Ford Dealer Damaged My Car - Bristol Street Ford Worcester

[Alfa Male]

So in brief my car had to go in to Bristol Street Ford in Worcester for some warranty work earlier this month.

I asked them not to clean the car and when I cleaned it after I got back I noticed several areas of minor damage that I know was incurred whilst in their care.

This minor damage included deep gouges to both side skirts interestingly in the exact same sport both sides, a noticeable chip in the paintwork on top of the wing, several pushpin clips from the front splash guards missing both sides, and the lower decal partly peeling back.

Appreciate some on here may look at the pictures and think what’s he complaining about, but as someone who genuinely takes pride in my car I was raging mad spotting the damage.
I’m sure many on here are the same that you know the condition of every inch on your car and can spot new damage a mile off even if it is trivial.

I contacted the dealership and after they had spoken to the Technician, who claims it wasn’t him and the damage was already there on arrival, they are washing their hands of it and not interested in listening to me !

I did say to the garage I’m only really interested in getting the offside sideskirt with the deep gouge in replaced the rest I’m happy to let slide. Even then they just batted off my complaint.

I held off posting anything
on here until I concluded my complaint process with said garage. But it appears the dealership are completely disinterested with my complaint and happy just to fob me off!

Has anyone had any experience of successfully escalating this type of claim and any tips you can pass on ?

Sponsored

 

[Kristian87]

This hurts to see.

You’ve done the right thing by pursuing with the dealership where it happened. The next step is to pen a slightly more angry complaint to ford hq - they have their own complaints process.

You’ll have a fight on your hands I reckon as it’s not provable that the dealership did the damage. But you should at least get some goodwill vouchers to replace that skirt.

FWIW i’d take what little you can get from them and run. Paint chips will always happen, missing clips are easily replaced.
As goodwill they should be able to replace the damaged skirt i feel.

Goes without saying that you’ll need to look elsewhere for your next garage visit!

 

[GR11M]

Once they have your money they don't give a shit. You have to fight to get even the most basic service out of them.

 

[Michael_vroomvroom]

Wow, that really sucks. Not at all thinking "what is he complaining about". I'd be livid too.

 

[Alfa Male]

This hurts to see.

You’ve done the right thing by pursuing with the dealership where it happened. The next step is to pen a slightly more angry complaint to ford hq - they have their own complaints process.

You’ll have a fight on your hands I reckon as it’s not provable that the dealership did the damage. But you should at least get some goodwill vouchers to replace that skirt.

FWIW i’d take what little you can get from them and run. Paint chips will always happen, missing clips are easily replaced.
As goodwill they should be able to replace the damaged skirt i feel.

Goes without saying that you’ll need to look elsewhere for your next garage visit!

Thanks for the wise words and agree totally re picking and choosing my battles. I’ll drop Ford HQ a complaint email too.

It’s so annoying to see this stance by the main dealer. Short of taking endless pictures and videos to fully capture the condition of your car before taking it into the garage, I don’t see how a genuine customer can prove their innocence in this scenario !

To rub salt in the wound the Technican apparently claimed after the event and when challenged on this that he noticed the damage to the sideskirts and trim clips missing on arrival but just forgot to make the customer aware ! Needless to say on hearing that load of lies I lost my rag with the manager and he had it both barrels from me !

 

[Geosh]

That’s why I take pics of my car the minute I drop it off at a shop for service. Enough that I have a record if damages like this happened then I’d have some proof it didn’t come that way

My 06 Mustang got parked up against a curb once (by a small shop, not Ford) after I told them to be careful about how low it was and because of my chin spoiler. They reassured me they’d be careful, but I got this pic when I went by and saw it after hours.

Nobody else probably cares about your car like you do, and it’s good to have proof of things if you can, especially with small damages that potentially could go by unnoticed.

 

[WD Pro]

Appreciate some on here may look at the pictures and think what’s he complaining about

I think you underestimate the average forum member - I think most would be crazy mad ... !

I would be very upset about that (big understatement) - I really do hope you get it sorted.

WD

 

[GR11M]

Dealers seem to be too busy to care if you never come back.
I left bad feedback at my local dealer, I got one answer phone message from them and I never heard back. They probably just made it disappear so it didn't show on their monthly stats.

 

[WD Pro]

Looking again at that damage, I would hazard a guess that the majority of it has been done when they have swung the arms of the lift under the car - but the last car on the lift was higher than yours so they didn’t swing them under yours, instead they choose to hit it ... It’s the four areas exactly where the lift arms would go. I’ve seen a number of mechanics kick / push those arms under the car with their foot prior to the final positioning.

This might give you a bit more leverage with Ford (obvious new damage / most likely matches the lift type they use).

When you took those recent photos when you stripped the cover off, can you see those areas ? Might give you a bit more evidence ...

WD

 

[Iron Duke]

Looking again at that damage, I would hazard a guess that the majority of it has been done when they have swung the arms of the lift under the car - but the last car on the lift was higher than yours so they didn’t swing them under yours, instead they choose to hit it ... It’s the four areas exactly where the lift arms would go. I’ve seen a number of mechanics kick / push those arms under the car with their foot prior to the final positioning.

This might give you a bit more leverage with Ford (obvious new damage / most likely matches the lift type they use).

When you took those recent photos when you stripped the cover off, can you see those areas ? Might give you a bit more evidence ...

WD

Id agree with WD it looks very consistent with lift damage, threaten to take them to the small claims court. I hope Ford will do the right thing for you AM.

 

[Veteran]

That’s why I dread taking it to the dealer. Not all, but a lot are just savages.
Someone I know of got taken by dealer , same kinda thing as op..
As they wouldn’t fix their damage, or even admit it,he went tit for tat on some new cars on the floor.
May not be right way to deal with it, but revenge must be so sweet.

 

[inky5.0]

Very disappointing and I am sure we all share your feelings.
One suggestion - copy any correspondence to Ford with their Head Office. I believe they are owned by Vertu plc, based in Gateshead. Top man is called Robert Forrester. Might help getting things sorted. Good luck with it.

 

[Alfa Male]

Looking again at that damage, I would hazard a guess that the majority of it has been done when they have swung the arms of the lift under the car - but the last car on the lift was higher than yours so they didn’t swing them under yours, instead they choose to hit it ... It’s the four areas exactly where the lift arms would go. I’ve seen a number of mechanics kick / push those arms under the car with their foot prior to the final positioning.

This might give you a bit more leverage with Ford (obvious new damage / most likely matches the lift type they use).

When you took those recent photos when you stripped the cover off, can you see those areas ? Might give you a bit more evidence ...

WD

That’s exactly my thoughts too that this was caused by the lift arm swinging into the sideskirt both sides !

UPDATE

I have a meeting with the dealership manager Friday to discuss this issue and ways to settle the matter ! Amazing what a 1 star review on Google does ! Fingers crossed it will be resolved favourably, and it’s disappointing that to get action you have to resort to a social media campaign !

If they resolve it favourably I’ll remove the negative comments as I think that’s only fair.
Sometimes incidents happen, what I was raging about was the way they dismissed my complaint !

 

[Michael_vroomvroom]

Reading the google reviews of this place is funny (choose: sort by lowest rating). I hope your meeting will not be with Basil only, but Sybil will be there too.

 

[The_Fireball]

Very sad to see there.

Downright shocking Ford dealership experiences seem to be all too common reading these threads. The cosmetic issues do leave you feeling like you're being picky, but you've every right to get it sorted; that's properly damaged.

Echoing what others have said, I've found Ford CRC to be incredibly helpful. They acknowledge some dealerships aren't very accommodating and will make their involvement known to them, which usually lights a fire under the situation. As others have said, it's a good move just to get them onboard early on for some backing.

Sponsored