What about that Lemon Ute @ Bathurst?

[Genghis]

You don't go to that much effort to draw attention to the car if you haven't had a shocking time trying to get it repaired under warranty etc.

Manufactures enevitably have a lemon roll off the line at some time. It depends on the dealer whether it gets fixed or not.

I saw the same thing two years ago at Bathurst. Falcon with 'Lemon' signage all over it. What better place to air your frustration than at THE biggest domestic motorsport event off the year.

It's designed to embarrass Ford, not to make the guy who owns it look like a knob. He's spent good money on a car that hasn't lived up to what he believes it should have, so shout it from a mountain top.

It won't fix his problems. Ford (or the offending dealer) hasn't, but he feels better about letting everyone in on the fiasco.

It works because WE are talking about a 'lemon' we knew nothing about a week ago.

[GCFordChic]

Originally Posted by uranium_death

I think that part of purchasing a car is accepting the lottery that comes with it.

Purchasing a brand new car, forking out the equivalent of a years salary (for some more, for others less) I would not expect to have to take a chance.
I would want something in working order and of merchantable quality...someone would be a fool to expect anything less. A car already drops massively in value once it is driven out of the lot, you pay excess to know it's brand new. Otherwise I could go out and buy a second hand, couple of years older, higher model car for the same price or less and take the gamble on that.

Equate it on a smaller level to shoes that you might buy. If, after wearing them twice, you notice the stitching is coming undone and the sole is coming off, do you go "Well I took the chance" and just throw them to the back of the closet or go back to the shop (where they will keep your shoes for a week to assess the problem then order parts in to fix it [perhaps another week] or send it away for repair)?
No. People come back and get agro with the sales assistant and demand a refund or exchange. This is for $20-$150...so why should we expect any less when spending ALOT more? I realise the nightmare for the company in refunding or exchanging for a new car everytime there are faults, but hey, that may make them address the obvious quality issues.

Originally Posted by uranium_death

Once again, cars are prone to wear and tear. If this person has a problem, this kind of stunt achieves nothing. Would you want to help a jerk out?

Maybe if he went back to City Ford and negotiated a deal, he might have got some help.

I have been lucky enough to not experience this myself, but even reading multiple threads of the problems experienced by users on here i can empathise with their frustration and I get genuinely angry at the situations some people have been in. Wear and tear should not be an issue with a brand new car.
Im sure that the 40 replaced parts were done at "City Ford" so I am guessing that the unlucky person would have tried to negotiate, by why should they have to negotiate anything, the thing should be perfect or be replaced with something that is.

I completely disagree that he should just sell it and move on. Would anyone here pay market value for a dud car? Would anyone just throw a few thousand dollars out the window to see it float in the air?

Unless the person who owns and put the car there is on here and wants to go through the frustration of explaining everything to us, I dont think we should keep trashing them.
Walk a mile in someone else's shoes before you criticise what they do. You may not do the same thing, but why is your way the correct way? Some people are able to get what they want by asking nicely, others try but have to act a little more outrageous and nasty to get what they want. Go and watch the Kmart returns desk for half an hour and see the different approaches used. :monkes:

[OzJavelin]

Originally Posted by GCFordChic

Unless the person who owns and put the car there is on here and wants to go through the frustration of explaining everything to us, I dont think we should keep trashing them.
Walk a mile in someone else's shoes before you criticise what they do. You may not do the same thing, but why is your way the correct way? Some people are able to get what they want by asking nicely, others try but have to act a little more outrageous and nasty to get what they want. Go and watch the Kmart returns desk for half an hour and see the different approaches used. :monkes:

Your entire response is very valid .. especially this part. I'm usually the person who "gives up" on things like this (but smaller scale), but I understand how this guy just wants it fixed and probably this is his last resort (in his eyes). He might be in a position where he can justify selling the vehicle because of loss? Piston-slappy GenIII owners are usually in this position .. (like I was)

On a lighter note: "Walk a mile in someone else's shoes before you criticise what they do" .. that way you'll be a mile away and have their shoes!

[GlennBA]

lol...
http://youtube.com/watch?v=1xRzdB9hG0I :monkes:

[Abacus]

All manufacturers produce lemons. Holden and Ford probably more than most.

I probably wouldn't do what that guy did, but I can understand why he did it. I bought a new 2WD Subaru Liberty GX in 1996. Biggest POS I've ever had. It was in and out of the dealer for the 18 months I had it, and I sold while it was half way through the 3 year warranty period because I just couldn't afford the time it was off the road. The car cost me about $34K, and I accepted an $18K trade on an EL just to be rid of it. So I dropped $16K in 18 months.

To make matters worse, the dealership I bought the car from was a client of mine, and it was putting all kinds of pressure on our relationship. I would arrive at the dealership, and the client would ask "how's the car going", I would reply, "still cutting out, stopped in the middle of [whatever] road last night, wouldn't start for 20 minutes", or "the seat is broken again", or "it's still pulling to the left", or whatever the problem was at the time. There were many. I wound up using another dealership for the warranty work because of the bad PR, but the problems just kept coming.

I just got to the point where I hated the sight of the thing. I crystallized my loss and walked away. But I can well understand guys getting stuck with lemons and being unwilling/unable to cop that kind of a loss to get out of trouble.

Australia desperately needs anti-lemon laws. As has been said above, a new car usually costs about a year's salary. You shouldn't have to expect to be without a car for weeks on end while problems are fixed, and any if any problems cannot be fixed after a few efforts the manufacturer ought to supply a replacement vehicle.

[The Monty]

Originally Posted by GlennAUII

lol...
http://youtube.com/watch?v=1xRzdB9hG0I :monkes:

Now THATS what you do when you dont get what you want, lol. Nice find Glenn :SaiyanSmi

[pennybrain]

Originally Posted by GlennAUII

lol...
http://youtube.com/watch?v=1xRzdB9hG0I :monkes:

Hahhaha now thats gotta get their attention!!

[GCFordChic]

Originally Posted by GlennAUII

lol...
http://youtube.com/watch?v=1xRzdB9hG0I :monkes:

I know I shouldnt be laughing because its naughty to do what the guy in that video did...but I just cannot help it. :

(For those of you that cannot view that because youtube.com is blocked at work etc or your connection is too slow, basically its security camera footage of a guy who went into a dealership in the United States (I can only assume) the day after he purchased a Ford Escape to talk to the person at the front counter and then the managers office. At first he is seemingly calm. He was ripped off by thousands, allegedly, on his finance and wanted to sort it out. Basically, after a short period of time he leaves the office and the next shot you see is of the car coming through the glass doors and right into the showroom. Then the car and the office is on flames and apparently he was pouring gasoline all over other cars in the showroom. While the place is burning he walks out the hole he put in the glass but before he leaves for good he comes back for a second look at the fire and destruction.)

[superpursuit83]

Originally Posted by GCFordChic

I know I shouldnt be laughing because its naughty to do what the guy in that video did...but I just cannot help it. :

(For those of you that cannot view that because youtube.com is blocked at work etc or your connection is too slow, basically its security camera footage of a guy who went into a dealership in the United States (I can only assume) the day after he purchased a Ford Escape to talk to the person at the front counter and then the managers office. At first he is seemingly calm. He was ripped off by thousands, allegedly, on his finance and wanted to sort it out. Basically, after a short period of time he leaves the office and the next shot you see is of the car coming through the glass doors and right into the showroom. Then the car and the office is on flames and apparently he was pouring gasoline all over other cars in the showroom. While the place is burning he walks out the hole he put in the glass but before he leaves for good he comes back for a second look at the fire and destruction.)

You forgot the bit about him saying he regretted his actions. Which is why when your mad and angry you should calm down before making decisions that will affect your future happiness. This guy was upset over a few thousand dollars and now is probably in jail?

[GCFordChic]

Originally Posted by superpursuit83

You forgot the bit about him saying he regretted his actions. Which is why when your mad and angry you should calm down before making decisions that will affect your future happiness. This guy was upset over a few thousand dollars and now is probably in jail?

Yeah but everyone says that to get a reduced sentence...

Agree on the calm down suggestion. That clip apparently happened within the space of about 20 minutes.
Count to 10...

[XPfalcon170]

i spoke to that guy on the saturday arvo, asked what was wrong with it. He said the motor, gearbox and diff were fine, then he just trailed off in a daze and never said what was wrong with it. i think he was drunk or stupid or somethin, so we just walked off

[GCFordChic]

Originally Posted by XPfalcon170

i spoke to that guy on the saturday arvo, asked what was wrong with it. He said the motor, gearbox and diff were fine, then he just trailed off in a daze and never said what was wrong with it. i think he was drunk or stupid or somethin, so we just walked off

: : A dud car is already an excuse to get drunk and forget about all your troubles, add Bathurst to the equation and i wouldnt expect him to be coherent! :

[Velocity XR6]

as i have said elsewhere i work for a nissan/hyundai dealer and we have had our share of problems but i have always found if ya make enough noise to the company they generally come to the party.

we recently hada guy that bought a new d40 navara dualcab and swears black and blue that the brakes are not good enough to stop the car our mechanics checked it our mechanics from our other dealership checked it and they all say its fine and complies with nissans specs. the guy then took it to the department of transprt and had it checked and it was given a default notice on the brakes he then sent that to nissan and guess what hes having all the braking system completley replaced under warranty.

when i worked for a holden dealer same sort of story but the guy rang office of fair trading and gave them look into it holden soon was in contact with him to have the car fixed and in both cases the customers demanded rental cars while there's where being fixed and they both got them. so sometimes i think you need to use the law to help you.

p.s. and no i dont sell them or fix them im just office administration

[bathurst77]

I like that someone wrote
"It still got you to Bathurst" on the sign

[schmidty]

Originally Posted by Bud Bud

Sorry I hope you didn’t think I was having a go at you personally as you story is quite bad also, and if truth be said not acceptable either. I am glad that you had someone who was able to go in and bat for you but really you should not of needed him to have to do this in the first place as warranty work should be just that warranty work.

It is also not good enough for you to have to spend an hour of your time each day trying to get warranty work done. If that was the dealership chasing you to get building warranty work done, they would have probably billed you for their time as well.

Three weeks for a diff problem to be sorted out, my god I hope the paid for a rental. Our BA one tonne was of the road for just one day when they replaced the diff in ours.

It sounds like the mechanic that helped you at your dealership is a good bloke who understands right from wrong, He would have been a real asset to the Ford dealership service department. I hope he is doing well where he went to and does not just become disillusioned with the system either.

My troubles were not with the dealer as far as the diffs went. Dealer was happy to do them, and the work was done fast and to a high standard twice, 1 time i picked it up and it had been assembled wrong. Bent caliper bolts, big gouges out of the rotors and the car wouldnt drive, back wheels locked. I fired right up, demanded a car on the spot as they wasted enough of my day as it was and said i'd pick the car up with new caliper bolts, rotors and anything else they broke.
The rest of the time was fords slack service, and the guy i was dealing with at customer care had a real attitude. They said under the conditions of my warranty they do not offer a car to drive but i could negotiate 1 with the dealer. So basically for the dealer to lend me a car they would be out of pocket because a part Ford supplied broke. So the dealer wouldnt come at it.

Your diff might have been changed in 1 day, so was mine, but the 3 weeks was firstly negotiations as to weather it was going to be done under warranty or not which was approved for a new center. Trailered the car to the 3rd party repairer that the dealer subbied it out to. They pulled the center out and discovered it was a lot worse than first thought and needed a complete rear axle assembly. Problem 1, because the job description had changed, it had to go through the entire approval process again, problem 2, everyone had part numbers for individual parts, but none for the entire assembly. It took 4 days for Ford to provide a part number! Then it had to be ordered, delivered to the dealer, checled and then delivered to the 3rd party repairer. He was livid because he only has 3 hoists in his workshop and my car was on 1 for 2 weeks.

Other diffs took so long because the LSD's were hard to get straight away.

But basically the usual story is the dealer giving people the run around, in my case the dealer has always done me right, and i've been screwed by FORD themselves. Just makes me wonder how much differently i had have been treated if i had bought a fleet of 6 or 8 cars and turned them over more often!