Question: When is a piece of standard equipment in a Ford motor car not a piece of standard equipment? Answer: When Ford UK decide it is not despite ALL publications and websites (including independent ones) saying that it is. I recently purchased a Ford Galaxay and ALL the brochures, web sites and independent assessment sites for the car clearly stated that Galaxy came with a tonneau cover as standard. fine you might thnk but when it finally gets delivered there is something missing. The STANDARD tonneau cover. When queried you are told that although it states it is standard equipment it is in actual fact an OPTIONAL EXTRA!!! Ford UK seem not to understand the difference between these two phrases. Even if you take this to director level, Mark Ovenden contact him via email on [email protected], you are still told that the web site and brochures are out of date and has not been standard equipment since early 2010. Despite sending them copies of the website in 2011, 2012 and picking up the 'new 2012 brochures' ALL which state it is standard, Ford UK still insist that it is not. Ford's new slogan - More as Standard.. should really read....... 'More as standard as long as you pay through the nose for the standard equipment which we will class as optional extras even though we clearly state it is standard. Complain and we will ignore you and tell you that you are wrong and did not understand, and we will treat you like the **** of the earth as we have your money now so we dont care..' Not much of a slogan for increasing its customer base I know but at least it would be accurate.

Any Advice I bought a Mercedes C270 estate about 7 months ago for my wife and all seemed fine.. I drove the car again after a week or so and realised that the when you give a little extra on the accelerator it got stuck in 2nd or jumped out, it transpired later that if you turned the car off and strated it again it cleared the fault, however on 3 occasions this didnt happen and we were stuck in 2nd... The car went back and they had it looked at and couldnt find a problem, this happened a few times. Then it stuck in gear and they then believed me so it went to a merc specialist??? They said there was an issue with the cpu and some sensors. They got replaced and it was given back. Problems still there, after lots of arguments they agreed to take it back it went back to the merc specialist this happened a couple of times aswell. Then it went to Mercedes in Gatwick who apparently said the sensors were fitted incorrectly and put some new one in...Problem is still there. It then went to a gearbox specialist who couldnt find the problem allegedly... As you can imagine this had gone one for several months in fact they have had the car for 3 months in total.... I digress. So with me getting the right arse ache we agreed that they would exchange the car. which they didnt their excuse was that they could nt get a similar car for me bearing inmind that they had a contract with a couple of merc garages and took a huge amount of part exchanges. This went on for a few months. J ust to pointout that i am not usually this stupid in letting this go on for so long but there you go! Now they wont even talk to me. I have sent two letters stating the SOGA and rejecting the car as advised and no repsonse. Where do I go from here, the only option is court but how much and is it worth it???

Hi chaps, Bought a car from a local car dealer in January 2011. On the date of the sale the sales man said the car had a full service history and spare key which he would pass on to me when he received it from previous owner (a doctor as he pointed out several times) and I, probably naively, thought nothing of it and said fine as I needed the car that weekend to start a new job. After three months of chasing, phoning 2-3 times a week for this history and trying to contact the previous owner through the log book details I have not seen one shred of history or spare key. This surely will have an adverse effect on the value of the car when I come to sell it as it has covered nearly 80,000 miles and a full history would surely make a difference to its value. Not only this, if I knew there was no service history I would never have purchased a high mileage car, previous careful lady doctor owner or not! As 3 months have past and I have exhausted all avenues I was wondering whether I have grounds to ask for a full refund, for mis-selling the car and all the aggravation and hassle I have gone through to retrieve the service history and spare key? Finally, how would I pursue this? Trading standards? Thanks in advance for any help/advice.

Hi everyone! I'm in absolute car hell and in desperate need of some advice. I went to view my first car about a month and a half ago at a garage in Birmingham. (They shall remain nameless until i find out if they are going to change their mind and help me) I viewed the car and there were some bits that needed doing to the interior but the engine was good and aside from the little interior bits it looked like a fab car. I wasnt able to take it for a test drive but the MOT certificates were there, (2 of them) and my boss who i took with me said it was a good car, i should buy it, and the sales man was very nice, not pushy and seemed to know the crack. I left a deposit while they fixed the interior parts and they said i should pick it up in a week. I was anxious an excited, it was my first new car from what i thought was a reputable garage. I picked it up after 2 weeks as its a 40 minute drive each way. Due to the traffic i was late to collect and by this time it was getting dark. The man at the garage was flustered, said he was late getting home for his tea. He handed me the paperwork and key and got in his car ready to drive himself away. Needless to say it was rushed. I got in, he popped his head in, turned on the lights for me, and fog lights by this time it was foggy, and he said goodbye! I said "there's no ariel as promised!" and he replied "oh you can grab it next time you come through!" and drove away. My friend followed me down the road and flagged me down to pull over as two of my lights were out, one at the front, one at the back and the garage had shut. All i could do was drive home with the lights out, in the fog. At this point, the interiors that needed fixing all fell out as i was driving and the gear knob fell off!! I got home and left the garage a furious voicemail because i felt like i had been mugged off. I could also hear a clicking noise and it was pulling to the right. The next day i called again and they said "bring it over" to have it fixed! I went back to birmingham, after an hour they gaffer taped the gear knob and said if i bought it back in a few days, they would properly fix the interior. (they did fix the lights there and then, though) and the answer to the pulling was "all cars made noises and can pull sometimes!" After this, i was clearly disatisfied with their service and took the car to mazda garage as my friend worked there. They gave me a free check over and gave me a list of things that needed doing. i'd noticed a serious pulling to the left and to the right of the vehicle and they said it was suspender arm bushes needed changing. With all this info i went to the garage, again, and demanded these things were fixed (there were things like two new tyres, lights on the reg plate, suspender arm bushes etc) and i demanded some kind of refund of petrol as it shouldnt have been sold in this condition and i had been back three times now with problems. I left it for a week. When i went to collect it, the exhaust sounded louder than ever but they had ticked off all the items on the list and i felt like, finally, it was all fixed. (they even gave it the valet i asked for because it was absolutely filthy) Since that day we had really bad snow so i couldnt drive it. Now the snow has cleared the exhaust is louder than ever before, and the pulling is seriously dangerous. I pulls unexpectantly either to the right or left and its scary to drive. I took it to a local garage and apparantly i need a whole new exhaust and the pulling could be the steering wheel column. The car is a KA and the exhaust comes in three parts so they think its about £500. I was shocked that i would have to pay out this amount for a car ive had for about a month and only been able to drive for 2 weeks? (actually less!) I feel foolish. Mainly because when i was sold the car, i said "oh there isnt an advisory note with this certificate" and i was told "oh that must mean theres nothing wrong with it" but ive looked over the mot certificate and it states "advisory note.. YES" I called the garage and asked for this, they said "oh we collect those after new year, we'll send it to you" but i called the MOT garage and they said this never happens. Secondly, i called the garage today to say the car is dangerous, they need to help. And he said yeah sure he will help, no problem, take it back to them they will do it but the exhaust is MY FAULT for being a new driver, ive broken it???! apparantly im a boy racer!! and he admitted the advisory note thing that the other guy had told me was a lie. (brilliant) Upon further research ive found the mot history online for the car and its failed its MOT 3 times. On these reports it clearly says the exhuast has a hole and the advisory note for the latest MOT (the one they "forgot" to give me, clearly says "two new tyres soon, exhuast hole, suspender arm bushes need doing" etc etc So, after this absolute essay (im sorry but it has been dragging on!) i need some help. i refuse to believe im stuck with the bill of paying for all the repairs when it shouldnt have been sold in this condition anyway? I just need to know where i stand, if anywhere, with the company or with this car? I have 6 month warrenty but it hasnt covered anything gone wrong with the car so far.. (typical!) Sorry for the rant, im just absolutely gutted with the service and the car. i really dont want to be stuck witht his but dont know where i stand with regards to it. Do i have any rights? Please help! Sarah x x x x (not a boy racer)