Great Truck - Don't buy Ford in the Caribbean

[IslandMan87]

I purchased a 2025 Wildtrak in the Caribbean (I'll leave the destination as a question mark for now) a few weeks ago. Love the truck so far.

The local "dealer" made me sign a document (on their letterhead) saying only they could service the vehicle and nobody else could touch it (including me) or my warranty would be void. They only pulled this magic document out at acceptance after they had my deposit and had imported the vehicle, so there wasn't much choice there. THey have yet to provide me with a service schedule (despite my asking for it), so that service every 4 months (and associated cost) is pretty open ended. Ford's warranty hasn't been provided to me yet either.

I emailed Ford and got through to the Asia Pacific guys. They told me my dealer was not Ford authorised, which picks some holes in their warranty agreement as they repeatedly refer to themselves as manufacturer authorised. I contacted the dealer they bought the truck from (on another island in a different country). They're non-responsive, so they might be in on it. The email address on Ford Caribe's website bounces back as not existing. I have been on hold with them for just over an hour now. So, regionally, I have contacted the (potentially false) dealer, the dealer that sold it to them, and the regional distributor. No response now for over a week.

The only people who respond are the Asia Pacific guys who are on an inverted time zone and are pretty clearly doing the same thing as me trying to get someone in the Caribbean region to respond.

I need to try and get a hold of someone at Ford Global so I can get some answers to determine if I even have a warranty (if I don't then I need it in writing - I'll litigate against the false dealer or perhaps if there is time I'll just return the vehicle for a full refund), what the actual terms if I have one and how they are affected by my location, a factory service schedule, and how I will recieve notices for recalls and service advisories.

I love this truck so far, but even excluding the issue with the local dealer/not dealer, Ford's corporate response has been garbage. Everyone seems to say "that isn't my problem and you need to call someone else", but. I don't seem to be getting any closer to the person I need to speak to.

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[ChronciallyChronic]

You should be

I purchased a 2025 Wildtrak in the Caribbean (I'll leave the destination as a question mark for now) a few weeks ago. Love the truck so far.

The local "dealer" made me sign a document (on their letterhead) saying only they could service the vehicle and nobody else could touch it (including me) or my warranty would be void. They only pulled this magic document out at acceptance after they had my deposit and had imported the vehicle, so there wasn't much choice there. THey have yet to provide me with a service schedule (despite my asking for it), so that service every 4 months (and associated cost) is pretty open ended. Ford's warranty hasn't been provided to me yet either.

I emailed Ford and got through to the Asia Pacific guys. They told me my dealer was not Ford authorised, which picks some holes in their warranty agreement as they repeatedly refer to themselves as manufacturer authorised. I contacted the dealer they bought the truck from (on another island in a different country). They're non-responsive, so they might be in on it. The email address on Ford Caribe's website bounces back as not existing. I have been on hold with them for just over an hour now. So, regionally, I have contacted the (potentially false) dealer, the dealer that sold it to them, and the regional distributor. No response now for over a week.

The only people who respond are the Asia Pacific guys who are on an inverted time zone and are pretty clearly doing the same thing as me trying to get someone in the Caribbean region to respond.

I need to try and get a hold of someone at Ford Global so I can get some answers to determine if I even have a warranty (if I don't then I need it in writing - I'll litigate against the false dealer or perhaps if there is time I'll just return the vehicle for a full refund), what the actual terms if I have one and how they are affected by my location, a factory service schedule, and how I will recieve notices for recalls and service advisories.

I love this truck so far, but even excluding the issue with the local dealer/not dealer, Ford's corporate response has been garbage. Everyone seems to say "that isn't my problem and you need to call someone else", but. I don't seem to be getting any closer to the person I need to speak to.

You should be contacting Ford Corporate in Dearborn.

 

[BrrRaptor]

This is the number they gave us at the Assult Performance school.

 

[Jason B]

You should be contacting a lawyer, not Ford Corporate.

 

[IslandMan87]

So I called the guys in Dearborn and the hotline a few days ago. The best they could do was to inform me that my VIN wasn't in their system because it was from a different region, and they therefore couldn't provide me with documentation. They also said they couldn't get through to the Caribbean distributor directly, so it's not just me. The best they could do is allow me to file a complaint against the distributor in an attempt to get a response, which is a little lacklustre, but it's something. It's difficult to remain patient at this point.

The authorised dealer came back to me yesterday to refer me back to the unauthorised one, which I'll certainly lodge a complaint about once this all washes out. They're either in cahoots or they think they can wash their hands of the product they are appointed to represent (keeping in mind this truck originally came through them - they benefited from its sale too).

The whole support system (at least in this region) has been a supreme disappointment. I'd be quite happy to change the region on the truck and adopt a dealer in Florida, if possible. I'd be happy to pay a tech to do the work under their instruction, take liability for their failings, and cover the logistics cost of getting parts here. I just want to know that if I have a warrantable catastrophic engine failure, someone will send me a new one. Warranties aren't worth much more than that around here. I'll pay the shipping, duty, and installation. ...but I'm not going to pay some fake dealer that has no stake in underwriting the warranty $350 to change my oil every 4 months in order to retain that. The "dealer"'s private warranty terms (which they still seem to claim are underwritten by Ford) are so tight that I basically can't even change the spare tire without their assistance.

 

[IslandMan87]

You should be contacting a lawyer, not Ford Corporate.

Haven't ruled this out, but courts and lawyers are expensive here. It's the British system, so if you lose, you pay costs for both sides. For a $63K truck, I'm gambling about that much in legal fees. The most economical path would just be to resell the truck. Unfortunately, I have a habit of pursuing things like this on principle, so I havent taken it off the table, but it wouldn't be entirely rational. Plus, unless I have a warrantable claim, I can't actually prove that I have experienced a loss yet.

 

[josephp732]

Any idea how you will get the recalls completed? Just wondering as some of the recalls are safety related. I would think Ford really needs to answer that question.

 

[Jason B]

I imagine them NOT being a Ford dealer, the statement "only they could service the vehicle and nobody else could touch it (including me) or my warranty would be void. " is invalid. Your warranty is with Ford, not the dealer.
You can take your truck to any shop for service and Ford won't void your warranty, but you have to keep records. I think in the US we have specific laws saying that they can't void the warranty because you took it somewhere else.

 

[Jason B]

Another possibility is that the dealer offers a specific warranty that requires service has to be at his shop only. For example, a certain Nissan/Volvo dealer in our area offers lifetime power train warranty on all their vehicles, as long as you take it to them for regular maintenance.
But that still doesn't invalidate the OEM warranty.

 

[IslandMan87]

Just heard from the regional distributor.

Another possibility is that the dealer offers a specific warranty that requires service has to be at his shop only. For example, a certain Nissan/Volvo dealer in our area offers lifetime power train warranty on all their vehicles, as long as you take it to them for regular maintenance.
But that still doesn't invalidate the OEM warranty.

I did consider this, but the dealer's terms state "Vehicles are covered by the manufacturer's warranty during the manufacturer's warranty period." before going on to set their own terms. There is zero commitment, or even mention of them underwriting their own warranty (and frankly, the market here is so small that I can't see how this could in any way be a good business decision).

 

[IslandMan87]

I imagine them NOT being a Ford dealer, the statement "only they could service the vehicle and nobody else could touch it (including me) or my warranty would be void. " is invalid. Your warranty is with Ford, not the dealer.
You can take your truck to any shop for service and Ford won't void your warranty, but you have to keep records. I think in the US we have specific laws saying that they can't void the warranty because you took it somewhere else.

Turns out no warranty with Ford, based on their warranty exclusions:

"
• If your vehicle model is not sold or serviceable by an


authorized Ford Distributor/Dealer in the destination


country, you will not receive warranty service."

... Not that anyone at Ford, whatsoever, is responsive. Love the truck, but will probably end up giving it back to the "dealer" and will NEVER buy another Ford product. See below.

 

[IslandMan87]

So... weekend update. Many phone calls made. Many emails sent. No real responses. I have recordings of all the calls and records of all the emails.

Local "dealer" non-responsive other than repeated reminders (presumably auto-generated) about the mandatory one-month service. I think they know they're in it.

Actual dealer - Will only revert me back to the non-dealer they sold the car to . Otherwise completely non-responsive, even to provide warranty terms or service schedule, which only a dealer can access apparently.

About 20 calls to Ford Caribe (Regional Distributor). 2 answered. Daily follow-up emails. None answered other than some autoresponder in Spanish. I had to contact Ford USA to get their contact info because the email address on their website bounces back as nonexistent. Each time they have answered the phone, they (same guy, actually!) have promised to contact me by the end of the day or the following morning. Both times, zero follow-up. They are apparently unable to access dealer resources, so they can only ask the dealer (who is non-responsive) to send me that documentation. Generally, if you call during a business day, it just says no representatives are available. No voicemail. A complete disgrace.

Called Ford USA. Had to purchase a US phone line to do so, as it rejects foreign numbers. I spent an hour filing a formal complaint regarding the non-communication from the distributor with someone who said they'd follow up earlier in the week. I called back today to find out that there is no record of my complaint. Since my vehicle is not a US vehicle, they bounced me back to Ford Caribe. They put me on hold, and they also can't reach them. So it's a dead end. Nobody seems to know how to get anyone at corporate who actually deals with international distributors. They are seemingly treated as individual franchises. I specifically asked to speak to someone who handles management and accountability for distributors. Of course, standard 2025 customer service, nobody has the power to do anything but issue false apologies and no solutions.

Ford Asia Pacific has gone silent for days, despite repeated follow-ups. They claimed they were trying to figure out who was responsible for the vehicle. I asked them to escalate this (to no response) days ago because I wasn't getting a response from the dealer or distributor.

So, basically, the trail or responsibility seems to just end at the distributor, and this is where Ford washes their hands of you.

For the most part, all I was seeking was a copy of the vehicle's warranty policy and service schedule. This is an absolute joke. I have spent at least 20 hours pursuing this, and NOBODY can provide it to me. I finally sourced them online myself by going through another country's Ford website today, and found in the warranty terms:
"
• If your vehicle model is not sold or serviceable by an


authorized Ford Distributor/Dealer in the destination


country, you will not receive warranty service."

So I have no factory warranty, despite the "dealer"'s warranty terms saying "the warranty is provided by the manufacturer" and that they are "dealer authorised by the manufacturer". One would think, at the bare minimum, that Ford would have an interest in potential fraud to protect their reputation here, but good luck finding anyone with an interest.

Great truck. Terrible company. ZERO support in this region, even through authorised channels.

Of course, I'm up for the brake boost recall, and I'm pretty sure it happened to me last night. I was pushing up a hill and put my foot on the brake as I came to a switchback to find not much there. There was a weird downshift where it redlined even though I wasn't accelerating. ...but I didn't have to restart the vehicle to reset, so I'm not sure. Regardless, I suppose my "dealer" won't have the computer or access to do the software update, and there are no OTA software updates in this region.

This truck is everything I wanted, to the letter, save for the support. I'd give them a pass on that, considering they didn't commit to it in the first place, but the system clearly doesn't work regardless. How is it that a customer can communicate with the dealer, multiple regional distributors, and corporate for three weeks and not receive a response?

The best case I can see here is suing the "dealer" or giving them the truck back and letting them reimburse me for the expense of the vehicle-specific mods I already did, lost time, legal fees, a replacement vehicle rental while a new one is imported, and whatever else this has cost me.

Of course, the bank that lent on a new vehicle, of which a significant part of the value is/was the factory warranty, is bound to take an interest, and I have a duty of disclosure since at this point they own significantly more of it than I do.

I can't blame Ford for a fraudulent dealer, but I can absolutely blame them for failing to support their customer base and their product. Their customer service isn't even worth assessment as it has not yet existed. This is an absolute disgrace on their part. I am so disappointed.

 

[TheRealSasquatch]

It’s funny Ford chimes in on other threads about issues with the trucks but it’s crickets so far on this one!
How ‘bout it Ford Motor Company?!

 

[Scooter]

What a Cluster Fkd.

Just fraud running rampant these day's.

I feel for you. this blow's

 

[ShadowDragon24]

@Ford Motor Company

It’s funny Ford chimes in on other threads about issues with the trucks but it’s crickets so far on this one!
How ‘bout it Ford Motor Company?!

we should all tag them in this post. get this guy some much needed answer hopefully then!

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