Car Rejection Help

[nipsips]

Right PH I need your help. This is a very long story dating back to January 2013.

I worked for a Ford dealer back in January this year, and through their staff purchase scheme bought a Ford Fiesta Titanium. The car was sold as having a Sony CD player which (quote from Ford's own website) "With Ford SYNC you can select a music track from USB or MP3/IPOD, or stream it from your mobile via Bluetooth connectivity. The system enables you to make and receive calls using simple voice commands. Additionally, SYNC even reads your text messages aloud, and responds by using pre selected commands, enabling you to stay connected to friends and family while on the move."

1 month into ownership using an iPhone 5 the sync system wouldn't connect and just stated "No Autoplay whilst indexing" on the screen. Convinced it was something I was doing wrong I took the car into the dealer and had a salesman run me through the system - his iPhone 4 wouldn't connect either. Booked the vehicle in under warranty and they done system based diagnostics and couldn't find a fault however agreed the system had failed. Reset the sync module and this cured it.

2 weeks later the system fails again. I booked it in again thinking they would solve it this time - surely there couldnt be an issue with the car. Nope - no faults found reset the system however they could see on the Ford computer that there was an update scheduled for end of March. Happy that this would cure it and with it working off I go again.

Cue two weeks later this is now April and it happens again. This time they didn't even bother booking it in just reset it. Not happy with this as it was now the third time I complained to Ford Customer Services and lodged a complaint.

Guess what happens again, mid April about to go to London for the day it fails again. 4th time. Reset again. Update is now rescheduled for end of April. No such luck as we get to the first week in May and it resets again. I threatened rejection with Ford and they told me it was down to the dealer. I threatened the dealer and they told me I couldn't reject it as it was a minor fault not detrimental to the operation of the vehicle and sale of goods act wouldn't cover that. When asked if they would be happy if they bought a car with AC and this didn't function?

They then told me that the car really needed an update and this would be scheduled for the end of May. I left the company in mid May and haven't been using the car as much since then and touch wood its been fine (when i say fine i mean it works when it wants to but hasn't required a reset on the Ford computer) - however two weeks ago I received a letter from Ford stating thank you for logging a complaint with Ford and that we are happy we have come to a resolution. If you have any further issues please do not hesitate to contact us.

Not happy with this letter I have rung Ford to chase the update for the end of May - no news but try taking the car into the dealer and see if it is available. So I'm booked in for this Saturday 22nd June. If the update isnt available do you think I'm within my rights to reject the car?

I bought the car on the promise it had bluetooth, USB, iPod compatibility and it would be more reliable and not cause me any grief. My reasons for rejecting it are as follows:

1/ The sync system has needed to be reset 5 times which on a 5 month old car is once a month. This has left me without music several times on long journeys (I don't carry CD'S - why would I when I have an iPod/iPhone full of music?). When it has failed the bluetooth streaming option has also failed.

2/ When the system is working it very often simply fails to play sound, or fails to recognise there is a device connected, needing several attempts at removing the plug and plugging it back in: it took over 5 minutes to connect the other night.

3/ If you select a track that's further down the playlist the screen refuses to acknowledge you have changed track and displays the previous track information but plays the new track(anal i know however annoying!)

4/ The text messaging service will receive texts: however does not display the name of the sender just unknown. The reply function also doesn't work and never has. According to the dealer I need a windows phone for this to operate correctly however the alleged update is supposed to fix this. There is nothing in any literature to support this anywhere - it just neglects to work. (I'd like to stress I'm not bothered about this as I wouldn't use it but its a brand new car it should work!)


5/ The update which is supposed to fix all these issues is non existent so far - after being delayed by 3 months, why release the car if the system was flawed!

So what are your thoughts. Would you be happy with this? I'm going to let them have 1 more attempt to rectify its constant flaws on Saturday however I have little hope as so I've heard so many excuses.

Where do I stand legally? SOGA states it must be of fit to purpose - 1 of my main criteria of this vehicle was that the iPod function was good, and its downright useless! And who do I chase the dealer or Ford? I didn't particularly want to go public with this but if I need to in order to get something sorted I will!

Thanks for any advice given.

[Red 4]

Get 'em to change the CD player/ bluetooth system/ ipod gubbins under warranty

Problem solved.

[ging84]

i get the feeling that people who try and reject car with trivial problems like they can't get it to work with their iphone 5 are the reason everyone gets such a hard time doing it when they have a genuine problem

[eybic]

ging84 said:

i get the feeling that people who try and reject car with trivial problems like they can't get it to work with their iphone 5 are the reason everyone gets such a hard time doing it when they have a genuine problem

If you read it properly you would have read that it didn't work with a 4 either. If it works after a reset the fails again soon after then I don't think OP is being unreasonable in being pissed off about it.

[onesickpuppy]

eybic said:

ging84 said:

i get the feeling that people who try and reject car with trivial problems like they can't get it to work with their iphone 5 are the reason everyone gets such a hard time doing it when they have a genuine problem

If you read it properly you would have read that it didn't work with a 4 either. If it works after a reset the fails again soon after then I don't think OP is being unreasonable in being pissed off about it.

[ging84]

eybic said:

If you read it properly you would have read that it didn't work with a 4 either. If it works after a reset the fails again soon after then I don't think OP is being unreasonable in being pissed off about it.

not sure if serious

[Grenoble]

I think he has good reason to be annoyed, but the chances of rejection I'd say were slim to none. It isn't a material feature of a car that has failed/not performed. I think he would be (maybe) able to claim a small compensation for loss of feature, but not reject.

[4lf4-155]

eybic said:

If you read it properly you would have read that it didn't work with a 4 either. If it works after a reset the fails again soon after then I don't think OP is being unreasonable in being pissed off about it.

Yes but I can't see being reason enough to successfully reject the car. After all its primary purpose is to be a car not an entertainment system. I reckon the best the OP can hope for is some money off or installation of a brand new system.

[eybic]

ging84 said:

not sure if serious

I am serious. An important function of the car to the OP does not work as advertised without having to be regularly reset, this is not on. Maybe it's unreasonable to expect to be able to use a feature of a car you've bought?

I've worked in both sales and customer service for manufacturers and if a customer of mine had a similar thing, I wouldn't think they were being unreasonable if they were pissed off.

[eybic]

4lf4-155 said:

eybic said:

If you read it properly you would have read that it didn't work with a 4 either. If it works after a reset the fails again soon after then I don't think OP is being unreasonable in being pissed off about it.

Yes but I can't see being reason enough to successfully reject the car. After all its primary purpose is to be a car not an entertainment system. I reckon the best the OP can hope for is some money off or installation of a brand new system.

I doubt rejection will be possible but if it couldn't be sorted then I'd think there is probably some kind of SOGA point that would come into play? I can appreciate the OP's frustration at it keep failing.

[crazy about cars]

So the OP wants to reject a whole car based on a faulty radio?

[onesickpuppy]

crazy about cars said:

So the OP wants to reject a whole car based on a faulty radio?

No, I think the OP wants a car with a fully working radio, which they've had more than ample opportunities to fix.

[ging84]

crazy about cars said:

So the OP wants to reject a whole car based on a faulty radio?

no a potentially fine radio, that doesn't operate perfectly with the latest bleeding edge 3rd party technology

[rallycross]

Yet another thread where it reads more like Mumsnet than PH.

[nipsips]

So you'd be perfectly happy if you bought a brand new car with 8 miles on the clock and it didn't do what it was supposed to - what you'd been sold and what it said in several brochures. Yes it may have a fancy radio but I've paid for that fancy radio and it doesn't do what it is supposed to so I want it fixed.

How about this. You buy a TV. One of the speakers doesn't work because of an issue with it however the manufacturer doesn't want to know because it doesn't stop you watching TV.

I need to do something otherwise the car will get to being three years old when I come to change it and it will never have worked properly. If the feature doesn't work properly don't advertise it with that - I would have bought a car that did have it because it is convenient for me to carry a small box round with me with all of my music on at a higher quality than a wallet of CD's to kick around in one of the foot wells.

Get my point?

[tbc]

why don't you just ask them to fit a new system under warranty

and there was me thinking a a car was to drive

[Grenoble]

rallycross said:

Yet another thread where it reads more like Mumsnet than PH.

They have their own wonderful glossary.

There were not enough of the following to be mumsnet:

AIBU
DD
DP
DS
DTD
MN
POAS

Etc

Edited by Grenoble on Tuesday 18th June 22:03

[nipsips]

crazy about cars said:

So the OP wants to reject a whole car based on a faulty radio?

No - as stated in the original post i want my car fixed. Which I'm sure you would too. But 5 times so far they have failed to do this with no real answers. So I need to take the next step which is rejection - just might inspire them to fix my car once and for all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[nipsips]

tbc said:

why don't you just ask them to fit a new system under warranty

and there was me thinking a a car was to drive

I have done. They wont do it as they feel there isnt a hardware issue its software related. So changing hardware wont cure it.

And yes - a car is to drive however the car comes with a radio which I'd quite like to work.

[anonymous-user]

nipsips said:

So you'd be perfectly happy if you bought a brand new car with 8 miles on the clock and it didn't do what it was supposed to - what you'd been sold and what it said in several brochures. Yes it may have a fancy radio but I've paid for that fancy radio and it doesn't do what it is supposed to so I want it fixed.

How about this. You buy a TV. One of the speakers doesn't work because of an issue with it however the manufacturer doesn't want to know because it doesn't stop you watching TV.

I need to do something otherwise the car will get to being three years old when I come to change it and it will never have worked properly. If the feature doesn't work properly don't advertise it with that - I would have bought a car that did have it because it is convenient for me to carry a small box round with me with all of my music on at a higher quality than a wallet of CD's to kick around in one of the foot wells.

Get my point?

Not really a good comparison. A tv provides a picture and sound so you are talking a major deficiency.

Your issue is relatively minor, certainly not a core function and your 3 year scenario is flawed too, there is a good chance that whoever has the car in 3 years won't have an old i4 or i5 and what they do have won't work anyway.

I would just make myself a nuisance until they update it.

BTW have you searched for a solution on line? I doubt it's a fault unique to you. Are you sure there's nothing on Ford's connectivity website, if they still have it?

Edited by anonymous-user on Tuesday 18th June 22:14