Wayne A

None PDI'd brand new car, terrible

Let me start this review by saying I have been a life long ford fan, from my parents owning Capri's, Cortinas, Granadas, Escort Cosworths and myself owning several cars that bare the Ford brand, mostly Mustangs, so you could say we as a family have been loyal to the brand throughout my 39 years of existence. Recently I purchased a brand new car from Gates of Stevenage, a limited edition Ford Mustang Mach 1 - With only 300 production cars entering the UK, this Almost 58k was purchased to be put away into long term storage and not used. The car was purchased with a 43k part ex, and the rest was paid in full, so no finance was used to bridge the shortfall, I guess this is a slight downfall on my side as it negates anyone to own the issue if something was wrong. Everything leading up to the purchase was excellent; the sales guy was great and very attentive, answering the phone and emails almost immediately; well, I guess they would; they wanted pound notes after all. I attentively paid for the vehicle and collected it from my home in Barnsley to Stevenage in my part ex Mercedes E53 AMG in flawless condition, and I wish I could say the same for the vehicle I picked up, more on that later. After collecting the car, I noticed something was not quite right; it felt crashy and unresponsive on the road, you could say, dangerous. Thirty miles out of the dealership, the tyre TMPS system flashed a warning of low tyre pressures, and I pulled over the Motorway service to check the tyres; all were mismatched. I put the tyre pressure down as a minor fault the PDI guy missed after delivery from the factory; no harm done. However, I sent a photograph of the vehicle to a friend, instantly he recognised that there was something not correct, the front end of the car was riding higher than usual. It became apparent that the PDR Technician left the transport shims installed into the car's suspension during transit to the dealership and let me drive away with them installed still; this explains the abysmal handling of the car on the journey to my destination, which involved some twisty national speed limit roads, this could have ended in a catastrophic accident that not only could have put my life in danger but the lives of other road users too. I made this aware to the dealership, the response: "They do not come on any other cars, so we would not have noticed" this is an inferior and passive way to deal with this situation; the Mustang Mach 1's PDI document strictly informs the PDI technician to remove them and also includes a photograph of them so they can easily be identified, that is because they are bright yellow. Not only that, their own 100% PDI document tells them to remove them, so there is no excuse for them to have not been removed. I have identified several faults with the vehicle since, primarily cosmetic, a paint drip in the nearside wing has split to bare metal, factory stone chips that have been touched up poorly and metal in the lacquer on the near side wing, amongst other minor paint defects. Now the dealership has my money, nobody wants to own the issues and are deferring me elsewhere; I am not 100% satisfied that a 100% safe PDI was carried out; in fact, I believe they have issued me with a forged document created in haste to satisfy their records and to appease me. However, they failed in their duty to hand over a 100% satisfactory product to their end-user with zero care to inspect the paint of the vehicle evident on their PDI as it's not been marked but singed off, also leaving dangerous items in the suspension of the car is unacceptable. The Dealer principal has tried to convince me that paint drips and defects are of satisfactory quality within manufacturing tolerance - never in my time buying cars here and in the US heard such nonsense in my life. Since the dealership is not willing to talk about a complete resolution to solve the problems, I am unable to recommend them as they allow cars to leave their dealership in a dangerous manner but also in an unacceptable quality, I have also issued a full complaint to Ford UK customer services as well as Lisa Brankin, Managing Director Ford of Britain. Some dealerships go above and beyond for their customers; sadly, this is not one of them. Since making my completed they are 100% not bothered about talking to me any longer; I'm sure Henry Ford would be turning in his grave, I have been a lifelong lover of the brand, and this is the only experience buying a car in the UK that could make completely flip and go to another brand. Please think twice before putting your precious children in a car from this dealership, as it could end in absolute catastrophe. ZERO Stars