Ford Dealership

I have a 2005 Ford Escape which I purchased new in March of 2005 at the Ford dealership in Fort Mill, South Carolina. For the second time in 18 months, I have experienced serious mechanical problems for which I have had no alternative but to have the vehicle towed to some local dealership. The first experience involved leaving a Super WalMart in Sumter, South Carolina only to find the gear shift on the vehicle was stuck in park. McLaughlin Ford serviced my vehicle but would not honor Ford’s own extended warranty by Easy Care. Consequently, I had to pay for both the service and rental vehicles out of pocket only to be reimbursed weeks later by Easy Care. The dealership disassembled the entire gear shift assembly to replace a faulty part which took 2 days to complete.

The second experience involved leaving a work-related training in Greenville, South Carolina only to find the vehicle cut off upon taking it out of park and putting it into any other gear. This time, I towed the vehicle to Fairway Ford only for them to tell me I needed a new transmission. This time Easy Care advised that they would not honor the extended warranty since I failed to flush the transmission fluid at 60,000 miles. The dealership stated it would be $4,000.00 for them to fix the problem, but just $3,000.00 to replace the transmission. They assured me these were my only alternatives. After inquiring otherwise, I learned it was my torque converter and asked the dealership about this possibility. They concurred but stated the service fee would be higher than replacing the transmission. I asked the dealership to print the diagnostic codes since they refused to return my vehicle without a $78.00 fee. They admitted they never ran diagnostics but determined the transmission was bad based on “gut feelings”. I paid the fee since I was out of town, low on resources, and a wrecker was waiting to tow the vehicle to another shop.

Cain’s Transmissions in Greenville, South Carolina pulled the transmission, confirmed that the fluids looked fine and that the transmission was also OK. Further, they confirmed the problem was indeed the torque converter. Prior to towing the vehicle from Fairway Ford, I phoned Ford to complain and even asked about their “after market warranty” but they stated that I needed to check with the local dealership first. The service manager at Fairway Ford stated that since I didn’t purchase the vehicle from them, they would not honor Ford’s own after market warranty. I have resigned to NEVER buy anything with Ford’s name on it every again. I would also strongly encourage anyone even remotely considering purchasing a Ford to run as fast as you can in the opposite direction. Ford sucks!