CONSUMER REVENGE
This one jumped out at me. Firstly because I appreciate the extent to which the fella freaked out and, secondly, because I used to own the exact same car and can categorically state that I have never (and will never again) deal with worse service from ANY brand than I did with Land Rover Cape Town.
It seems their focus on abysmal service is something they strive for globally. Please enjoy this vibe – parked outside a Land Rover dealership in Colchester, Essex.
Eye-catching!
This, from The Daily Mail:
Rover’s revenge: Furious driver dumps his £50,000 Range Rover outside showroom… emblazoned with a list of its ‘faults’
It is not the best advertisement to have outside your car dealership.
This Range Rover Sport HSE is convincingly decorated like a ‘manager’s special offer’, but it promotes a set of features that are far from appealing.
The owner has daubed it with a catalogue of the faults it allegedly suffered after he bought it for £50,000 at Lookers Land Rover showroom in Colchester, Essex.
When the dealership failed to deal with his complaints to his satisfaction, he parked the negative advertising outside.
As the vehicle is on a public road, the showroom has no power to move it. Staff refused to reveal the owner’s identity.
Large yellow vinyl letters along one side of the car read: ‘If you want trouble free motoring do not buy one of these!!!’
Let alone the service..
On the side and rear windows it lists: ‘Problems with . . . 6 front ball joints, 4 front arm bushes, new seat base, front and rear n/s [nearside] struts, full n/s suspension unit, anti-roll bar bushes, air con.’
A passer-by said: ‘It looks really realistic until you actually read what the words say. Then it’s obvious someone has put it there to have a dig at the dealership. It’s a brilliant idea.’
Do you know what it takes to be pushed to that point? A lot. Land Rover seem to have perfected it.
I remember the one time I needed to book my car in because something went wrong with it. So my P.A. called Land Rover and left 10 messages and, after two days got no response. I kept pushing for feedback and she couldn’t give it. The more she freaked out, the more I freaked out. Then, on the third day, she called them and it just kept on ringing. She was nearly in tears. So I walked straight out, got in my car and drove to Land Rover.
I walked up to the front desk, greeted the reception lady, asked her to pick up the phone and urged her to dial my P.A.’s number immediately, which I gave her.
While it was dialing, I said to her, “Franki is trying to get hold of you – please chat to her” and walked out when Franki answered – allowing her to finally book my car in.
Now firmly in a rage, I charged into the Manager’s office and asked him if the process I had just followed made sense. He agreed that it seemed a tad excessive for me to be forced to drive through to a place to get the place to call my PA to book my car in.
I told him that it was no secret that Land Rover were RENOWNED for their “shit” service, to which he replied, “I know.”
Which was awesome.
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14 Comments
P-lo
16 Jun 2009
I sold my LR Defender 88c to a friend.
We no longer speak.
Rich Marshall
16 Jun 2009
My bro in law was a week late for a service on his Discovery 3. It was still on service plan.
They voided the service plan (with 2 or 3 years left on it) and charged him R60k to reinstate.
Real people people. How to make friends and influence people.
James P (no relation to baby P)
16 Jun 2009
They say 90% of Land Rovers ever made are still on the road. This is as a result of never reaching their final destination.
Liz
16 Jun 2009
Mercedes “Lifestyle Centre” on the Foreshore isn’t quite in that league yet, but they get full marks for trying.
Marc
16 Jun 2009
Buy a Forester. All the 4×4 you’ll ever need and superb service and reliability. And it doesn’t drive like an agricultural vehicle.
donovan
17 Jun 2009
Volvo’s good as well. Land rover? My ass.
Carel
17 Jun 2009
Well, what can we say, the Land Rover brand is aweosme and the Defender is still pound for pound the best off-road vehicle ever built (specially in the wet) but do not drive one if you can not fix it yourself – end of story
Andrew Geel
17 Jun 2009
Only seven things wrong with that Range Rover Sport? Seems like he got a good one. I have an ’07 Defender, and there’s not enough space on the car to list all the things that have been repaired under warranty.
The only positive side to the story is that Land Rover have always repaired without question, offering me loan cars when necessary and going out of their way to make sure that I am placated.
It does also depend on the dealership though, and I have minimal experience of LR Cape Town so can’t comment on them.
Chucky
17 Jun 2009
LR was owned by FORD and has recently been sold to TATA. Not that we should read anything into this, but, uhm, ja-nee. LR is a poster child for the failed English motor industry.
NK
17 Jun 2009
Land Rover Cape Town should be burnt down! Fuck them!
PartyPeter
18 Jun 2009
Haha – also funny to see you have a Landrover ad on your homepage after posting this… \m/
Pietie
23 Jun 2009
Rich – R60k sounds steep for a reinstatement… Are you sure that this is not the 3rd time that he has faulted on his maintenance plan. One can barely blame LRSA or the dealer for penelising someone who constantly transgresses. Think of the potential consequences if they just ignore transgression every time.
First transgression – only R500
Second transgression – +/-R6 000
I think your bro in law was a bit naughty.
NK;As you know every story has two sides to it and sounds as if this certainly is the case. Allow the dealership to present its case before you haul out your matches… sir.
Etienne
15 Sep 2009
Ag no man!! This is my DREAM car!!! Ai, maybe i must stay with BMW and get myself a X5 or X6 then one day!
HD
25 Sep 2009
Just read the comments for this article, looks like Pietie works for LR!
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