An amusing conversation with Ford!

[Texas-E]

I started having repeated charge faults the past few months and noticed in this thread https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/repeated-charge-faults.10727/ that some had found a solution with a replacement charge port.

I'm usually not one to reach out to the Ford social media contact, but I figured what do I have to lose and started direct messaging with them. They promptly replied and collected some information to pass along to the customer experience team and said that someone would reach out to me. My main goal was to try and streamline my dealer experience and not have them keep my car for two weeks. I guess the naive me hoped they could help.

I was happily surprised to get a call a few minutes ago, but it went downhill from there. The Ford rep (Shawn) proceeded to talk to me about my charger, and I walked through what I'd done. The amusing part, to me, is that she felt it necessary to tell me that if my charger malfunctioned, it voided ALL my warranties. That I needed to use a Ford charger to be covered.

I asked what level 3 Ford chargers are available in the US since I'm supposed to use one of those and never got a real answer. I mentioned that I was given 500kWh of free charging on the Blue Oval Network, which apparently voids ALL of my warranties since there isn't a single level 3 Ford charger to use.

Anyway... it made me laugh. Ford gets an A for being engaged but a slightly lower grade when it comes to what they say. I guess my warranty is void!

Sponsored

 

[mikeinet]

good for ford for voiding probably 99% of the cars on the road.... LOL

 

[chrisGT]

If you don't replace the engine oil of your MME at the specified service intervals voids the warranty as well.

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

That amount of knowledge doesn’t rise to the level of ignorant. Ford should at least give them a quick reference guide to the cars they deal with. Or a decision tree , or something.

 

[AllenXS]

That amount of knowledge doesn’t rise to the level of ignorant. Ford should at least give them a quick reference guide to the cars they deal with. Or a decision tree , or something.

Perhaps they can hold the high voltage cables in their hands for a while to help realise what powers these things!

 

[RetiredDP]

Ford realizes that, at one point, the turkey Ford home chargers were all recalled, right? And Ford dealers had no replacements, right? I suggest that you ask to speak with Jim Farley, personally. Next time you talk to a Shawn, ask her to refer you to where in the manual it says that the use of a non-Ford EVSE voids the warranty. Ask her to be very, VERY specific, as to which page and paragraph you should look. Of course, she won't know what you mean by EVSE...

 

[ChasingCoral]

I started having repeated charge faults the past few months and noticed in this thread https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/repeated-charge-faults.10727/ that some had found a solution with a replacement charge port.

I'm usually not one to reach out to the Ford social media contact, but I figured what do I have to lose and started direct messaging with them. They promptly replied and collected some information to pass along to the customer experience team and said that someone would reach out to me. My main goal was to try and streamline my dealer experience and not have them keep my car for two weeks. I guess the naive me hoped they could help.

I was happily surprised to get a call a few minutes ago, but it went downhill from there. The Ford rep (Shawn) proceeded to talk to me about my charger, and I walked through what I'd done. The amusing part, to me, is that she felt it necessary to tell me that if my charger malfunctioned, it voided ALL my warranties. That I needed to use a Ford charger to be covered.

I asked what level 3 Ford chargers are available in the US since I'm supposed to use one of those and never got a real answer. I mentioned that I was given 500kWh of free charging on the Blue Oval Network, which apparently voids ALL of my warranties since there isn't a single level 3 Ford charger to use.

Anyway... it made me laugh. Ford gets an A for being engaged but a slightly lower grade when it comes to what they say. I guess my warranty is void!

Wow. That’s rich. Does using a non-Ford gas pump void the warranty on their ICE cars too?

 

[mkhuffman]

For AC charging, the charger is built into the car. So all L1 and L2 charging is completed by a Ford charger, technically.

 

[jlauro]

IFF the charger malfunctioned... Ford has to show that it was the charger that malfunctioned and not the vehicle. If the charger is working normally, then it doesn't matter if it's a Ford charger or not. Is there any evidence that the charger malfunctioned? (I assume not, but not sure what you told Ford)

 

[Jimrpa]

Ford realizes that, at one point, the turkey Ford home chargers were all recalled, right? And Ford dealers had no replacements, right? I suggest that you ask to speak with Jim Farley, personally. Next time you talk to a Shawn, ask her to refer you to where in the manual it says that the use of a non-Ford EVSE voids the warranty. Ask her to be very, VERY specific, as to which page and paragraph you should look. Of course, she won't know what you mean by EVSE...

Neither my FCCS or Ford Mobile Charger have been recalled. So far, the FCCS seems to be charging my car and the Ford Mobile Charger is nestled safely in the original plastic wrapping.

 

[Mach1E]

IFF the charger malfunctioned... Ford has to show that it was the charger that malfunctioned and not the vehicle. If the charger is working normally, then it doesn't matter if it's a Ford charger or not. Is there any evidence that the charger malfunctioned? (I assume not, but not sure what you told Ford)

Yup.

And to be fair, if you use an aftermarket part that “breaks your car,” why would Ford be responsible to fix it?

This is nothing new. Same with all vehicles.

Just google “magnuson moss warranty act.” They would have to prove the aftermarket part caused the problem.

 

[Deleted User 981389]

Back when I had a Ram 2500 the whole emissions system had to be replaced. I was told I had to use Ram brand of DEF (diesel exhaust fluid) or this would happen again and they were doing me a favor by going ahead and covering it under warranty this time. Still tried to charge me 500.00 however after calling corporate I paid 0.00

 

[DaMeatMan]

I started having repeated charge faults the past few months and noticed in this thread https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/repeated-charge-faults.10727/ that some had found a solution with a replacement charge port.

I'm usually not one to reach out to the Ford social media contact, but I figured what do I have to lose and started direct messaging with them. They promptly replied and collected some information to pass along to the customer experience team and said that someone would reach out to me. My main goal was to try and streamline my dealer experience and not have them keep my car for two weeks. I guess the naive me hoped they could help.

I was happily surprised to get a call a few minutes ago, but it went downhill from there. The Ford rep (Shawn) proceeded to talk to me about my charger, and I walked through what I'd done. The amusing part, to me, is that she felt it necessary to tell me that if my charger malfunctioned, it voided ALL my warranties. That I needed to use a Ford charger to be covered.

I asked what level 3 Ford chargers are available in the US since I'm supposed to use one of those and never got a real answer. I mentioned that I was given 500kWh of free charging on the Blue Oval Network, which apparently voids ALL of my warranties since there isn't a single level 3 Ford charger to use.

Anyway... it made me laugh. Ford gets an A for being engaged but a slightly lower grade when it comes to what they say. I guess my warranty is void!

This makes me laugh! I've been listening to Jim Farley's new podcast, and he knows and acknowledges that Ford will be no more if they can't adapt and evolve their business past the broken hierarchical beurocracy that has formed the back bone of their company for so long. Your interaction highlights real time what a monumental challenge Jim Farley is facing at Ford, and how incredibly difficult it's going to be to get Ford to a point where they can even begin to "speak our language", let alone compete in a rapidly evolving industry that threatens to leave them out in the cold.

 

[SightUp]

The moral of the story is to say you use the charger that came with the car if ever asked? Gotcha. Thanks for the heads up!

 

[jlauro]

The moral of the story is to say you use the charger that came with the car if ever asked? Gotcha. Thanks for the heads up!

I would say reproduce the issue with the charger from Ford first. Shouldn't be an issue if you say you used another charger, but does save finger pointing time.

Sponsored