Dear Ford,
As an owner of a FORD product I am finding it increasingly difficult
to maintain my vehicle with FORD replacement parts. This is because
FORD has stopped making these parts available to the dealers.
With your recent posturing as a "good corporate citizen"
isn't supporting your products over their life a core value ??
The environmental slogan of "reduce, reuse, and recycle"
clearly isn't supported by FORD's decision to force FORD products
just over 10 years old to be recycled ??
I am on 2 email lists specifically devoted to Merkurs. These are very loyal Merkur owners. They are having a hard time getting support from FORD for parts. By contrast, Mercedes, BMW, Volvo (at least the old Volvo) were famous for supplying parts for their old 'legacy" cars even thirty years after they went out of production. Aston Martin is (was?) almost fanatical about following its cars and maintaining them. They would welcome the owner sending the whole car back to the factory for a total rebuild. The reputation of those companies is actually much better than their cars really warranted. It wasn't the cars so much as how the factory treated their owners. For another example, I recently showed my Merkur at the Knott FORD show, in talking to a loyal T-Bird owner he was telling me about parts supply problems for his TBird SC. That really stopped my interest in buying a TBird.
When I decide to purchase a new vehicle, one of the critical parameters in the decision is the vehicle manufacturer's history of supporting their products over their life, which clearly is between 150,000 and 200,000 miles. Is FORD such a manufacturer ??
thanks, Allan Slocum
owner 1985 Merkur XR4ti, 1995 Volvo 850 Turbo
The Merkur Encyclopedia is finally home. (www.merkurencyclopedia.com)
Ford's response
Subject:
Re: General Questions and Comments (KMM984240C0KM)
Date: Mon, 18 Jun 2001 10:21:31 -0400
From: Owner Connection <cacowner@customersupportctr.com>
To: allan slocum <a.slocum@mindspring.com>
Dear Allan,
Thank you for your message of 06/17/01 regarding your 1985 Mercury Merkur. We appreciate the time you have taken to write us concerning the issues that you have had in obtaining parts.
Allan, thank you for your comments. Feedback from customers like you enable us to look into areas where improvements may be needed so that we are better able to satisfy our customers in the future. We appreciate your concerns and have documented them for future reference.
In the future, when you are attempting to obtain Ford, Mercury, or Lincoln parts that are no longer available through your dealership, may we suggest the following places that me be of assistance.
You may contact Green Sales directly at 800-543-4959, 513-731-3304 or at www.greensalescompany.com.
You may also contact Obsolete Parts at 800-933-6731, www.obsoleteford.com. Another web site that you can visit is www.partsvoice.com.
For specific information on Merkur parts, please contact Rapido (Merkur Parts) at 541-544-3333 or at ,www.rapidogroup.com
Allan, thank you for being a member of the Ford family.
We appreciate your dedication and loyalty and therefore would like to apologize for any frustration you may have experienced as a result of this situation.
At Ford Motor Company, we consider the satisfaction of our customers as one of our most important objectives. If you have any other inquiries or concerns, please feel free to contact us and we will be happy to address them.
Thank you for contacting Ford Motor Company.
Sincerely,
Blaine
Ford Motor Company
Customer Relationship Center
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