Robsters

So my experience with this dealer is terrible. I was going to go for a 2 year old ford fiesta, I asked them if there was anything they could do with the 10.9% interest rate i told them i saw better interest rates at other dealers and was there really nothing they could do with this?

they came back with saying they could do nothing but add in either paint protection or 1 year extra warranty bringing the total to 2 year warranty. They promised on the day that i saw the car that they would bring it to the branch nearer to where i lived as they all work as a group (baron group.....baron mafia??). however on the day they said it getting to late in the day to bring it and if we can we do another day? i said it would be hard as i was working the next 5 days....i offered to pick it up the following week on my next day off.....however they insisted it had to be picked up before the end of the month or the deal was off......Big arguement down the phone.

At this point i was deciding if this car was even worth it? so by friday afternoon 31st August the sales guy rang me and asked are you still collecting the car? (i still had £100 holding deposit on the car) i said well it's been difficult cause i been working all day. He then said if i came first thing on Saturday morning (1st sep) he honor the same deal with the 2 year warranty....so sat morning after a lot of thought we went for it, after all i needed a new car the 2001 fiesta 17 years old and going into another winter with another MOT is not ideal with a young family. jumped in a taxi down to there branch (as they insisted the paper work had to be done there)...I get there...no one comes to greet me and there all sitting at there desks....no hello nothing, i find the sales guy at his desk and i sit down and he starts going through all the paper work, he then says so the car comes with 11 months remaining warranty saying it like a automated robot....i said hang on hang on i came down here in a taxi this morning on the promise it was the deal we discussed with the 2 years warranty which was a thin offer as it was, (I forgot to mention i was signing up on a PCP deal 174 a month extra £8 per month for gap insurance on top, with no deposit over 4 years then a balloon payment of £3300) he then denied all knowledge of the deal we discussed like it never happened he then shouted at me saying YOU CAN CHECK OUR PHONE LOGS AND EMAILS I NEVER PROMISED THIS. (later on i found the email at home that did promise this) i walked out there office but on way out there manager Jason started telling me to never come back and waste there time, this then sparked a big argument... i said waste your time??! i wasted £65 in taxi to get there and back and they were supposed to bring the car to branch nearer to me as well!

Outside it got more heated telling me to get off there premises etc or they ring the police (which i said i welcomed as i wanted to ring the police myself but i had to get to work that day and did not have time) the taxi guy showed up and he saw the aggressive exchange between 7 of them and 1 of me, sticking fingers up at me etc. I am now looking into what to do to expose them....stupid me i did not think to film them but at the time i felt threatened. i tried to ring the police on 101 but can never get through and wonder what good the police will do anyway....

so angry at the situation but also i feel i had a major near miss with possibly a car over priced and likely had things wrong with it, looking at google reviews more closely after the event i see there are many problems with there cars and people waiting over a month for repairs. this was the THINK FORD Farnborough branch, bunch of thugs who work in there.

cossynut2

Sounds like a nightmare!! Whatever happened to dealing with customers in a proper manner!! They thought they were doing you a favour by the sound of it!! Sadly lacking in customer relations and I think you are well out of it.
I am sure you will find another car for sale elsewhere where you will be treated with respect. Sometimes a smaller independent garage is a better choice.

Robsters

its put me off ford i am sorry to say, given my fiesta 01 was designed and also known as a mazda 121 back in the day it makes me wonder if this is the reason for its longevity looking at japanses cars now....we had a great experience at the toyota garage last year (gave my wife and son box of chocolates to eat) leaning heavily towards a yaris now...my plan is to write a letter to there directors and ford HQ to complain about this dealer. def done me a favour glad i did not take there shit car

steppy

If your really serious about buying a car try your local Arnold clarkes, the lady next door got a 1.0 ecoboost fiesta from them and is over the moon, we had a can't be arsed attitude from a main dealer I won't name when trying to buy a dacia stepway as a surprise for the mrs mum as it was her 50th in a couple of weeks and she really liked them, so spoke to Arnold Clark because of my neighbours reccomendation, we saw one on the website that looked good, we spoke on the phone initially didn't even go down, the sales guy told us he wouldn't be happy selling us that one because in his opinion the mileage was high when he can see there's one at another branch in scotland with one the same age with 14k which was only x amount more but can offer it it for the same price as the higher mileage one which was a great price anyway, he sent us the link over to it to prove what he was saying about the car, went down to see it 2 days later and drove it, bought it on the spot no iffs or buts, they valeted it then i took it away which gave me plenty of time to get it looking perfect for her, the salesman even took the time to email (sent to us but we showed her) wishing the mrs mum happy birthday on the day as we told him what we were doing , I couldn't have asked for a better experience

Robsters

nice yeah that what put me off we went to see this ford and little to no sales or customer service felt like ahh nice easy targets he got old banger he sign up to anything kind of attitude and that what basically pissed me off, when i asked what they could do for me it was a shrug the shoulders and like sorry i cant do anything, when did offer something they didnt even want to give it lmao! so crazy, i am keen on yaris as they come with 5yrs warranty which is great and heard there 2nd most reliable car behind the honda jazz

St3V3_C

Perhaps you'll learn to listen now, when people give you advice...

RichieST

iTrader: (2)

Shit man I suggested you go Japanese in your previous previous previous post about getting up to your eyeballs in debt for a fiesta.

How come you are still trying to go ahead with this, when it is clear that you can't afford it. No disrespect to you but I am sure there are 2 sides to this story, it sounds as if whatever happened at the dealers could well have been a blessing in disguise for you.

STeve

iTrader: (11)

Buddy I deal with a lot of dealers and as they are simply franchised groups these day's most offering more than one brand of car too which waters down the ford brand totally with the likes of hartwell ford and evans who now sell many other brands, some dealerships are decent and offer better % rates too so not all ford dealerships are the same, I have dealt with think ford at another branch and found them equally shocking as I was brought along to help someone conclude their purchase which went sour and I got their deposit back, report the dealer to trading standards and kick up a fuss on their web/fb page as well as google reviews, and maybe now just settle for the older car as advised or pick another dealer with good reviews I am happy to assist as I know most dealers and have contacts in berks/herts,essex & middx area

nick46

This exactly!

Robsters

advise on pcp deals and i respected the advise and yes it has opened my eyes but no one predicted or warned me dealers can be aggressive, as for two sides to the story my side is on the first post, as i was saying to my friends and family i wish i had it video recorded because it was that shocking and wish people could see how they started being aggressive to me.

Robsters

def a blessing in disguise

Adder

Robsters

worst part is they replied to my google review and lied saying i was abusive, threatening to damage there cars :/ should i go to the police at this point? really uncomfortable at the level of lying, because google review doesnt let you reply my wife said she be writing a review and replying to it.....only witness i have is the taxi company who will at least witness what they saw when they picked me up and gave me his name and contact but this is also very thin as he wasnt there the whole time

fuzzy

theres 3 sides to a story, your version, their version and then the truth which is usually somewhere in between .
the police will do nothing, its 7 v 1. let it go and move on.i wouldn't have even got as far as visiting in the first place.

Robsters

3 versions, great lol, no there one version that is mine because its 100% the truth of what took place that was the mistake bothering to go pick the car up i agree on that. looking at older cars around 4-5k mark either bank loan or save

fuzzy

I don't know what your credit ratings like but a bank loan is about 3.2% interest so a 15000 loan costs about 1200 in interest charges paying 16200 back in total @ £270 a month over 5 years. that's got to be a better option than hire/contract purchase agreements..

Robsters

yeah i be looking at eiher a loan or saving for the next car now :/ mine gives up before then i just pick up a cheap runabout, main issue got me into this mess is the wife being on my back to get a newer family car she just overly negative about 2nd hand but she has changed her tune to me looking at 3-5yr old cars now since that dealership experience, main thing gets me so angry is stress put my wife through the way that dealer treated us, if just me id prob never gone there in the first place, its very odd for them to get so angry for asking for a deal :/ surely must be used to that being in the business there in. guy went nuts at my wife down the phone as she rang there manager having a go (she normally quite reserved type shy with phones) so to see her having a go at them down the phone shows how far they pushed the limit but she said to them down the phone we wanted the car just wanted a 2yr warranty they promised on it and he went nuts saying he pissed off at me for pushing a deal :/ in scheme of things i didnt even push that much as i only asked once by email what they could do for me and they only offered extra warranty, think wanted to sell the car to someone else as i never saw it go back online and wanted to do anything to piss me off and get rid of me, at the end of the day made it impossible for me to pick up and canceled the day susposed to deliver it as well, anyway indirectly prob done me a massive favour so some irony there in a way.

smiley

Nothing wrong with second hands mate just go for lowest miles you can with a fsh and mot check it see what faults it's had

cossynut2

You just have to keep looking on E-Bay, Autotrader or Gumtree as bargains do come up. As I have said already my Wife has had her 2003 Renault Clio 1.3 for a couple of years now, it had one elderly lady owner from new with a genuine 12k miles and full main dealer service history. She had it serviced once a year regardless of how few miles it had done and it drove like a new car. OK its not modern but has air-con and its only just done over 20k miles now.My Wife uses it to get to work and it has been very reliable. Cost just over £2k so not a lot of money.

Robsters

yeah thats the plan now get her to learn just get another car later and pray mine gets thru another MOT. i sent a complaint to ford hq, see what they do....nothing knowing them depends how much they care about there brand i guess

Robsters

trading standards are informed but citizens advise werent that helpful said i want to get my £65 taxi fare but sounds like just be a nightmare to ever get this back

RichieST

iTrader: (2)

What do you want trading standards to do?

fuzzy

youll get nothing back and trading standards will do nothing. just let it go. it was just a heated exchange.learn from it and move on.

Glenn_

iTrader: (1)

Me and the Mrs bought a car off Evans halshaw and they were spot on with us.

Robsters

yeah i doubt they will do much, can only hope get so much negative feedback going to be tough business from them def have a lot of neg feedback already and my latest review knocked them down from 3.7 on google to 3.5 on autotrader there already at 2.5 stars so clearly bad dealer, def take more notice of reviews from now on! we holding off until next year now but i noticed Hyhundai doing some fab deals but don't know much about the cars are they any good? a friend of mine said there very cheap feeling inside and doesnt like them

cossynut2

Nothing wrong with Hyundai cars, they are well built and reliable, loads of taxi drivers use them and they cannot afford to have unreliable vehicles.

RichieST

iTrader: (2)

My wife had an i20 diesel, 4 years old. It smoked like a bastard when you floored it, tail light loom was dodgy and kept loosing it's earth, heater matrix blocked so was replaced under warranty, that lasted 2 weeks until it leaked so had to be replaced again, it squeaked, it rattled but it did have 120k on the clock.

To be fair though it had 4 electric windows, power fold mirrors and the most freezing cold air con I have ever experienced.

But in a nutshell, no don't get a Hyundai. They are shit.

visa_broke

Some Hyundai's are good, we have a elantra 2014 that's just clocked up 87k from when we bought it. All its needed in that time is discs/pads, tyres and the usual service. Been really good tbh, great on fuel and I'd quite happily drive it anywhere without worrying if it will break down.

cossynut2

You did have some problems with yours but you can't condem every Hyundai because of it. I had a elentra estate for years which was very reliable and as I said they are a favourite with taxi drivers who must have trouble free cars.

Robsters

120k bound to get issues my ford fiesta on 116k i had to have heating matrix replaced last yr in that and manafold due to a crack and leaking coolant :/ my mechanic says he doesnt understand how my car still goes HAHA but yeah im sure most cars by 120k unless a bmw or merc prob going to have lot of things broken

on a side note Ford HQ got back to me but sadly nothing they can do as they said dealer is a franchise basically a separate company even though they carry the ford badge seems odd dealers are franchised off from the main manufacturer :/ surely the dealer shit it cant be good for the ford people either

fuzzy

my missus has hyundais, don't know which one it is she has just now as she just traded up but the last one was smaller cheap and rattly but at 6 years old they still honoured the 7 year guarantee without any fuss when a front spring broke.

st220kyle

Just keep your fiesta, i love my 2001 fiesta, 145,000 on the clock now

luke19790_3

STeve

iTrader: (11)

In my reply to you further up the page I pointed out they are a franchise group, however ford do not like to hear their brand getting bad mouthed as point of sale so do hold a little black book on franchises that's why I advised letting trading standards know and google reviews etc, although it may not help you as your issue is concrete proof, but it will help others.

Twins

iTrader: (18)

I got my 66 plate Mondeo from Think Ford but i used the Wokingham branch and have to say the used sales man was really helpful.Ford direct car with 2 years warranty and free servicing, sounds like you was unlucky and visited the wrong part of this franchise?

RichieST

iTrader: (2)

You should buy a mk4 Mondeo. I've mentioned it before but a bloke at work has the 2.0tdci auto, over 260,000 miles and has never gone wrong. Not even a single advisory on any mot. He religiously keeps up with oil and filter changes every 6000 miles and looks after it well.

R4N SS

iTrader: (6)

Funnily enough my work mate just bought a car from there - i had to help with the deal and negotiations as he is still learning and foreign. Didnt have many issues with them and they even fixed a few minor issues the car had. Their timings are shit though and we are still waiting for a full tank of fuel as promised by them - but i suspect I will be the mug that has to drive the car down there