A lesson for LandRover UK

I collected my car yesterday and had a day of two distinct parts. The dealer experience was woeful, the car drive sublime. There are some member out there that believe that just because of supply and demand issues it is a licence for poor, sloppy and unprofessional service.

Whilst accepting the fact that these are much sought after vehicles and that the prospect of discounts is sheer fantasy, especially when ones are appearing in the UK classified for 5-10K over list price, this should not give some dealers the entitlement to treat us shabily.

I would be the first to say that there are obviously some marvellous dealers out there. LPR and Perth have already been praised highly and rightly and I'm sure that there are many others. Indeed LPR have proved very helpful to members, including myself, despite the fact that they don't have our business yet (although I will seriously consider travelling to them next time). This does however fail to deal with the undisputed fact that many many members have been treated very poorly.

LandRover have come up with a truly outstanding product and I'm genuinely blown away by just how good it is after two days with it. The LandRover staff are seemingly hugely proud of their achievements, given what one member has told us on his visit to the Halewood plant and the fact that a car filled with five LandRover workers followed me into a restaurant car park yesterday a full ten miles away from the plant and they wanted to know how we rated her. They were really keen, enthusiastic and happily employed (something that isn't taken for granted in Liverpool)

LandRover UK have also been first class, just look at how they've handled the launch and all of those events throughout the country. So why don't all of the dealers recognise what we do and make the final part of this process as enjoyable as the rest is. I'm new to LandRover. Based on the product I'm here to stay.......based on the dealers.....we'll have to see.

This is a common complaint of a lot of prestige dealers, Audi ,Bmw and especially Mercedes. It is bizzare why it happens, its as if they feel they don't have to sell the product, which is crazy when you consider the amount of competition at this level.

There are also stories on here of snobbery, and some dealers, whereby because you have walked in with a pair of old jeans and a knackered old t-shirt, they don't believe you have the money, when in all reality its these people who will normally pay in cash.

LR really need to apply pressure on the dealer network to meet the standards they are now setting with their vehicles. It would be interesting to know if the dealers are that well incentivised when compared to other marques.

A chain is only as strong as it's weakest link and from the sounds of it you have found a particularly weak link in you dealer.

Being a new customer to LR as well, I'm expecting a level of service that goes beyond what I've had with other brands which happily I have had to date.

I hope that your dealer finds some way of restoring your faith in them but I think I can tell you'll not be giving them another chance in the future.

Agree 100% with your post...amazing product and great staff...but terrible dealers (massive generalisation as if course there are very good ones too).

When I had my FFRR I stopped using the dealer which is the first time I've not used a main dealer for my cars for over ten years...I consider running a car to be an 'experience' and servicing etc is part of the experience, and a part I want to enjoy. Many of my friends cringe when their car needs a service, whereas with Mercedes, Porsche, BMW and Audi I have always been able to forget about the money and enjoy it...I enjoy driving a different car for a day (even if its not as good as mine, it's different), I enjoy the free coffee and a chance to look around at the new models, I enjoy the fact that my car comes out feeling fresher and running better (feels almost like getting a new car) and I enjoy being made to feel special...this is all worth the money...however, I have never yet enjoyed a Land Rover service...

I'm hoping things are going to be different going forwards, but sadly not holding my breath...however...it's a great car and a British brand, so I'm sticking with it this time through thick and thin.

How many of us know more about what's going on from reading this board than we do from speaking to our dealer...I do for sure. I hear great things about James ( who I think is LPR...hope I've got that right???)...he clearly cares about Land Rover, his business and his customers...shame there aren't more like you James, keep up the great work...I suspect you will have a lot of customers from this site in the future...I will certainly consider travelling.

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(21-09-2011 02:43pm)GibEvoque Wrote:  This is a common complaint of a lot of prestige dealers, Audi ,Bmw and especially Mercedes. It is bizzare why it happens, its as if they feel they don't have to sell the product, which is crazy when you consider the amount of competition at this level.

There are also stories on here of snobbery, and some dealers, whereby because you have walked in with a pair of old jeans and a knackered old t-shirt, they don't believe you have the money, when in all reality its these people who will normally pay in cash.

LR really need to apply pressure on the dealer network to meet the standards they are now setting with their vehicles. It would be interesting to know if the dealers are that well incentivised when compared to other marques.

Ha ha...I am that scruffy bloke that always gets ignored and when I do speak to the sales guys, they immediately assume I need credit...and yet I buy my cars in cash as don't believe in credit!!

Ironic really, when I was skint I used to dress up in a suit and go and blag an extended test drive, sometimes for a long weekend...then when I had the nice car on the extended test, I'd go to another dealer and blag an extended test in one of their cars...must have gone away for at least 10 weekends in great cars from dealers whilst leaving my rusty cavalier at home!!

Never trust a man in a suit!!

Ha ha...I am that scruffy bloke that always gets ignored and when I do speak to the sales guys, they immediately assume I need credit...and yet I buy my cars in cash as don't believe in credit!!

Ironic really, when I was skint I used to dress up in a suit and go and blag an extended test drive, sometimes for a long weekend...then when I had the nice car on the extended test, I'd go to another dealer and blag an extended test in one of their cars...must have gone away for at least 10 weekends in great cars from dealers whilst leaving my rusty cavalier at home!!

Never trust a man in a suit!!
[/quote]

Smashing to hear from you. Just sounds like me. By the way the grey looks great.

Only recently that i disposed of my suits, jeans and t-shirt all the way.

Sorry to hear about your poor dealer experience yts - I hope the quality of the Evoque makes up for it in some way.
I'm lucky inasmuch I have a pretty good dealer very local to me who has given me good service for several vehicle sales and countless services over the years.
I've suffered from dealer snobbery over the years - in particular from Jaguar, Mercedes and BMW. They'll never know the sales theyve lost because they treated me as if I couldn't afford their products. This is my 7th Range Rover - it could as easily be my 7th Jaguar - if only they had reacted dfferently when I walked into the showroom all those years ago.
I won't stand to be treated shabbily if I'm buying a product, whether it be a toy car or an expensive real one. If I'm not treated right I walk away. I'll travel long distances if I have to (I bought a new MINI from Germany rather than the BMW dealer).
yts - maybe if you're going to change to another Evoque in the future, then change dealers.
Ironially I've been treated best by Aston Martin dealers - who have every right to be snobbish, but are not!!!!
ANT

Fortunately or unfortunately depending on how you see it, it's the ones that need the credit that make the dealers more money.
I have walked away from buying a car due to the attitude of staff before now. I then phone them and tell them why in the hope they will learn by their mistake.
To me service is everything such as acknowledging emails within 12 hours or having out of office on. And answering phones within 5 rings. Our own standards. It's not hard to do the little things that matter such as a weekly email to update progress and inform a client of external developments.

Ironically I think the Aston Martin Dealer are accutely aware that when spending close to 200k on a car, service is everything as it is very easy for someone in that position to go, i'll get a ferrari, Lambo, Maseratti etc instead.

The whole thing at that level is feel good factors.

Hi again I suppose my point is that there are good dealers in all the prestige manufacturer dealer networks. Personally I had fantastic experiences at Jaguar and BMW. I'm now in search of a great LandRover dealer in the Cheshire, Merseyside, Lancs area. If anyone knows of someone please let me know.