Warranty Denied - Ford Corporate Refuses to Call Me - What Now?
The following 3 users liked this post by A Guy:
12-01-2017, 03:01 PM
#82
Originally Posted by KatTruck
To answer some of the questions.
The local dealer was asking $7k over sticker, so I purchased it 2.5 hours away at below MSRP. No haggle, great buying experience. I've tried to give the local dealer all 3 of my F150 deals, but they don't play nice when it comes to price. For the same reason I never service my vehicles there. However, since this happened close to home, and the truck had 1 missing wheel...it was easiest to tow it to them. My wife was driving and pulling into a parking lot when this happened. In the middle of the turn/intersection, the rim separated in two, the wheel obviously deflated and collapsed, and the whole mangled mess managed to sheer 4 lugs off. The wheel was still held on tight by 1 lug/lug nut.
I have already called the Ford corporate # and opened a case. It is that rep who refuses to call me, and after 1 week of me trying to reach them, and them ignoring me, I informed them, and CC'd the dealer that I need her supervisors name/# by end of business tomorrow, and if she doesn't provide it then I need the dealer service manager to get it for me. End of day today her counterpart (not her supervisor, just another rep from a different region) called me. He was no help and could not help as its not his region, and he just read, and re-read the same script he had in front of him. Wheel painted, warranty claim denied.
The truck has 2,500 miles on it. Inside and out it looks showroom condition. Has not been offroaded, and these are easy highway/suburb miles.
Unfortunately it's like talking to a brick wall, and I'm at a loss.
I did leave a message for the salesman at the dealer I purchased from, but we'll see what he can help with tomorrow. I don't believe it's their fault, or they are required to help. If I moved across the country and had a warranty issue, nobody would be instructing me to go back to the purchasing dealer.
The local dealer was asking $7k over sticker, so I purchased it 2.5 hours away at below MSRP. No haggle, great buying experience. I've tried to give the local dealer all 3 of my F150 deals, but they don't play nice when it comes to price. For the same reason I never service my vehicles there. However, since this happened close to home, and the truck had 1 missing wheel...it was easiest to tow it to them. My wife was driving and pulling into a parking lot when this happened. In the middle of the turn/intersection, the rim separated in two, the wheel obviously deflated and collapsed, and the whole mangled mess managed to sheer 4 lugs off. The wheel was still held on tight by 1 lug/lug nut.
I have already called the Ford corporate # and opened a case. It is that rep who refuses to call me, and after 1 week of me trying to reach them, and them ignoring me, I informed them, and CC'd the dealer that I need her supervisors name/# by end of business tomorrow, and if she doesn't provide it then I need the dealer service manager to get it for me. End of day today her counterpart (not her supervisor, just another rep from a different region) called me. He was no help and could not help as its not his region, and he just read, and re-read the same script he had in front of him. Wheel painted, warranty claim denied.
The truck has 2,500 miles on it. Inside and out it looks showroom condition. Has not been offroaded, and these are easy highway/suburb miles.
Unfortunately it's like talking to a brick wall, and I'm at a loss.
I did leave a message for the salesman at the dealer I purchased from, but we'll see what he can help with tomorrow. I don't believe it's their fault, or they are required to help. If I moved across the country and had a warranty issue, nobody would be instructing me to go back to the purchasing dealer.
Say no more- she smoked a curb while driving. JK (but you never know). I hope it all works out for you.
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terfos (12-01-2017)
12-01-2017, 03:58 PM
#84
Member
I just sent a PM to KatTruck asking him to return to this thread with a pic or two and respond to some of the questions in the 80+ posts so we'll see what happens.... 
The following users liked this post:
terfos (12-01-2017)
12-01-2017, 05:49 PM
#86
Lots of pages here since last night. Obviously lots of concern to a lot of people.
Attached are pics of the rim on the site of the road after I removed it.
Initially, I thought my wife had a flat tire, I showed up to put the full size spare on and could see the rim was in 1/2. Still thought everything should be OK though, so attempted to put the spare on. After I took the first lug nut off, I realized there were no other lug nuts. Didn't even catch my attention until that point.
There are 2 possibilities to this. The unlikely possibility that I reinstalled the wheel incorrectly. I did it. I torqued it. I re-torqued after a few hundred miles. 2,100 miles later this happened. Based off knowing how I installed the rims, I don't feel that was the cause.
My understanding is that the way this rim is broken is indicative of how aftermarket / cheap cast wheels break. So although manufacturing defects are also unlikely, my assumption would be that that is a more likely scenario. Manufacturing defect caused the rim to stress and fracture.
Under the MM Warranty Act, the dealer has to prove it was my modification that caused the problem. (again, they must prove it).
Today I showed up to the dealership, and...guess what...they didn't even have an estimate written up. They initially declined the warranty from 50' away when they saw the rims were painted and asked me about it. They didn't inspect the vehicle, estimate the damage, or determine the cause...they just immediately denied warranty. They even handed me the complaint # within 5 minutes and before even looking at the car and told me to call and complain. I asked them what I was going to complain about since they didn't even inspect it yet and Ford has denied it yet. They said it doesn't matter, they know Ford will deny it, so I might as well call and complain now and get that started. I told them I wouldn't "complain" until I have something to complain about, so I didn't put the official complaint call to corporate until the following day once the official denial came through.
Back to today, I went to the dealer and waited while they put together the estimate. We're talking about roughly $300 in parts. Only the lugs and lug nuts need to be replaced to be good to go. The tire was still good, the rim was obviously ruined but there's a full size spare (or $299) for a new rim. Also, the hub might need to be replaced (20% probability according to them), and if all of that needs to be replaced its $500 in labor.
So without the hub, we're looking at roughly $350 - $500 and with the hub about $1,000.
The truck is stock (other than plasti dipped wheels and fog lights), and has 2,500 miles. It's brand new, all underside components look perfect. As far as they could see, no external damage and only the lugs, lug nuts, and rim need to be replaced (most likely). This happened at 2 mph so no other damage occurred. It fell apart, she stopped.
Oh, and although maybe my wife may have hit something, it's unlikely. There's no external or internal damage anywhere. She was pulling into a hospital parking lot, the Raptor is meant to take a beating anyway, and she's pretty honest. I believe she would tell me she broke it, we'd fix it, and it'd be done. She's not a liar, and although I guess there's a first for everything, I don't see any reason/cause to not believe her. No curb rash, no dents, no other damage. With only 2,500 miles all looks good. Even the estimate comes back with no further damage. Just lugs, lug nuts, rim, and maybe hub.
Attached are pics of the rim on the site of the road after I removed it.
Initially, I thought my wife had a flat tire, I showed up to put the full size spare on and could see the rim was in 1/2. Still thought everything should be OK though, so attempted to put the spare on. After I took the first lug nut off, I realized there were no other lug nuts. Didn't even catch my attention until that point.
There are 2 possibilities to this. The unlikely possibility that I reinstalled the wheel incorrectly. I did it. I torqued it. I re-torqued after a few hundred miles. 2,100 miles later this happened. Based off knowing how I installed the rims, I don't feel that was the cause.
My understanding is that the way this rim is broken is indicative of how aftermarket / cheap cast wheels break. So although manufacturing defects are also unlikely, my assumption would be that that is a more likely scenario. Manufacturing defect caused the rim to stress and fracture.
Under the MM Warranty Act, the dealer has to prove it was my modification that caused the problem. (again, they must prove it).
Today I showed up to the dealership, and...guess what...they didn't even have an estimate written up. They initially declined the warranty from 50' away when they saw the rims were painted and asked me about it. They didn't inspect the vehicle, estimate the damage, or determine the cause...they just immediately denied warranty. They even handed me the complaint # within 5 minutes and before even looking at the car and told me to call and complain. I asked them what I was going to complain about since they didn't even inspect it yet and Ford has denied it yet. They said it doesn't matter, they know Ford will deny it, so I might as well call and complain now and get that started. I told them I wouldn't "complain" until I have something to complain about, so I didn't put the official complaint call to corporate until the following day once the official denial came through.
Back to today, I went to the dealer and waited while they put together the estimate. We're talking about roughly $300 in parts. Only the lugs and lug nuts need to be replaced to be good to go. The tire was still good, the rim was obviously ruined but there's a full size spare (or $299) for a new rim. Also, the hub might need to be replaced (20% probability according to them), and if all of that needs to be replaced its $500 in labor.
So without the hub, we're looking at roughly $350 - $500 and with the hub about $1,000.
The truck is stock (other than plasti dipped wheels and fog lights), and has 2,500 miles. It's brand new, all underside components look perfect. As far as they could see, no external damage and only the lugs, lug nuts, and rim need to be replaced (most likely). This happened at 2 mph so no other damage occurred. It fell apart, she stopped.
Oh, and although maybe my wife may have hit something, it's unlikely. There's no external or internal damage anywhere. She was pulling into a hospital parking lot, the Raptor is meant to take a beating anyway, and she's pretty honest. I believe she would tell me she broke it, we'd fix it, and it'd be done. She's not a liar, and although I guess there's a first for everything, I don't see any reason/cause to not believe her. No curb rash, no dents, no other damage. With only 2,500 miles all looks good. Even the estimate comes back with no further damage. Just lugs, lug nuts, rim, and maybe hub.
Last edited by KatTruck; 12-01-2017 at 06:02 PM.
12-01-2017, 05:52 PM
#87
Senior Member
That is incredible. What's stamped on the wheels where are they made? China?
12-01-2017, 06:32 PM
#88
The way its broken, it almost looks like a plastic toy. Seeing that kind of damage, I'm really glad that didn't happen to your wife on the highway doing 65MPH.
Keep us updated on your (hopeful) progress.
Keep us updated on your (hopeful) progress.
12-01-2017, 06:46 PM
#89
Do you have pics of the center of the wheel? If the theory about not torquing the lug nuts and them coming loose held water, I would think their would be marks around the holes in the rim from the wheel walking.
