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Buying A New MK8 ST-Line - Three Minor Dealership Issues


James Drebin
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Hi gang,

I posted this mini-story about the purchase of my new car over in the introductions forum when I joined, but since no one really goes in there (and it isn't really a good place for discussion), I thought I'd replicate the bit about my experiences with the dealership here. They were all minor problems, but I did rather expect a flawless experience when dropping a wad of cash on something brand new, especially when doing so at a main Ford dealer, you know? There were three minor hiccups:
 

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Firstly, I was assured by the dealer that the car would be sent down by trailer to avoid having anyone else drive the thing, but when I queried the 150 miles already on the clock, it transpired that it had already been driven from another dealership to the one it was just trailored from. Although I was told that up to 500 miles is considered acceptable delivery mileage (my brother's 2018 Focus had just 4 miles on it when delivered last month!), it would have been nice to know in advance, especially as my new logbook reported 0 miles at registration, and I was the first registrant.
 

Secondly, thanks to it being a rainy grey day when I collected the car, it was hard to inspect the bodywork when taking delivery. Once things brightened up a few days later, I noticed a host of small surface scratches here and there - a couple on the wing mirrors, some on the side panels, as well as on the internal sills. I had to return the machine in order to get them rectified, but I was assured it was all taken care of when I collected it - once again in the blasted rain! Although I think they did get the majority of the nicks in the paint, it should be noted that they left the finish in a shocking state - unbuffed, smeared wax all over, huge crusts of wax residue dried in the seams around the fuel filler cap, plus a nice hard-to-remove wax stain on the rear black plastic lip near the exhaust. Given the standard of presentation work up to that point, I didn't fancy taking the thing back again, so dealt with it as best I could myself. I'm treating my new car to a professional detailing valet and re-wax at the end of May, so hopefully no other bodywork issues will be revealed!
 

Finally, at the start of my third week with the car, she refused to start - even after trying the usual emergency procedures. Fortunately AA cover was included with the purchase, so about an hour after I called them, they were able to get to me at home and fix the problem. Apparently it was the second brand new Fiesta the guy had seen this week with the same problem - a corroded coating on the electrical switches/plugs in the engine fuse box that just needed cleaning off. I was two hours late to work, and not very impressed given I'd had 4 years of my 16 year old Yaris starting first time, every time! The dealership didn't seem particularly worried, telling me that bringing it in to get checked over was entirely optional, and that they were confident the AA will have fixed the problem. Not wanting to hand over my car to them for another full day of messing about, I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt. Fortunately everything has been fine since then, but it does make me anxious that it will remain so!

 


So, despite the disappointing start, things seem to be ok now, and I am still very happy to have joined the Ford party!

Has anyone experienced similar issues when buying new from a dealership? I'd be interested to know!

~ James

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  • 2 weeks later...

Yep , all sounds familiar.......

Ford - decent cars spoiled by a sh#tty dealer network.

as you found out  - its better to take care of minor issues yourself than risk the hamfisted efforts of forecourt staff that probably dont care and just want you out the door.

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16 hours ago, biff55 said:

Ford - decent cars spoiled by a sh#tty dealer network. As you found out  - its better to take care of minor issues yourself than risk the hamfisted efforts of forecourt staff that probably dont care and just want you out the door.

It's very disappointing to learn that, isn't it? There's me, bright-eyed and innocent, thinking that because I'm paying thousands of pounds to a company, they might actually look after me and my purchase. I was imagining some kind of Apple-esque level of customer care, where they know you've shelled out, so they go the extra mile to protect their reputation. It really was extremely tiresome and disappointing to see that even at this level of purchase, there are people who just DGAF. 😒

Did you run into this kind of thing yourself?

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1 hour ago, James Drebin said:

Did you run into this kind of thing yourself?

not when buying my car no , but when it came to warranty repairs / servicing the customer care at my local ford dealership was sadly lacking on every level.

for example , following a cambelt change , they damaged an alloy wheel and didnt bother to inform me , then tried to over-charge me £100 above the agreed price , then didnt reassemble the coolant system correctly so i was driving around with a leak for several weeks.

needless to say i'll never use this dealership again.......

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6 minutes ago, biff55 said:

following a cambelt change , they damaged an alloy wheel and didn't bother to inform me , then tried to over-charge me £100 above the agreed price , then didnt reassemble the coolant system correctly so i was driving around with a leak for several weeks.

That is utterly unacceptable on their part! Was this a Ford main dealer? Even if they fixed things eventually, did you hold them to account with a complaint? Man, I would have been LIVID!

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yes main dealer.

in the end i decided not to return , didnt want them near my car again.

instead i named & shamed them on googles customer review page.

they rang me a week after posting the review offering to put things right.

i declined their offer as i wanted my warning of this shoddy business to remain public for all eternity :-)

i still drive around with a big gouge in the wheel - its worth the bad press i gave them lol

for everyones benefit it was Evans Halshaw.

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31 minutes ago, biff55 said:

instead i named & shamed them on googles customer review page. they rang me a week after posting the review offering to put things right. i declined their offer as i wanted my warning of this shoddy business to remain public for all eternity :-)

for everyones benefit it was Evans Halshaw.

It's amazing what a little bad coverage can do, isn't it. Just pity people don't seem to pull their fingers out before we're forced to take such measures.

And yes, my experience as EH too. For shame!

shame.gif

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  • 2 weeks later...

Over the last 15 years of so one or other of our cars has been Ford or VW group. One of the reasons we have stuck with Ford is our local dealer, who have generally been very good on sales and service. Certainly our current Fiesta was prepared to an immaculate standard, I felt guilty driving it on the day of collection in March (blizzard) as I had undone all their good work by the time I got home.

I think the crucial difference is that this is one of the rapidly diminishing number of family owned independent dealerships and most of the staff have been with them for years. Once they get taken over by Amalgamated Conglomerates or whatever, you see a lot about mission statements etc but not so much good old fashioned service. I had Audis for a number of years and the local ( then independent) dealer was great, now they're part of a big group and the salesmen seem to know lots about finance plans but nothing about cars.

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21 hours ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

Once they get taken over by Amalgamated Conglomerates or whatever, you see a lot about mission statements etc but not so much good old fashioned service. I had Audis for a number of years and the local ( then independent) dealer was great, now they're part of a big group and the salesmen seem to know lots about finance plans but nothing about cars.

Seconded - that just about sums it up.

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