Bad Experience With Ford Dealership ? Tell Us About It

[Lenny]

Hi all,
After a bad experience with my local dealership,
I have decided to create this thread and transfer my own experience in to it.
Id like to hear from others who have also felt the difference in customer service at their stealers too.

[Emma727]

SMC ford in crayford, bought the car from them with the promise of them doing the paintwork that needed to be done, took it back today to be done and all they have done is touch it up with a paint pen!!!

seriously unhappy and have fallen out of love with the car now :( it looks worse than when i took it in this morning.

I'm now looking for a decent panel beater/sprayer to do the job properly so that i have a car thats worth having.

Lesson number 1, never let them near my paintwork again!!!!

[HomZ]

Ford Dealer on Canal Road Bradford, Bought a used car from them, had it less than 2 months and had numerous problems with it, they aren't interested, just keep fobbing me off, I'm going in tomorrow to kick off with them, ask for my money back or something, really unhappy.

[b1g_dav3]

My only bad experience was with the service department of my local Ford dealers, they sent me back out with dangerous tyres knowing both front wheels were buckled, and that the back had a hoof nail in it... Lol.

New service manager has taken over and now get a free quick wash and valet whenever it goes in :P

[b1g_dav3]

SMC ford in crayford, bought the car from them with the promise of them doing the paintwork that needed to be done, took it back today to be done and all they have done is touch it up with a paint pen!!!

seriously unhappy and have fallen out of love with the car now :( it looks worse than when i took it in this morning.

I'm now looking for a decent panel beater/sprayer to do the job properly so that i have a car thats worth having.

Lesson number 1, never let them near my paintwork again!!!!

Was it under warranty or damage?

[Emma727]

The cars still under warranty but was scratched by the previous owner, the reason I bought the car was because they said that they would do the paintwork

[b1g_dav3]

If they've said they'd do it as a condition of sale then they have to do it to a satisfactory standard >.<

[Emma727]

Oh they've done it but with a bloomin paint pen, needless to say it's not satisfactory and I'm going back tomorrow to have a winge and see what they say

[Lenny]

Wow ive created a mob!!

good to see im not alone on this.

my bad experience has resulted in me saying Bye Bye Ford Wexford,
One lost heavy investing customer and supporter of the blue oval,
No longer will my self built zetecS bare your logo.

booked the car in to get the Genuine Ford Eibach lowering springs fitted,

Lowering took from 09:00-15:00 and then tried to charge me 65.10 more than he wrote down last week.
I didn't pay the extra 65.10

they said they had to cut off the existing Rear camber bolts with a Grinder as ford tack weld them in place on the production line,

which cost extra and fit new bushes!,

Told me they had to do laser alignment and camber adjustment which cost extra,
Bit difficult since they don't actually have that equipment to do such job in the first place I know this for a fact because a guy bought a focus last Friday and they sent his purchased focus; off site for alignment prior to handing it over to him.

And I was watching them all day, my focus left their site once for exactly 2minutes speeding up the road then back,
no way long enough to have gotten adjusted by an off site body.

Here is photographic proof: I Spy Negative Camber on the bottom of the rim
Should be flush with the body.





They never consulted me first and I had 240 written in his hand writing on a printed page here in front of me.

They said they need 295.10
I said Im not paying it You agreed 240 and that's why I came back here today to have it done for 240

They then created an invoice for 250.00 just like that. So I paid 250.00 today.
Needles to say i won't be back.

As previously documented in my build thread they told me last Friday 10th May 2013 @ 15:32 that etis says lowering takes 3.5hrs and I was supplying the parts so labour would be 240.00 no more no less

Now tries to spin some horse !Removed! story about fitting extra parts but never consulted me first or mentioned a higher price until the last minute, when all was done.

I'm sick of it never again, charged me almost 400 last Friday for its fourth service then try to get another 295 today lmao.

Going to fitspatricks ford garage from now on, well I'll give them a try hopfully the ain't gone to the dogs too.
Very sad to see such operations in the current climate, so many genuinely skilled, dedicated people unemployed and a daddys boy kacooned from it all in a supervisors role playing with financil figures.

"Nice focus" he kept telling me, "you spend a lot on it" he says
Yes I built it myself, I owe you nothing only the job ive requested to be done.

[FOCA]

I worked at a Ford main stealers many moons ago, even then it was cutthroat, salesmen would say anything to get a sale, repairs would be double or even treble the quote, "being economical with the truth"/ misleading the customer was normal, just as long as they made money, most customers were "none the wiser" the way you were treated, Lenny that is probably how others are normally treated at the place you went, exept the other customers don't know the difference/ accept the lies as truth, many customers know very little about cars and are easy to mislead - looks like they underestimated you - im sorry it put a downer on your project

Unfortunately, a lot of the other garages are the same, it comes from the top down, profits are very high on the agenda, and these days, survival, other things take second, third place to making money

I could tell you a hundred horror stories, much, much worse than that, in a similar vien, recently i was talking to a Ford parts man, specally trained by Ford, he had not ever heard of EGR blanking plates, or how the car could work without an EGR, when i told him about the modifications to my car, he would not believe it and thought i was "pulling his leg" - he is a bright guy though, and probably the most intellegent in the department!

He is young and has been working there for about 4 years, his salary is not brilliant and when he asked for a wee raise they basically told him to get lost, there is no chances for promotion untill the parts manager retires (a few years off) /even though this is a big firm

He approached another dealarship (not a Ford one) they offered him a job, much better pay and a chance of promotion in the 1st year - he accepted the job

In the meantime 3 of the 4 parts guys plan to leave the Ford dealarship or had to quit/ retire due to ilness etc (or onhappy with the pay/ conditions/ attitude of the management), he was offered a raise but he had already accepted the other job anyway - and was "fed up" with them/ the way he was treated - he started his new job and is happier, and better off, the Ford dealarship had to hire back the people they had sacked for a lot more money (there was no-one/ no time to train new staff to use the system/ the apprentices were gone-they were forced to use people familiar with their system - serves them right! - if they had just offered a decent wage/ treated their staff with respect they would not have been in that predicament )

If thats how they treat their staff what chance have the customers got!

[jeebowhite]

im fortunate these days I trust my local dealer.' sorry you had a rough run.

[Lenny]

I worked at a Ford main stealers many moons ago, even then it was cutthroat, salesmen would say anything to get a sale, repairs would be double or even treble the quote, "being economical with the truth"/ misleading the customer was normal, just as long as they made money, most customers were "none the wiser" the way you were treated, Lenny that is probably how others are normally treated at the place you went, exept the other customers don't know the difference/ accept the lies as truth, many customers know very little about cars and are easy to mislead - looks like they underestimated you - im sorry it put a downer on your project

Unfortunately, a lot of the other garages are the same, it comes from the top down, profits are very high on the agenda, and these days, survival, other things take second, third place to making money

I could tell you a hundred horror stories, much, much worse than that, in a similar vien, recently i was talking to a Ford parts man, specally trained by Ford, he had not ever heard of EGR blanking plates, or how the car could work without an EGR, when i told him about the modifications to my car, he would not believe it and thought i was "pulling his leg" - he is a bright guy though, and probably the most intellegent in the department!

He is young and has been working there for about 4 years, his salary is not brilliant and when he asked for a wee raise they basically told him to get lost, there is no chances for promotion untill the parts manager retires (a few years off) /even though this is a big firm

He approached another dealarship (not a Ford one) they offered him a job, much better pay and a chance of promotion in the 1st year - he accepted the job

In the meantime 3 of the 4 parts guys plan to leave the Ford dealarship or had to quit/ retire due to ilness etc (or onhappy with the pay/ conditions/ attitude of the management), he was offered a raise but he had already accepted the other job anyway - and was "fed up" with them/ the way he was treated - he started his new job and is happier, and better off, the Ford dealarship had to hire back the people they had sacked for a lot more money (there was no-one/ no time to train new staff to use the system/ the apprentices were gone-they were forced to use people familiar with their system - serves them right! - if they had just offered a decent wage/ treated their staff with respect they would not have been in that predicament )

If thats how they treat their staff what chance have the customers got!

Agree with you 100% mate,spot on

[ffz]

My local dealer is Stoneacre. My future father in law would never speak to me again if I used them!

I bought my car from Benfields in Leeds. I had them touch up my rear sills a month after purchase, which got worse (!) and they tried again a month later. The paint survived 6 weeks before peeling and bubbling again, and this winter really brought out the rust!

I took the car to an independent body shop, and I now do my own servicing. Only myself to blame then!

[Torque]

When are they re-doing the repairs Emma, don't forget some piccies for us over at CYC :)

[Emma727]

When are they re-doing the repairs Emma, don't forget some piccies for us over at CYC :)

Hey Torque!!

Repairs were done today, I dropped the car off at 9am this morning and gave my keys to the branch manager who promised me it would not leave until the job had been done properly. so off I go to eyeball some new detailing gear and possible new headunit when I get a phone call, the painter wanted to know what I'd used on the car wax wise as he wanted to buy some!! cut a long story short 6pm comes and I'm getting itchy as I haven't heard anything 6.01 and my phone rings to tell me the cars ready to be picked up, so off I go back to smc in crayford and when I pull up i get worried because I can't see my car anywhere, I walked into the dealership and the branch manager asked me to follow him, we walked to the back of the dealership and into their paintshop where my car is sitting under floodlights and spot lights ready for me to inspect!!

I was flabbergasted at how good my car looked, no scratches, dents or swirl marks anywhere in sight! the painter actually stayed to make sure I was happy with the finish of the car, I shook he's hand and gave him a panel pot of DODO juice wax as a thank you for the hardwork, the painter was a star as was the branch manager so for me it's a bad experience turned VERY good!!!

Well done SMC ford in Crayford!!

[jeebowhite]

Always good to hear that someone has redeemed themselves!

[PEXYS]

Don't want to name and shame the garage but this is my bad experience

Totally let down by the garage, promised after a long wait that my new car would be getting collected from Aberdeen on Monday and would be ready to pick up on Friday, so took my KA so I thought for her last wash before trading her in, then it was lunch time and I thought I should have heard from the garage by now as still to swap my insurance over and email them my cover letter so I called them to be told car still not been dropped off will call transport dept and call you back .......... To be told that a transporter was sent up to Aberdeen, however my car was in a holding compound 3 miles away from the garage and they told the driver we don't have that car here never mentioned to the guy that it was in THERE holding compound total morons so know there making a big drama over the fact that its a holiday weekend and they are HAVING to pay for a private flatbed to go and pick it up for me for Tuesday as we told them if not in for Tuesday then the deals off, the thing is they have one one waiting to buy my KA as only done 2800 miles so I'm pushing for a full tank and discount on a zetec s grille so will keep yous updated ...............glad got that off

[Major Eazy]

My experience with two different Ford-approved garage in Malvern was...

First was clutch developed a fault so car was in for repairs. Garage contact my mother to let me know that a few other minor work would be needed at the same time as they take the engine out for the major work, otherwise it would be a waste of time to take engine out for major work, put it back, later should any other problems started to go wrong, they would need to take engine out again. I thought about it and agreed, well I should have asked for the garage to list what other work is needed to be done but I never thought of it. When I got the car back, althought the major repair work and few other minor work were done with the engine and clutch, the work also included replacing one of the tyres with a budget tyre due to the fact that it was at the legal limit. But I had already ordered two new tyres and my car was going to be booked in at a different garage for two tyres at legal limit to be replaced.

The second was that I had a themostat housing problem, car was taken to a different Ford approved garage, they fixed it, but some weeks later during an MOT, I was told about a leakage from the themostat housing. It seems the garage did not do its work correctly.

That's enough experience to put me off Ford-approved garages so I'm using independent garages now.

[Torque]

Hey Torque!!

Repairs were done today, I dropped the car off at 9am this morning and gave my keys to the branch manager who promised me it would not leave until the job had been done properly. so off I go to eyeball some new detailing gear and possible new headunit when I get a phone call, the painter wanted to know what I'd used on the car wax wise as he wanted to buy some!! cut a long story short 6pm comes and I'm getting itchy as I haven't heard anything 6.01 and my phone rings to tell me the cars ready to be picked up, so off I go back to smc in crayford and when I pull up i get worried because I can't see my car anywhere, I walked into the dealership and the branch manager asked me to follow him, we walked to the back of the dealership and into their paintshop where my car is sitting under floodlights and spot lights ready for me to inspect!!

I was flabbergasted at how good my car looked, no scratches, dents or swirl marks anywhere in sight! the painter actually stayed to make sure I was happy with the finish of the car, I shook he's hand and gave him a panel pot of DODO juice wax as a thank you for the hardwork, the painter was a star as was the branch manager so for me it's a bad experience turned VERY good!!!

Well done SMC ford in Crayford!!

Great news Emma and well done to them for getting it right, eventually.

Very nice of you to give them a panel pot of DJ, which one?