Letter To Ford Uk Md - Read Before You Buy New Galaxy

[hp4020]

Mr. Roelant De Waard

Managing Director

Ford Motor Company UK

Eagle Way

Brentwood

CM13 3BW

 

Dear Sir

 

I collected my new Galaxy 2.0 TDCI Zetec (

[mumof4]

Bloody hell. :wacko: Lost for words here.

 

I think most of us here could dispute Fords mission statement as it is totally misleading.They care not one whit about their customers.

[big_kev]

They care not one whit about their customers.

 

Maz, put your spell checker on that "w" should be an "s".

[mumof4]

Very true ,,, Ford may produce some good looking cars, unfortunately, they dont seem to know how to fix them.

They have crap customer service and i think its about time they were held accountable for all the unhappy customers that buy their cars and go to them for help when things go wrong. specially when you have a car in a ford garage and they just replace part after part after part trying to figure out what is wrong which can cost hundreds if not more to the owner of the vehicle if the warranty has run out/does not cover the problem.

Most of us have experienced the inadequacies of a Ford garage/their customer service and general fobbing off.

WE ourselves on here have identified common faults on the Galaxy, but do Ford aknowledge them as common faults?we are the ones who bear the brunt of these common faults cost wise.

Most of us have an MPV because of family reasons, owning a Galaxy should be a joy and it can be..but when a new owner buys one and is confronted with a huge pile of crap in the way of faults...then comes to us......says a lot for the monkey outfit called ford doesnt it.

 

 

Their mission statement is wrong..so very wrong.

[gregers]

good letter,i know youve had a solicitors letter but how about reporting them to the trade and standards letting them know about your problems also might be worth emailing watchdog so they can do an expose on ford in general.

 

if i had spent nearly 19000 on a car id be crying,having to put up with that bag of bolts.

[fosterman]

May I compliment you on such a well worded letter, as after spending that kind of hard earned money I would have probably reverted to insults by now.

 

I was almost at the point of praising my local dealer in Wigan who charged me very little for keeping my vehicle for a week, however, the end result, and at this point I have to agree with Maz (though not reluctantly) that the end result was much better performance as the timing/cam belt was not fitted correctly, however, the original problem was overheating - and this is still not resolved.

 

Would like to thank 'Seatkid', as I think his diagnosis/prognosis is probably correct i.e. head gasket/warped head.

 

On a serious note, please keep us informed on subject as I really hope you receive satisfaction on this matter ( or you get your money back and look elsewhere, Mitsubishi Grandis perhaps) :D

[mumble_bee]

I think it would be better if you had listed the problems you had with the dealership seperately to the manufacture of the car.

 

Altho I'm expecting a Galaxy MkIII in the next couple of weeks as my company car, so I'm pretty worred.. especially that trim coming of the A pillar on the motorway....

[big wheel]

May I also say, that is a cracking letter to Fords. If it ever makes it to the boss,I doubt it.

Some little middle manager will intercept it and send it back to service department again. I would send a copy to Watchdog and trading standards and tell

them you are doing so, that might put the wind up their exhaust pipe.

 

I have had my Galaxy for two years and for the last nine months they have been trying to cure an oil leak. They have replaced all sorts of gaskets,including

the rocker cover gasket. So when it went in again last week for the oil leak,what did they find this time,the dick who replaced the rocker gasket left the breather

pipe off. Also the boot was covered in 15 paper floor mats,when I asked what they were doing there,they said,to put the parts on so we don't loose them.

 

Now this is a main Ford dealer and they can't repair an oil leak first time and return the car in a clean condition.

 

One final point,when you spend 20+ thousand on a 7 seater car and it is in the garage for 4 days,why do they give you a hairdressers car (Ka) and you have to pay to insure it,while your car is off the road.

 

Come on Frauds,get your act together. Free proper size replacement car and free insurance,while your approved mechanics practice on my car.

 

Wake up to the fact that from the land of the rising Sun,they give 5 years parts and labour,because they know they make good cars and believe in their product.

[hp4020]

Thanks for your support. The above is a copy of the letter sent to Customer Services, their copy icludes a line to say that a copy has been sent to Mr De Waard. I am under no illusion that the letter will not get to him, but I do believe that it will enter the chain higher up and a senior customer relations manager will get leant on.

 

A seperate letter has gone to the supplying dealer indicating that a line has been drawn in the sand and any other issues after the replacement of trim / repair of passenger window will result in the rejection of the car.

 

A letter has gone to the Group service manager of the delership, that sent me back on the road with invalidated insurance.

 

I would like to take the time to praise the Jennings group, who even though they did not supply the car have stuck by me, even offering to work late on a Friday night to get me back on the road to get to the airport the following day.

[gregers]

also might be worth considering is contacting auto express they seem to love investigating this sort of thing,if your an avid reader of it you will see what i mean.

[fosterman]

Re contacting Auto Express, why not try Autocar and even Top Gear, feel fairly certain 'Jezza', 'Hamster' & co would relish the idea of making an example of Ford. It may be light hearted - even tongue in cheek, however, if they do the job properly you just might get a positive result.

 

Seriously, though, wishing you the best of luck 'cos I really would 'be spitting flames' by now.

[Grumpy]

The best result I ever had with a car problem came after contacting www.honestjohn.co.uk as well as the website, he has a letter section in the Saturday Telegraph. After writing to him about a problem I was having with Warranty Direct, he immediatly got involved and the problem was soon sorted and my auto box was fixed under warranty.

[hp4020]

Thanks for the suggestions, its only fair to give Ford the opportunity to deal with things before I escalate issues. I agree honest Johns is a good site, and I have read his articles a few times.

[tim-spam]

If I were you, I would also give them a deadline by which they should have fixed all of the problems to your total satisfaction. Should they fail to meet the deadline, you should inform them that you will reject the car as not being of merchantable quality - that should focus their minds a little. In the meantime, you should insist on a loan vehicle of the same type and specification, or better.

 

Good letter, by the way. Good luck.

[hp4020]

Sorry for the delay in updating.

 

As far as the vehicle goes, it has been defect free now for 2800 miles, no re re occurrence of the ABS faults. No more trim falling off, still pulls left on braking. I am waiting to see tyre wear pattern before that goes to the dealer. I actually like the car, thoughts of rejecting have faded. Wife and kids love vehicle

 

However I am still out of pocket to the tune of around

[hp4020]

Had an offer of 2 years free servicing from Ford exec office today. If I receive written confirmation proceedings will de dropped.

[raymac]

Had an offer of 2 years free servicing from Ford exec office today. If I receive written confirmation proceedings will de dropped.

Hope that includes the

[Saif Rehman]

Had an offer of 2 years free servicing from Ford exec office today. If I receive written confirmation proceedings will de dropped.

 

IMHO, i don't think this offer is a fair one considering what you been through after spending so much money on a brand new car.

OK, so how much will it cost Ford to give you 2 years free servicing?? I think in the region of about

[tim-spam]

As far as the vehicle goes, it has been defect free now for 2800 miles .... still pulls left on braking.

So, not really defect free then. In fact, brakes pulling to one side is not very safe either - if it was 3 years old, it would fail an MOT for that.

[jkspoff]

One way to get results is to 'repeat send' the original letter on a weekly basis until you receive a reply, I know of a case where the consumer sent the same letter for 26 weeks to several different recipients until he got a result, and it actually worked ! On each occasion it was signed for.

Unfortunately just like any other 'newly designed' vehicles, they have post development issues for many months, the 'guinee pigs' are us, the unfortunate consumers.

[ianbriscombe]

I too have had problems with Ford. In Oct06 we bought a new 2.0 tdci Galaxy Ghia. The very next day the battery was flat, AA got it going so thought nothing of it. Went to Blackpool for the day, had a little picnic with the family making use of the nice little trays provided on the rear of the front seats. 20 mins later the battery warning light (Low Battery) followed by Alarm System Service Req than all the dash started clicking and flashing! AA Again came to get it started. Took the car to the garage... No fault found. This happened several times. After many a complaint with Ford CRC we were given a like for like loan car. The garage had our car for just over a week, we were due to go off to Centre Parcs for the week and the garage were desperate for us not to take there loan car. We set off in our own useless un-reliable Galaxy. By the end of the week at Centre Parcs the car had been in the car park, the battery had again gone flat and opened all of the windows, The car inside was drenched and full of pine needles. Our 6 month old baby

[cts1975]

When ever you buy ANYTHING new - pay a min of