I will be documenting everything and writing Ford Motor Company and Northside Ford a letter.

If this were your brand new Ford Escape Hybrid, or Ford Mustang GT, or heaven forbid, your Ford GT, would you want to be treated this way? Vehicle damaged, all liabilities disclaimed, calling you a liar, not even getting the service completed (I'm still missing one of those plastic screw caps that fit on the windshield cowl under the wiper blades...) They had the vehicle TWO DAYS (7 AM Tuesday through 4 PM Wednesday).

Do NOT trust your vehicle with NORTHSIDE FORD in SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS.

I find it telling that my my service advisor mentioned I had a "little dent" below my antenna that "must have happened when the antenna 'fell off'" when he called to say my car was ready for pickup? Why tell me about damage I supposedly brought my vehicle *IN* with? Why try to convince me it must have happened earlier?

sigh You try to trust people, especially professionals, to treat you and your posessions with care....

 

You are obviously like me when it comes to obsessing over a vehicle. I take pride in keeping all my vehicles looking as good as they did when I bought them. Whenever I do trade in a vehicle, I always get compliments about how good they look (not to mention good trade-in value).

When I went to pick up my '05 at delivery, I did a once-around looking for ANY damage (a lesson I learned when I bought my new '86 Ranger). I found about a 6" long scratch on the fender right in front of the door - a scratch right in front of the door so I would have seen it the previous day at test drive. It probably happened when the punk prepping it dragged a hose or something across it. I flipped out and almost cancelled the sale but they gave it to the auto body manager and he personally supervised the buffing of it and they did a great job of hiding it. They also wrote a letter guaranteeing the paint and clearcoat in the area wouldn't fade/age differently than the rest of the car. Still P.O.'d but I was satisfied. I did include the experience in my customer survey which, as you may imagine, included a long detailed description of everything that went wrong in the purchase process. I got a letter of apology from the owner. 3 months later I bought my '06 from the same dealer, mainly b/c they did the right thing.

Now, fast forward to today. In the mail I got a postcard telling me I missed my 18,000 mile maintenance appointment. Now, my '05 has only 15k and my '06 has only 11.5k on it so i didn't miss anything. I wasn't even aware there WAS an 18k mile maintenance. The main reason I don't bring it to them for maintenance is an oil change takes all day and if I can't be there to babysit the guy working on it, I am paranoid that he'll lay his metal-snap laden shirt across my shiny, unmarked fender and scratch it.....resulting in the standard "we didn't do it but even if we did we aren't responsible" crap.

Sorry you went through all this over an antenna. I only wash mine by hand because I couldn't get mine to come off - on either one.

Rambling over for now.

 

I never expected this, and I have a whole new wrinkle in the mix that I am not yet prepared to vent about. Suffice it to say basically the dealership tried to get us to accept either having their body shop do the work (I have valid reasons for not viewing this as a viable resolution) or have us accept 50% of the service cost ($99.33; total service cost was $198.66). My husband initially accepted that and I went a little nutty... that to me admits culpability/guilt when we have NONE and pays us off while screwing us, basically.

At that point, the Field Operations Manager (Mr. Cavitt Moon) said, "That's unfortunate. Good luck!" and thus the call ended. Long-standing customer relationships (my husband, his father, my father and brother, and me as the fledgling Ford owner in the family...) mean nothing. Even with the 50% remittance of the service charge Mr. Moon still spent most of the calls (three, two from him, one return call we placed to him) continuing to make false, accusatory statements... including, get this -- "That antenna is not meant to be removed..." and "How did your wife remove the antenna? With a wrench, you say? You own a wrench? {Husband laughs, "Of course we do. Most Americans own some basic tools."} Mr. Moon continues, "Well, most women don't carry a wrench around in their vehicle." How unreal... when I got my FEH back on Wednesday from the dealership I noticed they'd had to go through or empty my glovebox to do the antenna repair and it was a mess (I'm ****, if that isn't already patently obvious.) Anyway, I notice my wrench is still in the glove box. SOMEONE saw it in there... but how convenient to continue calling me a liar.

I am to the point where I give up in dealing with NORTHSIDE FORD in San Antonio, Texas. I will never, ever set foot there again. I will do everything I can to warn away family and friends from that dealership. I will, however, revise my letter to Ford Motor Company to indicate that this is so much more than about body damage sustained to my vehicle, it's about my trust in Ford Motor Company and its authorized service centers. I've waived any financial or other restitution in this horrible ordeal and I *still* want to take it all the way to William Ford, Jr. and the public. That should say something about the veracity of my statements and equally it should say something about the horrible, unscrupulous treatment I've received at the hands of Northside Ford in San Antonio.

I wish I had sent my letter on Friday or the weekend, but in a way this is better. I now know I absolutely cannot trust Northside Ford in San Antonio and will never put myself in the situation of having them do this to me or my loved ones, ever again. And I have a letter that, with some revisions, will communicate this experience to Ford Motor Company. If Ford Motor Company does not care, then that says something about Ford and I will factor that into any future dealings I have with Ford. I love my Ford Escape Hybrid and fully intend to drive it til the wheels fall off, as I still drive my '92 Toyota Corolla, but if Ford does not value its customers and treat them with integrity and professionalism, I have to wonder how much longer they will be around. No company can survive forever without the loyalty and trust of its customers.

More later.... I just wanted to share the latest, really final stage of this tale. I fully expect no solutions/resolutions at this point. I was supposed to swallow trusting my vehicle to the body shop at Northside Ford or to swallow a 50% refund and thus go crawling with my tail tucked between my legs. Sorry, not gonna fly. This is more about principle and integrity than it is about minor body damage on my vehicle and a $198.66 service charge, and Ford Motor Company will hear about this dealership and their dealings with me.

 

my bf could not tell from the pic what they could have done to cause the damage. i still think that the dealership should just pay to fix it, just as they keep saying that you dont have any proof that they damage was not already there, they dont have any proof that your FEH came in with the damage. maybe you could call another dealership and ask them how they would remove the antenna, and if they have had any similar damage cause, and then let the other dealership and say "well when you do this, you can cause damage ver much like what is on my car" its a long shot, but you never know till you ask.

 

The dealership has closed the matter. They want me to trust my vehicle to their body shop, when I'd just as soon have no body shop touch it -- take a small ding and turn it into a risky proposition of paint and finish matching on my 5-month-old otherwise pristine FEH? I'm not a gambling women... it seems like cutting off the toe because of a split toenail.

And the dealership has no further desire to deal with me. They tried to buy my appeasement by offering 50% refund on the service. It's the principle of the matter now and that is what my revised letter to Ford Motor Co. will be about. How I and my vehicle have been treated at this particular dealership and how I have lost all ability to trust them to be honest and professional. Even with the 50% refund offer the Field Ops Manager spent 20 minutes telling my husband in so many ways that basically we are liars, and even if we aren't, the damage is so minor we should just be quiet and move on.

 

Its not a small ding... a GOOD body shop will be the best bet to get rid of it. No matter what you do its probably going to be a paint job (even if its a replacement of the fender--very expensive). You'll find that a body shop that knows what its doing will be able to make the car look/be as good as new and the repair will last as long as the vehicle if done right.

I'm not trying to knock you though... they shouldn't have done it and I'm pretty sure I'd be peeved enough to want it done elsewhere as well.

They should have owned up to it.

 

My letter to Ford Motor Company is too long to post here. It went in the mail yesterday, Certified Mail, Return Receipt Requested and will be sent to Northside Ford in several days. (They're getting copies; I don't want them receiving it before Ford Motor Co., given we've exhausted all avenues with them.) P.S. These are just excerpts. The entire letter is too long to bother posting here. The quoted portions are just relevant to show what stage our discussions with Northside Ford ended at:

And the summary paragraph here:
Further...