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How many miles have you done?
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Thanks for all the replies.
To answer some questions, the car has done 29000 miles. I bought it about a year ago and it has full service history. The warranty repair of the water penetration problem was flatly refused by the dealer.
Cheers
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Ford are useless at sorting warranty issues out in my experience, and their standard of customer service as a company on a whole is appaling. To cut a long story short I own a Ford Focus ST170 (from new) and I am having major problems with the alloy wheels corroding. It was pointed out to the dealer as the car approached two years old when I took it in for its 2nd annual service. The car was low mileage too at just 13000 miles in two years and the basic outcome of this saga was that it wasn't covered by the warranty (you only get 12 months on Ford alloys), and they classed it as fair wear and tear. Well I disagreed as I thought it wasn't fair wear and tear, note the low mileage and after a tussle with two different Ford dealers and Ford Customer Relations I can hacked off with being passed from pillar to post and messed about, that I basically had to give up chasing them to make a goodwill gesture or a warranty claim. The Ford warranty is a joke - I'll be spending my money elsewhere in the future and this includes any future servicing I have done on my Focus too.
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They normally get out by saying it's adjustment( for the water leak on door) As for gear selection when cold, mine's done 112000, and no problems. If it,s clutch problem then it,s hard work to get help from ford
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Who are all these dealers owned by Ford?;I only know of one or two.The biggest problem with service and customer relations is that Ford have little,if any,control over the dealers.
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Water ingress is specifically excluded in the manual beyond 12 months, as is anything considered as trim including wheels.
Don't see why the gearbox problem wouldn't be covered.
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Your reverse gear problem could be due to a fault with the reverse gear mechanism itself or it could be due to clutch drag (a failure of the clutch to fully disengage, probably as a result of a fault with the release mechanism). I would not think either of these could be classed as 'wear and tear' unless the gearbox has been damaged due to driver abuse. Wear of the clutch centre plate (clutch slipping) would be wear and tear - but that is obviously not the problem you are having!
The Ford 'warranty' is acutally a manufacturer warranty for the first year only - thereafter it is a dealer backed warranty which is in effect a kind of insurance scheme from which the dealer can make a claim. Various people on here in the past have reported disappointing experiences in years 2 & 3 and certainly Ford scores very low in terms of dealer satisfaction in many surveys.
Ford paintwork can be a bit hit and miss, and certainly the alloys tend to be poorly painted. Mind you, that seems to be increasingly common these days - I've looked at lots of cars less than three years old with corroded alloys - inc. Honda, Mercedes, Mazda.
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I've looked at lots of cars less than three years old with corroded alloys - inc. Honda, Mercedes, Mazda.
Mercedes will change them (new alloys, not refurbs) on cars under 3 yrs old and will make a hefty contribution on older cars.
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>> The Ford 'warranty' is acutally a manufacturer warranty for the first year only - thereafter it is a dealer backed warranty which is in effect a kind of insurance scheme from which the dealer can make a claim. >>
However the fact that most Ford main dealers are owned by Ford means that in practice there is little difference between the first and second/third years.
>>> and certainly Ford scores very low in terms of dealer satisfactionin many surveys.
I have to take you up on that Aprilia, what surveys? All surveys I have seen in the last few years and Ford are either above average in such regard or on the way up. Which, Warranty Direct etc.
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Who are all these dealers owned by Ford?;I only know of one or two.The biggest problem with service and customer relations is that Ford have little,if any,control over the dealers.
Dagenham Motors all over London, the southand southeast, Brunel Ford, dealers around Bristol / Somerset, Also I beleive Polar, Hartwell and Bristol Street Motors though might be wrong.
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hacked off with being passed from pillar to post and messed about, that I basically had to give up chasing them to make a goodwill gesture or a warranty claim.
You're in a good position as you've owned the car from new - write (recorded delivery) to the supplying dealer and ask them to replace the wheels. If they refuse, or ignore your request, then issue a claim for the cost of new wheels using moneyclaimonline. Unless you're very unluckly they'll settle beforehand or fail to defend, in which case you win by default.
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Dagenham and Polar are basically the same outfit and owned by Ford. AFAIK Hartwell and Bristol Street are independent groups and multifranchise. I would say majority of Ford dealers are NOT owned by Ford, but probably most around London are.
IIRC Ford was in bottom 25% in last dealer satisfaction survey I read in Which? Agree they are on the up though - the cars are getting better.
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IIRC Ford was in bottom 25% in last dealer satisfaction survey I read in Which? Agree they are on the up though - the cars are getting better.
The Which report I have places Ford 14th out of 36 brands, equal with BMW and above VW, Audi, SEAT and MB to name but a few.
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Friends have a similar issue. They spent 8K on a Mondeo 2.0 Ghia Estate from a main Ford dealer locally. It had a fully Ford dealer service history and was offered at top retail with 1yrs Ford warranty. These folks knew they were paying top money but thought it bought peace of mind.
After 6mths 4th gear became very hard to select hot or cold and they took it in. Dealer took the transmission out and said yes indeed it needed a repair. Then the bombshell that the warranty had a max spend on any one occasion of £500. This would pay for the transmission remove/fit plus the investigation... but hardly anything left towards the repair! So they had to stump up for this plus of course the clutch that sensibly was fitted at the same time.
To add insult to injury the car waited dismantled in the workshop for 10 days while "the part was made"!!!!
Their view now is that a private or fleet auction purchase saving over £1K would have given them more peace of mind. Ford will not get their business again.
DW
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>>8K on a Mondeo 2.0 Ghia Estate from a main Ford dealer locally>>
The car was probably out of manufactuers warranty on age or mileage so the dealer provided a second hand car warranty which typically have such restrictions, not unique to Ford.
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>>You're in a good position as you've owned the car from new - write (recorded delivery) to the supplying dealer >>and ask them to replace the wheels. If they refuse, or ignore your request, then issue a claim for the cost of >>new wheels using moneyclaimonline. Unless you're very unluckly they'll settle beforehand or fail to defend, in >>which case you win by default.
To be honest I've given up chasing Ford and its dealers about this 'substandard quality' issue to do with my Alloys. They have made it very difficult for me to get anything out of them - either a warranty claim or a goodwill gesture and the final nail in the coffin was after being messed around for weeks by two different Ford dealers, I was eventually invited to book the car in for a 20 minute free service inspection appointment (or something similar).
Basically they would look at the problem on my car and decide if/how they would procede with a claim etc. The sticking point being that the car had to be booked in to an appointment, but these appointments were only available between 8.20am and 3.20pm or thereabouts, Monday to Friday only. I work from 8am to 5pm Monday to Friday and due to the nature of my job I go here there and everywhere and as such don't have a set dinner hour or anything in order to make a definate appointment.
Originally I was trying to get this problem resolved in December when I was using up my annual holiday entitlement from work, but like I say I was passed from pillar to post. Ford only came up with this 'book it in for an appointment' lark after the new year was here and I'll be damned if I am going to take time off work just for these muppets to look at my corroding wheels.
At this current time I am very much anti Ford and will not be spending any more money with them. If this is the backup you receive when one of their products falls apart so early in its life then I'll take my custom elsewhere. It is at times like this when I rue the fact that I didn't buy the Civic Type R or the Golf GTI instead.
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So they have offered to look at the wheels between 8:20 and 3:20, not exactly anti social hours, and you are not able/willing to visit in those hours?
Presumably they are not going through the motions, I assume they will agree that it is a manufacturing fault and offer to replace/refurb the wheels or state that it is down to damage and refuse your claim, if the latter you can still resort to an independant report if you are sure it is a manufacturing fault.
However if you are unwilling to attend how do you propose they proceed then? Send someone to visit you perhaps? - unlikely. Why not leave the car with them before 8:00? If you ask very nicely they might loan a courtesy car for a day.
More generally Ford are not the only ones with alloy issues, Toyota and Lexus badly effected, the std wheels on Celicas the worst apparently.
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Though they do have some people willing to argue their case, Ford are not good for the private buyer. Low quality levels (even if they are rising now they'll drop again just as before), appalling service - nothing new in that - I had a first brand new Ford in the late 80's and in the first 6 months the car spent more time off than on the road. And this '3 year' warranty is imo ludicrous. Years 2 and 3 are no better than one of these insurance warranties that never pay out.
Ford Dealers are best avoided unless the company is paying.
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Totally contrary to my experience though dont have the time today to say other than I have had excellent warranty and goodwill support from Ford and the dealer to beyond 4 years and 100k plus miles.
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Hello
Not directly linked with regard to the faults but.
If Ford dealers (owned by for or not) were checked and tested on communication skills etc and regulated i think they could improve.
Every Ford dealer i have visited is varied in the way they deal with you or your cars problems.
--
(iam not a mechanic)
Martin Winters
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>>So they have offered to look at the wheels between 8:20 and 3:20, not exactly anti social hours, and you are not >>able/willing to visit in those hours?
Exactly, I am not able to drop in for a 20 minute pre booked appointment during those times. The only way I can do it is to take half a day off work and I am not prepared to do that just for the sake of Ford looking at some wheels and saying tough luck - its wear and tear. Ford Customer Service have already hinted that the best that they can do is make a goodwill gesture towards repair, they are not going to supply/pay for the whole job. So either which way I am going to end up out of pocket and quite frankly that annoys me somewhat and if I am going to have to something out of my own pocket then I would rather it went to a specialist of my choice than risk a poor quality Ford repair. In my opinion I shouldn't be out of pocket for a repair needed on my Focus whilst it is less than three years old.
Back to the original point, bearing in mind that these Ford dealers workshops are open on Saturday mornings, they are not prepared to look at my car on a Saturday. So if you think I am being stubborn, how about them not willing to give a little leeway. As for the chances of dropping the car off before 8am, then that it just not feasible. For me to get to work by 8am I would have to drop the car off around 7.15am and there would be no-one on site at that time to take the car off me. And do you really think that they would supply me with a courtesy car for a day just for a 20 minute free appointment? Most Ford dealers round here only have courtesy cars available (with pre-booking) on a first come first served basis at the best of times.
Either which way I have come to the conclusion that the whole issue is not worth the time and trouble to chase. I'm just going to steer clear of Ford from now on and shop elsewhere in the future.
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Yes, I do think you are being inflexible, do you have a lunch hour, otherwise could you ask your boss whether you can take an hour out one morning and make up the time, surely there is a way.
Seems that you are prejudging when the dealer is trying to accomodate.
As for Sat am, they will only have admin and mechanics on duty and not anyone to inspect re warranty, understanable really.
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>>Yes, I do think you are being inflexible, do you have a lunch hour, otherwise could you ask your boss whether >>you can take an hour out one morning and make up the time, surely there is a way.
If you bothered to read through the previous posts then I have already stated that I don't have a set lunch hour. Due to the nature of my job I start at 8am in the morning, then I am pretty much out all day and get back into work later on in the day, if I am lucky I may be back by 5pm ready to go home but there is no guarantee that I won't be home until well into the evening. My lunch hour/breaks are taken wherever I am at the appropriate time of the day, which is normally a fair distance from where my car is parked. As for popping out for an hour one morning, it just isn't possible with my job. My company insist that any time taken off is either a half day or a full day, and hence to get my car looked at it means I am using up my holdiay entitlement which at this early stage in the year I am not prepared to do. So what do you suggest now?
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>>Yes, I do think you are being inflexible, do you have a lunch hour, otherwise could you ask your boss whether >>you can take an hour out one morning and make up the time, surely there is a way. If you bothered to read through the previous posts then I have already stated that I don't have a set lunch hour. Due to the nature of my job I start at 8am in the morning, ....
I agree with Simon - the dealer is just being awkward, and their approach is not at all customer friendly. If you have a job that's very flexible then it's really hard to appreciate how awkward life is for others whose jobs don't offer the same freedom.
US dealers have things like 'open house' on Saturday mornings where you can stop by and have little problems sorted out (and get a free oil change, tyres rotated and a valet. Of course it's just a way of getting people in so the salesmen can sell new cars, but if they keep customers happy then chances are they will buy another.
UK dealers just have such dreadful customer service.
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Doesn't need a 20min appt to look for corrosion on alloys. Takes about 30 seconds per wheel. Its a fruitless endeavour anyway, there is no chance of getting a warranty claim on corroded Ford alloys.
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Doesn't need a 20min appt to look for corrosion on alloys. Takes about 30 seconds per wheel. >>
Clearly though the dealer is willing to give it 20mins at no cost to the customer ...........
>>> Its a fruitlessendeavour anyway, there is no chance of getting a warranty claim on corroded Ford alloys.
................ and surely would not do so it it was already cut and dried.
Someone else on here had their facelift Ghia X Mondeo wheels (the 17" ones with the diamond cut rim) replaced or refurbed under warranty.
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>> Doesn't need a 20min appt to look for corrosion on alloys. >> Takes about 30 seconds per wheel. >> Clearly though the dealer is willing to give it 20mins at no cost to the customer ...........
But they won't give it 20mins. They will tell customer to park it somewhere. Service bloke will then, at his leisure, wander over to it, take a look for a minute or two and wander back. Its a bit like when dealers want your car for a day to do a service. They spend less than an hour on it, but want it there for the day so that they can do it when it suits them.
Main dealers must be some of the most inefficient business organisations known to man. Usually have several managers fighting each other (new sales, used sales, service, parts) different and non-integrated computer systems etc etc. Many now have 'service writers' and my local VW agent is currently making so much money they can afford to employ a 'greeter' who stands by the door and directs customers to 'parts', 'service' etc etc - all of which are only a few metres away and have great big signs over them.
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