Subject: 



Thu, 26 Apr 2007 11:46:17 -0400
Date:    





On Wednesday, April 26th 2007 at 7am I took my 2002 Mercury Mountaineer 
to Duncanville Ford to have the lift gate repaired.  The left hinge bolt 
broke, detaching the hinge, which left my hatchback hanging by the right 
hinge.  The service manager, Tommy Taylor at Duncanville Ford refused to 
even look at my vehicle without charging me a $47 diagnostic fee.  When 
I told him the back gate was going to fall and break, he told me to pull 
my truck into the service bay, the charge is $47 and that did not 
include repair costs.  I took my vehicle to a local body shop to repair. 
The body shop replaced the left liftgate hinge, but due to the entire 
weight of the hatch resting on the right hinge, it bent as well.  I 
drove to Grand Prairie Ford to purchase the part at which time I was 
told about the recall.  I was advised to take my vehicle back to 
Duncanville Ford so they could repair the liftgate hinge and check the 
struts for damage, which were included in the recall notification.  The 
body shop attached the hinge (without the epoxy) so the hatch would not 
fall off and I returned to Duncanville Ford.  I told the service advisor 
on duty at the time what happened and that time his response was "What 
do you want me to do?"  

I asked him why wasn't I told about the recall when I arrived in the 
morning and his response was, maybe the service manager did not know 
about the recall.  I find that hard to believe.  According to the 
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, there have been recalls 
on the hatchback, liftgate, and liftgate glass on Ford vehicles almost 
every year since 1992.  The most recent recall is 06V069000 issued 
3/9/06.  Since this is an ongoing issue on Ford vehicles for past 17 
years, it seems reasonable that the service manager would remember that. 

At a minimum, from a customer service standpoint, it seems he would have 
at least looked at my vehicle and input my VIN to ensure that there were 
no existing recalls prior to discussing any service fees with me.

I told the service advisor I wanted my vehicle repaired according to the 
specs outlined in the recall notifications and a rental car so I 
wouldn't miss another day of work.  He told me I could leave my truck 
and it would take a day or two to repair.  I went over to the rental car 
counter to pick up a rental car.  The rental agent told me she could not 
issue me a rental car because the policy stated she could only do it if 
the liftgate hinge was broken and the car was not drivable.  I told her 
it was broken when I brought it in that morning but the service manager 
would not repair it.  She refused to rent me the car.  Due to all the 
stress on that one hinge, my lift gate has cracked and need to be 
repaired as well.

Thanks,
Effie B