DAY 1: Monday, February 4, 2013
In Lake Havasu City for the day, we decided to go shopping
for a new Ford truck, an F350 “dually”.
Bradley Ford had one with a Laredo package but we wanted an XLT. We had heard there was one in stock in
Phoenix. By the end of the day, we had
struck a deal and then were informed that the truck we wanted was no longer
available in Phoenix and they’d had to find another one. We went back to Quartzsite to wait.
DAY 2: Tuesday, February 5, 2013
The Sandia Federal Credit Union who financed the truck
withdrew funds and sent the payment to Bradley Ford. So, we started paying for a truck we didn’t
possess at the time.
DAYS 3-5: Wednesday-Friday, Feb. 6-8, 2013
Still in contact with Bradley Ford. They had a problem getting the 2nd
truck for us. So then they said they
were having to go outside the 500 mile range and have one trucked in, from San
Francisco!
DAY 8: Monday, Feb. 11, 2013
Bradley Ford called and asked when we’d like to pick up the
new truck. TODAY we said. We went in after 3 p.m., turned in our
trade-ins and drove away in the new truck (which we had been paying for for
almost a week and just now got!!)
DAY 11: Thursday, February 14, 2013
Bradley Ford called and said we needed to “officially” take
title to the truck out of state and arranged to meet us at Earp, CA the next
day.
DAY 12: Friday, February 15, 2013
Bradley Ford and we officially sign paperwork taking
possession of the F350.
DAY 16: Tuesday, February 19, 2013
We decided to take a trip up to Lake Havasu City then Las
Vegas. Lee wants to shop for a small
car, a Hyundai. After stopping for lunch
in Lake Havasu, the F350 showed a “check engine” light. We decided to go past Bradley Ford and have
them check this out. They tell us it has
something to do with the DEF pump. They
need to order a new pump. This will take
a few days. In the meantime, they advise
not to drive the truck to Las Vegas because if this pump doesn’t work when
needed, the vehicle will shut down and not run after 50 miles or so. They arranged for a rental car so we were
able to go to Las Vegas as planned.
DAY 18: Thursday, February 20, 2013
We return to Lake Havasu City and find that the new pump
they installed didn’t fix the problem.
The check engine light is still coming on but showing no code. Now they think it might be a processor
problem. They have to go through some
hoops with Ford before they can get a new processor and replace it.
DAY 20: Friday, Feb. 22, 2013
Bradley Ford tells us they have permission to get a new
processor. They ordered it that
day. They said it might come from the
Phoenix warehouse (1-2 days) or if from Detroit, who knows how long.
DAY 23: Monday, Feb. 25,
2013
Bradley Ford tells us they have found there are NO
processors available in the country, and no timeline as to when one might be
available. Brandi, the Service Writer is
going to speak with their Service Manager to see what is to be done next.
DAY 24: Tuesday (5 days,
Feb. 22-26, 2013)
Finally this afternoon we talk to Chris McKee, the Service
Manager at Bradley Ford. The story
is: Ford Motor Co. does NOT have any
replacement processors available ANYWHERE for this truck; Mr. McKee says his hands are tied and it’s
time for us to contact Ford directly, give them the case number which he supplied (#430840573) and see what’s to be
done about this.
DAY 25: Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013
9:00 a.m. Mountain Time (11 am EST): First call into Ford (800-392-3673). Rick talked to some guy named Blake at the
regular Ford 800 customer service number.
He put Rick through to “Brenda”, a regional case worker. Got Brenda’s voicemail and left a message.
