First I want to thank Mr. Art Hyde (or his assistant) for replying to my many e-mails. I am impressed that someone at Ford is listening and cares enough about their customers to respond directly to them (I know it's his job to do what he can to make the customers happy - but he could just ignore us, and let someone else "deal" with us).
I thought I would list below some questions (paraphrased) and answers from the e-mails I sent and received over the last few days to Mr. Art Hyde:
Q: I have rubbed part of ink off of the S/N sticker on my car by trying to clean it. I'm very upset at the quality of this sticker. I would like to see if Ford is going to consider a replacement, maybe a solid metal badge/plate of some type - something that will hold up over the years?
A: "Understood. The program is done and we will consider the input for the next program if there is one."
Q: What should I do about my sticker that has the ink rubbed off? I talked to my dealer and he said he would have to wait until Ford sends out something such as a TSB that instructs him how to handle the problem. Will Ford send out something to inform the dealers how to replace the damaged sticker?
A: "Yes. We made a third label for every Bullitt. We are right now working out a way we can have dealers provide that label to people like you. What we are worried about is diversion of the labels. We have indications that prople are building GTs into Bullitts. We do not want to provide them with a source to get the one non-service part because then the value of the "real" Bullitts will be diluted. The logistics of making sure labels do not get diverted are complex."
Q: You mention three labels. Does that mean the car has one somewhere else?
A: "There is a second label on your car. As a policy, we do not disclose its location."
Q: Will the replacement label I get be exactly like the current one I have? I mean specifically, will the ink be exactly the same?
A: "At the time of production, a third label was also produced. These are safely stored in Dearborn and will be used to replace labels that have been wiped off. The ink will be protected by a clear cover to be mailed to you soon."
So it looks like there is a third label, exactly like the one already on the car, that Ford will get to the ones that have damaged theirs. There probably won't be any type of redesigned badge/label made by Ford for us, and we will only be getting a clear label to protect the ink from coming off in the future.
While I do not agree with their decision to not improve the label, Mr. Hyde's responses were not ambiguous.
That's it, probably the final word and all we are going to get from Ford.
I thought I would list below some questions (paraphrased) and answers from the e-mails I sent and received over the last few days to Mr. Art Hyde:
Q: I have rubbed part of ink off of the S/N sticker on my car by trying to clean it. I'm very upset at the quality of this sticker. I would like to see if Ford is going to consider a replacement, maybe a solid metal badge/plate of some type - something that will hold up over the years?
A: "Understood. The program is done and we will consider the input for the next program if there is one."
Q: What should I do about my sticker that has the ink rubbed off? I talked to my dealer and he said he would have to wait until Ford sends out something such as a TSB that instructs him how to handle the problem. Will Ford send out something to inform the dealers how to replace the damaged sticker?
A: "Yes. We made a third label for every Bullitt. We are right now working out a way we can have dealers provide that label to people like you. What we are worried about is diversion of the labels. We have indications that prople are building GTs into Bullitts. We do not want to provide them with a source to get the one non-service part because then the value of the "real" Bullitts will be diluted. The logistics of making sure labels do not get diverted are complex."
Q: You mention three labels. Does that mean the car has one somewhere else?
A: "There is a second label on your car. As a policy, we do not disclose its location."
Q: Will the replacement label I get be exactly like the current one I have? I mean specifically, will the ink be exactly the same?
A: "At the time of production, a third label was also produced. These are safely stored in Dearborn and will be used to replace labels that have been wiped off. The ink will be protected by a clear cover to be mailed to you soon."
So it looks like there is a third label, exactly like the one already on the car, that Ford will get to the ones that have damaged theirs. There probably won't be any type of redesigned badge/label made by Ford for us, and we will only be getting a clear label to protect the ink from coming off in the future.
While I do not agree with their decision to not improve the label, Mr. Hyde's responses were not ambiguous.
That's it, probably the final word and all we are going to get from Ford.
