Hello fellow FTE Members,

I have been a member on this site for a year now. I have read a lot and learned a lot from the informative forums, news sites and tech guides. I have been a proud owner of FORD vehicles since I learned how to drive (40 years ago)! I’m not very good at writing so mostly I just read what you guys have to say and each time I leave the site more informed and more proud to be a FORD owner. BUT, This time I have a problem and I would surely like to get some input from anyone that reads this post. This is my very first time posting so forgive me if I am posting this to the wrong thread or forum, but if I am please point me in the right direction. Thanx a bunch, please read on and I look forward to hearing from fellow members real soon. Be Blessed

Hopefully, I would like to get it to the President of FORD but so far, I’ve been unsuccessful. Again, this is my first post so it’s kinda wordy (for someone who “doesn't write much”) but the short version is… I am a disabled senior citizen (Veteran) who owns a 2000 Ford Expedition. I took my FORD Truck to Veterans FORD Service Department in New Orleans for them to repair what they called “minor issues.” OVER THE LAST EIGHTEEN MONTHS and after paying almost THIRTY-FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS my Expedition has been in and out of their “service department” for the same “minor issues” and to this day it still doesn't work!!! After being without transportation for eighteen months Veterans Ford gave up on trying to repair my truck and told me that they can’t fix it. They took my money and inconvenienced me for eighteen months then left me stranded with no repair and no refund! On December 12, 2013 the service manager literally told me that they can’t repair my truck because they don’t know why my truck is malfunctioning. Mr., Pelligreeni, Service Manager of Veterans FORD told me that “they won’t be wasting any more time or money on my FORD Expedition so it’s just sitting in my driveway and after eighteen months I still don’t have any transportation at all! Other mechanics won’t work on it because they don’t want to charge me more money (that I don’t have) for a repair that Veterans Ford should have completed a long time ago or refunded the money I paid back to me. When I sent the complaint to the BBB, The Fixed Operations Director replied to the BBB by stating “that my truck was old and since my odometer was not working that I lied about the actual mileage.” The Fixed Operations Director told the BBB that “my mileage was probably way above 200K miles!!!” I have the statements that he made in writing and I could not believe how disrespectful this person was to even insinuate that I (A Proud FORD Owner) would lie about my mileage! The Fixed Operations Director, Mr. Michael G. Arceneaux had no reason to make such a disrespectful statement and in fact he told the lie when he stated that my odometer didn't work because every proud owner of a Ford Expedition and every mechanic that works on them knows that there is some type of manufacturer flaw that causes the odometer to become intermittent after some time. The mileage is not incorrect and when the odometer illuminates it shows the correct mileage. Every invoice that I received from the Veterans Ford service department shows the correct mileage. I demanded an apology from Mr. Arceneaux for insulting me and every owner of a Ford Vehicle with his insinuation but he hasn't apologized yet. Can any of my Fellow FORD Enthusiasts give me some input regarding what I should do next??? They can’t fix my truck and they won’t refund my money so I asked them to take my truck and keep the money that I have paid already and that they would replace it with a FORD truck for disrespect I have had to deal with and the inconveniences I am still dealing with over this eighteen month period. Of course I haven’t heard from them since I gave them that option but I’m not surprised after everything else they have taken me through already. Perhaps they are just waiting for me to fade away BUT THAT’S NOT GONNA HAPPEN. I took my FORD Truck to a FORD Service Department because I assumed they would be able to repair a FORD product. Boy was I ever wrong on that assumption!!! I have sent complaints to the BBB and even tried to get some assistance from the Ford Customer Service Department but still I wait and still no solution. More details of my situation can be read below and I would be more than happy to send the 32-Page Complaint that I sent to the BBB to anyone interested in the whole story. Thank You for reading my post and may each of you have a Blessed Day,

Presently I own a 2000 Ford Expedition (Eddie Bauer Package). As a matter of fact, every car or truck that I have ever owned has been a Ford. I love my Expedition but some time ago it started to sputter and lose power at various times. I would have to park the truck and wait a while before the problem would leave and then it would run fine. The third time this happened was during a pretty heavy rainstorm. I was exiting a highway and the truck started acting up again. As I was approaching an intersection, I lost power and I barely avoided being in a pretty serious accident. I had to pump the accelerator and the truck finally got more power when I floored it. Unfortunately I wasn't able to hit the brake in time so the truck skidded and ended up hitting a curb. My truck was running even rougher when I came to a stop and then it just died. I started it several times but each time it started I noticed that all of my gauges were going off then on, my seatbelt chime kept chiming, the door locks were locking and unlocking and my odometer wouldn’t illuminate. I ended up draining the battery but a Good Samaritan stopped and gave me a jump. The truck kept doing the same thing each time so I was unable to drive it home. The Good Samaritan towed my truck to my home which was about three miles from the intersection. The next day I contacted my insurance company to tell them about the accident and then I had my truck towed to Veterans Ford Service Department in New Orleans, LA. I told Veterans Ford about the near-fatal accident and about the crazy things my truck was doing. When the insurance claims investigator arrived at the service department the Veterans Ford Service Representative told him that they didn’t notice any of the problems I mentioned. The Veterans Ford Service Representative told the insurance claims investigator that my truck had only “minor problems” and that none of the problems were accident related. The insurance company denied my claim. I asked the service representative to check my truck again to see if the problems would occur and I asked the insurance claims investigator to check the truck again because I felt that the problems were electrical and not flood related. The insurance company told Veterans Ford to submit a supplemental claim form if they found any problems that weren’t there when the investigator visited their service department initially. Again, the Veterans Ford Service Representative told the insurance claims investigator that my truck had only “minor problems” and that none of the problems were accident related. The insurance company denied the claim for the second time.

Since then my Ford Expedition has been in and out of the Veterans Ford “service department” over the last EIGHTEEN MONTHS! The Veterans Ford Service Department has charged me almost Thirty-Five Hundred Dollars for the so called “minor problems” that they can’t seem to fix. Their Service Department Supervisor stated that they don’t know why my truck still has the electrical issues and why it won’t start. As a matter of fact, on December 12, 2013 they sent my truck back to me.
The service department manager told me that their department also spent money on my truck in their efforts to “fix it” and that “they weren’t going waste any more time or money on the truck.” My truck has been sitting in my driveway ever since and it still won’t start. They have literally abandoned me and I don’t know what to do. I am a senior citizen with physical disabilities and I haven’t had dependable transportation since I initially took my truck to Veterans Ford, New Orleans in September of 2012!!! I informed Veterans Ford that I am living on Social Security and I cannot afford to pay for another truck. I told them that I had to file bankruptcy just to be able to keep my home but that doesn't seem to matter to them.

Any input from any of my Fellow FTE Members would truly be appreciated. I cannot afford an attorney but I can tell everyone I know about what Veterans Ford has put me through so that they will never ever buy a vehicle or have a vehicle serviced at their dealership. Thank you very much again and may each of you have a blessed day.

Rusty / Faithpro1
faithpro1@gmail.com

 

Welcome Rusty.

Since you're having problems with your vehicle and Ford, I moved your post out of the Super Duty New Members Introduction thread and into its own thread in the Expedition Forum.

Best of luck to you.

 

Have you tried contacting Bill Capo, one of your local consumer action reporters?
Bill Capo | wwltv.com New Orleans
Here is his email: bcapo@wwltv.com

 

Can you give us a list of what the dealer did and what they've replaced just so we won't have to go over things that have already been covered?

 

Hello Alloro, I haven’t tried that yet but I think it’s a great idea. I will contact him to see if he can help me. Thank you so much for the suggestion!

 

Thank you so much John I really appreciate it!

 

Sure, is there some way to send you the same rundown of “services” (or lack thereof) that I sent to the BBB? Can I send it as an attachment? Please explain how to get the information to you. Thanks

 

No need to get overly detailed. Just post the list of repairs and replaced parts here in this forum thread. We'll try and figure out the rest from there.