Subject: 2001 Lincoln Navigator from Bowling Green Lincoln Mercury
Date: 8/19/2005

Hi,

I purchased a 2001 Lincoln Navigator from Bowling Green Lincoln Mercury which
is located in Bowling Green, Ohio.  I bought the vehicle used in 2002 with
roughly 17,000 miles on it.  My first problem occurred at roughly 40,000 miles
when a problem with a cylinder laid the truck in the shop for 5 weeks.  The
REAL problem occurred a couple of weeks ago when the transmission blew up at
72,645 miles.  Luckily I had purchased an after-market warranty of which the
dealership and Ford were unaware of.  I chose not to let Ford know about my
coverage because I felt THEY should stand by their product with absolutely no
out-of-pocket expense to me.  Here's were the fun starts.  I took the vehicle
back to the dealership I bought it from with an article I pulled off of the
Detroit news website.  The article was about Ford having 20,000 2001 Navigators
and Expeditions with faulty mechanical diodes which caused the transmission to
blow up.  At that time Ford was "working on" fixing those vehicles before they
were sold to consumers.  It appears that "working on" meant keep it quiet in
hopes that the transmission blew up AFTER the warranty period.  Anyway...when
I presented my documentation to the service manager he quickly responded that
it was not an "official Ford document".  He told me that Ford did not admit to
any of what was written....go figure.  What Ford DID do was train their dealers
to admit no wrong and make every attempt to pass the cost on to the consumer.
I was directed by the dealership to call Ford's lack of customer service
department where they said they would get to me by noon on the following day.
They didn't--so I had to call them.  I talked to Ford representatives from
Toronto, Canada to Detroit, Michigan to Bowling Green, Ohio and back pleading
for someone from Ford to "do the right thing".  I asked the dealership for a
loaner car on a Monday to only be told for 4 straight days
that they didn't have any available.  That was again a lie.  I talked with
their finance guy on Friday, who was in charge of the loaner fleet, and asked
him if he had a car for me to use.  He said that he had PLENTY and just wanted
to make sure I got one with cold air conditioning.  Again, I really didn't
NEED the loaner car because my Dad allowed me to borrow his CHEVY suburban
with 175,000 miles AND the original transmission.  He thought the fact that I
had to use his old Chevy in place of my newer Ford rather funny....I think
it's sick.  Well now 4 days had passed and I just got a loaner car.  Ford and
it's dealership continued to jerk me around as to whether they were going to
pay ANYTHING for the transmission.  Since I did want my car back I decided to
quit asking Ford for anything and simply use my after-market extended warranty.
I have to pay around $200, but had I not had this warranty, Ford was more than
willing to soak me for the $4000 bill.  This will be my last Ford and I can
promise that I will cost them more business than what they were willing to
soak me for.....believe it.   By the way, Bowling Green Lincoln Mercury and
especially their service manager...in my opinion... are lacking business
ethics and should be avoided.



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