Car goes in for routine service. Ford -
a) forgets to put the undertray back on
b) fails to plug an air regulator hose back in, giving the car erratic idle and rough peformance
c) takes two days to do the work
d) leaves the car dirty (they could have at least cleaned it with all that spare time)
e) went back twice before they admitted and put the undertray back on (a recent visit to an inderpendent dealer told they had done this incorrectly)
Is it just Ford or are all dealers this bad? (Please give opinion as customer service is important for new car)
Anyone got a story that bad?
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Fiat dealer changes points on car that does not have any, and leaves prop shaft loose that drops out in the road at 70.
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Another one - they said the cam belt needed changing. Car has a chain cam engine.
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i work at a vauxhall dealer , things like that happen all the time and the managers couldnt care less
do your best to check on stuff...mark parts that should be changed, ask for old parts, check over the car very well before leaving i.e oil level,kerbing,dents,srcathes, dont be affraid to complain loudly and threaten with watchdog/trading standard etc
if you find a good place..stick to it, often one man type places care more than big dealers
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i work at a vauxhall dealer , things like that happen all the time and the managers couldnt care less do your best to check on stuff...mark parts that should be changed, ask for old parts, check over the car very well before leaving i.e oil level,kerbing,dents,srcathes, dont be affraid to complain loudly and threaten with watchdog/trading standard etc if you find a good place..stick to it, often one man type places care more than big dealers
true. car is now serviced at an independent place, pretty good. vauxhall, incidently, made us wait 40 mins whilst corsa was out having a road test following a service, on the way home, however, we realised the speedometer and power steering wern't working, turns out theyd disconnected some sensor. you think they's have spotted that one.
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How about a jeep main dealer jacking up a Cherokee on the floorpan instead of the chassis and leaving a big dent in the footwell? I fixed it with a lump hammer.
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isn't that a bit severe, even for a dealer ?
John
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Never had an experience quite as bad as any of that at any garage, although hearing how my aunt's local Ford garage run their service department I'm beginning to realise that our local Ford franchise (where I used to work) really aren't that bad...
Blue
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isn't that a bit severe, even for a dealer ? John
No, some of them deserve it!
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Knotty Green Garage, Beaconsfield.
A superb family run Vauxhall dealer that works hard for the customer. Never a problem with workmanship, and the service desk approach was found to be a breath of fresh air.
Highly recommended from a very happy ex customer (because I now drive a Volvo). Would very happily return.
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I had a Ford Sierra serviced at a main dealer back in 1989. Over the next few days I was plagued with headaches and felt generally lousy. Can anyone guess why?
Yes, the exhaust had been slightly loosened from the engine resulting in fumes inside the car. I'd had a brief argument over parking with the guy behind the service desk, this was obviously their revenge.
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A few years ago a friend of mine bought a new MG metro.
It did 75 miles and the engine siezed
The cause was that no oil was in the engine because the filter had not been checked and was loose.
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I'm afraid that Ford dealers are this bad, and the reason is that Ford let them get away with it! If they took more notice of what was going on in their dealerships then I'm sure customer service would improve.
A few years ago Ford appeared to have a policy of closing down all the smaller sized dealerships. In my opinion, these were the ones who gave the best service. All we are left with now are the very large ones, where, by and large, the staff couldn't care less.
The attitude at Toyota dealerships does seem to be rather different!
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If you want to read tales and tales of woe, about cars and dealerships, read the Citroen C5 stories on
autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/C5-L/
(you will have to join the Group to read the messages)
Makes Fiat/Ford and Rover dealerships look paragons of virtue...
madf
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In my families experience there are distinctions between various dealers, and none come higher than Toyota. They've serviced the Celica 14 times, always at a reasonable cost, it's always valeted and everything is where it should be.
On the other hand the Peugeot, Rover, Ford and Vauxhall dealers we've used at the appropriate times have always been overpriced with patchy, if not consistently rubbish service.
Manufacturers should realise this, because we're about to replace the Toyota with another - and at least part of this is down to excellent dealer service.
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If you want to read tales and tales of woe, about cars and dealerships, read the Citroen C5 stories on<<
Weird! We're always hearing on this board about how amazingly reliable Citroens are, and what fantastic bargains we're all missing!
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I'm afraid that Ford dealers are this bad,.......
This has not been my experience. I've had dealings with 5 Ford dealers and I have really only been dissatisfied with one of them. And I am very critical.
<< Allwe are left with now are the very large ones,
Again I don't agree. I bought my current Focus from a small family owned and run Ford dealer and I have it serviced at another family owned and run Ford dealer. Both of them go out of their way to give good service.
--
L\'escargot.
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Up until a few months ago, I wouldn't have agreed with L'escargot but now I think I do in a way.
The dealership we bought the car from have been nothing but complete idiots.
I'll go through what they did and I won't name them so I *think* that will be ok.
1. We buy the car. Sort everything out - even give the part ex in with a full tank of juice (this during the bad fuel strikes). Everything's great - we're driving home. Marvellous. Get home and the phone's ringing. Dad answers it whilst I'm admiring the car in the driveway and them comes storming out. Apparently, there are dents in the door and someone's come to repsray them. So Dad goes back seething, no dents. No need to repsray. Everything's fine. Fair enough until...
2. A month later. Phone call. Dealer again. He's given us too much on the part ex and we've not given him enough for the car. A load of rubbish needless to say but Dad's really angry now and starts threatening with legal action - says he has receipts (which he did) and all this. The mention of taking it to court (which we wouldn't do) makes the dealer spot an error and realise it's him in the wrong apparently.
3. Boot starts rusting. Apparently, "that" type of rust isn't covered. Never mind the fact the car's supposed to be galvanised and there's a technical service bulletin out for this very fault, the fact the the rust is slightly brown in colour and not slightly red or whatever their reasoning was means it doesn't qualify and I would have to pay £600 for a respray even though it's Ford's fault. I go to a proper paint sprayer and get the bonnet and boot done for 200 quid. The job is flawless even almost a year later.
4. The central locking episode. Ohh that was fun. I posted about it on here but I'll give you the shortened version. I go in with a locking problem. (Which later turned out to be the door catch which even I could have fixed. I explicitly say to Ford - "I need the car back by 3. I must have it back by 3 to pick someone up. If you can't fix it, never mind but make sure the car is back by 3"
The car wasn't back by 4 - they cocked it up, my door was in pieces, 5pm came, it was still in pieces. I went in and started saying "What's going on?" but I'm a kid so apparently, even whilst paying £100 more than I was told the labour would cost in the morning, I don't deserve higher attentioj. So I say - put the door back together. Forget it. "Well it's kind of in pieces at the minute.....sir"
Total cost, £130 for a door catch. (It was around £130 - I can't remember the exact figure).
This was all from the same dealer. The one we bought it off.
Compare that to the one in the town to which we moved a few years ago. Has been fantastic for the little things I've needed. I'll say the name because they're good. Gordon's Ford of Wigan. They've told me how to fit the Gear Lever Return spring which is a common failing point on the IB5 gearboxes apparently. They've written instructions for me on reprogramming the new key. They cut the new key for me, they've replaced the batteries in the key for me and have been great.
Both dealers are pretty large yet one I will never ever go near ever again and the other I would go to buy the next car.
Can you guess which one?
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Adam
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For balance, I had an unbelievably good experience at our local Lexus dealer while trading our ES300 for a Chrysler Pacifica they had on their lot.
The place was like a five-star hotel lobby; they had playrooms for the kids, flat screen TVs with news etc., an internet cafe to mess about in while the paperwork was sorted;
The staff bent over backwards to make sure everything was ok; when I returned the Chrysler a few days later so they could fix a couple of dings, the salesman had forgotten to reserve a courtesy car... no problem, the service manager picked up the phone and there was a rental car delivered outside within five minutes...
We were promised a cargo net for the back which I thought they'd forgotten and as we drove away I saw the salesman in the mirror running down the road after us, waving it in the air.
The ES300 might have been a rubbish car but I don't think you can beat that dealer for service!
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I have had good service from Ford dealers over the past few years and very good service from Ford Customer Services when I contacted them. Locally I have one small independant and one very large dealer and the level of service is pretty good from both.
I had a couple of Vectra's as company cars, the Vectra was a good car IMHO however the experience was ruined by the dealers.
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Compare that to the one in the town to which we moved a few years ago. Has been fantastic for the little things I've needed. I'll say the name because they're good. >>Gordon's Ford of Wigan. They've told me how to fit the Gear Lever Return spring which is a common failing point on the IB5 gearboxes apparently. They've written instructions for me >> on reprogramming the new key. They cut the new key for me, >> they've replaced the batteries in the key for me and have been great.
They weren't that good when I mystery shopped them on behalf of Ford when they were owned by MSF a few years. Couldn't tell me what oil to put in my Mondeo let alone what they had used on the service.
If they've since improved that's great.
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Again I don't agree. I bought my current Focus from a small family owned and run Ford dealer and I have it serviced at another family owned and run Ford dealer. Both of them go out of their way to give good service.
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Would you please tell us the names of these good Ford dealers, my local dealer is very poor.
I did find GK Ford in Chesterfield quite good though.
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I had some bad experience at a Ford dealership over 30 years ago, in the early 70s, when I owned my one and only Ford, an Escort van. Perhaps that is too long ago to count?
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Would you please tell us the names of these good Ford dealers, my local dealer is very poor.
www.ringways.co.uk at Doncaster, part of a small group.
www.beyre.co.uk at Tattershall, family owned and run.
www.seacroftford.co.uk at Mablethorpe, family owned and run.
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L'escargot.
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As always it's the family-run dealerships that come out tops - for the simple reason that it's their own money in there and they rely on their reputation to live. Cross Roads Garage (Renault) in Oxfordshire is one such - they were brilliant over the 20 years that I had Renaults.
Does anyone know how much actual control manufacturers have over dealerships? I suspect not much - unless the Japanese makers have standards that dealers have to adhere to. There are far fewer complaints about them in the [ress, surveys and on here about them.
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Very little I would imagine.
Incidently, which manufacturers have cheap servicing? And which are expensive?
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Toyota have some quite stringent standards over the appearance of the dealership - all dealers are going over to a scheme called 'Retail Concept' so that regardless of where you go into a toyota dealer they should all look the same.
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Left my Nissan Almera for mid level service and through checkup in local branch of popular SE dealership chain (branch doesn't exist anymore btw). £260 bill. Right after service we drove to Poland and back, at night. As the night falls, without a single lamp lit on German motorban I discover both my headlamps are severly misaligned to the right. "So much for £260 service and checkup" I thought. While in Poland I left the car in hands of authorised Nissan dealership in Wroclaw to sort out the headlamps issue. Turns out, headlamps were on recall, production faults, UK dealership didn't check chasis number during service. But what's worse, both fuel filter and oil filter were rusty. According to the guy showing me patches of rust around rings and thick greasy layer of dust on filters there was no way anyone touched them in at least 12 months. So, not only noone swapped filters during the £260 service, but they weren't changed during service 6 months earlier. If that's not a reason for lawsuit, I don't know what is...
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I have had nothing but problems with Ford dealers over the years which is why my current ford will definitely be the last. Over the last three years for annual services I used a different main dealer on each occasion and either the vehicle has been damaged while in the dealers care or an item has not been done or both!
Dealer one: Never replaced a pollen filter that should have been replaced at the specified interval. I went back and complained they replaced the filter but marked the scuttle cover housing with a screwdriver and failed to fit the filter correctly. I threatened them with court action over the damage to the vehicle and they promptly replaced the part FOC, they also refit the pollen correctly during this second attempt.
Dealer two: Overfilled the oil and scratched the bumper whilst replacing the headlight bulb also failed to fit the headlight seal properly. The dealer rectified these problems after a strong conversation with the dealer principal and I did eventually receive compensation.
Dealer three: Overfilled the oil and left oil stains on the drivers seat and damaged a wheel trim. Once again I complained and the issues were resolved. It does seem this is standard practice in my opinion that after each service I generally have to make an official complaint and endure inconvenience.
In conclusion These are just my issues I have heard of far worse from others.
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My Jag went in for a main dealer service, and they overfilled the oil, and put the wrong stuff in, didn't change the air filters (they had to come off for something else about 3 weeks later, and they were ancient) and claimed they had no gearbox oil. They also said there were 2 faults that turned out to be non-existent, and missed 3 others that were there. Lazy and incompetent.
O
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Jaguar XJS V12 - comes with free personalised oil tanker.
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I have to agree both the selling of cars and the servicing of cars is sadly lacking. I stay in Glasgow and had to travel to Harrogate to get treated like the customer is important. Refused to use the garage in Glasgow (West End) due to the way I was treated (Long Story).
I took my money to James Alexander in Harrogate who where first class. The car was as described. Even filled the tank to get me back to Glasgow again and had a follow up call a couple of weeks later to see if I was happy.
Only problem that I have now is to find a good garage to get the car serviced.
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It is a shame that dealers can vary so much. It can put you off a make even though it's not the manufacturer's fault. You could argue ultimately it's their responsibility, but not their fault.
The Renault dealer I use in Bath is brilliant. Nothing is too much trouble, things are sorted out quickly and competently. Also I think their charges are reasonable for a main dealer.
But when I lived in a different part of the country, the Renault dealer there wasn't nearly so good, although it was some years ago now.
I am sure this applies to all makes, but why can't standards be consistent?
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I can thoroughly recommend Westerham SEAT (Near Biggin Hill, Kent). Excellent service & care. When I broke a door mirror, the service chap fitted it for me, saying 'that way if it breaks, we have to get another one, not you." Always receive a feedback questionnaire a few days after a service. Last time, they'd run out of courtesy cars, so gave me a Toledo being used by one of the salesmen.
I can honestly say that a big part of my decision to have another SEAT was the service I received from this dealer.
Alex.
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Dr Alex Mears
Seat Leon Cupra
If you are in a hole stop digging...unless
you are a miner.
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Let's hear it for my VW dealer who offered to wash the Passat after a service and left the drivers window open during the process. When I complained about the sodden seat and carpet they denied responsibility!
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Incidently, which manufacturers have cheap servicing? And which are expensive?
What Car? magazine lists estimated servicing costs for all makes and models.
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L\'escargot.
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When I did my work experience at a local Vauxhall dealership, I saw some dreadful workmanship. Throughout my 2 week stay, I worked with one mechanic, so I was with him during his days work. On one occasion, a Corsa was in for an oil and filter change. The car was being kept at the back of the garage out of the way. Instead of the car being out on the ramps, it was decided to carry out the work with the car in situ. No great problem there I guess. Because of this, the only vessel that would fit beneath for the oil to drain into was an old washing up bowl. After about 10 minutes with the sump plug off, the oil was drained (engine stone cold I may add). The plug and washer were replaced and the sump refilled. Next, the oil filter was removed from its box and promptly thrown into the bowl with the used engine oil! After submerging the filter (renewable element type) with his boot (to ensure even coverage), job was 'done'. The mechanic, seeing my look of surprise, commented with lines similar to 'they'll never know, no harm done'.
I must admit, about 80%of the services undertaken by this guy were ok, but the others were poor to say the least. On other occasions, frequently, parts which should have been changed weren't. For eg: a set of spark plugs had been ordered and added to the service expenses form, but were simply not fitted.
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Next, the oil filter was removed from its box and promptly thrown into the bowl with the used engine oil! After submerging the filter (renewable element type) with his boot (to ensure even coverage), job was 'done'.
Do you mean oil filter was not replaced,or did I misread that comment?
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Steve
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He means the filter wasn't changed - new one was made out to be the 'old' one. Saved the mechanic the bother of changing it.
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This is another reason, why I prefer cars at least 3 years old - don't have to bother with main dealers. Can service a car myself, or get a good known independent. Even the back street garages dont sound this bad!!
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Over the years best servicing was :- Lada, Suzuki and last Alfa dealer. Worst have been Vauxhalls, Fords, Subaru & my wifes Toyota.
Alfa dealer isn't family run but all Suzuki dealers I've used have been.
Vauxhall classic was to try to charge me for 3 headlights they'd replaced and got very upset when I caught them out. Wife runs Toyota and they're abysmal, certainly dissuaded me from buying a Celica a while ago. The Ford dealer did eventually sort things out after I threw teddy outa the cot and had no further probelms. The Porsche I now run I do a fair bit myself & use specialists for the rest.
Jim
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Lots of worrying stuff here, particularly stories like roberson's. My current issue with local Citroen dealership, used to be mid size independent but now part of national chain, is the front of house staff. Most of them are lovely ladies but quite frankly they know nothing about cars and seem to lack the competence to ascertain basic information. Result is that you can never get a reliable update on wip or answers to the tech questions that Citroen Customer Services insist dealers answer; they have no customer facing techies for "health and safety reasons".
Low point was when I asked for a quote for tyres and was told they could not possibly know what size was required. All I wanted was OEM equivalents for a 2000/X Xantia estate, all details of which were on their computer.
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"the front of house staff"
My daughter had problems with this aspect a week or so ago. Climate control/AC suddenly stopped working on her year old Clio. Took it to main dealer and it was instantly diagnosed by person on front desk as lack of fluid, probably because she didn't use it enough and it had leaked out. Daughter pointed out that since it was climate control she had it on permanently. Was then told "Ah I see, it must be because you use it too much. It needs a recharge and it's not covered by warranty and will cost you £100"
My daughter can be quite stroppy at times (!) and after various questions about warranty, suggested timetables for the optimum usage of climate control, why a sealed system should have "leaked its fluid" after only one year and not be covered by warranty etc etc, the receptionist agreed to actually have the car looked at. It was some electrical component which naturally they did not have in stock and would take a week to obtain.
But I wonder how many people would just accept the initial diagnosis and cough up the £100?
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I like my local Peugeot main dealer. Not only is the front of house girl extremely young and hot, but she knew the price of a drop link plus fitting off the top of her head.
Also, I?ve come to realise that I won?t get ripped off at main dealers in Poland, whereas local garages see English plates and think I?m Father Christmas.
Labour is £19.50 and hour. A recent service of oil, air filter, oil filter and aircon filter, 6 plugs and a coolant change was 700 zloty (£125). Final total bill was £266 which included the service, flat-bed truck recovery, new coil, drop link, fixed cruise control and tracking (and VAT). All replaced items packed neatly in their boxes and handed back to me (except oil of course).
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Our local Ford Dealer is Burns of Congleton. Privately owned, not a chain, quite large, top 5% of Ford dealers for service. I have no complaints at all to tell.
But Audi? 90k service £250. At 100k service.. "need a new cambelt and tensioner is completly worn out" The fact they replaced the belt at 75k was not mentioned - should have seen tensioner was faulty at 90k service. Oil changed without care so old oil left in engine undertray: dripped oil for 2-3 days. Underwhelmed.
madf
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Interesting microcosm of our new cousin in the European Union, BBD.
I'm surprised that prices are as high as that in Poland. How many Poles can afford those prices?
Has the Polish army got round to changing it's horses for tanks yet?
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Little update. Daughter bought Clio in a Midlands city but now lives in London. Fault was diagnosed in Midlands city main dealer she bought it from but daughter said she needed it repairing in London after waiting for 4 hours while they checked, supposedly repaired it, then told her they couldn't. Midlands city dealer rang dealer in London told them the problem and asked them to order part. Daughter heard them give part number etc. Daughter rings London dealer today to ask for appointment and London dealer says they have never heard of her or the part or the order. She will have to wait another week or so for the part and repair. As she has just said on the phone "I'm never buying another new Renault, the service you get is (rubbish), I'll stick to old second hand which I can take to Dilip and Jack (local independent).
By the way, at 4.30 today her drivers side front window exploded while she was on the M11 outside lane. She is still at RAC windscreens waiting for it to be fixed. 9.30pm
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Unfortunatly steve.o, Aprilia is correct. That Corsa probably covered twice the milage on that filter than it was supposed to.
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Sorry Roberson.I know he was,But doubt the garage knew about it.I have worked for MD myself in the past and do know what goes on,Though did not expect it to be as widespread as it appears to be.So would expect to find the fitter was doing what he should not be!
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Steve
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Years ago I had a Talbot Express van that developed an oil leak from the gear box. Turned up as the Pug dealer service dept was closing, a mechanic recognised the van and refilled the gearbox for free. Told that sometimes the oil could be "wound out" by the speedo cable.
Booked the van in for the next week for a proper check to the cause. Young mechanic thought the gearbox should be removed for examination, anticipated cost about £350. Thought this was excessive so went to inspect the van on the lift. The foreman was called over to look at it. He thought a couple of bolts needed tightening on the housing by the look of it. This was done and it never leaked again.
The end result is I now always ask for a second opinion if a mechanic is not certain of the cause of any problem.
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Good story from my boss today. His Laguna was in for its first MOT yesterday, and one or two warranty items to be sorted.
Boss calls local Renault main agent at 4:45 to check on progress - 'It'll be half an hour' is the answer. Fine, so boss starts walking to dealer (10 mins away on foot).
Imagine his surprise when he finds his car outside the shop round the corner from the office! He checked in the shop, but no member of garage staff, so continues walk to dealer.
Asks at reception 'Is my car ready yet?' After much umming and erring from staff 'Its on a test drive sir'. 'Then why is it outside the shop!'
A blazing row ensues between sales manager and service reception including the line 'No wonder we can't sell them with customer service like this!'
Car eventually returns from 'test drive', and still requires a further hour in the workshop. Boss not best pleased and looking for new garage (now that the warranty has expired)
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"'Its on a test drive sir'"
Shame he didn?t have spare keys with, driven it away then gone and asked them where it was
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Why are they doing all those things is just beyond me...
- - - - - - -
I am the only Pole over here.
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"'Its on a test drive sir'" Shame he didn?t have spare keys with, driven it away then gone and asked them where it was
I seem to remember a thread, where this was actually done. A very interesting discussion apparently occurred later. I wish I'd been a fly on the wall.
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