Barrie Ford Update

Hey Gang,

It's been awhile since I posted.  Been going through some issues with my career and for a time I thought perhaps I'd have to do some cut backs which meant getting rid of the Shelby.  It's really been upsetting because I think I've finally been settling in with it.  I see the 2020 GT500 coming out and I don't have the drive to rush out and trade mine in.  I feel my GT500 is enough and if I want more it can easily be modded.  But the career stuff has calmed down so things seem fine now.

If you recall I had some issues with Barrie Ford in the past.  They are a SVT dealership where I bought my Focus RS.  I was totally happy with them until after a recall they returned my RS back to me a filthy mess.  Half a tank of gas, dirty, bird crap on it after they kept it for 6 days.  So I gave a bad review to Ford.  Then they contacted me not to apologize but to say I should revoke my complaint because it wasn't the service guy's fault and it looked bad on him.  So "F" them.  I now go to Shanahan Ford.

Yesterday I received a call from Barrie Ford.  They asked how the RS was and wanted to remind me that they have a "Friends & Family" bonus that if I refer a friend or family to them for a new car I'd get a $100 gift card! Wow, a whole $100!  Imagine that?

This dealership REALLY doesn't get it.  Consider this.  If I don't like them would a pathetic $100 gift card really motivate me to send a friend or family member to them?? No.  However if they just had good customer service and weren't such cocky assholes I would refer friends and family to them for free.  You want to share a good experience with others you care about.

I really don't understand this place.  They have a great facility that sells Ford's top vehicles but they have a huge chip on their shoulders and don't respect the cars after a sale.

Some people responded that I'm being a jerk.  However when I lived in Madison Wisconsin the Ford dealership Kayser Ford was amazing.  They would wash my car before returning it every time it went in for service.  If it was in more than a day the car would come back with a full tank of gas.  So I bought two Mustang GTs from them.  Maybe they spoiled me.  Barrie Ford said they don't do this.  But after spending a pile of cash on a performance car shouldn't we expect them to?

Being completely honest when I walked up to my RS and saw what a mess it was I shook my head but moved on with it.  It was disappointing but I was fine.  It was the phone call from Barrie Ford, not to apologize but to insist I change my review that pushed me over the edge.  That was when I was done with them.

Barrie Ford Really Disappointed Me

UPDATE:  This morning I received a message from Barrie Ford about my negative service review and it succeeded to make me more upset than I was.  It was from service guy Brian.  Brian was very upset not that I had a bad experience but that my review reflects badly on him.  Brian said, "I wasn't there when you picked up your car but I'm in charge of your service ticket so it reflects on me." 

The survey I received wasn't asking, "How did Brian do?" The survey asked, "How did Barrie Ford do?" If Brian is in charge of my service ticket then Barrie Ford must expect Brian to make it right either by calling the customer and apologizing &/or talking to the people that were there when I picked up my car and explaining they screwed up.  Brian should NOT be calling me up as if I did something wrong by giving a bad review.

I'm not asking for money back. I'm not asking for something free.  I'm just asking for Barrie Ford admit their fault and say they are sorry.  I'm not an elitist, I don't expect the dealer to kiss my butt when I come to visit because I have performance cars.  I just want them to care for the cars as much as I do.  I want to get my car back and have a feeling it was well looked after.  I did not feel this way when I picked up my car.  I felt like I was another person they needed to get out the door.

Last Wednesday I took my Focus RS into the Barrie Ford dealership because of the head gasket recall.  Barrie isn't close to where I live, it's about an hour from my home and several hours from my work. They had to do a pressure test and kept it overnight.  In the morning informed me that it failed the test and needed the head gasket replaced.  They offered a rental car but I said I’d just drive my Shelby.  Monday afternoon I received a call that it was ready for pickup  So they had the car 6 days.

I arrived Tuesday afternoon and when they brought the car around it was a mess, covered in dirt, water spots, and bird poop.  It also didn’t have a full tank of gas.  What they hell?  Where is the customer service?  I take my car in for a recall so something Ford screwed up.  I don’t use the rental service so saving them money and they don’t even wash off the bird poop??

Mechanically it seems sort of okay.  However since I got it back it seems to sputter a lot when you first start it until the revs drop.  We'll see if that develops into something bad.  Also I asked, "The head gasket change required they change the oil didn't it?" The guy said, "I dunno." "Well is there anything I need to watch out for or should a take it easy for a few miles?" He said, "I don't know. I didn't work on it."  WTF???

Barrie Ford is the only SVT dealership in my area so I suppose they suck up more to the higher paying customers but I bought the high priced Focus RS from them and I have a Shelby GT500 that I might want to trade for another someday.  But after this experience I REALLY don’t know if I will be returning to buy from them.

The GT500 has an airbag recall to fulfill and I haven’t decided if I’m going to take it there or not.  On the one hand it costs them money for free fixes so that’s nice but do I want them touching my Shelby??

My girlfriend has a 2014 Mitsubishi Outlander and her dealership in Newmarket is really awful.  They talk down to her, talk her into doing unnecessary repairs, tell her they fixed something when they didn't, etc but even they always wash her car when they give it back.  lol

Newmarket Mitsubishi is The Worst Kind of Dealership

UPDATE: After posting this article I was contacted by the dealership's manager.  He feigned concern and claimed he wanted to help but they still have done nothing.

Sometimes when you buy a car you get a dud.  Sometimes when you buy a car you get a dealership that's a dud.  If you’re really unlucky you get a dealership and a car that's a dud.  This is what my girlfriend was unlucky enough to receive when she bought a new 2014 Mitsubishi Outlander from Newmarket Mitsubishi.

When we went out to look for a new car I stressed to her that we should look around at several cars before settling on something.  The first dealership we went to was Newmarket Mitsubishi and the first car we checked out was the 2014 Outlander.  When I saw the car I was instantly ready to keep looking because I’m sorry but that car is UGLY!  She however loved the 7 passenger seating, all the nanny controls, and the 0% financing Mitsubishi was offering.  Paolo the salesman seemed a little sleazy to me but aren’t most car salesmen?  So needless to say she came home with a 2014 Outlander.

When she left they gave her two key fobs.  One was a regular key fob and the other was a key fob with remote start.  I asked her, “Did they give you a second fob that I could carry?”  So we tried to get the car to work with just the remote start fob and it would not work, insisting that the other key be present.  So the two key fobs wouldn't work when separated?  Well one would work independently the other with the remote start would not.  It was like a completely different fob just for remote starts and nothing else.  What sense does this make?  So she called and they said, “Oh so sorry I could have sworn we gave it to you two that worked separately.  We we'll get you one.”  Great!

A second problem was that often when you remote start the car and then get out there and put it in drive it would die.  Then you have to put it back in park and start it again and it would be fine.  After a service appointment the problem still happens.

Now most recently the auto hatch no longer goes up and down but instead just beeps at you and waits for you to do it manually.  So for me the build quality for that car is bad.  It seems that Mitsubishi really can’t handle long term use of fancy and unnecessary electronics. 

So now talking about the dealership.  As I said above she called Newmarket Mitsubishi and asked for a second key fob for the car.  Weeks later still no key, months later, still no key.  She finally decided that she should resort to calling almost daily and rather than helping her they ignored her calls and just wouldn’t answer.  To test this she called on her phone and it would ring and ring forever.  Then she reached over and tried a company phone with a different caller ID and they answered instantly.  I was shocked to hear they actually refused to take her calls.  What kind of business does this?  You sell a car and then kick the customer in the ass and hope to never see them again?  I’ve heard of this asshole service from dealers when the person has a used car but never when it’s a new car is still under warranty.  What kind of bullshit is this?

So currently we still don’t have the correct key fob and the automatic hatch lid is still broken.  I would strongly discourage anyone from buying a Mitsubishi and even more strongly discourage them from buying it from Newmarket Mitsubishi 301 Mulock Dr. Newmarket.