Dealer Issues

[Glendaragh]

I'm not having any joy from my local dealer over a couple of issues. Can any one suggest where I can escalate these issues to?

1) I took my D4 in for a warranty issue which was for a complete loss of power and partial loss of power at times. The dealer informed me that they could not find any issues. It had previously been into another dealer with the same issues and there was a fault log showing all the instances of loss of power. They replaced what I think was a throttle body and this seemed to rectify it for some time, however the problem has returned and the local dealer claims there isn't any fault logs showing this issue.

2) The spare tyre winch is kaput and it went in on January 20th. I was told the part would be sent in 1 week. I still haven't had a call from the dealer to inform me the part has arrived. So far I have made numerous phone calls requesting the service manager to call me back and eventually after a month he called me back and said the part would be here in a day. That was over a week ago and still no communication with them. The service I feel is abysmal and phone calls aren't returned by either the service manager or service staff.

I have found the other dealers I have used have been exemplary in their service but I find my local dealer totally unsatisfactory and abysmal. Has anyone here been in a similar situation, or can anyone suggest how I can progress this to get some satisfactory service from my local dealer.

[BobD]

I would not be so hard on them myself. The loss of power, for example, could be due to the brake light switch, which doesn't throw up any fault codes, is intermittent and difficult for the dealer to diagnose unless it is happening at the time or they have had experience with one failing previously. It doesn't have to be related to the previous fix, even if symptoms are similar.

The winch failure is usually caused by user error and at least they are fixing it. They will advise you when the part arrives in due course as promised. Sometimes parts don't arrive when expected for many reasons, especially outside of Sydney or Melbourne, in places such as Perth and Mackay or Darwin, where we are at the mercy of transport companies that won't dispatch a load until it meets their minimum weight requirements or something equally as stupid.

Bob

[WhiteD3]

2) The spare tyre winch is kaput and it went in on January 20th.

Almost 3 years in and mine has gone too (as it did in the D3). The Dealer has no stock and has to order one in. Hopefully a 2 week wait from the time I called to the appointment. We shall see....

[Basil135]

You can always ring LR Australia Customer Service.

Just bear in mind, that dealers don't like getting calls from "Head Office" and may not go out of their way for you... Not that they appear to have now anyway.

[tiddy]

I would think an email to the service manager detailing all the conversations, timelines etc for him/ her to contact you to discuss your situation.

That way if it doesn't progress you have records of unanswered correspondence before going up the line to the dealer principle then LR.

Many years ago when I had a V6 Holden Frontera & the service guys were giving me the run around with a clutch issue, an email to the service manager had the issue resolved in a day.

Amazing what can happen when it's put in writing.

tiddy

[letherm]

You could also try the line "What is your dispute resolution procedure before I contact Fair Trading". I've done that once or twice and it usually gets their attention. Good luck with it and I hope they resolve the problem for you.

Martin

[alittlebitconcerned]

Being patient and calm got me absolutely nowhere.
I only got the response I was after when I threatened legal action.

[nat_89]

I'm not having any joy from my local dealer over a couple of issues. Can any one suggest where I can escalate these issues to?

1) I took my D4 in for a warranty issue which was for a complete loss of power and partial loss of power at times. The dealer informed me that they could not find any issues. It had previously been into another dealer with the same issues and there was a fault log showing all the instances of loss of power. They replaced what I think was a throttle body and this seemed to rectify it for some time, however the problem has returned and the local dealer claims there isn't any fault logs showing this issue.

2) The spare tyre winch is kaput and it went in on January 20th. I was told the part would be sent in 1 week. I still haven't had a call from the dealer to inform me the part has arrived. So far I have made numerous phone calls requesting the service manager to call me back and eventually after a month he called me back and said the part would be here in a day. That was over a week ago and still no communication with them. The service I feel is abysmal and phone calls aren't returned by either the service manager or service staff.

I have found the other dealers I have used have been exemplary in their service but I find my local dealer totally unsatisfactory and abysmal. Has anyone here been in a similar situation, or can anyone suggest how I can progress this to get some satisfactory service from my local dealer.

Mate I can assure you if it's the one I'm thinking of, that's what's to expect with that crappy Group, they are useless!! I went to buy a new D4 there and said get back to me with a price and I'll pay a deposit ASAP never got a call back what the hell so if they sales are that bad I can't imagine the spare parts and warranty department!!

[Redback]

I would not be so hard on them myself. The loss of power, for example, could be due to the brake light switch, which doesn't throw up any fault codes, is intermittent and difficult for the dealer to diagnose unless it is happening at the time or they have had experience with one failing previously. It doesn't have to be related to the previous fix, even if symptoms are similar.

The winch failure is usually caused by user error and at least they are fixing it. They will advise you when the part arrives in due course as promised. Sometimes parts don't arrive when expected for many reasons, especially outside of Sydney or Melbourne, in places such as Perth and Mackay or Darwin, where we are at the mercy of transport companies that won't dispatch a load until it meets their minimum weight requirements or something equally as stupid.

Bob

So you think 5 weeks is a resonable time to wait for a call and in the meantime what happens if he gets a flat??

A phone call is an easy thing to do, this dealer clearly does not care, our local dealer is not the best either, but at least the parts section lets us know if there is a delay with the parts.

Baz.

[BobD]

Hi Baz.


I'm not saying any time is a reasonable time. All I can say is that the people you deal with are a lot better than almost anyone over here. It doesn't matter what the company is, Nissan, Land Rover, VW, ARB, caravan repair shop, independent repairer etc parts are often very late arriving in WA and I have never had one single person ring me to tell me what is going on. They always ring eventually when the part arrives and if I chase them it doesn't help because the part has been ordered and will arrive when it arrives.


At least his car is on the road. I have had mine off the road for weeks waiting for parts from Germany, England, Sydney, Qld or wherever depending on the part. When the turbo failed on my 2004 VW Transporter with 90,000km on the clock it took two months for the warranty parts to arrive from Germany. Even longer for rear end parts when a truck crashed into the back of it.


Its very frustrating but that seems to be the way of the world at the moment.


Bob

[drivesafe]

Hi Basil and from first hand experience, Land Rover Customer service is not there to help Land Rover owners, it is there to hinder them as much as possible.

Hi Glendaragh, I made the assumption that the consumer protection laws in Queensland were the same as in NSW and, I was wrong.

My assumption cost me $170,000 because that’s how much Land Rover stole form me when they failed to supply the vehicle I paid for and give a warranty service I also paid for.

Had I bothered to check the protection Queensland offers it’s residents, I could have taken LRA and the dealership to the cleaners.

The point is, because you are in Queensland, do as letherm suggested and if you don’t get immediate satisfaction, make contact with the Office of Fair Trading in Brisbane.

Office of Fair Trading <BrisbaneOFT@deedi.qld.gov.au>

Unlike some states, were there is an monetary upper limit, here in QLD, there is no upper limit where vehicles are concerned.

Best of luck and keep us informed.