I too have had Fords since 1988 w/ ESP Premium's. Getting Warranty work done has never been a battle, exactly, but I found the service writers are always trying to side-step their/Fords responsibilities under warranty and get me to pay for it, out of pocket. I just ask to speak directly to the "Service Manager" and discuss my ESP Premium Plan. Once there, the service manager often says, "this service writer is new and was just mistaken, we will fix it under warranty". I believe this is just their game to make extra money at the expense of our ignorance of the ESP policies we bought. I would bet that it may work 40-50% of the time, in their favor, don't know?
We live in Ventura, CA and only once, did I have a problem that my daughter experienced when her 1997 Ranger PU (under ESP Premium - 6 year/60,000 mile warranty) just shut off in the middle of the road in San Luis Obispo, CA (at college, 160 miles away). She called me and we had her Ford Ranger PU towed to the nearest Ford dealer by AAA for repair. It was 1 year old and had ESP Premium Care but they found that the electrical problem was caused by the alarm system which had killed the ignition and starter cranking. They were going to charge us $450 to disable the alarm, bypass the wiring back to stock and remove the alarm module from under the dash. I explained to the SLO Ford Dealer "Service Manager" that this alarm system was installed by the selling Ford Dealer and they had told me (one of their sales incentives) that the big advantage of the "Ford" alarm system was that it was a Ford part and did NOT effect the warranty. The Service Manager said, sorry, you must pay us $450.00 for this work and take that up with your selling dealership. Under the circumstances that my daughter needed her car back to get to college classes, I agreed and reluctantly paid the $450 bill but I told them that I wanted the removed Ford Alarm Module & wiring that they removed, to be given back to my daughter at pick-up of her Ford Ranger, from them. That was agreed to and done.
I then called my selling Ford Dealer and was given the "phone run-around" by them. I then wrote a nice but very direct letter (and sent it to them by "Registered Mail") to that selling dealer's owner and demanded that they return our $450 within 10 days. I also sent a copy of the SLO Dealer's repair invoice and a picture of the Alarm Module to this Selling Dealer. The owner's secretary called me and asked if I still had the removed defective Alarm Module. I said, yes, and she asked me to bring it into their dealership for inspection. The following Friday, I took this alarm module into the selling dealership and showed it to them. It was the Alarm Module that they had installed w/ a FORD logo, part number & serial number. They confirmed by our sales contract, all of this was true and wrote me a check for the $450.00. They wanted to keep the defective Alarm Module but I said I wanted to keep it until their check cleared my bank then, I would bring it back to them, which was agreed to. Their check cleared and I never heard from them again so, never had to give them the defective module back. (I just wanted to keep it in case they 'Stopped Payment' on the check they had given me and we ended up in small claims court - [I hoped NOT court though]). As it turns out, they were honorable, it seems.
So, that's my 2 cents worth on warranty experiences. I think the burden of proof of Warranty Coverages has unfortunately become us, the vehicle owners responsibility to get enforce. Shouldn't be that way but that seems to be how life is these days, Lance
We live in Ventura, CA and only once, did I have a problem that my daughter experienced when her 1997 Ranger PU (under ESP Premium - 6 year/60,000 mile warranty) just shut off in the middle of the road in San Luis Obispo, CA (at college, 160 miles away). She called me and we had her Ford Ranger PU towed to the nearest Ford dealer by AAA for repair. It was 1 year old and had ESP Premium Care but they found that the electrical problem was caused by the alarm system which had killed the ignition and starter cranking. They were going to charge us $450 to disable the alarm, bypass the wiring back to stock and remove the alarm module from under the dash. I explained to the SLO Ford Dealer "Service Manager" that this alarm system was installed by the selling Ford Dealer and they had told me (one of their sales incentives) that the big advantage of the "Ford" alarm system was that it was a Ford part and did NOT effect the warranty. The Service Manager said, sorry, you must pay us $450.00 for this work and take that up with your selling dealership. Under the circumstances that my daughter needed her car back to get to college classes, I agreed and reluctantly paid the $450 bill but I told them that I wanted the removed Ford Alarm Module & wiring that they removed, to be given back to my daughter at pick-up of her Ford Ranger, from them. That was agreed to and done.
I then called my selling Ford Dealer and was given the "phone run-around" by them. I then wrote a nice but very direct letter (and sent it to them by "Registered Mail") to that selling dealer's owner and demanded that they return our $450 within 10 days. I also sent a copy of the SLO Dealer's repair invoice and a picture of the Alarm Module to this Selling Dealer. The owner's secretary called me and asked if I still had the removed defective Alarm Module. I said, yes, and she asked me to bring it into their dealership for inspection. The following Friday, I took this alarm module into the selling dealership and showed it to them. It was the Alarm Module that they had installed w/ a FORD logo, part number & serial number. They confirmed by our sales contract, all of this was true and wrote me a check for the $450.00. They wanted to keep the defective Alarm Module but I said I wanted to keep it until their check cleared my bank then, I would bring it back to them, which was agreed to. Their check cleared and I never heard from them again so, never had to give them the defective module back. (I just wanted to keep it in case they 'Stopped Payment' on the check they had given me and we ended up in small claims court - [I hoped NOT court though]). As it turns out, they were honorable, it seems.
So, that's my 2 cents worth on warranty experiences. I think the burden of proof of Warranty Coverages has unfortunately become us, the vehicle owners responsibility to get enforce. Shouldn't be that way but that seems to be how life is these days, Lance
