Poor Service Job - What should I do?

F328nv; You are right, I am putting it in writing to Philip Rendes today. Worst of all is the fact that I have ben waiting 7 days for a call back to tell me when they will have a car for me to use whilst mine is being sorted out.

This is an issue all FChatters should know about and beware of.

D11VE:J

 

Ravi355; what a pity we have to say one is better than the other, true it may be, but why can they not all give good value for money service.

I bought my 575M new from Maranello Egham, I would expect good service from a High Value Car Supplier, its about reputation, I am posting this in hopes that others may not suffer the same as me. It is encumbent upon all suppliers of services to look after their customers, I certainly look after mine and my business is growing. I seriously doubt that Maranello After Sales intended in any way to damage my car, they did, and its how they put this right now that matters. I will post their response for your information.

Here is my letter sent today awaiting the Managers comment;

The General Manager,
Mark Clifton,
Maranello After Sales,
Egham,
Surrey. 6th September 2005

Dear Mr Clifton,
Fax; 01784-484548
Re; V12 STS Ferrari 575M
Poor Quality Service


I am really not happy right now, I brought my 575M to you with 6,800 miles on it, to have its 6,000 mile service at Maranello After Sales Egham 2½ weeks ago, just before a trip to the Ferrari Galleria in Maranello Italy and visits to Hockenheim and the Nurburgring for a drive around 25th-29th August.

When I came to collect my car on the Thursday afternoon, 25th, just hours before I left for my trip, I had already been told that the front discs needed replacing, the pads were half worn, the tyres were also wearing. I told Andrew Gill that I did not want to do anything to these until I get back, believing the car would come out as good as it went in to be serviced. What a shock I had, I paid the £1800+ bill, the car came across from the parking lot, immediately I could see the Zymol had been washed off, it looked terrible, I then noticed that the wheels looked like new, but that the centre badges on all wheels, the Ferrari plastic inserts, were all broken. I then noticed a dent in the driver door and was told immediately “you brought it in that way sir”. The form was brought out and I was shown it and indeed there was a mark on it, and was then told “by the way, the Ferrari badges are 'order only' we will get them in and replace them when you get back”.

I was very, very upset by this, I asked to see you, it was explained that you were on holiday, in your place Philip Rendes the Customer Care Manager would come out to see me, he duly arrived, he told me that the door was your problem and that the mark on the form was a photocopier blot not a mark indicated on the receiving paperwork. Mr Rendes said he would deal with the door dent when I got back from my trip, I asked him what about the broken Ferrari wheel centres as I was not taking the car in that state. He managed to find 4 and they were fitted as I waited.

When I asked for an explanation, I was told that your staff had used the jet hose at too high a temperature, the thermostat had gone, and the plastic inserts cracked after over heating and the Zymol treatment I have paid hundreds of pounds to have put on over the last 6 months is to be cold water washed without chemicals. That accounted for that also. I left saying I hope everything else is alright then.

The following day, after arriving in France, 1.00am, having heard the back brakes binding, whistle, whistle, loading on the channel train, as I opened up on the French A26 the vibration was horrible, the car at 100mph vibrating the whole car, it was too much. A combination of binding brakes and a wheel at the back out of balance, something not right on the back, that was the situation throughout the whole 2,500 mile trip to the Ferrari Galleria and back.

I had a terrible trip with all of this, not the trip, the car, I wonder what you would do in my position, I informed your Mr Rendes last week upon my return about the problems, he told me that you can not road test the car after the cleaning, I can understand that but then the faulty cleaner was what damaged the car paintwork and has probably taken off a wheel balance weight, apart from that your mechanic did do work on the rear drive shafts, nuts and bolts were replaced I was told, it sounded like the diff or a rear bearing was going, for all of that you are responsible. I said that I will need another car to drive home in, this was on the morning of Tuesday 30th August, I have heard nothing back from Maranello After Sales since.

In Summary;
The hand-brake was binding, wheel/s out of balance, drive shafts out or something like that, transmission noises, polish washed off, costing me hours of work to replace over the weekend, with faulty overheating washer, badges damaged not replaced before I saw them, door dented, trip of a lifetime to Ferrari and two great tracks I could not drive on ruined by poor service care that I paid £1,850 for, I brought you a great car and you delivered back a much lesser car for my long weekend trip that I paid out £4,000 for and could not fully enjoy.

These are the facts, I would like to know what you intend to do about this please

Yours sincerely,

D11VE:J

 

CraigW; what a story, I thought mine was bad, I am afraid I am a bit short tempered when someone messes up my pride and joy, I have managed to hold on to it so far, but my patience is getting very thin now, still no reply 6 hours after Mr Clifton called me to say he had received my letter today and was going to investigate matters.

He Guys did we do it? yes boss, we will have to sort it out then won't we.

That must take at least 6 hours and 15 minutes to work that out.

Your stories that you are all posting just depress the hell out of me, how in the world are we able to justify allowing these people to get away with this type of poor service and blame game they play with us for so long and yet we pay them thousands of pound to do so. I never once thought of stopping the cheque, perhaps that was my big mistake, because that is all some people react to.

And yes craigW, the Hotel run to Cardiff does sound rather inviting.

D11VE:J

 

jeffQV, that is phase 2. I still have to try phase 1 and see if they have any honour at all, if not then we all play dirty.

D11VE:J

 

I received a polite letter today from Mark Clifton, AFTERSALES MANAGER,

It was delivered by Special Delivery Post; it says;

Just a short letter to confirm that we have received your letter of complaint and I have read the contents and will be dealing with the issues with utmost urgency.

May I express my sincere apologies and you will be hearing from me in the very near future.

Sincerely, MC


Well if you look at it, this is trial by forum, we are all potential customers and what is clear is that there are a few here who have found it hard to find a company that will service our FCars as considerately as we would like.

They make mistakes, they must be accountable for this, some here have cause to believe that their cars are not properly treated or looked after in their care and it makes even harder to confront when the law is 99% on their side, if you don't pay my bill because you are upset or angry because we duffed your car up, we can keep your car. Pay up before we show it to you. I can honestly say that I would not have paid the bill had I seen the state the car was in first. I don't know what I would have done if I had known about the transmission problems I found a few hours later.

I would like Maranello to deal with this honourably and find a suitable settlement, after putting my car right. I am not looking for heads to roll, I might even buy another Ferrari car from them in the future, however, that becomes less likely by the day and that is all that effects Ferrari in Italy.

What Maranello After Sales can be assured of is after 9 days of no solution, we have passed the point of being reasonable about this.

I have this gut feeling this is not going to be handled well by Maranello. I would have insisted the car came back in whilst I was checking out the situation, rectify it first and argue about it later. But then I am not Maranello.

D11VE:J

 

CraigW; You are absolutely bang on my friend, you say what I think.
D11VE:J