I've been leasing a 2013 Ford Fusion Energi for 9 months now and have put just over 14,000 miles on the car. It was trouble free for the first 8,000 miles or so, but then started having huge problems.
The issue seems to stem from the PCM (Power Control Module). While driving the car it will randomly freak out and end up in "LIMP mode". This is a mode that deactivates the accelerator and cruise control while at the same time increasing the "idle" so that the car can reach speeds up to 35mph. The only speed control the driver has when this happens is via the brake.
Needless to say this is a less than ideal thing to have happen when driving in rush hour traffic, or when driving in general :)
This catastrophic failure has occurred to be 3 times now while driving the car, each time after assurance from Ford that the problem was FIXED and won't happen again.
I am now undergoing to process of trying to have Ford "buy" the car back under the California Lemon Law. However, as you saw above, I leased the car so I'm not sure what exactly Ford will be "buying" back.
The customer service from the dealership (Capitol Expressway Ford) in San Jose CA has been down right laughable and it's only in the detailed Background Post earlier in this blog that you can see the details of my saga and the lack of customer support, care, or concern.
Enjoy, and hopefully you the reader haven't had similar issues. I truly hope that my car is a LEMON and that the rest of the Ford Fusion Energi's out there on the road are safe.
Saturday, March 29, 2014
The Next Day ... the phone call
After picking up my Chevy Cruze rental car and putting in less than full day at work due to my dealership adventure and rental car stop I was gearing up to go home and sit in rush hour traffic in the non HOV lane.
My phone rang. It was about 5pm and it was John Henry calling me. WOOHOO, maybe there was good news. He seemed excited and seemed hopeful. He wanted to inform me that there was another software update for the PCM and that the install had gone well and that they were going to test drive the car and verify that everything was fixed. I almost burst out laughing... I explained to him "you've got to be kidding me" "What makes you think I trust you that 'THIS TIME' it's fixed"
He muttered some stuff and was clearly trying to end the conversation since I was obviously not playing along and was now VERY tired of his BS. We ended the call with him saying he'd call Monday to let me know when I could pick it up. I told him "I'm not interested in getting the car back, no thanks"
That was this evening, so... we'll see what happens Monday and if Ford Corporate has any good info for me.
My phone rang. It was about 5pm and it was John Henry calling me. WOOHOO, maybe there was good news. He seemed excited and seemed hopeful. He wanted to inform me that there was another software update for the PCM and that the install had gone well and that they were going to test drive the car and verify that everything was fixed. I almost burst out laughing... I explained to him "you've got to be kidding me" "What makes you think I trust you that 'THIS TIME' it's fixed"
He muttered some stuff and was clearly trying to end the conversation since I was obviously not playing along and was now VERY tired of his BS. We ended the call with him saying he'd call Monday to let me know when I could pick it up. I told him "I'm not interested in getting the car back, no thanks"
That was this evening, so... we'll see what happens Monday and if Ford Corporate has any good info for me.
The Next Day ... at the Dealership
John had said that I could pick up a rental car in the morning (the rental place was closed by the time he had set it up the night before...)
Overnight I had remembered that my cellphone mount and garage door opener were still in the car so I figured I'd got down to the dealership and grab them before the car was taken away to who knows where to have people "fix" it or "inspect" it.
I arrived at the dealer shortly after 9am (opening) and went to the service department to get help in getting my stuff out of the car. This went pretty smoothly, however no one from the dealership put 2 and 2 together that I was the guy who had called 4 times the day before and was having catastrophic Ford Fusion issues. Not surprising, but still an interesting observation.
After getting my stuff I decided to inquire if the manager might be free so I could fill him in on my "saga" and see if he was willing to strike a deal.
I waited over 30min for him to wrap up a meeting and for other employees to finally remind him he had a customer waiting.
Upon meeting him I asked "if there was a place we could chat". Oh, by the way, I had been extremely pleasant with all of the dealership employees all morning wishing them a happy Friday and happy Spring and in general trying very hard to NOT be the typical ANGRY, YELLING customer that is so often observed in customer service issues.
I filled the manager in at a high level the experience I'd had with his dealership over the last 9 months (since leasing the car). I assure it was the 3min version of this blog. I informed him I no longer thought the car was safe to drive and that it was unacceptable to me to continue paying for a car that isn't safe.
I ended the conversation with a simple request. A solution to this "problem". I offered for him to tear up the lease contract, keep the car, and I'll stop making my lease payments. SUPER EASY. I knew that this was generous compared to the lemon law and I knew it'd be a MUCH simpler solution than all of the alternatives, and also probably be a lot quicker.
He made up some excuse that only Ford Credit can make the decision and then tried to "pass the buck" to "Art" in the Service Department and proceeded to lead me to the back of the dealership and hand me off to JP, John Henry (Service Advisors) and Art (Service Manager). He never even offered to "replace" the car. Or sell me a new one... haha.
I couldn't believe that the manager when presented with a textbook customer support nightmare situation would just pass it off to middle management to "deal" with it.
John Henry said that Corporate had already sent a request for the repair notes & history and that "Art" was getting things together.
I left the dealership not hopeful and very surprised that once again I had been given POOR customer service.
I never once yelled, made a scene or tried to expose my situation to other customers in the dealership. Nor was my safety concern ever acknowledged and my ordeal sympathized with. I got the impression that this was like any other "car problem" where a part isn't working and the customer just doesn't "get it" and has unrealistic expectations. I think this situation warrants a slightly more escalated level of customer support and I had yet to experience it.
Overnight I had remembered that my cellphone mount and garage door opener were still in the car so I figured I'd got down to the dealership and grab them before the car was taken away to who knows where to have people "fix" it or "inspect" it.
I arrived at the dealer shortly after 9am (opening) and went to the service department to get help in getting my stuff out of the car. This went pretty smoothly, however no one from the dealership put 2 and 2 together that I was the guy who had called 4 times the day before and was having catastrophic Ford Fusion issues. Not surprising, but still an interesting observation.
After getting my stuff I decided to inquire if the manager might be free so I could fill him in on my "saga" and see if he was willing to strike a deal.
I waited over 30min for him to wrap up a meeting and for other employees to finally remind him he had a customer waiting.
Upon meeting him I asked "if there was a place we could chat". Oh, by the way, I had been extremely pleasant with all of the dealership employees all morning wishing them a happy Friday and happy Spring and in general trying very hard to NOT be the typical ANGRY, YELLING customer that is so often observed in customer service issues.
I filled the manager in at a high level the experience I'd had with his dealership over the last 9 months (since leasing the car). I assure it was the 3min version of this blog. I informed him I no longer thought the car was safe to drive and that it was unacceptable to me to continue paying for a car that isn't safe.
I ended the conversation with a simple request. A solution to this "problem". I offered for him to tear up the lease contract, keep the car, and I'll stop making my lease payments. SUPER EASY. I knew that this was generous compared to the lemon law and I knew it'd be a MUCH simpler solution than all of the alternatives, and also probably be a lot quicker.
He made up some excuse that only Ford Credit can make the decision and then tried to "pass the buck" to "Art" in the Service Department and proceeded to lead me to the back of the dealership and hand me off to JP, John Henry (Service Advisors) and Art (Service Manager). He never even offered to "replace" the car. Or sell me a new one... haha.
I couldn't believe that the manager when presented with a textbook customer support nightmare situation would just pass it off to middle management to "deal" with it.
John Henry said that Corporate had already sent a request for the repair notes & history and that "Art" was getting things together.
I left the dealership not hopeful and very surprised that once again I had been given POOR customer service.
I never once yelled, made a scene or tried to expose my situation to other customers in the dealership. Nor was my safety concern ever acknowledged and my ordeal sympathized with. I got the impression that this was like any other "car problem" where a part isn't working and the customer just doesn't "get it" and has unrealistic expectations. I think this situation warrants a slightly more escalated level of customer support and I had yet to experience it.
The Third Time ... The Tow and Evening
I went about my work day expecting to have a call from Capitol Expressway Ford and John Henry at any minute as I was obviously a customer in need of some "special attention" by this point in the saga.
While on my lunch break, I found that Ford Services has a twitter account. I reached out via twitter not expecting much, but was surprised when within 5min I received a message asking for details via Direct Message. I submitted my info and had a detailed response within minutes outlining the FORD RAV process and even providing me a case # and phone # and person to reach out to if I didn't hear back within 10 days... It was the same info I had received via phone earlier, but it was nice to have it in writing and have an actual case # I could call upon. The twitter account even followed up and asked which dealership the car was going to so that they could escalate it. All in all, pretty darn good experience for TWITTER, and the best support I had had since this all began in December.
I had setup the tow to be after work so that if needed I could get a ride home from work. The dealership had said they could not come get the car nor could they provide a loaner to me, nor could they deliver the loaner to me at work. There was ZERO customer service from the dealer.
The tow came on schedule and I had found a coworker who was willing to take me home, so I emptied my car of EVERYTHING (I didn't want to ever see the car again, so I took EVERYTHING). I waved goodbye as the tow truck left.
I decided I better call Capitol Expressway Ford and at least give them a heads up that the car was on it's way to them since John had NEVER called me back all day. I got through to the service desk and was eventually connected with John Henry. He did his best to do damage control, but it was FAR TOO LITTLE and FAR TOO LATE.
I was told I could get another rental, but there was no way to get one to me at work and that I'd need to come pick one up.
He later called back saying he could get one delivered to me the next day in the afternoon and I kinda just laughed...
I mentioned I don't want to see the car again and that I was extremely disappointed that the same issue (a safety issue) had happened 3 times and that I had ZERO trust in the car and that it was not safe to drive.
I got a ride home with my colleague and gave up for the day.
While on my lunch break, I found that Ford Services has a twitter account. I reached out via twitter not expecting much, but was surprised when within 5min I received a message asking for details via Direct Message. I submitted my info and had a detailed response within minutes outlining the FORD RAV process and even providing me a case # and phone # and person to reach out to if I didn't hear back within 10 days... It was the same info I had received via phone earlier, but it was nice to have it in writing and have an actual case # I could call upon. The twitter account even followed up and asked which dealership the car was going to so that they could escalate it. All in all, pretty darn good experience for TWITTER, and the best support I had had since this all began in December.
I had setup the tow to be after work so that if needed I could get a ride home from work. The dealership had said they could not come get the car nor could they provide a loaner to me, nor could they deliver the loaner to me at work. There was ZERO customer service from the dealer.
The tow came on schedule and I had found a coworker who was willing to take me home, so I emptied my car of EVERYTHING (I didn't want to ever see the car again, so I took EVERYTHING). I waved goodbye as the tow truck left.
I decided I better call Capitol Expressway Ford and at least give them a heads up that the car was on it's way to them since John had NEVER called me back all day. I got through to the service desk and was eventually connected with John Henry. He did his best to do damage control, but it was FAR TOO LITTLE and FAR TOO LATE.
I was told I could get another rental, but there was no way to get one to me at work and that I'd need to come pick one up.
He later called back saying he could get one delivered to me the next day in the afternoon and I kinda just laughed...
I mentioned I don't want to see the car again and that I was extremely disappointed that the same issue (a safety issue) had happened 3 times and that I had ZERO trust in the car and that it was not safe to drive.
I got a ride home with my colleague and gave up for the day.
Friday, March 28, 2014
The third time...Morning
So given that background I really felt that the car was fixed and that I was going to be able to enjoy my newish car without the fear of it failing on me in dangerous situations.
WRONG!
WRONG!
This brings me to the latest incident. (I told you this was LONG). Thursday, March 27th 2014 @ ~14,100 miles, I was driving to our new Santa Clara office sitting in the HOV lane metering lights to merge onto 101N from Hwy 87. Two cars from the metering light, my Fusion acts up again.
Doesn't this look familiar?
I was awe struck, I couldn't believe it had happened again! This time it was a VERY scary situation. I knew I could restart the car and limp it to the next off ramp, but on first try it didn't work. As the metering light turned green there was nothing I could do but SLOWLY roll forward and put my hazards on, trying to get out of the way of the 3 lanes of metering lights merging into the congested freeway. Once moving a bit I was able to just use the brake and drive with the stop and go traffic. However, about a mile later traffic opened up and I soon found myself maxed out at 35mph with no accelerator function and cars blowing by me at over 70mph.
I found a "shoulder" to pull over and after a few honks and close calls came to a stop between a concrete wall on my right and cars blowing by at 60+mph on my left. Knowing that it was unsafe to stay there, I was able to get the car restarted a second time which enabled the accelerator and allowed me to move again with CONTROL.
My exit for work happened to be the next exit and I was able to drive the car to the large parking lot. I parked in the middle of an empty section so that the tow truck could come pickup the car easily and went to work beyond frustrated that my Fusion was a complete unsafe piece of junk.
I called the dealership thinking that they know my "case" better than anyone and will obviously drop everything to help an obviously BAD customer experience situation. I was told that John Henry (Service Advisor) was busy and that he'd call me back ASAP. This was at 9:10am. I decided to call the dealer back and ask to speak to the Salesman who had leased me the car since I knew he'd want to at least pretend to care and provide CUSTOMER service as opposed to car service. I hadn't filled him in on any of the previous incidents as I assumed the service department was handling things. The front desk forwarded me to his line. A gentleman answered the phone who was obviously not my salesman and informed me that "Albert"(my salesman) no longer worked there. Before he could hang up I asked if it would be possible to forward me to the Dealership Manager as I was looking to discuss an ongoing problem with my car. He said he'd try to forward me and with one press of a button on his side, I was hung up on.
So... I called the dealer a third time, this time telling the receptionist I wished to speak with the Manager. I was told the manager was gone today and that he'd be in tomorrow (Friday). I asked to speak to someone who was next in charge. I was forwarded to someone who was obviously a bit more knowledgeable and informed me that I needed to called FORD RAV (reacquired vehicle program). At least I was getting somewhere. He said that he couldn't help me nor could the dealer and that this was a corporate issue. Again, VERY little concern for my safety and my experience. He seemed much more interested in "passing the buck" to corporate and made no gesture to help me through the process.
I decided to hold off on calling Ford Corporate since I wanted to be able to answer the phone when John Henry was available, I had been told it'd be about 10min.
2 hours later I decided to call Ford Corporate and fill them in on what was going on as it was clear the dealership didn't care about my situation and John had never called back.
After a few folks I was transferred to an "Energi Expert" and I was given an opportunity to explain what was going on. While not very forthcoming with details and not exactly A+ customer service, she was able to document my issues and laid out the process for getting my situation reviewed by the FORD RAV "team" to see if the lemon law applied here. She informed me that I would hear back within 10 days and that if I don't hear back with in 15 days to call a # and ask to speak to Randene. At this point I was feeling a bit stuck. The dealership wasn't calling me back and corporate was giving me a VERY corporate response and I was supposed to wait 10 days for some "review board" who doesn't know anything about what is going on, and decides if Ford will "buy" my LEASED car back.
At least they forwarded me on to Ford Roadside Assistance to have the car towed back to the dealer. There was NO WAY I was going to be driving that car ever again. Roadside was once again very easy to work with, VERy concerned about my immediate safety and made the entire tow truck thing, EASY!
Background
A little background (and by little, I mean A LOT).
I had just accepted a job offer for a great new career. The only catch was that the new office was 40+ miles away from my home. Moving was not an option, nor was driving my Ford Excursion. The fuel bill for commuting was going to be well north of $600/mo.
I looked at various options, focusing on cars that would yield me the coveted HOV sticker to help save my commute time. After months of research, reviews, spreadsheets, and test drives I settled on the "perfect" for me Ford Fusion Energi.
I found a local dealer that had one in stock, in a color I was interested in, and went ahead with a lease. You see, I know leases are generally not financially wise, and I know you tend to end up paying too much, but I knew EV technology was changing quickly and I didn't want to invest long term in what would soon be an outdated battery and EV tech. And, it was still cheaper than driving my truck. Win win!
I signed a short 2 year lease and paid close to zero down. Things were looking good! I even completed all of this just two days before my birthday. I now "owned" MY first new car and was excited!
June 30th 2013, 105 miles, have owned it 2 days
Being the geek that I am, I even took pics under the hood of the 2.0L engine and some the EV components.
Well, all was great! I was saving gallons of fuel a week. Using less than 1 gallon to go to and from work (roundtrip of about 80miles). I was charging for free at work, and on the E-9A plan with PG&E at home.
I couldn't wait to get my license plate! I knew after my plate came I could submit for my HOV stickers.
Mid August ~2300 miles
Flash forward to Dec 5th 2013 & ~8,300miles. Disaster.
I was sitting in rush hour traffic Northbound on HWY85 on the 85-->280N on ramp when all of a sudden I saw this as the car surged forward:
And this:
And this:
These warning lights were accompanied by a very scary acceleration. Being in rush hour traffic I stomped on the brake and found that the car slowed and stopped, but that it was "pushing" to go. While it wasn't over the top like a stuck throttle it was obvious that something was going on. (I later found out that this is LIMP MODE, and it's a designed behavior by Ford. Not the most intuitive nor safe mode...)
Seeing as how I was in stop and go bumper to bumper traffic, I drove like most automatic transmission owners do and drove via the brake, never having a need to press the accelerator. It wasn't till about 5 min later (1/8 of a mile) that it was time for me to merge with the freeway traffic. As I turned on my left indicator and moved my foot to the accelerator to blend with the flow of traffic I quickly realized I was in trouble. The accelerator was DEAD. It didn't do anything. I quickly turned on my right blinker and struggled to cut over to take the Foothill Rd. Exit. Meanwhile, trying to not get run over by freeway and merging traffic.
By turning the car on and off twice I was able to get the yellow dialog box to disappear and was able to drive the car. Everything seemed to drive fine except the once in a while the Hill Start Assist warning would pop up. I should say, all of this happened half way to work, I still had about 20 miles to go, and an important meeting I needed to make. I was still a new employee and trying to make a good impression. I took it slow and stayed in the right lane, not sure if the car was going to act up again, but made it to work without further incident. At least I felt prepared if it happened again, but I was on edge for the whole drive.
The next day I drove my truck to work, ... thankfully I had another vehicle to drive. In the morning I had called the dealer and was told by the service manager John Henry that my lease did not come with complimentary rental car service. I was obviously a little frustrated with this, but understood. I wasn't at a BMW or Mercedes dealership where they let you borrow "Courtesy Cars". That said, I did feel it wasn't exactly good customer service, especially given the fact that this was a brand new car, it had put me in a VERY unsafe driving situation, and that Ford Corporate had been VERY concerned about my experience. It frankly felt like my car situation was the same to John Henry and Capitol Expressway Ford as if my A/C had broken on my 8 year old car. (That was just a random example, not a fact). It just felt like, Capitol Expressway Ford could have cared less that my brand new car had endangered me, and treated it like any other repair.
I should also be clear. I was very polite, and gracious. I learned a long time ago that yelling, being rude, and being unreasonable doesn't get you far with customer service, so I had taken the approach of bringing sugar to the lemons so that we could at least get lemonade. Also, I was giving Ford the benefit of the doubt. New cars aren't perfect, and "stuff" happens. I figured I was just a bit unlucky and this was a random fluke incident. I had no doubt that the dealer would fix things and I'd be a happy customer. (oh how wrong I was....)
This wasn't a big deal, but it sure seemed stupid that I had to remind them of the service schedule seeing as how it's their job, and usually you can't get near a dealer without them trying to upsell services you don't even always need.
Does that look familiar? Same exact problem as the first time. Thankfully this time it happened on a frontage road to 101 as I was pulling into the parking lot at the movie theater. Thankfully I was meeting my friend there. After the movie he was nice enough to follow me as we took side streets to the dealer. He gave me a ride back to my house after I left the car at the dealer.
Monday rolled around and I had to call the dealer to see if they had received the info in the drop box. I spoke with John Henry and expressed my disappointment and concern about the car. He promised to get to the bottom of it. Before ended the conversation I inquired about getting a loaner car since this was becoming more than a casual nuisance to my life.
At this point I should share that I live roughly 2.5 miles from the dealer. I asked if it was possible to have the loaner dropped off at my house or if it was possible to get picked up since I didn't have anyone around to provide transportation to me and leaving my other car at the dealer was not something I was interested in with regards to security for the vehicle. I was then informed that the loaner would actually be provided via Hertz rental car and that if I showed up there they'd "hook me up" and Ford would cover it.
Long story kinda short, I drove my truck to the rental lot and was given the "Manager's Special" car. Supposed to be the nicest car they had. It was a beat up early 2013 Ford Mustang convertible with over 67,000 miles. They thing was in bad shape. I was appreciative to have a car, but the mileage and lack of a HOV sticker made for a HORRENDOUS week of commuting. Especially on the day I had to go to our SF office (120+miles roundtrip in rush hour traffic). Not wanting to leave my truck at Hertz overnight, I would drive my truck to the car rental each morning and switch vehicles, leaving my truck there during the day. At no time was I informed that they could provide me a shuttle service.
After about 4-5 days in the shop, John Henry called and told me my car was ready. A little skeptical, I inquired about what had been wrong, how they fixed it and if they had been able to replicate the issue. It turned out there had been a physical short in the PCM and that they had completely replaced it with a new one. And to top it off they had been able to replicate the issue (They took it for NUMEROUS test drives and were able to experience the issue, at least so they say). For those following along, that means the car had gone into LIMP MODE 3X times in <10,500 miles. John did however top things off with fixing the little window trim pieces that had been coming off on the front side windows. He even did it for free and without me asking :) That said, they had driven my car over 70 miles (I could track via the myfordmobile app and hadn't bothered to charge the car AGAIN nor even put the 1-2 gallons of fuel in that they had used. Again, not a huge deal in the large schem eof things, but if I was trying to smooth over a customer experience like this I would have had the car detailed, full of fuel and fully charged. I was just blown away with the total lack of care provided to my situation.
Assured that my car was INDEED fixed and that physical pieces had been replaced I drove my car home (after getting a friend to drop me off, again unable to get any kind of courtesy shuttle or dropoff/delivery service from the dealership.
I had my car back and I was assured that it was fixed for good and that it would no longer endanger my driving experience.
I had just accepted a job offer for a great new career. The only catch was that the new office was 40+ miles away from my home. Moving was not an option, nor was driving my Ford Excursion. The fuel bill for commuting was going to be well north of $600/mo.
I looked at various options, focusing on cars that would yield me the coveted HOV sticker to help save my commute time. After months of research, reviews, spreadsheets, and test drives I settled on the "perfect" for me Ford Fusion Energi.
I found a local dealer that had one in stock, in a color I was interested in, and went ahead with a lease. You see, I know leases are generally not financially wise, and I know you tend to end up paying too much, but I knew EV technology was changing quickly and I didn't want to invest long term in what would soon be an outdated battery and EV tech. And, it was still cheaper than driving my truck. Win win!
I signed a short 2 year lease and paid close to zero down. Things were looking good! I even completed all of this just two days before my birthday. I now "owned" MY first new car and was excited!
Being the geek that I am, I even took pics under the hood of the 2.0L engine and some the EV components.
I couldn't wait to get my license plate! I knew after my plate came I could submit for my HOV stickers.
They came a few weeks later. The best $8 I think I have EVER spent!
September ~3100 miles
Life was good. I was saving 15-20min each direction to and from work, saving fuel, and getting to drive a brand new car. Also, it was SUPER quiet. I was a happy Fusion lessee.
Flash forward to Dec 5th 2013 & ~8,300miles. Disaster.
I was sitting in rush hour traffic Northbound on HWY85 on the 85-->280N on ramp when all of a sudden I saw this as the car surged forward:
And this:
And this:
Seeing as how I was in stop and go bumper to bumper traffic, I drove like most automatic transmission owners do and drove via the brake, never having a need to press the accelerator. It wasn't till about 5 min later (1/8 of a mile) that it was time for me to merge with the freeway traffic. As I turned on my left indicator and moved my foot to the accelerator to blend with the flow of traffic I quickly realized I was in trouble. The accelerator was DEAD. It didn't do anything. I quickly turned on my right blinker and struggled to cut over to take the Foothill Rd. Exit. Meanwhile, trying to not get run over by freeway and merging traffic.
I pulled off the road into a parking lot. I found that the car moved forward on its own, but that I could only control the speed by braking, and could not control the acceleration.
By turning the car on and off twice I was able to get the yellow dialog box to disappear and was able to drive the car. Everything seemed to drive fine except the once in a while the Hill Start Assist warning would pop up. I should say, all of this happened half way to work, I still had about 20 miles to go, and an important meeting I needed to make. I was still a new employee and trying to make a good impression. I took it slow and stayed in the right lane, not sure if the car was going to act up again, but made it to work without further incident. At least I felt prepared if it happened again, but I was on edge for the whole drive.
Once out of my meeting at work, I was able to call Ford and get some help. Google seemed to have a wrong number for the dealership, so I somehow ended up calling Ford Corporate by accident. They were VERY helpful, and EXTREMELY concerned about what I had experienced. They got Ford Roadside Assistance involved and towed my car ALL the way home to the dealership where I had leased the car, free of charge.
The next day I drove my truck to work, ... thankfully I had another vehicle to drive. In the morning I had called the dealer and was told by the service manager John Henry that my lease did not come with complimentary rental car service. I was obviously a little frustrated with this, but understood. I wasn't at a BMW or Mercedes dealership where they let you borrow "Courtesy Cars". That said, I did feel it wasn't exactly good customer service, especially given the fact that this was a brand new car, it had put me in a VERY unsafe driving situation, and that Ford Corporate had been VERY concerned about my experience. It frankly felt like my car situation was the same to John Henry and Capitol Expressway Ford as if my A/C had broken on my 8 year old car. (That was just a random example, not a fact). It just felt like, Capitol Expressway Ford could have cared less that my brand new car had endangered me, and treated it like any other repair.
I should also be clear. I was very polite, and gracious. I learned a long time ago that yelling, being rude, and being unreasonable doesn't get you far with customer service, so I had taken the approach of bringing sugar to the lemons so that we could at least get lemonade. Also, I was giving Ford the benefit of the doubt. New cars aren't perfect, and "stuff" happens. I figured I was just a bit unlucky and this was a random fluke incident. I had no doubt that the dealer would fix things and I'd be a happy customer. (oh how wrong I was....)
I received word that the car was repaired early the following week. It turns out there was a "software" update for the transmission or PCM and that was going to fix the issue. Seeing as how the issue seemed to have been sensor/computer related this made some sense to me. The online forums supported this finding. As there was maybe a mention or two of similar situations as mine, but always seemed to involve the cold, ice/snow, and traction control.
I realized the morning of picking up my car, that it was almost due for an oil change and that the tires should probably be rotated. These hybrids recommend the oil is changed around 10,000 miles since the engine isn't running as often. I also didn't want to do anything to void my lease. I called John Henry and asked if they had done any of the scheduled maintenance since it was a leased car and it was already in the shop. He replied they "hadn't" and that I'd need to wait a few hours so they could get it done.
This wasn't a big deal, but it sure seemed stupid that I had to remind them of the service schedule seeing as how it's their job, and usually you can't get near a dealer without them trying to upsell services you don't even always need.
When I arrived to pick up my car I was a bit shocked to see that I needed to pay for the oil change. Now normally I would have expected to pay, but given the issues I had had, I kind of thought they might waive the charge as a gesture of good faith and to help with customer satisfaction. On top of that, they hadn't even bothered to plug my car in to charge it. Not a huge deal, but again a simple gesture that would have gone a long way. At this point I was starting to get a feel for the kind of customer service I should expect from Capitol Expressway Ford.
None of that mattered, I had my car back and it was driving great and I was back in the HOV lane and getting great fuel economy. I drove the car for about 5 weeks until the improbable happened.
January 11th & ~ 10,400 miles
January 11th & ~ 10,400 miles
Does that look familiar? Same exact problem as the first time. Thankfully this time it happened on a frontage road to 101 as I was pulling into the parking lot at the movie theater. Thankfully I was meeting my friend there. After the movie he was nice enough to follow me as we took side streets to the dealer. He gave me a ride back to my house after I left the car at the dealer.
Monday rolled around and I had to call the dealer to see if they had received the info in the drop box. I spoke with John Henry and expressed my disappointment and concern about the car. He promised to get to the bottom of it. Before ended the conversation I inquired about getting a loaner car since this was becoming more than a casual nuisance to my life.
At this point I should share that I live roughly 2.5 miles from the dealer. I asked if it was possible to have the loaner dropped off at my house or if it was possible to get picked up since I didn't have anyone around to provide transportation to me and leaving my other car at the dealer was not something I was interested in with regards to security for the vehicle. I was then informed that the loaner would actually be provided via Hertz rental car and that if I showed up there they'd "hook me up" and Ford would cover it.
Long story kinda short, I drove my truck to the rental lot and was given the "Manager's Special" car. Supposed to be the nicest car they had. It was a beat up early 2013 Ford Mustang convertible with over 67,000 miles. They thing was in bad shape. I was appreciative to have a car, but the mileage and lack of a HOV sticker made for a HORRENDOUS week of commuting. Especially on the day I had to go to our SF office (120+miles roundtrip in rush hour traffic). Not wanting to leave my truck at Hertz overnight, I would drive my truck to the car rental each morning and switch vehicles, leaving my truck there during the day. At no time was I informed that they could provide me a shuttle service.
After about 4-5 days in the shop, John Henry called and told me my car was ready. A little skeptical, I inquired about what had been wrong, how they fixed it and if they had been able to replicate the issue. It turned out there had been a physical short in the PCM and that they had completely replaced it with a new one. And to top it off they had been able to replicate the issue (They took it for NUMEROUS test drives and were able to experience the issue, at least so they say). For those following along, that means the car had gone into LIMP MODE 3X times in <10,500 miles. John did however top things off with fixing the little window trim pieces that had been coming off on the front side windows. He even did it for free and without me asking :) That said, they had driven my car over 70 miles (I could track via the myfordmobile app and hadn't bothered to charge the car AGAIN nor even put the 1-2 gallons of fuel in that they had used. Again, not a huge deal in the large schem eof things, but if I was trying to smooth over a customer experience like this I would have had the car detailed, full of fuel and fully charged. I was just blown away with the total lack of care provided to my situation.
Assured that my car was INDEED fixed and that physical pieces had been replaced I drove my car home (after getting a friend to drop me off, again unable to get any kind of courtesy shuttle or dropoff/delivery service from the dealership.
I had my car back and I was assured that it was fixed for good and that it would no longer endanger my driving experience.
Alright, I think that is enough background!!!
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