My sister had blistering paint bubbles on her 2012 Ford Edge, it is a black metallic paint colour, not sure the name of the colour but the same colour is used on the Explorer (different assembly plant though). She had about 20 paint bubbles, and when the bubbles broke they exposed the whitish colour primer under the paint, so it looked terrible and very obvious. This happened within 4 months of getting the vehicle. She received the vehicle in late winter and the paint started bubbling as soon as the hot weather arrived in our region. The bubbles started popping as the car was being hand washed in my sister's driveway.
Ford of Canada treated her like absolute crap, they denied the claim based on pictures that the dealer sent to the Ontario Ford representative. They wouldn't even come out tp inspect the vehicle in person. It was almost impossible to see the bubbles that had developed but had not broken yet in cheap low quality digital camera pics, yet they would not come out to look at it.
Ford managed to soak her for an extended warranty and then the dealer got her for additional paint protection coverage, and neither warranty company would honour her claim. Ford pulled out all the stops with their cookie cutter standard claim denials. They denied her claim saying that they were stone chips, yet they were clearly bubbles in the paint that were bursting, we found several bubbles that were developing that did not burst yet, and when the dealer paint manager touched them they burst on contact. The bubbles were on the front quarter panels, and the roof and the rear quarter panels. The Edge is assembled in Ontario, different than the Explorer.
The dealer paint shop manager said it was clearly a paint adhesion defect from the factory, and he was quite upset that Ford Canada denied the claim. He insisted that the dealer would repair the vehicle by re-painting the affected panels. The dealer painted the vehicle despite Ford not honouring a warranty claim.
I'm sorry but Ford outright treated my sister like garbage after she sunk a ton of money into buying that vehicle, the warranty department was too lazy to get off their pencil pushing butts to even look at the issue, assuming they could deduce what happened by looking at pictures. Shame on you Ford Canada, if my sister never buys another Ford vehicle again it will be because of your lazy claims representatives and people that are trained to spit out cookie cutter claims statements without even opening their eyes. I'm sorry that I talked her into buying her first Ford only to have her raked over the coals like that. They treated her like crap, plain and simple. The stress caused to the consumer in this case was inexcusable. If the dealer didn't step up to the plate and cover Ford's rear end we would have taken Ford to small claims court, plain and simple. :thumbdwn:
Big props to Oakridge Ford in London, Ontario, Canada, they stepped up to the plate and absorbed the cost which Ford should have taken responsibility for. The body shop manager at the dealership told the dealership manager that he was repairing the vehicle despite Ford denying the claim as it was a paint adhesion defect. The dealership owner didn't look too happy about it but it happened. At least someone in the organization had some integrity, and they weren't being paid by Ford
Sorry if I come off a bit emotional about this, but my sister is a single mother whose husband passed away unexpectedly when her son was only 3 months old. She was able to raise her son on her own by working hard, and when she finally was able to afford her first new vehicle she put out a considerable amount of dough on a new Ford Edge. She used to drive Hondas and she made the jump to her first-time Ford after I purchased my Ford Explorer. It really bothers me that Ford would take advantage of her like that, I don't expect Ford to know or care about her personal history, but they need to start treating people with respect after they leave the showroom, and stop trying to rip off hard working customers just so they can maintain their billion dollar profits.
