Help With Ford Focus!

johnny_robinson

Hi Guy's,

Hope someone can help with this...

Basically I bought a Ford Focus in Jan this year directly from a Ford garage, the car was initially bought on a finance agreement with Black Horse under a HPI agreement.

Since getting the car I have had a number of problems with the vehicle basically the list is as follows:

- Intermittent starting problems.
- Intermittent problems at getting the car into reverse and 1st gear.
- Major leak on car.

The engineer reports are as follows:

Intermittent starting problems:

Engineer cannot find fault, asked me to monitor the problem. I have posted this onto a ford focus forum and it appears that other people seem to be having the same problem also.

Intermittent problems at getting the car into reverse and 1st gear:

Engineer advised this is a common problem with most Ford Focus's, he advised to remove foot off clutch and put it back on two or three times and the car will go into gear without any problems, this does work but my argument is that I should not have to do this.

Major leak on car:

The car developed a leak, quite a big one in fact and had to be recovered and taken to the garage. It turns out that the pipe from the powered steering rack to the pump had to be replaced.

I spoke to consumer direct about this as in the 7 month I have owned the car it has been in the garage 5 times now I believe. After speaking to consumer direct they advised to send a letter to Black Horse telling them that I give them 7 days to respond or will take it further.

I sent this last Monday by recorded delivery and it was received last Tuesday by Black Horse, it is now a week and I still have not heard anything from them, not even an acknowledgement!

Within the letter I included photos of the leak and also a copy of all of the engineers reports I have got from jobs that have been logged onto Ford's system.

Again I have spoken to Consumer Advice and they have now said to report it to the Financial Ombudsman and they are not willing to take on my complaint as it has not been 8 weeks.

I am a little stuck now and unsure on how to proceed.

Can someone help me please?

Thanks in advance.

Johnny

Mark_Hewitt

Always difficult for cars but I believe you'd have grounds for rejecting the car as it's not fit for purpose, but to get that you'll have one hell of a fight on your hands.

myrnahaz

Surely the car is still under warranty? If so, shouldn't the garage sort out the problem? Could you ask another garage what they suggest - you might find a more experienced mechanic can offer a suggestion, or a non-Ford mechanic will be less likely to cover-up any known Ford problem (like the Renault dealers did about the Clio bonnet catch fiasco).
As the legal owners of the car, Black Horse should certainly be involved - have you rung them and actually spoken to someone? Ring them, explain the predicament you're in and ask them for advice - they might have taken exception to a 'sort it out' letter, so try a different tack.

johnny_robinson

I did try to ring black horse to try and sort it over the phone in the first place, sorry should have maybe said that!

The lady I spoke to said it was down to Ford to sort and she could not see a problem that I have to keep taking it into the garage to be repaired.

She said all I could do would be to fill in a comments form that she would send me - I received this the next day but was exactly that, just tick boxes on how good there service was so not really any good to me.

This is so frustrating as at the end of the day all I want is acar that is reliable and does not have to keep going into the garage.

When I originally spoke to consumer advise they said that my legal right was with black horse due to the car been purchased on HPI, is this correct or can I also fight this with ford?

Thanks
Johny

Idiophreak

as myrnahaz says, surely the car will still be under warranty if bought from a main dealer?

johnny_robinson

The car is under warranty from Ford but when I told them that I was getting fed up with the repairs all of the time they told me I would have to take it up with black horse as that was who I had bought the car off in affect and not Ford.

When I spoke to black horse they are saying the opposite!

ABH_3

Hi Guy's,

Hope someone can help with this...

Basically I bought a Ford Focus in Jan this year directly from a Ford garage, the car was initially bought on a finance agreement with Black Horse under a HPI agreement.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1790655

I spoke to consumer direct about this as in the 7 month I have owned the car it has been in the garage 5 times now I believe. After speaking to consumer direct they advised to send a letter to Black Horse telling them that I give them 7 days to respond or will take it further.

I sent this last Monday by recorded delivery and it was received last Tuesday by Black Horse, it is now a week and I still have not heard anything from them, not even an acknowledgement!

You got a receipt from the post office didn't you? You sent it registered obviously, which means you'll be able to log into the post office track and trace site and grab a copy of the signature of the person who signed for the letter.

Get in touch with consumerdirect again ensure they pay more attention to your problem.

HTH

myrnahaz

You haven't bought the car from Black Horse, Johnny - THEY bought the car so THEY still own it. You won't be anything like the official owner until half or more of your HP is paid off.
Ring BH again, say that this is THEIR car and yet they're not doing anything to help you solve the problem.
Another option is to speak to Trading Standards - I did this (about a car bought via Black Horse, strangely enough) and they dictated a letter for me to send BH, stating some law (SOGA maybe, I can't remember). BH were really good and stepped in and sorted the problem out (I did this on behalf of a work colleague, so I didn't keep a copy of the letter, sorry).
On a less positive note, my DS had a truck that never worked properly (starting problems) and the garage never got it fixed to his satisfaction - he just ended up living with it until he sold it a few months ago.

johnny_robinson

Thanks myrnahaz very helpful, will give our local trading standards a call tomorrow and see what they say...

What a nightmare car's are!!

LeeSouthEast

My 2003 Focus has the same gear issue. Seems to be quite generic over the range. That said, it's only when cold and goes away within the first mile or so. I've had the car so long now it's just become part of its personality