How much of this is going on..?
A Ford car under warranty, low mileage, full service history etc, engine light on, took it to a Ford Dealer who said before any warranty claim the head had to be removed to investigate at a cost to me of €600+ to investigate, Ford would not cover this, I was locked in, go ahead says I but can you get a camera down there before you spend my money removing the head ? ( which you can ), I was told we're not going that way.
Days later I was told there was no chance of warranty as ' a foreign object in the engine took a chunk off a valve ', Bill to me to fix now €1450+.
I called in the next morning armed with research, I was shown the car and spoken to like I was an idiot, that stopped when I started taking pictures of the damaged valve. The rest of the engine was perfect, I took more pictures of the engine and Pistons, I then said there would be an engineer calling to verify their diagnosis as to me this was a burnt valve and nothing to do with the driver, I told them not to touch the car or move any parts as I had pictures taken and everything should be in the same position when we returned. I told them the firm were charging me €500 plus vat for the report which they would have to pay if there were issues following the independent inspection.
3 hours passed, they phoned me and said Ford had refused the warranty claim that morning but they got a goodwill payment to cover the job in full, happy days ...except I'm not clueless.
I got the car back a week later and then complained direct to Ford who confirmed in writing the day they got the call, this was the day I was in for my own inspection and that it was a warranty claim NOT goodwill as I was told.
The garage should have called Ford a full five days earlier when the engine was stripped.
In my view this was an attempt at deception, I understand this is a criminal offence with up to 5 years jail if convicted, they tried to get me to pay €1500 for a repair that was in fact fully covered under warranty. They did so without going to Ford with the true assessment of the damage, when they had no choice and went to Ford with the true cause of the damage it was honoured immediately by Ford warranty.
There are more fibs but this is the core whopper.
What can I do as I expect this Ford garage and the two individuals I interacted with are taking advantage of people whenever possible.
I have gone to Ford and they are saying its between me and the garage, I invited the dealer principal to call me, that was a week ago, no call received, this appears systemic in this main dealer, it is a top down issue.
I will be bringing it to one of the consumer champions who appears on tv and print and would encourage everyone in a similar situation to get expert advice, school yourself and get an engineer to confirm what you are being told if you think it is a warranty claim, believe nobody.
I may speak formally with the Guards, the attempt at deception is an offence, it does not have to be successful, I'm not sure where that will end up as the garage guys may simply say it never happened but good to get it on the record as they also service the Garda vehicles.
I'm determined to get the truth laid bare and would be interested in any constructive feedback, similar experiences or suggestions for next steps, Ford themselves are washing their hands of it at this point.
A Ford car under warranty, low mileage, full service history etc, engine light on, took it to a Ford Dealer who said before any warranty claim the head had to be removed to investigate at a cost to me of €600+ to investigate, Ford would not cover this, I was locked in, go ahead says I but can you get a camera down there before you spend my money removing the head ? ( which you can ), I was told we're not going that way.
Days later I was told there was no chance of warranty as ' a foreign object in the engine took a chunk off a valve ', Bill to me to fix now €1450+.
I called in the next morning armed with research, I was shown the car and spoken to like I was an idiot, that stopped when I started taking pictures of the damaged valve. The rest of the engine was perfect, I took more pictures of the engine and Pistons, I then said there would be an engineer calling to verify their diagnosis as to me this was a burnt valve and nothing to do with the driver, I told them not to touch the car or move any parts as I had pictures taken and everything should be in the same position when we returned. I told them the firm were charging me €500 plus vat for the report which they would have to pay if there were issues following the independent inspection.
3 hours passed, they phoned me and said Ford had refused the warranty claim that morning but they got a goodwill payment to cover the job in full, happy days ...except I'm not clueless.
I got the car back a week later and then complained direct to Ford who confirmed in writing the day they got the call, this was the day I was in for my own inspection and that it was a warranty claim NOT goodwill as I was told.
The garage should have called Ford a full five days earlier when the engine was stripped.
In my view this was an attempt at deception, I understand this is a criminal offence with up to 5 years jail if convicted, they tried to get me to pay €1500 for a repair that was in fact fully covered under warranty. They did so without going to Ford with the true assessment of the damage, when they had no choice and went to Ford with the true cause of the damage it was honoured immediately by Ford warranty.
There are more fibs but this is the core whopper.
What can I do as I expect this Ford garage and the two individuals I interacted with are taking advantage of people whenever possible.
I have gone to Ford and they are saying its between me and the garage, I invited the dealer principal to call me, that was a week ago, no call received, this appears systemic in this main dealer, it is a top down issue.
I will be bringing it to one of the consumer champions who appears on tv and print and would encourage everyone in a similar situation to get expert advice, school yourself and get an engineer to confirm what you are being told if you think it is a warranty claim, believe nobody.
I may speak formally with the Guards, the attempt at deception is an offence, it does not have to be successful, I'm not sure where that will end up as the garage guys may simply say it never happened but good to get it on the record as they also service the Garda vehicles.
I'm determined to get the truth laid bare and would be interested in any constructive feedback, similar experiences or suggestions for next steps, Ford themselves are washing their hands of it at this point.
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