Land Rover Dealers - are they all so awfully bad ?????
Discussion
I was hoping to cross post here in September once our new Land Rover had arrived.....
However, my dealer (I'll save their blushes for a few days but they are near the Kent / Sussex border) has totally cocked up my order, here's the story:
1. Wife and I decide another 4*4 should be bought (last had one 3 1/2 years ago) so we test drive a few and settle on a Freelander 2 HSE TD4 Auto.
2. Got a few quotes from dealers and also from Broadspeed. Chosen dealer agreed to meet internet price (saving c£3500) so a deposit of £1K was paid in mid June against a September 1st delivery. That date agreed on the spot as we were the amongst the first to order a car from their September allocation.
3. Dealer asked for our trade-in car early to allow them to book the deal in June, to help their figures I guess. We agreed and they collected the wife's car last week in June and gave us a £10K credit note against new car.
4. Finance agreed as a 50/50 option via Black Horse with payments of c£86 per month over two years with the 50% balance paid after 2 years. This offer then removed as they claimed BH withdrew the product and wife offered a PCP plan with lower deposit and payments of c£440 per month with a 50% balloon
After a brief, but firm, word with their so called business manager he agreed to offer us the Land Rover advance payment option which was clearly detailed on their web site so no need to try to palm off a PCP deal to make extra profit then Now scheduled to pay 50% of invoice price plus interest on balance up front with no monthly payments at all, balance paid on 25th month.
5. Popped in yesterday to pay finance balance in advance as requested and were told car was not available until 25th October After another polite, but firm, word another car was surprisingly found that was due for collection on 17th September, amazing that !!!! Still not happy as they know we had a car in their September 1st allocation and I want the car on that date. They are now attempting to call Land Rover to get our car on the agreed date and I await their call on Monday to get another update.
6. I told them that if they want to complete the sale the car must be available on September 1st as agreed or they are to lend me an equivalent or better car from their forecourt until it is as a sign of good faith. They didn't refuse this so I presume it is an option.
7. Whatever their news/offer is on Monday I will post their name here for all to see as I believe that dealer service is a key factor in people choosing to use a particular supplier of any cars.
As an aside they also claimed that 3 or 4 other orders for September 1st are sufferring from problems and they are trying to blame Land Rover for this. Even if this is the case they have never called us to provide an update and to manage our expectations.
I look forward to revealing their name tomorrow evening......
However, my dealer (I'll save their blushes for a few days but they are near the Kent / Sussex border) has totally cocked up my order, here's the story:
1. Wife and I decide another 4*4 should be bought (last had one 3 1/2 years ago) so we test drive a few and settle on a Freelander 2 HSE TD4 Auto.
2. Got a few quotes from dealers and also from Broadspeed. Chosen dealer agreed to meet internet price (saving c£3500) so a deposit of £1K was paid in mid June against a September 1st delivery. That date agreed on the spot as we were the amongst the first to order a car from their September allocation.
3. Dealer asked for our trade-in car early to allow them to book the deal in June, to help their figures I guess. We agreed and they collected the wife's car last week in June and gave us a £10K credit note against new car.
4. Finance agreed as a 50/50 option via Black Horse with payments of c£86 per month over two years with the 50% balance paid after 2 years. This offer then removed as they claimed BH withdrew the product and wife offered a PCP plan with lower deposit and payments of c£440 per month with a 50% balloon
After a brief, but firm, word with their so called business manager he agreed to offer us the Land Rover advance payment option which was clearly detailed on their web site so no need to try to palm off a PCP deal to make extra profit then Now scheduled to pay 50% of invoice price plus interest on balance up front with no monthly payments at all, balance paid on 25th month.5. Popped in yesterday to pay finance balance in advance as requested and were told car was not available until 25th October
After another polite, but firm, word another car was surprisingly found that was due for collection on 17th September, amazing that !!!! Still not happy as they know we had a car in their September 1st allocation and I want the car on that date. They are now attempting to call Land Rover to get our car on the agreed date and I await their call on Monday to get another update.6. I told them that if they want to complete the sale the car must be available on September 1st as agreed or they are to lend me an equivalent or better car from their forecourt until it is as a sign of good faith. They didn't refuse this so I presume it is an option.
7. Whatever their news/offer is on Monday I will post their name here for all to see as I believe that dealer service is a key factor in people choosing to use a particular supplier of any cars.
As an aside they also claimed that 3 or 4 other orders for September 1st are sufferring from problems and they are trying to blame Land Rover for this. Even if this is the case they have never called us to provide an update and to manage our expectations.
I look forward to revealing their name tomorrow evening......
Not an unusual situation.
Remember when you first visited the showroom and made an agreement you made a contract.
the dealer can only change the terms of the contract with your agreement.
Failure to uphold their half of the contract carries penalties, from you cancelling altogether to negotiating a more advantageous deal.
They may well blame LR but I bet LR have a different view.
Why did the dealer agree to sell you a car which he had not had a firm delivery date on and without checking?
Why do you think he took your car off you early?
He now owns you...
Just a thought but what would have happened if the dealer had gone bust between june and september?
No Px car- gone and traded
No new car- dealer in recievership
Credit note for £10k whorth
all
If this is haw they treat you when they are still trying to sell you a car, what they gonna be like once they have your money and you have a problem?
Either insist on the original deal being honoured or cash in the credit note and go buy else where.
IMHO
Remember when you first visited the showroom and made an agreement you made a contract.
the dealer can only change the terms of the contract with your agreement.
Failure to uphold their half of the contract carries penalties, from you cancelling altogether to negotiating a more advantageous deal.
They may well blame LR but I bet LR have a different view.
Why did the dealer agree to sell you a car which he had not had a firm delivery date on and without checking?
Why do you think he took your car off you early?
He now owns you...
Just a thought but what would have happened if the dealer had gone bust between june and september?
No Px car- gone and traded
No new car- dealer in recievership
Credit note for £10k whorth
allIf this is haw they treat you when they are still trying to sell you a car, what they gonna be like once they have your money and you have a problem?
Either insist on the original deal being honoured or cash in the credit note and go buy else where.
IMHO
I work at another dealership in London let me know if there is anything I can do to help. What colour and spec have you gone for ?
Also check the APR of the PCP against the APP, I believe the APP works out at about ~10% where as the PCP for the Freelander 2 is ~6.9%. So you may well be better going for the PCP.
Sorry to hear about your bad experience, hopefully we are not all that bad.
Also check the APR of the PCP against the APP, I believe the APP works out at about ~10% where as the PCP for the Freelander 2 is ~6.9%. So you may well be better going for the PCP.
Sorry to hear about your bad experience, hopefully we are not all that bad.
My local dealer is cr@p too.I wont go into reasons here but they either seem disinterested in selling cars or are just plain incompetant.I ended up buying from Johnny-got a great discount,kept me informed of progress at all times,and got the car from the factory to his dealership,prep'd,registered and delivered in under a week.He is 280 miles away from me but I didnt mind travelling and it gave me a good excuse for a long drive after collecting the car.
Tonight's update......
I have been speaking to them today about what they are trying to do to rectify their awful service. From what I can understand from their computer screen on Saturday they placed the order 5-6 days after I paid the deposit so car order was on LR system from 3rd week in June. From that point the dealer has failed to keep an eye on the order and it has slipped down the factory build list because of that. They claim they are awaiting feedback from LR Audit to tell them where my car is on the factory list and when it is due at the dealers. I am told this information will be available tomorrow morning and we can then decide which avenue to take - accept delivery date or reject and get full refund of deposit.
I also offered them the olive branch opportunity again to provide me with a car on September 1st one way or the other. I'm expecting to be given an equivalent car off the forecourt between September 1st and when my car arrives, currently on computer as 17th September. Currently they are considering this and we will talk again tomorrow once they have spoken to LR Audit.
As such I won't name them as yet but will update again tomorrow.
Many thanks for the comments above and I will certainly be giving Johnny a call if the current lot let me down tomorrow. Car ordered is Freelander 2 TD4 HSE in black with black leather plus Auto box, bi-xenon lights, pixel interior finish, rubber mats, loadspace mat, body colour mirror caps and Autoglym Life Shine protection. All in invoice price is just under £31,000 as the dealer offered to match the internet price I obtained from Broadspeed.
Next instalment tomorrow....which is going to keep me amused anyway
I have been speaking to them today about what they are trying to do to rectify their awful service. From what I can understand from their computer screen on Saturday they placed the order 5-6 days after I paid the deposit so car order was on LR system from 3rd week in June. From that point the dealer has failed to keep an eye on the order and it has slipped down the factory build list because of that. They claim they are awaiting feedback from LR Audit to tell them where my car is on the factory list and when it is due at the dealers. I am told this information will be available tomorrow morning and we can then decide which avenue to take - accept delivery date or reject and get full refund of deposit.
I also offered them the olive branch opportunity again to provide me with a car on September 1st one way or the other. I'm expecting to be given an equivalent car off the forecourt between September 1st and when my car arrives, currently on computer as 17th September. Currently they are considering this and we will talk again tomorrow once they have spoken to LR Audit.
As such I won't name them as yet but will update again tomorrow.
Many thanks for the comments above and I will certainly be giving Johnny a call if the current lot let me down tomorrow. Car ordered is Freelander 2 TD4 HSE in black with black leather plus Auto box, bi-xenon lights, pixel interior finish, rubber mats, loadspace mat, body colour mirror caps and Autoglym Life Shine protection. All in invoice price is just under £31,000 as the dealer offered to match the internet price I obtained from Broadspeed.
Next instalment tomorrow....which is going to keep me amused anyway
Yes Land rover Dealers are terrible, my 300TDI is lovely and reliable now. I bought a 50000 mile from RM Bass which was supposed to be perfect in every way with FSH and fully checked by their workshop. Week 1 alarm system going mad (2 faults), back to dealer under 6 month warranty, 2 faults, week 2 tried pressing the horn and was blowing fuses, back again, was using about a litre of oil per week leaking (which I asked them to fix). Also the tyres were worn on the inside which I didnt notice plus they managed to distract me when I asked about tax/mot as I then realised there was only a weeks tax on it after I drove away. Got fed up of taking 2 days off work every week plus a few tanks of diesel so paid for it to be fixed myself even though had paid a premium for a 6 month warranty. The sump plug fell out as soon as it was hoisted, some of the sump bolts had fallen put and were collecting in the undertray and the rocker gasket was done up wrong, but a least I still had all the bolts? Still had the original dodgy cam belt which needed replacing with the upgraded version which wasnt covered if it snapped and the a-frame and steering bushes were completely knackered, dodgy clutch release bearing, leaky transfer box, rotten exhaust downpipe, ball joint was shot and rear discs were scored. Is lovely now thanks to tread first, saffron walden, rogers of bedford, ashcroft engineering and scorpion racing (£9,000 to buy and £4,000 to fix by the time I got it sorted nicely) but really, how much effort would it have been to take a look underneath and tighten a few bolts? I guess i must have had newbie/mug written on my face..., just wish they could be a bit more considerate with half an hour of a mechanics time, especially as I had asked them to fix the leaks when I brought it back twice and just got the "oh they all leak a bit of oil" thing, and wouldnt take a look at it.....oh and also "all their defenders come with a full AA inspection" which didn't exist when I went though the paperwork and checked.
Edited by Stephen_300TDI90 on Monday 14th January 21:43
Edited by Stephen_300TDI90 on Tuesday 15th January 17:07
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