Discussion
Without wanting to re-open the debate, I just want to share my recent experience(and frustration) with Nobles new parts policy.
My car was taken away for a standard 24K mile service on Monday by NobleLondon. During the course of inspection a couple of hoses for the front turbo and some high pressure fuel line were required. Despite the recent note from Noble, NL phoned the factory to try and get hold of the parts - perhaps not surprisingly, they were told ,no you can't have them, go to an authorised dealer. Which they did, but still no parts have arrived and I can't have my car for the first dry weekend in a coons age
Now, stupidly, I thought NobleLondon was an authorised dealer, but apparently not. Withdrawn after Giles Cooper folded.
So, having bought my car new from NL and had it looked after and serviced by them (in exemplary fashion) for 2 years, they can no longer get hold of spare parts unless they go through a middleman (franchised dealer).
And what motivation is there for these folk to turn things round quickly? Absolutely none.
And do they do it for free? I very much doubt it.
Therefore for most folk, to get any work done on your Noble (that requires bespoke parts) it'll now take longer and cost more.
And is there one of these 'franchised dealers' near me. No.
And would I go to them if there was? Probably not; NL have done a fanastic job for me over the years and a certain sense of loyalty is/was part of the Noble ethic.
Perhaps the reference to 'past customers' in Noble's recent letter to punters was not just a piece of poor customer relations....
My car was taken away for a standard 24K mile service on Monday by NobleLondon. During the course of inspection a couple of hoses for the front turbo and some high pressure fuel line were required. Despite the recent note from Noble, NL phoned the factory to try and get hold of the parts - perhaps not surprisingly, they were told ,no you can't have them, go to an authorised dealer. Which they did, but still no parts have arrived and I can't have my car for the first dry weekend in a coons age
Now, stupidly, I thought NobleLondon was an authorised dealer, but apparently not. Withdrawn after Giles Cooper folded.
So, having bought my car new from NL and had it looked after and serviced by them (in exemplary fashion) for 2 years, they can no longer get hold of spare parts unless they go through a middleman (franchised dealer).
And what motivation is there for these folk to turn things round quickly? Absolutely none.
And do they do it for free? I very much doubt it.
Therefore for most folk, to get any work done on your Noble (that requires bespoke parts) it'll now take longer and cost more.
And is there one of these 'franchised dealers' near me. No.
And would I go to them if there was? Probably not; NL have done a fanastic job for me over the years and a certain sense of loyalty is/was part of the Noble ethic.
Perhaps the reference to 'past customers' in Noble's recent letter to punters was not just a piece of poor customer relations....
RobP said:
Without wanting to re-open the debate, I just want to share my recent experience(and frustration) with Nobles new parts policy.
My car was taken away for a standard 24K mile service on Monday by NobleLondon. During the course of inspection a couple of hoses for the front turbo and some high pressure fuel line were required. Despite the recent note from Noble, NL phoned the factory to try and get hold of the parts - perhaps not surprisingly, they were told ,no you can't have them, go to an authorised dealer. Which they did, but still no parts have arrived and I can't have my car for the first dry weekend in a coons age
Now, stupidly, I thought NobleLondon was an authorised dealer, but apparently not. Withdrawn after Giles Cooper folded.
So, having bought my car new from NL and had it looked after and serviced by them (in exemplary fashion) for 2 years, they can no longer get hold of spare parts unless they go through a middleman (franchised dealer).
And what motivation is there for these folk to turn things round quickly? Absolutely none.
And do they do it for free? I very much doubt it.
Therefore for most folk, to get any work done on your Noble (that requires bespoke parts) it'll now take longer and cost more.
And is there one of these 'franchised dealers' near me. No.
And would I go to them if there was? Probably not; NL have done a fanastic job for me over the years and a certain sense of loyalty is/was part of the Noble ethic.
Perhaps the reference to 'past customers' in Noble's recent letter to punters was not just a piece of poor customer relations....
I share your angst, I bought from NL just before / during the colapse and dearly wanted to have Skip and co service my car, However as they lost the Noble franchise and my service book has all Noble dealer stamps in I decided to go to Mole Valley.My car was taken away for a standard 24K mile service on Monday by NobleLondon. During the course of inspection a couple of hoses for the front turbo and some high pressure fuel line were required. Despite the recent note from Noble, NL phoned the factory to try and get hold of the parts - perhaps not surprisingly, they were told ,no you can't have them, go to an authorised dealer. Which they did, but still no parts have arrived and I can't have my car for the first dry weekend in a coons age
Now, stupidly, I thought NobleLondon was an authorised dealer, but apparently not. Withdrawn after Giles Cooper folded.
So, having bought my car new from NL and had it looked after and serviced by them (in exemplary fashion) for 2 years, they can no longer get hold of spare parts unless they go through a middleman (franchised dealer).
And what motivation is there for these folk to turn things round quickly? Absolutely none.
And do they do it for free? I very much doubt it.
Therefore for most folk, to get any work done on your Noble (that requires bespoke parts) it'll now take longer and cost more.
And is there one of these 'franchised dealers' near me. No.
And would I go to them if there was? Probably not; NL have done a fanastic job for me over the years and a certain sense of loyalty is/was part of the Noble ethic.
Perhaps the reference to 'past customers' in Noble's recent letter to punters was not just a piece of poor customer relations....
The car drives suberbly and all the little niggles I had were taken care of (at a price) but hey If you want a full NOBLE service history you have to pay for it I suppose.
F.C.
It really is a great shame about the Noblelondon situation, a great bunch of guys, who have given me superb srvice during my previous 3R ownership. Fortunately I've had great experiences with Kerridges over the last 15 years as well, and they are only 45mins from me as I'm in Chelmsford. Steve Kerridge even text me on Sunday afternoon to explain he wouldn't be around on Monday if I needed him! Now thats the sort of thing that makes people come back.
AMG Merc said:
F.C. said:
However as they lost the Noble franchise and my service book has all Noble dealer stamps in...
Tony, Noble London "LOST" your service book?! 
)So I assume they didn't lose the service book.
and leaves. Adrian W said:
Adrian W said:
Rob, the hose is standard Pirtek, I had to change mine recently (pig of a job) Pirtek in Harlow have it in stock £5.00 metre
If they are working tomorrow i have a metre here.Maybe we need to make more use of the Wiki facility here and generate an inventory of parts that we can purchase from other sources....
I never would have believed as I parted with my £58,000 a couple of years ago that it would have come to this (oh, and a similar amount about 11 months before that for my 3R).
And M14/15/600 deposit holders - you can wipe the smirk off your faces. Your time will come....to be dumped (assuming that is, that you ever get a car that will need spare parts).
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