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Took my V reg Mondeo into an independent garage for a 60k service. Upon collection I was told that considerable effort was needed to remove the rear brake drums and it was considered that they had probably never been removed during the life of the car. All previous services were carried out by a Ford Dealer. Upon scrutinising the Ford Service Checksheets, I noticed that the wording adjacent to the tick box says "check rear linings for wear using inspection pad inspection holes" In other words the drums need not be removed. Is this good practice? I understand that certain other manufacturers follow the same procedure of never removing such items until a problem develops. Surely prevention is surely better than cure! In my car's case, the drums were clogged with years of dirt.
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My S reg Mondeo has done 75000 miles with full Ford history.
I removed the drums to check the wheel bearings and found them very easy to remove, once I had retracted the auto adjuster. I had a nightmare of a job until I realised. I wonder if your garage has not realised about the adjusters?
For what its worth I have found the sevice from Ford dealers to be vastly improved over the service from Va****ll dealers.
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Ford Focus 3years old. New to us. Took it for 3 year service at main dealer. Shortly afterwards decided to remove alloys for a better clean job. I had to hammer the rear wheels off, clean off corrosion, grease and refit.
I think they probably have the original tyres on and all inspections of the pads done without removing wheels.
Less of a problem than drums but....
I suggest it is worth checking that your wheels do come off without use of a lump hammer.
I would not have been amused to attempt to change a wheel on a cold wet night and have to resort to calling the AA.
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Did one of the girls in the Office a favour recently. Dropped off her Ford Puma at a Dealer for a oil/filter change. On the way noticed a hum in a rear wheel suggestive of a bearing going. The puma is 2 yrs old but on an S 3 digit plonk. plate. Conversation was viz. Service "Bearings gone - needs changing"
Self "Its under Warranty, change it"
Service "It's wear and tear won't be
covered"
Self "I think you'll find it is"
Service "It's out of warranty - its an
import."
PU became pedantic and said of course its an import its made in Spain or Germany. Service became equally pedantic. Insisted on phoning Ford and making a show of checking its Chassis number before conceding defeat. Whilst waiting for this an increasingly enraged PU was bypassed by other customers (one wanting to change a tenner, a service clerk that cackeled on about her car with the Ford rep on the phone. PU then informs then of his position in a large company about to change its fleet to an all Ford one (white lie) and because of their attitude and perforance had just failed the test and we would probably by Vauxhalls. Service Manager then stepped in offered a free valet and all kinds of sweetner ...Too late mate.
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Nice One!!!!!!!!!
Fullchat
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That's what bugs me about them sometimes, they get paid off Ford to do warranty work anyway, so why be so obstructive?
Fortunately I now have a good local one where I know that the car (and myself) will be fairly well treated...
I think on the whole Ford dealers aren't too bad, although I could have slapped the lad on the front desk who made a huge point of informing the technician to be careful because my car was an import. As though it was any different from a UK model! They even tried telling me that the car only had deadlocks because it was an import. They didn't have an answer when I pointed out that deadlocks are standard equipment on the Fiesta Ghia according to Ford's UK brochure... I changed dealerships after this expereience.
Blue
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I am on my last Ford after owning 2 Fiestas, 4 Mondeos and 2 Escorts. When my current Escort goes (and it's only a temporary measure so not long) I will NEVER buy a Ford car again.
My experience of two local dealers is apalling.
I have had vehicles damaged on numerous occasions whilst in for service or repair at two different dealerships. On one occasion I left my 12 month old Escort (that I had only bought a week earlier) with the supplying dealer for 3 days while they sorted out a HEGO sensor problem. When the vehicle was returned it stunk like a paintshop. I found that the front bumper had been replaced, badly painted and they hadn't even mentioned it.
When I kicked up a stink I was told that the bumper had been 'stolen' and I was lucky to have had it replaced at no charge!
I was far from amused, told them to stick the Escort where the sun doesn't shine and got back my traded in Mondeo and money I had payed to change along with a full tank of fuel and the tax disc off the Escort which I had refunded.
That unfortunately is the tip of a very large iceberg.
After using another local dealer for the past couple of years I am now of the opinion that my area Ford dealers offer very low levels of customer satisfaction.
It's a shame as the cars themselves aren't bad, I've had very few problems, but when I have had cause to visit a dealership I've come away with a bad taste in my mouth every time.
I'm thinking of a Honda Accord next, probably around the 2001 Y or 51 plate mark, maybe I'll experience something positive from Honda dealers?
PP
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Good luck then, I think you get good and bad amongst them all.
Our local BMW dealers are far worse than the Ford dealers, awful service, at least they were when we were last in. We were that disgusted with them from both a sales and service aspect that we haven't darkened their doorsteps for years, fortunately the BMW tends not to need a lot of work, and when it does, a local back street garage that seems perfectly competent gets the work.
It's a good thing that Jennings offer reasonable service, as they have now taken over the Arriva Ford Sunderland branch, and now they aren't far off having a monopoly of most of the Ford outlets in the North East, I think there's only Pattersons Ford left that they don't own! If there are any others then they certainly don't have a prominent company image 'cos I'm not aware of them...
Blue
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they get paid off Ford to do warranty work anyway, so why be so obstructive?
I beleive when it's warranty work, the labour rates paid for by the the car manufacturer to the dealer are less than if it were a customer having to pay for the same repair.
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