Dodgy car sale with happy ending...

[XR8_ash]

Hi guys,

Well I have just finished my forth (or so) week with my XR8 Ute and I thought I'd tell you all the story. ANYWAY, whan I test drove the car the brakes had a massive shudder (as BA's do) so I asked for that to be fixed, and they did. Good. I also looked at the service history and the latest service had not been stamped/done. As I was buying from a Ford dealer I said I wanted the car serviced before I bought it. No worries mate, says the salesman. Cool. I didn't like the black stripes down the sides so I asked for them to be removed. Done. Awesome I thought.

Soooooo, The salesman drives the car to my place to drop it of a week later and all had been done. New discs, stripes gone, log book service...... I drive the car and there is a massive grinding noise in which the sales guy tells me the new brakes are just bedding in. Hmmmmmmm I don't think so I say.

I take the car to a different Ford dealer. They tell me the diff is whining thus the noise I can hear and the hand brake is rooted. They replace all the rear brakes/hand brake there and then all under warranty but I need to take the car back to the original Ford dealer to have the diff replaced. No worries, I can digg it.

I speak to the service manager and he tells me the diff will be rebuilt in two days. While I was there I told him that the service they done looked a bit dodgie as the filters didn't look new. He said that they never done a service! I went on to say I have your stamp in my book saying it was done last week. The sales manager was NOT happy (not at me but the situation) and demanded to know who sold me the car ........

So back on topic, I was about to call dodgy brothers on the yard for just stamping my book without an actual service but was wrapped at the service provided by the service manager and how quickly he had the service done for me while keeping his word and getting the diff rebuilt and back to me in two days.

[P6LTD351]

Good ending to the story. Well done to the Service Manager; THAT'S customer service.

[blueoval]

Nice to hear a good Ford dealer service story for a change.

[Scott]

Originally Posted by blueoval

Nice to hear a good Ford dealer service story for a change.

Hang on a minute... did we read the same story about a Dealer stamping a book without actually doing the work?

[blueoval]

Originally Posted by Scott

Hang on a minute... did we read the same story about a Dealer stamping a book without actually doing the work?

I don't think I made myself clear when I wrote that. I meant it's good to hear a story about a ford dealership actually coming thru and fixing the issues brought up rather than fobbed the owner off and telling him 'bad luck'. Most of the threads on here are tales of woe and sorrow with dealerships, and it's rare to read a story where there has been an issue and its been rectified and a happy ending has occurred.

Sure the dealership should have done what was asked, no dispute there, but the SM or whoever could have lied and said 'yes its been done, goodbye'. Im just saying it good to see a good story for the OP.

[Kryton]

Originally Posted by blueoval

the SM or whoever could have lied and said 'yes its been done, goodbye'.

That IS what they basically did.
If the owner didnt look, no one would have known.
I hope no one honestly believes that this was a first time work was "done" without actually being done.
Think about others that have paid their own money only to not get a service like they asked for.
I wouldnt be praising this dealership too greatly just because they did what they were caught out on not doing originally.

[XR8_ash]

Originally Posted by Scott

Hang on a minute... did we read the same story about a Dealer stamping a book without actually doing the work?

You sure did read it right Scott. One times stamp , ZERO times service. I can NOT tell you how p1ssed of I was when I checked all the work had been done. I knew the service had not been done so I re checked my service book to prove to myself that they had actually stamped it ..... THEY DID ......

Although I will call shonk on the sales guy, I can't speak highly enough of the service manager who was just as p1ssed as me. They supplied me with all the proper paper work and I checked their work and all filters replaced etc.....

[rancidpunx]

Good on the sales manager that you saw. There are some good guys in the dealerships but their hard work can be undone so quickly by the idiots.

I couldnt be happier with my sales man, but as soon as I had the car and had to deal with the service techs...

[saam]

They way i see it, yes the dealer got caught

The sales guy could be his brother for all we know ....

[jpd80]

Excellent to hear there are service managers at Ford with integrity who are prepared to make good on the shortcomings of others.

[Crazy Dazz]

To be honest, it ****** me off that dealers sell cars with obvious defects that need to be fixed under warranty. Often requiring multiple (inconvenient) returns to get the simplest thing fixed, and then we’re supposed to be greatful that they eventually fix the problem that they should have fixed before selling it.

[AU Mont]

Originally Posted by Crazy Dazz

To be honest, it ****** me off that dealers sell cars with obvious defects that need to be fixed under warranty. Often requiring multiple (inconvenient) returns to get the simplest thing fixed, and then we’re supposed to be greatful that they eventually fix the problem that they should have fixed before selling it.

how else are they supposed to make money on used cars?

if a car salesman made sure that every car in his yard was well maintained & running 110% then he would become very broke very quickly

[XR8_ash]

Originally Posted by Crazy Dazz

To be honest, it ****** me off that dealers sell cars with obvious defects that need to be fixed under warranty. Often requiring multiple (inconvenient) returns to get the simplest thing fixed, and then we’re supposed to be greatful that they eventually fix the problem that they should have fixed before selling it.

Good call Dazz. Another funny point to the whole used car situation. You see, not a few months ago we were looking at trading our BF XR6 in for an FG. Anyway, during the whole "we can only give you this much because of......." talk the salesman told me that EVERY used car they trade gets a full SERVICE so that costs money.... blah......blah....blah..... so we need to factor that into your trade-in price ...... blah.....

I told him that I knew that that was not the case so please don't BS me on why you can't give me more than a half-eaten mars bar and can of coke for my BF....
LOL LOL.....

[Rodp]

Geez, with that title I was picturing a whole different story! :P

[graham7773]

So it's ok for them to make their profits by ripping people off? That's called FRAUD, is a criminal offence and can result in gaol time if the case is proved.

[AU Mont]

Originally Posted by graham7773

So it's ok for them to make their profits by ripping people off? That's called FRAUD, is a criminal offence and can result in gaol time if the case is proved.

read my post, i was replying to the comment about dealers selling cars with problems, not about fake servicing

dealers are the ones who get shafted in the first place, when Mr. Desperate rolls into a dealership with his car thats about to fall apart but holds together long enough to look pretty for the trade-in

then the dealer is left to try and sell something using his profit margin to fix the damn thing

[XR6Naranja]

A lot of negative people in here.

There are plenty of times where a person has been shafted and realized to come back and try to get their problems rectified and the head manager or anyone high in the seat will say, well we have on record that your service is done.

For this guy to come out blatantly that there was no service done on the car shows that he wasn't ready to play games with the buyer...

But back to dealerships selling cars that are dodgy, a dealer or most people in the dealer do not drive all their cars as dailies, if at all...

So how are they to know if there is problems with the car if the furthest they drive it is from the side of the road to inside the dealership to be washed and presented as for sale..

Even if they take it for a drive, problems still might not show...

This is why under warranty they fix your problems, otherwise you'd all be paying money to have problems fixed straight out of the dealership, and I can only imagine the complaining then..

[Lukeyson]

Its nice to get a happy ending with a service.

But for serious's, good to see them step up and correct it, and great to see some positive Ford service stories popping up here again !

[poppa smurf]

HMMmm! wouldn't trust that mob!