Was just talking to a lady here at work and couldn't believe my ears. She just purchased a brand new Ford Escape Limited in April of 2009. Although it was a 4-cylinder (to save on gas like everyone else) it was loaded. She special ordered it and had it decked out with all the bells and whistles. It was a fantastically gorgeous vehicle.
After driving it for about a month, it started shaking when in drive or reverse (didn't do it in park). She took it in to the dealer to have it checked out. They told her it was nothing and sent her on her way. The shimmy-shimmy-shake-shake continued to get worse. It got so bad that when she held her cellphone in her hand, she couldn't feel it vibrate when someone called her! Can you imagine? She took the vehicle in to Ford again. She made phone calls. She did everything in the book to get someone to fix her brand new (less than 1,000 miles) vehicle that was shaking and vibrating her to death.
Can you guess what the standard answer was from everyone she spoke to at Ford? "The vehicle operates in the manner in which it was designed." Although they admitted that it did shake just as she said (they told her it only happens with the I-4 engine), and that it was terribly unpleasant, they still refused to do anything about it.
After 2 more months of getting no where, she finally gave up. She took a loss on the vehicle and traded it in. She figured that if it shook like that and continued to get worse as it had been over the last couple of months, it would eventually start falling apart, making her loss even bigger.
She purchased a Mazda.
She tried adding comments to Ford's "customer review" section about her problem. Ford never posted it. It just magically disappeared.
So, my fellow INGO'ers... what say you? Is this type of customer service and lack of quality that is leading to the down-fall of the Big 3?
After driving it for about a month, it started shaking when in drive or reverse (didn't do it in park). She took it in to the dealer to have it checked out. They told her it was nothing and sent her on her way. The shimmy-shimmy-shake-shake continued to get worse. It got so bad that when she held her cellphone in her hand, she couldn't feel it vibrate when someone called her! Can you imagine? She took the vehicle in to Ford again. She made phone calls. She did everything in the book to get someone to fix her brand new (less than 1,000 miles) vehicle that was shaking and vibrating her to death.
Can you guess what the standard answer was from everyone she spoke to at Ford? "The vehicle operates in the manner in which it was designed." Although they admitted that it did shake just as she said (they told her it only happens with the I-4 engine), and that it was terribly unpleasant, they still refused to do anything about it.
After 2 more months of getting no where, she finally gave up. She took a loss on the vehicle and traded it in. She figured that if it shook like that and continued to get worse as it had been over the last couple of months, it would eventually start falling apart, making her loss even bigger.
She purchased a Mazda.
She tried adding comments to Ford's "customer review" section about her problem. Ford never posted it. It just magically disappeared.
So, my fellow INGO'ers... what say you? Is this type of customer service and lack of quality that is leading to the down-fall of the Big 3?