XR6 Brand New - dies at 250klm

[Cabbage]

Originally Posted by PepeLePew

There are many threads on this forum of these 'horror stories', if that is a appropriate term. BUT....

People being people post when they have problems. They vent. If they receive the service level they expect, they dont post squat, thats business as usual.

If they receive exceptional service, they post occasionally, though humans tend to be more proactive on the negative than the positive. This forum also has that content.

It isnt specific to Ford, one of the most common cars in this country, with one of the most common dealerships. And yes, with any 'non premium' brand where there are plenty of dealerships quality will vary, and you may have to shop around. Or just post a q here and ask, works quite well. But even at those labelled by some, even on this forum, as bad, there are those that have received exceptional service from those variable resources called humans employed at that time at that place. And ditto for the 'good' ones.

Ive had Fords, Holdens, Nissans, Mazdas, Mitsubishis and other cars Ive forgotten. I've had a mix of good and bad experiences with ALL...if I post a bad experience with a Ford dealer here, it doesnt make for a epidemic related to the brand.

I am not a Ford 'tragic', but I accept the realities of what I've bought. Its a mainstream vehicle shoved off the end of a production line with possible inherent flaws I paid a sharp price for, and my experiences arent guaranteed.

I sympathise with the OP's FIL, but we can either start a witch hunt and a bitchfest which is a very internet thing to do, or try and help him find a better Ford experience if that is necessary and he cant work out his issues with the dealer directly.

Id hope he posts soon for his sake the dealer has kissed his rear end in 10 places in apology and thrown in some floor mats. Maybe approaching the dealer principal with his experience will help in the first instance.

No one is starting a witch hunt, most of the threads on the forum about poor dealer service seem fairly resonable to me. If you spend upwards of $20,000 for a product you are entitled to expect a level of decent service regarding that product.

For alot of the problems Forum members have had with different dealserships most of them seem to revolve around the way they were treated and the level of customer service they recieved rather than strictly the issue with their vehicle. Complaints about dealers arise when people find them combative about a problem with a vehicle they have sold which is the last thing anyone in this situation wants to hear.

Let people post on the forum the problems they experience with different dealers and let the members judge for themselves whether they have been treated good or bad. The good dealers will stand up to scrutiny and the bad will fall by the wayside.

[PepeLePew]

Deleted...

[RATT]

Originally Posted by PepeLePew

Referring to the OP's first post, his FIL DID get a loaner, so discussing demo levels etc has limited relevance.

The fact they were reluctant to loan a car under the circumstances IS. Ive never seen a dealer who wouldnt pull a used car off the lot to sell a new car. Ive had a few when demos werent available in the config I wanted to try out. So likely vehicle resources werent the issue

Its the dealers ATTITUDE that is in question here. The fact they couldnt look at the car could simply be resources, such if life. But under the circumstance good customer service would dictate the alternative ride should be offered with a smile and apology, IMHO. If I was involved in a dealership, or any other business selling a product whether $10 or $100K, you take swift action to ensure the customers experience is the best you can make it. Out of curiosity though, who was he dealing with and what were their roles?

Whatever the cars issue is will be interesting, but the memory of that initial interaction will remain. UNLESS the dealer can kiss and makeup. 'Sorry about how we handled your issues Friday it wasnt handled well and heres a set of floor mats. My name is x and I am the Service Manager and I'll take care of your vehicle personally' Yadda yadda.

Damage control.

Spot on re dealers attitude which may be the issue here. And as you say sometimes, even on a Wednesday, there simply may be no way of fixing/ repairing a car without having an effect on other customers booked in during the same period.

[mrbaxr6t]

the way I interpret the problem is the individual he spoke to upon breakdown at the ford dealership has poor people skills - when somebody comes to you upset with a product the last thing they want to hear you say are the words "no" "cant" "wont" these words stick and make the disgruntled customer even more disgruntled elevating a bad situation to a horrible one.

if it was handled like this

customer : my $%^$%% car just died after a week, I got it a week ago and its @#$@#$%@

ford employee : I am terribly sorry to hear that I will take a quick look at it now to see if there is anything I can do

<<allowing the customer some time to vent and calm down>>

customer : the @#$%@$ thing died i paid all this #@$@ money and its crapped itself

employee after taking a brief look at the car : there is clearly something wrong with this vehicle, allow me to book it in as soon as possible for repair

customer : well its @#$!@ rooted how am I going to get home?

ford employee : I am terribly sorry but all our loan/demo vehicles are currently out of the dealership on loan to other customers, I will make it my top priority that you receive a loaner vehicle as soon as one returns

and so on - the problem as I see it is poor people skills, the dealership clearly had little they could do as they were backed into a corner, no car to give him as all gone, and a fully booked service department. Better conflict resolution is needed here.

[Fev]

Has the car been fixed yet? Curious to know what the problem was..

[terri tx]

Originally Posted by mrbaxr6t

the way I interpret the problem is the individual he spoke to upon breakdown at the ford dealership has poor people skills - when somebody comes to you upset with a product the last thing they want to hear you say are the words "no" "cant" "wont" these words stick and make the disgruntled customer even more disgruntled elevating a bad situation to a horrible one.

if it was handled like this

customer : my $%^$%% car just died after a week, I got it a week ago and its @#$@#$%@

ford employee : I am terribly sorry to hear that I will take a quick look at it now to see if there is anything I can do

<<allowing the customer some time to vent and calm down>>

customer : the @#$%@$ thing died i paid all this #@$@ money and its crapped itself

employee after taking a brief look at the car : there is clearly something wrong with this vehicle, allow me to book it in as soon as possible for repair

customer : well its @#$!@ rooted how am I going to get home?

ford employee : I am terribly sorry but all our loan/demo vehicles are currently out of the dealership on loan to other customers, I will make it my top priority that you receive a loaner vehicle as soon as one returns

and so on - the problem as I see it is poor people skills, the dealership clearly had little they could do as they were backed into a corner, no car to give him as all gone, and a fully booked service department. Better conflict resolution is needed here.

I agree I'd be really mad if it was me. No excuses for not looking after customers who jest spent 40k plus. Ford should have helped him and not give him the runaround.

[GT450]

There are 2 sides to every story i believe we only heard 1 in this instance. As for dealers having 15 to 30 demos i don't know where you live but even in the biggest of dealerships you wouldn't find that now. i ahad a boss who owns a large harware chain with outlets all over australia he bought a Bentley Continental about $440.000 at the time , drove it from the dealers in melbourne to his home an hour away. One hour later went to drive away and it would not start under any circumstance. It was towed away within the hour and he lived without it for 4 days when it came back and a loose earth was deemed to be the problem. Now he had money and clout and was prepared to wait for the outcome and he is a nice guy. You catch more flies with honey than vinegar and every customer that comes in to a dealership paid for their car somewhere so i do see Ratts point of view here.
Cheers
GT450

[torbirdie]

Originally Posted by GT450

There are 2 sides to every story i believe we only heard 1 in this instance. As for dealers having 15 to 30 demos i don't know where you live but even in the biggest of dealerships you wou
GT450

maybe the do, maybe they dont have 15 demos, but that is hardly the point. If they run out of demos they can always use a hire car company, thats the cost of business if you really want to claim that you will stand behind your product, either employ more mechanics to get the job done at the time or pay for cars for the customer to use until you do have a mechanic available, the Ford dealer in question wants to have their cake and eat it too.

[mrbaxr6t]

Originally Posted by torbirdie

maybe the do, maybe they dont have 15 demos, but that is hardly the point. If they run out of demos they can always use a hire car company, thats the cost of business if you really want to claim that you will stand behind your product, either employ more mechanics to get the job done at the time or pay for cars for the customer to use until you do have a mechanic available, the Ford dealer in question wants to have their cake and eat it too.

a hire car company? um? really what if the hire companies are closed?

[torbirdie]

Originally Posted by mrbaxr6t

a hire car company? um?

Umm?.....that's where people pay money to borrow a car when they need one?

Originally Posted by mrbaxr6t

really what if the hire companies are closed?

ffs,.....lame........what if its 4am sunday morning?

[Laminge]

Originally Posted by torbirdie

Umm?.....that's where people pay money to borrow a car when they need one?


ffs,.....lame........what if its 4am sunday morning?

Maybe they should get the person at the dealership who built the car to pay for the limo driver till its fixed as well...

Get my point?

One side of the story, we are grasping at straws

[vztrt]

Well its Tuesday night and no reason why the car stopped working.

[torbirdie]

Originally Posted by Laminge

Maybe they should get the person at the dealership who built the car to pay for the limo driver till its fixed as well...

Get my point?

Your point? you are friviously dismissing the need to take care of the customer because you think they might make other demands as well, ie want a night at the Hilton as well?
They just want a vehicle to get them from a to b until the car is fixed again.

Originally Posted by Laminge

One side of the story, we are grasping at straws

Perhaps the story is fabricated, I dont know?, but that is really no longer the major "point" here is it?

It is determining what us the customers believe would be good practice on behalf of the dealers and other people that run similar businesses based on either the true story described or a similar scenario.

[Laminge]

Originally Posted by torbirdie

Your point? you are friviously dismissing the need to take care of the customer because you think they might make other demands as well, ie want a night at the Hilton as well?
They just want a vehicle to get them from a to b until the car is fixed again.




Perhaps the story is fabricated, I dont know?, but that is really no longer the major "point" here is it?

It is determining what us the customers believe would be good practice on behalf of the dealers and other people that run similar businesses based on either the true story described or a similar scenario.

Hahaha

Needed a good laugh this morning, too many games of monopoly online I dare say, regardless, you miss the point still, but please feel free to tell me about reality and fantasy a bit more in the real world of car dealerships.

I do admit there are some great ones out there, oh I have experienced both!

[terri tx]

Originally Posted by torbirdie

Umm?.....that's where people pay money to borrow a car when they need one?


ffs,.....lame........what if its 4am sunday morning?

I don't get it. :

[XR6_661]

Unfortunatly to me this seems like a case of the dealer giving Ford Motor Co. a bad rap.

Obviously the first thing people will do is blame Ford because the name is posted all over the joint.

Do you blame sony if your TV stuffs up because sony is posted on JB Hi Fi's wall? No. You blame JB Hi Fi. Same diff with a car...

But that definatly sucks that the car died after 250kms...seems to me that something like that is purely just a lemon from the factory and no-ones fault at all except the machines that made it. And it sucks that they didn't look after you...

Wanna make some noise, send some emails to ACA or give them a bad rap in your local.

[mrbaxr6t]

Originally Posted by terri tx

I don't get it. :

me either ? and suggesting I don't know what a hire car place is is quite damn rude. But whatever the topic was that the car died and it is claimed that the dealership handled it poorly, sometimes you just can't do what is right due to constraints - how can a hire car be provided if one cannot be hired as they are closed. You expect the dealer principal to goto a hire place and take a car and slip an IOU under the door? come on man be realistic.

[torbirdie]

Originally Posted by mrbaxr6t

me either ? and suggesting I don't know what a hire car place is is quite damn rude. But whatever the topic was that the car died and it is claimed that the dealership handled it poorly, sometimes you just can't do what is right due to constraints - how can a hire car be provided if one cannot be hired as they are closed. You expect the dealer principal to goto a hire place and take a car and slip an IOU under the door? come on man be realistic.

Im guessing that most car hire places are open at more or less the same hours as the local ford dealer or even longer?
hence my reason for suggesting the "hire car business being closed" was a lame option for dismissing the hire car option. or that you might suggest they demand one 4am sunday morning, or do the ford dealers work those hours too?

What can we expect the ford dealer to do? Either get the hire car for the customer or send them there in a taxi or organise one for them when they are available the next day(given the customer has appeared at 7pm with the problem?) or just let the customer organise it themselves and offer to reimburse.

I dont see a problem, other than the dealer having to spend money, which should ultimately be picked up by Ford themselves(their lemon), so perhaps its company policy that is the problem

[mrbaxr6t]

Originally Posted by FORD ZD 351

this dealer runs a service dept until midnight on weekdays

Originally Posted by torbirdie

Im guessing that most car hire places are open at more or less the same hours as the local ford dealer or even longer?

I dont see a problem

sorry man but there is potential for problem here, read first answer second

I can't say I have ever personally seen a car hire place open past 5 pm

you are not the only one that can chop up quotes

oh yea https://www.budget.com.au/contact_us/default.aspx

7 pm exactly, what if he presented after that? when Ford was open but hire place wasn't?

[Rodp]

Originally Posted by mrbaxr6t

sorry man but there is potential for problem here, read first answer second

I can't say I have ever personally seen a car hire place open past 5 pm

you are not the only one that can chop up quotes

oh yea https://www.budget.com.au/contact_us/default.aspx

7 pm exactly, what if he presented after that? when Ford was open but hire place wasn't?

While we go off in a tangent.. how many Ford dealers have you been to that doesn't have 50 used cars out in the yard?

[schmidty]

Originally Posted by mrbaxr6t

sorry man but there is potential for problem here, read first answer second

I can't say I have ever personally seen a car hire place open past 5 pm

you are not the only one that can chop up quotes

oh yea https://www.budget.com.au/contact_us/default.aspx

7 pm exactly, what if he presented after that? when Ford was open but hire place wasn't?

I picked up a hire car at 11pm friday night, they were open til 12, and if was going to be late they've waited for me before until 12:45am. So it's do able, just depeneds on how badly you need to get it.

[P6LTD351]

Originally Posted by Rodp

While we go off in a tangent.. how many Ford dealers have you been to that doesn't have 50 used cars out in the yard?

Exactly! If there are no demos, hand the keys to a used car on the lot. Not very hard to do. Good customer service is not that hard.

[mik]

i had some experience with budget rentals and their depots varied in shut time, some at 5pm but you could always get a car from the airport at later hours.

[ltd]

Originally Posted by eb2monty

Exactly! If there are no demos, hand the keys to a used car on the lot. Not very hard to do. Good customer service is not that hard.

Could potentially be an issue for insurance.
Demo's on the other hand tend to have alot more insurances on them.

In the OP it was mentioned that the service dept stayed open until very late, the used car lot may have been closed.

Either way, service was a bit poor, should have been handled better.

[FORD ZD 351]

Originally Posted by mrbaxr6t

the way I interpret the problem is the individual he spoke to upon breakdown at the ford dealership has poor people skills - when somebody comes to you upset with a product the last thing they want to hear you say are the words "no" "cant" "wont" these words stick and make the disgruntled customer even more disgruntled elevating a bad situation to a horrible one.

if it was handled like this

customer : my $%^$%% car just died after a week, I got it a week ago and its @#$@#$%@

ford employee : I am terribly sorry to hear that I will take a quick look at it now to see if there is anything I can do

<<allowing the customer some time to vent and calm down>>

customer : the @#$%@$ thing died i paid all this #@$@ money and its crapped itself

employee after taking a brief look at the car : there is clearly something wrong with this vehicle, allow me to book it in as soon as possible for repair

customer : well its @#$!@ rooted how am I going to get home?

ford employee : I am terribly sorry but all our loan/demo vehicles are currently out of the dealership on loan to other customers, I will make it my top priority that you receive a loaner vehicle as soon as one returns

and so on - the problem as I see it is poor people skills, the dealership clearly had little they could do as they were backed into a corner, no car to give him as all gone, and a fully booked service department. Better conflict resolution is needed here.

MR BA XR6T you're dead right that's the customer service you would expect.

The Ute is now fixed. Was just a simple Injector connection loose. Just bad luck.
After speaking again with FIL, Rep did his best to get service guy to look at car now. Service guy shoved Job Book in Reps face and said, words to the effect 'look how busy we are, we cant fit him in'. Rep was left with no option.

I've since learnt the name of the Service guy and discovered it to be the same guy that gave me grief there approx 18 months ago. I havent taken my Fords back there since I had a bad experience with the same guy !!

Anyway, car is fixed and we all go elsewhere for service. A shame as the dealer and it's reps are top guys.

As many of you would agree, you dont by a "you-beaut" bit of gear unless you can get it serviced. Service guys like this just make things tougher for Ford.

GO THE FORDS !!

[xr6turbo2005]

so do we have an answer to the cause of the original problem yet. i've re-read the thread, can't see anything to confirm (unlessi've missed it)

[vztrt]

Originally Posted by xr6turbo2005

so do we have an answer to the cause of the original problem yet. i've re-read the thread, can't see anything to confirm (unlessi've missed it)

ummmm

Originally Posted by FORD ZD 351

The Ute is now fixed. Was just a simple Injector connection loose. Just bad luck.

[XD427]

I got my 2004 fiesta serviced at ford dealer in osbourne park WA that charged me $330 to service (30,000km service) the car started to play up 2 weeks later and checked the oil and filters none had been changed. rang them up and they didnt want to hear it never went back there again i service my own cars now.

[Yellow_Festiva]

Originally Posted by XD427

I got my 2004 fiesta serviced at ford dealer in osbourne park WA that charged me $330 to service (30,000km service) the car started to play up 2 weeks later and checked the oil and filters none had been changed. rang them up and they didnt want to hear it never went back there again i service my own cars now.

I always check things like the condition of the oil, coolant, and fluids just prior to a service. I also reach down to the oil filter with a screw driver and put a random scratch on the casing to see it it is still there after the work. Once the workshop earns my trust I don't bother.

Sounds an@l I know, but my sister just bought an Audi A4 off a city lass, the kind that have NO CLUE AT ALL about cars. (She advertised her car as the V6 model when it was a 4, and forgot to mention that it had leather seats...) We also had to refer to the manual on how to open the bonnet, as in the 3 years she had the car she never did it once!

Anyway, she gave us a receipt to show it was just "serviced". The oil was black as pitch, the filter had about a years worth of engine bay grime on it....

She had paid $350 for an inspection and tyre shine.... And I bet this happens every day...

Anyway, glad to hear the XR6 is sorted.

[XRtowcar]

"She had paid $350 for an inspection and tyre shine...."
Thats about what $350 buys at an Audi service!