City Ford - Lack Of Service

[Iconic Bionic]

There a great car to drive but the ongoing unreliability and Ford service (what service), is just not worth the trouble.

I saw a great FG T at the servo today and its the first real interest ive had in them, but posts like yours and my own recent dramas means my current Ford will be my last Ford. Though im happy to keep for a few more years yet.

I.B.

[RHR]

UN reliable. Yes and no. I think it is mainly because ppl are so particluar with their cars.

Its funny you know that since my car is out of warranty there has not been a single problem with it. I look at as if all the little bugs have been ironed out.

[Iconic Bionic]

UN reliable. Yes and no. I think it is mainly because ppl are so particluar with their cars.

You've been through 3 diffs and that's not being particular or petty, that's outright unreliable.

I.B.

[tab]

So what have we learned here? Don't take your car back there!

lol

[RHR]

None of the diffs actually sh*t them selves. Its just poor quality from the supplier not ford

[jrfttf]

can see both sides to the comments shared!

I know for a fact that there are some dealers out there that have sh*thouse service when I comes to caring for your car!

Prices are dear as poison which means when something aint right then the sh*t hits the fan 10 times worse cause because of money been spent top service is expected!

As for saying all ford dealership workshops are filled with monkeys I don't find that the case! Some have crap guys who don't give 2 sh*ts but also some have

brilliant guys who know their fords inside and out and do a fanstastic job when it comes to knowledge and repairs on ya cars!

End of the day I can see how some advisors can come across as rude and abrupt! Think some of the f*ckin knobs they gotta talk to during the day that have no idea and shoot their gobs off. People drop off their cars thinking their ferrari's! End of the day they just glorified taxi's! I know it aint no excuse for some of the comments people get back off advisors but there two sides to every story! Comes back to good advisor and some bad ones! I have seen some brillaint advisors with mechanical back ground and I have also seen some who are jsut people there to look good and talk to the customers

I can see how we all want the best for our ride! Some people with their cars just go to far!! Like not wanting a mechanic to test driving a car for a service! People forget it's part of the service and how it is done! Meant to warm the car up to change oil and drive once all changed cause if the service is done right the wheels come off so on and so forth! I can see some of the guys have had bad experiences with people driving their cars! I know that techs shouldn't change your settings around in your car so on so fourth but end of the day they have to see to go for a test drive!

End of the day in what im saying in this post is that there both side to all story's. Not all places are bad and not all are good! We all got to be weary of where our rides go and who does what to them! If ya find someone good then stick to them!

Looks as though many here have a sour taste in their mouth by ford service! Which is understandable! As my psot above reads im on the fence cause there is good and bad in all!

My 2 cents!

[tab]

!

[senna_T]

that is an exclamation!

[mickq]

I found them to be terrible in my first 2 experiences.

1) Pick up new black T there: there were numerous small scratches and scuffs on it, which they had painted over with a plain black permament texta. You could see the telltale purple tinge from it in the right light. Not a paint pen or proper method - black marker. Nice one guys - my first new Ford and that's what I found.

2) Took it for a service there. They got about 1/4 of the things done they should have, claiming they ran out of time - meaning subsequent visits were needed to get what they should easily have got done in a day. They also told a mistruth (I am being nice...) on one thing which was annoying.

A couple of things I think I worked out:

a) they, like very few ford service centres, are actually owned by Ford. I get the feeling they have big incentives to keep warrantee claims low (hence they deny things frequently) and get massive throughput. Anyone able to confirm that Ford own them?

b) Ask them about the volume of cars they service in a day, and it will become obvious why they quickly and poorly service some cars - its all about turnover and throughput. The volumes are incredible. Its a mass production line. Rough attempt to work on each car, then go park it and hear comes another. No pro-active things or decent time looking into issues. Easier to report "no problem found".

Unlike normal dealers, it appears they dont need to worry about reputation as much. A captive audience with people working in the city, and company owned as well. As a result from my 2 experiences I personally found they cut corners, treat your car like a number, and just dont cut it compared to other service centres.

I have had great luck with Strapp Ford in Kew (moved somewhere else now I believe, or only have their other dealership). Fantastic people, awesome customer service, few mistakes, and in general take the time to get it right.

[Broaders77]

A question for anyone in the Ford service industry:

I had a full inspection done on an '05 xr6t I bought a couple of weeks ago. Two of the points that came up were a) The rear diff had been replaced (mostr likely by Ford) but the balancing weights hadn't been put back on meaning the tailshaft is spinning unevenly and b) the front suspension was very noisy.

The inspector said Ford should cover both of these issues under warranty (expires Nov this year)

What arguments am I likely to get from Ford and which is the best service centre to go to? The cars an ex-chaser so will this come up? Any tips on how to get this done quickly and smoothly?

cheers.