So how was your Ford experience today?

[Kristian87]

Great, looks good, how much in legal fees did you pay??!

I think theres a debt of a couple of pints destined for yours truly

Resolved purely through pressuring ford to understand how they’d fucked up. Relatively quick and satisfactory resolution in my opinion...

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[W111BOB]

I cant add to this - other than...

could've been quicker, cheaper ... maybe?
(I need to get an understanding of some people aversion to legal matters, I think)



but all is well that ends well

the car looks great

 

[Kristian87]

I cant add to this - other than...

could've been quicker, cheaper ... maybe?
(I need to get an understanding of some people aversion to legal matters, I think)



but all is well that ends well

the car looks great

I only guided @pr8196 based on my own experience as it had some similarities to what I went through, as you know I dealt only with the dealership/Ford credit. All comes down to what you'd be happy with as an outcome I guess, what I eventually got out of my own efforts was in the end acceptable for me, even if I didn't think it was quite as much as I perhaps deserved. End of the day, I got my car sorted, I'm now fully enjoying it and got some benefits from the bad experience (set of tires, free servicing etc). My reluctance to go down the legal route was purely because I hadn't done it before, so it was a bit of an unknown, and even though it was painful dealing with Ford, I always felt there was going to be a good outcome from them if I pushed them.

And I'm very proud of myself for handling it as I did lol

 

[marks]

Lets not dwell on the past. All is well that ends well!

 

[W111BOB]

 

[pr8196]

I did escalate to Ceo office of Ford of Britain and they refused to look into it as it wasn’t a warranty issue and Think ford is an independent franchise (I didn’t get this point as all the ford dealer are part of some franchise network). I spoke to one of my colleagues partner who used to work for Motor Ombudsman as in how would Ombudsman look into this. I was told that ombudsman will favour dealer coz they have offered to fix this or take £££. I spent 2 months and it was taking up lot of my time too. So, I chose to end this after I get £££ what it would cost to fix and or improve the vehicle appearance and protection.
I did check with couple of solicitors with experience in automotive claims, but they all asked for £££ even to look into facts to decide if I have a case or not. Rates were £150/hour. I do understand, some of you may not agree with me and still feel that I should have taken legal route, but, hey it’s back to brand new now (expected end result).
Thanks @Kristian87 again, yes there is a debt of more than few pints on me now.

 

[slowhand99]

Looks brilliant, good result.
Ford were probably differentiating between an independent franchise and Trust Ford which is a franchise owned by Ford even though it sounds like an oxymoron!).

 

[Entai]

I did escalate to Ceo office of Ford of Britain and they refused to look into it as it wasn’t a warranty issue and Think ford is an independent franchise (I didn’t get this point as all the ford dealer are part of some franchise network). I spoke to one of my colleagues partner who used to work for Motor Ombudsman as in how would Ombudsman look into this. I was told that ombudsman will favour dealer coz they have offered to fix this or take £££. I spent 2 months and it was taking up lot of my time too. So, I chose to end this after I get £££ what it would cost to fix and or improve the vehicle appearance and protection.
I did check with couple of solicitors with experience in automotive claims, but they all asked for £££ even to look into facts to decide if I have a case or not. Rates were £150/hour. I do understand, some of you may not agree with me and still feel that I should have taken legal route, but, hey it’s back to brand new now (expected end result).
Thanks @Kristian87 again, yes there is a debt of more than few pints on me now.

I'm picking my new GT up from Guildford on Saturday morning.

When sorting all the paperwork last weekend I was offered to have the car cleaned and paint protection put on for £300, I flat refused, even the sales manager came out and said are you sure you want to turn it down, everyone likes a clean shiny car to take home.

It was purely because of this thread and your experiences I told them in no uncertain terms "Do not in any way whatsoever attempt to clean the car before collection."

I will take it to my detailers in Huntingdon end of next week, as he has done amazing work in the past to my mates AMG GTR, and has put others aside to fit me in fast.

Ok £1900 is a bit more than £300, but at least I know it will be done right by a guy who is more anal about attention to detail, than anyone else I know.

 

[Kristian87]

I'm picking my new GT up from Guildford on Saturday morning.

When sorting all the paperwork last weekend I was offered to have the car cleaned and paint protection put on for £300, I flat refused, even the sales manager came out and said are you sure you want to turn it down, everyone likes a clean shiny car to take home.

It was purely because of this thread and your experiences I told them in no uncertain terms "Do not in any way whatsoever attempt to clean the car before collection."

I will take it to my detailers in Huntingdon end of next week, as he has done amazing work in the past to my mates AMG GTR, and has put others aside to fit me in fast.

Ok £1900 is a bit more than £300, but at least I know it will be done right by a guy who is more anal about attention to detail, than anyone else I know.

Good to hear. The less time spent at that place the better! We look forward to the photos of the freshly detailed motor

 

[Entai]

Good to hear. The less time spent at that place the better! We look forward to the photos of the freshly detailed motor

Will do some before and after pics.

I would definitely have preferred to get from a dealer nearer home, but the spec I wanted at a price that I just could not say no to, meant I made the trip south.

 

[Kristian87]

Will do some before and after pics.

I would definitely have preferred to get from a dealer nearer home, but the spec I wanted at a price that I just could not say no to, meant I made the trip south.

Funnily enough, my GT was picked up in Hastings (100 miles from me) purely because I knew the sales guy there was good. Too risky to go elsewhere haha

Sadly I found out the hard way how bad Guildford are :(

Enjoy pick up day...should have perfect weather for it!

 

[Entai]

Funnily enough, my GT was picked up in Hastings (100 miles from me) purely because I knew the sales guy there was good. Too risky to go elsewhere haha

Sadly I found out the hard way how bad Guildford are :(

Enjoy pick up day...should have perfect weather for it!

This week has gone SOOOOOOOOO slowly.

Really cannot wait till I'm driving back home in it, might have to take the scenic route haha

 

[Kristian87]

might have to take the scenic route haha

Would be rude not to!

 

[SuperJB]

Hi All,

Hope this is the place to ask this;

My 2016 Mustang GT is on its second re-gas and in all likelihood suffering from a failed Evaporator Core. My Local Dealer (Allen Ford Warwick) will not acknowledge that this could be the problem and will do nothing more than pressure test the system with dye, carry out an inspection and then tell me nothing is wrong when no leak is shown during these tests.

Can any one recommend an alternative dealer in The Midlands that I could take my car to for a second opinion? I potentially have Ford Customer Services on board to look at repairing the car as a warranty issue (as the car first presented with the fault after 2 years), but need a competent service centre to diagnose the issue first!

Thanks for any advice you can offer.

 

[inectarios]

Hi All,

Hope this is the place to ask this;

My 2016 Mustang GT is on its second re-gas and in all likelihood suffering from a failed Evaporator Core. My Local Dealer (Allen Ford Warwick) will not acknowledge that this could be the problem and will do nothing more than pressure test the system with dye, carry out an inspection and then tell me nothing is wrong when no leak is shown during these tests.

Can any one recommend an alternative dealer in The Midlands that I could take my car to for a second opinion? I potentially have Ford Customer Services on board to look at repairing the car as a warranty issue (as the car first presented with the fault after 2 years), but need a competent service centre to diagnose the issue first!

Thanks for any advice you can offer.

I've been using Trust Ford in Erdington for the past 2 years. I can't praise their team enough. They always seem to show extra care to Mustang owners as well which is always nice to see.

I've had 2 successful warranty claims sorted out by them. The latter to do with my HVAC system (temperature was getting stuck at full cold or full hot on one side) which despite taking about 3-4 months to figure out (the technicians were genuinely baffled by what was going on, as was I) but they (service and technical staff) pulled out all the stops:

- They contacted Ford US to find out how these systems are set up
- They called a Lead Technician to come down from the "upper echelons" of Ford to investigate as well (these guys basically have the authority to approve parts replacements under warranty on the spot)
- They changed multiple parts (brand new HVAC head & facia unit, HVAC motors and sensors) with no questions asked nor any difficulty as your usual dealership which only cares about their bottom line (I am looking at you Bristol Street Motors).
- I was always provided with a courtesy car at no additional charge (on the longer stint my car was in, I was given a fully spec'ed-out Kuga which I enjoyed a lot more than the usual Fiesta)

In the end we figured out that the issue was caused by more than one thing: 1 HVAC motor getting stuck and 1 HVAC sensor as the two were throwing each other off. I also ended up with a brand new HVAC head and facia unit during the process which I was very pleased with as mine had been scratched by yours truly during an idiotic cleaning incident! We also discovered that despite the "dual climate" system on these cars, in order to keep costs down, Ford is using a single temperature sensor in the middle of the dash for the middle vents (there are additional sensors for the side vents though from some schematics I've found) so one of the sides will always blow at a slightly different temperature as its further away from the middle temperature sensor than the other side. Mine is a very early 2016 reg (manufactured Oct, 2015 in fact) so this might have been improved in later models.

All in all very happy with how they handled both cases, despite the second one taking some time to figure out. I do appreciate that it was a complicated and uncommon issue though.

So if you decide to go to them ask for Lauren who is the service person I usually deal with and Liam who is the Senior Technician usually tasked on Mustangs there. Tell them that Nektarios with the red Mustang sent you if you like. I think they'll appreciate hearing they are being recommended.

All the best!

P.S Top tip: Allen Ford, Bristol Street Motors, Evans Halshaw et al. are all 3rd party dealerships which ultimately only care about their balance sheets. Warranty claims are more of an annoyance (and cost) to them as they don't make any money on those jobs. Trust Ford is owned by Ford itself which means customer satisfaction and ownership experience are a lot higher on their list, so for warranty claims you are always better off going directly to them!

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