John McGrath Belconnen ACThas to be the worst Ford dealer I have ever dealt with

[Mark^^]

Well John McGrath Belconnen has to be the worst Ford dealer I have ever dealt with.

Firstly I took my Territory in to John McGrath Belconnen on the 16/07/2007 for the following:

• Fix dual zone control as vehicle experiences loss of temperature control on LHS due to an inoperative air mix door shaft.
• Replace surround on T/bar as wrinkled and peeling
• Replace driver door small speaker on A pillar opposite external mirror
• Fix globe out on petrol door knob
• Hand brake service.

I arrive back to be told "Ok sir all your work is finished". Well out of the 5 requests only three were looked at, they:

• Replaced surround on T/bar under warranty
• Fixed the globe out on petrol door knob under warranty
• Carried out a hand brake service for $88

I asked about the What about dual zone control?, I was told there was no malfunction. I had explained on putting the car in that this was an intermittent issue.

I asked about the driver door small speaker opposite external mirror, to be told that "Sir it will cost you over $800 to replace the door trim". I then explained to the staff, for the second time this day the issue was the door small speaker on A pillar opposite external mirror and this cost about $60 to purchase from Ford, after 10 mins with the spares section they decide to order one in for me.

Then driving home, car vibrates like hell and feels like a flat, get out and no flat. I finally get home and there is some burning smell at rear drive wheel and believe they tensioned up the hand brake to tightly. On the drive in the next day the issue was resolved.

Well as the dual zone control continues to fail and this fault is clearly described in a a Ford Technical Service Bulletin and a fix is available I arrange to bring it back in on 10/08/2007. I decide to have an auxiliary transmission cooler fitted and on 08/08/2007 I rang the spares section and was told the cost of $167.00 to buy and about $165.00 (1.5 hours work) to install. So I then rang the service section to request this be added to my work for Friday, the girl tells me she will book it in and order the part and ring back to confirm. As promised about 10 minutes later she rang back to tell me it’s ordered and added to my booking for Friday.

I decide that it will be easier if I take the day off work as last time it cost me $110 in taxi fares to go dealer- work – dealer. I drop the car off at just on 8 am and asked to be rang as soon as work is completed as I was going to just hand around.

This time I requested:

• Fix dual zone control as vehicle experiences loss of temperature control on LHS due to an inoperative air mix door shaft.
• Supply and fit an auxiliary transmission cooler
• Supply and fit driver door small speaker on A pillar opposite external mirror.

Later in the morning I get 2 missed calls from the dealer at 11.55 and 11.56 (was in a movie and phone on silent) and a message left. I rang back at 12.40 and was told car would not be ready till 4 or 4.30. I arrive back just before 4 pm and find that they only replaced small speaker on A pillar. So I was very angry on 3 counts:

• They had the car for a full day to do 30 mins work, even rang me keeping me in town for a whole day just to replace this 1 item.
• The auxiliary transmission cooler was not ordered, not only was it not ordered but the people working on the car during the day did nothing when they realised there was no part. I know the part was available in Mitchell, but no attempt to get it in and fit. It is just a 30 min drive to Mitchell and it was confirmed with me on Wednesday they had them in stock
• They refuse to do anything about the dual zone control, despite being shown the TSB.

There was no excuse given as to why the auxiliary transmission cooler was not ordered, but lots of questioning about who I spoke to and when…trying to shift blame to me. I refused to talk any further to them about this as I was so angry and I do not believe in venting anger at counter staff when they had only a small part of the problem.

So no way am I ever going near this dealer again and under no circumstance would I recommend them to anyone I know.

[djjase]

Thats strange, I have had my XR6 Turbo serviced there for a year and it always come back great with no issues etc.

[olfella]

Originally Posted by djjase

Thats strange, I have had my XR6 Turbo serviced there for a year and it always come back great with no issues etc.

Don't worry djjase, I had my 03 BA serviced there for three years only to have been dissappointed at the 70 and 80 k service (into my extended warranty). Like Mark, I too am very dissappoined in the service and the attitude provided by the current staff. If you wish, I can provide a list of complaints similar to that given by Mark, and I did pursue my complaint through Fair Trading - so ST does know of it. I am now due for my 90k service, but bottom line is, I am never going back!! : and goodbye extended warranty....

[BPXR6T]

Only been to belconnen twice and had good service both times. I've been stuffed around and treated like a fool many times by woden and refuse to go back. I ended up having to take my car to to a non ford mechanic after woden stuffed me around so much on one occassion.

Maybe try the dealer in braddon. I had them fit heaps of herrod stuff to my AU a couple of years back and they were fine.

[olfella]

Originally Posted by FourBarrel

Only been to belconnen twice and had good service both times. I've been stuffed around and treated like a fool many times by woden and refuse to go back. So much so that I ended up taking my car to to a non ford mechanic to get it fixed.

Maybe try the dealer in braddon. I had them fit heaps of herrod stuff to my AU a couple of years back and they were fine.

Sounds good in theory but the truth is that all Ford dealerships in Canberra are owned by the one person. So if they stuff up at two of the dealerships, what makes you think they would be better at the third?
Stick to the one you trust - even if they are non ford they probably know just as much but won't rip you off or stuff you around.

[terra australis]

Just great Mark... I have the little car booked in there tommorrow for the 45k service...should have told me you were going to movies I would have come along...

[Mark^^]

Sue-Ellen, I was not expecting to go to the movies, just had to as they made me hang arround all day to attend to a 30 min job, which they did tell me when I ordered the tweeter they would be happy to do it in the parking lot if I dropped back when it arrived, but they never even rang to tell me it arrived. I forgot to put that into my list of complaints.

[blk_frmnt]

I bought my car used at McGrath Woden, and the air conditioning compressor seized within about 3000km, still under warranty. Can't say they were too friendly or overly helpful, but they replaced it ($1200 apparently) with minimal fuss.

[Mark^^]

There is a service kit containing an air mix shaft and a revised shaft to HIM coupler available to rework the air mix shaft to fix this complaint and it takes between 2 and 3 hours to fix.

[Jastel]

Unfortunately thats pretty much standard Ford Service as far as I can tell

You got 3 out of 5 things fixed, I got 1 out of 6, so don't feel too bad

And Holden, Mitsubishi, Subaru etc are not any better

[Mark^^]

Prior to moving back home to Canberra a little over a year ago the service I was getting for my Territory at Macarthur Ford in Campbelltown was fantastic. For the first three services after I moved to Canberra I was still driving back to Campbelltown to get it serviced. They were the best service people I have ever dealt with. I am not shy in singing the praises of those who are good, but I will not suffer those who are not good very well.

[Jastel]

Good to hear you good service somewhere

Maybe I might get lucky one day

[jaydee]

Ask to speak to the dealer principal, that usually gets something done.

[Mark^^]

My anger of this has lessened, and I am not going to waste the time and money to even make a call to them, but I did send a cut and paste of my initial post to them via their website. Besides even if they tried to resolve this, I want no part in any attempt to sort this out, I am way past this mob.

[JC]

Originally Posted by jaydee

Ask to speak to the dealer principal, that usually gets something done.

I'd follow it up with John McGrath directly - he is a nice bloke and certainly they look after the ACT club members. They are also a forum sponsor, so if you do get the issue sorted, make sure you at least put the good bits in this thread to offset the negative.

[genebaby]

PM sent....

[XTGT Code Z]

Originally Posted by jaydee

Ask to speak to the dealer principal, that usually gets something done.

Not in Victoria mate!!

I had a stand-up arguement with a dealer principal (after the service manager told me that he wasnt interested, as 'my car was my problem'... funny how the car was only there due to continuing warranty issues that are THEIR problem...) over damage to the exhaust system on my wife's car while they stuffed around with it, only to be told that neither they or I could prove who did it (which I told them was absolute rubbish, as I know I would have noticed the bl00dy great hole torn in the muffler that was making all sorts of lovely noises, well before it was dropped off that morning, yet those noises were there now, and they were the ones who had it all day...), so they would only replace it at my cost... :
Ohh, but to be generous, they would do it at parts-only cost price ($640!!!!!!!! I could get a WHOLE NEW SYSTEM for that!!), because after all, they couldn't be out of pocket... but obviously it's ok if I am though... : :

I could go on and on about what and why over many more things on 4 or 5 cars we've bought through various dealers (and yes, there are many more things these b@57@rd5 have done / not done / ignored / stuffed up / charged for and not received / had to be re-done over and over again / you get the idea), but from what I've read on here, and in other places, dealers are all the same.
Low life scum that will bust a gut to sell you a car and get your money, then couldn't care less after that.

IMHO, the day that just 1 dealer realises that if they look after their customers in any way they can, then their business will increase 100 fold, and it will put every other dealer out of business.
and what a fantastic day that will be!!

[Pedro]

All I can say is, welcome to Ford "service".

[Yellow_Festiva]

Nothing seems to change. I lasted 3 "services" at Ford and vowed never to go back. As others have said, you get treated like a fool, given the run around and in the end of the day it's up to you to chase them up (and they know you will as they have your car).

My last experience made me call some sort of Ford head office / complaints number. They said they will only look into the matter if they get the same complaint from a few different people....

I'm more than happy to bypass Ford service for an independant.

[genebaby]

Sadly, at the end of the day most, not all, Ford dealers are only good for warranty work, not normal servicing, and even then the lack of knowledge their staff possess they can stuff that up too and you've got the old run around again.

It's definitely not good enough to need to "know" someone who works their to get treated properly, everyone should get respect.

[Kingsley]

I had a problem with my local Ford dealer and a auto transmission place in the Maitland region a fortnight ago. The car had to have a auto rebuild, so it sat at the transmission place for a week being fixed. From there, it went directly to the local Ford dealer, who phoned me and told me I needed a $3500 head gasket replacement on my ELXR8. Their evidence was what appeared to water and oil mixed on the inside of the oil cap. They also claimed to have removed the plugs, but could not tell me which cylinder was affected. Since I don't have a lazy $3500 laying around, I took the car home. It was running fine and curiosity got the better of me on the drive home. I wiped the oil cap clean and went for a long drive. When I got home the cap was dry. I removed the dipstick, oil was fine, no evidence of water to be seen. I then ran my finger around the inside of the rocker cover, again nothing. I changed the plugs, (which look as though they hadn't been touched), did a compression test, again fine. So with a long trip looming the next day, I also changed the oil. Nothing sinister there. The car then went on a 1200km round trip to Wagga, again no water mixed with the oil anywhere. The car is running fine. What peeved me the most was they hadn't investigated further to see if the problem was what they had diagnosed from the oil cap. No checking of the sump oil, no checking of the inside of the rocker cover, no compression test, just the filler cap. They couldn't even tell me which cylinder was supoposedly affected. While I it now appears the filler cap had been switched at some point by either business, I was disappointed that the Ford dealer only went on the evidence of the oil filler cap. Both places denied swapping the cap, though someone had also swapped the cigarette lighter as now I had a very used one as opposed to the new one that was in it. I can't prove either business did the swap, both claim to be family business' that wouldn't do such a thing. But I am peeved that the Ford dealer was happy to rip the car apart without verifying the problem. As a result, both have permanently lost my business.

[olfella]

Sadly I think we all take our pride and joy to a dealer because we all think it will get some red carpet treatment from Ford trained specialist with all the latest technology and information that goes with a "dealership'. Unfortunatly this is not the case.

[XR Martin]

You don't have feel like you belong to some exclusive club, Canberra Toyota is just as bad if not worse.
My work has 10 Commuter Buses and the older ones (nearing 2yo) are starting to develop rear seats that are collapsing. Toyota claim kids must have been jumping on them. You can quite clearly tell the seats are of poor design and are probably only designed for light weight Japanese bums. An upholsterer looked at and to just fix the design problem it will cost $600-$800 per bus.

Add this to the fact we bought a Diesel Hilux a few months back, yet they managed to put a tray from a petrol one on it. Whats the difference you say? The sticker inside the fuel door. Because the sticker said 'Unleaded fuel only' someone at work did just that and you can only guess the result.

[banarcus]

I'll give Kloster Ford Cessnock a rap. Thumbs up from me and the wife. Good service and no BS when it comes to warranty work. I'm a realistic person and dont suffer fools either and I've found that these guys know what they're doing. No complaints at all.

[irsa76]

Originally Posted by XR6 Martin

You don't have feel like you belong to some exclusive club, Canberra Toyota is just as bad if not worse.
My work has 10 Commuter Buses and the older ones (nearing 2yo) are starting to develop rear seats that are collapsing. Toyota claim kids must have been jumping on them. You can quite clearly tell the seats are of poor design and are probably only designed for light weight Japanese bums. An upholsterer looked at and to just fix the design problem it will cost $600-$800 per bus.

Add this to the fact we bought a Diesel Hilux a few months back, yet they managed to put a tray from a petrol one on it. Whats the difference you say? The sticker inside the fuel door. Because the sticker said 'Unleaded fuel only' someone at work did just that and you can only guess the result.

From what I've heard Toyota dealers are just as bad as Ford and Holden dealers in regards to warranty problems. Funny thing is, I heard a whisper that Janrule, Canberra Toyota, offloaded Gregory's because they were sick of the warranty costs.

[Tiges]

Your best bet would be to talk to the service manager directly, Shaun Traynor first. He's a good bloke and will be willing to discuss with you how to rectify the problems you've had during your service.

[Mark^^]

No thanks twice bitten, never going back. I have better ways to waste my time, by taking a whole day off just for them to do 30 mins work, after ringing me at mid day telling me they needed a whole day to do a 30 min job.

[Mark^^]

Just to prove how nice the staff or ex staff at John McGrath Belconnen are, here is a cut and past for a lovely PM someone who claims to have worked on my car nicely sent me tonight.

Originally Posted by eb005t

http://www.fordforums.com.au/showthread.php?t=112483


if it was only a 20 min job then how come you just didn't do it.!!!

and do you even now what your talking about with your heater problem!!!!
I DO CAUSE I DIAGNOSED THE STUPID THING!!!!
its the dual zone him module that has stuffed up. not the coupler!!!! and its not a 2hour job. you try and pull out and put in a dash in 2 hours im one of the fastest and can do it in about 3.5 hours!!!!! regardless of what you think. but hey whos the mechanic here!?!?!?!

and i remember your car... trufully it sounded like crap. why dont you get some ba mk 2 badges to go with your number plate. it will look sick with your blue coolant hoses!!!! and what you ran out of money to get the other heater core hose.

i hope you enjoy your xr pcm cover and your cai and stay away from people like us.

and now i know why i quit my job a ford....cause i couldn't stand talking to people like you.

Curious to see that the issue with my heater was diagnosed, but not fixed? Great service I see.

As to the issue with the 1 blue heater core hose missing, it was damaged and so a normal Ford one was on it, yet a replacement was sent to me free of charge and in a few days which is typical with good service from phoon who actually works with his clients, unlike this person apparently.

Perhaps us customers are lucky this person no longer works with Fords, as this type of writing must be typical of how customers are treated.

Who ever you are, feel free to contact me, I am a counsellor by occupation and I am always happy to assist you with your anger issues, the cost wont be more than $250 to $750 an hour, but you will have to take the whole day off to see me, for the 35 minute consultation, and when we get to the difficult bit I will have to terminate the session, as after I diagnose your issues, I won’t offer you any of the treatment you paid for.

[FASTXR]

Originally Posted by Mark^^

Who ever you are, feel free to contact me, I am a counsellor by occupation and I am always happy to assist you with your anger issues, the cost wont be more than $250 to $750 an hour, but you will have to take the whole day off to see me, for the 35 minute consultation, and when we get to the difficult bit I will have to terminate the session, as after I diagnose your issues, I won’t offer you any of the treatment you paid for.

ROFL Quote of the year!!!

[Mark^^]

Thank you, you’re welcome to use it, and no royalties will be charged. LOL

For the first time, in all the time I have been on here I finally found a use for the IGNORE button.