My sad tale of woe and aggravation

Ford: Where quality used to be Job #1
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This is my story

The object of my despair

This picture of "IT" was taken shortly after I bought it. Itis now unrecognizable as it has had a new paint job, new running boards, new locks, new engine etc. etc. But I am getting ahead of myself. This whole sad story started back in November 1999. I went truck shopping and decided on a 2000 Ford Explorer Sport. The one I chose was black with silver accents, moonroof, power everything, leather seats, 6 disc CD changer. The whole package. But during this my current vehicle decided to die on me, so I couldnt wait for the 2000 to be made and delivered. Well, guess what I saw coming in to the dealership that day but a 1997 black with silver accents Ford Explorer Sport. It had everything I wanted. It turned out to be a program car. It was kept at Ford HQ. I even did a VIN# search through Carfax.com to make sure it hadn't been in a wreck. It came back clean. So, I bought it and drove off a happy man. The sales experience was painless. They assured me the vehicle was a Red Carpet Lease car and as such was a certified used vehcile put through their "rigorous" safety and service check programs. Uh huh. The first thing that happened was the engine sounded really rough and the check engine light came on. I brought it in and they fixed it. As I was driving away from Dave Dinger Ford, the check engine light came on. I brought it back to them immediately, after looing at it again, they made the determination that the problem resulted in a defective part. The defective part it turns out was out of stock because it had to be manufactured bcause the previous versions were, you guessed it: defective. This went on for three months. The whole while the engine sounded like a cement mixer. At the time, I had to commute 300+ miles weekly to attend the fire academy. The engine ran so loud and so rough it got embarassing. The whole time the Check Engine light was on. I called every week and was told it wasn't in yet and that when it did finally come in, there was a long line of Explorer Owner's waiting for the part.