The Never Ending Warranty Issue

[Kristian87]

Hey,

First off, I want to say that I hate posting this kind of thing, I feel like all I've done is moan in 2018. Alas, I need to gain some advice/opinions & I value the input from this forum more than anything else.

I could write a short novel about this whole subject, but I won't. Here's the highlights;

- leak diagnosed 26/12/2017 (soaking wet carpet)
- Dropped off @ Think Ford Guildford ASAP which was 02/01/2018 (no courtesy car was offered - :tsk
- Car picked up after a little over 3 weeks on 25/01/2018. In that time a repair was made to a seal behind the a pillar, along with a free oil change
- Discovered wet carpet again on day of pick up :frusty: Earliest I could drop off again @ Ford was 05/02/2018 if I wanted a courtesy car
- Ford had it for 4 days & dried the carpet WITHOUT removing/replacing it despite me asking & making a good case for why it should be replaced
- found wet carpet yet again on 07/03/2018. Angry email sent to Ford CRC cc Andy Barratt
- Followed up my email the next morning & escalated as best I could, only to be able to drop the car off the following Monday due to organisation of a hire car. Dropped off 12/03/2018
- Faffing from Ford & eventually decided they would indeed replace the carpet, which was ordered 15/03/2018. original carpet was removed, for further testing & in prep for new carpet.
- Despite asking for them to fast track the delivery, it was a case of "it takes as long as it takes".
- Carpet finally arrived 26/03/2018. Only for them to discover there was yet more water inside :frusty: (but good news, the carpet was out this time!)
- Fast forward to 11/04/2018 & they have finally sussed it. Water inside was the water from the original leak, arguably present since mid December (I'm pretty confident that it was the December snow that triggered all this).
- literally got an email just now - car should be ready tomorrow/Thurs for pick up :hail: since the last email, they spent a couple of days drawing water out & then proceeded to put the interior back together along with the new carpet.

I will quote the most relevant update from about a week ago;

"After vigorous water tests with the interior stripped we haven't been able to find any water entering the vehicle. However, we could see new water appearing in the o/s/r foot well.
We have now managed to pinpoint that this water is coming from the chassis rail on the floor.
We believe that it is water from the original leak that was trapped in there and when standing is leaking out.
I have attached an image which will hopefully help you understand the area i'm talking about."

see image below

Right now, I'm super excited to pick it up. But now a couple of things remain; assurance from Ford that the issue is resolved & some kind of compensation. Bear in mind here 3 visits & 66 days in total without my car!!! Not to mention all the stress & frustrating customer service throughout all of this.

Not having been through this kind of thing before, I'm turning to you guys for advice - what exactly should I be expecting from Ford, and importantly - how worried should I be about potential rust damage? I'm thinking many years down the line here.

Appreciate input as always :cheers:

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[hinch]

looks like you already have 3 rust patches forming :( on a car thats not even 12 months old yet

 

[goldengooner]

looks like you already have 3 rust patches forming :( on a car thats not even 12 months old yet

So Sorry to hear about all your troubles with the car,
I would speak to a Lawyer 1st of all and get them to send a official letter to the Dealership, Ford UK, and Ford in the US
Asking what compensation they will give you in cash for all your stress and worry and for all the hassle, taking time off work etc
And if you don't get anything near you feel is correct, go to the press and the motoring magazines, here and in the US

 

[marks]

So Sorry to hear about all your troubles with the car,
I would speak to a Lawyer 1st of all and get them to send a official letter to the Dealership, Ford UK, and Ford in the US

I wouldn't speak to a lawyer first of all as they will charge you a fortune to send that letter. They will only send a letter that you can write, just ensure you are being factual and leave emotions to one side. Explain what your 'financial loss' has been e.g. travel/time etc. Then move onto the commercial side e.g. does not look good for Ford.

 

[Gibbo205]

Two months to fix a water leak, I though I had it bad when they took nearly three months to replace an oil cooler and then failed to fit the replacement correctly.

Some of the franchised dealers really are shocking, your just a number to them and it really is very poor.

Unfortunately Ford and the car itself is rather good, they are really let down by some of the dealerships for not giving the kind of attention and TLC these cars and their owners require.

Bristol Street for me were a nightmare, shocking bad service and poor workmanship, once I moved to Burns (Family owned dealership) the service and workmanship was some of the best I have ever had, they were happy for me to roam their workshop, even get stuck in myself, makes all the difference.

Its still not excusable though as an owner you should not have to through this level of stress.

I've just been at Jaguar this morning as I ordered a new front bar for the grills as the original had holes in it from plinth, but removal involves bumper off which I did not want to do, so they did it whilst I waited, even let me in the workshop to watch chat and look over the car and even answered questions I had. On top of it all they spent 3 hours on the car, but charged me for 1hr labour (£100) and this is a big franchised dealer.

Like I say it is the people who make your experience good or bad in a dealership, I've got lucky that my local Jaguar and Ford dealerships are enthusiast and very good at what they do.

I am sure if Ford were to instruct all dealerships to improve their act and started to have a marking scheme for dealerships so those they received complaints about were in some way financially penalised might make them improve their act.

The new Mustang is a 50k car, this kind of behaviour should not happen on a 20k car, but now they are selling 50k cars, hell a convertible fully optioned V8 could be closer to 60k and customers expect better.

When I owned my 911, not even purchased from the dealership, but everytime I left the car, "Sir do you need a car", well yes, OK do you want a Mercedes or a Porsche?

Well I like the look of that Cayman R, OK no problem we will get the sales guy to give it you on extended test drive for weekend until yours is done!

NOW THAT IS SERVICE!
Ford get your act together!

 

[Manders Mustang]

as above regarding lawyer, they get pricey (trust me I know).

I don't know who your finance is through, but I spoke to James at the Mustangs Unleashed Buddies USA meet on sunday, and asked about it, he said if you speak to ford credit the finance will be reimbursted for the time you were without the car due to a fault by ford (in this case, those 66 days).

The additional "compensation" is related directly to how they've dealt with you, poor levels of service. etc, really, I wouldn't be standing for anything, but I'm a nightmare to deal with in situations like this. Some ford performance goodies, non stress underseal, and whatever else you can think of come to mind.

 

[McDoodle]

Sorry to hear about your on-going problems. Hope it's all sorted now.

However, these kind of customer service issues are all too common it seems (and certainly don't seem to have improved since I had my car). More than the actual build quality issues, the woeful customer service is what's putting me off dropping £46+k on a MY19.

 

[Avdb]

Are there any examples of anyone receiving financial compensation from a warranty issue?

 

[GR11M]

When I owned my 911, not even purchased from the dealership, but everytime I left the car, "Sir do you need a car", well yes, OK do you want a Mercedes or a Porsche?

Well I like the look of that Cayman R, OK no problem we will get the sales guy to give it you on extended test drive for weekend until yours is done!

NOW THAT IS SERVICE!
Ford get your act together!

I even got this from Audi with a 10y/o A4 I didn't even buy from them. I was expecting the same from Ford :frusty:

 

[Kristian87]

I don't know who your finance is through, but I spoke to James at the Mustangs Unleashed Buddies USA meet on sunday, and asked about it, he said if you speak to ford credit the finance will be reimbursted for the time you were without the car due to a fault by ford (in this case, those 66 days).

Finance is through Ford. Interesting point that - will certainly pursue that. Interestingly when I was having a bit of a rant @ the Ford CRC girl & mentioned the finance, she did advise me to call them direct. Which I can now do, if it really is finished.

Thanks for all the advice guys although I think i'll avoid a lawyer for the time being!

 

[Gibbo205]

Finance is through Ford. Interesting point that - will certainly pursue that. Interestingly when I was having a bit of a rant @ the Ford CRC girl & mentioned the finance, she did advise me to call them direct. Which I can now do, if it really is finished.

Thanks for all the advice guys although I think i'll avoid a lawyer for the time being!

End of the day they have had your car for two months, not you, so they should pay those two months finance and give you some compensation.

I kicked off with CRC over my car and they gave me the three year service pack free of charge which was attached to the car, not owner and was worth around a grand. So better than a kick in the balls!

 

[Kristian87]

End of the day they have had your car for two months, not you, so they should pay those two months finance and give you some compensation.

I kicked off with CRC over my car and they gave me the three year service pack free of charge which was attached to the car, not owner and was worth around a grand. So better than a kick in the balls!

That's the kind of thing I'm after. I feel like i'm in a good position to achieve that; one or 2 free services & 2 months of my finance back & i'll walk away happy I reckon.

 

[marks]

Ford will be reluctant to give you anything if they think it will be advertised over social media and on forums, as everyone might then start requesting the same compensation for any minor problem

 

[willisit]

I do hope this is the end of it. Though for me, I suspect this would be the end of ownership as well. I'd always have that nagging feeling (been there, done that!)

I echo the above; my first question would be that since I haven't "owned" the car for several months, that I question why I'm paying for it....

 

[Gibbo205]

Ford will be reluctant to give you anything if they think it will be advertised over social media and on forums, as everyone might then start requesting the same compensation for any minor problem

Two months is no minor issue, yes the problem was minor and it should of taken two days, but Ford seem to stretch out simple jobs to months.

My oil cooler took three months.
Yet another dealership was able to correct that issue in days.

Like I said, I think Ford is a pretty stellar company, but my god some of their deals are simply terrible for service and warranty work, you at times feel like you committed a crime asking them to fix your broken car, appalling at best! I don't get it to be honest.

Had VW, Porsche, Jaguar do warranty work, at VW it was for an Up not even purchased from them, but still its a six grand car, peanuts, yet I was treated like a kind, watered, fed, courtesy car, frequent phone calls, free wash and car done in hours.

I love all things Mustang, I quite like Ford too but their dealers are shit, to be blunt, your lucky if you a find a good one, most are rotten from my experience with Bristol Street and it seems other here are finding similar issues with other big dealerships. Unfortunately there are not so many privately owned Ford dealerships left, my experience of Burns are simply amazing, which is crazy how one can be so bad and another so amazing when they are both flying the same flag.

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