chugga90 wrote:

Rare as hens teeth.

Not sure if they still are, but had very good service from the dealer at Lewes, we’re called Caffyns. Think Harwoods took them over.

Quote:

JLR do seem keen on genuine feedback about their dealers and apparently have ways to 'encourage' them to do better if necessary

If they got rid of the rubbish and the less than good ones, they would have very few left.
That’s why none get sacked!

Quite so, simply not good enough though. Drives:
2010 FFRR TdV8 Vogue - Stornoway Grey
2010 FFRR TdV8 Vogue SE - Zermatt Silver
1998 BMW E36 M3 GTII

I got my car back from Guy Salmon, Stratford-on-Avon today. I’m grateful to David Collett (their Customer Experience Manager) for dealing with me promptly, courtesy and for getting the vehicle back to sort the minor issues I had. His attitude was professional, responsive and light years ahead of the Lookers people.

What they did:

1. extinguished the warning lights brought about by the lack of Adblu when I’d collected it. Car now says distance to Adblu fill up is 18,600 miles, which must be a record
2. set the service indicators properly so now it reads ‘Distance to next service 16,000 miles’
3. sorted out a minor repair for bolster wear which I’d missed when I bought the car (I paid for this)
4. replaced the missing locking wheel nut adapter
5. gave me a copy of the 165 point inspection that had been done in May – couple of minor things on it that had been sorted pre-sale (e.g. damaged tyre, wrong number plates, bonnet scratch). Everything else had been ticked
6. confirmed all software up to date (though I don’t know if any updates were done on this visit or as part of the previous prep)
7. supplied and fitted replacement centre console part foc (part retail price around £95)
8. confirmed all software was up to date
9. fixed a loose piece of trim
10. gave me £200 in M&S vouchers
11. made up my private registration plates and put them on the car foc

So, for the supplying dealer, their inability to do the multi-point check and prep the car just a little bit more carefully has cost them:

1. a driver to drive to/from my house twice (180 mile round trip) + petrol
2. provision of a loan car (RRS HSE) for a week
3. additional workshop time
4. time dealing with my queries
5. parts and labour cost for centre console part (£95)
6. £200 M&S voucher cost

Anyway, I’m grateful to them and to David in particular for resolving things and would recommend GS Stratford. Although my problems were all ‘minor’ in the scheme of things, the reason I bought from a LR dealer was to get a secondhand car as ‘sorted’ as it could be, and I don’t think the dealerships appreciate quite how much seemingly minor issues can take the initial gloss off the ownership. The fact it's been sorted as promptly as it has has restored some of my faith in LR dealerships.

I’m now looking forward to enjoying what is a great car

Glad you have a resolution you are happy with. You shouldn't need to have to push them for this, it should have been done. Their initial attitude reminds me of the theme song to Bread, Catching the penny but missing the pound. Current: RR L322 2010
Past: RR L405 2017, RR L322 2012, 2008 & 2004, 2018 D5, 2016 Defender, 2011 D4, a few Disco2s, P38, RR Classic, couple of Disco1's, SIII SWB

Excellent news and really pleased this has been sorted. It's amazing the difference that a switched on member if staff can achieve when they focus on customer satisfaction rather that the general "laissez faire" attitude that appears all too common in the dealer network.

Maybe worth dropping the dealer/ group principal a feedback e mail to demonstrate how the process was initially flawed and unacceptable, then relatively easily rectified with some basic standards in place.

All the best and enjoy the Rangey ! Current
2016 MY L405 SDV8
2018 VW Golf GT EVO
Previous
2002 L322 TD6
2004 Mercedes R230 SL350
1994 993 Carrera
Range Rover P38 x3
Range Rover 3.9 EFI

Similar issues with Guy Salmon, tried to buy the car from the Maidstone branch but they were only intent on wringing out every last penny from the deal bidding high on theirs low on my trade in. Found another at Northampton Guy Salmon but wasn't for me however the salesman smelling a deal did a great job in checking out group stock and did the deal I wanted on the original Maidstone car. I felt the deal was where i wanted it so went ahead.

I was then rushed to get it into the May sales figures with all the usual tripe of 'well if you wait until June yours will depreciate' I stopped that by asking if theirs won't! Anyway changed my diary significantly and went and collected the car.

Drive home I noticed that it hadn't been valeted, stock stickers on windows with the milky residue that always shows the windows hadn't been cleaned in a good while. The big thing is that I just couldn't get on with the infotainment software so shopped around and got CarPlay sourced from a none Guy salmon approved retailer. The service was nothing less than stunning, attentive to say the least and spanked all the retailers i'd called on price. They did a health check and reported rear pads worn with 1000 miles left on them, on the drive home the Adblue warning came on so the car clearly hadn't been touched predelivery. As i'd only done 400 miles contacted Guy Salmon Northampton but no reply so i emailed again saying that i'd just reject the car as it was within 30 days, I also got some back up data off this bulletin board and started searching TOPIX etc, I started to copy Land Rover themselves into the emails. TOPIX revealed the car hadn't been inspected in Northampton with it only having an into stock inspection in Maidstone. Northampton IMO had just got it to them and given it a wash. I called Land Rover themselves and said take the car back which I would have followed through. I think they may have prompted a call from the dealer who said everything was within the approved used promise so it was down to me, a bit of dancing around and I got some resolution but this was dressed up as a gesture of goodwill on the the rear pads and they'd do an Adbue Top up as that was missed as its not on any inspection sheets apparently, the work however had to be at Guy Salmon dealer. Well thats happening this week but at the Wakefield branch, who have been excellent so far albeit phone calls only, so lets see if its dealer specific issues or a group issue, i'll report further once i've seen how they operate.

All I know now considering that i'm after a new Disco for my wife is that Guy Salmon are going to have to pull something really special out of the bag to get a sniff at being the retailer to provide us with that. This is a shame really as just a little more attention to detail in making sure that a premium brand is delivered as a premium brand should be would solve a lot of hassle all around.

Getting it right first time would surly make their lives easier and generate far more loyalty and repeat business.

Sounds familiar. Good luck getting sorted.

I had a D4 til recently - great cars and plenty of late ones about. Interesting that the last of line Landmarks and HSE Luxury models are a similar price to HSE D5s