Cowboys to avoid
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You might be interested in a letter I have just sent.
Dear
Re My Range Rover
I thought I would write to give you some feedback. My car came to you in July to have 6 items addressed. They are as copied from my original letter in bold with what subsequently occurred beneath;
1) the six monthly service is due
• This was apparently done although the service record book was not stamped.
2) it needs an MOT
• This was done as requested.
3) the previous repair to the passenger side rear wing done under *******has small areas of paint coming away. This was looked at when you last had the car and you were due to check up on the quality of the work. When I last spoke to you, you said it might need re lacquering?
• This has again been ignored completely. I have had no further information on this.
4) the drivers side rear quarter has also been scratched and needs repairing
• You rang me with a quote of £1,000 for this repair. Considering the damage consisted of just 4 deep scratches I thought this excessive. You might be interested to know that my local bodyshop (insurance company recognised) has just done a wholly professional repair indistinguishable from new for precisely 1/10th of that cost - £100 including acid etch primer.
5) the car tends to “sit down” on its rear suspension when left for more than a few hours. Its fine when driving or with the engine running. It is variable, sometimes it seems to do it and others not.
• You informed me that after “investigating the problem” I needed a new compressor or a new valve block or both. You quoted almost £2,000 for parts and labour. I decided this was too much. Subsequently I “investigated” it myself and found just a bit of a clue in the loud hissing noise coming from the rear drivers side suspension, guess what it’s a leaking rear suspension air bag. These are mandatory renewals at the 100,000 mile service, as my car is a low mileage one I suppose your service crews hadn’t thought ahead that by the usual norms my car would be due the 100K service. The rear suspension bags were both badly perished. I am interested as to how your thorough “investigation” of my reporting of my car “sit(sic) down” on its rear suspension”could have missed this? I have since replaced both rear air bags myself and the problem is solved. Total cost £340 plus 2 hours of my time.
6) you are going to supply and fit a removable tow hook that is wired for single use.
• This was completely ignored and not done.
You also reported that the steering rod ball joints were worn and needed replacing. I can confirm that there is a new steering rod with new ball joints on my car but I know not whether the originals were indeed worn.
Further more you told me the brake pads were worn and needed replacing. I did this myself whilst replacing the suspension bags and found contrary to your report that in fact all the pads on all four wheels had at least ¼ inch of material left. The new pads cost me £144 plus 1 hour of my time to fit.
When the car was returned – perhaps I should now point out that you had it for a full 2 weeks whilst I was abroad plus a further week after I had returned, 3 weeks in total, I found the front passenger footwell filled with a water bottle, a long reach Philips screwdriver, one of your “We’ve cleaned and checked your car before we return it” cards that you normally hang on the rear view mirror, a diagnostic electrical harness and two suspension ride height control modules. The plastic seat trim was lying loose in the footwell along with the plastic retaining rivets and a third ride suspension height control module was lying loose under the passenger seat but thankfully plugged into the wiring loom. The relay that sits to the left of the module was also left loose and unfixed. Rather than “sitting down” at the rear the car was now doing the same but at the front. I’ve since replaced all the loose trim and have fitted what appears to be the newest of the suspension ride height modules (and the rear air bags) and she now rides perfectly.
Unfortunately when she was returned I needed her for that Sunday to take important clients to Glyndebourne. I had had to arrange to take other clients to West Green House the weekend before in another car. I rang and spoke to a person called George. I was pretty angry by this time. He was very helpful and kept me informed with what was happening. I demanded an alternative car and he agreed to try to supply one. As it happened I effected the repairs myself and did not need the alternative car. George then said he would contact me to arrange to collect my car to carry out all the remaining work. He never did.
But it gets even better; last Tuesday the car developed a strange ticking noise from the front of the engine compartment. It got progressively worse over 2 days despite my not being able to discern any
obvious cause. Eventually I had a thorough look around and found and was able to extract a 17 inch rubber hose with two cirlclips that was embedded between the fan and the radiator. It appears to be a heater hose. It is not from my car. It has damaged both the fan and the radiator although both still function.
I have been a customer of ******* for more than 10 years. This is my second Range Rover from your site. I have been a loyal customer because the service I have had from ****** has been usually exemplary, not always but more often than not.
My experience from the above, where you have completely ignored work requested, failed to properly complete work requested, failed to diagnose the cause of problems, given false and misleading advice, suggested work that was unnecessary, quoted for repairs that were inflated by 1000% and finally returned my car part disassembled and with foreign and loose parts embedded in areas where they could have caused catastrophic failures, you will understand is a little different. Needless to say I shall never approach your organisation again and will do my utmost to make sure that other Landrover owners are warned of your company’s slapdash shoddy and incompetent practice.
I shall keep the items referred to above as proof of the content of this letter for 6 weeks after which I will consider the two suspension ride height modules and the long reach screwdriver to be mine and I will dispose of the other items.
Yours sincerely
Paul Cundy
>>> Edited by JSG on Tuesday 24th August 10:27
Dear
Re My Range Rover
I thought I would write to give you some feedback. My car came to you in July to have 6 items addressed. They are as copied from my original letter in bold with what subsequently occurred beneath;
1) the six monthly service is due
• This was apparently done although the service record book was not stamped.
2) it needs an MOT
• This was done as requested.
3) the previous repair to the passenger side rear wing done under *******has small areas of paint coming away. This was looked at when you last had the car and you were due to check up on the quality of the work. When I last spoke to you, you said it might need re lacquering?
• This has again been ignored completely. I have had no further information on this.
4) the drivers side rear quarter has also been scratched and needs repairing
• You rang me with a quote of £1,000 for this repair. Considering the damage consisted of just 4 deep scratches I thought this excessive. You might be interested to know that my local bodyshop (insurance company recognised) has just done a wholly professional repair indistinguishable from new for precisely 1/10th of that cost - £100 including acid etch primer.
5) the car tends to “sit down” on its rear suspension when left for more than a few hours. Its fine when driving or with the engine running. It is variable, sometimes it seems to do it and others not.
• You informed me that after “investigating the problem” I needed a new compressor or a new valve block or both. You quoted almost £2,000 for parts and labour. I decided this was too much. Subsequently I “investigated” it myself and found just a bit of a clue in the loud hissing noise coming from the rear drivers side suspension, guess what it’s a leaking rear suspension air bag. These are mandatory renewals at the 100,000 mile service, as my car is a low mileage one I suppose your service crews hadn’t thought ahead that by the usual norms my car would be due the 100K service. The rear suspension bags were both badly perished. I am interested as to how your thorough “investigation” of my reporting of my car “sit(sic) down” on its rear suspension”could have missed this? I have since replaced both rear air bags myself and the problem is solved. Total cost £340 plus 2 hours of my time.
6) you are going to supply and fit a removable tow hook that is wired for single use.
• This was completely ignored and not done.
You also reported that the steering rod ball joints were worn and needed replacing. I can confirm that there is a new steering rod with new ball joints on my car but I know not whether the originals were indeed worn.
Further more you told me the brake pads were worn and needed replacing. I did this myself whilst replacing the suspension bags and found contrary to your report that in fact all the pads on all four wheels had at least ¼ inch of material left. The new pads cost me £144 plus 1 hour of my time to fit.
When the car was returned – perhaps I should now point out that you had it for a full 2 weeks whilst I was abroad plus a further week after I had returned, 3 weeks in total, I found the front passenger footwell filled with a water bottle, a long reach Philips screwdriver, one of your “We’ve cleaned and checked your car before we return it” cards that you normally hang on the rear view mirror, a diagnostic electrical harness and two suspension ride height control modules. The plastic seat trim was lying loose in the footwell along with the plastic retaining rivets and a third ride suspension height control module was lying loose under the passenger seat but thankfully plugged into the wiring loom. The relay that sits to the left of the module was also left loose and unfixed. Rather than “sitting down” at the rear the car was now doing the same but at the front. I’ve since replaced all the loose trim and have fitted what appears to be the newest of the suspension ride height modules (and the rear air bags) and she now rides perfectly.
Unfortunately when she was returned I needed her for that Sunday to take important clients to Glyndebourne. I had had to arrange to take other clients to West Green House the weekend before in another car. I rang and spoke to a person called George. I was pretty angry by this time. He was very helpful and kept me informed with what was happening. I demanded an alternative car and he agreed to try to supply one. As it happened I effected the repairs myself and did not need the alternative car. George then said he would contact me to arrange to collect my car to carry out all the remaining work. He never did.
But it gets even better; last Tuesday the car developed a strange ticking noise from the front of the engine compartment. It got progressively worse over 2 days despite my not being able to discern any
obvious cause. Eventually I had a thorough look around and found and was able to extract a 17 inch rubber hose with two cirlclips that was embedded between the fan and the radiator. It appears to be a heater hose. It is not from my car. It has damaged both the fan and the radiator although both still function.
I have been a customer of ******* for more than 10 years. This is my second Range Rover from your site. I have been a loyal customer because the service I have had from ****** has been usually exemplary, not always but more often than not.
My experience from the above, where you have completely ignored work requested, failed to properly complete work requested, failed to diagnose the cause of problems, given false and misleading advice, suggested work that was unnecessary, quoted for repairs that were inflated by 1000% and finally returned my car part disassembled and with foreign and loose parts embedded in areas where they could have caused catastrophic failures, you will understand is a little different. Needless to say I shall never approach your organisation again and will do my utmost to make sure that other Landrover owners are warned of your company’s slapdash shoddy and incompetent practice.
I shall keep the items referred to above as proof of the content of this letter for 6 weeks after which I will consider the two suspension ride height modules and the long reach screwdriver to be mine and I will dispose of the other items.
Yours sincerely
Paul Cundy
>>> Edited by JSG on Tuesday 24th August 10:27
Good show.
I think that LR dealers are half the problem why people think they are reliable. The last gaff mine made was to advise that head gasket failure was about to happen any second and £1100 would see it right. 5000 miles later and no problem.
I had a ballsace of a job a year or so ago, which ended with me writing to the Dealer Principal, the MD of the reatailing group and the MD of LR.
Problems all solved within 36 hours after that.
I think that LR dealers are half the problem why people think they are reliable. The last gaff mine made was to advise that head gasket failure was about to happen any second and £1100 would see it right. 5000 miles later and no problem.
I had a ballsace of a job a year or so ago, which ended with me writing to the Dealer Principal, the MD of the reatailing group and the MD of LR.
Problems all solved within 36 hours after that.
This fits in with the standards I have now come to expect from the service and maintenance department at my local LR dealer i.e. it won't be done right first time and I will have to micro-manage a resolution to the standards I expect.
Each time I ensure that I make a fuss and thankfully, we have a salesman who is normally as concerned as I am and ensures we are looked after.
It's only the warranty that keeps me going back.....
Keep us up to date on how they manage the situation.
Each time I ensure that I make a fuss and thankfully, we have a salesman who is normally as concerned as I am and ensures we are looked after.
It's only the warranty that keeps me going back.....
Keep us up to date on how they manage the situation.
Good for you!
Sadly it's not just Land Rover. I had a very similar story with my local Mercedes dealer. To cap it all they suggested I needed to bring the car in for a couple of days to have the propshaft stripped down to cure a rattle. Unfortunately, for them, the local YTS lad at my independent Mercedes garage fixed it for free in less than two minutes. A heat shield had come loose under the car. I'm afraid I rang the service manager up, b*ll*cked him, and said I would never take my car to any of their franchises again.
Sadly it's not just Land Rover. I had a very similar story with my local Mercedes dealer. To cap it all they suggested I needed to bring the car in for a couple of days to have the propshaft stripped down to cure a rattle. Unfortunately, for them, the local YTS lad at my independent Mercedes garage fixed it for free in less than two minutes. A heat shield had come loose under the car. I'm afraid I rang the service manager up, b*ll*cked him, and said I would never take my car to any of their franchises again.
I think that this is prevalent in the industry these days.
Dealerships have technicians that work for them
Independant garages have mechanics. There is a world of difference between the two??
Modern car dealers are often employers of persons who have served an NVQ or similar who are very good at plugging a car into a diagnostic computer and then replacing the part the computer says is broken.
A mechanic can strip an engine, diagnose faults and re-build.
They are the ones that get oily.
It is a sad fact that most people only go to a dealer these days for a service history to be stamped on the book. The law has changed now and any independant using gen parts can stamp the book without invalidating warranty.
Dealers in general are charging a fortune for changing the oil.
Ill stick with the proper mechanics.
Neil.
Dealerships have technicians that work for them
Independant garages have mechanics. There is a world of difference between the two??
Modern car dealers are often employers of persons who have served an NVQ or similar who are very good at plugging a car into a diagnostic computer and then replacing the part the computer says is broken.
A mechanic can strip an engine, diagnose faults and re-build.
They are the ones that get oily.
It is a sad fact that most people only go to a dealer these days for a service history to be stamped on the book. The law has changed now and any independant using gen parts can stamp the book without invalidating warranty.
Dealers in general are charging a fortune for changing the oil.
Ill stick with the proper mechanics.
Neil.
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