HVBJB repairs; Ford "requirements" - Advice

[SbN]

Posted a story back in July about my MME HVBJB issue right in the middle of a road trip. Several posters in that thread gave me great information and I was able to call the correct number for the warranty/recall to get my car fixed. However.....

Because I was in the middle of a trip (during the 4th of July weekend), the local Ford dealer gave me the contact to the rental place they use. Not thinking anything about the type of rental it was and the fact that we needed to get to our end destination, I got a very reasonable car (Nissan something-or-other, mid-size) for the remainder of our trip. The repair took not only the rest of our trip, but I had to take the rental car back home so I had a car to use. After the dealership was done with the repairs on July 9th, they agreed to ship my car back to my local dealership (arrived on July 16th) where I picked it up the next morning and returned the rental car.

Since July 17 (almost 3 months now), I've been in the process of trying to get reimbursed for the rental and gas. After close to 20 emails back and forth about submitting receipts and "getting updates on the review process", I got a call last Friday where they initially denied to reimburse my costs and offered to "take car of one of my car payments" which is about $200 less than my total costs of the rental.

The reason they initially denied my reimbursement? Because I didn't rent a @Ford Motor Company VEHICLE. During that phone call, I politely asked them to review the case again and am waiting on a response.

I'm curious if anyone else knew of this requirement? And any other advice on how to handle this would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

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[HuntingPudel]

It's not something anyone tells you up front and it sucks since most dealers do not have loaners and often times rental companies do not have a Ford that they will rent for $40/day. Some people have gotten their case reviewed in their favor on having rented a non-Ford vehicle. Some have not. In my case I am lucky enough to have 9mpg cars I can use. ?‍?

 

[JoanS]

Yes, I was told the same thing. Also told that if they refused a non ford vehicle I could appeal. Wound up not renting.

 

[hack-e]

I have always been told up front that a Ford rental is required. I still haven't gone the rental route yet.

Edit: Just shows how much Ford throws obstacles in your way when their poor quality is already causing you problems. Adding fuel to the fire.

Edit 2: We need an FAA Rule 240 for car manufacturers.

 

[RickMachE]

I had a similar experience. On a trip, without much cell service during day. HVBJB failed. BEV team said they'd work over the weekend taking care of things, arranging for a rental and transporting the vehicle home to my dealer to be repaired.

On Monday, they offered me to leave the car with a local dealer (that had done one HVBJB repair) and get me a rental, but it had to be a Ford, and had to not exceed a specific daily amount. The dealer had tried to find a rental, and couldn't, because I was thousands of miles from home and the cost was very high.

I ended up driving the rest of the trip with the Mach-E, losing top end throttle (not an issue), but also charging at 47kW max, most often 41 or so, costing me many hours of wasted time charging at stops (30 minutes turned into 90 minutes).

I was very disappointed that they didn't do what they initially said, and basically dumped it back in my lap at 4PM for me to find a rental with poor cell service while in the Grand Canyon. Not something I am going to forget.

 

[moog]

I specifically requested a loaner from the dealer for my HVBJB repair.
Dealer only had one or two loaners. They could not guarantee I would get one.
I was apprehensive about the rental car process with a Ford dealer.

Turns out they did not have a loaner available, and had to put me in a rental. (Paid for by Ford)
However, the dealer said that their usual rental company (local small rental company) would only have a Ford vehicle available for me for two days, and then I would have to go back to the small rental car place and swap out the car for another Ford product. (Dealer told me the recall would take about a week due to backlog and only one battery lift available)

I told them I was not going to do that, and that was a big inconvenience to have to swap out the car for another car. Dealer then tried to get a rental through the local Enterprise rent a car, and they had a Ford available. Ultimately I went with Enterprise (Bronco Sport) and the rental was paid for by Ford.

Inconvenient, and obscure process regarding rental cars? Absolutely.
Ford's dealership service customer experience is poor.
It seems (at least in my case) they really don't know the how's and why's of the recall process.
They make no attempts to keep the customer informed or at ease.

In the end the recall was completed in about a week and a half, and all is well so far.
Still waiting for the recall to be shown as completed on Ford account.

 

[Mach T]

I was told up front that It had to be a Ford to be reimbursed. But after driving to different rental car locations, I could not find a Ford or could not find a Ford for 40 dollars. So I decided not to rent

 

[Schwartzcynthia]

It's not something anyone tells you up front and it sucks since most dealers do not have loaners and often times rental companies do not have a Ford that they will rent for $40/day. Some people have gotten their case reviewed in their favor on having rented a non-Ford vehicle. Some have not. In my case I am lucky enough to have 9mpg cars I can use. ?‍?

I was lucky when I had to have the HVJBJ recall my dealership gave me another Mach-E for free for the days they had my car and Ford Company sent me a $50 gift card and a replacement charging tray for taking my car in

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