Here is a copy of the letter for those having trouble sleeping.
To whom it concerns,
I feel that trust has been broken between the dealer and the customer. I am not looking to take advantage of the dealership or Ford in any way, but would at the same time not feel like the dealership is trying to cover-up or looking past something that should be properly addressed. When I originally dropped the car of for recall work in good faith, I was proud and enjoyed owning and driving it, but now the only thing that comes to mind is sell the car as soon as possible.
I take great pride in my 2 Ford cars, just as I have the previous 3 Fords and can tell you every scratch, mark, or issue on any of my Fords both exterior and interior. I can show you my level of care in my autos by having you look at my 91 Mustang GT if there is any doubt. Granted my car isn't a Saleen Mustang, but it is still an enthusiast car just as my 12 year old Mustang is.
I still feel that the car was mistreated/raced during a test drive. Damage to bottom of skirt on passenger side that looks like car went over a curb. Car was/is somewhat dirty, where scratches are clean on bottom of skirt.
I am curious about a few things. Excessive tire wear on inside driver side. Subwoofer box was slung towards back of trunk left side. The alignment on the car was good prior to this visit to the dealer as was the rubber on my front wheels. I have strong suspicions that donuts with the steering wheel cut to the right were performed in the car, or some sort of other wheel spinning activities were taking place. When I questioned the Tech, he said the knocking started to occur "during" the test drive while trying to reproduce the oil leak. I honestly wonder if the engine knock wasn't the result of harsh non-professional driving by the Technician. There is a noted weakness acknowledged by SVT concerning hard right hand maneuvers, where the engine is starved for oil. I can show you countless incidents of engine failures as a result of this activity alone. So this added with the tire ware pattern in conjunction with the 65 pound subwoofer box resting location leads me to believe that something terrible was done to the car.
Outstanding issues:
1. Transmission/driveline making whining noise as speed increases. Definitely a new noise. Sounds like bearing or gear noise, not engine
related.
2. Valve cover on back bank closes to firewall wrong one.... Unpainted Aluminum. I have pictures to prove. Sticker peeled off of other valve cover end. Again have pictures to prove. No big issue on the sticker, just a peeve.
3. Transmission making racket when engaging clutch. Clacking noise.
4. Scratches and stretch marks in rear seats from heavy parts boxes that were left there for a long periods of time. (Minor issue that is probably unfixable or will fix it's self over time.)
5. Interior of car is NASTY! Greasy finger prints everywhere. Windshield covered in greasy prints after replacing dash. Smells of grease
in car now... not leather.
6. Exterior of car covered in grease/residue as well. Oily residue and grease/grit.
7. Rear bumper cover scratch from persons resting feet on car repeatedly in a 2-3' area. Hard to see in bright light, but never the less is there. Clear coat only, scratches.
8. Multiple scratches to front area of the car, most damage done to passenger side fender and front of car.
9. Engine compartment was left un cleaned. Oil around engine mounts as well as finger prints/smudge marks (everywhere). Some scratches to paint in/around engine hood area from engine R&R. Looks like no protective covering was not used during portion of the work?
10. Skirt on passenger side is scuffed up like car was driven over a curb or something high resulting in scratches and gouges to pain and molding. Probably not worth fighting to fix. Just adds to the suspicion of mistreatment.
In closing I would like to reiterate that I am not out to take advantage of a situation or Ford, but would like the car in the same state it was in when it was dropped off in June. That is basically impossible give what has transgressed. I am at a lost as to how to proceed in this matter. I want to ditch the car as soon as possible now as I don't have any faith in the reliability of the car, its resale value, or even its trade in value for the near future given the current shape it is in. I realize Thomason operates a Nissan dealership and would possibly like to purse purchasing a Maxima, but don't what to be harassed by sales persons that only care about making their quota of sales for the day and are rude and pushy as the person was that tried to sell us a Ford Truck the day we learned of the engine knock.
Sincerely,
Lee Craig
