Thursday, March 14, 2013

Buyer Beware

 
Do you remember my post a few weeks ago about buying a new car? Well, that new car has been in the shop more than it's been in our driveway. 

This Ford Fusion hybrid drives like a dream. It's sooo smooth. It handles so well. It's super quiet with the hybrid setup. 

That's the extent of my bragging. There are probably more good aspects of the car, but the frustration that fills my mind clouds my ability to speak nicely about Ford at the moment. 

After driving the car for less than a week, the Ford Sync started acting a little funny. The backup camera would roll like an old time movie screen. If you changed the radio station, the car wouldn't react and actually change for about five minutes. The maps on the navigation wouldn't update. I obviously hadn't read the manual yet, so I thought it could be user error. A new car couldn't mess up right off the lot, right? 

Wrong.

We bought the car in a nearby city, so after driving the 30 minute drive to the dealership, they say it just needs an update. 

We sat in the dealership for a  couple of hours while they ran updates on software in the car. When we left the dealership, we literally didn't make it five minutes down the road before it started acting weird again, so we turned right back around. They decided something more had to be wrong with the car, so we were to bring it back again on Monday. 

After moving around our schedules to make a trip back to the dealership that Monday, we finally got the car back in the shop. After lots of hemming and hawing around, they finally realized from reading the internal Ford message board service that Ford had a company wide problem. After keeping our car on and off for several weeks, we finally have it back to drive now. Ford still hasn't come out with a new update that will totally fix the problem.  Once that update comes out, we'll have to take another trip to the dealership. 

You would think with all these problems that maybe some exceptional customer service would make up for all the headache we've experienced. The multiple times we've picked the car back up after it's been "looked at," it has come back with little to no gas. They did give us an apple though. Yes, a piece of fruit. Why thank you sir...just what I wanted. 

Sorry to be all Debbie Downer folks. Several of you asked me to let you know what we thought of the car because you are in the market for a new car as well. I feel obligated to share my experience so you are an aware consumer. The car is awesome. The technology needs some work though.
 
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11 comments:

Amy Green @ Sweet Home Amy said...

That's awful!! :(

Courtney Kassner said...

That's terrible! Sorry you've had such a bad experience!

put a bow on it [kaitlyn] said...

This makes me so mad & sad! I hope that once they come out with the update that it works and works for GOOD!
And when are people going to learn that good customer service is a MUST?!

put a bow on it [kaitlyn] said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Laura B @ Walking in Memphis in High Heels said...

That is so frustrating. Now if they would have given you an apple...ipad, that might have made up for it lol.

Brenda said...

What an ordeal! Unfortunately I've heard TONS of stories like this about Fords over the years. I hope they fix this quickly!

Katie said...

So frustrating! Hope they can get it resolved for you ASAP.

Anonymous said...

That would be so annoying, but I am glad everything is back to normal and you are driving your new car.

-Vogue&Heels

vogueandheels.com

Unknown said...

At what point can you claim the Lemon Law? I thought it was 3X on the same issue, but that might vary by state.

TLF said...

Oh, no.. what a bummer!
Hopefully Ford will get it all straightened out quickly!!

Bekah McDuffie said...

That STINKS! I really hope you guys get everything figured out. Cars are so stressful!