Subject:  Ford Really Does Suck!!
Date:     12/18/2002

You know i intend to write this letter and then more and more to
every place that will allow me to write.......then i intend to get 
attorney and let him write letters for me.  I'm just livid with 
these people.  I bought a Ford Escort ZX2 (98) .......i loved it, 
nice little powerful car and affordable.......But the very first 
month i had it a computer chip went out........no problem went back 
to dealership and they ordered a new one.....(it would have cost 
$600 if the car wasn't under warranty).......the car had zero miles 
but a computer chip goes out before i got a 1000 on it......then 
the left side window drops off.......i carry that in but im told 
its not covered by warranty and i had to pay that.....then i was 
coming home (actually i was about 200 miles away......the lights 
and instruments started blinking off)......i stopped and had someone 
charged the battery thinking that was the problem......just as i 
got about 60 miles from home everything went out and the car 
stopped.......no alternator......cost me a pretty penny as i had to
have the car towed to the ford dealership.  brakes were giving
me trouble. went in and they put new brake shoes on, but they cut
too deep on the rotors..........SO  the whole kit had to be 
replaced.......they said they didn't charge me but when i paid 
the bill it was nowhere near what had been quoted to me.....
when i questioned it......they said i must have misunderstood 
(now i know why you get everything in writing)
and now the final straw so to speak.......im not sure if you
 know what i am talking about when i say this but in the dash 
there is a round "bubble" area.......in the bubble there is the 
radio/cassette player, air conditioner, heater.......everything 
is in this bubble.......well at 33, 400 miles the cassette player 
stopped working.......i went in to the dealership again......i 
was told by the general manager that this was a design flaw 
and that ford did not make this after the 98 models because 
there were so many problems with it.........its impossible to 
fix one thing in the bubble because the whole bubble has to be 
replaced......the dealership ordered me one...i went in and it 
was installed after a few hours (still under warranty so it was 
covered .....still can't figure out why mirror and the bubble 
aren't covered by the same warranty)  .......well lo and behold 
another 30 thousand goes by and guess what?  the same thing 
happens again so i called the "FORD" people.....you know the 
800 number that gives the impression that they are supposed to 
care about anybody that owns one of their cars.......yeah 
right that number.....well the first gentleman i talked with 
was very nice.  when i explained everything to him he said he 
would write a letter to the dealership telling them to check 
the bubble.......if it was the same defect (note he said "defect" 
to me....i should have recorded it because im sure they are 
scrambling to correct that now as i type).....well i went to the 
dealership and i told the foreman what the problem was......told 
him about the letter......first off he refused to even look up 
the paper trail on this car.......he was irritated and i was 
disturbing him........when he realized i was not leaving he said 
he would go talk to the manager............he did and he came 
back and said well we did get a letter but there is no way we 
can  check it here.........duh, excuse me it was checked the 
lasttime right there on the spot (Warranty, the magic word 
maybe).......i harped on and finally he said well i could 
(QUOTE:......Park the car and i will take the bubble out send it 
to Charlotte to be checked and then we will let you know but you 
will be charged , regardless  ....UNQUOTE).........i wanted to 
scream this guy was so ignorant.......i mean did you pull up the 
records.......did you read the letter......hello???? the guy was 
through with me.......typical in south......women are supposed to 
do what a man says and this man was telling me to GO AWAY!......
well it gets worse, i came home and called the "caring" 800 again.
this time i got a female who didn't seem to know what planet she 
was on..........i tried to explain everything to her but she  
interrupted constantly......she then repeats what the dealership 
said........pay to take it out and not have a car for while  to 
find out it if its a flaw or not......i then tell her i have been 
told its a design flaw and ford did not do it in the next cars. 
(this was told to me in 99) she kept repeating over and over that 
she had not heard about any flaws......and then had the nerve to 
tell me she didn't see any recalls on it.......duh, recalls are on 
safety features.......i asked her if she really thought ford was 
going to (out of the goodness of their heart) say "oh yeah, we made 
a boo boo so everybody bring their cars in so we can fix that for 
you"  duh, not!  even safety problems are not checked until a lot 
of people get hurt or killed......sad huh???
when i had brought the car in the first time and had the bubble 
replaced the manager just shook his head.....he told me that he 
had seen so many of them of messed up like this.......i was just 
lucky to still have warranty, for most people the warranty had 
run out.........so i wonder if i was to go searching just how 
people would i find with this same problem and didn't know it was 
a  design flaw......FORD'S BOO BOO......not ours but we are paying 
for it.....that bubble is over a $1000 ........dealerships making
 alot of money there......the lady told me it was my tough luck 
to have it covered........thats right folks.......she said "tough 
luck".........i asked for a supervisor.....she refused......my 
husband called back and was told a supervisor would call back 
today.........well he just did........and he told me i would have 
to prove it was a design flaw.........duh, look at the records..
he told me i would have to do what the dealorship told me and 
regardless ford would not pay for it........when i asked him about 
getting a list of people who are going through the same things we 
are he said it would not do any good.......that the car was 
perfectly fine.......i flat out told him i was going to take this 
as far as i could because i know for a fact they are in the wrong 
here......he just laughed.........i hung up......so i am 
collecting those names of people who have experienced this and i 
intend to bring a class action suit against ford.........they 
have gotten away with too much for too long.....
 
my dad was almost killed back in the 60's because of a galaxie 
500 (remember those?) they would jump out of park......he was at 
the top of hill looking at a construction site when he saw the 
car moving.........he ran beside it trying to get in to stop it 
and it drug him...quite a distant........he never bought another 
ford and i have not either until this one in 98 and you can bet 
it will be the last......
 
please contact me if you have experienced this problem with the 
excortZX2 (98)
 
thanks
helen