I have had new Discoverys every three years since the "J" reg in 1991. By my reconning, that's quite a few hundred thousand pounds worth. If that's not brand loyalty I don't know what is!! (I also have a Series 1 Land Rover!). Our latest is a D5 bought in November last year.
Sadly, in the last few years, Land Rover support and assistance and support has dwindled to almost zero. It seems that every issue I have with the car(s) now has to be a battle of wits to see whether LR can find a loop hole to avoid responsibility. Luckily, we have made friends with the salesman we have used for the past few years. He agrees that the constant battles to get stuff done is unacceptable and has asked me to use him as a point of contact for all after-sales issues. Without his assistance, I would certainly have raise a number of Small Claims cases against JLR .
The latest is the one that is making my blood boil. A few months ago, I noticed that the tail gate was slightly out of alignment and where it had touched the bumper, there was a small patch of paint missing and there was a small dent in the bumper. As one would normally do, I added it to my list of matters to be addressed at the first service. However, due to Covid and the partial lock-downs of the service departments (and a lack of a courtesy car which was another time consuming distraction) , I was not able to get the car booked in until a couple of weeks ago.
When I collected the car, I was informed that the 16000 mile service had been performed but that two other items did not show up on fault codes and therefore could not be addressed. Then came the tail-gate issue.
I was advised that the dealer was asking for a quotation for the work and would
see whether Land Rover could contribute to the cost!!
:censored: That lit the touch-paper. Apparently, their excuse was that this came under the "bodywork and trim" clause that states that bodywork and trim are only covered under warranty for a year and as this was a year old in November it wasn't covered.
So, I discussed this (as calmly as possible) with my sales guy and he said "this is outrageous, leave it with me". He then proceeded to construct a long mail to JLR customer service explaining that we had talked about the fault some months ago and how they should recognize brand loyalty. JLR responded with "it's out of warranty" and refused to fix the problem. As a result, and out of sheer embarrassment, my dealership has decided to cover the cost "in branch".
This is that latest in a long line of issues that have gone to battle. When I speak to other new car owners of high value vehicles such as Audi, BMW, Tesla, etc. It seems that the dealerships cannot do enough for them. Sadly, it looks like the massive success of the brand has led to total complacency and penny-pinching. I doubt I will be able to persuade Mrs PDES to buy another Land Rover.