Ford Focus cluster replacement

thunderella

Hi, I’m new here. I wasn’t sure where to post this, either on the Motoring board or here on the Consumer Rights board. Please move this thread if I chose the wrong place.

I own a 2004 Ford Focus. I know it’s getting on a bit now, but it’s a lovely car and I can’t really afford to replace it even if I wanted to.

Last month, the speedometer stopped working. I took the car to my local Ford dealer who diagnosed the problem as a faulty cluster, and said I would need a new one.

They quoted me £349 fully fitted.

After my initial shock at the price, I reluctantly agreed for them to go ahead as I need my car to get to work. They said the car would be ready at the end of the day.

During that day, I did a bit of research on the internet and found this appears to be quite a common, known fault (threads on MSE, honestjohn etc refer to a BBC Watchdog report) and that Ford had agreed to replace the cluster for a fixed price of £99. I think this was about 5 years ago, but I’ve seen some people get this deal as recently as 2-3 years ago.

I went to pick up my car and asked about the £99 deal. The dealer said it was no longer valid and the price was £349 as quoted.
I felt I had no option but to pay so I did, but informed the dealer I would be taking this up with Ford directly which they said was up to me.

I wrote a letter of complaint to Ford explaining the situation. They telephoned me a couple of weeks later and said they had some good news for me. The told me they had spoken to the dealer on my behalf and said the dealer had now agreed to refund me the £250 difference, and said I would need to go back to the dealer with my credit card I originally paid with so that the dealer could process the partial refund. Ford gave me a complaint reference number.

I went back to the dealer and explained what Ford had informed me and asked for the refund. The dealer said they had not agreed anything, and refused any form of refund. They said I was quoted a price and that was the price I agreed to pay and was eventually charged.

I asked if they would call Ford to clarify the situation. They refused, saying there was no point. They reiterated they would not be making any refund.

So I went home and called Ford myself and spoke to the Ford Customer Relationship Centre again. They again said they had spoken to the dealership who had agreed with them they would refund me the £250. After getting no further forward, I asked if they would put their response in writing to me, as hopefully with the agreement in writing, the dealership may refund me.

I received a letter about a week later. The letter says that Ford dealerships are independently owned garages and are not owned by Ford Motor Company. Any dispute I have should be taken up directly with the dealership involved. However, on this occasion, they have been in contact with the dealership in question who have agreed on a goodwill gesture to refund the £250 difference. It explains I need to go to the dealership with my credit card so that the dealership can process the refund.

I went back to the dealership with the letter, but the dealer is still refusing to give me any refund.

What can I do?

unholyangel

Is it the correct dealership Ford have spoken to? Have you spoken to the manager at the dealership?

Jakg

Call Ford from the dealership and hand the phone over?

Explain they aren't playing ball and ask for the cash direct?

downright_mean_with_money

good effort so far, seems you have done a good job with Ford having got something in writing! although they are not being quite fair on the dealer who will be expected to pick up the tab by the look of it?
Lets just go back a step and see what you have in the eye of the law, you agreed to pay for work done to the car by the garage i.e. replace the cluster at an agreed fee of £350, they did that as instructed, this was the form of your "contract" with "the garage". Now don't shoot me but the fact you went away and found out some information on it, and the outcome, technically makes no difference to the garage "after the event" - unless you tried to stop the work "before" it took place (or renegotiate the contract). You did however ask on the return and made it clear you weren't happy but in terms of what the garage did was as instructed, galling as it maybe and not great customer service. I guess the point I'm trying to make is no point taking this court, so lets rule that out. Ford have no contract with you, that's with the garage and if it doesn't want to pay then you have no option but to go back to Ford and get them to force the garage to pay? but you have no legal right to do so, as they say it's a gesture of goodwill and a tidy some of one too:eek: It's a waiting game at the moment, I take it you have all the correct information and this letter mentions the dealer in question, personally I find it weird they need you to do what they are asking? a blooming cheque should suffice..and on that note eventually Ford should give in and give it to you themselves and chase the garage. Keep it up and be polite, ask to speak to the dealer manager and if that don't work write back to Ford....I managed to get Honda to pay for the dealers screw up when they didn't fix my car first time round.

thunderella

Many thanks for the responses so far.

To clarify a few points asked.

I am sure it is the correct dealership. I provided a copy of the original invoice to Ford with my complaint, and they have stated the dealership name (including the town it is located in) in their written response to me.

I did ask the dealership to contact Ford whilst I was there, but they said they had no interest in speaking with the Ford Customer Relationship Centre - the dealership were not giving me any refund.

I absolutely agree with the comments by downright_mean_with_money. The price the dealership charged was the price they quoted and I agreed to pay. To be fair, I think the cluster itself probably cost them more than £99, and that's before their mark-up, labour etc. In fact the price seems quite cheap to what some others were charged before this £99 repair deal was offered.

But from what I've read on the internet, it seems the £99 repair deal was something Ford themselves initiated in an attempt to stop the bad publicity, and to continue to deny any liability ... although the evidence that the parts were inherently faulty seemed overwhelming.
Ford said at the time that anyone who had paid more than £99 would be refunded the difference.

I did ask Ford to refund me directly, but they said they "had no process to do that" and that "the dealership had already agreed with them to refund me the difference".

I spoke to the dealership again yesterday after your comments, eventually speaking to someone who described himself as the Director for Parts & Service. He said the best he could offer would be to make a claim on my behalf to Ford and see if they agree to refund the difference. He said if Ford would, and after Ford have credited the dealership with the refund, then he would of course refund me. Otherwise, he was not going to provide any refund.
I asked how long such a claim would take, and he said it could take months. He said he could get the claim off within a day or two, but could not say how long Ford would take to process the claim, let alone if they would eventually accept it. When I pushed him, he said it usually takes about a month to get any response from Ford, but he wasn't promising anything. He went on that if I was fortunate enough to have the claim accepted, he said Ford then typically take at least 3 more months to pay their bills. Once the money was confirmed by his finance department that the amount was in the dealership bank account, they would then contact me to arrange a refund. Refunds onto cards, he said, typically take about 5 days from date of processing, but that depends on the card provider (it could take 2-3 weeks).

I agreed he should at least try this approach, but it doesn't seem too hopeful

downright_mean_with_money

oh well, sounds like a typical stalling tactic by the dealership bit like the banks do with ppi claims, you have evidence in your hand but as they wont' see any money for 3 months there not entertaining it. I mean Ford say they spoke to this dealer...but not mention a name..and everyone in the dealership has the head in the sand (or other area!) approach and deny all knowledge. Could you mention the dealer so we can all avoid them?
I would write to Ford and copy the dealer to guarantee this gets done..not rely on the dealer, you have nothing to lose if it does take months. As for the fault, it was poor design hence mentioned on Watchdog, the unit is solid state and should not fail for the life of the car and as it's a safety critical part you cannot run without it, you can but then it's illegal to run without a speedometer

thunderella

I'd prefer not to name and shame the individual dealer at this poiint, because I'm not sure that is particularly warranted.

As you previously posted, and I fully agreed with, the dealer quoted a price, (a price that was quite competitive compared to others that were charged the full cost of the repair) I initially agreed to the price and asked them to carry out the work, and I am happy with the repair carried out.

What I gues riles me is that Ford know of the issue with this car, but didn't recall or even accept any liability. To avoid continued bad press on the likes of BBC Wtachdog, they offered a deal that said no one would pay more than £99 for this particular repair to this type of vehicle.

As I said, I'm of the opinion the part itself probably costs more than £99 and I don't see why the dealer should subsidise the cost of the repair of my car, a car that was inherently faulty (whether or not Ford formally accept this allegation)

When Ford made this offer, were Ford essentially offering to subsidise the cost of repair themselves, or were they abusing their position of a large company and expecting their dealerships (who they say independent of them) to fund this subsidy out of their own pockets?

I like to think Ford would pay the dealership the subsidy.
Reading between the lines of the response I received from Ford, they seem to agree I should not be expected to pay more than £99 for the repair. So I guess the question is, who should be paying the other £250 that I believe reflects the true cost of the repair?
I think Ford themselves should be funding this, as it was they who made the offer to stop the continued bad press they were receiving.

As I said, the dealership have now agreed to formally ask Ford for this £250, so until the outcome of that is known (or I otherwise am given the £250 refund), I'd prefer to not name & shame the particular dealer ... as I don't think there is particular shame on them at this time.

Softly softly, catchee monkey

thunderella

Success! (I hope)

I wrote back to Ford explaining I was not at all happy.

I received a response from Ford earlier this week, saying they would respond in 5 working days time.

This morning, I received a cheque in the post from the dealer for £250 - nothing else in the envelope, just a cheque.

Off to the bank now to deposit it - hope it doesn't bounce.

downright_mean_with_money

brilliant, left to the dealer you have been wondering for months? just goes to show perseverance is the key...you were right all along...