From the Free Ford Press, hard to believe they wrote something negative about Ford, I love the line “no one collects such data” BECAUSE FORD IS A DATA AND SUBSCRIPTION SALES COMPANY….
Ford Motor Co. CEO Jim Farley has said repeatedly his team is working to build loyalty, treat customers like family and compete in the rapidly developing all-electric race for domination. But bad experiences continue with current Ford Focus and Ford Fiesta owners with defective cars who say the company ghosts customers while they wait weeks and months for repairs.
Griffin Shumway of White River Junction, Vermont, took his 2012 Focus to the shop repeatedly and was told it was fine. He then learned a week after the extended warranty expired in June that it was not fine. It has been at the dealership for repair since July. He is now waiting patiently.
"I'm hoping for April," he said.
Theirs are just a few of more than two dozen experiences chronicled by the Detroit Free Press in recent weeks as a follow-up to its "Out of Gear" investigation published in July 2019 on defective parts afflicting 2012-16 Focus and 2011-16 Fiesta compact cars and the class-action court settlement that followed. A number of Ford customers said dealerships declined to help them with repairs, a situation that was reported previously.
"A satisfied customer will tell one or two others about their experience. A dissatisfied customer will tell at least 10 people," said John McElroy, auto industry veteran and host of the "Autoline After Hours" podcast and webcast.
"When you have ongoing problems not getting resolved, it matters," he said. "It takes years to build up a good reputation and very little time to tear it down. To rebuild a reputation is time consuming and expensive."
This is not about a supply chain disruption as much as ignoring customers left without transportation. Customers say it would be helpful if Ford could be proactive about managing expectations for people whose vehicles were purchased years ago with defective parts. If a vehicle is going to be in the shop for six months, let customers know rather than make them call or text or email constantly requesting updates.
Longtime customers who support the Dearborn automaker find themselves buying competitors' products.
Randy Blankinship of Midwest City, Oklahoma, waited as his 2014 Focus sat in the shop four months for that critical part. He went and bought a Chevy Trailblazer while waiting.
Molly Augustin of Robbinsdale, Minnesota, paid $125 to have her 2012 Ford Focus towed to her dealership in July, then parked in a storage lot with similar vehicles awaiting a parts replacement, she said. And that's not all.
"Battery was shot when I came to collect my vehicle; they hadn’t bothered to run it for the several months it was in their custody. I’ve since purchased and installed a new battery," she said. "Counting down the days until my 2023 Subaru Forester is ready at the end of January."
It's difficult to grasp the size of the repair delay problem, given that Ford won't provide details and no one collects such data. The company estimated that thousands of TCM units are ordered and shipping weekly to get these repairs done. Focus and Fiesta owners continue to turn in their vehicles for repair, so orders continue to grow.