61500ml Focus with £1700 repair bill HELP!

matt100

I have a 2006 56 Focus ST that is currently on just short of 63000 miles.

I have had it from new and it has been serviced at the ford main dealer that supplied it, the first couple of services were bang on the dates, the next 2 were over by about 3-4000 miles each (expense and time, I put miles on very quickly so it has been serviced 4 times in 2.5yrs).

I took it in for its service at 61500 at the start of April and reported a whirring noise, they checked it out and gave it back saying it was fine and they couldn't hear anything.

The noise got worse and i took it in last week and they told me the turbo was broken and not to move it.

It was booked in on warranty, they called me later in the day to tell me as I was over my 60000 miles (standard ford warranty is 60k/3yrs with no option to extend) but they could see I had bought 3 new cars from that dealership and I had a full service history so they should be able to get ford to cover it.

They then called back saying that ford qwere saying as i had missed some service intervals they wouldn't cover it and the best they could offer was a goodwill 30% as the dealership. The bill pre discount is £1753 :eek:

I've argued with Fords "customer service" line until I'm blue in the face with this ending with a call from a remarkably rude team leader today who said basically I should be happy they are offering me 30% as they don't need to offer me anything as its out of its 60k, yesterday an operative there confirmed the turbo is a non serviceable part so if I was 1 mile inside the 60k it would be covered regardless of my service history.

I find it almost impossible to believe that after buying 3 brand new cars and all the resulting MOT/servicing work from Ford (the same dealership even!) and my profile as someone who clearly has to change their car a lot they are prepared to watch me walk away.

Plus it feels seriously uncomfortable that the car could be exhibiting a problem at 61500 miles that wasn't present pre 60k or that such a serious fault should manifest itself literally 2 weeks (checked the petrol receipts as I use a fuel card) out of warranty and i should be expected to pay well in advance of £1k to have it repaired.

Do I have any rights? I am going to write to them (although the "leader" at the "service" dept told me the letter would go to him and he'd ignore it!) and I am considering small claims court action.

the really gauling part is that i can buy a turbo from a breakers for £200 and presumably have it fitted for around the same. I could alternatively send mine of for repair at about £500 + fitting so Ford are quoting me for the most expensive solution possible.

Finally I have been quoted significantly less than Fords price for a brand new part so their 30% "goodwill" is basically some of their margin which doesn't strike me as any kind of goodwill at all.

What's my next and what are my chances?

Sorry for the long post but I'm feeling shocked, upset, insulted and just generally a bit dumbfounded.. I don't want to have to say I will never buy another Ford but it could go that far.

zax47

Have you tried a Volvo dealer/independent specialist?.

The Focus ST uses the (originally 193 bhp) 5 cylinder 2435cc low pressure turbo engine (part code B5254T) from the Volvo S70/V70/C70 range (Volvo are owned by Ford), with some subtle changes to the ECU.

They are also more used to working on these engines, not many Ford petrol engines have turbos!!

Where there any other symptoms normally turbo connected? Plumes of white smoke for example? Turbo's don't usually give you much notice of a failure - and they are usually dramatic or self-evident failures! A whirring noise with no other symptom might well indicate a loose hose/air leak in the turbo system rather than the turbo itself.

However, turbo's are about the most common failing on turbo-charged engines, as people often forget to let them idle a sec or two before turning off. I managed nearly 230K miles in a 2.5T Volvo S70 with no turbo trouble!

rev_henry

Not much to add on your experience with Ford customer (dis)services I'm afraid, but are you sure the turbo's actually broken properly, as zax said? Haven't you noticed a dramatic loss of performance and power?

matt100

no its the noise, the blades are fouling the edge of the casing which indicated the bearing has gone apparently.. all sounds logical.

I'm losing patience and I've found a breaker with a turbo from 4k miles 2007 car for £200 so I've asked the dealer to fit that FOC and they're currently considering it.. I think I might get away with that.. if they can't find 3 hours of labour for me after 3 brand new cars and god knows how much in servicing etc I'll be staggered frankly.

rev_henry

Fair enough, I don't really know much I was just guessing. Sounds like a reasonable compromise, £200 is a bit different to what they wanted! Hope you get it sorted soon.

vikingaero

Matt,

If the bearing has gone on the car, do you allow the car to idle for a minute before switching off? I'm getting the impression that with you high mileage, busy lifestyle and missed service intervals that this isn't done religiously.

matt100

they called me today to say they'd offer me 30% off the fitting charge for the 2nd hand turbo that i source.

So basically my custom comes down to a £70 discount and I will ensure I never EVER buy a car from them again. Given they can see I change my car every 2-3yrs I can only assume they're more interested in winning an argument than retaining a customer.

Well ford.. well done.. message received and a nice quote on a VW scirroco received today.

the mind boggles.. I'm actually beyond annoyed, I'm actually gutted.. I love the car but I don't want it anymore because of the flat out rude and rubbish service I've received, its basically ruined my ownership experience.

The irony is they could easily have had 50% of the full price repair out of me by now.. I would have gone with that. in the end they're going to get £180 and no more custom from me. Ever.

Who's won?

Smi1er

Once you have calmed down write to the MD of the dealership, make the letter nice and factual, and tell them that you will never darken their door again due to your treatment.

If your dealership was anywhere near decent they would of got Ford to pay for the lot on goodwill.

zax47

Unfortunately, buying new cars doesn't make you the sort of customer that main dealers want/need! They'll make more on a couple of services then they would if you bought a new car.

matt100

zax47 wrote: »

Unfortunately, buying new cars doesn't make you the sort of customer that main dealers want/need! They'll make more on a couple of services then they would if you bought a new car.

fair enough but I had had a 52 reg new from them that my wife still has, fully serviced and MOT'ed through them for the last 7 year and 2 new high mileage cars new from them and serviced through them so I would guess that would make me a good customer.

Ultimately ford have made it very clear I should be grateful for the 30% offer and they weren't obliged to do anything (showing what a total lack of understanding they have of customer service and goodwill.. I accept you don't necessarily HAVE to do anything, I would hope you might WANT to do more).. so I've sourced a 2nd hand turbo from a very very helpful ebay seller, I asked the dealership to fit it in light of the fact they had offered me 30% off the lot which would have been over £500 and they wanted £255 to fit so they're effectively up on that deal.

They thought about it for 2 days and came back saying they could offer me 30% off the fitting charge so after 3 brand new cars, £50k in purchase prices and the resulting kickbacks from finance companies, 5 MOTs on my wifes cars, 5 services on her car and 8 services and 12 tyres on the 2 new cars I've had their "goodwill" stretches to a £70 discount off a fitting charge.

And oh by the way you'll need gaskets etc and we can't discount them and they'll be about £25.

I'm calming down nicely.. the letters will start soon.

I used to routinely do significantly more in terms of goodwill gestures when I worked at carphone years back, I now supply another mobile company and we're setting up a system where they can give away upwards of £50 in spendable credit when a bill turns up late/too big etc etc so for this situation and my custom to entitle me to basically £50 is just pathetic in my opinion.

Its purely the fact I need to be mobile that I've gone and done all the sourcing and I'm rolling over on this tbh.

Russ66

matt100 wrote: »

Yesterday an operative there confirmed the turbo is a non serviceable part so if I was 1 mile inside the 60k it would be covered regardless of my service history.

Google "mileage calibration" and visit another dealership.;)