frustrating time at dealer today

[ultravorx]

Well, i finally brought my car in to have the ripped leather seat cushion replaced, and have my paint inspected. The seat was replaceed with out a hitch, that looks great!!! The major problem is the paint issue.
The Drivers rear corner panel was actually repainted by my dealer at 25 miles( i bought the car as a demo and asked if it was repainted, they said no!), i always knew it was repainted, but it didnt bother me until it started to chip away at the rear tail light :fire: this happended cause the dealer just taped off the lights to paint, and didnt remove them. The next issue, not dealer related is that on the passenger side rear quarter panel, the clear coat is peeling away! :cry: This is purely a factory defect!!!! Right where the bumber meets about a foot and a half in lenght the clear is peeling.
Top these problems, with the thin paint issue, cracked clearcoat all over the car, and the fact that it looks like someone washed it with a brillo pad, i was hoping to get a repaint.
After the dealer "inspected" the car, they determined they would repaint the "bad" areas, such as the 2 rear quarter panels, nothing else!!! So, i told them my car will look patchy since the rest of the paint is screwed up, i will now have a spotted car, some good painted panels, some badly paint panels, its gunna suck!!!! :cry:
I called mercury customer service, they told me its up to the dealer to make that decision to repaint the whole car, they called the dealership up again, but still no luck, they will not budge!!
So i called customer service again and explained how i was told by my salesperson, the car would be given to me in showroom condition, which obviously its not. So as we speak, customer service is "faxing" all this info to the dealer and i'll have to call them to see whats going on.
My question to all of you, is there any more advice i can get to push the repaint? Should i try another dealer? They dont seem to want to budge. Some of my friends said to threaghten them with a lawyer, since i was told showroom condition, i dont want to go this route, i just want my car to look half way decent.
Any info would be great!!!!
Frank

[woaface]

Is there anything higher than Mercury Customer Service? If you get this dealer to budge you MIGHT get a free-bee of sorts from them.

Push 'em REAL hard...throw 'em in the mud. Let them know that you won't take *****!

[MAD-3R]

Stick to your gun, and don't budge. I don't suppose you have that "Showroom condition" in writing anywhere do you? If you do, great!! If not, dig in your heals, and perpare for a long fight. ANd lawsuit won't help. Getting the media involved might though.

[Ross]

Yeah, there are a couple of "consumer advocate" type reporters on our local TV stations, and when people call them with problems like that, and the reporter shows up at the dealership, they often become very agreeable very quickly.

[Ross]

Check out this guy

http://www.westwoodone.com/talk_martino_bios.htm


Tom Martino "The Troubleshooter" has a national radio talk show for consumers. It's cool to hear a national talk show host call up someone and ask why a problem hasn't been fixed. A little publicity might be better than a lawyer. Did I really say that? :eek:

[sailsmen]

I have had success with the BBB.

[ultravorx]

Stick to your gun, and don't budge. I don't suppose you have that "Showroom condition" in writing anywhere do you? If you do, great!! If not, dig in your heals, and perpare for a long fight. ANd lawsuit won't help. Getting the media involved might though.
Unfortunatly, i never got the "showroom condition" on paper, i did get a "we owe" for detailing, which they did. Im definatly not taking the lawsuit idea, its too extreme and will end up costing me money, probably more than a paintjob would cost me :shake: So, i'll probably just keep pushing till they give in.
Now, should i have them paint tthose 2 panels on monday, then complain cause they dont match, or just hold out on it.
Frank

[Smokie]

Frank, I had my car repainted completely by my local Ford dealer, the dealer of course has an obligation to protect the factory against frivolous claims; however it is a well documented fact that a problem exists with the paint on the '03 black MM.

The dealer does get paid in full for doing this work by the factory, it is not out of their pockets by any means, once a dealer agrees that the repaint is needed, the factory will pay.

I posted my experience in detail including pictures, do a search for my threads and go with the one called My Repaint. I recommend that the whole car by painted or you will be paying for a paint job out of your pocket in the future. Be polite and firm, do not accept no for an answer.

[Bigdogjim]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^What he said:)^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Work's for me:):):)

[ultravorx]

Frank, I had my car repainted completely by my local Ford dealer, the dealer of course has an obligation to protect the factory against frivolous claims; however it is a well documented fact that a problem exists with the paint on the '03 black MM.

Do you know where i can find this documentation, i tried telling the dealer this, but he said they never had any issues with the paint before. I heard there is a tsb for it, but i could never find it. If there is anything out there, even if you wouldnt mind pm'ing your dealers info, maybe i could contact them and see if they can help "verify" the paint problem.
Frank

[rookie1]

Sorry to hear about your dealer. Any good service or body shop magr could slide this in under warranty if he wanted to, the problem is getting him to want to.
Try calling Mercury customer svc again and ask if there's a factory field rep in your area and see if you can arrange for him to see your vehicle. Ask for a supervisor when you call customer service because the majority of the people on the phone banks are limited to pre programmed answers.
Good Luck and yes I would let them repaint the parts they are willing too, it may make the non repainted parts stand out more and force the issue.

[MapleLeafMerc]

Sorry to hear about your dealer. Any good service or body shop magr could slide this in under warranty if he wanted to, the problem is getting him to want to.
Try calling Mercury customer svc again and ask if there's a factory field rep in your area and see if you can arrange for him to see your vehicle. Ask for a supervisor when you call customer service because the majority of the people on the phone banks are limited to pre programmed answers.
Good Luck and yes I would let them repaint the parts they are willing too, it may make the non repainted parts stand out more and force the issue.

I agree. I also think that owner success in car quality disputes comes down to how well and how often you can play "the customer from hell". Some can do it well and get superb results. Others, we get stonewalled.

Give 'em hell and good luck.

[Smokie]

Ultra, I am trying to locate my invoice from repaint. There is not to my knowledge a TSB on the paint issue. By well documented I meant that there is a large amount of our members with black 03's that have complained about paint problems.

I took my car, not to my selling dealer; but to the dealer that I have been doing business with for the last 30 years. That may have helped, the service advisor did not fight me on the paint flaw issue and he was helpful and cordial at all times.

I don't know how many of our members have succesfully resolved the paint issue, I hope I am not the only one. It seems that there is a huge difference across the country as to how a dealer handles a customers complaint. I can tell you this, Logan had his car repainted for paint flaw issues and to the best of my recollection it was complete repaint under warranty.

I will do my best to locate my invoice and provide you with more info, Logan also would be a great source of advise. Hang in there, don't give up.