Comments on: Ford Marshall Service: Don’t let them wash your car

By: Jo

Jo — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 20:25:27 +0000

The Outlander had the shifter cables replaced 3 weeks ago and 2 days later, the transmission wasn’t “knocking”, it simply wouldn’t go into 1st or 2nd gear. Louis was in London (the other london…) so I decided to bring it in again. Later that day they called to say “it’s not shifting well because the winter floormats are blocking the clutch…”.
I was upset because if he was right, it made me quite a fool, and if he was wrong then the car really did have a problem. In the end, it seemed better with the floormats off, but it’s still not smooth like it used to be before this (#@%$&) winter. Grrr…

By: bimble

bimble — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 15:51:51 +0000

Any chance of getting your Andrew to clean my car?? It’s in need of a wash but I’m generally disinclined to give it a clean. Especially as it then gets dirty within a week…

By: Paul

Paul — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 10:24:55 +0000

Why are main dealers so crap?
I had a Vauxhall from Marshalls, and it had a minor fault which was to be fixed under warranty, they made it *worse*, and when I lifted the bonnet found they’d left some tools on top of the engine!
I’ve had problems with EMG in Cambridge - they had the wrong spare part when they “fixed” my car, so it had to stay in for two days, and even then it didn’t sort out the ABS problem and it went back again. When they serviced it, a tiny split at the end of the wiper blades grew to a third of the way, and when car returned they said “your wipers need replacing but we didn’t have any blades in stock”, I didn’t know they’d ruined them, and didn’t go back!

The solution: don’t use a main dealer, use an independent, and go by personal recommendation. Give a written note of what work needs doing, require authorisation for ANY additional work, and if they do something not on your list w/o auth you can refuse to pay - standard contract law prevails.

By: Keith Mansfield

Keith Mansfield — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 03:59:18 +0000

Think yourself lucky. When I last had my car washed it was by driving it through one of those automatic ones that do it for you. For some reason, when the rollers came down the sensors didn’t detect my nice Lexus so they crushed the car (with poor me inside) writing it off!

But of course you’re right - it’s so dispiriting when people/companies you’ve entrusted your precious possessions to don’t look after them properly and don’t care.