My Ford

I was lucky enough to be able to purchase two brand new cars in 1980.  The first one was a tricked out Mercury Monarch.  Many a college student had fun riding in that car!  Hanging out of the Moon Roof!  Driving down Grand River in East Lansing!!!  The second brand new car that I purchased was a Ford Fiesta.  Again, numerous college students took advantage of that vehicle.  We had lotsa fun in it while Benton Harbor was being snowed in.  ; )) Being a college student I bought a Fiesta for the gas mileage...further, there were parking spots designated for these "minis" close to the college campus.  Short walks.  Good gas mileage.  How wonderful!!!

I was lucky enough to be able to a-FORD a new vehicle in 2002. Twenty-two years between brand new cars. I did not have any extra money to purchase a Brand New Vehicle during those 22 years as I poured all of my money into my company.  I did, however, buy a brand new F-250 for our lawn service company.  But that was a company truck...For my new car, I decided to see my friend.  A car salesman at Village Ford.  Someone who was on the University of Michigan-Dearborn Bowling Team with myself.  I purchased a truck from him.  Only because I could fit my 6'3" frame into it without having to slouch.  I have regretted it ever since. 

My first episode with a Ford Dealer placed me at Village Ford in Dearborn, Michigan (a Presidential Dealer, btw) for an oil change for my Brand New F-150.  Not any 150 mind you.  But a Harley Davidson Edition.  I noticed that the parking spots in the service department of Village Ford were quite small, for a truck.  But I assumed these must be spots for compact cars like my Fiesta.  Little did I know they would park my truck in these spots!  So I went out to breakfast at the Bob Evan's right up the road with my friend Tim while they changed the oil at Village Ford.  I used to change the oil myself in the Mercury and the Fiesta, but I decided I did not want to be on my back doing menial labor and such.  My friend Tim (still working at Village) and I finished our breakfast and I went to Service to pick up my truck.  There were door dings in my brand new truck.  I had not had any scratches or such in my vehicle when I brought it to them.  Why do I have door dings now?  This must be a new feature that Ford Motor Car Company provides to their loyal customers.  After all, my father toiled for Ford Motor Car Company for over 40 years.  He was sometimes even in the company of Henry I!  Why would a Ford Dealer offer these Features to me, even if I did not ask.  When I asked the service department about these new features on my 2002 F150 Harley-Davidson Black on Black number 532 of 10,000 he said that Village Ford was not responsible for door dings.  I was so confused.  Village Ford had given me these fine door dings without my being asked.  And now he was not taking responsibility for them.  How special, this Presidential Award Winning Ford Dealer was.

Soon after this visit I had the luxury of having a B & E of my brand new Ford truck with the $4800 worth of rims and $600 worth of tires.  It seems someone needed these rims and tires more than I did and broke into my vehicle to try and find the key for the wheel locks so that this person or persons unknown could have them for him or herself.  What an honour to have someone covet my property so much that he or she wanted it for themself!  Since they could not find the key, they took my aftermarket Harley-Davidson floor mats.  All four of them.  Front and back.  I guess this would have to do.   Soon thereafter, I found that there was an attempt to take the bed mat out of my truck.  Wow!  I was so honoured that people like my stuff so much they have to steal it!  Alas, they could not get the bed mat out because the bed extender was locked in place, securing the bed mat.  They did, however, do some damage to my bed.  :  ((  

Now it was up to me to deal with the fixing of the damage to my fine 2002 Harley-Davidson Edition F-150.  Number 532.  Of only 10,000.  Of course I would just have to "take her home."  To the place that I found her.  Village Ford.  Presidential Award winner!  Big mistake.  Upon approval of my insurance company, I had Village Ford fix the door of my F-150 and the Bed of the Truck.  Of course they wrote two work orders for these two repairs.   It would be a fine move for me to let them have my truck for two weeks while I went to an EBay conference and a Bowling Conference that required my attendance.   Upon arriving at Village to pick up my vehicle, Village Ford had only fixed my door.  Of course I did not do the rigourous inspection that should have been done on the door since only one of the areas of damage had been fixed.  "I'm sorry sir, we did not see the second work order."  Kind of like going to KMart for a bowling ball.  Having to make two trips.  Oh brother.  Another fine benefit of dealing with a Ford Dealer.  Village Ford.  A Presidential Dealer.  It makes one wonder what any less of a dealer stands for.

So I went to another conference while The Presidential Award Winning Dealer, Village Ford, fixed the bed of my truck.  When I arrived back to pick up my truck I went over it with a fine tooth comb.   Seems another benefit of dealing with a Presidential Dealer is that they leave paint runs.  These drips, now cured must be in place so that when a door ding occurs, there is extra paint so that the primer and metal do not show up.   They also beautify the bed mat with some type of oily substance.  How thoughtful of a Presidential Award Winning Ford Dealer!  As a bonus, the bed of my truck was still unsightly.  It was not straight.  But half of the bed mat glowed!!!!  The gentleman from the Body Shop, as I said to him "this is not any better than when I brought it in!" said to me, "what do you want us to do, replace the whole BED?!?!?!"   If that is what it takes to make me whole...as that is what insurance is for ... then yes!!!!  Alas, its too late.  My insurance company already approved the claim and pay out.   Boo Hoo.  ....But there is hope....The cheque has not yet been issued !!!!   

So I paid on a credit card, well knowing what a back charge is.  HEHEHEHE.

I had a meeting with some bob double u guy who is the general manager of this fine Presidential Dealership.  He assured me everything would be fixed.  When I got home after the meeting between bob and I, there was extreme doubt of his ability, given my experiences at Village Ford, to make me whole.  So I cancelled my appointment for this Fine Ford Presidential Dealer to repair the rapeair.. repairs that they had over four weeks to do properly.  And with the support of my credit card company, Village Ford, fine Presidential Dealer that it is, got BACKCHARGED!!!!  My truck is still not whole.  Boo Hoo.

The next incident with my beautiful vehicle involved another oil change.  Oil Filter change, of course.  And the air filter, too.  Instead of driving some 17 miles to a Presidential Ford Dealer, Village Ford, I decided to drive to Bill Brown Ford.  This Ford Dealer is only three miles away.  Oh brother.  What a mistake that was.  I dropped the vehicle off at 7:30 am satisfied that this Non-Presidential Ford Dealer could not mess up my truck.  Boy was I wrong.  In the early afternoon I received a call from my Ford Motor Car Company Bill Brown Ford Dealer Service Representative.  He informed me that my Air Filter Housing was missing a clip.   It had broken off.  On a vehicle with less that 20,000 miles.  Here we go again.  The housing has three points of "attachment" so that dirty air does not enter the intake manifold.  The cost to replace this, I was informed was $400.00.  One can't drive a vehicle with dirty air entering the intake manifold.  How depressing.   More Ford dealers taking money from me.  So they can make their payments on their yachts and 20,000 square foot homes, et al.  So I had their service department fix this.  Of course I kept the part.  That's only half the story.  When they called me it was in the afternoon.  No Ford Dealers stock this bulky part worth $400.00.  It had to come from the Ford Parts Depot.  How sad.  : ((   Now I would have to wait another day to get my beautiful vehicle back.  Guess what?  In the afternoon of the following day I get a call.  Guess who its from?  Come on now, you can guess!  You're RIGHT!!!  Its from my personal,  Ford Motor Car Company Bill Brown Ford Dealer Service Representative.  One more guess!  What on earth do you think he was calling about???  Give UP?  OH-KAY!  The Ford Parts Depot sent the wrong part.  And its late in the afternoon again.  Guess who has to wait another full day while Bill Brown Ford Returns the bad part and waits for a replacement???  ME!!!  I am so lucky to have these fine Dealer Representatives on my side.   Imagine if they weren't on my side.  They would probably strip down my fine vehicle themselves.  Who knows that they haven't done such yet?  :(((

Let's see.  Three months later, and I have a warranty claim and my oil needs changing.   It seems the brake pedal is poorly designed allowing for some of the decorations on this fine Harley brake pedal to be broken off with little effort.  Off to Pat Milliken Ford I go.  I know many people there.  I have drilled many bowling balls for employees of Pat Milliken Ford.  And its only about three or four miles further than Bill Brown Ford.  I have been there a couple of times for documented oil changes.  This will probably be my third visit to Pat Milliken Ford.  So they change my oil.   And replace, under warranty, my brake pedal.  All the while I am chatting with Aaron and Tim and they are so concerned that my truck will be in fine shape when I leave Pat Milliken Ford.  I have been so assured of this I become complacent.   In any case....the Porters at Pat Milliken Ford use MY TRUCK for a shuttle and move more porters back to the front office.  Leaving gravel, dirt and debris on the carpet of my truck.   Scratching all of my rocker panels during this transport.  How can these people care so little for someone's property.  One of them even left a candy bar, which subsequently melted, in the compartment of the console in the back seat of my beautiful F150 Harley Davidson Vehicle, number 532 of 10,000.   Of course it's my fault.  As the Service Manager gives me the once over looking at me like I have six heads and am trying to get something for nothing.  :  ((

Now it's time for another warranty claim.  Seems the aluminum hood on this beautiful vehicle is not happy with the paint job done at the time of manufacture and is splitting and peeling.  I decide to try another Ford Dealer.  I travel 30 miles to Taylor Ford.  I know the service manager as I have drilled balls for him and his family.  We have always respected each other greatly.  He has properly had the oil changed and the air filter replaced (Kudos to the Service Department at Taylor Ford) with no incidents.  I have to go to Body and Paint.  Great.   I get a call from my doctor cuz my blood pressure goes up as I go to Body and Paint.  Body and Pain ... i mean Paint... "fixes"  my hood.  I see many Awards given to the Paint Department of Taylor Ford from Ford Motor Car Company and some of my stress is alleviated .  It is, however, a warranty claim.   I don't have to pay for it.   However, that does not mean that Body and Paint can forgoe clean-up.  There was dust and debris in all the nooks and crannies under my hood.  And the light bulb was broken.  What should I expect from a non-Presidential Dealer but this type of service.   I also had my truck detailed after this warranty claim.  I had to.  With all the dust and debris left over from my visit to the Paint Department at Taylor Ford.  I was informed by the Plymouth Super Center, and so witnessed, that the sanding lines were not fully buffed out of the hood of this fine vehicle, number 532.  Boo Hoo.  : ((  

I bowl with someone named Gary.  He is a very good guy.  He hears of all my laments and problems and events concerning Harley Davidson vehicle number 532 and advises me to visit the dealer he works at, Jack Demmer Ford, should I ever need any work done.  Here we go again.  So I have this little intermitant grabbing when I apply the brakes.  I decide to travel 18 miles to Jack Demmer Ford.  They tell me I need a brake change.  I also wanted an alignment.  Now this does not seem unusual to me cuz the brakes were changed at about 25,000 miles the first time.  This seems quite quick to me.  But I suppose with 400 horsepower under the hood this is not unusual.  So they change the brakes.  Give me back the pads ...WITH 1/8" LEFT ON THEM!!!!  And they told me that they need to change the whole front end cuz my winter tires messed with the ability of a true alignment.  OKAY.  I give in.  I get my vehicle back, aligned they say, and the intermitant grabbing is still occuring when I brake.  Oh yeah, and they dont give me back the parts from the front end restructuring even though there is plenty of room in the bed of my truck.

Let's see.  I have continued to go south of my home.  I am going to go north now.  Maybe Santa Claus can be of more help.  There is leaking occuring through the moon roof and through the handles on the front pillars supporting the roof.  Long story short, this fix goes to Avis Ford and my representative is Donna.  Donna calls me and tells me something to the effect of needing a roof trough.  Now I am under the impression that roof troughs help to disperse the rain and are built into the roof.  How can I give her a roof trough when these are built in at the factory?  In all fairness, this "roof trough" was the victim of an accident that the vehicle was in.  Some 75 years old woman made a right turn from the left lane.  RIGHT into ME!!!!   Took out the whole side of my truck costing $9000.00!!!  Cost to me - about a grand...for the absence of a roof trough that was not properly explained to me.  Of course, included in this misadventure was a lube.  How friendly this Avis Ford dealer could be.  And they were not even a Presidential Dealer.  I got lubed all right.  All of the moving parts on the doors, hood and the engine were lubed.  What were not lubed were the hinges on the tail gate.  I guess those don't count.  Cuz they are not "covered."  Unfortuneately, there was, once again, no clean-up.  Why do you have to clean up grease from freshly lubed (probably lithium grease) hinges?  Well, when the owner of the vehicle has black designer pants on that cost $400 one would think that the lube overspray should be cleaned up.   I guess that is too much to ask from a non-Presidential Ford Dealer.   So I got white lithium grease all over my designer pants.  Blessed by this non-Presidential Ford Dealer Called Avis.  Do I have to travel out of state to find a Ford Dealer to handle my maintenance?  BTW... I dropped said roof trough off to her about two weeks later as I had a box of parts from the accident.  Still, how can I continue to buy Ford Products with all of these problems???

pic credits go to

http://www.familycar.com/RoadTests/FordF150Harley/Photos.htm

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