I've been a Ford customer for at least the last 40+ years, and I've never in my lifetime been so terribly treated by a single dealership like Carleton Place Ford has in the past year.
I bought a used 2019 Ford EcoSport in October 2022 from Carloft, which is the subsidiary of Heighton Auto Group, meaning Thomas Heighton owns both the dealership where the car most likely originated from, and where the badly defective car was resold to me, not knowing what I was up against from the start.
I had it taken to my personal mechanic multiple times within the first year of buying it.
From April to September, I rarely use cars, since I'm always on my motorcycle.
So, the odd time I used the car last summer was the end of August when I took my three young grandchildren to Montreal from Ottawa for a day-long trip. When leaving Montreal, with no warning signs, the engine blew up, leaving the four of us stranded on the side of the highway at 10 O'clock at night.
Long story short... it ended up first getting towed to a private garage, only to find out that this specific vehicle had a long history of its defective engines blowing up.
Fortunately, it was 100% warranty covered by Ford Canada.
By the first week of September 2025, it sat in the Carleton Place Ford parking lot for over eight months, until the first week of May this year.
In that time, I had made an arrangement with Enterprise Car Rental, and Carleton Place Ford agreed to pay 100% of the cost until they could get my car back on the road.
When it was finally ready, I was told I'd have to pay $2,100 before it would be released.
I was in shock, to say the least. I never once in those eight months agreed to pay anything. In fact, when they offered to do additional work while waiting to get the engine replaced, I made it perfectly clear I already had my own mechanic who had already done work on it, and I was not interested in paying the higher fees the dealership was asking. I specifically told them that when done, there should be zero costs to me. I was assured multiple times that there would be no additional costs.
If CP Ford was not going to absorb the costs, they should've provided me with a loaner vehicle like some others have indicated they do.
They are currently holding the car hostage for the unauthorized invoice, and I am now being forced to file a civil action. read more