is anything to be learned from this it is to never ever order a vehicle in May , June, July. Why is this? Because My earlier experience in buying vehicles proved what i had look heard about the american auto manufacturers. All american auto manufacturers have what is called a "value-engineering group" whose only purpose is to cut costs everywhere they can.

Here is a true example. In 1971 we bought a Chevrolet Monte Carlo. Less than a year later we bought an identical 1972 Chevrolet Monte Carlo with the exact same engine and equipment. The only outward differences were a different grille in the fromnt and an aluminum strip just below the trunk in back. The 1972 model also had a seat belt buzzer to remind you to put your seatbelt on. Well heres is what was different. Both cars had the same chevrolet v-8 350 cubic inch engine. Both had the same carburetor. The difference was the 1971 carburetor was attched with four bolts to the intake manifold. The 1972 carburetor was only attched by two bolts to the intake manifold.

When I brought this up to the service manager rather than install the missing bolts and secure the carburetor he said they left off two of the bolts since only two bolts were needed to hols the carburetor on the intake manifold.

In those days you received a full size spare tire exactly like the tires and wheels on the car. It was meant to be rotated. However I notoced the spare tire was not balanced. He said that Chevrolet decided to not balance the spare tire as a cost cutting measure. How cheap can they be.

The fianl thing is that as a model year progresses the auto comapnies begin to leave off parts and do not do any corrosion protection treatment to the vehicles. Well after one winter the 1972 Monte Carlo had already rusted out the lower portion of both doors and rust formed and bubbled in both the front and rear wheel wells. The color of the car was Placer Gold but you could see black paint through the gold all over the hood. Not enough paint was used. In a few years the 1972 Monte Carlo was a rust bucket. The 1971 Monte Carlo was still running and being used with minimal rust until 2002 when it was sold.

So never ever order a car in the spring and never buy a car that was manufactured in the spring or summer because you can be sure it has things left off and treatments are skipped to save money. I sincerely hope that Ford Motor Company fails and goes bankrupt. Noone in their right mind should buy anything they have. Any cars or trucks they come up with now at this late date will be so poorly made and full of problems that anyone foollish enoughto buy one will swear off anything made by Ford.

After going through this exercise in futility for over three years there is nothing that Ford could do at this point. I of course never expect to hear from them but if I ever did it is too late to do anything now.

John

Clifton Park, New York

U.S.A.

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