Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General General Mondeo is coming to US

My question would be..."Where exactly would the (Mercury) Mondeo be built?" "In the U.S.?" My 96 Mystique was built in Mexico...

I'm sure Big Jim wouldn't do this. But here is what I believe is the biggest source of dissatisfaction. Check out this thread copied from FlatRateTech's website, before they took it down.

It doesn't really matter how good the hardware is if the customer support is not there.

http://tlcc2000.dyndns.org/Automotive/95FordContourWiringFlatRateTechWebForums20020410.html

I love my Contour, and am still enthusiastic about it. I'm not so hot on the whole of Ford. I'll give the Mondeo a look when it is out, since that is in my time frame for my first really new car in about a decade. (Wifey gets the new ones, and I've purchased used.)

But I've really gotta see a real comittment to the customer. Since just about every Ford dealer is now a BlueOval certified dealer, that tells me there wasn't much substance to that program. Perhaps BigJim could comment on the reality of that statement.

TB

My goodness. I followed that thread for a while but just caught up on the last few days of it. It was extremely enlightening and extremely disappionting.

I can understand why the dealer service dept. folks have been "broken" by the system that Ford has put in place. I feel bad about it, I really do. They are put in a tough spot, trying to balance their own interests with their customers. Ford has done this to them. However, for them to be so rude, condescending, arrogant, mean-spirited, contradictory, indifferent, etc. etc. etc. is totally unacceptable.

I realize the service folks are in the middle on these warranty jobs, but the end (getting Ford to change its flat rate policy) does not justify the means (screwing over the vehicle owners).

Those guys are real a-holes. The more of that thread I read through, the more amazed I became at how f*%ed in the head that they are.

One of the service managers actually made it sound like the owners were not entitled to a free harness repair even though it's covered by a special Ford program.

If they think that us calling Ford and complaining about ANYTHING will do any good, then it is they who don't get it, not us. That stupid 800# is the most worthless thing ever.

I already knew that the service depts. had less of an incentive to do warranty work, but I had no idea that some of them go so far out of their way to avoid doing the work or to do it in a shoddy fashion just to save time.

You should know that every car has recalls! I had a ten year old Honda accord that had a gas line recall! I also remember the late model 80's early 90's prelude having ac compressor recall's and updates because the original one sucked! It would only last 60K miles!
I have more recall stories for Honda and Infinity as I worked with those vehicles as well as Chevrolet.
After working for years as a mechanic, I have seen plenty to tell me that there isn't usually a difference in the level of engineering, its in the attention to details and quality of materials.

Honda adds more clips, brackets, etc. to keep everything in its place. American companies are only now starting to do that. The quality of materials has been higher in import cars as well, and again american cars are only lately improving those items.

warmonger

ummmm, i have a 95 se and had only one problem with the pre-cats. a lot of early contour owners, myself included, have had nothing but great running, performing, and reliable cars. maybe you should look for an earlier model, it will be cheaper payments as well.

I know my next car will not be a Ford. I love my svtc and she runs very nice, but I can not tolerate the way I am consistantely mistreated when it comes to their service dpt.

I fully accept that every marque has problems. Didn't Lamborghini come into existence because Ferruccio Lamborghini got so incensed at Enzo Ferrari's dismissal of his grievances with his car ??

Some of the "fixes" though don't really "fix" the issue. I'm thinking of the "spring catcher" recall here. Why don't they change the springs for people instead of putting the catchers on.