FORD SOUTH AFRICA - Do they have a purpose?

I purchased a very neat and clean 2nd hand 2015 AUTO Ford Ranger 4x4 with 107 000km on the clock from Wingfield Motors in March 2021 together with their Wingfield 2-year warranty.

After driving it for some time we experienced problems with the Rear View Camera behaving erratically, meaning that sometimes it failed to come on, other times it only had a blue image, and sometimes it worked without showing the grid lines. We also found that the Reverse Gear Selector did not work during these times and then had to move the lever back to Neutral and the Reverse again, and only then it would go into reverse gear, sometimes with the reverse camera working, and sometimes not.

I immediately reported this to Wingfield where after they collected the vehicle and provided us with a courtesy vehicle whilst diagnosing the problem. They were unable to find and simulate the problem as it was intermittent.

After a few ups and down with Wingfield over some weeks, they collected the vehicle again and provided us with another courtesy vehicle and decided to send the vehicle to the nearest Ford Dealer which was Halfway Ford Goodwood/Kuilsrivier. I am not sure if they are the same entity as their Invoice shows GOODWOOD but their email responses from their Workshop Manager came from KUILSRIVIER.

PS: I never dealt with Halfway Ford directly, Wingfield did, as I purchased the vehicle from Wingfield.

Halfway Ford Goodwood kept the vehicle for some time and replaced the Gear Lever and Shifter Cable at a cost of +- 20K that Wingfield paid for.

After receiving the Ford Ranger back in May 2021 there was an improvement in the shifting of the auto gearbox especially the reverse gear and the reverse camera worked for some weeks and then started to give problems intermittently again.

I requested from Wingfield that Rola Ford Herm**** investigate the problem as they are the closest Ford Dealer to our farm in Gansbaai and after some testing, they found that the actual reverse camera is faulty and needs to be replaced. Halfway Ford Goodwood refused to pay for it and requested my vehicle to go back to them for diagnostics and refused to liaise with Rola Ford Herm**** to discuss their findings.

As we have been inconvenienced in cost and time to send our vehicle to Cape Town from Gansbaai a few times already, I decided to contact Ford South Africa to facilitate the process and requested that Halfway Ford Goodwood or Ford South Africa pay for the new reverse camera and that it is fitted by Rola Ford Herm**** being the closest Ford dealer to us. Also, Halfway Ford already attempted to fix the problem and charged +- 20K and still the problem persists.

For nearly 3 weeks now Ford is only making excuses without any resolution.

They even sent me an email stating that they are unable to reach me on a phone number unbeknown to me although they have called me a few times on my correct mobile number already.

They further communicated that they have been unable to reach Rola Ford Herm**** a second time to discuss their findings as they have received contradicting information and would like to confirm what Rola Ford said.

This is laughable as Ford South Africa clearly states that all calls are recorded, so why not playback the conversations they had? I have always been able to reach Rola Ford Herm**** and whenever someone was not available, they returned my call in good time.

Ford South Africa have now become unresponsive to all subsequent emails and I have lost faith in them and fail to understand what their position is in terms of their Ford customers and Ford Dealers, and do they actually have a purpose?

It comes as no surprise that Halfway Ford Goodwood/Kuilsrivier and Ford South Africa all receive between 1 and 2-star ratings whereas Wingfield and the Rola Group have 3 stars on this platform.

Shame on you Ford South Africa and to SOME of your dealers!