Ford Help line - useless
 

If you read through two posts I've participated in (100,000 Miles Report & Engine/Transaxle Mounts) you'll see a long troubleshooting set of entries having to do with a repetitive knocking in my Hybrid Escape's front end.

At one point I called the Ford 800 number for help. I asked to speak with an engineer or other knowledgeable person. At another point I submitted an email. Their first email response seemed to want to help in asking for some specifics, but after I responded they only offered to open their phone directory.

In both cases Ford refused to help. All they were willing to do was connect me with a dealer so I could make an appointment. Essentially they were no more than a person with a phone directory.

For future reference don't waste your time calling or emailing. Ford won't help you.

Re: Ford Help line - useless
 

That was my experience with Ford when I had unintended acceleration with my FEH. I called the "help" line only to inform them of this potentially dangerous problem. They quickly informed me that it wasn't covered by warranty, they had no interest in hearing any details, and suggested I take it to a dealer.

Re: Ford Help line - useless
 

With the exception perhaps of Tesla, I don't think any car manufacturer will help diagnose or deal with problems over the phone or by email. They are best seen as public relations departments, not a help line.

Manufacturers are not going to "hold hands" to help owners fix problems. Given the current legal climate around vehicle failures, they will avoid anything that would implicate them in safety issues.

From their point of view, owners are an unknown quantity that may or may not be honest, screw things up, etc. They have to rely on their dealers to handle issues properly (I know that comment will get a few cynical laughs), and to escalate internally safety issues. They are there to steer customers to their service departments.

I welcome Ford representatives' participation in forums like this, but I can see that the role of such representatives must be very limited and it must often be difficult for them to decide what to say.

Hopefully over time that sort of involvement by manufacturers' staff on forums like this will evolve to be more helpful and genuinely personal as they learn that involvement will win them more loyal customers than it costs them in service department business.

Re: Ford Help line - useless
 

Thank you for your little lecture about reality and the facts of life...

On the other hand, they advertise it as a help line, thus they need to be willing to help, or they need to call it something else. For now it's just a feel-good PR ploy.

Otherwise they should call it what it is: a person with a phone directory. Nothing else.

Quite simply if a knowledgeable person had listened to me and said, well you know, struts fail in funny ways... it would have saved me immeasurable time.

At one point they recommended I take to the purchase dealer... 2000 miles away... get real.

Even the nearest dealer is 150 miles away. I explained that I wasn't confident I could safely get to it.

Thus they made no attempt to help and it was a waste of time.

Re: Ford Help line - useless
 

The Ford 800 number available to owners never has been the Tech Support line that a dealer uses when they get stumped. It's just a Customer Support not Technical Support.

My dealer did call Tech Support to answer a question that they couldn't one time.

Re: Ford Help line - useless
 

Roger that...

Still I would characterize it as nothing more than a phone directory...

...And in this day & age, if that's all they're going to do, you'll find what you need faster and more accurately on the internet with a googlesearch!!

Bottom line in this case: If I could have spoken to someone that could have said early on "go look more closely at the strut, they fail in funny ways," it would have saved me several hundred $$ and much time.

This was a simple lesson learned for me about MacPherson struts and how they fail. I've had extensive experience with traditional shocks and never seen the symptoms seen here. Since there was no visible evidence on the strut I couldn't fathom how it could fail with the symptoms I faced.

Re: Ford Help line - useless
 

That's true! Maybe a shop that specializes in suspension if there is such a thing.

Re: Ford Help line - useless
 

Yes there are specialty wheel alignment/suspension/front end shops that have expertise in diagnosing these types of issues. Maybe they could help a customer out over the phone too ;)