Daftest Response From A Dealer.

[Magenta]

I thought it might be interesting to hear what stupid answers members have had from dealers (not necessarily Ford) when presenting them with a fault.

I've got two that come to mind immediately with my Mk 7 Fiesta:-

Soundproofing coming away from bulkhead in engine compartment (not clipped properly); "It's meant to be like that - Sir" !

Noisy brakes : "They are meant to be like that on an automatic Sir" !

Creaking from the tailgate at low speeds : Turn the stereo volume up !

[Marcr1]

When I was looking at buying my car I went to Evans Halshaw in Cardiff and enquired about a S1600 to be instantly told there's none left in the country what so ever.... He didn't even look on the computer! When I asked him to look he just replied "I know for definite there isn't" He was just your typical cocky salesman

Quoted me pennies for my 2 year old punto

He then persisted on trying to flog me a zetec S for £14,000 which didn't even have the street pack!!!!!! Joker

I just left laughing.

I then went to Barry Ford where the salesman was lovely and tracked down a brand new S1600 with way more extras than the Zetec S from Cardiff and asked £12,500 and offered me £1500 more on my part ex.

[2011fiesta]

They are meant to be like that on an automatic

My god they blame the automatic transmission for everything.

I was told an annoying rubbing noise from my tyres was down to it being an automatic!

[karl46]

I went to Dagenham Motors in Gillingham, wanted to buy a new Mk 7 Zectec S, Street Pack, City pack, Leather etc. for cash outright.

Sales executive (posh name for salesman) said he couldn't sell me one as he didn't know the figures for the next quarter.!!!!

Same as for the extended warranty, Told they were no long available, had an email last week on the Ford system.!!!!

I went to another branch of the firm at Barking, Got a good price for an "S", good price on the part ex and later the extended warranty.

Its not only the service department that gives odd responses.

[tunne1rat]

Salesperson product knowledge (or the lack of it) is a major problem with Ford dealerships.

Over the years I have heard many complaints of a sales person telling the customer that the car they are about to buy has a particular feature only to find out after they have taken delivery that it doesn't and the sales person denying that they said it did.

In this situation the customer is left high and dry and the sales person moves on to the next victim.

Ford Customer relations are aware that this goes on, but are unsympathetic by saying that it is the customers responsibility to check the spec of the car before buying, which is a bit of a cop out as many customers may not know how to test all features of the car beforehand and rely heavily on the sales person being honest especially when they are a large dealer franchise.

Personally I steer well clear of these sales driven main dealers, preferring to give my business to the family run smaller Ford garages instead.

As a reward for this, I get a better trade in offer, a better finance deal, free paint protection, free full tank of fuel, free luxury mats and a free courtesy car (of equivalent suitability to my own car - and without being plastered in advertising graphics).

There are good dealers out there so keep looking and when you find one - hold on to them.

Don't give your business to some lame franchise that is more interested in making a sale and loading you up with extra's that should be free, than giving you the perfect customer experience.

I always laugh when these shoddy franchises tell me that in a few days I will receive a questionnaire in the post and that I should mark it positively (lie?) to avoid the sales person receiving disciplinary action.

I am sorry, but any dealership that treats its staff and customers like that deserves to lose its franchise.

[stef123]

correct me if im wrong but isn't any response from the dealer just a load of bull?

[jimrex]

correct me if im wrong but isn't any response from the dealer just a load of bull?

Yup, especially when they address all correspondance with the wrong first inital and mis-spelt surname despite me pointing it out several times.

I have mixed feelings about my local dealer, the servicing department is woeful and the staff are so rude. I had lots of respect for the salesman who I bought my Fiesta through, he was genuinely helpful and a nice guy. Two years later, I am in the market for a Focus, emailed him with exactly what I was looking for, what info I needed etc, to which he replied straight away and said he would get everything together for when I went in. I went in, and he had no information and had seemingly forgotten what I was after. He then seemed more keen to sell me a brand new Focus on a rediculous finance package, rather than a 6 month old one which I wanted.

Took my custom to Benfield in Leeds after an eBay search of exactly the spec I wanted, and despite being a bit of a journey from me, they made the purchase effortless. I guess the key is to shop around, even a good dealer's standards can slip!

[Magenta]

Yes, I have to agree, although in my original post I was thinking of stupid answers to technical issues by service personnel, sales staff can be just as bad. In either case, it is absolutely inexcusable to treat the customer like an uninformed idiot and is probably the worst aspect of this. I would have thought that this would be the first thing that would be emhasised when these people are trained. In the many (and I mean many) training courses I had to do throughout my job (with another large American-owned company), having respect for the customer was an important point. Ford really need to get to grips with this.

When looking to buy a particular car, I always study the specification closely to see what it has and has not got purely because I like to know exactly what I am buying and I am just interested anyway. I appreciate, however, that a prospective purchaser ought to be able to rely on the "knowledge" of the sales person, he/she supposedly being the expert but I found out many years ago that this is not reality.

I have even found that I know more about a car than the salesperson sometimes.