My DSB hearing is coming up soon and I wondered if anyone out there could give me any pointers on what to say to the Board to help me in my case. I have numerous unresolved issues (surging, stalling, poor ecomony etc.). I hope someone who has gone through this might have some ideas. Thanks.

 

Ok, I went through it and the initial offer I got from the Ford Rep was 100 times better. I will spare you the details but I was not impressed with the board. Just my thoughts so come on guys ITS AN OPINION(in advance). I have heard this type of deal go both ways. Have you talked to the dealerships service manager? GM? Owner? have they helped? are you lemon law able? have you talked or they talked to the ford representative? The dealer can help you tremendously like they did in the end after the boards decision was not a realistic outcome for me. I worked with them after the DSB hearing and I am getting a new truck out of the deal for $7800 less than what the DSB offered me. Just some thoughts. Also-THE MORE DOCUMENTS YOU HAVE TO BACK YOU UP-THE MORE LEVERAGE YOU HAVE. Stay cool but persistant. My daddy always told me persistance pays off- In this case it did for me!

 

I have heard this before "the initial offer I got from the Ford Rep was 100 times better" did you try the dealership first?

 

I also have a hearing in a couple of weeks, I just talked to the service mgr about this and he said he told them he personally confirmed (witnessed) my issues were valid. I am wondering when (or if) Ford will talk to me about this? Do I call Ford to see or just sit on my hands and wait? I have a 200 mile drive to go to the hearing that I would prefer not to do.

So far this dealer has been a gem! If anyone in northern MT needs a dealer let me know and I will tell you who to go to! They have stood behind me as much as they could and taken my concerns very seriously even though I did not buy the truck there, but I am nervous about the board. The only consolation that I have is that this truck meets/exceeds the lemon law so if the board goes sideways I always have and WILL use it! Boy I hate the waiting game....

 

So far my dealer has been very uninterested in fixing this truck. It has been in over 10x for the stalling and surging, the factory service rep finally put in a flight recorder, and immediatly recorded problems. They reinstalled it after downloading thse issues and filled it again. They said I would hear from them within a week, its been 3 and nothing. The offer they (dealership) gave was a joke. I could get a better deal just trading it off to someone else. The punch line was the trade value they said was so low because it had been in for service too much!!!

 

t_j82:

also have a hearing in a couple of weeks, I just talked to the service mgr about this and he said he told them he personally confirmed (witnessed) my issues were valid.

HoooRAYYY!! Cool and good for you. Glad your SM is supportive...sure can't hurt.

I have a 200 mile drive to go to the hearing that I would prefer not to do.

Gees, I have heard of some of the DSBs being conducted over the phone. Any chance of that being available for you?

 

Yes, a conference call was an option but after having done those many times for buisness I find them ineffective because you can't see the person's expressions and body language and tend to misinterpret what is being said. I think it is much more powerful to be in the room (after having driven 3 hours) to get your point across. I still wonder if I should try to contact the zone rep to see if they now want to settle.

 

I agree with effectiveness of being on site.

Will factory reps engage in further dialog, prior to DSB hearing, after hearing is set? I dunno.
In any case...very much good luck unto you.

 

In my case the ford rep offered a buyback with certain terms (Dec 19th) I called to update the SM and owner on Jan 3rd that my hearing was Jan 5th. The owner told me he would call the rep and see if the offer still stood. He called me back and said the rep said to go through the hearing because they would offer me a better deal than the ford rep could. Well after the hearing the decision came in and instead of being about $1500 for mileage as the original offer was the board decided $9000 in mileage charges was fair. I did not think that was fair so I went back to the owner. He stood behind the original offer and when the Ford Rep came to town on Feb 2nd we had a sit down. Oh, also I declined the DSB offer so it is no longer binding to Ford MOCO before the sit down. We had a brief meeting and the rep stood behind his original offer and even made it better because the truck was currently in the shop for one of its many recurring problems. I got to order the new truck about 20 minutes ago just as I wanted. I am beginning to believe in Ford again after all of this. I will be a believer once the new truck is here and I drive away...

 

Well, my conference call meeting with the DSB went very smoothly. I had a couple of minutes to describe the problems and then they deliberated for maybe 5 minutes. I was awarded a buyback or replacement, my choice! I really hope the new one is as good as some here have been so lucky to have. The document everything is very important, the board had 50 pages of info about my truck and I am quite sure that is why it only took 15 minutes tops for them to decide in my favor.

 

Congrats 250, good for you.. Did they happen to tell you what you get for a refund if you go that route? I am curious to know what the value of my options are going in.

 

They told me that it would be a full refund of purchase price with a charge for the mileage to the first service. I haven't recieved the paperwork yet so I do not know the hit I'll take for that. I never did any mods to the truck as it never really ran right to start with.