LIVID - Ford Denied warranty on our 14' Fusion

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And I hope that they fixed it! As I said, all companies have defects, I expect them to cover them. My complaint is more on Ford's complacency and lack of customer support on the matter. Their CS department is a joke and you can't speak to any one from that department that handles claims.

For all I know the person reviewing the photos could have been having a bad day and denied a bunch of things to be a jerk.

My Venza (knock on wood) has been great for the 8 months and 10k miles I've had it. Not one issue, and the dealer did great work on the car after my accident. I wanted to keep her in a Subaru but the fusions looks won the wife over. Went with it since everyone I know that had the previous fusion(older style) has nary a complaint.

The two are very different. My Toyota is utilitarian and spartan compared to the fusion, and I actually prefer that.
 
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Originally Posted By: KitaCam
Originally Posted By: demarpaint


As I get older I find I have more time and less patience....


Wisdom for the ages....don't I know it...especially for B_S and incompetence....

Ford is not alone in not resolving degrading interiors...Toyota Camry/Solara dashboards sometimes end up like this....

2b4z.jpg



That sucks!
 
Terrible customer service. Stealerships and Ford have not yet learned that it is easier to just fix these and keep the client happy than deny them only to have complaints all over the net.

Our GM vehicles do not do this, my 05 Silverado that has never been indoors in its life only has the tiniest bit of degradation on the radio knobs despite being detailed by many different people......
 
Ford selling junk is the #1 reason I haven't bought one for 27 years. GM and Chrysler (esp Chrysler) make good on their warranty claims. FWIW your problem would have been a joy compared to the problems I had.
 
I don't think it is just Ford. Every company has their problems and indvidual warranty claims coverage varies from dealership to dealership and company to company.

I still don't understand why they won't fix that. Even if you did spill something on it, it should be able to take it a few times. That piece is going to be exposed to all kinds of stuff to include the sun and heat.

Is it painted? My GM stuff is generally dyed all the way through. I don't think I have had any type of painted or I guess "wrapped" trim in any of my cars.
 
It apparently is painted on, which could be a defect in prep or something else (honestly I am not a pro at this, just guesses).

I could understand something bigger like an engine being denied warranty or something, but a trim piece should basically be bullet proof barring any scuffs/scratches. It's meant to last. As i said, I had various GM vehicles and even my Nissan Xterra, and they are by no means bullet proof, but never had issues like this.


An update at least, after a night rifled with Twitter posts (included various news agencies) i got a response from Ford asking for my information to "look" into the matter. Let's see what happens.
 
Originally Posted By: KitaCam
Originally Posted By: demarpaint


As I get older I find I have more time and less patience....


Wisdom for the ages....don't I know it...especially for B_S and incompetence....

Ford is not alone in not resolving degrading interiors...Toyota Camry/Solara dashboards sometimes end up like this....

2b4z.jpg



That looks horrible, what causes that?
 
Originally Posted By: ls1mike
Is it painted? My GM stuff is generally dyed all the way through. I don't think I have had any type of painted or I guess "wrapped" trim in any of my cars.


It's usually coated plastic, yes. This is common these days. It's very common for GM trucks' steering wheel spokes.

http://chevroletforum.com/forum/tahoe-suburban-25/steering-wheel-coating-flaking-off-29681/

Indeed, both of our Chevy trucks' steering wheels at work peel. One's a 2011 model; one's a 2013 model.
 
Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd

Which made me think...that piece of trim can't be more than 20 or 30 bucks, right?

Then I remembered your original post. Two plastic trim pieces are SIX HUNDRED DOLLARS? What's the other trim piece involved here. SIX HUNDRED DOLLARS? Are they out of their minds?


The trim may only be available as part of a larger assembly, and/or there may be significant labor involved.

Originally Posted By: KitaCam

Ford is not alone in not resolving degrading interiors...Toyota Camry/Solara dashboards sometimes end up like this....



Don't you know that only Fords have quality problems and get warranty work denied? GM, Toyota, and Chrysler have never made a mistake.
grin.gif


Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8

Our GM vehicles do not do this, my 05 Silverado that has never been indoors in its life only has the tiniest bit of degradation on the radio knobs despite being detailed by many different people......


On the flipside, we recently put a dashboard in a 2011 Silverado under warranty due to cracking '98-'01 Ram style.

Originally Posted By: Anies
It apparently is painted on, which could be a defect in prep or something else (honestly I am not a pro at this, just guesses).


Coating interior pieces is pretty common these days, especially with silver it seems. I hate it, for this reason. Silver paint on steering wheel spokes (Nissan, GM, and I'm sure others) always looks like garbage after a few years of fingers rubbing on it.

I hope Ford does right by you and corrects this. There is no excuse on such a new car with such low miles. Defects happen, but not covering it under warranty is the real screw up.
 
GM did a warranty repair on my GTO after it was struck by lightning.


I'm appalled Ford would bust your chops like this over some flaking paint.

I can't fathom that being a $400 ish part, or it being that big a deal for the dealer to just remove and respray it at the body shop to keep you happy.
 
I spilled a battery on the carpet on my car and they denied that under warranty. They said there was an unknown chemical contamination. That's a like - I know what the chemical was! No biggie, I ordered a carpet and installed.

The seatbelt button that cost $75 ... no. Not cool.
 
Originally Posted By: Anies
The trim alone was $400 (parts). Labor wasn't included(this was drawn up as a warranty). I'd imagine at minimum an hour labor at $80-$90/hr

I edited my initial cost as I thought it was higher, but paperwork is $400 excluding labor.


I'm assuming by "paperwork" you mean estimate. If a dealer actually tried to charge me for the diagnosis/claims process for defective trim, I'd get a lawyer, stat.

At this point it is hard to tell if the problem is an overcautious dealer or just Ford's usual claims denial policy. So, I'm getting angry about this just yet. I do recall the several people I know well and their Triton V8 spark plug problems, some ejecting spark plugs and some leaving 1/2 the plug stuck in the head. None of them got a dime from Ford. But yet some keep buying their stuff. Amazing. Others now own Toyotas. Amazing how Toyota is the default "never again Chrysler/Ford/GM" place of refuge. (Yes they've had their own problems but as long as Chrysler/Ford/GM exists, they'll never lack for customers).

I would let the claim process take its course and if denied, decline the parts and repair. Then I would change my username everywhere to FordQualNo1 and make my avatar a closeup of the trim, and make it my mission to post daily on every possible web forum.

But that's just me.
 
Originally Posted By: Anies
Here you, zoomed and cropped on the two spots. Between Park and reverse there is material popping up, like frayed plastic. And the other side is the area in question. Don't understand what may have caused it, but it shouldn't happen.



It's two fold. The paint has movement, but the plastic underneath is raised, like really uneven. I thought it might be from the sun roof, light hitting just right abd essentially melting it. And yes, quoted at $400 (thought it was $600) parts and labor. They charge an arm and a leg for it on the paper work


IMG_20140918_193245_zps3fb67589.jpg



Wow...that bubbled up part I can see on a 14-15 year old car, but NOT brand new!

Oh, and if your use of a cleaner caused the bubbling, why isn't the entire area bubbled up? I'd put that question to the Einstein at the dealership.
 
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Originally Posted By: 01rangerxl


Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8

Our GM vehicles do not do this, my 05 Silverado that has never been indoors in its life only has the tiniest bit of degradation on the radio knobs despite being detailed by many different people......


On the flipside, we recently put a dashboard in a 2011 Silverado under warranty due to cracking '98-'01 Ram style.


But the problem isn't that is broke or flaking, or course you don't want that and fixing it would make the customer happy and that is what warranty is for. The difference between the OPs problem and the 2011 you mention is you at least covered the dash under warranty. This thing is a 2014 and they are busting his chops about it.
 
Yes, I understand that, and I agree there is no excuse for Ford to not cover this, other than being cheap.

I was responding to the idea that materials don't fail as often on other brands. Gaps are tighter and materials feel better on newer cars across the board, but material failures still happen regardless of brand.
 
There was another guy who posted a similar experience with Ford on a radio display or something like that.
IIRC they really gave the guy the run around and blamed him too. These shenanigans says a lot about the company doesn't it.
 
It didn't used to be that way with them, not in my experience at least.

My truck had its belt tensioner replaced under warranty when it had 15,000 mi on it. My parents owned it at the time. My dad had tried spraying belt dressing on the belt when the tensioner was making noise, which made the noise worse obviously. He took it to the dealer (not the one he bought it from) without an appointment. He had the truck back in a couple hours with a new tensioner and new belt, all under warranty despite spraying belt dressing all over the belt.
 
Originally Posted By: HangFire
Others now own Toyotas. Amazing how Toyota is the default "never again Chrysler/Ford/GM" place of refuge. (Yes they've had their own problems but as long as Chrysler/Ford/GM exists, they'll never lack for customers).


One incident here and many are ready to throw the baby (Ford) out with the bath water.

I don't get it.

I Googled Toyota Customer Service Complaints and came with hundreds, probably thousands of recent comments like this:

" The (Toyota's)temporary fix broke while I was driving. Lost control of the vehicle. We opened a claim with Toyota and 2 months later we still don't have this issued resolved. It is being reviewed by their legal department,....."

"unbelievable ,no more toy, that design on the pump is bad,should be a recall to fix the problem,bad seals used on that pump,let's get toy to start fixing the water pumps, they should make the repair,very disappointed with my rav 4...."

"You just cannot see the screen to select audio, use apps, use the maps or navigation, or see the backup camera. IT IS WORTHLESS and Toyota will not do anything to correct the issue -- they just apologize. ..."

"For over 14 years I have been a loyal Toyota customer and have purchased 5 top of the line vehicles from them. I today am so upset to be a Toyota customer. Their corporate level customer service is the worst......"

"I have contacted corporate, the dealership and Toyota will not honor their product and I even have extended warranty. Dealing with Toyota for over 10 years and buying my cars and kids cars there, even sending friends and family there and yes they did buy, My Toyota days are over. STAND BY YOUR PRODUCT.Thanks Dis-satisfyed customer."

Anyone who thinks vehicles other than the BIG 3 don't do the exact same kind of monkey business regarding customer satisfaction has their head buried in the sand.
 
Originally Posted By: 01rangerxl
It didn't used to be that way with them, not in my experience at least.

My truck had its belt tensioner replaced under warranty when it had 15,000 mi on it. My parents owned it at the time. My dad had tried spraying belt dressing on the belt when the tensioner was making noise, which made the noise worse obviously. He took it to the dealer (not the one he bought it from) without an appointment. He had the truck back in a couple hours with a new tensioner and new belt, all under warranty despite spraying belt dressing all over the belt.


This is where the stealership is everything. A smart operation would quickly take care to assure their client is pleased.

We will do almost anything in our business to please our client. It only makes sense...
 
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