Dear editor,

Dear editor,

The Eye needs to cast its gaze somewhat farther before it prints information which puts a business in a very bad light. I am referring to your snippit concerning the town of Ault police vehicle. If that was the full story we would deserve every bit of bad press we received, but it is not the full story. Here is the whole story:

On August 8, 1996, the town of Ault brought their police car into Garnsey and Wheeler to have a safety recall performed which replaced the engine oil cooler. It seems Ford was concerned because some of these parts were failing around the country, causing damage to engines. We replaced the engine oil cooler per the recall.

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About a month later, this police car was in a chase, and the engine cooler failed. The officer kept driving (understandably), and the engine seized when it ran out of oil. The vehicle was towed to Garnsey and Wheeler where we installed a new engine.

We billed Ford Motor Co. for the repair under their parts warranty policy as the engine breakdown was dur to the new part failing. Ford’s initial response was to pay for the new engine oil cooler, since that was the part that failed, but not the engine. The engine “blowing up” was considered “consequential damage” but not primary, and therefore not covered under the part warranty.
We at Garnsey and Wheeler vigorously protested this decision by Ford and pressed the issue until Ford agreed to pay for a portion of the engine repair and Garnsey and Wheeler agreed to pick up some fo what Ford would not pay.
(I am vague here because the negotiations were ongoing and the amounts changed several times.) We billed the town of Ault for the balance, which the police chief initially agreed to pay. However, because we still believed that Ault should not have to pay anything, we continued to press Ford for full payment. Towards the end of January, we received a letter from the town of Ault formally refusing to pay the bill and explaining why. We have always agreed that the town should not have to pay for the repair.
We were then able to take this letter to a higher level at Ford and again, press our case. Ford’s representative then agreed that Ford should pay the entire bill. I have been trying to call R. Russell Anson, the city attorney for the town of Ault, to let him know that Ford has paid the bill. He has yet to return my phone calls. Perhaps he is embarrassed that the information was somehow released to the public, and was neither correct nor the full story.
The regrettable aspect to this saga is that it was only days prior to your edition of The Busines Report that we were informed that Ford was to pay the bill, but hadn’t relayed that information to the city. We were always on the town’s side and arguing their case to Ford. Obviously, your information was incorrect at the time it was printed and really gives both Ford and Garnsey and Wheeler an undeserved black “Eye.”
For 75 years, we have passionately pursued our customer’s interest, and the town of Ault was no exception. Having this story in print, and circulated to many of our customers, is very damaging and hurtful, especially in light of our efforts and successful resolution of the issue. I hope that the NCBR routinely calls its subjects for reactions and responses before printing, and that this particular column was simply an oversight.

Tim Brynteson,
general manager,
Garnsey and Wheeler
via e-mail