Ford

[kevrapley]

I took my Ford Fiesta into Ford for a 70,000 mile service on the 22/03/2006 which also involved a repair to the thermostat which had developed a leak just days before. The car had been in my possession at the time for around 9 months and had done 10,000 miles since I had bought it so needed an oil change and the service.

I thought I would take it into Ford for the good of the car and the service history. I was charged in total £414.14

It is now 06/06/2006, and the car has developed a problem, it is misfiring which means it has fuel deprevation at high revs which causes the car to judder when the acelerator is compressed.

I have taken it into a local garage this morning and they have informed me that the spark plugs are not in good shape, one in particular is completely rusted and has been for some time. Coils may also need to be replaced but a full investigation will take place tomorrow as well as a repair. The job at most will cost in the region of £200.

Now I am no car expert, but I would've thought that Ford during a 70,000 mile service of the vehicle might have come across the fact that the spark plugs were looking poorly. I am going to proceed with the repair at the local garage and bring the mechanics report to Ford and ask for my money back for poor workmanship during my 70,000 mile service.

What rights do I have as a consumer and what can I legally claim for in this instance? Can I claim back the costs involved at Ford and the current repair costs? Any help will be greatly appreciated.

[dw190]

First you should check with the spec of the 70,000 mls service for that model.

ie. If the plugs should be changed, cleaned or even checked. Also check the bill which should state the parts you have paid for.

[breadline]

Wish i had caught this thread earlier, there is a government MOT testing station and the link is on the front page of the website, you could of taken it there, sometimes a garage will not go against another garage if you need proof.

This way it would be a full witness situation, and pictures just click away you can never have enough evidence to make a file on later.

As long as there is evidence that the long term damage is there and it comes under a service, a service with out sparks is like a dog with out a tail. If you buy a service pack your self they always come with it no matter what year, But as DW advised check that the main dealers being what they are have not put a clause in to say its a service of brakes and saftey more than car and engine.

hope you are sfae on the road again today
BL

[kevrapley]

Thanks for that breadline, well after reading a few other posts in this section I routed through the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 and got some tips on what to ask the current service garage and got onto them this morning before the repair took place. They have given me the old parts back so I can see the damage and I have written a letter to Ford which I will send tomorrow.

[breadline]

cool well done, go kick arse.

prob is are they your parts????????????

some one put a good hint on here, when they tell you you need a part removed ask to be shown teh part, tell tehm you need to talk to your other halve, then go home and mark it with nail polish.

Let us know how you get on.

BL

[fivelaws]

Without knowing the age, the major service on most modern Fords is 30k miles, at which point you would change the plugs. The standard fit plugs are Titanium, so they don't need to be replaced every 12-months/10,000 miles like what the old ones used to be.

I guess that would be the dealers "get-out-of-jail-free" card, they could have assumed the plugs were changed at the 60,000 mile interim and wouldn't need changing. Bit crap though, if they were really rusty, a visual check would have shown the problem. The problem is, you often get nippers and/or apprentices doing minor oil change services and sadly it comes down to their supervision being good enough.

(Funny how when it's a below minimum wage apprentice doing the work, the hourly rate is the same as a fully qualified tech....)

Anyway, as somebody said above - your invoice should state the parts replaced. If it doesn't say spark plugs, then I'm not sure where you would go from there.

[kevrapley]

Well thanks for the advice, I particularly like the one about marking parts with nail polish! However it is too late for that now. I have written a letter to them and posted it recorded delivery today asking for the money back due to poor workmanship. I doctored a request for repayment of charges letter from the bank library replacing parts like

I would draw your attention to the terms of the contract, which you agreed to at the time that I opened my account. It is an implied term of that contract that you would conduct yourselves lawfully and in a manner, which complies with UK law.

with...

I would draw your attention to the terms of the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982. It is an implied term of the contract that you would conduct yourselves ‘With reasonable care and skill (the standard of skill of an average garage)’ and any goods fitted during the work are covered by the Sale of Goods Act as well, which says they must be ‘of satisfactory quality’.

It will be interesting to see what there comeback will be.

[installspark]

According to the Ford ETIS page on a 62500/5year service the plugs aren't due to be changed.

To find out the exact service items for your variant/year look here

[kevrapley]

And at 75,000 miles it says to replace. The invoice claims to be a 70,000 mile service, and I believe the vehicle was slightly over this so much closer to 75,000 than 62,500. The point is the spark plugs were visibly in a poor condition and nothing was done about it.

Thanks for this area on the Ford website, very useful.

[kevrapley]

I received a reply from Ford today, I haven't seen the letter myself but my other half gave me the gist. Basically they are saying that they check plugs at 60,000 and 90,000 but not at 70,000 and take no responsibility for the fact that the spark plugs and coils were damaged.

This goes against what they state on their website posted by installspark previously so I will be following up with a further letter detailing these. The letter will be a "Letter Before Action" and give them a further 14 days to reflect.

As I have said previously I have the old parts so I will include photos of these too.

I will post the letter from Ford on here later...

[Jorton]

Hi there a little bit late on this one but Ive had the smae problem on my 25k service. Wrote to FORD and got the same excuse however my service manual clearly states that this is an area the requires regular maintainance.

Did you get a satisfactory response from Ford if not did you refer it to anyone?

[ANDENA]

Originally Posted by Jorton

Hi there a little bit late on this one but Ive had the smae problem on my 25k service. Wrote to FORD and got the same excuse however my service manual clearly states that this is an area the requires regular maintainance.

Did you get a satisfactory response from Ford if not did you refer it to anyone?

my sons ford fiesta 53 dashboard has packed up cant use car as no speed no petrol ect going to cost £311 pounds.ford garage has rung round to see if any ford garages have one but my son said there is back log and got to get it from germany im wondering if anybody got same fault i have heard 3 people so far can anybody advice.