A General Sessions Court case has been settled in which a customer whose truck was towed to Marshal Mize Ford said employees used the truck for joyriding trips.
Jeff Chambers said, prior to the settlement, "Ford towed my Truck in to Marshal Mize. I went over to Marshal Mize the next day and was told they had test drove it and found two problems - a coolant leak and it was out of DEF fluid, (diesel exhaust fluid) and I was given this in writing along with cost.
"Since this truck was already deemed a lemon and been in the shop many many times for the exact same problems recently, I stated Ford should cover them since it was also under warranty. Well, my truck sat at Marshal Mize Ford for 14 more days supposedly non driveable and broken down, according to Marshal Mize.
"I went over on the 14th day and retrieved my camera off the dash and downloaded the video. I have over 100 hi-def videos of several Marshal Mize employees driving my truck for those two weeks and also several employees driving it to lunch several times, once at Logans in Hixson, all this while I was refused a rental and while I was being told Ford was not covering the repairs and it was not driveable.
"I then confronted General Manager Todd Dyer with the video and he apologized. He stated he did have a meeting with his employees who admitted they drove it to lunch and he stated he would pay for my rental truck that I had rented the two weeks my truck was there and he did pay for the repairs and get my truck back to me the following day.
"Now three weeks later the exact same problems returned to my truck, and it's been driven less than 1,000 miles since they worked on it. Mr. Dyer did not want this story or video getting out.
"Now two weeks ago my truck was towed back in by Ford and taken to Marshal Mize and they refused it and refused to work on it because of one and only reason they are mad that i caught them on camera. At this time I have no idea where my truck is at or the status. Mr. Dyer has refused to return my phone calls since then.
"Again, Marshal Mize just supposedly repaired the exact same problem the end of December and three weeks later it had to be towed in again by Ford for the same problems existing. and now Marshal Mize is refusing to stand behind their work, refusing my warranty, and refusing my extended warranty and refused to give me a rental.
"The day after i filed suit Mr. Dyer went and paid the rental bill from December that he promised to pay a month ago."
Mr. Chambers said he paid $1,700 for an extended warranty at the time of the truck purchase and it also covers rentals.
He said, "I am being denied all of this with no explanation. Marshal Mize made a post on Facebook saying this was a Ford problem. The joyriding and being denied service, denied warranty and denied a rental is all a Marshal Mize problem."