Arron and Nicola Whelen went to great lengths to get a second car that was just right. With one toddler and another baby on the way, they wanted safety, performance and comfort.
They spotted a 2014 Ford Mondeo at Turners Auctions and had it checked out by their mechanic. After forking out just under $12,000 for the four-year-old car, they had it serviced. This little beauty was meant to last a long, long time.
But it didn't. Two years later, with only about 100,000 kilometres on the clock, the car was a write-off. The transmission failed and couldn't be repaired.
Mechanics at the Ford garage in Queenstown told them the transmission would have to be replaced completely, at a price that could buy them a new car. The couple felt Ford was to blame. They believed it was a manufacturing fault because the part couldn't be repaired.
They did their research and found that other Ford models had been plagued by transmission problems. This had led to thousands of customers filing lawsuits against the company in the USA. There were similar tales of woe in Australia.
Arron and Nicola hoped this would mean Ford would quickly come to their rescue. But after receiving details of their situation, the company claimed they weren't responsible because the car was outside its warranty period of five years or 60,000km.
Arron was not impressed, saying, "If a car is six years old and you have to drive it to the wreckers it doesn't make sense. You'd have a whole lot of cars at the wreckers".
They followed up and were asked if they had driven it in unusual circumstances. They were also asked if they were loyal Ford owners
"That seemed to matter," Arron said.
Then came the request for their service history.
The couple were confident it was up to date, but Ford thought otherwise and said it would cost $10,500 to fix it. Nicola says it was gutting to "hear them say here's a quote for the full price, not even a reduction".
The couple then contacted Fair Go. They wanted Ford to be held to account and for others in New Zealand to know in case of similar problems.
Fair Go agrees with the couple that it's a product fault, meaning Ford should be responsible whether or not it's outside its warranty period.
When we contacted Ford, initially they were adamant that wasn't the case, saying the couple had just missed a service by a few months so the fault lay with them.
Arron and Nicola believed the transmission service was only required every 60,000km so the second one wasn't yet due. Fair Go took a look at the logbook.
It suggested they were right. A power-shift transmission oil change, which is needed because lubricants have a specific service life, is only required every 60,000km.
When Fair Go discussed this with the couple, they then said they'd actually had the oil changed when the car was checked over immediately after purchase.
They hadn't passed this information on to Ford because they understood Ford was only interested in its regular servicing.
We thought it worth putting to the company, and a few weeks later, the couple were thrilled to hear Ford had agreed to foot the bill in its entirety. They said it was due to the new information provided.
They provided a statement, which said "the decision to cover the cost of the repair was based on the service invoice".
"Had the information been provided at the beginning, the process would have been different and simpler."
Arron saw things differently.
"I think it was Fair Go — we wouldn't have got this result otherwise," he said. "In our mind, nothing major changed but they've done a complete U-turn thanks to you guys."
Arron has this advice to anyone else in a similar situation: "Stand your ground, don't let them get away with pushing the wee guy around."
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