Before buying a new Ford consider this.

[Mr 5 0]

Welcome to the reality of claiming warranty repairs, which manufacturers hate and dealers are not thrilled about, either. I'm not the least bit surprised that once you hit a certain amount of warranty repair costs (to Ford) your car was 'flagged' and they did some loophole-searching to find a way to cut you off. It could have been anything but a modification is a handy excuse, even, as you note, it isn't that much money involved. The loss of you as a customer is clearly of no concern to them and they know you won't go to court for $400. so they consider it a 'win'. No more free repairs for your Ford. It's been modified you see. You lose. Bye now.

I accept the fact that Ford is a business, albeit a huge one, and they are always looking at the bottom line. Fine. What I see is a clear distinction between the short and long term benefits and that Ford is ignoring that. They stop any more free repairs on your car is the short-term win. You never buy another Ford and tell as many people as you can, which, when done via the internet, means thousands - and Ford loses many potential sales down the road is the long-term loss, but Ford doesn't care. Fine.

I'm not sure if GM, Honda or Toyota care either but I'll probably not buy another new Ford. Not simply because of this one example of corporate arrogance and short-sightedness but because of their 'quality issues' and other negative perceptions I've been getting about Ford. This example of stupidity and a 'screw the customer' corporate attitude is simply another reason to look harder at the many other manufacturers out there making quality cars - cars that don't need a lot of warranty work.

[Capri306]

I'll get my response to the original thread post out of the way first. By reading what was posted, this is a LEASE vehicle? Why would you ever modify a leased vehicle? Did they not explain you have to return it after the lease is up? I mean, it's not like you own it or anything. Kinda like knocking out walls in an apartment building, ya know?

Having said that, I do agree Ford is STUPID about their warranty policies. I fail to see how one totally unrelated modification voids the entire warranty, as in your case. Ford is simply counting on people NOT taking them to court, which is a modern (but HORRIBLE) business practice. Kinda like how they calculated how many people would die in rearend-collision-induced explosions of Pintos. Same beat, different song. Personally, I fail to see the use of even having a warranty if the car won't last much past 100k miles anyway, but that's just me.

Originally Posted by Mr 5 0

What I see is a clear distinction between the short and long term benefits and that Ford is ignoring that. They stop any more free repairs on your car is the short-term win. You never buy another Ford and tell as many people as you can, which, when done via the internet, means thousands - and Ford loses many potential sales down the road is the long-term loss, but Ford doesn't care. Fine.

I'm not sure if GM, Honda or Toyota care either but I'll probably not buy another new Ford. Not simply because of this one example of corporate arrogance and short-sightedness but because of their 'quality issues' and other negative perceptions I've been getting about Ford. This example of stupidity and a 'screw the customer' corporate attitude is simply another reason to look harder at the many other manufacturers out there making quality cars - cars that don't need a lot of warranty work.

I second Mr. 5.0 for pointing out Ford's overall shortsightedness and $hit quality over the past decade or so. He's right; it's as if they don't even CARE that neither I nor my family will EVER BUY ANOTHER FORD AGAIN. You'd think this would be tragic to Ford if you considered that I used to be a die-hard Ford fan. Apparently, they don't care enough to keep a "Fan Base" alive these days.

Fine Ford, don't live up to your self-imposed Q1 standards, crap on your customers, and keep making crap. I'll just keep buying Hondas since Honda, not you, seems to CARE about whether I'm happy with my cars or not and they want to keep my business.

Seriously, is anyone else just saying "DUH?!?!" to all this? Isn't keeping customers how you make money in the long term? If you owned a manufacturing (well, Ford doesn't make much anymore, they're really just assemblers) business, wouldn't you want to create products that were competitive and long-lasting so you'd expand your customer base?

Yay Mustang, Boo Ford.

[KiltedBanshees93GT]

I think this is another example of something that I've noticed lately, which has probibly always happened, but becomes more apparent now in the world of "mega-corporations".
You have a business, started by an entrepenuer [sp?] with a vision, usually admirable, almost always revolutionary. The business takes off, and for a while, things are good, both for the public and company/employees. Eventually the founder moves on/dies/is replaced by the directors, whothen bring in what I call the "Sharks". These types have nothing vested in the company, or the original philosophy, and are only loyal to the salary. They "change focus" for the company toward the short term bottom line, alienate the customers, frustrate the employees, crap out the product, anything to make bigger checks.
At first, no one, or not enough "someones" object. Eventually, they have things running so top heavy that collapse is almost inevitable, at which time they bail, with a nice payout, to find another high-paying company to run into the ground.
My experience with this: I worked for MCI, when things were going well, up until just before things started going very badly. Actually, I think we got axed just in time to avoid getting really screwed. At least we got severance.
Short time at Wal-Mart: That companys philosophy completly changed (before I worked there) from not only being cheaper but also having real workers, to "we'll hire anybody for low money and crappy conditions/compensation, and if you care about doing the job right, and want a living wage, we'll let you go and get 2 cheaper apes to half-a** the job".
Hope Depot: (Where I'm at right now.) Used to be a great company, well paid/compensated employees, who actually knew what they were talking about inre home improvement. Now we cant maintain full staffing on the floor, they hire 7-8 dollar an hour kids who know nothing, and are supposed to be able to tell you how to do things around the house that could get somebody killed if you do it wrong. Nardelli has been accused of some of the shadiest buisness practices out there.
Ford seems to be falling into the same pattern, I just read the other day that they backed out at the last minute on the (IIRC) "Pony Ride" which would have allowed a small number of the die hard a tour, some other amenities, and a discount on an '05. A thread I was reading on another board summed it up nicely. "Why should they alienate the dealers and/or give a special break to people they already had sewn up as customers."
Woah, sorry, didn't mean to get a rant going.
I'll go lurk now

J