Useless ford dearlers

[alpineau]

Now i am ****ed i took my car into ford yesterday to get a logbook service @ $157 deal they have going. When i arrived they put the car up on the hoist and had a look over the usual things like breaks and looking for oil leaks, after that they asked me how long it had been since the brakes had been bled and i told them not since i have had the car (2 years now). I was told that it was worth while getting the system flushed and i thought bugger i will get it done aswell.

This is where is starts to annoy me i asked them not to change the spark plugs as they had only just been done so what do they do change the bloody plugs. To add to that i asked them not to rotate and balance the wheels because that had also been done recently, well i get a call mid morning form them asking where the key is for the lock nut so the can rotate the wheels so for the second time i tell them to leave the wheels alone.

So in the afternoon i get a call telling me my car is ready to be picked up so i go in and get the bill handed to me $426.05 buy this time i was ready to kill them so to save face i just paid the bill and walked out.

Now this is where the real problem is as i drove out of the car park i felt my breaks where really spongy like they had air in the break lines so i called up as soon as i got home and what a surprise no one is answering the phones. This morning i bled the brakes and got a heap of air out of the lines but breaks are still spongy so back to ford on Monday

I have a few more issues but i will leave those for another time. But just a general warning do not take you car to the Carmichael Ford dealership in Townsivlle

[mik]

Originally Posted by alpineau

Now i am ****ed i took my car into ford yesterday to get a logbook service @ $157 deal they have going. When i arrived they put the car up on the hoist and had a look over the usual things like breaks and looking for oil leaks, after that they asked me how long it had been since the brakes had been bled and i told them not since i have had the car (2 years now). I was told that it was worth while getting the system flushed and i thought bugger i will get it done aswell.

This is where is starts to annoy me i asked them not to change the spark plugs as they had only just been done so what do they do change the bloody plugs. To add to that i asked them not to rotate and balance the wheels because that had also been done recently, well i get a call mid morning form them asking where the key is for the lock nut so the can rotate the wheels so for the second time i tell them to leave the wheels alone.

So in the afternoon i get a call telling me my car is ready to be picked up so i go in and get the bill handed to me $426.05 buy this time i was ready to kill them so to save face i just paid the bill and walked out.

Now this is where the real problem is as i drove out of the car park i felt my breaks where really spongy like they had air in the break lines so i called up as soon as i got home and what a surprise no one is answering the phones. This morning i bled the brakes and got a heap of air out of the lines but breaks are still spongy so back to ford on Monday

I have a few more issues but i will leave those for another time. But just a general warning do not take you car to the Carmichael Ford dealership in Townsivlle

thats poor show on their part, especially the brakes, if i was too drop my car with any dealer with special instructions for the mechanic, i would be writing down special instructions on a sheet of a4 taped to the dash board as a reminder, sometimes information gets forgoten if its in plain view on the dash, the mechanic has to see it when he drives it into the workshop , if something gets screwed up you can say look i told you and left a note, they have no recourse.

[Laminge]

Thats why I love taking my cars to Aussie Car, you can watch him work, have a coffee chat and know you wont get ripped off..

Maybe we need a workshop like that up that way

[XRQTR]

Just a quick couple of bits of advice,

If you have given special instructions make sure they are written down on the job sheet, ask to see the job sheet before you leave the car and make sure any instrustions are plainly written, in pen. This way if they do something that is not needed or has been instructed to not go ahead with you can not be held liable for the stupidity of the service people, you have it in writing that certain items were not to be done.

Two, if you have just left your service and notice something NQR then turn straight back, do not go home or to work, do not pass go or collect $200. If you go home they can easily say that you have tampered with the vehicle in the meanwhile in order to have such a problem. Regardless of how late you will be for tea/work, whichever it may be, get the issue sorted or at least noted immediately after you notice it, this way the onus remains on the service department for any dodgey work that may have been performed.

Especially in this case where the brakes were said to have been bled, even though
a. they were instructed not to and
b. the job was insufficient in terms of finish/quality of workmanship

Hope this helps others and yourself in the future. :voldar02:

[Smoked]

Sorry to hear ,ate, I hope (fingers crossed) that they come to the party when you return on Monday.

[JC]

Your biggest mistake was paying the bill. By doing that, you have accepted that everything they did on the car was approved by you to do. You should've paiud the 4157 odd and left it at that.

[Laminge]

Geezuz mate

Thats a bit of a bonus....

[ronwest]

Originally Posted by Laminge

Geezuz mate

Thats a bit of a bonus....

Yes, obviously a Ford dealer and I note he's part of the "Learn to Spell" crusade...

Hope he's not a paiud up member?

[poolkeeper]

There was a thread, about this $157 service from ford wasnt there?

[JC]

Originally Posted by ronwest

Yes, obviously a Ford dealer and I note he's part of the "Learn to Spell" crusade...

Hope he's not a paiud up member?

Just fat fingers on my part. And, no, definitely not a Ford dealer.

[JC]

Originally Posted by D1XR2C

There was a thread, about this $157 service from ford wasnt there?

Yep, but based on this thread, $157 (or 4157 if you forget to use shift) is just the tip of the iceberg.

[alpineau]

well the brakes are all fixed my old man bled them again and now there back to normal so i will be giving them a call on Monday just to let them know that what then did by letting a car go out the way it was is not on.

It might be pushing it a little but i will try and get my money back for the brake flush but i think they will just tell me to **** off

[Casper]

Ford Service don't get to touch my car.. ever.

I take it to G&D. It gets done to my requirements, done right, done to a set price agreed up front and done so I know it doesn't need to be done again (Ford service incompetence is well documented).

[Yellow_Festiva]

If you asked them to not change the spark plugs and they did than i would have asked them to pull em out again and put ur old ones straight back in again.

im sure the 157 buck service is not considered a log book service anyway, perhaps thats where the extra cash went to as well???

There are a heap of threads about crappy ford customer service in regards to servicing etc

It leaves a sour taste in your car when you take a car in for a routine service and get stung with a bill that is way over what you expect. ESPECIALLY when there was nothing wrong with the car when you took it there.

As others have said, dont bother allowing ford to service your car....

[Cooper69S]

if they replaced normal spark plugs unnecessarily that would be a waste of a few $$, but i assume you've got irridiums... theres no way i'd pay for them to be replaced without needing it...

[angryboy]

I am shocked at the way ford handle all the comebacks on faulty cars, i can only say how dissapointed i am in the after sales service[ well reading about it on here anway]Just because a car wins an award doesnt mean you can disown it once it leaves the showroom, ford needs a good wakeup call.Does anyone know of someone who hasnt had a problem with a ba falcon?

[AUXRVIII]

I read this thread and I'm not surprised by what has happened, but I don't like to read the general Ford dealer service department bashing because I feel that I'm being tarred with the same brush. I do take a lot of pride in every car I work on and treat it as it were my own. The same things happen whether it is a Ford dealer or a privately run business or any other brand, unfortunately the job done will only be as good as the tech doing it
When taking your car in for work to be done you should fully understand what work is to be carried out and a good read of the sheduled maintenance book is generally a good start.

[Dark Horse]

Originally Posted by alpineau

Now i am ****ed i took my car into ford yesterday to get a logbook service @ $157 deal they have going.

If you bring your own oil and filter in that drops down to about $86.00

Not all dealers are like the abovementioned. Some are the complete opposite. Peter Warren Special at Smithfield (AFF sponsor) for example, has one of the cleanest workshops going as far as dealers go. In fact it's the dealer which has the highest customer rated service manager in Australia.

Two years sounds about right for a brake fluid flush, but that shouldn't be anymore than $50.

Anyhow, that aside, what's been done has been done good luck with the recourse.

[sednwol]

Some time back we had a post re horror Ford dealer stories....you are not alone by a long shot!

[alpineau]

I don't want to bag all ford dealers as this is not my intention i have read many good stories about other ford dealers it's just this one experience has ruined my impression of this particular dealer. I will see how things go on Monday maybe their response to my problems might restore some of my faith in them

[philstoj]

Thats why i do the service myself!! no stuff ups!!!

[alpineau]

Originally Posted by philstoj

Thats why i do the service myself!! no stuff ups!!!

Yea i do a service my self half way through the 15000k service period, but i need the logbook service to keep my extended warranty