pringle

Looking back I should have taken your approach and foregone the BBB process. I would strongly discourage any consumer from using BBB as the intermediary as is prescribed in the owner's manual, it does not seem to add any value to the process.

I wanted to weigh in on this and relay my experience with the lemon law/buyback process with Ford. This is based on experience with a C-Max Energi (vs. standard C-Max hybrid). I purchased a new 2013 C-Max Energi last year. I was really excited to be buying an American manufacturer and supporting Ford's impressive leadership in green automotive technology. I was also very excited about the fuel sipping tendencies of the C-Max. In my case I don't commute to work but do make short errands interspersed with longer trips. The C-Max was perfect for me as at least 70% of my trips would entirely electric. I gave up my luxury brand SUV to give Ford a try - after all, I think we can all agree the fit and finish on the C-Max (be it standard hybrid or Energi) is quite good and the interiors are particularly nice. About 2 months after purchase I started experiencing escalating electrical issues. First I had a 12V battery go dead, followed by another 12V drain. They could not pinpoint the problem in either case. Then, the Energi feature stopped charging; just threw off what have become known as blinking blue ring errors (that's the charging port on the car). 4 trips into the dealer for that problem and it has still not been fixed 1.5 years later. Since then other problems have started to develop including a loud grinding noise in the drivetrain/transmission (sounds like a jet engine taking off when at cruising speed), problems with the computer that kept resetting and rebooting itself, issues with the navigation freezing. All of this on top of the fact the car had stopped charging. I was just hauling around a massive heavy EV battery at that point, getting 38MPG. Yes, that's right, my average was 38MPG. I would have been better off with a standard C-Max Hybrid (and actually, would have been even better off just keeping my SUV). I had specific documentation from the Ford dealer on the known issues with charging/blinking blue rings which makes for a pretty straightforward case - the key premium feature on the car that I paid for did not work and they knew the problem existed without a known fix. I attempted to pursue the BBB AutoLine process outlined in the owner's manual and I can only report that it was an utter disaster. BBB made errors in the paperwork from the start - including wrong VIN numbers and car descriptions - and were only able to get Ford to commit to yet another service intervention with a Field Service Engineer. Since internal documentation acknowledged the existence of this problem without any known resolution I saw no point in doing that. They did not at that point offer or address my desire for a buyback. BBB also took other actions that made me question their integrity and bias, but I won't elaborate on those here. At that point I decided to pursue a lemon law case against Ford. My car had been out of service in the shop more than 6 times and for more than 30 days. Legal counsel indicated that although Ford says consumers must use the BBB process, it is not legally mandated. You can still pursue a lemon law claim without regard for the BBB process. Relevant documents were filed and a lawsuit moved forward. Ford's legal counsel made many errors along the way including filing legal documents with the wrong VIN number, customer name, vehicle make/model and complaint details. It was very clear it was a cut and paste job probably done by a low-level legal assistant. Only at the last minute, almost a year after the lawsuit was filed and mere weeks before the trial date, did they finally engage in serious settlement discussions. In the end, they ended up offering a buyback of the vehicle. It was an exceedingly painful experience and not one I would have dared attempt without a lawyer. Be aware if you feel you have a potential lemon law suit - you have little to lose. The manufacturer pays for legal fees. The return process was simple and straightforward once they committed to doing something about the car. I felt I got a good buyback offer in the end although it's never going to make you 100% financially "whole". I ended up buying from a different manufacturer, so far so good with that purchase. Be prepared for a protracted experience with Ford whether you go BBB or lawsuit. It's a black mark on their brand and pretty much guarantees I will never entertain buying from them in the future. I have gone from a converted Ford fan to a 100% detractor. An interesting anecdote: when I went to return the vehicle the nice dealer rep had a stack of probably 6-8 buyback packets sitting on the desk. I got a peek at the folder on top of that stack (not mine, which was sitting open on the desk) and it was also a C-Max Energi.