Thread: Ham-fisted workmen!!!

Originally Posted by scarry

if u read the fine print in the service manual it goes something like this.....if u are not happy with the repair within 7 days the dealer will pick it up & fix it ...they did this a few times for me saved a lot of stuffing around

I remember this wording from my last Defender, but it seems to have disappeared from the warranty booklet now .

Originally Posted by lokka

WTF thats typical of landrover its a joke how they DGAF about your pride and joy tell ya what tho the service manager is lucky hes dealing with you and not me as he would be brushing his teath through his bum if it was my new fender that had just been treated like that

My policy is to be as nice as I can until the job is actually done, and remember that the poor guy I am talking to over the counter has had very little to do with the actual work so tearing him a new one just makes both our days unhappy. As long as he and the service manager are on my side, I at least have friends in a position to actually help sort the problem out and maybe sack the lunkheads in the workshop who actually did the damage and caused them embarrassment.

Originally Posted by Aaron

Do they give you attitude when you are there? Or is their face to face dealings OK

Like I said above - as long as I keep things concilliatory they are as keen as I am to see the problems sorted and I generally get frustrated sympathy and loads of apologies. I also get a nicer loan car next time - I am aiming for a RRS or FFRR which they may get back in one piece if they're lucky! So far I have had their auto 6 cyl FL2 for most of its short, torrid life. You know if you have to plant the foot in one of those things you can actually get the revs to go all the way to the cutout before it changes up.

Originally Posted by DirtyDawg

Scratches on a Defender...what next imported mud
Oh the shame of it..............

My main peev is that I, and only I, have the right to damage my new Defender. And I generally plan on destroying it from the outside in, so my dashboard should be immaculate for most of its life.

Now after a day driving it I have extended the list of woeful assembly blunders. The last time they had the vehicle they forgot to put all the screws back into the steering column surround. I found one on the floor when I picked it up and didn't, at the time, know where it came from. I put it somewhere safe and then one day whilst cleaning the inside, found the missing screw hole. Of course when I went ot get the screw it was gone so I asked Land Rover to get me another since no auto shops seemed to have the exact same screw .

Land Rover got a new screw (only took a WEEK) but, lo and behold, the screw head was different. Land Rover had inexplicably decided to change the type of screw from when my vehicle was manufactured LAST SEPTEMBER! I said that rather than have one torx head and one phillips head screw, which would be a PITA every time I had to get into the steering column (probably when the headlight switch starts regularly burning out), could they please get two new ones and put them in whilst doing the other warranty stuff.

Now I don't know why, but they must have disassembled the steering column surround entirely during this process just to replace two screws . I don't know what they did when they put it back together but now the back of the steering wheel centre scrapes on something when turning hard lock and the indicator return spring is "twangy". The stalk also feels as though it's pushed permanently onto the high-beam position - but it's actually not. I would go to the other dealership in town but there are already refugees from them going to the one I'm using.

I think I'll keep this thread going as I follow this sorry process through to some sort of conclusion. One thing's for sure, it will be ages before I reach my first service interval if I keep clocking up mileage on their loan cars instead of my own.

looks like landy dealers arent the only ones who get themselves in trouble.There is a guy on the hsv site(my sons favourite site) who put his hsv gts in for a service at a dealer.They rang him 5 hrs later to come & pick up a loan car.The service manager had taken it for a "test run" with an apprentice,done a u turn & collected a post..will take around a month to fix it.

when i get about a day spare i will write out a list of what the dealers have done to my td5s over the years

i remember them ringing me once and asking if i was happy with the service.They were doing a servey of some type.I told them the service wasnt bad,but the quality of the workmanship by the mechanics was absolutely disgraceful.

The next day i recieved a call from the dealer service manager& he apologised& said they were making some changes etc.my answer was this wasnt the first time this had happened & i would not be back in a hurry nor would i recomend the dealership to anyone.

cheers

paul

Originally Posted by scarry

The next day i recieved a call from the dealer service manager& he apologised& said they were making some changes etc.my answer was this wasnt the first time this had happened & i would not be back in a hurry nor would i recomend the dealership to anyone.

cheers

paul

Thats a good excuse if you assemble pianos, but with something that carries people, thats pretty poor. Didn't know moving a water cooler to a more fung-shway corner of the workshop took priority refitting a brake caliper.

Well the Defender goes back in for more warranty work next week. It seems that the common rail needs replacing as I have read some others have too. The angine warning light came on a couple of days ago with no other apparent symptons. I thought it wise to just pop straight into the dealer and get them to plug in their magic box and see if this was just a spurious fault or something real. Of course the light went out 500m from the shop .

They checked it and discovered the fault was due to a fuel delivery issue - possibly a blockage. They sent the info off to Land Rover who advised today that there was a fault with the common rail, apparently certain components aren't able to withstand the pressures. This sounds more like a design flaw to me and I have read where others (can't remember if it was on this site or the UK Defender2 site) have had their's replaced.

So it's back to the dealers next week for a fix and they will also be fixing their last attempts to ruin my dash.

your lucky you dont live in halls creek

took mine to m.r. for service.....it is under extended warranty.....excellent

cheers

I too have over the years had some horrific encounters with both the Brisbane dealers (whom I am led to believe both come under the same overall ownrship mantle) and will never go back to either, and as a result I still travel from the southside of town to Ipswich (about a 45 min trip) for my service and maintenance requirements to an 'ex dealer' who I find gives me excellent service on my Disco ll. Pricing is good as is workmanship quality, the downside is that I have to wait a bit longer for parts.
This probably may be of no use to you as your vehicle is one of the new breed and I dont think they have upgraded to the new level of computer tech programmes, or whether they intend to. Land Rover left them high and dry with their demands for a 'stand alone' dealership when Ford took over but they have done the right thing and stayed loyal to their previous customers who bought from them.
You, on the other hand, are pretty well tied in to the 'town' dealerships until your warranty expires, although Southport isn't that far away!
Best of luck!
Glen

Nice to have the latest shiny new model car..only problem is sharing it with the service department...the only thing computers have taught me is you don't buy the first edition anything.

Originally Posted by DirtyDawg

Nice to have the latest shiny new model car..only problem is sharing it with the service department...the only thing computers have taught me is you don't buy the first edition anything.

That was my logic until I drove one. I just had to have it! My theory is that I will just have to use the warranty cover to its fullest so that in three years time the car is hopefully all sorted.

The only problem is when you send the vehicle in with one problem and they fix it but create two more .