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My Trust Ford / Dagenham Motors experience


GaryPL
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Long post coming up, but I have to get this off my chest.  Trust Ford - formerly known as Dagenham Motors.  The one process they should have down to a fine art is selling you cars, as it's their bread and butter - but absolutely not.
 
Days 1-3
 
I originally expressed interest in two vehicles a few days ago, both of which were still apparently available. I should have had alarm bells ringing at this early stage because it takes them ages to respond to anything in writing! So when I asked whether I could view the vehicles, because all of the 'Ford Direct' vehicles show as being available at your local dealership, I was told no as they're all held centrally all over the country (!) and they only release them after you've paid a deposit!  So they expect you to buy a vehicle without actually ever seeing or sitting in it.  I therefore went to a dealer to sit in ANY 3 door Fiesta, where I was left to stand in the dealership, whilst all of the staff messed around and chatted.  Eventually, after mistakenly asking another customer whether they were staff, I got the attention of one of the salesmen who showed me around a car.  He was pretty helpful, although I counted him using the 'f word' in conversation with me 3 times.
 
Day 4
 
Eventually, I decided to make an offer on one of the vehicles which I was then told had been sold.  I use the term "make an offer" very loosely as they don't entertain offers like just about every other car dealer - pay the asking price of sod off is the attitude.  So I expressed an interest in the second vehicle to be told that that had been sold too.  I then received a call back saying they had made an error and the first vehicle was still available.  At this stage, I had talked myself into wanting vehicle 2, so I asked for a final check to see whether it had really been sold, as they don't seem to know what's in stock from one minute to the next.  To my surprise it was "definitely 100%" available, so I placed a deposit on vehicle 2 and I was told my local Trust Ford dealer would be in touch.  I discussed various conditions about the deposit, one of which was that I was paying it on the basis that the vehicle would be available by mid-August because my current car's MOT would expire then.  They were also aware of this when they asked for my car's details for a part exchange evaluation.  I was told that this was fine because Ford Direct cars are available within 7 to 10 days.
 
And yes, within a few hours, a salesman contacted me to confirm the order and that they would be in touch.  
 
Day 5
 
All good and well it was not.  They had had technical difficulties overnight which prevented them from being able to buy the car into the dealership's stock (yes, Trust Ford's dealers have to pay their own company to get the car into their own showroom!) and someone else had reserved it.  Ford Direct, by the account of the dealer, was flatly refusing to let me have the vehicle I had reserved first and naturally I was very unhappy.  This was in spite of Ford Direct themselves taking the deposit the night before.  So it seems they get your money and palm you off onto the dealers.
 
I therefore looked for a 3rd vehicle on the Ford website and found one of very similar specification, but it was £800 more. I said to the dealer that I would be willing to take car 3 for the price that had been agreed at the time my deposit was paid for car 2.  The salesman eventually came back and said that Ford Direct would not do anything to help and nor would the dealer because it would lose them money.  So I went off in a huff and sent a strongly worded e-mail to Ford Direct, letting them have my opinion on their operation, but re-emphasising the offer I had made to the dealer re: car 3.  Within 5 minutes, I had a phone call, saying they'd accept my offer plus an extra £100.  As this was still giving me £700 off the asking price of a slightly better car, I accepted on the basis that our previous agreements still stood. Having learned from my 'gazumping' experience of before, I got an assurance that the arrangements would be confirmed in writing by the end of the day.  It was not.
 
Day 6
 
I called the local dealer first thing in the morning to ask about the written confirmation.  According to the receptionist, the person I was dealing with was not around and would call me back.  He did not.  I then e-mailed Ford Direct to ask for the written confirmation but the person I was dealing with was out of the office, so I sent it to the person on her out of office message.  They ignored my e-mail all day.  So late in the afternoon, I called the local dealer again and was passed a message from the receptionist saying car 3 was definitely reserved for me and that the salesman would call me back later in the afternoon.  He did not, so I called Ford Direct again and was told they'd chase and I'd definitely have something at the end of the day.  Again, I did not get anything, so I called Ford Direct AGAIN and was told that it was all with the dealer and that Ford Direct were essentially washing their hands of me and that the dealer would be in touch within 48 hours.  I also took the opportunity to mention about the date I'd be getting the car and I was told that they take 3 weeks... 3 WEEKS!!  So I was lied to about the 7-10 days.  But seriously - 3 weeks to get a car out of a compound, transport it to a dealer, give it a wash and take your cash. What a joke.  They build the damned cars faster than this.
 
So here I am now - no written confirmation of me having secured the vehicle despite multiple promises.  I am £350.00 worth of deposit worse off, with only the word of a bunch of unreliable, untrustworthy cowboys to console me.  This weekend and beyond is going to be very interesting as if I have to get my car a new MOT certificate, they'll be revising the offer for my car quite considerably, or I will be withdrawing from the offer and carrying out a charge-back on my card because they have not delivered what we agreed.  If this costs them and/or the dealer money - I will be most happy because they've treated me extremely badly and like I am an inconvenience.
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That is appalling customer service. How do they expect to compete with other dealers when they treat customers this way. I should add that our local Lookers Dealer in South Woodham Ferrers is excellent.

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So this morning I sent another narky e-mail about still not having written confirmation that I have secured a vehicle.  Got a reply back a bit later apologising, saying that there are apparently 2 people in the team with the same name(!).  Interesting I only sent my e-mail to one of them, so I am not sure how that was a factor.

Later on, one of the managers at the local dealer called me to talk through what has happened, after which I was assured that as I was now in the dealer's hands, I'd be well looked after.  A bit later, the salesman called to let me know he'd be sending me the purchase order later on.  The form was sent very late this afternoon but it was for the 2nd car...  After calling back and asking for it to be corrected, I now have my grubby mitts on something more concrete and I am consequently a little happier.  That said, my name is spelt incorrectly, the form has a load of rubbish on that I need to read through, it records £110 for road fund licence (the car is exempt) and the expected delivery date is now the 24th July 2017.  No, that was not a typo.

So from my initial 7-10 days on Wednesday 28 July, I have gone to 3 weeks' time on Friday 29 July.  The order for car 3 was placed on Thursday 28 July.  So after all this, from the date at which I placed an order for a car that already exists and is just locked up in a compound somewhere, it is anyone's guess as to when I will actually be in the driving seat.

More annoyingly, I have the last 2.5 weeks of August booked off of work.  So this looks set to potentially ruin much of my summer annual leave too.

I will keep you all informed!

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Well... my promised Monday phone call never arrived and it's now the end of Tuesday.  Nor was the manager's phone call forthcoming at the end of Saturday.  Still no idea what my delivery date is :(  The dealership staff are all very nice when you speak with them but actually speaking with them is proving tricky.  I'll forego chasing for now and give them to the end of the week to update me.

I'm now having to face the likely possibility of renewing my current car's MOT, so I can keep myself on the road whilst all the Ford faff plays itself out.  I don't expect a failure as I believe the car to be sound, having had the advisories addressed last year - it's just expense and hassle (particularly because I will be asking for a part-exchange revaluation as they'll be getting a car with a year's ticket!).

Weirdly, I find myself doing a lot of reading about the Fiesta just to satisfy myself that I am actually buying a new car.  Youtube videos are also fun.  I feel like a child during advent, where the says and nights get slower to pass as you near door 25!  Have probably sold the idea of Crystal Serum to myself though.

Here's hoping I am not disappointed with my new set of wheels after all of this!

Over and out!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just to update this some more. At the end if last week, I was once again chasing because yet another phone call did not materialise. 

Last Thursday night, I called and was fobbed off, saying they'd call me on Friday and to leave my number. I declined because I knew I'd never get a call. So I agreed to call back myself in Friday. Same story, leave the number and they'll look into the arrival date. Call did not arrive for the rest of Friday and the whole of Saturday, so I phoned back again on Monday and was yet again told I'd get a call. Well on Monday just gone, actually did get a call. The car mysteriously and quite suddenly arrived at the dealership. Hoorah.

I was therefore invited down on Monday afternoon to look at the car. I was happy and we agreed that I could pick the car up on Wednesday. They then decided whilst I was still at the dealership, that Thursday was better for them so they could prepare the car, but that I could collect it at any time on Thursday. I agreed to check my work calendar and confirm the time.

However, before I could even do this, I got a call on Tuesday instructing me that I was booked in for 4pm on Thursday. So much for the flexibility we'd agreed.

Well Thursday has arrived and an hour and 15 minutes before my dictated time, I have received a call saying they can't find the log book and the handover will have to be postponed.

I cannot stress how angry I am at this latest balls up on their part. I'm actually shaking with rage.

Having lost my own log book recently, I know it takes a few days for one to arrive from the DVLA. So now I'm almost certainly going to have to mess around getting my car MOTd and spending the first few days of my annual leave waiting for i don't know what.

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Surprise surprise - no phone call from the salesman before "the close of play today".  The particularly galling thing is that he didn't even have the decency to call me himself earlier today.  The receptionist did it.  Absolutely disgraceful.

I have e-mailed Ford customer services now. I suspect that it'll be much of the same, but I hope I am wrong.

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Oh Man I feel for you. To be honest I would have walked long ago and got my deposit back. You truly have a great deal of patients dealing with these idiots.

They clearly do not deserve your business.

I shall follow your endeavors.

Best of luck.

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Thank you :)  Believe me - I have been tempted.

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Unfortunately, my droning on continues. But for the better this time.

I just had a call from the salesman (yes, it's 9.30pm) and he reckons that Trust Ford sent the V5 to the wrong place, or put it in the wrong drawer or something.  To be honest, I wasn't really listening as I have an ear infection and am therefore in quite a lot of pain.

Anyway, he reckons he had personally driven to where the car was to pick up the V5, which was why the call was so late. I guess that explains why the receptionist called me earlier. So apparently I can collect the car at 11.00am tomorrow, where he will be coming in on his day off to hand over the car to me.

At least someone at Trust Ford has gone above and beyond, albeit in resolving a problem that should never have arisen in the first place. I hope they at least pay him some overtime.

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Bought my fiesta st from trust ford in Bradford and I know your pain. They are an absolute joke of a dealer and I can't believe how the can keep going. As a huge ford franchise I'd expect them to be a lot better. I will never deal with them ever again and have fobed them off when they have been contacting me to buy a new car. Instead I'm going all the way to York to pick up my new Focus red edition sunday. I can say so far stoneacre ford York have been great I've bought a brand new car and not even had to travel or phone them apart from once to see if they had one in stock. They didn't but they rang me the day after and said they found one at another dealer and it was on it way to them ask we speak. I'm not even paying my deposit till the day I collect the car. All in all its been 3 phone calls and 2 emails for paperwork and 7 days from the first call to me picking the car up. Instead of the 2 weeks of pain from trust ford and a stupid deposit or we won't do nothing for u attitude. The service department at trust ford is just as bad as the sales department as well. 

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There's something comforting about collective pain!

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Gary, which branch is this?

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  • 3 weeks later...

Further update. Had the car over 3 weeks and still no details of the breakdown cover that I supposedly have. Nor of the warranty booklets that Trust Ford/Ford Direct were meant to send me.

Chasers sent to Ford Direct, directly by me. Also the salesman at the local dealer reckons he has chased as well.

I wonder how much longer it'll be before I get a reply, or indeed the expected paperwork...

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  • 10 months later...

Just an unexpected update...

I missed a call from the Ford dealership late this afternoon.  So I called them back to find out what they wanted.  Went straight through to someone and mentioned just my name.  Without even looking me up, he apologised and said they were calling to tell me the new Fiesta was in, inviting me down to look at one, but that he knew I wouldn't be interested as I wasn't happy with the last one.  He said he'd have me taken off of the list.  All I did was mention my name on the phone - nothing else!  Fools for calling me in the first place, I think!

Must have a reputation :laugh:

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