In spite of being an employee of the Mahindra group & the discount I was getting for a vehicle from the group, I decided to go for a Ford car primarily because I liked the car very much after the test drive. A friend of mine had recommended me the car but with a fore warning that the after service is pathetic. I too didn’t have a very good experiences dealing with Ford.
1. Delivery Date: Once I paid my initial booking amount; the sales guy stopped calling me & it was always that I had to make a call to know the delivery dates. It even went to extent that the sales person stopped taking my call & never returning the call. I was promised a delivery in 15 days but that never happened, besides twice the promised delivery date was defaulted. There were many things that I had planned back to back in the assumption that at least the delivery dates will not be defaulted; the car was finally delivered on the 20th of April 2009. I was promised a cover for the car which is still not delivered.
2. RC Book: I was told that the RC Book for my car will be delivered to me at home within 30 days & I started following up for that after 3 months when the 1st service was due. Every time I would speak to a new person with a promise that I’ll get a call back in 10 mins. The 10 minutes would never come; I tried all the numbers given in Bhavna Ford’s web site. Finally I spoke to the Service Manager who told me that the RC Book is lost & an application has to be made for a duplicate one – which essentially means I’ll have to take a half day or a full day off from the office for no fault of mine. I was called one of the days last month to the showroom for sorting this out & I live around 35-40 KM from the place, to be told that the whole thing has to be done in the area where I live.
3. Car broke down: On the 6th of November 2009, my car broke down when I was going to the office; I was able to get the car in 1st gear but the car won’t move. This happened around 9 AM.
a. There is a 24 hr helpline provided in the service booklet but it took me a second call to reach that number to be told by a lady that she is at home & will be leaving for the office in sometime & I should try the board number. Would others have reached if the 24 hr helpline hasn’t?
b. It took me 5-6 calls to different numbers to get to speak to someone who gave me the number of a Towing service.
c. Once in the service centre there was no one to have a look at the car for 10 -15 minutes before I created some ruckus about the service. The guy who makes the job card told me that it will take 2 days – without even looking at the car – either u have very efficient people or u would work in our own time.
d. I was told that I’ll be informed by the end of next day as to what the problem with the car is & when will I get the delivery. I finally had to call myself after 6 PM to get a reply that it will be delivered on Monday, I assume the 9th of this month. No reason was given for the breakdown.
e. I called up in the morning today & I still don’t have a reason & the tentative delivery date has been extended by one day – clearly gives me an indication that the car was just lying there for two days & the technicians will start work on it only today.
• Is this the kind of service u offer to the customers?
• Why does a car of Ford’s caliber break down with in the 1st 7 months? Were there no Quality Checks made?
And the clutch plate is not covered under warranty