I actually felt your frustration and was about to get on to Ford to complain then realised it was none of my business 
I leave anything that needs a phone call to the wife, she seems to know what to say better than me and often gets a resolution whereas Iād be going red shouting down the phone before I melt into a puddle 
I canāt read all of that at the moment but from skimming, my first question would be have you kept an accurate time log of time spent on the phone or otherwise being wasted? If not, start one and back date as much as you can, also get evidence. Most phone bills will give you actually amounts of time spent calling each number.
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I imagine our first uniform inspection will mostly highlight who isnāt wearing the right socks, as their trousers will be somewhere around their shins.
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I feel your pain!! That sounds like a horrendous experience and massively frustrating. Iāve struggled through a few complaints myself and happy to share some thoughts. For Ford to take a charityās money and not deliver a useable vehicle after 2 years is not a good story for them.
In terms of fixing the issue, Iād suggest deciding a clear objective (e.g. minibus fitted with step and 15 mats + Ā£500 compensation for the wasted time) and also your first higher demand (e.g. step start-up feature fixed, mats delivered and higher compensation).
Then find the right person in the organisation that you had the contract with (if unsure start at MD/CEO). If the bus was through the MOD scheme, it might be worth approaching the MOD procurement team?
Put your complaint in writing to them, making the costs to you/Sqn/cadets clear. State how you want them to resolve the issue and potential next steps if they donāt address the problems e.g. small claims court, speak to the press etc.
Donāt let complaining take over though. You just want to fix it and move on. Hopefully you can find the right person at Ford who wants to do the same thing.
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Have now managed to read through the whole of that mess and wow, I feel for you 
RE compensation, I see no reason why you canāt ask for reasonable āactual lossesā namely phone bills and any days off work youāve had wasted that had this have gone smoothly, you wouldnāt have had to take off. Also the costs insurance between them saying itād be delivered, and actual delivery. Those 3 things are money that you have actually lost, and it would be reasonable to ask for that back.
RE compensation for wasted time on the phone, this is tricky and normally canāt be compensated for as youāve not actually lost money, just time. However, if you are self employed and youāve had to spend hours of your working day on the phone, rather than working, there might be a way of claiming something there.
This all goes with the caveat that youād have to take Ford to small claims court if they outright refuse to give you anything.
This is likely the best starting point. The step issue for sure needs to be fixed or Iād be asking for the minibus to be sent back. Rather than just +Ā£500 Iād try to work out an exact number, and ask for that.
This is also a really good point. If the purchase was done via the MOD, not directly from you/your squadron, Iād be getting them to do the complaining if possible, or at least get them on-side.
Pretty much what Iāve said above, oops. Should have read the rest of the conversation first.
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One compensation option that might be useful to consider is free servicing for a set period (if not already included within any warranty period). Might be worth more than say a fixed cash amount.
Useful to add a time frame for them to come up with an acceptable solution (say 4 weeks if someone new is brought into the loop), otherwise the dragging on might continue.
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I completely agree. I should have been clearer. There needs to be a logic for the compensation value. The lower value might be actual cash spent (phone calls, insurance) then higher values (in your initial proposal) might include some cost of your time, compensation for inconvenience etc
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Iāve had a similar long-time issue with the Council over the course of about 2.5 years (not nearly as well documented as @pEp though as iāve only just taken over handing the complaint for my mother, but she had dates, names and Job # over the course of the complaint)
We had an external leak at our block of flats (weāre on the ground floor), resulting in having to empty the above buckets 3-5 times a day. I started complaining via Social Media (only private messaging never on their public page - maybe i should have). Not much happened, i think a manager from the Councils maintenance contractors came but nothing much after that. (Telling us what we already knew - Overflow Valve in the Water Tank - couldnāt get it out of the roof area because of the size of the unit and Abestos etc etc)
Anyway, escalated it via the councils official complaints process - Stage 1 (wait a month - no resolution) Stage 2 (wait a month - nothing heard) Stage 3 - Weāll I heard something, Council manager asking me to settle the complaint at Stage 2 and not involve the Chief Executive and instead do X,Y and Z.
Naturally I disagreed, continued with the escalation to āStage 3ā and said you will also do X,Y & Z and Iāll involve the Housing Ombudsman.
I think no less than a week later, there is now a drain pipe attached to the side of the flat redirecting the dripping water - still not a perfect fix but itās a start!
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Sitting down to do last yearās accounts, I compared the mileages from 19/20 to 18/19.
Looking at the sums, I realised that in 18/19, I gave myself the bloody HQAC allowance of .25p a mile, instead of .45pā¦
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Brainwashed
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GMG. Queueing. Outside Screwfix. In this weather.
Thanks covid.
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Iām a conf call with the CEO of Kingfisher next weekā¦ Want me to give him your feedback 
Yes please. Also, for a store which supplies half the UK construction industry with tape measures, is it too much to ask that they place their ā2m pleaseā signs 2m apart??
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Thats asking a bit much ha
As a shareholder if you could tell him to be better, that would be good tooā¦
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He was on a decent run a few weeks ago!! Should of sold mine!
GMG: people using āshould ofā instead of āshould haveā 
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And āgo andā when they mean āgo toā
Use it in a sentence please?
perhaps like this?
I shall go and collect the weaponsā¦
I shall go to collect the weaponsā¦