Calling Andy Barratt - vignale dealers need to up their game

[Cati]

Dear Andy

Can you please do something about your dealers. Most of us have come to ford from other makes because we love the mustang . I am sure you how your new signature car will add cred to the brand and hopefully tempt us to buy more ford products and be ambassadors for the brand

Based so far on I have my doubts my saga is as follows

1. Picked car up and it was meant to have been super inspected as it was delayed leaving the us. All was god except the chrome window trim had massive gaps at join. Sales man who had just taken 35k said leave it with me I will sort

2. Two months later nothing done so called up and said oh need pictures blah blah . So provided those and then booked in for work to be done

3. Eventually Windows turned up booked car in. Turned up buggered up appointment was meant to be job that day. So I could wait For it. Tech said I know nothing and then could not do it as Window fitter not booked. Tech was also quite seriously rude as well and he got both barrels don't need to sworn at as a customer thank you

4. Work done. Rather than replace whole trim just replaced half. Guess what bit replaced seems not be the problem. They also buggered up the fitting. They gave me a free oil change to make up for the swearing but didn't stamp the book or provide paper work as they don't do that...really


5. Took more pictures and then booked in last week. They pick the car up, mention another problem with the camera . Car comes back still with the same Windows. Oh we don't have the Windows yet. Seriously if these are your best dealers I don't know what the worst is

I never thought I would say this.... Come back Bmw all is forgiven you might screw every last penny out of me but at lest stuff is done on time, when they say so and they respect customers who buy their flagship cars

This car deserves better service and I hope you can do something about . I have not mentioned names but if you pm me I will provide it

To everyone else . Can you do single post below of your stories so we can get a good picture of the good and the bad dealers

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[croyde]

I have had similar dicking around from my Ford dealer which resulted in two wasted days, lost work and nothing done to the car in the end.

Won't be going back.

 

[Ian whu]

I'm awaiting a part still, from February

 

[marks]

I never thought I would say this.... Come back Bmw all is forgiven you might screw every last penny out of me but at lest stuff is done on time, when they say so and they respect customers who buy their flagship cars

Not excusing bad service from Ford but....

Always taken the M3s Ive had to BMW and spent thousands with them (each sevice seems to cost around a grand!) but ive noticed that their customer service has started to become poor over the last couple of years. Might be an industry thing. For example, recently they told me the car was ready and when I went to pick it up (after waiting 45 minutes) they told me in fact it wasn't ready. Then had an issue with them charging for something that wasnt done. Then getting grease all on my seats etc etc.
Granted their dealerships are more swish and in more upmarket areas but the customer service does not always reflect the price with BMW.

 

[markleigh]

Good experience to date with TrustFord Epsom (James).
Ordering, pick up and handover all fine.
Only experience of workshop so far was fitting Roush AB pre-delivery and 1000 mile check up.
All fine.
Maybe I'm the exception.

PS Had Evoque before and had experience of four different dealers (supplying and three services/warranty work). All very good.
Only problem I had was with Landrover Assist on one occasion. Too lengthy to go into... it would require its own forum. It involved me getting the chief exec Ralf Speth involved... eventually sorted inc goodwill compensation)

 

[croyde]

Maybe I should swap to Epsom. They are much nearer to me as well.

 

[twold]

First dealer....... I went and had a test drive ,asked for price quote and the uninterested salesman scribbled it onto a brochure.I paid a deposit by phone later in the day.2 Weeks later still no paperwork/order etc .Had to beg twice for paperwork or any acknowledgemnt that I had even been there.I then discovered that most of what he had told me regarding spec was wrong and so was the price,so cancelled 3 weeks in.

Second dealer....Better ,showed interest,gave me someone elses cancelled order slot and was told I had gained 8 weeks so well happy.2 months later I discovered that they were incorrect and that there was no transferrable 8 week gain,so cancelled order again.

Third dealer....Went to view dealership, sales manager polite /interested,boy salesman uninterested.Still, I was interested but due to previous pricing confusion I asked for price confirmation, at which point the salesman shrugged his shoulders and pointed at the placard on the car in the showroom and he was done.So was I....

Fourth dealer....Having had enough I contacted a broker,agreed to pay commission ,went 3 hours up north to Ford dealer.Salesman ok but world weary,gave me a run down on his unsatisfactory private life/past drug preferences and mentioned that others wanted the car so take it or leave it NOW.I took it but mentioned that there was a bad panel alignment issue which he said he did not know about,so much for PDI......told me it will be sorted for collection later in week.Get there for collection 3 days later after another 3 hour drive, body panel still untouched.Told me that he was happy to de-register it if I wanted as someone else would have it.I took it and got it fixed elsewhere by Ford nearer to home,where they told me an attempt had already been made at some time to fix it previously but had failed...

In short I am astounded by the general lack of interest/knowledge with dealers.They mostly could not give a flying F*$k,in my opinion of course.

 

[Jimboy2]

I really don't think they see the Mustang as the signature car here.
I'm at revival now and the ford stand in Earl's Court has a focus RS and a Edge. I almost feel like they want to ignore it even exists here as its too much effort.

 

[Jimboy2]

I really don't think they see the Mustang as the signature car here.
I'm at revival now and the ford stand in Earl's Court has a focus RS and a Edge. I almost feel like they want to ignore it even exists here as its too much effort.

 

[McDoodle]

Well, where do you start?! Leaving aside the ordering debacle, the general lack of knowledge and interest shown by Ford and their dealers towards anything to do with the Mustang and the downright pathetic parts availability, my latest issue is the underseal fiasco. In summary, here's the problem;

Took mine in to my local dealer for assessment at the beginning of August. Had approval within a week, however my local dealer has no bodyshop. So called up the dealer I bought the car from (80 miles away) to book it in there as they do have a bodyshop - only to be told that the approval I already have from Ford Warranty couldn't be 'transferred' so I would need to go through the whole approval process again at my original dealer!

WTF Ford?! ..... you make a complete mess of the whole Mustang ordering and delivery process, the underseal applied at Zeebrugge was laughably sub-standard, parts availability is a complete joke and now I have to vastly inconvenience myself in order to sort out your cock-up.

I'm not happy - but as you seemingly have very little regard for your customers I don't suppose you give a s:censored:it.

Cheers Manders. Well I emailed Ford Warranty about the ridiculous 'non-transferable approval' malarkey (as detailed in one of my previous posts) and got the usual 'someone will be in touch within 24hrs' automatic response. So - surprise, surprise - I've heard sweet Fanny Adam.

I've now emailed Ford CRC (as per your supplied email address Manders) and am currently awaiting their suggestion for a simple, common sense solution to this problem ............... :lol::lol::lol:

Ford CRC. Total and complete waste of time. Clueless and hopeless. If this is Ford's idea of customer service then I'm somewhat less than impressed. A typical 'call centre' mentality - give out the pre-prepared standard answer and make it as difficult as possible for the customer to actually progress their complaint, no matter what. I was hoping for a bit of common sense to prevail, but not a chance - no intention whatsoever of trying to put the customer first. Damn near £40k to be f:censored:ked about and massively inconvenienced ..... I feel like SUCH a valued customer Ford, well done.

ps .... what's the betting I go through the re-approval process and get refused?!

 

[Jimboy2]

The other annoying thing is he comes on the forum trying to get rid of his stock that he can't sell, then tries getting is to come to a Mustang owners event for a bit more publicity, without even commenting on any of the issues we have bought up.

I don't expect him to come on here and give us answers but I would like acknowledgement that he is even reading this forum.

 

[Manders Mustang]

Here's one of mine:

Book car in for warranty work, book it in at Ford Birmingham, three calls it took - no issue, get there (it's about a 50 minute drive, but it's near work). Get there, wait >30minutes< to be seen by >ONE< person who can 'Take my keys' (Gtfo, 30mins let me drop them off ffs). Eventually drop them off then the bloke says "Sorry we dont have a bodyshop here" car isn't touched the entire day.

Then go to Ford Erdington to have an estimator look at the underseal and warranty work etc.
Ask him to take pictures "Nah, its fine we dont have the facilities here to lift a car up (By the way - i'd walked past the bodyshop there were about 5 different cars up on ramps at that time). He then proceedes to tell me "Ill just tell them it needs it"
I naivley agree.

Another wasted trip. Which I didn't need to make.

Then get told I need pictures of the underseal.
I take and send THIRTY THREE.

Warranty then claim they want more >SO MY CAR HAS TO GO BACK FOR 3-4 DAYS< for underseal and the other warranty work to be done.

So that's going to have been four trips for something that should have taken a MAXIMUM of 2.

Needless to say that's one of my many quirks.

I have no issue with my mustang, bar the minor WARRANTY fixes. But i have a massive issue with Ford. My family have owned fords for a long time; and whereas we're not brand loyal in the slightest, we've always come back. Unless it's a Mustang. I 99% doubt i'll ever come back to Ford for a new car as the service has been shocking.


Honourable mentions do however go to karen, Stacey, and the three women within the complaints team who've been as good as they can be - so thank you to them.

The rest - need firing or retraining. Your call.


If you don't want to deal with the issues "Ford USA" are apparently giving the cars - please stop selling them as you'll ruin your brand further.

 

[McDoodle]

The other annoying thing is he comes on the forum trying to get rid of his stock that he can't sell, then tries getting is to come to a Mustang owners event for a bit more publicity, without even commenting on any of the issues we have bought up.

I don't expect him to come on here and give us answers but I would like acknowledgement that he is even reading this forum.

Ford must read this forum ..... in fact I wouldn't be surprised to find that the forum is an 'unofficial' Ford undertaking - a kind of 'off the radar' intelligence gathering exercise, but I would guess mainly focused on the US.

 

[Manders Mustang]

Ford must read this forum ..... in fact I wouldn't be surprised to find that the forum is an 'unofficial' Ford undertaking - a kind of 'off the radar' intelligence gathering exercise, but I would guess mainly focused on the US.

Off the radar, whatever that person is paid to do, if it is this, is evidently fruitless. I appreciate big corps need to jump through hoops - but trust me, some things that are important can be circumvented - quickly!!!

 

[deep south]

Part of the problem is that Ford are being schizophrenic, they want the Ford Stores to offer a premium service for the Vignale upmarket versions of the standard models and also decided that would work for the sports models as well. The reality is far, far removed from the "premium" experience that it should be....

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