I used to work at a Ford dealer in Perth for 6 years. I was a massive ford fan for years. After seeing countless warranty “arseholery” I would never recommend anyone buying a ford.
I worked at Holden for 8 yrs, and similar to you I was a die hard Holden fan until I worked there and saw the shit show first hand 😬 would never recommend one.
I am still a Ford guy and worked for both back in the day, and they both sucked but tbh Ford was worse. I think Holden got worse towards the end but still. So I drove (and still do) Falcons but I warn people off buying Fords unless they have their eyes wide open. And I like the Ranger but there are plenty of good ute options and I'd happily trade some Ranger sexiness for some reliability and customer support.
Tell me one car company or manufacturers of anything these days that has good unchallenged warranty. Look at how insurance company's squirm out of everything except taking our premiums.
It wasn't even a penalty, it was an order to do the right thing. Why would you do the right thing if the worst thing that happens if you don't, is being made to.
The complainants, had they provided even a skerrick of evidence, might have got some money reimbursed for the obviously totally useless paint protection scheme, legal costs, and damages....
Clearly their lawyer did not even recommend they attach his bill as evidence so is he as negligent as ford. Maybe John could name and shame the bloody lawyer who failed to do anything other than charge the client
I read that QCAT report & laughed like a drain! After all the new cars I've bought over the years, I've only ever had one warranty claim & that was for a blocked cat converter that the dealer didn't want to replace & tried telling me a ton of bullshit. I ended up emailing to the car manufacturers HQ & they gave the dealer a right rollicking. The dealer was all smiles but were never apologetic. They claimed it was miscommunication. Ended up never going to that dealer again but they were quite happy to send me emails on the latest deals & accessories for their vehicles, they just got deleted.
Must be something about Cairns, I got sick of being fobbed off about an auto transmission problem with my , then, new 2021 Toyota, the Cairns dealership just want to take your money for servicing and do nothing about warranty issues. We moved a little south shortly after, I found the dealer in Innisfail had an entirely different attitude, nothing a problem. It's all down to the management.
I could see that. In my part of Canada "Dealers" can be all the same people. LIke Myers Toyota, Myers VW, Myers Ford, Myers GM...etc. Myers has 16 dealerships. Dilawri is even worse with 38. I can't believe it's allowed but if you can't get a good deal, it just makes them laugh if you say you're going to a different dealer.
My first boss bought a brand new XC ford Falcon Station wagon. It was a light green colour. Over the first year it became more yellow than green. This was caused by the body metal rusting under the improperly prepared paint. Ford would not honour the warranty to either replace or repaint the vehicle. Needless to say he ditched the vehicle and did not by Ford again.
My Xr6 turbo was the same, must have been a friday afternoon special, i replaced every fking part in that car before i dumped it on a dealer at a massive lost, total fking shit box. Door handles, window reglators, inside door handles, electric window switches, door cards coming loose, electric window mechanisms, seat bolstered collapsed after 30,000kms, stereo and climate control system played up and needed replacing, constant blown light bulbs, constant ignition coil packs, rusted out exhausts, incorrect tyre wear, interiour dash needed replacing as the plastic cracked in under 2 years, interiour light bulb would occasionally work, odometer lcd crapped out needed replacing, the list went on, i ditched it before it was 5 years old...
as someone that has lived in cairns for 27 years i have had 1 dealing with trinity auto group here and from that 1 dealing i discovered it was better to fly to brisbane to buy a car then to deal with them, they will never see a cent from any member of my family.
I hope you read this John. I had the pleasure of being a Honda Motorcycle Dealer from December 1995 to June 2022. During that time Honda went from a great company that cared for it's customers and it's dealers to the exact opposite. Ford was not fighting this one case but all the potential cases that were of the same nature. I'm sure there was many. (BTW how did the Seagulls only manage to hit the roof and not the bonnet? That's mighty fine shooting I think.) When I became a Honda dealer warranty was treated as R & D. It was taken very seriously. Techs would travel from Melbourne to our Dealership to investigate. Changes were made and the product improved. Then the MD who gave a flying retired. Replaced by a fat guy that had no love for the product. Our lives became hell. It was either stop caring or get out. I went from being an important cog in the Honda machine to a nuisance overnight. I got out and thank goodness I did. Honda product is a joke, supply is a joke and Honda's hard won reputation is now a joke. Being constantly told by people on wages that can jump ship at their leisure that I did not know what I was talking about wore very thin. I had all my assets and future in my business and they had nothing at all. I love not being at their mercy. This is typical of all the (remaining) companies. I am glad I am out. Regards, Mark.
Not that this is of major importance but the roof of said ranger is steel and the bonnet (hood here in the USofA) is aluminum unless they are built differently for Australia. The Aluminum wouldn't "rust" but if the same paint was used on both surfaces, the paint should have exposed the Aluminum in the bonnet unless the flying crap generators were of good aim.
The one thing I’ve learned is this, if you have to invest in a business and you put a big chunk of change on the table to get and it’s run by wage earners who’ve never had or run a business your in deep shit. They hold you at risk of your business or franchise to panda to them.
The law from the Police to the judges has never made sense. If you have lots of money and spend it on lawyers to fight something you may stand a chance. For the average person no hope. Most judges are off this planet. They say they make decisions to the letter of the law. But that is crap. Money talks or you are screwed.
"The law isn't justice. It's a very imperfect mechanism. If you press exactly the right buttons and are also lucky, justice may show up in the answer. A mechanism is all the law was ever intended to be." -- Raymond Chandler.
If you think consumer law is bad regarding cars, look at housing. Builders can ream the living daylights out of home owners with little consequence then demand progress payments
Yes, the wonderful pleasure of building a home. Even just trying to do reno's. A lot in the building must have been raised by used car salesman or politicians.
Ethics are surgically removed and inserted in their Arses by the Ford dealership dipsticks along with the European brands including LR, Jaguar, all French fuckups, and certainly the German gee whiz G-bangers. All dealerships are now finding any, every and extreme excuses to avoid any liability for anything that the manufacturer won’t pay for. The manufacturer’s warranties are now pretty much useless and only luck will get you warranty repairs done dirt cheap ( sorry AC/DC ) Buying a new car today is a really big gamble as the quality of all new cars has dropped while the price has exponentially risen.
"Yeah nah that's on you!" 😂 Love your work John exposing the predicate operating principle of some car companies in Straya being what they can get away with
Straya learnt its car maker and dealer manners from the parent OS car makers. As for consumer tribunals/courts they are little more than your favourite pop up shop in your regional mall imo and just as effective in dealing with a second customer visit.
Ignore a VCAT order in Victoria and you get a knock on the door by the Sheriff within 30 day with an order to take payment or take possession of goods to the value of. BUT they always side with the Business at best standard 75% of original invoice
Bought a Ranger from Trinity Ford in 2019. A few years later the Driver side Valance trim cracked and broke off. I asked if it was covered by warranty and was told that because I was a "large" peoson and most probably broke it, there was no warranty cover. Come down a few years later when my warranty was no longer in play to find out that "yes indeed" it was covered by warranty but it was too late as my 5yr warranty was up. Such a shame I didn't email them the issue as to have a paper trail. Not happy with them.
You do realise that the warranty is longer than 5 years under Australian law. They have consumer protection that says the product should last a reasonable amount of time. 5 years is not a reasonable amount of time.
I got the same response from Tropical Ford in Rocky. "That's not covered by warranty. the break is caused by the way you exit the vehicle." 2014 PX, 2 years old at the time. I fixed it myself with a plastic welding and reinforcing. The thing was still holding up, when I traded for an Everest in 22.
I've seen a quality test report from about 6 years ago which measured the paint thickness of Fords, and found them to be the lowest of all manufacturers. Sometimes half the normal thickness of other makers.
The worst paint and rust i have ever experienced in my 58 years of life is my 3 year old LDV Deliver 9. Piece of modern shit. What PISSES me off the most is it drives so well and is so quiet inside.
I had a Ford Ranger in Thailand for 6 years. I loved it, at first. Then things started to go wrong. Much of it was still under warranty. Once that expired, it was down to me, and I just lost confidence in taking it on a long trip, so offloaded it. It didn't cost me a lot of money, but a minor electrical fault meant I had to change an expensive unit. Each time. Never again. Bought a Toyota, it's not as comfortable, but certainly not giving any problems.
As an American I can’t believe you guys are buying a Ford product over the Toyota Hilux (that we obviously don’t have). Ford literally has a new recall everyday.
yes, i think that the people with the rusting roof bear somewhat of a responsibility too. Ford here has a bad name, has had since a long time. i know that and i am not even interested that much in cars.
Anti rust boils down to two basic things......pre treatment in the paint shop......and galvonised steel.....which is why you rarely see a rusty Japanese car under 20 years of age....before all cars were horrendous.....they were the first to introduce it.
My son just had his 2016 ranger engine 90000km rebuilt by ford at no cost. The 3rd cylinder oiler failed. Denied by the dealer then Denied by ford. Thanks to NCAT. ACL covered it after 8years low kms.
Saw that our building union has just got another quite healthy payrise and the comment was that there won't be enough Rangers for all the apprentices to buy now. Sort of says it all really imo. I really didn't think I would see the day that a Ford ute could be over 100k or that a base model Land Cruiser would start at over 100k but then I saw what houses in our area are going for and have decided that I must have slipped into a parallel universe. I must be getting old.
@@johnd8892 Thought that I heard that as well but couldn't be bothered reading all their rubbish again to confirm so I took the more modest route. Strange world we live in these days.
@@Doones319 We live regional and it's not quite that bad but the last couple of years have been quite eye watering in this matter regardless. Never thought I would see that day that SA would be the top performing economy or that our real estate market would be top of the pops either. Maybe my reality meter needs calibrating.
Searched for the report and it was Raptors for first year apprentices. "Twenty per cent f---ing pay rise, there's not enough Ford Rangers in the country," one speaker said. "First-year apprentices are going to get Raptors. God bless the CFMEU."
I took Ford to QCAT for corrosion, two years of battling and a week before the final hearing, we settled after they offered a full refund, plus novated lease interest payments (4 years worth) and costs, which I took. What a shitfight though.
Must be assembling the Ranger on their panel van line, because the roofs nearly rusted off them, as well as the hinges breaking the doors which were made of weak metal.
Good on them for sticking with it and sticking it up them - but it shouldn't be so hard. I suspect it was designed that way. I would expect that the licensing authority for motor dealers in QLD should commence a "Show Cause" notice (to show reason why the dealer's licence isn't cancelled) given their conduct contrary to ACL and QCAT legislation.
Have a '17 Wildtrak. Bought it used last year. Its previous life was a beach crawler. I know this because there was sand basically everywhere that it could get into. Had mild to moderate scale throughout the undercarriage but especially in and on the frame. I treated it with a fair bit of needle scaling, die grinding, rust converter, and finally lanolin. I think people need to appreciate that rust just happens whether we like it or not. But if we are proactive, it can easily be minimised or outright eliminated.
@@AutoExpertJC Yeah I was amazed at how there was essentially zero rust on all panels and even panels damaged with stone chips down to metal, scratches, etc. All held up beautifully. That stuff works. Now how we jive that with these people's roof being rusted out is another matter entirely. Maybe you're right. Just crap QA.
9:30 - This is where Courts and Tribunals GET INCREDIBLY FRUSTRATING. When the dealer fails to provide a response by the hearing date, that is time for the Tribunal to enter a default judgment and just give the applicant what they are asking for. They weren't asking for much. Also, what's the deal with the Tribunal giving the dealer 28 days to pay $1,374.90? They are so out of touch, but I guess that's just the nature of most Courts and Tribunals.
Fantastic JC - The only thing better than this crazy consumer hell-story was the wonderful storytelling! How you manage to deliver such a brilliant diatribe all in one single take I will never know, but enjoyed this one immensely anyway!
I used to work in Consumer Affairs and can confirm that Australian Consumer Law is not worth the paper it is written on. It relies on the Manufacturer or trader to do the right thing - if they don't you are basically fucked and have to take them to court. I dealt with Ford (for a consumer) over a faulty Powershit transmission and they wouldn't replace it, so the car got scrapped for$500. I would never ever think about buying a Ford, - the vehicles are garbage, and the customer service is contemptuous.
Well that's turned me away from Ford. My MR Triton had issues with loose nuts near the injector seals, a warranty issue which my local Ultra Tune sorted out with a torque wrench and a print out of the specs, free of charge. The dealership however was very quick to blame me for the issue. Apparently it was me that went to the factory and loosened the things.
I know what I learned; don't buy a Ford. I bought a Fiesta with the PowerShit transmission in the early 2010's. It spent as much time in the shop as my driveway. After being screwed over bigtime, I got offered 2 extra years of drivetrain warranty as compensation. I wouldn't own a Ford again if you gave me one for free.
I know a Ford design engineer (interiors, not oily bits) who says they're crap and eventually, Ford will cease making cars and concentrate on trucks, 4X4s and the mustang. They loose a fortune in warranty work and they can't make money in a competitive market. Ford will disappear as a major automotive company
Looking at Ford XR6s for my grandson, I was astonished to see a line of rust across the boot lid, in the area under the number plate. Apparently this is a common problem. I thought most modern cars were 'dipped' as part of painting but this car clearly had bare metal in 'out of sight' areas. We won't be buying one....
Cars were being dipped over 30 years ago (I used to work in the paint shop of one of our now defunct car builders - Not Ford). The question is how fast did they go through the dipping process (too fast and all the fluid won't reach where it needs to go), how thorough the metal was cleaned (which is also via sprays and dip tanks) and finally whether all the solution gets into all the spots. Back in the day, one of the bored guys in the body shop where I worked would stuff gloves in the sill panels. This blocked the solution getting everywhere it needed to go. Needless to say, those cars were rusted in very short time.
I see a lot of comments have wrongly assumed that this is a "Ranger is a shitbox" video. While that might be true let's not loose sight of the fact this is more about the dealer, the manufacturer and the totally useless consumer protection available to all Australians when dealing with these absolute arseholes Trinity Ford and Ford Australia. That's where the anger should be directed, unequivocally.
Exactly. In fact I wonder just how involved Ford Aust was involved in this if at all. Everyone who sells anything, and their employees, whether selling lemonade on the side of the street to billions of tonnes of iron ore, should read the ACL and go through the 5 minute training program. The state CPAs should actively search out businesses who have illegally written warranty conditions (tip: every business) and hit them up with big fines.
my 2015 3.2 Ford Ranger Wildtrak had done 50,000 klms no off road only normal driving and the transmission just shit itself and would no longer work . Had it towed to the dealer. They checked it out and said it needs replacing. They also said the diesel fuel pump needs replacing because its leaking. Wow I said its only done 50,000 klms and you did all the servicing. Their response was the the vehicle is 8 years old and that's quite normal for its age. The quoted price for repairs was $15,000 inclusive with an oil change as well. To cut a long story short I got in touch with the Ford factory customer support in Thailand and they said I could pay $5000. Jobs done and yes I do live in Thailand as well but still Aussie.
In the early '90s, my Pulsar shut down in the middle of an intersection and had to be towed. The timing chain needed replacing. When i showed them the receipt for this "being done" and charged for at the last service, they refunded the cost of the chain from my bill. Just one of many stories. A few years later, Nissan showed up with a fleet of transporters, took all the cars and white washed the whole dealership.
The new Ford Ranger has some serious ADAS issues we tagged out our new work vehicle as it randomly goes haywire on the highway also fails to see road signs properly leaving us to pull over and restart the vehicle. This new tech is garbage.
Keep records (photos) of whatever sends the Ford cuckoo....email the relevant Ford dealer... Now they have been fully and fairly informed (ask for a return receipt from dealer principal) and if that fault kills someone else... you warned them!
Don’t ever buy a Ranger or Everest!! Someone I know is going through hell with Ford with weeks and weeks of the car being looked at and fault still can’t be found! The dealers doesn’t want to know about it and Ford customer service has closed the case!! He is now going through fair trading and asking for a full refund as the car is not fit for purpose and it’s a danger on the road. It’s a lucky dip if you get a good one, having a Ranger or Everest is a real life shit show!! Stay away!! If there was an award for the best shit box of the year it would win hands down.
If it were a proper court: it would have defaulted defendant first time and that would have been the end of that. Unless they wanted to come up with the money for an appeal
Speaking as a New York attorney, they should've been defaulted, and then they could try and come up with an excuse for why they didn't appear. There was nobody there to ask for an adjournment. Courts shouldn't give them out like candy.
@@zorbakaput8537 they didn't even seek an adjournment tho, they just didn't bother to respond. Blows my mind the court adjourned it - if they don't even respond there should be a default finding against them.
Had 10 years and 2 Mercedes warranty battles . I looked at a Ford Raptor but gave it a miss because of Ford . I bought an Lx 600 and I will be with Lexus for life if they keep looking after me the way they do now ….
Trinity Ford is the worst dealership in Cairns, possibly Australia. I had endless issues with a Ford Transit 320s I purchased from them. Multiple adblue failures, electrics, culminating in a full transmission failure. Requested a refund on 2 occasions. First time was for the multiple adblue failures. Ford rejected it, saying that they fixed it in a reasonable time (6 weeks). Keep in mind, this was for a business, we had to rent a van which Ford said they would repay (but didn’t). The second request was after the transmission failed suddenly whilst driving in an 80k zone. Ford again refused, as well as not reimbursing the rental a second time. This time sighting it was too old to refund (3 years). I’m self employed and don’t have time to deal with QCat nonsense. We ended up selling it on after making the dealership fix every little thing possible. But I can concur that Trinity auto are the worst of the worst.
Mate of mine is working as a mechanic in nz and he tells me the amount of ford rangers coming in with mechanical problems he says that they are most common of the utes second most would be navaras
I made the mistake of buying a Raptor. Fortunately, that situation has now been rectified and I will only make that mistake once and once only. Warranty appeared to be optional with this brand of vehicle and more than often the dealer will blame everything and anything except the actual vehicle build quality. I rate Ford equal to Jeep on customer service and ethics which in real terms is just below the surface of a putrid swamp.
Great discussion John. The issue around contempt of court is that administrative tribunals are not courts. At a federal level there is a constitutional separation between Judicial, Parlimentary and Executive functions. This largely follows through to state courts and tribunals. The power of tribunals to hear matters is generally provided in legislation, hence they are administering the legislation. Likely here it is the legislation establishing QCAT and Qld fair trading legislation. Judgments of tribunals are usually and simply called Decisions and judges are usually Members or Senior Members, even if they are judicial offices from elsewhere, such as retired judges. Cheers from a car nut and administrative lawyer. Love your content and have been a subscriber for years.
No shame in not being able to afford a brand new car…. I always buy new. “You will lose 10k the moment you drive it out of the dealership” Yes, and ? 🤷♂️ Is that a lot of money ??
Acthually..... in all seriousness, of the new cars to buy with a chance of 0 depreciation right now (If not value add) would be utilities like the ranger. The new emission laws are going to kill these cars in the future so they will become something of a collector's item. Similar to what V8 Holdens have become. If you want to cry, go look at the prices of club sports and walkinshaws on car sales.... I wish I got one new in 2016!
@@augustvonmackensen9785 I'm thankful to all those who do buy new cars. And even more thankful to those that look after them so that in 15 years time I'll have something reasonable to drive. It gives me the chance to delete the lemons from the wish list while coveting the desirable survivors.
Hanson Ford Mareeba are also a pack of assholes. Sold me a new damaged Ranger and refused to respray under warranty. Offered to buy te vehicle back and gave me three hours notice.
I work at a 2nd hand car dealership . We had 2 x Ford Rangers in as part-exchanges. The extent of the rust was both fascinating and horrifying in equal amounts.
What you didn’t learn was correct English, unfortunately. If you had have, you’d know that ‘fix’ is the same as ‘repair’. Therefore, to say ‘fix or repair’ is obviously nonsensical. That fits right in with the Holden bogans who created that moronic saying.
I was a car salesman for 35 years and can well remember during the seventies and eighties that all the Fords arriving from the factory had to be sent to the paint shop to cover the rust on all the panel edges. Plus their exhaust pipes rusted out very quickly. Such a difference to the Holdens that obviously came through a different procedure. The only reason the Holden Statesmen were not placed straight on the yard was because every one had had their stereo systems cut “cables ruthlessly cut” out by the railway staff on their way via the rail network to the dealerships. Oh and the fact that most all vehicles had to go to paint to remove the shards of brake dust that had eaten into the new vehicles paintwork from the engine and carriage brakes.
Just had my helix timing chain done free 4 years out of warranty because Toyota honours know faults in production. That’s why smart people go the Hilux. 200 thousand km 2017 model that has been around Australia twice with real 4wdriving also.
The Lesson here is simple: - Do not buy a new Ford ever and do not buy any vehicle from a Ford Dealer either because both will screw you over if there is any problem with your vehicle. Volkswagen and their dealers are just as bad as for so steer very clear of them tooooo.
If I remember correctly, donkey's year's ago, Ford Victoria had a worker's dispute , apparently a few unpainted bodies were out in the elements for a few days, those bodies developed cancer in the next few year's. Don't quote me though.
Hello John Cadoagan I don't know how it works in Australia.. Similar deal happened to me...Dealership dropped my new truck of a hoist and I sued.. They paid out the truck (loan) PLUS paid me cash of that what I paid for the truck....and every year on the anniversary of the day that they dropped the truck I loaded a sign on a trailer parading it up and down the street they had the dealership for a week till they went out of business
I see Ford Rangers in Brexitania but never more than a few years old. But not surprising considering the £50k+ price tag and they have the disaster under the bonnet, the EcoBoost engine. And now I know, Ford won’t give a fig on warranty claims. I drive a Ford for more apx. 20yrs. But I got it secondhand and it was out of warranty when I bought it. So I never had to deal with Ford. Except that one time I tried getting a catch for the glovebox. Only to be told I had to buy the whole flat and that in all of Brexitania, Ford couldn’t find a black one, only one in beige. Then forgot about the order for teeny odd weeks. And when in one of my many calls to the dealership, they said they’d found the beige flap and I could collect it anytime I wanted. I drove over, only to be told they’d sold it to someone else. And when I complain to ‘customer services’, I was basically told I was in the wrong, as their parts department didn’t order parts at a customer’s request. And therefore there couldn’t have been a part on the shelf in the first instance. After that, I gave up and just sealed the compartment closed with mastic.vowing never to buy a vehicle that involved that dealership or any Ford dealership again.
Never had any issues with Fords , all have been outstanding to me. Don't forget the people who have issues are the only ones that make it known . The majority who are perfectly satisfied never talk about it.
Had a similar issue with a car from the same car dealer and didnt have a problem getting a repair done. A lot can be said for just being polite and humble in circumstances like this as people are more likely to want help you rather than put up barriers.
Just by chance whilst I was walking the dog this morning, after watching this article yesterday, I noticed a white Ranger parked near my place (main Beach Gold Coast). I spotted three very noticeable blistering rust spots on the roof near the front close to the windscreen. Obviously this is a problem with more than one vehicle.
So the plaintiff did all the work, the defendants only had to pay what they would have had to pay anyway. for the repair, and it cost them NOTHING. Another win for the dealer, and for Ford, another loss for the consumer. No wonder the dealer and the manufacturer are shown that they should continue to be arseholes, because there is no downside if they lose the case, and the upside is they might win, or the plaintiff may give up.
Lots of people in every industry has forgotten the unavoidable law that is true whether you believe it or not. It is a law that will ensure you receive exactly what you deserve and in abundance. What Law? The Law of "reaping and sowing" or another way it is described "You get what you think". In simple terms that everyone has heard of is "what goes around comes around" and just the bad publicity from this has cost Ford and Trinity motors much more than the $1,200 odd dollars. This isn't my Law, I didn't invent it but I see it all the time in those "bad luck" moments of some poor Aussie having a disastrous time. So yes people of Australia (and the world), you do get punished - and rewarded, for exactly what you do. You steal just 1 cent it must be paid for and this Law ensures you do just that. And in this case you crap all over your customers you will receive exactly what you deserve.
NSW consumer court does things somewhat differently. I took a car dealer to court many years ago and they were a "no show" too ( one could look down at the dealership from the high-rise building in which the court was located which further irritated the judge as the respondent had no excuse not to be there). The automatic judgement in my favour resulted in the court's sheriff applying large stickers to all the office computers at the dealership (in full view of staff and customers) that they were now the property of the NSW court and could not be removed, covered or shifted until the claimant cashed the cheque. Took me weeks before I got around to cashing that darn thing.
I don’t get why QCAT didn’t award against the Ford dealer when they first didn’t respond to them. No response = no defence submitted = lose by default. Judgement issued & Contempt of Court if money not paid by date specified. No appeal. Done. QCAT really needs Judge Judy to manage their hearings.
Nice work John, car retailers are the lowest of the low. But it would have been really nice if you could have shown a picture of the rusted roof in question ?
I operated a fleet for decades. I can't recall ever seeing a body shop estimate or invoice for less than $1800USD. If I were the Ford warrenty rep, I would have written the check just for the oppertunity of telling my colleagues the story of once seeing a $1200 paint shop bill. I might even have to start using that shop for competitive comparison when settling claims. So much stupid.
Car company's have slipped down the tree over the years. The wonderful idea of Ford to run a rubber timing belt in the oil tells all really but you can buy a kit to swap it to a chain as it should have been out of the box. Thing is it still has the oil pump run with a rubber belt through that self same oil so still no plan to put the engine completely right. Other manufacturers all have their issues which sort of says they don't want you to keep your wheels on the road as long as they used to. Designed in Obsolescence has been in the electronics industry where I work for 50 years and they are now getting so good at it that things break at the 14 month boundary and are generally not worth even taking apart. The car world has some catching up to do. Wouldn't Ford have tested the Ecoshit engine to destruction before mass producing it? No of course not! Give it to the customer and see how long it lasts! There is stupid and then there is STUPID!
I had to laugh. Back in the old days i had new BA XR8 ute with 21,000 klm's on the clock. Then the speedo spazzed out . I sent it back for repair and it came back with 69,000 klm's on the clock . They would not change it back or fix it again. Spent 2 years arguing about the real mileage even though they had all the sales and service records . Buy then they did reset it back , but only at trade in time so they had me by the balls.
John thank you so much for this episode, my wife, first time watch could not stop laughing at your passionate expatiations, she has Alzheimer and generally of canny humour but this evening the joy aroused tears, for me, i know your a science geek but bless you in a Godly sense THANKS. Incidentally i think if i were that doooode with the Ranger i’d have the truck sign writen with appropriate livery to its age and condition and parked when ever i could out side the dealer. A different 300 hour spent.
