This is why I went with Cinch, I thought it was the safest bet. They said they do 100s of checks, the car was HPI clear there were no red flags. The full service history looked legit in delivery day, the book was full of stamps. It’s only today revealed it’s a counterfeit 

 

1 hour ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

The car supermarkets are not getting good press recently it seems. The Despatches report on Channel 4 this week "Why is my Car so Expensive" featured both Cazoo and Car Giant selling write-offs.

They did, I was thinking exactly the same reading this thread.  But they seemed to be pretty vague on actual numbers.

The Dispatches programs wind me up no end...clearly created with a negative agenda rather than balanced consumer information.  They even spent 10 minutes with the police, didn't find a single stolen car, arrested a group of guys who hadn't actually stolen a car, and still put that all in the program.

 

2 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

The Dispatches programs wind me up no end...clearly created with a negative agenda rather than balanced consumer information. 

Yes I suppose you have to accept they're an entertainment show to a certain extent.

I don't think there was an implication that they deliberately set out to sell write-offs, or as in the case in this thread, knowingly sell cars with fake service history.

It did say to me though, that even professionals can get suckered, and their 'x' hundred point checks are not as good as they're made out to be.😀

It does make me wonder, in Luke's case, who faked the service record and why - and does something else lie behind it. 

Whatever, I guess Cinch are likely to be prosecuted by Trading Standards and whoever faked that service history have committed a serious offence which may even be part of an organised fraud.

Or do I just read too many detective novels?😀

Well this all shows why manufacturers are now recording services digitally now. Service book can be stamped by any individual wanting to make up history. 

2 hours ago, iantt said:

Well this all shows why manufacturers are now recording services digitally now.

News headlines next week........

"12 year old school boy sets up a business creating fake service records after he and his mates hacked car manufactures servers" 🤣

You just know it's coming !

According to UK Government Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2022, 39% of UK businesses suffered cyber attacks in the previous 12 months.

I suspect car manufacturers service records could be easy meat if it's sufficiently lucrative.

 

3 hours ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

The car supermarkets are not getting good press recently it seems. The Despatches report on Channel 4 this week "Why is my Car so Expensive" featured both Cazoo and Car Giant selling write-offs.

Odd how we all here seem to watch very similar TV shows LOL 'Cut & Shuts' don't seem to be as popular, I guess there's a welding skills shortage 🤣

I do wonder if they all record them digitally with Ford.

My local dealer did stamp my book, sent a link to a video, gave me the ticked checklist but nothing shows up in my Ford Pass app or in my Ford account.

4 minutes ago, Tizer said:

I do wonder if they all record them digitally with Ford.

My local dealer did stamp my book, sent a link to a video, gave me the ticked checklist but nothing shows up in my Ford Pass app or in my Ford account.

I’d be surprised if they didn’t, it’s a requirement afaik. They don’t even give out service books anymore. This is what I get. 
 

6 minutes ago, Tizer said:

My local dealer did stamp my book, sent a link to a video, gave me the ticked checklist but nothing shows up in my Ford Pass app or in my Ford account.

I'm the same, still have the service book which got stamped by Arnold Clark but nothing on the Ford Pass. I rang to ask and was told you get one or the other but not both 😧

6 minutes ago, unofix said:

I'm the same, still have the service book which got stamped by Arnold Clark but nothing on the Ford Pass. I rang to ask and was told you get one or the other but not both 😧

I must be special then. I have both digital and they stamped my book

I would have quite liked been able to see the service on the Ford Pass app. Next service (if there is one) I will just say I don't have the book.

Does the Ford Pass app give details of the service or just date and mileage ?

11 minutes ago, alexp999 said:

I’d be surprised if they didn’t, it’s a requirement afaik. They don’t even give out service books anymore. This is what I get.

This is what I get, same as @unofix. My local dealer is Peoples, who are a small franchise but have been very good whenever I have needed them. The Ford Pass app says the same.

Funny, I had just checked my app to see if had updated, but I get exactly the same as @Tizer.

 

14 minutes ago, unofix said:

I would have quite liked been able to see the service on the Ford Pass app. Next service (if there is one) I will just say I don't have the book.

Does the Ford Pass app give details of the service or just date and mileage ?

Shows what’s been done 

They give me a printout with the checklist of the digital service record too usually  

2 minutes ago, alexp999 said:

Shows what’s been done 

That's better than just getting a stamp in the book.

11 hours ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

It does make me wonder, in Luke's case, who faked the service record and why - and does something else lie behind it. 

Whatever, I guess Cinch are likely to be prosecuted by Trading Standards and whoever faked that service history have committed a serious offence which may even be part of an organised fraud.

I don't have any recent experience, but an acquaintance worked for a small lease company about 10 years ago.  It was fairly common for them to 'add' missing services, and even pass the service book around the office to get different handwriting...  I never have trusted a service book alone since hearing that!

11 hours ago, alexp999 said:

I’d be surprised if they didn’t, it’s a requirement afaik. They don’t even give out service books anymore. This is what I get. 

I think garages have to pay an annual fee to add to the DSR, so not all of them have it?

On my other Mk4, there was one service listed in the app, but no other details about what had been done.

16 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

I don't have any recent experience, but an acquaintance worked for a small lease company about 10 years ago.  It was fairly common for them to 'add' missing services, and even pass the service book around the office to get different handwriting...  I never have trusted a service book alone since hearing that!

Jesus Christ really?? So literally cars are floating about that have never been serviced but have write ups that they have? In my case, weather it be poor engine design or not - the total blame of the engine failure is that the car has never had a service despite someone quite literally stamping the book and making up miles and names. Isn’t that quite dangerous… especially if it results in engines blowing up.
 

They might aswell have signed them Donald Duck - all the names in the book didn’t exist as staff that ever worked at the dealership. 
 

I read online yesterday that it is an illegal offence to sell a car with counterfeit service history. Is that solid true?

Some ***** out there I assume did this to sell the car for a higher value, and I also probably paid more than the car was worth due to it having “Full Ford Service History”.

I cannot see in the life of me that anyone could justify my position. At this moment I’m at a huge loss with a car that doesn’t work due to someone defrauding the service records. 

1 minute ago, MikePancake said:

Jesus Christ really?? So literally cars are floating about that have never been serviced but have write ups that they have? In my case, weather it be poor engine design or not - the total blame of the engine failure is that the car has never had a service despite someone quite literally stamping the book and making up miles and names. Isn’t that quite dangerous… especially if it results in engines blowing up.
 

They might aswell have signed them Donald Duck - all the names in the book didn’t exist as staff that ever worked at the dealership. 
 

I read online yesterday that it is an illegal offence to sell a car with counterfeit service history. Is that solid true?

Some ***** out there I assume did this to sell the car for a higher value, and I also probably paid more than the car was worth due to it having “Full Ford Service History”.

I cannot see in the life of me that anyone could justify my position. At this moment I’m at a huge loss with a car that doesn’t work due to someone defrauding the service records. 

Fortunately your consumer rights are on your side.

They should take the car back and refund you.

I believe they can deduct a portion of the refund for your use of the vehicle while it worked, but you should get most and hopefully all (for simplicity) of what you paid back.

13 minutes ago, MikePancake said:

Jesus Christ really?? So literally cars are floating about that have never been serviced but have write ups that they have? In my case, weather it be poor engine design or not - the total blame of the engine failure is that the car has never had a service despite someone quite literally stamping the book and making up miles and names. Isn’t that quite dangerous… especially if it results in engines blowing up.

Not necessarily 'no servicing' or causing a danger to everyone...don't work for Dispatches do you?  

There's not even any proof that your car has never been serviced.  All we know for certain is that it hasn't had any service recorded on Fords system.  It could've easily been done by an independent garage or even on someone's driveway.  We see plenty of these engines fail even with genuine history.

Back then there was no online record either, so if someone lost the service book or left it out of the car during a service, it wouldn't have been stamped, but that doesn't mean it wasn't serviced.  It's not quite as bad as it sounds.

 

8 minutes ago, alexp999 said:

Fortunately your consumer rights are on your side.

They should take the car back and refund you.

I believe they can deduct a portion of the refund for your use of the vehicle while it worked, but you should get most and hopefully all (for simplicity) of what you paid back.

Thank you, I need some positivity right now.  

5 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

Not necessarily 'no servicing' or causing a danger to everyone...don't work for Dispatches do you?  

There's not even any proof that your car has never been serviced.  All we know for certain is that it hasn't had any service recorded on Fords system.  It could've easily been done by an independent garage or even on someone's driveway.  We see plenty of these engines fail even with genuine history.

Back then there was no online record either, so if someone lost the service book or left it out of the car during a service, it wouldn't have been stamped, but that doesn't mean it wasn't serviced.  It's not quite as bad as it sounds.

 

I think the bigger issue with this particular car is that the service history supplied and sold as part of the the value has been found to be counterfeit.

2 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

Not necessarily 'no servicing' or causing a danger to everyone...don't work for Dispatches do you?  

There's not even any proof that your car has never been serviced.  All we know for certain is that it hasn't had any service recorded on Fords system.  It could've easily been done by an independent garage or even on someone's driveway.  We see plenty of these engines fail even with genuine history.

Back then there was online record either, so if someone lost the service book or left it out of the car during a service, it wouldn't have been stamped, but that doesn't mean it wasn't serviced.  It's not quite as bad as it sounds.

 

Kind of misses the point, as far as Ford are concerned the failure is due to lack of servicing - if this is true or not it makes no difference, the fact is they offer no support in resolving the blown engine due to the counterfeited service records. 
 

Feels pretty bad to me mate, I got a hefty loan and brick at sat outside right now. 

9 minutes ago, MikePancake said:

Kind of misses the point, as far as Ford are concerned the failure is due to lack of servicing - if this is true or not it makes no difference, the fact is they offer no support in resolving the blown engine due to the counterfeited service records. 
 

Feels pretty bad to me mate, I got a hefty loan and brick at sat outside right now. 

Yes, that's exactly the point...  Ford are telling you it hasn't been serviced purely because it's not showing on their records.  But that doesn't mean it hasn't been serviced at all.  It doesn't mean every car with dodgy history has never been serviced.  And most importantly it doesn't mean that engines with full history don't fail either.  You're putting far too much trust in the service history.

In this particular case, as the car was sold through a trader, you can return it and get your money back.  Lots of inconvenience of course, but you won't be out of pocket (much, at least).  As it's out of warranty, Ford would have been unlikely to fix it for free if it had full genuine history...you'd have had to pay several thousand pounds to top up their goodwill gesture.  You're actually financially better off in this position than many members who come here with blown engines and full genuine history.

So, moving forward, forget about service history automatically meaning reliability, and/or cross reference any service history with the servicing garage(s) before purchase for your own peace of mind.