OT Rant: Why I will never buy a Ford ever again...

Apologies in advance for the long off-topic rant. I suspect a tale of a
dangerously incompetent Ford dealer is not really news to many here,
but I need to vent...

I took my car to Dagenham Motors in Thames Ditton a couple of weeks
back for 1)A service, and 2)To have a problem with the electric
dipped-beam adjuster fixed (it was stuck on - you could here the little
electric motor spinning away the whole time, and the nearside headlight
was pointing skyward).

They identified a bunch of other stuff that needed doing (brake pads
and discs, replacement of a corroded rear brake pipe, replacement lower
steering arm). "OK," says I, "do the lot ASAP".

Picked up the car a few days later and paid the £759 bill. Drove off,
and that very night, switched the lights on to discover that the
problem with headlight, which they'd charged me £170 to fix, was still
present (little motor still merrily spinning away). Booked it back in
with instructions to actually fix it properly this time, which took
them a further day and a bit.

So I went and collected the car for the *second* time, and actually
checked the headlight was fixed properly this time before I left the
car park (it was). And drove straight off to the pre-booked MOT...

It failed the MOT. On a "severely corroded offside rear brake pipe".
That'll be the one that I'd just been charged 100 squid to have fixed
then! So I was both ripped off (twice), and given my car back in a
legally unroadworthy state. Nice. Just as well I had the MOT done
really as otherwise I'd be driving it around now with dodgy brakes.

Ford Customer Care say "The dealer is a franchise; you need to take the
problem up with them. There's nothing we can do." (a stance which I
have asked them to confirm in writing). The dealer have offered me a
free service, which I politely declined whilst making it clear that no
car of mine would ever be worked on by them again due to the fact that
I did not feel I could trust them.

The matter now rests in the hands of the local Trading Standards
office. (FOAK: Is there anyone else I should be writing to?)

So there you have it. Perfectly happy with the car itself, which I've
had from new, but I will never, ever, buy another Ford again because of
the incompetence and/or dishonesty of their dealer (which isn't,
apparently, Ford's concern).

I implore everyone on the planet to avoid Dagenham Motors of Thames
Ditton, Surrey, like the dodgy buggers they have demonstrated
themselves to be.

</OT rant>

 

heh, I decided that about 17 years ago, after tinworm prematurely
attacked my nearly new Sierra Sapphire.

I haven't owned a Ford since, though I have owned several other dodgy
pieces of shite (ref. my Frontera)

P.

 

What did Dagenham Motors have to say about the un-changed brake pipe ?

 

I went straight there, in a state of some miffed-ness I must say, given
that this was now the *third* time I'd been in, with the invoice in
hand, and asked the service manager to read out the line that said
"Supply & Fit O/S/R Brake Pipe" and to explain to me why I'd been
charged 100 quid for it, but it hadn't actually been touched.

There was much shuffling around of bits of paper, umming, ahhing,
head-scratching etc. but no clear explanation as to why it was on the
invoice but hadn't been done. The best he could offer by way of a
reason was that "I can't speak to the engineer that did the work
because he's on holiday at the moment."

So the car stayed with them for a third time while they did the brake
pipe(which took them a further two days) and, as a concession they also
did the nearside pipe "for free" as it was an MOT advisory (rather than
a failure like the other side) that they hadn't picked up on previously.

I made them put the car up on a ramp and show me the new brake pipes
before I left. The pads and discs I have since checked myself and
they've been done, whether or not it was ever actually serviced or not
is anyone's guess. Obviously I can't take their word for it.

On my third visit, I noticed a sign in the service reception noting
something to the effect that "Abusive customers will be asked to leave
the premesis" which I found quite interesting. I wonder why they have
problems with abusive customers?

 

That shame is that I think the car itself is fine. It's had a couple of
minor issues over the past few years, but no shockers, and overall I
like it.

It's just the dealer (and Ford's lack of giving-a-shit about same)
that's the issue. Never again I tell you!

 

haha. I served my apprenticeship in a Ford dealership.

'nuff said.

P.

 

So buy your next Ford from a dealer that's not locked exclusively to Ford.
Best of (well....) both worlds.


--
Beav

VN 750
Zed 1000
OMF# 19

 

.... ...

Same sort of problems as my dad had with his company car some years ago

on three separate services they :

left a clamp on the rear rubber brake hose - seized up on the M6

didn't replace the oil filter properly - engine seized up in the wilds
of north Wales

Didn't actually replace the oil, or notice the oil warning light wasn't
working - blew the engine up on the M6

He refused to let them near the car again

 

Thats the problem then, you took it to some southern monkeys

 

Well, I think the jury's out on whether it was a deliberate attempt to
rip me off or just plain incompetence. If it's an attempted rip-off,
you'd think they'd have claimed to have fixed items that weren't
actually broken to minimise the chances of me catching them out, so I'm
inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt and say they're just
crap rather than dishonest and crap.

It'll be interesting to see what Trading Standards do about it as I
have sent them a copy of the MOT failure notice which is timestamped
about 30 minutes after I collected the car from the dealer for the
third time. Difficult for the dealer to wriggle out of, you'd think.
But god knows what, if anything, will be done. My money's on nothing at
all.

 

There are limited options for dealers nearby. Apart from the clowns at
Dagenham Motors, there's BMW and Renault. Maybe I'll try a BMW next.

 

Keep us posted on the outcome.

While Ford dealers are independent companies, Ford do have an interest in
ensuring that the brand is not being tainted by either incompetence or
fraud. As soon as you have the result from Trading Standards, I can get it
to the Ford Zone Manager responsible for business with that Dagenham Ford
Dealership and I'm sure action will be taken, albeit behind the scenes.

You can email me with more details - demung is obvious.

 

do you need to get servicing done by a main dealer?

Once my Seat Ibiza was out of warranty I used Nationwide Autocentres in
Cardiff. Conveniently, I used to get jsut enough Tesco Clubcard points to
pay for an annual service. I was very happy with the servicing they did.

I imagine I'll do much the same once I've used the service vouchers given
as a purchase incentive by my Citroen dealer.

 

My Renault dealer seems pretty good. I bought the car at 9 months old from
a Honda dealer in Scunthorpe - Baden Powell Honda. One of their selling
points was that all cars had received a 100 point check, and further to
that, they fitted me two new front, OE spec, tyres as part of the deal[1],
and re-furbished the passenger side alloy. Scunthorpe is 60 miles from
here, and on the test drive I had only been round town, then down a dual
carriageway and back - which was all smooth roads.

Once I'd got half way home the route became a bit more rural and bumpy and
it was immiediately apparent to me that there was something wrong with the
damping on the drivers side front. I rang the local Renault dealer
(Riverside of Seamer nr Scarborough) and said could they have a look, and
they said sure, just bring it down whenever a like that day, no notice
required. So I took it straight down there, they immiediately got a
mechanic to go out on a test with me, who quickly diagnosed a knackered
shock, which he confirmed when he got out the car. They booked it in for
the day after next (that was when the parts would be there) and got it
sorted all quickly under warranty, then when it was done they told me the
track rod control arm (I think that was it...) had play in the end,
apparently unless it got really bad I'd never notice it, but they said
they'd do it now as it was under warranty.

So IMHO they made extra work for themselves, that they didn't have to, and
no doubt they don't make much from Renault off of warranty repairs. No
doubt a lot of people won't see it that way heh... Anyway I booked it in
for that, and a service the following week when it was good for me.

Also worth noting, despite their 100 point check, and definately having the
wheels off, Baden Powell Honda of Scunthorpe managed to miss a completely
dead shock, which on doing the push down on the corner test, was immensely
obvious. The owners forum seems to show there must have been a duff batch
of early 'Cup chassis' shocks.


[1]I was quite happy to barter the tyres in as well, as they'd have cost me
the best part of £300 to have fitted locally myself

 

After issues with several main dealers, I will never use a franchise
dealer of any persuasion again. Independents are the only way to go,
IMO.

 

Good old UKRM; That's very kind of you, thanks. I'll e-mail you the
case ref and so on later today and will post again when I've had a
reply from Trading Standards.

I tried to get across to both the dealer and Ford Customer Care that
I'm not after any sort of freebies or compensation. I just think the
dealer should be brought to bear for their actions.

 

Now then, do you know the bod in the same job but for Honda?

Don't get a black new Civic because the paint is dreadful.

 

Not being prepared at all, really.
--
Dave
GS850x2 XS650 SE6a

"It's a moron working with power tools.
How much more suspenseful can you get?"
- House

 

Yes, of course it is dear.

 

Now then, do you know the bod in the same job but for Honda?


Not for Honda but we did find the equivalent for Kawasaki a few years ago
after Pauline's GPZ500S was "serviced" by Johns of Romford.

She'd bought the bike[1] s/h privately at 8 months old with less than 500
miles on the clock.
Back in those days you had to have at least the first service done by a
franchised dealer or lose your warranty.

JoR was the closest and were given the job.

The bike went to them in perfect condition but came back with (from memory);
- drive chain so tight it was impossible to select neutral when stationary.
- clutch cable also adjusted with no slack at all.
- they hadn't removed the bellypan when changing the oil, resulting in 1/2L
oil in the pan that dumped in front of the rear wheel as she rode away..
- the oil was also overfilled by 750L and they hadn't changed the filter.
- they'd charged for checking the valve clearances but had clearly not
even removed the tank.

Our first letter to JoR was ignored.

A follow-up, copied to Kawasaki UK and Roland Brown at BIKE Magazine[2],
received a cursory "We do everything by the book" response from JoR but a
much better initial response from KUK, as in "We take these things very
seriously and will investigate", followed a couple of weeks later by "We
have taken JoR to task on the issues raised and will take further action if
they do no tighten-up their procedures".
RB also asked us to keep them updated and gave it 1/2 column in a later
issue.

Within a year or so JoR lost their Kawasaki franchise, so who knows....

[1] http://website.lineone.net/~dave.emerson/bikes.htm#_GPZ500S2
[2] Roland Brown had just done an article on our Motorcycle Maintenance
Workshop for BIKE.
[3] Quotes from memory I ICBA to dig thru the filing for the letters.