In a LR dealer today - disgusting service

I was waiting for my new badge from the parts department & was stood close enough to a bloke on the phone
to hear everything he was saying to an (obviously) upset customer. The story went along the lines of the
LR garage had ****ed up the blokes new RR & it was undriveable. The bloke (understandably) was asking for
a car for the weekend. The chap from the LR dealer was the most rude, arrogant, ignorant **** I have EVER
heard on a telephone. He even told the chap to 'just what is your problem?' Then the bloke on the other
end of the phone said (I could hear him!!!) 'YOU & YOUR GARAGE ARE MY PROBLEM, YOU HAVE DAMAGED MY CAR &
YOU WONT DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT' The **** then said to the customer (who had spent serious money & they
****ed his car up) 'Nothing I can do, speak to your lawyer'

If he had spoke to me in a tone like that in person he would be in hospital. I bet the bloke went right
round there, I sure would have.

Even if the customer was a bit irate, the ****er should never speak to a customer like that in front of
10-15 folk in the showroom.

Is this the kind of service to expect form LR dealers? Glad I only bought a badge!

Nige

> Is thkind of service to expect form LR dealers? Glad I only bought a badge


Unless they are likely to get a sale (carwise) they could'nt care less. Used
to have my 110 Tdi CSW serviced at a Dealer in Kent. They were happy to
provide a Discovery for first service, Freelander after that, then a car.
Not that I'm moaning as all I wanted was transport, but it did strike me
that it was a bit of a cynical approach. I don't go there anymore as the car
is 6 years old now and whatever they give me, I am sure it would do the
roses good.

"Hirsty's" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
>> Is thkind of service to expect form LR dealers? Glad I only bought a badge
>
>
> Unless they are likely to get a sale (carwise) they could'nt care less. Used
> to have my 110 Tdi CSW serviced at a Dealer in Kent. They were happy to
> provide a Discovery for first service, Freelander after that, then a car.
> Not that I'm moaning as all I wanted was transport, but it did strike me
> that it was a bit of a cynical approach. I don't go there anymore as the car
> is 6 years old now and whatever they give me, I am sure it would do the
> roses good.
>
>

It wasn't so much the car thing, it was the attitude of an individual in the circumstances.

he needed a right good ****ting!

Nige

"Nige" <nigel.inceNO****[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> "Hirsty's" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>>> Is thkind of service to expect form LR dealers? Glad I only bought a
>>> badge
>>
>>
>> Unless they are likely to get a sale (carwise) they could'nt care less.
>> Used
>> to have my 110 Tdi CSW serviced at a Dealer in Kent. They were happy to
>> provide a Discovery for first service, Freelander after that, then a car.
>> Not that I'm moaning as all I wanted was transport, but it did strike me
>> that it was a bit of a cynical approach. I don't go there anymore as the
>> car
>> is 6 years old now and whatever they give me, I am sure it would do the
>> roses good.
>>
>>
>
> It wasn't so much the car thing, it was the attitude of an individual in
> the circumstances.
>
> he needed a right good ****ting!
>
> Nige
>

Sounds like a dealer in Swansea to me

"Mike Jones" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:XLwed.1093$2d5.765@newsfe6-
>
> Sounds like a dealer in Swansea to me
>

Leeds, Guiselely actually.

> Leeds, Guiselely actually.


Ah !! Yorkshire; now that explains it. )

In article <[email protected]>,
nigel.inceNO****[email protected] (Nige) wrote:

> he needed a right good ****ting!

Why are you offering him the use of a woman?

--
Niamh
4x4 Cymru
http://www.4x4cymru.co.uk

> > he needed a right good ****ting!
>
> Why are you offering him the use of a woman?
..4x4cymru.co.uk


To wreck the show vehicles when trying to park the motor for a service ???

> Is this the kind of service to expect form LR dealers? Glad I only bought
> a badge!
>
> Nige
>


For the last 8 years I've had Range Rovers, not particularly new but
business had been good last year or two and I decided to get something new,
I simply didn't want to worry if and when it went wrong. It's a warranty
thing, you get the idea.

I went to Harwoods of Croydon (actually in Coulsdon - Surrey), I was faced
the most appalling rude and apathetic people I'd ever come across, they
couldn't give a **** that I wanted to buy anything from them, infact they
didn't even want to give me a brochure never mind a test drive.

I gave the a piece of my mind and walked out, to the local Mercedes dealer
where I decided on new Automatic Vito instead of a commercial disco or
freelander, the service I received there was understanding, accommodating
and pleasant, no hard sell just informed polite people. I got some
alternative quotes from other garages, they matched the best that I could
find elsewhere and I signed and paid a deposit for the new vehicle 24hrs
after my test drive. That was £24K I sent to Germany instead of supporting a
British (yeah yeah American I now) company...

About two weeks ago I get a call from Land Rover customer services asking
how well I'd been treated after my enquiry at my local Land rover dealer,
yeah right! She was so apologetic I almost felt sorry for Her.

I miss my Range Rover, but if I ever buy another one it won't be from a Land
Rover dealer and will never be serviced by them.

I have to say though I do keep having a sneak at the Overfinch website and
they currently have two 630R's for sale.....))).....Sadly my wife only
just passed her driving test at the beginning of this year and seeing as it
cost's me £1350 to insure her Vauxhall Vectra, I didn't think was worth
bothering getting a quote on an Overfinch....:-(( Looks like a three year
wait for anything nice then....:-((

Muddy

On or around Sat, 23 Oct 2004 17:58:57 +0100, "Nige"
<nigel.inceNO****[email protected]> enlightened us thusly:


>Is this the kind of service to expect form LR dealers? Glad I only bought a badge!

FWIW, (OK, we bought a disco from 'em, but only a second-hand one, at less
than half new price) I've always found J.V. Like, in a village with the
unlikley name of Three Cocks, to be helpful, friendly and useful. and they
*gave* me the keyring thing I have on mine

I've been there a few times for various unlikely and mostly-cheap parts, and
never had grief - they've also once gone out of their way to get me the
switch I wanted rather than the one they had there (which would probably
have worked) which was about twice the price.

In article <[email protected]>, [email protected]
(Hirsty's) wrote:

> To wreck the show vehicles when trying to park the motor for a service
> ???

Sorry, I don't feel like playing with the trolls today

--
Niamh
4x4 Cymru
http://www.4x4cymru.co.uk

Oh dear !

In article <[email protected]>, austin@ddol-
las.fsnet.co.uk says...
> On or around Sat, 23 Oct 2004 17:58:57 +0100, "Nige"
> <nigel.inceNO****[email protected]> enlightened us thusly:
>
>
> >Is this the kind of service to expect form LR dealers? Glad I only bought a badge!
>
> FWIW, (OK, we bought a disco from 'em, but only a second-hand one, at less
> than half new price) I've always found J.V. Like, in a village with the
> unlikley name of Three Cocks, to be helpful, friendly and useful. and they
> *gave* me the keyring thing I have on mine
>
> I've been there a few times for various unlikely and mostly-cheap parts, and
> never had grief - they've also once gone out of their way to get me the
> switch I wanted rather than the one they had there (which would probably
> have worked) which was about twice the price.

I have to admit that I've had similar experiences with a dealership in
Cardiff. Jim the salesman spent several hours with me discussing various
options and was pleasant, polite, interested in what I had to say, etc.
He always makes a paint of saying hello every time I pop in there. The
service department have been great, very good, especially when I was
trying to get a new keyfob. They were calling LR up for me trying to
source one (LR discontinued the Disco keyfob). Excellent service, not a
word to say against them.

Jeep/Chrysler up the road on the other hand - when I walked in looking
to buy a car (driving a BMW 5 series at the time - ok, so company car,
but still) they ignored me, and generally treated me like it was more
effort than they cared to put in to provide me with any kind of
information.

*shrug* You pays your money...

Ta,
Aled.

Thats my nearest LR garage!

but I don't use it, much prefer the extra few miles travel to;
Four plus 4, Sheepscar Street

Nigel


Nige wrote:
> "Mike Jones" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:XLwed.1093$2d5.765@newsfe6-
>>
>> Sounds like a dealer in Swansea to me
>>
>
> Leeds, Guiselely actually.

--
Lightweight 1979
nigelATleginDOTorg
Google first
ask later

A couple of years ago I decided I wanted a Landrover again. I set my budget
at between £6000 and £8000. I searched the local ads, garages I even rang a
local(ish) dealer. I spoke to some guy at a Landrover dealers in Conway
(Work that one out!) When I told him my budget - he laughed, tried to cover
it with a cough, I put the phone down. Was I expecting a bit much from a
dealer? They could have had the odd part ex vehicle in...
I think a lot of them are snobs, if you look like you've got wads of cash
you'll probably get a better standard of service. I regularly drive past the
Landrover dealers in Chester and out of all the vehicles there about three
are landrovers. Then again Chester is full of money!

--
Wolverine
Big Red '93 110 CSW

It depends very much on the individual you get to deal with. Local LR
dealer to here (Wakefield Guy Salmon) has a very mixed bunch on the
parts desk. One time I went in the week and opened the discussion
with 'I need some help'. The immediate retort was 'try Halfords'. I
think it was a ****-poor attempt at humour. That's exactly what I did
and Halfords had the part that LR wanted £105 for in stock at £22. LR
didn't even have it in (an ignition amp).

On Saturday mornings they have a different guy on, who couldn't be
more helpful. When the computer says 'no stock' he actually goes to
look, just in case. He's also happy to check, double-check and
triple-check the parts codes if the answer isn't obvious.

Sales guys are the same. When I'm buying (rather than just idly
checking out the latest models) I make sure I get to deal with someone
over 40. They've generally been around long enough to know that mucky
jeans and stubble don't preclude you from having 50 grand in the bank.


--

Tim Hobbs

'58 Series 2 88" aka "Stig"
'77 101FC Ambulance aka "Burrt"
'03 Volvo V70

My Landies? http://www.seriesii.co.uk
Barcoding? http://www.bartec-systems.com
Tony Luckwill web archive at http://www.luckwill.com

> Sales guys are the same. When I'm buying (rather than just idly
> checking out the latest models) I make sure I get to deal with someone
> over 40. They've generally been around long enough to know that mucky
> jeans and stubble don't preclude you from having 50 grand in the bank.


My ex brother in law used to work selling new Nissans in Bexley, one day an
elderly scruffy couple came in about 4:30 pm and started to look at cars. No
one wanted to help so they tootled along the goods; after a while they
collared a junior and asked what they wanted. "We'll take it"; brother in
law and mates laughed until they were roped into counting out £9000 in 5's,
10's, and 20's from an old carrier bag the couple carried.

My experience with LR dealers is somewhat variable, but has a common theme.

Salesmen are your best friend if they think you'll buy something and treat
you like a bad smell if they think you won't - got interesting when I went
to buy a Disco at the end of a week off wearing my scruffs - imagine
something dishevelled with 3 days beard growth, greasy hair and torn
jeans/t-shirt coming in and asking about £25k cars. They didn't believe I
was interested until I handed them the card for the deposit at which point
they became my best friend. Same story (without the buying of a car) at a
couple of other dealers - dressed like scruff, get treated like ****.
Wearing a suit, have the salesmen drooling over you.

Service tends to be poor. Poor at calling you, poor at explaining the
pricing, poor at almost everything including knowing what they need to
charge you. Granted a 60k service on an 8 month old car may be unexpected,
but even so. I find that most service departments have one cheerful type
who has been there for ever and several foetuses who hate the job, hate the
customers and don't mind letting you know it.

Parts departments, IME, tend to be good if it's an established franchise and
**** if it's a new one.

With the established franchises I tend to run into professional parts
managers who have been in the industry for 20+ years and are immensely
competent and have a professional pride and are not above pointing you at
3rd parties for items that they know the OEM kit is as good as the original
and that they don't carry in stock - they seem to believe in keeping the
customer happy as they are more likely to see the customer than anybody
else in the franchise. The kids who end up working alongside these guys
tend either to pick up the attitude very quickly, and are good to deal
with, albeit less clued than the manager, or they get fired by the manager
who doesn't need the grief of a ****ed off customer who's just blown
several hundred quid on the wrong bit.

With new franchises the parts managers tend to be recently graduated
business studies students and don't know the job, don't know the parts and
don't know the work-rounds. This attitude carries through the department.

Mechanics at dealerships are decidedly variable - some are 30 year time
served guys who know *all* of the trick and what size of hammer to use
where; increasingly they are kids who get lost if the computer doesn't tell
them what the fault is and what modular unit to swap in for it. Lord help
them on the pre-electronic landies (Almost everything before 1995 that
isn't a Rangie).

Maybe I'm just sick, but I make extremely sure to park my own cars right at
the end of their sales line.

Muddy, scratched, totally non standard. Makes the shiny things sit there and
go "I'm not worthy. Please teach me oh Guru"

P.

--
If Mind over Matter is a Matter of Course
Does it Matter if Nobody Minds?

Wolverine wrote:

> A couple of years ago I decided I wanted a Landrover again. I set my
> budget at between £6000 and £8000. I searched the local ads, garages I
> even rang a local(ish) dealer. I spoke to some guy at a Landrover dealers
> in Conway (Work that one out!) When I told him my budget - he laughed,
> tried to cover it with a cough, I put the phone down. Was I expecting a
> bit much from a dealer? They could have had the odd part ex vehicle in...
> I think a lot of them are snobs, if you look like you've got wads of cash
> you'll probably get a better standard of service. I regularly drive past
> the Landrover dealers in Chester and out of all the vehicles there about
> three are landrovers. Then again Chester is full of money!
>

As a rule, franchise dealers aren't allowed to keep anything over 3 years
old on the forecourt, and you're expecting a lot to get any 3 year old
landie for £8k.

They actually get hit with financial penalties if tradeins aren't gone
quickly.

Of course, some get around this - near me are Chipperfield Land Rover who
don't keep anything over 3 years old on the forecourt. However they do also
run Kings Langley Landrover and Thame Landrover, both of which are
specialists, but are non-franchised and keep almost any age of car around
if it's tidy enough to sell - I've seen them with almost everything back to
S1s.

So, yes - calling a dealer with that sort of expectation is rather taking
the ****. Find your local non-franchise place and ask them.

P.
--
If Mind over Matter is a Matter of Course
Does it Matter if Nobody Minds?

I think 'taking the ****' is a bit harsh, not everyone knows the facts you
pointed out!

--
Wolverine
Big Red '93 110 CSW