AT MY AGE I AM NOT EASILY SURPRISED BUT EASTERN CAPE MOTORS IN NELSON MANDELA BAY SURPRISED ME.

On Monday 10 May 2021, while driving from Venterstad to Burgersdorp my wife’s Ford Focus lost all power. We managed to drive very slowly to Burgersdorp and stopped at Kimjer motors.

There was smoke coming from the engine. The problem was a broken connection to the pump assy vacuum. The smoke was due to oil that had leaked onto the hot engine block.

The mechanic who examined the vehicle at Kimjer motors told us that the connection had been glued back at some stage and it had now come apart. That was the reason why the turbo charger stopped working and thus the total lack of power. He placed a ***** in the gap left by the broken connector to stop the oil leaking out but could not help us further.

The closest Ford agent is Aliwal Auto in Aliwal North.

I took some pictures of the damaged connection and emailed them to Aliwal Auto, got a quote for the repair (R 7911.82) and paid the requested 50% deposit to order the parts. When we dropped the Ford Focus at Aliwal Auto ten days later, we were once again told that the connection did not break. It had been glued and it had come loose.

Since we bought the car in June 2015, the only people who worked on this vehicle until we had this break down, were Eastern Cape Motors mechanics. I know that neither my wife nor I glued the connector.

The car had been into Eastern Cape Motors in November 2020 to have a new catalytic converter fitted.

On the 25th of May 2021, I sent an email to Ms Anoesjka Jordaan, service advisor at Eastern Cape Motors. In the email, I explained what happened and asked her to pose the following question to the mechanic/s who had worked on the car in November 2020:

“Which one of you broke the pipe connection to the pump assy vacuum unit and then glued it back instead of replacing the unit?”

Ms Jordaan rep**** to my email on the same day. “We apologize for the inconvenience caused with the failing to mention or addressing of the broken part this is not how we do business and we will address this with our workshop.”

The following day, I received an email from Ms Jordaan asking for the Aliwal Auto invoice as well as our banking details.

This morning, the full costs of the repair and the out-of-pocket expenses incurred by us due to extra travelling fuel was deposited into our account. No fuss, no affidavits, no further drama!

Ms Anoesjka Jordaan has totally restored our confidence in Eastern Cape Motors. We were ready to trade in the Ford Focus on a new non-Ford product.

Ms Jordaan took our word for the incident and followed up on her promise. She speedily processed the complaint and restored our faith in what it means to look after the customer.

She deserves the Ford Employer of the Year award.