Bodywork out of alignment

[cianpars]

Puma has had a rattle from the passenger door since new and I noticed that it stands about 1mm proud of the rear door.  I thought it was just a case of tightening it. Trustford looked at it (whilst they were disconnecting my dashcam and generally making the car dirty, inside and out) and said that the bodywork is out of alignment and it needs to go to a Ford bodyshop 30 miles away as it can't be fixed in their workshop.

I enquired as to how this could be on a brand new car and they were unable to provide an answer.

Since the weather has got cooler, it doesn't seem to rattle quite as much as when it was warm, but it is still quite annoying.

How unusual is this, what do you think the reason is and should I accept their lack of an explanation together with a 60 mile drive at my own expense and wasting my own time?

[jimmy999]

My puma is obviously out of alignment on the driver's side. I have pictures which I have sent to ford. They are not interested. I've been trying since June to get it fixed. My problem started off opening the back door striking the driver's door. Always in hot weather. I have always seen the driver's door trim lower by a couple of mm than the back door. The driver's door protrudes as well. The underside of the two door are not aligned. My dealer is retail only so doesn't have a bodyshop. Nearest body repair shop to me is 102 mls away. Despite a non urgent recall going out for st lines for this problem it didn't include the st line X vignale which I have. Also I have been told by my dealer it was only for a 6 week build date which was completed on 6.6.20. my build date was 25.7.20. The biggest problem is the staff you are dealing with at ford, while polite, are not fit for purpose. They have even tried to tell not to open the back door in hot weather when it was happening. I have a post under 'expanding door trim' but I've had so much contact with ford and getting nowhere I've not updated it as I would never be finished.

[cianpars]

Blimey Jim, I was pretty disgusted by Trustford's response to my complaint, but yours seems much worse. Mine (like yours) is a lot better in cooler weather, so I doubt it will be an issue for the next few months. What will be a problem is when my Wombat battery won't last the winter as it's never registered more than 11.6 volts in the engineering menu.

I still think that the door lock just needs to be tightened a fraction and may just end up doing it myself rather than waste any more time and aggro over it

[jimmy999]

Update. After 4 and a half months of inaction by Ford Customer Relationship Centre I complained to the executives office. Very nice lady took on the case and within 8 days the car was in a bodyshop suggested by my retail dealer and I. We asked at the very start to do this. The doors have been realigned and the hot weather replicated. So far so good. Actually things are looking good. Got another car while my puma was away. Long drive when I picked up the car. No rattles anywhere but to be fair never did have any rattles since purchase. The executive office couldn't do enough for me. Kept informed either by phone or email. A satisfactory result for me.

[kevmond]

Update. After 4 and a half months of inaction by Ford Customer Relationship Centre I complained to the executives office. Very nice lady took on the case and within 8 days the car was in a bodyshop suggested by my retail dealer and I. We asked at the very start to do this. The doors have been realigned and the hot weather replicated. So far so good. Actually things are looking good. Got another car while my puma was away. Long drive when I picked up the car. No rattles anywhere but to be fair never did have any rattles since purchase. The executive office couldn't do enough for me. Kept informed either by phone or email. A satisfactory result for me.

Blimey, should it really take complaint to higher powers to get issues resolved!??

I had a call from the service manager following my visit(s) & he asked why I gave such poor feedback following my visit(s)
He asked if they could have it back a third time to attempt a resolve, I explained that if it were a best of three they'd already failed & should it be best of 5 then they had one more chance.

I declined his offer and have resolved my own niggles, although the one thing they did address (New door trim to resolve a vibration/rattle with radio) has since returned...

[jimmy999]

My problem happened because, believe it or not Ford don't have an approved body shop either open or able to replicate the problem near to me. The nearest was a minimum 135mls away. Reports about this garage and their work was not glowing. The ford customer relationship centre kept phoning every week just to tell me they were no further forward. Nobody could decide if the problem with the doors were 'engineering' or 'bodybuilders'. My retail only dealer and I suggested a non approved body shop with the owner having around 40 yrs. experience under his belt only 40mls away from me. I would still be no further forward if left to cust. rel. centre. It was that or hit them with bad press. When the exec office saw the videos I sent them they were shocked at the door problem. Despite all that the car performs very well.