Lemon Law Thread: How many have or are filing Lemon Law for their S550?

Stage_3 said:

Awesome Mike! Congrats and good luck going forward sir!
Hopefully you get a Hellcat Challenger. Awesome cars.

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Thanks !!

I stumbled onto one over the weekend & put down a deposit, have to drive across the state to get her Wed.
Color is called Maximum Steel - sort of a blue/grey metal flake - pics just don't do it justice.

Contact BBB and they will tell you what you need. But remember, the BBB program is not necessarily the same as your state's lemon law. In GA, you can use the BBB and if you are not satisfied with the outcome, then file through the lemon law where you do need to do the final repair notice or notice to repurchase. BBB will send you your state's lemon law summary. My BBB case specialist dropped the ball when he told me to send him the GA request for repurchase. But in GA, you HAVE to send Ford the final repair attempt letter by certified mail first. So, I'm not sure where I stand now. I might just go trade it on a Honda or Mazda if this next trip by the FSE doesn't fix it.

mbaran said:

Are you guys using BBB directly or are you also having to notify Ford by written mail with 10 waiting period?

The manual is unclear as to if you have to write a letter to use BBB, or if you're just proceeding with lemon law with a lawyer.

Edit: in California

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Do yourself a HUGE favor and make sure you read the LL procedures/requirements for your state. Should be a page on the State Atty General's website + the booklet that came with the car. Each state has it's own rules and process and interacts with the BBB somewhat differently.

mbaran said:

I have, it's just super unclear. It looks like if you're going to call a lawyer then you have to send a letter. If you're going through bbb the you don't.

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No harm in calling the BBB and asking for their advice. Some of the FL rules seemed contradictory when I read them, but the BBB guy patiently (and in non-lawyer speak) explained my options and avenues open to me.

Like everything, there are loads of gotchas & pitfalls and for the avg Joe who might do this once or twice in a lifetime it can be confussing. For those guys, they are doing it all day long & know how to make the process as painless as possible.

Glad to see that some people are able to have the company agree to a buyback.
I'm sitting here awaiting for Ford to determine the outcome of their decision...for the 3rd time.

After my trip to the dealership to address my transmission sound which was deemed normal I had enough and filed. Keep in mind, this car already had a replaced engine which I had to fight tooth and nail for Ford to acknowledge the sound. This took about 7 months and cost me financially when my only car was in the shop. Fearing the same path with the transmission and knowing I could not be without my only vehicle again I had to file.

As it stands I have 50 days in the shop for the engine and transmission. The first defect (engine) started at ~2,600 and a transmission issue at 9k. The car now has 11,XXX on the dash.

I've contacted ford 3 times now and provided them all my shop documents totaling 50 days for the various reasons. Every vehicle I've ever owned I have scanned copies and original documents of every service record. The intent was to help the resale value; but also for situations like this one.

As it stands now I am filing in GA for a lemon for these issues, the first 2 driving the 50 days as the latter 4 issues I attempted to schedule concurrently to reduce days I did not have my car.

- Engine Replacement
- Transmission Gurgling/popping
- Squealing brakes at low speeds
- Paint pitting on the driver side hood underneath
- Failed backup camera
- Condensation behind tachometer

After reaching out to Ford to initiate the buyback I have been denied twice by my CSM for no reason when asked. For my second review I provided all scanned documents directly to my CSM which only after reaching out to Deysha on this forum did I hear back from the CSM (Thanks Deysha!). This was a “good faith review” which resulted in a no with no explanation as well.

I'm now on my 3rd review after escalating my concerns to the manager of the CSMs. This was supposed to take 10 business days to complete, which I have in writing. That was after our last point of contact on August 5th, 2016. When I reached back out last Friday, August 19th Ford had informed me it wouldn't be until the 25th that their decision was made. This is beginning to feel like a political filibusterer attempt.

In the interim I've reached out to the BBB and our state's lead Lemon Law attorney. I'd rather not involve the two as all this is really unnecessary to do right to a paying customer.
[MENTION=7992]FordService[/MENTION] can you help?

Forget the CSM's, they can do nothing about a buyback, that's a legal issue & gets assigned to a different team inside of Ford (2 teams actually).

Get with the BBB & file your LL claim, that will get the case reassigned within Ford. BBB will schedule arbitration & give Ford their notice (10 days here in FL, not sure what it is in GA). They MUST respond to that & will. You will prob. also have to file simultaneously with the state AG, BBB will advise you on that (typically the form in the back of the LL booklet).

I just received an email from the CSM stating the buyback was approved. They asked if I wanted a replacement or refund along with my address to verify I guess my ownership.

A positive step none the less. I'll reach out to them later today and speak about the options.

BBB was closed, but I got the process started online anyway. I should hear back from a representative tomorrow and I will ask all of my questions. Have all of my service orders, rental agreements, and text messages/email to upload.

Figured they're going to tell me Ford needs 1 more shot to fix it, so I haven't taken it back in for the vibration. Might as well waste my time once I have to to satisy Ford rather than do it on my own time, only to have to take it back yet again.

Dealership has tried to fix my issues once in texas, now one currently in Missouri tried; both have failed.
I just got a call from the Ford Customer Service Team stating that they are aware of my issue and Ford is going to release a TSB but no date on when. He also stated (this was a voicemail) that they are closing my case as of now.

Uhh.. No jack. Im not satisfied and will request once more for repair, if there is no resolve then I'll take appropriate action.

My only confusion is, I purchased the vehicle in Texas, Dealer in Texas attempted 1st repair; currently in Missouri (for an Army school 15 weeks and will report here shortly after permanently) and Dealer attempted 2nd repair; Dealer is Missouri stated ON PAPER that this is a temp fix and permanent repair currently being worked by Ford Engineering team.

What are my options?

astolt12 said:

...
After reaching out to Ford to initiate the buyback I have been denied twice by my CSM for no reason when asked. For my second review I provided all scanned documents directly to my CSM which only after reaching out to Deysha on this forum did I hear back from the CSM (Thanks Deysha!). This was a “good faith review” which resulted in a no with no explanation as well.

I'm now on my 3rd review after escalating my concerns to the manager of the CSMs. This was supposed to take 10 business days to complete, which I have in writing. That was after our last point of contact on August 5th, 2016. When I reached back out last Friday, August 19th Ford had informed me it wouldn't be until the 25th that their decision was made. This is beginning to feel like a political filibusterer attempt.

In the interim I've reached out to the BBB and our state's lead Lemon Law attorney. I'd rather not involve the two as all this is really unnecessary to do right to a paying customer.
[MENTION=7992]FordService[/MENTION] can you help?

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astolt12 said:

I just received an email from the CSM stating the buyback was approved. They asked if I wanted a replacement or refund along with my address to verify I guess my ownership.

A positive step none the less. I'll reach out to them later today and speak about the options.

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You’re welcome, astolt12! I can only get it escalated and reviewed for you, which we’ve done that already. You will need to ensure to address all of your options with your CSM. Congrats on the news!

Deysha

768mph said:

My only confusion is, I purchased the vehicle in Texas, Dealer in Texas attempted 1st repair; currently in Missouri (for an Army school 15 weeks and will report here shortly after permanently) and Dealer attempted 2nd repair; Dealer is Missouri stated ON PAPER that this is a temp fix and permanent repair currently being worked by Ford Engineering team.

What are my options?

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I would contact the BBB in Missouri and ask, not sure if jurisdiction lays where it was purchased or where it's registered/kept. If there is legal assistance on base, I'd leverage that as well & get their opinion.

Third issue in 2 months of ownership has forced me to file a LL claim with the BBB. I have a large investment in this car for it to be in the shop this much.

Quick overview,
- Transmission rebuilt ~ 1200 miles
- painted passenger quarter panel ~ 1900 miles
- starting / fuel tank filling issue ~ 2400 miles

So basically, I have a "new" car with a rebuilt transmission, painted quarter panel, that doesn't like to start and can't fill the fuel tank past 1/2 full.

MikeD1 said:

I would contact the BBB in Missouri and ask, not sure if jurisdiction lays where it was purchased or where it's registered/kept. If there is legal assistance on base, I'd leverage that as well & get their opinion.

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Ford CSM says they will not entertain a buy back until another dealership looks at it and puts it in their NVH analyzer. They want to see if they can fix it again and if it's in their Specs within "normal" range after
This will be the 3rd dealer.
Ford has no leg to stand on right now, there is no NVH readings from their machine to determine what the range is.
So they can't determine if it's out of spec or not.
Basically they want a new reading as it sits and want to try to repair it to get at least within spec.
If not, we will proceed from there.

768mph said:

Ford CSM says they will not entertain a buy back until another dealership looks at it and puts it in their NVH analyzer. They want to see if they can fix it again and if it's in their Specs within "normal" range after
This will be the 3rd dealer.
Ford has no leg to stand on right now, there is no NVH readings from their machine to determine what the range is.
So they can't determine if it's out of spec or not.
Basically they want a new reading as it sits and want to try to repair it to get at least within spec.
If not, we will proceed from there.

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Just my $.02, but I'd start the LL process anyway. They automatically get another repair attempt once you file before it goes to arbitration. Might as well leverage this attempt to be their LL 'one last try'. If it's fixed & you are happy, then the case gets dropped and there is no record on the title.

Net - you have zero to lose !!

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