Ford Service Offer

jimdog

Premier wrote: »

What sort of information are you thinking any competent mechanic needs downloading in order to complete the service as specified?

I think you will see that I used the word 'repair' in that instance. I've side tracked the thread a bit admittedly, but sometimes repairs are needed to be done during a service but as you seem happy to pay for a dealership to carry out your repairs, then there isn't a problem is there.

ukjoel

Cant say the same for all these offers but Ford genuine parts were used on the service I had done.

To be honest these parts are so cheap that the savings made by using non genuine parts are so small. Parts used would be Oil, oil filter, and a pollen filter (in a standard service).

Everything else is checked but not replaced (unless required)

When I was working aftersales the cost to a dealer for the parts above required for a standard service (Ford Genuine parts) was about six quid.

They havent gone up that much since then.

Premier is spot on with what he is saying about Ford needing to compete with the independents.

Year one they see 90% of cars back in for servicing at a Ford main dealer.
By the time they hit year 3 (which is a lot more profitable) that figure is down to 40%.

Ford need to compete with the independents and the only way to do it is to offer to levels of servicing. In truth there isnt much difference between 0-3 years and 3 years plus but in the first three years they still have the hold of warranty over you.

I know that legally that hold is broken and car can be serviced anywhere if gen parts used and done to manufacturer reqs BUT in reality most people still go to main dealer for first 3 years.

Would be interesting to know the dealer loyalty stats for Kia with the 7 year warranties if anyone knows?

Regarding the old My ford dealer is great/awful debate only advice i can give is to look for a family dealer as they tend to keep their people for longer and so they are better trained. If your names above the door you have a lot more on the line.

jeannieblue

Ford dealers in my area are absolutely horrendous - and I wrote to FMC a couple of years back to say that they were letting them down. Absolutely no improvement at all - but they do have brand spanking new showrooms and offices all over the place.

Dagenham Motors are good - but not at all local to me, sadly. But then I don't need to use a dealer anymore, not that they were any good to me before anyway.

These special offers will cease anyway if the BER is not renewed next year - as Jimbob said in earlier post. A boost to dealerships and alot of poor consumers in the process. :eek: To understand more - read the BER thread.

Premier_2

jeannieblue wrote: »

Ford dealers in my area are absolutely horrendous - and I wrote to FMC a couple of years back to say that they were letting them down. ....

You wasted your time and money.

Ford outsourced its (end user) customer service several years ago. Even if you write direct to their headquarters in Brentwood, it gets passed to the external company in Scotland who arn't interested - like any other company, as long as Ford pay their bills they'll do whatever is necessary ... which tends to be not to bother Ford since that is what Ford pay them for; if they do trouble Ford, Ford may seek to resource that service.

Ford does not deal with any retail customers. They sell their cars to the dealers they have approved to sell them, none of which are actually owned by Ford. (The dealers not being owned by Ford is the stock answer given to any criticism of a Ford dealer sent to Ford)
Ford's attitude of they would have a great business if it weren't for their customers is not unique, ... but Ford is one of those companies that is big enough & ugly enough to actually (almost) get away with it.
If any of Ford's actual customers (it's dealers) cause them any agro, the boys'll be around within the hour to remove their blue oval from above the door. Ford is fully aware there is a huge list of companies who would love to secure the right to display that blue oval on their own forecourt ... and once they sign up, Ford screws them dictating everything (just like most other major car manufacturers), whilst standing way back of any criticism on the basis the dealers are not owned by Ford, and you should take up any complaints regarding the dealership with the actual owner.

ukjoel

Partially true.
Yes its outsourced but these guys have a matrix for goodwill depending on age of vehicle, loyalty, etc.

In my experience the customers that got what they wanted did it in one of two ways. They either wrote to head office to a named very senior manager in UK or Europe (or quite often emailed internally as majority of these complaints were from Frod employees (who buy a massive % of their cars).

The second way was a solicitors letter as these always got fast tracked to legal and never went near the customer service centre. I probably saw 3 or 4 of these a year and the ones I saw always went the customers way. In fairness every example involved a switched on customer, who had been treated badly and had documented everything very well.

Premier is right that Motor company will hide behind dealers but worth checking who owns your dealer. Ford have been buying up dealers for years to ensure they maintain regional coverage. If you cant get your car serviced locally, you buy a different brand.

Dealers dont like going to court either.
In most cases though dealers ARE right. They have a duty of care and have to make a guess on not just whether your car is safe today but whether it will remain safe until the next service.

In Europe its common to have a visual inspection carried out with customer present but thats never taken off over here.

jeannieblue

Premier wrote: »

You wasted your time and money.

Ford outsourced its (end user) customer service several years ago. Even if you write direct to their headquarters in Brentwood, it gets passed to the external company in Scotland who arn't interested - like any other company, as long as Ford pay their bills they'll do whatever is necessary ... which tends to be not to bother Ford since that is what Ford pay them for; if they do trouble Ford, Ford may seek to resource that service.

Ford does not deal with any retail customers. They sell their cars to the dealers they have approved to sell them, none of which are actually owned by Ford. (The dealers not being owned by Ford is the stock answer given to any criticism of a Ford dealer sent to Ford)
Ford's attitude of they would have a great business if it weren't for their customers is not unique, ... but Ford is one of those companies that is big enough & ugly enough to actually (almost) get away with it.
If any of Ford's actual customers (it's dealers) cause them any agro, the boys'll be around within the hour to remove their blue oval from above the door. Ford is fully aware there is a huge list of companies who would love to secure the right to display that blue oval on their own forecourt ... and once they sign up, Ford screws them dictating everything (just like most other major car manufacturers), whilst standing way back of any criticism on the basis the dealers are not owned by Ford, and you should take up any complaints regarding the dealership with the actual owner.

Absolute cr4p!

I did not waste my time at all. I wrote to FMC at Warley, telling them about my sorry tale, not expecting to hear back at all. They actually phoned me, offered to refund the monies I had had to spend out on part that dealership/s had failed to diagnose (over two years) - regrettably they needed the old part to do so, and I had thrown it away just two days before...

I found FMC's customer services to be excellent, they still are and I have no idea why you are sl4gging them off. They are of a rare breed, they actually take note, listen and act. Not many of those about!

You are very vitriotic and obviously have had some bitter experience.

Premier_2

jeannieblue wrote: »

Absolute cr4p!

I did not waste my time at all. I wrote to FMC at Warley, telling them about my sorry tale, not expecting to hear back at all. They actually phoned me, offered to refund the monies I had had to spend out on part that dealership/s had failed to diagnose (over two years) - regrettably they needed the old part to do so, and I had thrown it away just two days before...

I found FMC's customer services to be excellent, they still are and I have no idea why you are sl4gging them off. They are of a rare breed, they actually take note, listen and act. Not many of those about!

You are very vitriotic and obviously have had some bitter experience.

Warley is Brentwood, as you should know.

It was the out-sourced company that would have phoned you, not a Ford employee ... and certainly not from their head office in Warley/Brentwood.

Bitter experience, not at all, but experience of Ford, yes, I might have some

Have the Ford dealers improved since you wrote and complained, or are they still "absolutely horrendous"?
Your use of the present tense in your previous post suggests they are (in your opinion), hence why I said you wasted your time and money.

jeannieblue

Yes I know Warley is near Brentwood - it is my home turf .. :rolleyes: I actually worked as a temp there a few years back (a good few years back actually).

The dealership nearest to me, as far as I know, are still useless - but I am hearing that secondhand, I have no use to go there, but it is what I have heard. They have a wonderful new centre, very smart showrooms and offices.

I'm concerned that my son is taking his car there this week re a recall . He works long hours and doesn't have the time, sadly, to get down to Dagenham Motors, at least for another few weeks or more and he needs to get it sorted. We'll have to wait and see.

I'm not anti Ford, but I am anti any dealership, regardless of manufacturer, that is incompetent and gives bad service.

Meanwhile back on thread, the above dealership are also giving special deals on servicing!! I had a customer ask me to quote on a third service, bearing in mind that I needed to ensure the warranty was kept in tact, I did my research, called customer back and found that we were 62p cheaper than the dealership.....

The service due, was obviously oil & filter, pollen filter and spark plugs. I phoned said dealership and pretended I was the owner. The quote was for service including oil & filter....... I asked about the pollen filter and plugs - and they said that they were an 'advise'. If they needed replacing they would call me.... Now it stated very clearly that to service this car and keep the warranty intact, you had to service it according to manufacturers instructions - which said 'change' pollen filter and plugs - not 'advise'!!

I bet anyone booking in for that service got a call an hour or so later saying, oh by the way we need to replace blah blah blah - and the cost of this will be................ :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

If they didn't - then the car wasn't serviced in accordance with manufacturers instructions and warranty was b*ggered. And that, from a dealership!

Chippy_Minton_2

jeannieblue wrote: »

I'm concerned that my son is taking his car there this week re a recall .

What a recall on those chavvy RS's already?

Smart money would have gone on an A5 for the same outlay.:rotfl:

jeannieblue

Chippy_Minton wrote: »

What a recall on those chavvy RS's already?

Smart money would have gone on an A5 for the same outlay.:rotfl:

And your comment is relevant to the thread?? How??