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Soaking Wet Footwell Again!!


Amie07
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Hi

well i know this topic has been covered endlessly as i have posted on it previously myself but could really do with some advice.

Ok, from the beginning. First noticed that the footwell behind the passenger seat was soaking wet back in December. Took it in and it was apperently a faulty seal which they claimed to have fixed. A couple of months or so later I noticed the wet patch was back. Not happy. Rang them again, demanded a courtesy car until they sorted it. Was given some filthy excuse for a car in return. Again was told it was a faulty seal, and the door was not aligned correctly so they 'fixed' both. Also told that they needed to order a part for the door so had i my car back until they had this part. Anyway, noticed that my passenger window now had some sticky stuff all across the top edge, some kind of glue that they used to fit the seal I assume, didnt complain about this though because all i wanted was my car to not leak and gave them the benefit of the doubt. (figured it would've washed off when I cleaned it anyway)Ok, get the call to say they have the part for my door, don't exactly know what this part was just accepted my car would now be leak free and dry.

Fast forward to today, after pretty heavy rain and hail in the west mids over the last few days, thought I would do the 'touch test' on the floor behind my passenger seat, and yes as you've probably guessed, absolutely sodden, even worse than previous. I'm sure you can imagine my feelings, got right on the phone to my ford dealer, but, unsurprisngly no-one of any authority is there as it is 'good friday', told the woman the long story, explaining i am far from happy, and that this will be the third time I will be bringing the car in for exactly the same problem, apparently a manager of some description is going to call me tomorrow, i made it clear to the woman i spoke to that I want a car untill they have sorted mine, but also said I want to know what my rights are regarding getting a new car. I know it's probably too late to reject it but surely if i've had a recurring problem that they have apparently fixed on two previous occasions I have some consumer rights? The warranty is still valid until the end of June which is one good thing.

I'm going to wait to see what this manager has to say tomorrow, and have found a number on a leaflet I took from them last time for the 'consumer advice line' and will also be contacting citizens advice if need be, but was just wondering if anyone else can help, who should i be asking to speak to, any phone numbers you can give?? Do you think I have a right to reject the car at this late stage etc etc. I'm also going to mention the state they have left my window in as the glue stuff does not wash off.

Any advice much appreciated. And apologies for the length of this post, hope it makes sense!

:unsure:

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If you can prove the fault was there when it was sold to you, then you have a very good case. You have six years from date of purchase - but only where you can easily prove the product was faulty to begin with and didn't develop the fault as the result of user error etc.

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you also need to make sure you have given the dealer enough attempts to fix the problem and adiquate time. By the sounds of it you have i beleave they have 3 attempts to sort it out for you first

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If you can prove the fault was there when it was sold to you, then you have a very good case. You have six years from date of purchase - but only where you can easily prove the product was faulty to begin with and didn't develop the fault as the result of user error etc.

Hi,

Do you think them initially 'fixing it' could be interpreted as them accepting responsibility? And since then the problem that they originally 'fixed' has been recurring and now back with a vengence! lol

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you also need to make sure you have given the dealer enough attempts to fix the problem and adiquate time. By the sounds of it you have i beleave they have 3 attempts to sort it out for you first

Yeah i was thinking it was 3 attempts to fix, this will be the third attempt, guess i'll just have to give them this one last chance then, and then consider my options should the problem arise again. (no doubt it will!)

Thanks for the replies guys :)

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Yeah i was thinking it was 3 attempts to fix, this will be the third attempt, guess i'll just have to give them this one last chance then, and then consider my options should the problem arise again. (no doubt it will!)

Thanks for the replies guys :)

Well, if they've taken three attempts to fix it, you have a big advantage here: Ford have recognised that there is a fault and are indeed acting responsibly to try and fix it. The fact that they can't, isn't the dealers/your fault, but now the dealer needs to act appropriately to resolve the situation.

It's apparent from their efforts that there is a manufacturing fault. How they proceed, I'm not sure. I guess you can wait for a bit until after the Easter break, but don't worry about the warranty expiring in June. This problem is in existence already, so Ford are obliged to resolve it now. What was the date of the first issue, relative to the purchase date?

I'm sorry to hear about your luck though - unless I'm mistaken, this doesn't sound like a terribly common problem.

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Hi Amy

Sorry to read you are still having a problem with this wet foot well business and I have to agree with what has already been posted.

I’m not sure if you have any documented evidence but I would be tempted to type something up and get the manager to sign it, I’m talking about a simple statement of what the problem is and how the garage has gone about trying to fix it (although you might find them a little reluctant to sign so be a bit pushy)

Now I’m assuming this leak is happening after rainfall? Once they have made the third attempted I think I would be getting the garden house out and shooting some water in the air over the car rather than wait for rain.

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Like I said before, forget the dealer you keep going back to, just make a case with Ford customer relations over the phone, they'll give you a case number, give this case number to a different Ford garage and have them fix it properly. I am sad to hear you're still having problems with this!

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Hi Amy

Sorry to read you are still having a problem with this wet foot well business and I have to agree with what has already been posted.

I’m not sure if you have any documented evidence but I would be tempted to type something up and get the manager to sign it, I’m talking about a simple statement of what the problem is and how the garage has gone about trying to fix it (although you might find them a little reluctant to sign so be a bit pushy)

Now I’m assuming this leak is happening after rainfall? Once they have made the third attempted I think I would be getting the garden house out and shooting some water in the air over the car rather than wait for rain.

Hi,

It's funny you mention the documenting of evidence as this has been a bit of a problem with them, after the first attempt to it fix back in december, when i collected my car I asked one of the guys there to provide me with a print out of what they'd actually done, he ummed(?) and ahhed (?) a bit and then said 'we arent actually allowed to show you what we are charging to the warranty co.' and me being the idiot i am just accepted this, rather than saying well that's a bit suspicious and they are clearing ripping off the warranty co., tho I did insist he wrote in the repair section of my service booklet thing. Tho what he wrote is barely readable, but it does atleast have a date and show that a seal was repaired/replaced, so proves that it's not a new problem atleast. A second time I tried to get them to sign in the service book they were like, 'well we arent really supposed to' makes me wonder why and what they are trying to hide?

Might draft up a letter of what has actually been done and get them to sign it like you say, was going through the whole thing in my head earlier and it gave me a headache so might be sensible to write it all down. When I've asked for them to give me paperwork before they've said 'it's all on the computer anyway' so I might ask them to actually print all this out for me. Guess I can only ask... :rolleyes:

Yeah, this water is only there since the heavy rain over the last couple of days, I didnt use my car at all thursday, so it was in the same spot on the driveway for that whole time, just thought i would check the carpet this morn before driving off and got the nasty surprise :(

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Like I said before, forget the dealer you keep going back to, just make a case with Ford customer relations over the phone, they'll give you a case number, give this case number to a different Ford garage and have them fix it properly. I am sad to hear you're still having problems with this!

Yeah i think i will definately be taking it further this time and contact ford customer rels, will await what the service manager has to say tomorrow though, and i'm going to speak to the general manager of Bristol Street once he's back in the office on tues.

I'm seriously thinking about selling this car now though and going with my original first love... a mini (with a few miles on the clock cos that's all i could afford!)... :P

Thanks everyone for your replies, much appreciated! :)

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once its fixed properly it will be fine. you'll lose a lot of money if you sell it now. my car had a water leak but its been fine since the repair, also had other problems and i thought of selling it but in the end decided to keep it.

minis are not that reliable and servicing/parts are expensive compared to ford - just search around the web, plenty of horror stories like airbags going off at random (not an isolated incident on the mini !!)

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Hi, thought I'd give an update on the leaking car situation. Couldn't get anything done over the easter break but I decided to send an email via the bristol street motors website to customer services just to vent a little. (which according to the website gets read by the chief exec.) This apparently did the trick as yesterday I had a voicemail and email from the gen manager of BS telling me he's very sorry to hear of my continuing problems and arranging to meet with me at my local branch tomorrow (well today as I write this)

Anyway, we took my car in again today, totally different attitude from all staff compared to their usual style from the outset. Spoke with the general manager of BS and the service manager, showed them exactly what was wrong with the car, though the car is so soaked at the back they could see it for themselves anyway. Apparently my car is going to be the priority at the branch, if i need to speak with anyone regarding my car I'm to ask for the gen manager direct and he is personally going to follow the case through till it's resolved. We asked what would happen if after this 3rd attempt the car still has it's phantom leak, the gen manager replied well if it comes to that we will all sit down again and discuss the situation 'sensibly' and that there are various options. I'm hoping it doesnt come to having to have a replacement cos i love this car but that will be one of the options should it still not be fixed.

Last time they gave me a rubbish mk 6 fiesta as a courtesy car, this time i've got a mk7 so i'm happy about that, takes a bit of getting used to though compared to my tiny ka though! lol :P

So anyway, guess we'll see what happens...

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Hi, thought I'd give an update on the leaking car situation. Couldn't get anything done over the easter break but I decided to send an email via the bristol street motors website to customer services just to vent a little. (which according to the website gets read by the chief exec.) This apparently did the trick as yesterday I had a voicemail and email from the gen manager of BS telling me he's very sorry to hear of my continuing problems and arranging to meet with me at my local branch tomorrow (well today as I write this)

Anyway, we took my car in again today, totally different attitude from all staff compared to their usual style from the outset. Spoke with the general manager of BS and the service manager, showed them exactly what was wrong with the car, though the car is so soaked at the back they could see it for themselves anyway. Apparently my car is going to be the priority at the branch, if i need to speak with anyone regarding my car I'm to ask for the gen manager direct and he is personally going to follow the case through till it's resolved. We asked what would happen if after this 3rd attempt the car still has it's phantom leak, the gen manager replied well if it comes to that we will all sit down again and discuss the situation 'sensibly' and that there are various options. I'm hoping it doesnt come to having to have a replacement cos i love this car but that will be one of the options should it still not be fixed.

Last time they gave me a rubbish mk 6 fiesta as a courtesy car, this time i've got a mk7 so i'm happy about that, takes a bit of getting used to though compared to my tiny ka though! lol :P

So anyway, guess we'll see what happens...

:( haha

Glad everything is finally getting sorted though :D

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:( haha

Glad everything is finally getting sorted though :D

Sorry gazjs! Yours looks great, the 1 they gave me was a dirty grey colour, never been washed! And had a piece of wood in the boot! lol

Absolutely loving the mk7 though! I'm so tempted 2 trade mine in and get 1, a little more power but it makes so much difference! :-) and no1 cut me up 2day like they do in the Ka! Lol

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nothing wrong with the mk6 fiesta, learnt to drive in one of those and almost bought one brand new.

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nothing wrong with the mk6 fiesta, learnt to drive in one of those and almost bought one brand new.

sadly there have nbeen a few kas where the leaks just never seem to get fixed not saying yoiures is one but it has been a major problem for ford lately speaking to an old workmate at the garage i worked for they have had 3 whaere no one could determine where the leak was until the welding was checked tiny gaps in the welding was the issue but by that time they had swapped the cars for summat else hope it gets fixed soon

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sadly there have nbeen a few kas where the leaks just never seem to get fixed not saying yoiures is one but it has been a major problem for ford lately speaking to an old workmate at the garage i worked for they have had 3 whaere no one could determine where the leak was until the welding was checked tiny gaps in the welding was the issue but by that time they had swapped the cars for summat else hope it gets fixed soon

Hey,

well hopefully it'll be 3rd time lucky for me! :)

Had a call from the gen manager today to give me a progress report, he says they've stripped the carpet and soundproofing stuff, apparently the latter was absolutely saturated, so they've now come to the conclusion that there has been a slow leak from day one that has only become noticeable over time, each time they've been repairing bits and drying it only for it to come back to the surface within a couple of months and when the rains been particularly bad.

They still havent worked out exactly where the leak is, he was thinking it could just be a pin prick hole somewhere, but has assured me they will keep working on it until they have sorted it. I feel a lot happier now the gen manager is on the case and i guess it's now in their interests to sort it otherwise they'll have to provide me with a new one.

Anyway in the meantime I've got another few days (at least) with the mk 7 which I'm very much enjoying! :D

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Hey,

well hopefully it'll be 3rd time lucky for me! smile.gif

Had a call from the gen manager today to give me a progress report, he says they've stripped the carpet and soundproofing stuff, apparently the latter was absolutely saturated, so they've now come to the conclusion that there has been a slow leak from day one that has only become noticeable over time, each time they've been repairing bits and drying it only for it to come back to the surface within a couple of months and when the rains been particularly bad.

They still havent worked out exactly where the leak is, he was thinking it could just be a pin prick hole somewhere, but has assured me they will keep working on it until they have sorted it. I feel a lot happier now the gen manager is on the case and i guess it's now in their interests to sort it otherwise they'll have to provide me with a new one.

Anyway in the meantime I've got another few days (at least) with the mk 7 which I'm very much enjoying! biggrin.gif

well strangely enough the ka and fiat are made in the same factory and about 2 years ago we got a new punto in with a leak we tried every trick in the book to find this leak to no avail similar to you c arpets were getting wet and we could find nothing so the head mech one night put it stripped i mean carpet sound proofing headlining into the work shop we blacked the windows out with card and switched all the lights off as he walked around the outside with a very bright light and low and behold up on the roof weld i saw the light coming through in the day you couldnt see it at all no matter how hard you looked so i marked it with chalk the weld in the roof had a pin prick of a hole where the weld had stopped briefly looking at it in the day now we knew where the water was coming from we could see it was coming in the hole running to the back slightly into the plastic channel near the rear door down it and out into the rear footwell it was a new car job as fiat insisted on changing it 2nd car had the same issue in a different place we noticed that fiat started reinforcing the welds with seam sealer where they hadnty before may be the same for you a tiny hole that isnt obvious

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Well more progress, had a phonecall today and they think they have discovered where the problem is coming from after speaking with ford technical, apparently there are 2 holes under the back bumper, one of which wasnt sealed, so they are apparently 95% sure it's the cause. So fingers crossed that'll be the end of the leak, they're going to seal it and flood it out and see what happens.

Another thing though is the gen manager is now unsure whether carpet replacement is covered under the warranty (grrrr!) He said he will 'fight' to get it replaced under warranty (yeah right!) i asked what would happen if it wasnt and he said 'we'll discuss that if we need to' I thought to myself, well i'm not paying! I think i'll have a case to have it replaced free of charge though cos in my opinion if they'd properly investigated the problem from the outset the carpet wouldnt have been drenched on and off for so long and wouldnt have needed replacing but as it is, their incompetance in the first place is what has lead to it being left and leaking for so long and hence it'll be starting to smell stale. Guess we'll see...

did the carpet get replaced in the ka's or fiats you dealt with artscot79?

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Well more progress, had a phonecall today and they think they have discovered where the problem is coming from after speaking with ford technical, apparently there are 2 holes under the back bumper, one of which wasnt sealed, so they are apparently 95% sure it's the cause. So fingers crossed that'll be the end of the leak, they're going to seal it and flood it out and see what happens.

Another thing though is the gen manager is now unsure whether carpet replacement is covered under the warranty (grrrr!) He said he will 'fight' to get it replaced under warranty (yeah right!) i asked what would happen if it wasnt and he said 'we'll discuss that if we need to' I thought to myself, well i'm not paying! I think i'll have a case to have it replaced free of charge though cos in my opinion if they'd properly investigated the problem from the outset the carpet wouldnt have been drenched on and off for so long and wouldnt have needed replacing but as it is, their incompetance in the first place is what has lead to it being left and leaking for so long and hence it'll be starting to smell stale. Guess we'll see...

did the carpet get replaced in the ka's or fiats you dealt with artscot79?

they did and a rear seat as well simply because the holes were a manufacturing fault and therefore the damage caused to the carpets and the insulation were a direct result of the manufacturing fault and therefore ford/fiat wre liable and responsible for the replacement so in that respect they were replaced the insulation and the carpet should be replaced as they will cause rust if left damp however it is possible to have them removed and dried out then have them valet the carpets while out the car and dry them out before they refit them if the warranty will not replace them

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Another thing though is the gen manager is now unsure whether carpet replacement is covered under the warranty (grrrr!)

Whatttttttttttttttt pay for new carpets … there avin’ a larf :o

Right lets start a campaign for new carpets, if they say no and you have to pay how about you post up an email address for a garage/manager and we all send him emails asking politely and I do mean politely why Amie has to pay when she reported the problem ASAP and its Fords fault the water ingress was there to start with and continued to damage the carpets because Ford could not find the problem until after 3 attepts.

Oooooooooh stuff like this makes my blood boil, :angry:

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Whatttttttttttttttt pay for new carpets … there avin’ a larf :o

Right lets start a campaign for new carpets, if they say no and you have to pay how about you post up an email address for a garage/manager and we all send him emails asking politely and I do mean politely why Amie has to pay when she reported the problem ASAP and its Fords fault the water ingress was there to start with and continued to damage the carpets because Ford could not find the problem until after 3 attepts.

Oooooooooh stuff like this makes my blood boil, :angry:

Ha ha! Not sure if you are being sarcastic but thanks anyway! Lol :-)

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Ha ha! Not sure if you are being sarcastic but thanks anyway! Lol :-)

I'm being totally honest I don't see why you should have to pay anything - Ford sold you a car that wasn’t fit for purpose so why should you have to stump up the cash for new carpets?

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It may sound a bit naff and old fashioned but the Citizens Advice Bureau are very good.

Hi

well i know this topic has been covered endlessly as i have posted on it previously myself but could really do with some advice.

Ok, from the beginning. First noticed that the footwell behind the passenger seat was soaking wet back in December. Took it in and it was apperently a faulty seal which they claimed to have fixed. A couple of months or so later I noticed the wet patch was back. Not happy. Rang them again, demanded a courtesy car until they sorted it. Was given some filthy excuse for a car in return. Again was told it was a faulty seal, and the door was not aligned correctly so they 'fixed' both. Also told that they needed to order a part for the door so had i my car back until they had this part. Anyway, noticed that my passenger window now had some sticky stuff all across the top edge, some kind of glue that they used to fit the seal I assume, didnt complain about this though because all i wanted was my car to not leak and gave them the benefit of the doubt. (figured it would've washed off when I cleaned it anyway)Ok, get the call to say they have the part for my door, don't exactly know what this part was just accepted my car would now be leak free and dry.

Fast forward to today, after pretty heavy rain and hail in the west mids over the last few days, thought I would do the 'touch test' on the floor behind my passenger seat, and yes as you've probably guessed, absolutely sodden, even worse than previous. I'm sure you can imagine my feelings, got right on the phone to my ford dealer, but, unsurprisngly no-one of any authority is there as it is 'good friday', told the woman the long story, explaining i am far from happy, and that this will be the third time I will be bringing the car in for exactly the same problem, apparently a manager of some description is going to call me tomorrow, i made it clear to the woman i spoke to that I want a car untill they have sorted mine, but also said I want to know what my rights are regarding getting a new car. I know it's probably too late to reject it but surely if i've had a recurring problem that they have apparently fixed on two previous occasions I have some consumer rights? The warranty is still valid until the end of June which is one good thing.

I'm going to wait to see what this manager has to say tomorrow, and have found a number on a leaflet I took from them last time for the 'consumer advice line' and will also be contacting citizens advice if need be, but was just wondering if anyone else can help, who should i be asking to speak to, any phone numbers you can give?? Do you think I have a right to reject the car at this late stage etc etc. I'm also going to mention the state they have left my window in as the glue stuff does not wash off.

Any advice much appreciated. And apologies for the length of this post, hope it makes sense!

:unsure:

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