In 2019 my then 75 year old father bought a family car a Ford SMAX (used) it had 19,000 miles on the clock. Upon the test drive of the vehicle the car Juddered slightly and when we asked why the sales guy Trevor informed us it was due to the fact the vehicle had been stood for a while. (We now know why this happened) 6 weeks after purchase the gear box failed. As the car was under warranty it was “fixed“ we was told a brand new gear box was put in Trevor told us it was a 24 month guarantee (another lie told us by Paynes) In January this year 16 months after the gear box was replaced it failed again. We had no use of the car since February as it was un drivable . PAYNES are a main Ford dealership. I called them in February they wernt interested in dealing with the issue and told me to call Ford. After asking to talk to the manger I was told on numerous occasions he was unavailable a reoccurring issue throughout this complaint. I asked for the number for Ford and was told they didn’t have it if have to google it. As the car was on finance I got intouch with the finance company who took on the complaint. My father asked me to deal with the complaint on his behalf as it was causing an impact on his health with the stress of having to battle with Paynes they were so rude and unhelpful. Daniel the sales manager of Paynes has said on a conversation “well why are we talking to you not your dad can he not speak for himself?” As my father is now 76 he is vulnerable. On several occasions we were told that people were unavailable and not once got called by anyone on their team promises of phone calls that never happened. We had been asked to submit an independent report which we did from Driver Transmissions (requested by the finance company) Driver Transmissions told us that the Ford SMAX were renowned for dual clutch/ gear box failure. The finance company had an independent investigation done on the car by DEKRA on that report it stated. The car had actually had a new gear box put in at 8,500 miles (which wasn’t declared on sale to us or any service history or documentation or anything given to us at point of sale) and then a “RECONDITIONED gear box was added” in 2019 6 weeks after our purchase and we was told it was a new one. The car wasn’t fixed on the first opportunity for the garage to fix the issue. So Paynes had lied about the new gear box infact it was a reconditioned gear box and wasn’t brand new and also took information out of the service and documentation history of the car. After 15 weeks of fighting with Paynes they tried every under hand tactic in the book. Paynes said our investigation wasn’t enough, the independent investigation done by Dekra requested by the finance company wasn’t enough, they would need the car to do a Ford investigation. On their own finding it mirrored what had been said in the last 2 reports. It was then said that they would unwind the agreement on the vehicle if they charged us 45p per mile which was over £6000 for usage! (Even though we pay finance on the car)or they would fix the gear box if we paid half (this would be the cars 4th gear box and only done 34,500 miles) they then said that there was significant damage on the car there wasn’t. They wanted to charge for damage too. They have said they are seeking legal counsel against us. Bearing in mind all reports stated that it wasn’t fix properly an the fix had failed. They misold the car fraudulently by withholding information regarding the vehicle. Then tried everything to bully my dad into not Pursuing rejection by making it as difficult as possible. Lying about “significant damage“ on the vehicle when the car wasn’t sold as new it wasn’t in perfect condition when it was sold to us an there was no more damage on the vehicle than after purchase. Paynes also failed to prove evidence of any of this to the finance company or provide proof that the vehicle had anymore damage on it than the condition it was sold to us at. Paynes still have possession of the vehicle to this day I’ve had to pay monthly instalments and all the other costs such as insurance and tax. Fortunately the finance company have rejected the vehicle now as Paynes still continue to drag their feet. They are more like dodgy backstreet dealers than a reputable Ford Dealership AVOID at all costs! The only decent person was the poor lad Ollie that worked in the sales office as a messenger for the highly un professional Daniel who clearly wouldn’t take our calls he was always busy and rude to me every time we spoke. This matter has been escalated further within Ford thankfully the Financial Ombudsman are now involved along with trading standards.