dealer honesty

Hi all,
my first time to the forum and new to the world of 4x4s, bought my first Discovery 1 from a genuine Landrover dealer only 2 weeks ago. its a P REG 96 with 92k on the clock, manual with air con and is in generally good condition, the service book has all pages stamped. its already back with them to sort out a leak and other minor probs. My idea was if i bought it from a Landrover dealer that it would be in good condition ready to sell, they offered it up with 3 months warranty, service and cam belt change,

My Q is how can i be sure the dealer has really changed the cam belt or just ticked the box in the service book, i paid £4995. i now know that was probalby to much but i jumped in feet first

Any advice for a noobee would be appriciated as i love the Disco and want to feel confident about this cam belt issue

Thanks Jay Kay

You can probably guess the answer to your question - only way to find out it to have a look and that requires a bit of spannering. But then if you do take things apart to have a look the dealer might not honour the warrenty if you have the need to take it back - you could just trust them?

Look for new sealant where the metal cover goes over the cam belt. That's what I'd look for on my 200tdi anyway...

thanks all , ill try and have a look for that sealent

The words "dealer" and "honesty" don't go together very often in my experience.

don't get me started about dealers, particualy franchise 1'sof the BMW flavour

yes you sure got that right, i was trying to avoid the usaul
Arthur Daley type car dealer which is why i went to a LR specialist hoping that by paying a top price (4995) for a 96 Discovery TDI-S that i could have got from ebay for 30% less i would be getting a well prepaired Disco, how wrong i was, the list is endless, leaking, rott, switches, damp, engine stuttering.

Biggest mistake of my life, the only good point is the 3 month warranty which i will use to the bitter end. Dont get me wrong i have no probs with the Disco its a nice brute (never owned one before) but the thing has been sat in there garage for 4 days without so much as a spanner on it.

If i hadent of shouted at them today nothing would have been done, there policy is `We pride ourselves on the preperation of our vehecles regardless of age` i should have bought one for 3000 grand off ebay and kept the other 2000 in the bank for repairs.

Im a bit upset to say the least

Jay Kay

It's the main dealers that are the worst imo. My missus had no end of trouble with our local Vauxhall fraudsters and I know loads of other peeps who've had the **** taken. The smaller independants should be better as they rely heavily on word of mouth so ripping people off is bad for business. Our nearest LR main dealer treated me and me lad like we were there to steal something last time we went in so bollocks to them too

your inconvenience is the last thing on their minds. Each time you take it in
to them they will probabley keep it for a week. So you will more than likely
stop taking it back. Job done they say, got rid of him. I used to work for a
bent garage who employed these tactics. Hope your experience is a better
one, good luck, Beni.

Bought the wife a new Focus in '02 from the local Fraud dealers. When we collected the car, I noticed there were no rubbers on the pedal, so I brought it to the attention of the sales staff who informed me that 'they were no fitted to every model'
'Bo11ocks' I said, first off it's the ghia, top of the range, and second of all thats an immediate MOT failure. Now realizing I'm in the trade, he runs round like a headless chicken to get the service manager, by which time, the bonnets up and I'm poking around.
I then ask him what kind of canteen PDI was done on this car, the power steering is over full, there's little or no water in the washers, pedal rubbers are missing and sod all's been entered into the service records, and unless things were put right and we were compensated for the inconvenience, they could stick the car up their ar5e.
We ended up with a refund on the road tax, pdi and No plate charges, and a years extended warrenty (probably not worth the paper it was written on going from their standards).
Even on the servicing they were ****e. They told us they had found the tracking was out on one service, funny that I told them this when we dropped it off, and duly charged us for re-tracking. Steering was just as far out when we picked it up as when we dropped it off. They than had the gaul to argue that they had done the work, until I asked the workshop controller how you adjust the tracking without touching the track rod ends as there wasn't a mark on them. Refund then given.
Now it's out of warrenty, I wouldn't let those losers change a light bulb.

Main dealers? keep 'em.

Rob.

Volvo Truck & Bus Ltd.

How about this one on a fraud dealership.

My wife took her 03 focus in for a service and MOT and when it was dropped off she told them that the ABS light would intermittently go on and off and would they take a look.

They phoned two days later to state they the car was ready it had passed MOT and service complete it was late in the afternoon so my wife said she would pick it up the next day.

The next day she received a phone call from Frauds saying that there was a problem with the car as the had gone to move the car to another car park and the ABS light had come on and they wanted to charge £100.00 + vat to do the diagnostic. Needless to say wife calls me.

I "discuss" matter with Ford who state that this is the correct prioce for a diagnostic as unlike the RAC's system on a laptop the Ford one requires manual intervention by the technician at which point I point out that I wish to see a list of codes from the diagnostic so that I may check them. I am greeted with a silence and then an agreement they would write them down for me. When Fords then called my wife later they said that they had waived the fee for the diagnostic (Surprise Surprise). Especially as they said they could not fin a problem in the first place when we told them.

If you want to know the definition of Fords "Manual Intervention" on a diagnostic here it is Ford Focus ST170 > Useful to Know under Ford Diagnostic Mode plus if you want them all the codes as well. And they want £100 + vat for that . Thieving Gits

Got to love the internet though for info like this.

Hi all,
my problem is now getting worse so can anyone with dealership experience help me with some advice. ive taken my Disco to a independent gararge and it has been pointed out that the diff is leaking oil, the repair the dealer did to the side sunroof is a bad job and letting in water, the entire floors front and back are soaked through carpets and sponges and there is rott down both front floors, does anyone know what the legal standing is on asking for a refund from the dealer, he keeps saying he will put it all right next week.

When i first enquired about the Disco i asked if the bootfloor was good (which it is, fair enough) but in order for the salemen to check the floor he would have needed to lift the carpets so why didnt he spot the soaked floor.

theres no doubt ive been ripped off, just where do i go from here,

Any advice i would be gratefull, i will still buy another Disco, fantastic drive

Thanks

Jay Kay

see trading standards or the CAB - usually very helpfull

jay kay said:

Hi all,
my problem is now getting worse so can anyone with dealership experience help me with some advice. ive taken my Disco to a independent gararge and it has been pointed out that the diff is leaking oil, the repair the dealer did to the side sunroof is a bad job and letting in water, the entire floors front and back are soaked through carpets and sponges and there is rott down both front floors, does anyone know what the legal standing is on asking for a refund from the dealer, he keeps saying he will put it all right next week.

When i first enquired about the Disco i asked if the bootfloor was good (which it is, fair enough) but in order for the salemen to check the floor he would have needed to lift the carpets so why didnt he spot the soaked floor.

theres no doubt ive been ripped off, just where do i go from here,

Any advice i would be gratefull, i will still buy another Disco, fantastic drive

Thanks

Jay Kay

Click to expand...

Has the independent garage supplied you a written report of the findings you have listed if not you will need one. This may or may not be a sticking point as they sometimes back off if they think there may be a court case.

Then as mad hat man has said CAB or Trading Standards.

thank you for the replys

Yes i have a written report from the independent garage listing the faults, as i understand it will be difficult to get a refund if the dealer is doing all he can to put the problems right, but i am unsure what is classed as a reasonable time for them to have it and carry out repairs as i have no transport without it and need the Disco for work. they have already had it 4 days and in that time only managed to repair the rear door latch from sticking before giving it back to me.

He say if he has it next monday until friday lunchtime he will sort all problems out but it seems like a lot of work to sort out the following

1 reversing lights dont come on
2 Diff oil leak
3 rotting needs welding on floors near both front doors
4 O/S outer box section needs welding
5 re-repair bad job of rear top window to stop leaking
6 back door speakers completly rotted and perished
7 front floors completly soaked (bad smell as well)
8 rear bootfloor completly soaked
9 engine misses between 2 & 3000 revs
10 steering damper rusted

Can any on you Landrover experts tell me if all the above can be done in 4 days please

I wonder why a dealer wouldnt make good the list of problems before selling the vehicle ? this Disco was sold with bonafide new MOT

He says the Disco was being sold for `one of his customers` but it was sited on the dealers forcourt and advertised on his website, also the warranrty is from the dealer and the dealer took my cash,

Does anyone know if i can push for part of the cash back from the dealer as this Disco has clearly been grossly overpriced, is that something that could happen ?

Thank you all for the replys

Jay Kay

go to the CAB - a quick phone call from them and i bet yu get a courtesy car and its done bloody quick

Hi
You mentioned that the car came with a full MOT when purchased, unfortunately some garages have "arrangements" when it comes to MOT so get tickets on cars that shouldnt have them. I would get confirmation of wether the welding problems are MOT failures, if they are may i suggest a quiet chat about how the MOT came into existence, especially effective if the dealer has their own MOT facility.Also i think there is a rule that a dealer cannot sell a vehicle with known or inherent problems, check all the paperwork if it has service history for evidence of problems and tackle it this way.The fact that the speakers are rotten would be good evidence of an inherent problem with the vehicle. Like someone else said trading standards would be a good call to make and CAB.

As a general bit of info on main dealers, i spent several years supplying tools to the trade and had customers in small backstreet garages and prestige dealers such as porsche, merc etc. The main dealers do not give a good service, the fitters only get paid proper money if they do the job within a set amount of time, hence they cut a lot of corners to make up time and often save parts for their own private jobs on the side.
From what i saw you will get better service from a independant as they rely on word of mouth for their income.
(apologies to anyone who is a fitter in a main dealers, some may be good honest people but most i saw were only after a better pay cheque, no pride in their work)

Frankly, what you bought is a heap of **** and with the jobs done, will be a heap of **** with repairs. Reject vehicle, ask for a full refund and if this fails, bite bullet and head for solicitor.

Ask THEM to MoT the car NOW please.
While it is still in their warranty.
You will pay the MoT fees of course, and being IN WARRANTY there's bound to be nothing wrong isn't there?

Should there be anything that fails the MoT then THEY need to fix it under warranty.

If they give you a MoT cert when there's a problem, get on to the MoT people IMMEDIATELY, and they will sort the bastards out fast.

Way to go.

CharlesY

Thanks for all the help guys its appriciated.
Ive heard from reliable sources that i can only ask for a full refund if they are refusing to do the work. they keep telling they will put things right and the disco is bookod in with them for another 3 days from Tuesday.

Im going to give them the benifit until Friday lunchtime next week and take it from there,

my biggest Q is as they have sold the disco for one of there customers but (so say) the salesman keeps telling me no refund, but my argument is surley if there selling the thing for £5000 should they be under some obligation to make sure the dam thing is worth the money there asking.

As the transaction was conducted from there premises and the salesman took my CASH (he said better make it cash) he then gave me a reciept in the owners name and address (but he signed it !) and gave me his dealership 3 month warranty, surley he is resposable for the `value for money` argument i have.

One other intersting thing, i went to the local garage where the MOT was done and asked the mechanic that did the test about the rot along the seal which is less the 12 inches from the seat mount he said that dosent come under MOT unless its 12 inches from a seatbelt mount, does anyon know if thats correct as another garage said it should fail !

I will chase it legally if i have to, ill post a reply after next Friday

Thanks all

jay kay