I took my Ford Focus to this garage soon after I moved to York in late 2009, believing I would be able to trust them since they are Ford main dealers. I was willing to pay the extra that comes with going to a main dealers. However, the service I received was appalling.
I took my car in as it was making an unpleasant rattling sound and also asked them to check out my key as the remote locking was not working. The next day I received a phone call at work telling me that the repairs to my car would cost £1300 - seeing as the car was not worth much more than this they were effectively telling me it was virtually a write off. I was obviously distressed!
When I went in to discuss it with them, they 'generously' offered to reduce the price to £1100 by using some non-Ford parts. They then tried to sell me a new car, saying I sure take advantage of the government scrappage scheme at the time. I said I would have to think about it. The rattle, the original reason I brought my car in, turned out to be a loose heatshield which thye fixed back on (a 10 minutes job I have subsequently been told). I was then presented with a bill of over £70 for a full inspection and test of my car - something I had never asked for and did not want - and claimed this was standard practise for all customers. This had certainly never been mentioned and I would have refused - it turns out this is how they managed to find all the repairs that my car needed. Being so rattled by the whole experience I just paid the bill and got out of there as quickly as I could.
I then got a recommendation for a local garage froma friend, and I showed them the assessment of my car that Stoneacre had made. They literally laughed at it and did the necessary work for less than £250. My back suspension - which apparently needed to be replaced - was slightly worn but perfectly servicable they said. In the 15 months between then and this review, NONE of the things that Stoneacre said needed replacing have gone wrong or have needed to be replaced. The car has been MOT'd and serviced twice since then.
The reason I am writing this now is that I thought I would have a shot at fixing my remote locking myself. Turns out a lot of people on the internet have had the same problem - the solution is to turn the key in the ignition four times and then press a button to reprogram it. That is it - my key works perfectly. This takes 10 seconds and Stoneacre attempted to charge me £70 for this. ANY ford mechanic worth his salt must have known about this solution but did not even attempt this 10 second job in the hope I would cough up £70.
I cannot advice people enough against going to this garage. My biggest regret is meekly paying them £70 for something I did not ask for, did not want and that was completely unnecessary. read more
