Anyone Had Problems With Ford/rac Assistance?

[Guest darrylf]

Hello everyone!

 

I have to get this off my chest... I have just taken delivery of a new 1.9TDi 115ps Auto ghia Galaxy from EMG Ford Cambridge. The garage has been great but I have some bad news to report! 5 days after taking delivery the on-board computer display failed and the engage gear shift warning light came on the dash! Being an automatic I was quite worried as the warning lamp indicated an auto transmission problem (according to the dealer). I called the garage who advised me to ring the RAC which is provided by ford to assist owners in such circumstances. I did this at 9:45am and was told by the RAC that someone should be with me within 2 hours, given that I was close to my office this seemed okay! When I called the RAC I told them that I would need a replacement vehicle to be provided if the RAC guy was unable to fix it (this is in the Galaxy service book and tells you that a vehicle will be provided under such circumastances) At 10.30 I got a call from the RAC guy that had taken the callout and he told me that he would be with me in approx 15 mins! 20 minutes later a garage recovery vehicle turned up at my office and told me that the RAC had arranged for him to take my vehicle to the nearest Ford garage. Seems okay so far doesn't it? I told the guy that I needed a loan vehicle and showed him the info in the Ford guide and his reply was "I don't know anything about a loan car, you need to phone the garage" I called the RAC back and they told me that they would organise a hire car that would be with me within 2 to 3 hours maximum! At 2pm (the latest time that they said a car would be delivered to me) no car had arrived so I called the RAC again. They told me that they were very busy and the car would now not arrive until 5pm latest! Now, I am a patient guy but the situation had become beyond a joke and I told them that 5pm was not okay and I needed something urgently! At no time did the RAC call me back to check to tell me that the vehicle would be late! At this point I called the Ford assistance centre in Glasgow (the number on the back of the RAC assist card) they told me that there was nothing that they could do to help and I would have to deal with the RAC to sort it out! Now I could be wrong but I thought the Galaxy was manufactured by Ford? I dont see an RAC badge on the vehicle just Ford!! I called EMG in Cambridge and they delivered a mondeo to me within 15 minutes! The garage now can't find the fault and my Galaxy has been returned (now 7 days old) I complained to a manager at the RAC and she told me that they had fulfilled their obligation to me because they located a vehicle for me though I don't believe that it would have been delivered to me by 5pm and they had let me down throughout the day and failed to keep me informed about what was happening. The RAC don't want to know.. I called the Ford customer number again in Glasgow and they told me once again that the RAC were to blaim and they could do nothing.... Now tell me what you think please and share your experiences with me if anything like this has happened to you. I will be making conatact with the BBC and sharing my experience with the BBC. I did not join the RAC by choice the cover was arranged by Ford an so the RAC's obligation is only to Ford, something the RAC manager told me!! Ford didn't want to know...... Why will I not be rushing out to buy another Ford after this? I am a company Director and we run a number of cars and vans. I will now ensure that when replacements are needed Ford vehicles are not on the list. Sorry is a very small word that isn't that difficult to say but neither Ford or the RAC want to say it.... What a costly mistake on there part!!

[Ivor_E_Tower]

Unfortunately it would seem that most, if not all, car manufacturers are just not interested in one individual customer's problems. When I bought a new Renault Scenic 5 years ago, I was phoned by the dealership the day before I should have taken delivery to say that it was the subject of a recall from Renault, and they had been advised by Renault UK that I was not allowed to collect the car or drive it. Replacement parts were not available for several weeks. I was due to go on holiday in the car 3 days after collecting it - I went in my parent's car as Renault would not provide a replacement vehicle even from their Press fleet. The supplying dealership had no loan cars to lend me, but on return from holiday they hired a Mondeo from a rental company for me to use until Renault UK eventually sorted out replacement parts for "my" Scenic nearly 2 weeks later. I was impressed by the dealership's service but doubt that I will buy a new Renault again.

As to breakdowns - a few years ago (about 6 or 7) I had Britannia rescue cover with replacement vehicle to be provided if my own could not be repaired same day. I had a breakdown on a Saturday morning which required parts that could not be obtained until the Monday. The car was recovered to my home with the instruction to phone on Monday morning to arrange further recovery to garage of my choice. When phoning to get my free hire car, I was told that as it was Saturday and after 12:00 noon, it was impossible to get one delivered, but if I could get to the hire car office at Heathrow airport then I could collect one myself! As this was a 40 minute journey from home I decided against it. When my renewal with Britannia came up, I changed to RAC as I was not satisfied with the way that my complaint was dealt with (or the service I had received).

As to the breakdown - I bought the required replacement parts (an alternator and new poly-Vee-belt) from a motor factors on the Sunday and fitted it myself.

[LOZ]

While on Holiday I was silly enough to use my power points too much and flattened my battery. No one in the camp site office had any jump leads!! Anyway no problem phone RAC.

 

Except I couldn't even get through!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Luckily the guy next to our tent had some and gave me a jump start!

[Deadly DD]

I have a Galaxy 2.3 Ghia 1998 which has done 25k. It can easily do over 110mph (of course I did this on a racetrack!) and I am very happy with it. Imagine my horror when I heard a wheezing noise and I lost all power, on a long trip. I was on the A23 heading towards Brighton and I coasted to an exit for Haywards Heath. With my family onboard I called the RAC. They arrived within 30 minutes! The RAC man diagnosed that my exhaust was blocked completely, probably the catalytic converter was to blame. He towed the Galaxy into Burgess Hill to a Hy-Q exhaust centre (the first place we came across) and the RAC man explained to them what was occurring.

 

The exhaust centre confirmed it was indeed a bocked catalytic converter and were able to work on it straight away.

 

Now maybe I got lucky, but I was counting my lucky stars that I had RAC membership. He even offered to take my family down to Brighton whilst the work was being done. What more could you ask for? That is what I call service and I will definately renew my membership next year. As for the AA, I feel they are inferior having used them once.

 

I am sorry to hear about bad experiences from other Gal drivers, but I hope I was not just lucky and the RAC is really that good. Bye-the-way has anyone else had a catalytic converter screw up after 25k?