Poor Service From Ford Main Dealer - What Next?
Discussion
Posting this regarding my girlfriend's 05-reg Ka, which she has recently had some work done on by two different Ford main dealers in Essex. Apologies for the length, but I need to tell someone who might be slightly interested! The story goes as follows:
Ka is due its 37,500-mile major service, requires a new clutch and front pads and discs, amongst a couple of other little bits. She phones around various different local Ford dealers and gets prices. She goes with the one who gives the best quote and leaves it with them for the work to be done. Let's call them Dealer A. It was dropped off on the morning of March 27th (a Saturday) and we collected it Monday (29th) evening after work. Everything was done with absolute efficiency and I was very impressed with the level of service received - they even called when they said they would!
Fast forward to Wednesday 31st and she drives down a massive pothole around three miles from our house at 7:30am. I go and sort this out for her before work, and due to the wheel being buckled to buggery and the tyre being destroyed, I advised her to take it to the Ford dealer literally half a mile down the road in order for them to check for any suspension damage, even though I couldn't see anything amiss when fitting the spare. Let's call them Dealer B. Luckily she had the day off work and was only going to meet her sister, so when Ford told her to come back at 4pm, that wasn't a problem. When she takes it back they have a look over it and confirm there's no further damage and then quote her for what I told her to ask for. This was a new steel wheel rim, a wheel trim, two new front tyres (they were pretty low anyway, so it made sense to change the pair) and the tracking to be done. They didn't have the wheel in-stock, but promised to do it the next day. This wasn't a problem either as she also had this day off work.
She takes it in on the Thursday and the work is done, she hands over the money and comes home happy that the car is once again all sorted!
Fast forward to Bank Holiday Monday and I check her tyre pressures to make sure they've been done properly (they weren't - they were at the rear pressure of 26 PSI rather than the front pressure of 31 PSI), but when I do, I notice something isn't right... The new rim (front nearside) has the tyre fitted backwards on it. This would explain the slightly louder tyre noise that she had complained of that I said would have just been because her tyres were new! To be honest I can't really see how a main Ford dealer could make such a simple - and potentially dangerous - mistake to a young girl's car. It bloody said 'outside' on the inside of the rim!
I phoned the dealer yesterday morning and explained the situation to them, who were 'very surprised that that could have happened because they fail lots of people's MoTs for it' and I said I'd be dropping the car off with them that evening.
We did that and collected the car this evening (sadly just after the service department had gone home - had to get the keys from a salesman), where I noticed that while the tyre was now the correct way round, it was not on the nice new rim she had bought from them just days before! It was some horrible old rusty thing! I'll be contacting them again tomorrow to sort this out once and for all. On top of this, the tracking isn't quite right!
What should I expect from them, though? Should I contact Ford Customer Care? I'm really quite appalled how performing such a simple task can be done so wrong by a main dealer, especially considering how good Dealer A were.
A couple of technical questions:
1. By the time her new tyre will be fitted on her new rim (this time the right way round!), it will have been on and off three times. Is that potentially detrimental to its strength in any way? Should I demand a new one?
2. The tracking was obviously done with slightly incorrect pressures and one tyre on backwards - could this be the reason why the steering wheel is a little off-centre?
Thanks.
Ka is due its 37,500-mile major service, requires a new clutch and front pads and discs, amongst a couple of other little bits. She phones around various different local Ford dealers and gets prices. She goes with the one who gives the best quote and leaves it with them for the work to be done. Let's call them Dealer A. It was dropped off on the morning of March 27th (a Saturday) and we collected it Monday (29th) evening after work. Everything was done with absolute efficiency and I was very impressed with the level of service received - they even called when they said they would!
Fast forward to Wednesday 31st and she drives down a massive pothole around three miles from our house at 7:30am. I go and sort this out for her before work, and due to the wheel being buckled to buggery and the tyre being destroyed, I advised her to take it to the Ford dealer literally half a mile down the road in order for them to check for any suspension damage, even though I couldn't see anything amiss when fitting the spare. Let's call them Dealer B. Luckily she had the day off work and was only going to meet her sister, so when Ford told her to come back at 4pm, that wasn't a problem. When she takes it back they have a look over it and confirm there's no further damage and then quote her for what I told her to ask for. This was a new steel wheel rim, a wheel trim, two new front tyres (they were pretty low anyway, so it made sense to change the pair) and the tracking to be done. They didn't have the wheel in-stock, but promised to do it the next day. This wasn't a problem either as she also had this day off work.
She takes it in on the Thursday and the work is done, she hands over the money and comes home happy that the car is once again all sorted!
Fast forward to Bank Holiday Monday and I check her tyre pressures to make sure they've been done properly (they weren't - they were at the rear pressure of 26 PSI rather than the front pressure of 31 PSI), but when I do, I notice something isn't right... The new rim (front nearside) has the tyre fitted backwards on it. This would explain the slightly louder tyre noise that she had complained of that I said would have just been because her tyres were new! To be honest I can't really see how a main Ford dealer could make such a simple - and potentially dangerous - mistake to a young girl's car. It bloody said 'outside' on the inside of the rim!
I phoned the dealer yesterday morning and explained the situation to them, who were 'very surprised that that could have happened because they fail lots of people's MoTs for it' and I said I'd be dropping the car off with them that evening.
We did that and collected the car this evening (sadly just after the service department had gone home - had to get the keys from a salesman), where I noticed that while the tyre was now the correct way round, it was not on the nice new rim she had bought from them just days before! It was some horrible old rusty thing! I'll be contacting them again tomorrow to sort this out once and for all. On top of this, the tracking isn't quite right!
What should I expect from them, though? Should I contact Ford Customer Care? I'm really quite appalled how performing such a simple task can be done so wrong by a main dealer, especially considering how good Dealer A were.
A couple of technical questions:
1. By the time her new tyre will be fitted on her new rim (this time the right way round!), it will have been on and off three times. Is that potentially detrimental to its strength in any way? Should I demand a new one?
2. The tracking was obviously done with slightly incorrect pressures and one tyre on backwards - could this be the reason why the steering wheel is a little off-centre?
Thanks.
scorcher said:
finlo said:
Have you checked that the new rim hasn't been swapped to the other side of the car (maybe they were both the wrong way around)?.
Would't make any difference if it Said "outside" on the inside of the rim it would still be the same on the other side.both tyres were fitted the wrong way round so - both wheels removed, tyres swapped round and the wheels put back on the opposite side to where they came off.
Taking off a Ka tyre a couple of times wouldnt damage it, different it was a 20inch run flat that can barely be stretched onto a rim from an X5. The tyre for your Ford would go on and come off relatively easy so dont worry bout that part 
As regards with tracking, at times the car can settle slightly off even if you track a car by a decent amount in a situation when some one hits a major pothole.
It can often take two attempts to get the steering wheel alligned when a car has taken a big hit. Most large tyre places I wont mention may just take the car, track it to preset values and throw it back out with out driving it etc and in some cases the wheel may be off by 3-5% but then again Im sure that they also know 95% of the population wont notice that.
As regards with tracking, at times the car can settle slightly off even if you track a car by a decent amount in a situation when some one hits a major pothole.It can often take two attempts to get the steering wheel alligned when a car has taken a big hit. Most large tyre places I wont mention may just take the car, track it to preset values and throw it back out with out driving it etc and in some cases the wheel may be off by 3-5% but then again Im sure that they also know 95% of the population wont notice that.
David87 said:
What should I expect from them, though? Should I contact Ford Customer Care? I'm really quite appalled how performing such a simple task can be done so wrong by a main dealer, especially considering how good Dealer A were.
Ford won't give two s
ts. I drove a 2.5V6 for 3 years that gradually got lower & lower until it would ground out, when i jacked it up & checked the part number on the springs the dealer had fitted they were for a 1.6. I think there may be a slight weight difference which explained things 
I spoke to Ford who didn't care, when i spoke loudly in the dealers reception it all got sorted FOC.Gassing Station | General Gassing [Archive] | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff