Ford Motor Company Breach of Contract Refuses to perform new car warranty work ripoff Dearborn Michigan
On Feb. 8, 2006 we entered into a contract with Ladin Lincoln Mercury, Ford Motor Company and Ford Credit. We have issues with the vehicle that affect the safety and value of this 2006 Lincoln Navigator. Ladin installed items to the vehicle at the time of sale so as to make a sale (extra charge) but in doing so voided the factory warranty (airbags) and our safety. During the course of the other mechanical failures including the airbag issue the dealer said we need to lemon law out the vehicle and gave me the paperwork and numbers to call to get it started. Shortly after they had a lawyer send me a letter saying to stay away from the dealership and I am no longer welcome there. I was forced to take the vehicle to Kemp Ford in Thousand Oaks who has refused to work on it because of Ladins involvement, Ford Motor companys notations in the Oasis database and the internal documents they call Cuddles. Kemp as well as other dealers have said they did not want to get involved as Ford will not pay the claims and leaves them. I contacted the California DMV and was instructed by a Mr. Joe , a DMV criminal investigator 805-xxx-xxxx, who directed me to Ford in Ventura. The friendly staff at this dealership said Ford has made notations all over the system not to work on this vehicle under warranty and they will not pay for any warranty repairs. There is much more to this deal I have as evidence including the selling dealer submitting fraudulent documents to the lender, I have been disabled for over three years yet the dealer had me sign a blank credit application saying it was for us to test drive the vehicle. The dealer then completed the loan application making up information. I have requested Ford Credit to suspend payments until the lemon action, not yet filed, has been completed but they have refused. I informed them that Ford Motor Company is in breach of our contract as they are refusing to honor the written factory warranty and have blocked us from getting contractual warranty repairs done or even looked at and repaired. The vehicle has been in storage for two months and we have been making all the payments and paying full coverage insurance premiums. As an added note the Service manager at Ladin Lincoln Mercury in Thousand Oaks told me to take the vehicle to Mexico leave it there and report it stolen as we have gap insurance.
After the selling dealer with Fords Motor Companys blessing refused to honor the factory warranty and we had been told to take the car to Mexico and report it stolen they also told us to buy another car if we did not feel safe. We did and now are making payments on two cars. I cannot in good faith sell this dangerous Lincoln Navigator to another family as it is dangerous vehicle. We have been lifelong Ford customers but will no longer purchase one of their products after being treated in the manner they have treated us. We need to find a lawyer willing to take them to task as they have breached the contract we have with them but seem unconcerned about that or our safety or customer service.
Also please advise anyone who is considering using Ladin Lincoln Mercury in Thousand Oaks, CA to avoid them as even other Ford dealers are now having issues with them. The submit doctored documents and if you have private matters do not tell Jim Ladin unless you dont mind the world knowing your personal business Ask Lenny Dykstra
Robert
Newbury Park, California
U.S.A.
10 Updates & Rebuttals
Thomas
Anderson,South Carolina,
U.S.A.
This problem was caused by the installation of a back-up camera?????????
#11Consumer Comment
Sun, June 03, 2007
Heck, I recently installed a backup camera on the 1998 F150 I had previously mentioned. That camera is a WIRELESS VR3 with Color LCD view screen, and the camera mounts with the license plate screws and is wired across a backup lightbulb. It took me ummm an hour to install, and I was not hurrying. I use it to backup more safely (obviously) and to efficiently hook up the boat trailer because I can see just enough of the top of the hitch ball to align the truck to easily back up straight to the trailer hitch. I can also see under the boat hull as an aid to maneuver the boat. All for $90 at Target. No wires on airbags. No probing around behind the dash. And a lot less money.
PS I believe you can buy an in-auto DVD player for less than $200 for REAR SEAT USE ONLY!
PPS I believe you are prohibited [most places] from displaying a movie/TV program/DVD on a screed that can be observed by the driver.
PPPS I use a Nuvi 660 for GPS because I did not want the risk of using an in-dash GPS. an in-dash GPS takes your eyes too far off of the road.
Robert
Newbury Park,California,
U.S.A.
reason why.
#11Author of original report
Sat, June 02, 2007
Why did we sign? Because they gave us the car overnight to take home. Easy to say should have would have after the fact. What is done is done. The fact remains they completed a credit application with bogus information.
If documents would have been presented to say adding these items are going to void the warranty sold by and installed by the dealer then it would be our fault.
This dealer now sells Kias and Lincolns on the same lot side by side. hmmmm.
Robert
Newbury Park,California,
U.S.A.
reason why.
#11Author of original report
Sat, June 02, 2007
Why did we sign? Because they gave us the car overnight to take home. Easy to say should have would have after the fact. What is done is done. The fact remains they completed a credit application with bogus information.
If documents would have been presented to say adding these items are going to void the warranty sold by and installed by the dealer then it would be our fault.
This dealer now sells Kias and Lincolns on the same lot side by side. hmmmm.
Robert
Newbury Park,California,
U.S.A.
reason why.
#11Author of original report
Sat, June 02, 2007
Why did we sign? Because they gave us the car overnight to take home. Easy to say should have would have after the fact. What is done is done. The fact remains they completed a credit application with bogus information.
If documents would have been presented to say adding these items are going to void the warranty sold by and installed by the dealer then it would be our fault.
This dealer now sells Kias and Lincolns on the same lot side by side. hmmmm.
Robert
Newbury Park,California,
U.S.A.
reason why.
#11Author of original report
Sat, June 02, 2007
Why did we sign? Because they gave us the car overnight to take home. Easy to say should have would have after the fact. What is done is done. The fact remains they completed a credit application with bogus information.
If documents would have been presented to say adding these items are going to void the warranty sold by and installed by the dealer then it would be our fault.
This dealer now sells Kias and Lincolns on the same lot side by side. hmmmm.
Robert
Newbury Park,California,
U.S.A.
Both are responsible
#11Author of original report
Sat, June 02, 2007
There are more issues besides what Lain did. There are unresolved repairs from Fords junk too.
Thomas
Anderson,South Carolina,
U.S.A.
Another case of NOT reading the terms & conditions?
#11Consumer Comment
Sat, June 02, 2007
I recently read through the paperwork that came with a 1998 Ford F150 we got in January and I believe they (Ford) stipulated in the general comments section that if a Ford customer wishes, for example, to outfit their new Ford chassis as an ambulance, the customer MUST order the vehicle from Ford WITH the ambulance prep package. No ifs, no ands, nor any buts. What the dealer might tell the customer is irrelevant.
As noted before, the OP did not stipulate what changes the dealer made to the vehicle, who had requested those changes, if those changes were vetted with Ford in any way, and how those changes supposedly impacted the vehicle in the view of Ford.
I have no clue to what degree a lawsuit against the dealer would be successful. Would the court assign some culpability to the OP, i.e. the OP is 30% or 50% at fault?
This looks like another case of a purchaser being in too much of a hurry to accept the responsibility to carefully understand and consider all important details and thereby found it much easier to "make everything the dealer's responsibility".
This comment really takes the cake: "...the dealer had me sign a blank credit application saying it was for us to test drive the vehicle..." Since when does someone EVER sign ANYTHING to take a test drive... let alone a "blank credit application"? I would not even give a dealer my driver's license to take a test drive- and no dealer has ever been stupid enough to even ASK me to do so.
I do understand that some people simply become ovewhelmed with new car desire at a dealership. I have no idea if that was the case here.
Robert
Newbury Park,California,
U.S.A.
Answers
#11Author of original report
Sat, June 02, 2007
Ladin installed a backup camera and a switch so the front passenger could watch a DVD using the factory navigation screen. We wanted a backup camera like some of the other manufacturers had offered factory.
To make the sake they offered to split the cost of the system so we bit. The issues with the airbags are they ran the cables and wires across the front of the drivers side air curtains from rear of vehicle to front. This created a host of issues. One the bags may not deploy. Two the bags may partially deploy and cause the cables to tear striking the passengers and driver with wires at 200 MPH.
Next the used a metal rod in this area to fish the wires blindly. The tampered with the navigation system which also voided the factory warranty.
The Ford owners manual clearly states that no one is to obstruct or tamper with the side air curtains.
The reason it has taken so long which has been less than a year since the first issue is believing the dealer would make things right. Wrong. We also had to wait for the process. Fords BBB auto line to finish looking at the situation. The attorney can now file a lawsuit.
The dealer got mad when I refused to let them remove the wiring so Ford would not discover it and by refusing to offer service to my caused another dealer to become involved thinking it let them off the hook.
We are going to have a video ready soon showing in live motion video on YouTube soon showing the issues the dealer keeps saying cannot be reproduced.
Also for all of you who have had the same issues of found nothing wrong Ford and its dealers will flash the onboard computer to clear all of the codes. I have also been told that the simple act of turning off or cycling the ignition will clear codes in these newer vehicles. That does not mean there are issues just they will return.
Our vehicle had been in storage and we had been starting it to keep the battery up. The check engine light stayed on, the solenoid at the shifter started making a very loud clicking and the battery died. After jumping the battery the check engine light went off clearing the code but not the problem. The dash has flashed a warning of Fail safe mode? And the vehicle would not move and died when giving in throttle.
The reason the other dealers have turned away the vehicle is because of the notes from Ford and the little know file they keep called a cuddles file on all Ford owners that can be viewed by any dealer in the USA.
There is much more and the file is over 72 pages and growing.
Ladins lawyer means nothing to me and when the time is ready the vehicle will be back there and if he wants to sue me then at least he pays the filing fees and I need to get my suit pressed. We are talking over $54,000.00 here.
Mike
Radford,Virginia,
U.S.A.
You need to sue Ladin.
#11Consumer Suggestion
Sat, June 02, 2007
Everyone seems to agree that Ladin did some unauthorized modification to your Navigator that made the air bags inoperable (I'm not sure what that could be, but that's what you, Ford, and the other dealer are saying) and they refuse to correct it. Now if you have that in writing from Ford and the other dealer, it should be easy for you to prevail in court when you sue Ladin for selling you a defective SUV.
You're barking up the wrong tree blaming Ford or considering this a lemon law case. The lemon law is based on Ford's compliance with the factory warranty, but it is void because of what Ladin did.
Cory
San Antonio,Texas,
U.S.A.
Interesting
#11Consumer Comment
Sat, June 02, 2007
It's interesting how so many of the pertinent facts, in this post, are left out. "Ladin installed items to the vehicle at the time of the sale SO AS TO MAKE THE SALE". You don't state what items were installed nor if they were requested by you "to make the sale". There are hugh gaps during the time they told you to "lemon law" the vehicle and a lawyer sent you a letter telling you to stay away from the dealership. A whole lot was left out there. Another dealership refused to work on the vehicle because of whatever was happening between you and the first dealership. I suspect you got your own attorney or the state involved OR BOTH and they wanted no part of it or you. Then you request ford to suspend payment, but wait to do so BEFORE you file any paperwork. I know, they'll just take your word for it that you're gonna file any paperwork sooner or later, when you get around to it. All the time driving this unsafe Lincoln Navigator for free. I do like the last part about landis telling the world you personal business. You're doing a pretty good job of telling the world your business yourself, here.