Dont goto Caseys Ford Garage in Athlone if your a woman!!

billbond4

Hi

My girlfriend had a problem with her Ford car recently, as she was busy I said that I would bring the car into the local Ford Garage in Athlone, Caseys.
I explained the problem and they said that it was a known fault with her car, so they worked on it for 30 mins, and I thought sorted!!

But when my girlfriend started to drive the car afterwards, she had another problem, she rang up the garage and they said they would ring back about the price of a part to fix the problem, first mistake, They NEVER rang back so just keep ringing them until you get an answer!!

The garage said that they could try and clean out some parts and if that didnt work, they would replace the parts. They said that they wouldnt charge her for the labour of cleaning the parts if it didnt work.

Anyway when she brought the car back to the garage, she went by herself, the garage cleaned the parts, they said it should take 30 mins, so she could wait. 2 hours later!! she had to go up and get the car back, the fault was still there after the part being cleaned.

So the last visit of the car to the garage, they replaced the part in 30 mins, but when she was paying they tried to make her to pay for the labour for the day before,even though she was told she wouldnt have to pay for it.
She said she was very intimdated by the people, as they were basically trying to pull a fast one and being very forceful about it.

It seems that if your a woman, going to Caseys in athlone isnt a good idea, needless to say my girlfriend wont be going back there again after the way she was treated. So be warned !!

Caseys are still stuck in the old ways of thinking women dont know jack about cars,and treat women like crap!! so avoid !! unless you want to be treated like crap and have your car fixed.

Skyuser

The stories i've heard about Caseys are unreal.

Seth Brundle

Have you tried contacting the manager in there?
Assuming they are a main dealer, and you get no joy from the manager then try contacting Ford Ireland.

Anan1

kbannon wrote:

Have you tried contacting the manager in there?
Assuming they are a main dealer, and you get no joy from the manager then try contacting Ford Ireland.

Good idea. I'd probably advise the OP to leave out the idea that it was because she was a woman though, unless he has proof of this. It's quite possible they're like that to everyone, and it dilutes his main point, IMO.

billbond4

I never thought of telling the manager about what happened, but in reality, nothing probably will change, I will ask girlfriend if she will ring him and tell him what happened.
If somebody reading this will think twice about going to Caseys, then this post will have done its job.

yop

I have now heard nothing good about Caseys, all dealings were with Caseys of Castlebar, both old and new facility.
In my case I got charge for a fill of screen wash even though I purposly filled it before I went for a service, got charge a fiver for a car wash as part of the service!!
My brother bought a car off them, he asked them to replace the tyres, fix a shock, get the car code, he rang them 3 times and "Its on the lifts" "yes all done", he got my dad to pick it up, when he got it nothing at all had been done!!!
My brother bought a 2nd hand van off them, withing 2 weeks one of the brake pads had fallen off it and the gear box went!

Stky10

Yeah, they sure know how to charge in athlone at least. Nice friendly girl at reception, but they ended up costing me a fortune when I left my Focus for a service the day before I needed it to go to Dublin Airport at 5am the next day, and they needed to keep it to fix something with the back right drum. I asked about getting a replacement, but they told me they had nothing in stock, then told me they had got on to a local car rental place who'd be in touch with me. Nobody got in touch with me, so I got back to them, the gave me the name of the rental company, I rang them up, and they said they'd never heard at all from Casey's and they'd nothing available.

I ended up having to defer flights and hotel for a day, and it cost about €300 extra on top of the €400 for the service and drum fix.

Of course, compared to Motorpark in Galway, they're cheap as chips.

fightin irish

0214329277--ask for Ford customer service

Wishbone Ash

yop wrote:

I got charge for a fill of screen wash even though I purposly filled it before I went for a service,

Most garages seem to pull that stunt - same with wiper blades. I usually bring it to their attention.

lford

wow its a pity you didnt tell me that 2 years ago, being a female and running the service department here for the last 2 years! a print out of this discussion was brought to my attention by one of our many satisfied customers, who felt it was very unfair to say that we treated women any differently to men. being a woman myself i make a particular effort to explain and help women understand the problems and resolutions here. we offer a collection and delivery service for customers in the area so its effects their working day as little as possible. can you take anything positive from the fact that we didnt immediately try to sell your girfriend an expensive part and tried the repair first. did your girlfriend pay additional labour or was the agreement adhered to. personally i think that not complaining to the appropriate person/manager is a cowardly way out, you havent achieved much by slagging us (and me) off behind our backs. thanx to whoever said im friendly. and id like to clarify that caseys ford garagre and caseys volvo are seperate companies. ballina,castlebar&volvo athlone being totally seperate to us. please dont think im slinging mud back but i did feel obliged to reply.

Kersh

My brother bought a car off them, he asked them to replace the tyres, fix a shock, get the car code, he rang them 3 times and "Its on the lifts" "yes all done", he got my dad to pick it up, when he got it nothing at all had been done!!!
My brother bought a 2nd hand van off them, withing 2 weeks one of the brake pads had fallen off it and the gear box went!

Why on earth did you guys keep going back for more if the service has been consistently sh1te. I dont understand.
I service my own cars, costs about 100 euro all in for parts/oil etc... but if I did get poor service off a garage , I sure wouldnt go back to them!

Kingsize

lford wrote:

can you take anything positive from the fact that we didnt immediately try to sell your girfriend an expensive part and tried the repair first. did your girlfriend pay additional labour or was the agreement adhered to. personally i think that not complaining to the appropriate person/manager is a cowardly way out, you havent achieved much by slagging us (and me) off behind our backs. thanx to whoever said im friendly. and id like to clarify that caseys ford garagre and caseys volvo are seperate companies. ballina,castlebar&volvo athlone being totally seperate to us. please dont think im slinging mud back but i did feel obliged to reply.

Surely if this person is who they claim to be, getting involved here is VERY unprofessional, & this should be reported to someone in a higher position.
Also (to everyone) I don't think its wise to come on here & name names in the light of other such incedents.
Not that I agree with what happened but I find that I am always dissapointed by this type of work no matter where or what It is.So I'm always ready to complain & the first rule of complaining is Keep complaining.
Its no good collectively grumbling on about RIP OFF IRELAND and then gettin' F__D in the A___ & doing nothing about it.
(not aimed at the OP but Thrown in cos im rantin')

lford

right i'll sya no more. defending the company is unprofessional, working here we're unproffessional. cant win. the d.o. of the garage isjohn maher, 0906626101 and the service manager in athlone (new) is lui 0906477691. do what ye like.

Anan1

Kingsize wrote:

Surely if this person is who they claim to be, getting involved here is VERY unprofessional, & this should be reported to someone in a higher position.

Why is it unprofessional? Doesn't everyone have the right to reply?

Seth Brundle

I don't see it as unprofessional and in fact welcomed lford's contribution as it made for a balanced approach to the debate.
In fact I was tempted to remove the original thread as it wasn't balanced!

Kingsize

Well any of the companies ive ever worked for would not get involved in a (virtually) unregulated & unverifiable public Forum such as this.
If they did , everything that was said & done would be thought out.
I dont think it's professional for a company to get involved in a slagging match/call it's customers cowards etc (no matter how wrong or cowardly they might actually have been)
And it's hardly a consolation to say "at least we didnt try to sell her stuff she didn't need" why mention it then??
Also if I was speaking on behalf of my employer I'd make damn sure that He/She seen what i was going to say before I said or wrote anything- its common business practice,as is checking your spelling.
We have no proof that the person above works for this company Nor do we have proof that the OP is genuine (for all we know he could be from Big Joe's garage down the road.
Probably best to lock this down anyway in my opinion.
I'm sure the regional directors of Ford Ireland would be interested to say the least

Seth Brundle

True but if a company has had something negative said against it then it does have the right to defend itself.

lford

thank you

Fey!

Kingsize - why shouldn't lford defend the herself (as service manager) and, by extension of that, her employers? IMHO, I think she's been brave to come on here to give her side of the debate (not being condescending; I'm not sure I'd have the patience to put up with the responses). Also, some may view it as professional due to the fact that she's trying to nip the situation in the bud. She could just as easily have contacted a solicitor to contact the Boards administrator and threathen legal action if this thread with an unsubstantiated allegation hadn't been deleted.

The OP (or his GF) should have contacted the service manager before posting here. If they had no joy, then they should have contacted Ford Irl. Then, regardless of the outcome, they would have been in a better position when it came to debate on here.

As someone else above already pointed out, it's very easy to sit by and moan that you've been ripped off, but if you haven't tried to sort the situation out, then you only have yourself to blame.

lford

ok after the last message i wasnt going to reply but thank you fey! im just trying to see why and what makes customers so upset that they cant seek resolution from us. you arent being condesending. i have worked here from when it opened and ive always done my best for anyone that visited. i am actually leaving in a months time and maybe some of the members here will be happier with the service then. there'll be a man running the show.

Kingsize

Fey! wrote:

She could just as easily have contacted a solicitor to contact the Boards administrator and threathen legal action if this thread with an unsubstantiated allegation hadn't been deleted.

Couldn't agree more - that wouldve been what i'd have done if i was in her position & I would have posted on the forum saying as much & left it at that.

Fey! wrote:

As someone else above already pointed out, it's very easy to sit by and moan that you've been ripped off, but if you haven't tried to sort the situation out, then you only have yourself to blame.

Yeah it was me.

The only reason I actually started posting on this was because of the response by lford.
I just thought it was irresponsible & in my opinion (& experience) unprofessional.
Sure everybody has the right to reply but there are ways & means-I have worked in retail,customer service & operations & financial services,never once heard of anything like this.
Even people calling into radio shows are usually given a wide berth & dealt with only by approval from above detailing what & what not to say.

Were it not for lfords response , this thread wouldve just looked like a load of disgruntled motorists slagging off the local garage.
Personally Her response left me thinking "If This is how they run their business I wouldn't let them near anything on wheels"but of course thats only my opinion gathered from what ive seen here. Theres no proving that lford has anything to do with this garage.
For all you or anyone knows I Could be Alan Mulally
President and Chief Executive Officer of Ford - I'm Not but prove it!
Incedentally I dont think anybody actually directly slagged off or mentioned any employees at all except the guy who said the receptionist was friendly.

BUT Shame on Ford If its company policy is to act as irresponsibly as this

Anan1

Kingsize wrote:

Personally Her response left me thinking "If This is how they run their business I wouldn't let them near anything on wheels"but of course theres no proving that lford has anything to do with this garage.

On the contrary, my estimation of the garage has risen since I've read lford's posts. I'm completely in agreement with Fey! on this one.

Kingsize

Really? even after "heres the bosses number- do what ye like!"?
Fair enough apparently theres no such thing as bad publicity!
.

I've no sympathy for those who dont complain but FFS!!

Seth Brundle

Kingsize - everyone has a right to defend an accusation against them. If you don't think it is good business sense then fine but lets not dwell on it.
Either stay on the original topic or it gets closed!

Kingsize

Okay point taken -(as it was all along)
Notice how none of the OP's or complainants came back on?
People please in all situations COMPLAIN UNTIL YOU GET WHAT YOU PAID FOR instead of Doing your dirty Washing in public.

My Prediction Boards.ie is soon going to consist of 90% stickies saying "PLEASE DONT DISCUSS

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inc in light of legal proceedings"

Anan1

Kingsize - If it's any help, I'm four square behind you on your sig.;)

Kingsize

Thanks!!;)

E@gle.

caseys is a roscommon based company

kluivert

My problem with service departments is they dont do what you want them to do.

I know how to service cars I just dont have the time to do it.

I was told that my rear wheel bearings needed replacing due to the excessive noise coming from the rear. I said I would take the car back for a while and see how it fairs out.

I got the rear tyres changed which fixed the problem. Tyre threads of some tyre makers dont react as well the certain cars as others.

1. You shouldnt reply to the OP without your employers permission or approval of the content which you have submitted.
2. You should have pasted on this thread to your employer to review and let them take what ever they felt necessary.
3. You still havent offered to fix the OP concerns about the lack of respect towards his GF, your customer.

In marketing, it is well know fact that bad word of mouth travels ten times faster than a good word of mouth, you would do well to remember this in the future.

Customer Service is a big part of any business, when your customer is unhappy with the level of service received you should behind over backwards to fix the problem. This should be done by investigating the cause of the problem which lead to the poor level of service. Rectifying it so it doesnt happen again. If you have a number of the same complaints it appears that you need to get new staff.

@ OP, your basis for this thread would be more concrete if you had of complained to the service department first and then let your feelings known on the situation.

This is a problem with this country, we dont compalin enough, while the person behind the counter believes they dont get paid to listen to peoples complaints.

Everybody everyday in this country is complaining about the lack of after sales service and customer service, the real problemis that they are complaining to the wrong person most of the time.

Ring the dealership and discuss this through with them and then let us know how it got on based on the conversation that you had with their manager.

gyppo

Number of points about this thread:

1 - Why didnt the OP talk to the manager if he/she felt aggrieved? I think that would be the first and most logical approach most people would take. Instead, posting this thread was their first step.

2- Caseys Athlone, Roscommon, and Leitrim have no association with Caseys Garages in Ballina, Catlebar, or Casey Volvo in Athlone.

3 - Lford is totally entitled to post here, and I see nothing unprofessional with her decision to do so. I can vouch that this person is a genuine employee of Caseys Athlone, as I have dealt with her on previous occasions when I have left a previous car of mine (mondeo) in for servicing.

4- Lford and Caseys Athlone have always dealt with me in a totally professional and courteous manner with all previous dealings relating to service. I have always been called and told of items needing replacement during routine servicing, and was given the price and option of them been fitted before any work was carried out.

5 - I have recently gone back to a Ford Mondeo, and would have no hesitation in using Caseys Athlone for future servicing of the car.

I have no affiliation to Caseys Athlone - I an just a satisfied customer. I think this thread is unfair to this garage, and its very easy for a thread starter to badmouth businesses on the internet, and for others (who dont have their facts straight) to join in.


PS - I'm not a woman

needtotravel

I called Caseys yesterday for a quote and I was shocked at the price they quoted me for a simple part & job.. :eek:

I decided to get the part elsewhere and do the job myself - but I have to say that the girl I spoke to on the phone was really nice and the guy who called me back was sound... even if he did try to charge me an arm and a leg for a small part!!

Sorry guys - but I'm going someplace else!!

Jarren

hmm.... zombie thread bro

needtotravel

I didn't even notice - it's been one of those days!!

Thanks!!
:o:o:o:o:o

EPM

Hi and Welcome.

But please don't bump ancient threads.