[ravibhat]

Sorry to read entire posting in hread.

Ford India is known for cheating always ... I head many many stories, this is another story. I really suggest be away from Ford Cars. Ford, GM, Skoda service just don't make any sense. I hope by now your Fiesta is back on track. I heard few stories they never fulfill every thing we ask even after follow arguments.

Hope everything will be alright very soon.

Ravi.

[suman]

Originally Posted by akshay1234

either its me or

I think its you...seems like 100 kmph at 2500 rpm & 120 kmph at 3000 rpm to me

By the way Ravi, please get the spelling of you rides correct at least.....and when you say "sold out" how many of each did you have?

[esteem_lover]

Originally Posted by akshay1234

either its me or in the first pic your doing about 105kmph when your car is at 3000k. and in the second one your doing just above 90kmph... i guess if you go to 105 the engine will be at 3k rpm.

it is certainly you... in the second pic, he doing about 99-99.5 at exactly 2500rpm

[LandCruiser]

Today I went to the service center again to check the following issues:

1. Steering alignment (when the wheels are straight the steering wheel is still not in perfect position but little bit turned to the right; I would say 5 minute position of the long arm in a clock)
2. Steering vibration and wobbling over 100 kmph and even more wobbling when braking at that speed.
3. And other issues that were pending during the delivery.

I couldnt go all the way to the Saligram workshop of theirs so I visited the one at Guindy where I usually go for service. The assistant service manager came with me for a test drive and agreed on the problems that I mentioned and assured to fix it after pongal holidays.

But that guy was telling me if the car reaches 100kmph at 2500 it means the power has increased! I was like how is it possible suddenly and what will be the implications. He didnt give a convincing answer. Also when i talked about the boom sound at around 3000 RPM he had no clue about it. He was not paying attention to that point at all.

I asked him to compare with another 1.6 SXI. There was none in the workshop at that time for servicing. So couldnt really get them to compare. Also he was telling nothing can be changed about the engine as such in the service centers. I dont have muc information on this aspect on how to test whether everything about the engine is alright. He was talking about VCM or something similar where they can test and monitor the engine parameters. Could some one please throw some light on that aspect? How to verify that the engine characteristics are not altered and if it is changed how to get it fixed?

If I have more details I can talk to them more confidently.

I am yet to scan some of the bills. Once I do that I will post those here for everyone's benefit.

[iraghava]

Originally Posted by LandCruiser

1. Steering alignment (when the wheels are straight the steering wheel is still not in perfect position but little bit turned to the right; I would say 5 minute position of the long arm in a clock)

Should be a 5 minute job & would involve the steering wheels to be removed & realigned & fitted back again.

Originally Posted by LandCruiser

2. Steering vibration and wobbling over 100 kmph and even more wobbling when braking at that speed.

Get the wheels balanced, that should take care of the high-speed wobble. As for the wobble under braking check after the wheel balancing & if it's still there then get the pads & discs checked. The discs might have been warped a bit & would need refacing.

[suman]

Originally Posted by LandCruiser

2. Steering vibration and wobbling over 100 kmph and even more wobbling when braking at that speed.

Could be a disc related issue........remember my experience when they replaced under warranty after driving through water? But, as Isahn says, get the balancing checked out as well

[yogi1771]

hi landcruiser even in my fiesta the 100 comes at around 2900-3000 rpm(as suman mentioned) in 5th gear

[rahul_intlad]

Originally Posted by Surprise

RIGHT MOST LANE IS FAST LANE.

Is this info clearly written or said? I came to know about this only after enrolling myself with Team-Bhp. Till date I have not seen anything on the highways or it was mentioned in a viewable place.

Finally I found the link you wanted,
Rules of the Road Regulations, 1989:

2. KEEP LEFT:
The driver of a motor vehicle shall drive the vehicle as close to the left hand side of the road as may be expedient and shall allow all traffic which is proceeding in the direction to pass on his right hand side.

Source:
:: www.bangaloretrafficpolice.gov.in - Rules of the Road Regulations ::

[Absar]

Hello LandCruiser. I'm really sorry to hear this incident of yours. It's lucky you were not injured badly. I had a similar accident, but smaller thankfully and due to a dog. It happened last year. I'm a regular commuter of the Chennai/Ambur/Bangalore sector. From Vellore to Ambur, i don't go above 110 km/h. And I agree about Ford troubling us in the bill. I myself had to pay 8k in cash while the total cost was 24k. And DO GO THROUGH THE BILL PROPERLY. Because that time when i was going through the final estimate for the repairs, Ford put 8k for engine oil instead of 800 rupees. And another one was 15k for something, it was to be 1,500. They can fool you up easily. So, I don't trust them these days!

Take care

-Absar

[LandCruiser]

Please read post#1 for the details about the accident.

I mentioned that I will post the bills and all related information in this thread. It took me so long to get the scanning done. One can see from the bills the price for different spare parts.

It has taken enormous effort, time and patience to get the vehicle out from MPL ford. Even after that several annoying problems are continuing and they are so dumb even to understand the problems and fix it.

I need to go in person and give a demo on each and every problem that I mention and they take their own sweet time in attending to them. They have never attempted to solve some of the key problems (mentioned towards the end of the post)

The scanned copies of the estimation, bill, receipt.

Estimation (Spare Parts) = Rs.99168.40





Estimation (Labor) = Rs.91500





Total Estimation = 99168.40 + 91500 = Rs. 190668.40

Final Bill











My Receipt



Issues found during the first time delivery after the repair work



They did keep the car for another 2 days (first REDO work) and repainted the whole boot door, rear bumper and side panel.

Invoice for the 2nd REDO Job



Some statistics:

Number of days MPL has worked on the car so far: 29 days (only working days from 08-Dec-2006 till 17-Feb-2007)
Number of times the vehicle visited the workshop: 5
Amount paid as bill for repair work (from my pocket): Rs.31,625.
Number of personal visits to the workshop: 12
Number of hours spent on visiting workshop: approx 12 * 3 = 36 hours.
(Each visit includes traveling from my office which is 50 kms away from the city to the workshop, discussion time and going back to home; used my friends car many times or by auto, bus)
Number of phone calls made to MPL : exceeding 60 times
Number of emails sent explaining the issues: 7
Number of times requested for written reply on action taken: 3
Number of replies sent by MPL: 0
Number of different people who have handled this incident: 3 Service Advisors, 1 Workshop Manager, 2 workshop assistants, 2 service managers, 2 customer relationship dept personnel, 1 technical person (who does the test drive to find out the issues) = 11.
Number of times VCM test (for the engine): 4
Number of times wheel balancing/alignment done: 4
Number of times the rear bumper(new one) got painted: 3
Number of times boot door was painted: 3
Number of times steering alignment/vibration was attended to: everytime (5 times) but problem not resolved.
Number of music CD's stolen : 2 (Twice 1 each)

Open Issues & Status

1. Steering vibration/wobbling (extremely uncomfortable and unsafe. So I drive the 1.6 car real slowly these days)
2. Unusually high engine clatter (sounds as much or more than the diesel engine)
3. Roll-on noise, feels like sitting in a chopper (MPL attributed this to tire wear)
4. A peculiar metal sound from the right rear (feels like hitting the metal with a metal rod; could be that the rear seat doesn't sit properly or something related to the suspension IMO)
5. Poor alignment of the rear bumper (They painted the bumper one last time recently because some cracks surfaced on the paint; the alignment problem that was solved earlier has resurfaced)
6. Relatively poor pickup
7. 5th gear 100 kmph is reached at 2500 RPM as against normal 2900+ RPM in a normal 1.6 fiesta.
8. Damaged roof upholstery ("Cant do anything about it" is their reply)
9. The cardboard piece above the spare wheel rattles (they have tried 4 times to fix this but no use)

I had requested for an appointment with their GM. It is hard to get!! He has been going to outstations for the last 2 weeks. CRM dept told me he will get in touch with me this coming week (26-Feb).

Looking at the detailed information provided above one might think am totally against Ford. No that is not the case. Until 08-Dec I was happy with the car and the service. From that point onwards things have taken a U turn. As long as the car runs fine the routine service was no pain at all.

Poor work, lack of expertise

When there is a problem things seem to go awry. No quality care, no technical expertise, no promptness, no honesty. They look like duds. It simply has got ridiculous and unbelievable. They estimated 91k for labor and ended up in 37k. Did they compromise on the quality of work? May be. The surveyors and the service advisors chat up very well and they negotiate on the rates. Fine. But did they compromise anything. Possible!

About Issue 7 am tired of explaining them repeatedly. They simply keep repeating that the VCM test shows nothing odd.I requested them to compare with other fiestas after confirming with suman and yogi. They never tried. Then I asked them to bring a test drive car one fine day. When I went there they said the car is not available. After hurling up some words they brough a car to my residence on 18-Feb-2007. That car had done 19k kms and was utterly abused. If you want to sell a car you would not go to the customer with such car. But yeah here they tried their best not to be honest with me. But still that car showed normal RPM behavior and there was no tire noise in spite of doing 19k kms. Surprising! The technical expert noticed it and kept mum!

I don't think any other fiesta would generate so much noise from the tires at just 20k kms. So Odd. Even a small car like santro doesn't develop so much noise due to tire wear. What a weird theory. They have crumpled the boot carpet and made it dirty in so many places that even a dog wont sleep on that.

They had so much expertise to estimate to a such a huge number, but don't have the expertise to find out the problems and fix them on their own or even after pointing them out.

They had punctured one tire during test drive and try to put the expense on my head. It was funny when the service advisor told the puncture was due to the accident. The car was lying there for 29 days and the tire didnt go flat at all! I did not accept that. Because I resisted till the end they agreed not to charge me.

Untidy, untrained workers

Water wash and cleaning of the car will happen only after you step into the workshop. They used temporary laborers (read as novice/untrained) for cutting/welding, washing. A boy was cleaning the interiors of the car sitting on the leather seats. His dress was totally covered in dirt and grease. He did not even bother to put a paper on the seat. I asked him to please get down of the car and not do the cleaning. Who watches, who cars. No one!

I have noticed that they make small marks here and there using the tools. So annoying. So tiny but in number of places. I have asked them to repaint that part whenever I notice any problem like that. But it is repeating every time. In south India people whitewash their houses for every Pongal festival. My car has been made like that.

I have lost hope on seeing any improvement in their service quality. Lastly I have called Ford India customer care and have told them the issue. They just listened for about a minute or two, took the vehicle number and told that they will talk to MPL ford. It was not possible to explain anything in any detail in such a quick call!!! Next I am going to write a detailed email to them.

Options?? 1) Perseverance 2) Sell it. Forget it. 3) donate the car or a fund to ford to research and improve their quality of A.S.S.

Honestly I don't want to hide the problems and sell the car. Moreover it is less than 1 year since I bought the car and I will be making a ridiculously high % loss now rather selling it after 3-4 years.

So option 1. I will take all possible measures to get the problems fixed. If at all I use option 3 it will be made known to the world real loud.

[LandCruiser]

I couldn't edit as the time has elapsed. Wanted to mention about CD theft. It has happened twice. Both times they have flicked the CD-RW with latest collections.

They told me that they will replace the CD. But I didn't want to take this from them. After the 2nd incident I make sure that I take extra time and remove the CDs before the vehicle is sent to them.

[rr_zen]

Man, I see what pain you are going through. I know how frustrating it can be for a person to run around people like this. I think you are the personification of perseverance and patience and MPL Ford the personification of shoddy work and pathetic service. The CD theft issue goes on to say that they are at the epitome of cheapness. No wonder these are mercenaries who take people for a ride. Even if nothing works out, am sure we can launch a strong campaign against MPL Ford by word of mouth and ensure that they lose out on quite a good number of customers.

[rahul_intlad]

landcruiser very well documented.Regarding your options I say go for 2) although 3) is a very nice idea.

[LandCruiser]

To add to the details the pictures I had taken and sent to MPL ford pointing out the issues (otherwise it was difficult to explain everything using words). the name of the file describes what you see in that picture.

[LandCruiser]

Continuation to posts #85, #89









Refer to post #72 for picture of RPM related issue.