DanielXR8

Singapore is a soverign nation. What do you suggest people do about it, rather than sit around as you put it. Does Singapore have the reciprocal right to turn our laws over if it finds them objectionable? Can they have a right to place pressure on our government to take action against you if they dont happent to agree with your viewpoint or do you think Australians opinions are somehow superior to theirs? Dan

Sounds like your handbrake is dragging. Do a search on the forums and you should find plenty of references to it. Dan

If Ford are happy to let them put their sign out the front of the business, then it is very much their problem. The dealer network is Fords number one problem. I have had a bad experience with a local Ford dealer (Grant McCarroll Armidale) and their response to it was pathetic and has taken the shine off my two Fords. No matter how good the cars are, if Ford dont fix the network and accept responsibility for how it is at the moment, then they are going to loose sales, as they should. They are doing the oppositions marketing for them at present. Daniel

I was thinking something similar. If I am not able to get a reasonable response from Ford I am thinking of getting some bumper bar stickers made up with "Another car not from Grant McCarroll Ford". I will make them available for free to anyone who wants to make sure that people know they didnt deal with him for whatever reason. The local papers are in his pocket because they dont want to loose advertising revenue, so a maildrop is the next best option to let people get access to them. He will try somethig legal to stop me, but it isnt defamatory, its just stating a fact. Daniel

My wife use to work at Mazda years ago and told me the same thing. We can only hope that Ford do something about this guy. He has a bad name in town and lots of people are buying Fords out of town or switching to another brand. You can tell he is doing really well, when his ad in the local paper this week was almost exclusively for new Mark 1 Falcons he still hasnt sold. Does anyone know when the Mark II was released? I'm guessing he must of had these Mark I cars for at least six months or so. Daniel

I couldnt agree more with you Turbo6man. I was shocked to call Ford customer service and be told that despite the fact I had purchased and spent over a 100K of my money on their cars in the last three years I had to put up with being told to piss off, by an arrogant and none to smart dealer. I couldnt believe that any company like Ford would ever agree to let their dealers get away with harming the Ford brand like that. Rest assured I will posting my letter and their response on the forum as this is something that could affect any buyer of a Ford product in Australia. Daniel

Well I am sending a copy of all replies I get with my letter to Ford next week. Oh and a letter from my neighbour who witnessed the whole thing. I would have had something to Ford before now, but work has been flat out. So I guess Ford will let him know the internet exists. He did tell me on more then one occassion during our umm "conversation" that he believes that 80% of what is on the net is lies. He kind of has a point, as his own dealership web site is wrong about the features listed for the BA and the errors go on from page to page. Check it out: www.gmford.com.au Daniel

No its not one of Fords as the business is a franshise that is held in his fathers name, so it looks like Dad bought him the business up here. His Dad owns Phil McCarroll at Camden and was part of the Ford owned dealers until that whole thing went pear shaped and ownership went back to him. Daniel

I just had the most incredible experience this week just gone at Grant McCarroll Ford in Armidale NSW. To cut a long story short he has banned me from his new car and service division for having purchased a car from another Ford dealer! To put this in persepective I have been a regular customer of his service division for the past five years. He just lost his nut in front of me at the sight of a car he didnt sell (a new Territory Ghia) and declared me off limits! Anyway according to Ford Customer Service, he is entitled to refuse to service my car, but must do any warranty work. I was gobsmacked that any dealer who supposedly represents Ford could get away with this. Unlike the city we have very limited choices about going to another dealer and he obviously has got use to intimidating people into buying from him or not buying Ford. I refuse to do either. I understand from talking to friends and collegues that this is not the first time he has done this, therefore I would like to hear from anyone who has had a bad experience with Grant McCarroll Ford, as I am preparing a file to help support a letter to go to Ford. Feel free to send a private message to me if you prefer. All correspondence I receive will be answered and kept in confidence if you wish. Thanks in advance, Daniel Dacey

Mate I can only wish my local dealer was as good and its a fair drive to the next one unfortunately. I had been happy with the service, until the dealer principal (Grant McCarroll Ford Armidale) took one look at my new car (not from him) and told me to literally piss off with my car. Apparently this is standard treatment from him as I met someone today who's wife was reduced to tears by him, for buying their then new Fairmont from another dealer and daring to have it in for a service. If you dont buy from him (regardless of price, service or whatever) then you are held to ransom by the *beep*. I just wish we had a dealer who gave a stuff about customer relations like yours does. Make sure you congratulate him on looking after you - certainly some other Ford dealers dont do anything remotely as good as you experienced. Daniel

Grant McCarroll dealer principal of the Ford franschise in Armidale argued with me that they have too much to do to know any car they have in depth. Reading off the net (he says is 80% lies) is going to eat into his weekends. No I am not making this up. I havent ever bought a car of him for some reason. Its that or the fact I was banned from ever buying a car from him, because I bought out of town from people who knew something about cars. He didnt like that apparently. THe guy is clueless. Seems a lot of dealers are the same unfortunately. Daniel

Should I be reading this out loud with a Jamaican accent?

As a work ute it is a great product. Plenty of easy access to whatever you put in it. I could see a lot of people liking it for that. However if you just like having a ute to show off and 'hard work' means it occassionaly takes the groceries home from Coles, then I think those guys wont like it. But for what it is obviously intended for, its a smart design. Daniel

Do me a favour. Take the bonnet off your XR6 and bolt it to an XR8 or GT of your choice. Now close the bonnet firmly several times and report back on your findings. There just could be another reason why the XR8's bonnet looks a little different. As for spares prices, I am on your side with that one. Ford just want to piss off XR owners with high spare parts prices for car parts that should of been on our cars in the first place. that's why we get those crappy alloy wheels when they know all XR owners really want 15" steel rims. So we all have to go and buy them from spares! Same problem with LTD badges for your XR6. Mongrels. Daniel (XR8 with free bulge and two extra cylinders that should come free on sixes too, but they left the turbo off. Must be on your car)

Its nice, but it does make the car look more AU. Dan