LR's Damage Limitation

(19-10-2011 10:20am)Gthornton Wrote:  As I was reading this, the phone rang!

Guess what?! It was the 8th December, now its the 28th December!

Balls.

I'd get that shifted to 2nd Jan.

Hmmm...mine was due 2nd Nov, then moved to 9th Dec...have just emailed dealer to get the expected bad news.

Can only , otherwise I'd

Well at least the dealers in UK are trying to do some damage controls. Here in Singapore, the sole dealership, don't even give a damn! I was informed mine due for Oct, then shifted to Nov and I guess with all the latest developments, I'll get mine next yr!

I agree the memo suggested it was up to dealers to build up a fleet of courtesy cars - allbeit on preferential terms from JLR - to placate customers inconvenienced by the delayed deliveries. That's expensive and seems to be off-loading JLR's problems on to the dealers.

I had a call from a lady in JLR yesterday trying to find out how I got hold of the memo and did it come from a JLR employeee? She said she would look into my build, though I told her I was not in any way trying to get my car earlier by making a lot of noise, we're all in this together.

I told her what I was looking for was information - why has the RRE production apparently gone pear-shaped after a promising start and what was it about my car which caused the lead time to increase suddenly from (at the time) from 3-4 to 10-12 weeks. She wouldn't be drawn on any comments from me on parts shortages, the tragic accident in the press shop (though was surprised I knew about it) and so on, saying that like any manufacturer, any such issues were confidential.

I tend to be on the bad-tempered side of irascible when I don't get straight answers to my questions and she handled the call well but I am sadly none the wiser.

Fascinating story - which doesn't really reflect well on Land Rover if their response is to start a witch hunt amongst their own staff. All the secrecy makes you wonder if theyre trying hide even worse chaos and delay.

Far better would be for them to be open about the problem, explaining exactly why it happened, and detailing all the hard work they are putting in to deal with it.

Anyone with a delay would still be fed up, but at least would be informed and feel treated with some respect by a company who was working hard to sort it out.

Still waiting to hear from my dealer about my date !! -

Of course, the less information there is, the more theories based on rumour and hearsay multiply.

Lots of Business School case studies have shown that when problems do happen, it's better to be open, honest and straight-talking in explaining what's happened and what's being done. The problem is that this is counter intuitive to (especially) the PR people who fear they are playing into the hands of their competitors.

I'm quite sure if you went to buy an Audi Q3 and mentioned to the salesman that you're thinking of buying an RRE, he would tell you about "all the problems" at JLR. Actually, these problems are the result of outstanding sales success and it's understandable JLR want to translate this into quality product.

It's far better to set an expectation of delivery and stick to it. Instead, most cars are being pushed back, a few are being brought forwards and there doesn't seem to be rhyme or reason as to which applies to any particular car.

My final order hasnt gone in yet. I beleive i am one of my dealers next batch of 16 cars and anticipated getting the call for my final spec in the next 2-3 weeks.

My deposit was placed in june.

I havent heard anything from my salesman for about 6 weeks though now so popped him an email this morning seeking some info/reassurance.

JLR need to take a leaf out of the Apple school of business. When Apple had the antennae problems with the iPhone 4 (they initially messed up by saying hold the phone differently!) then quickly realised that all it would take was admitting the fault and a bit of good will in the form of free cases and the whole thing dissipated very quickly and they managed to maintain huge sales volumes of the same product with its design flaw for over a year.

As mark_n says all it takes is a bit of transparency and goodwill to sort problems like this... come on JLR!!

With regard to the cost of providing courtesy cars, the dealers should be able to eat these costs as they are making a full mark-up due to the no discount policy.

[quote='Daigriff'

Hmmm...mine was due 2nd Nov, then moved to 9th Dec...have just emailed dealer to get the expected bad news.

Can only :lol:, otherwise I'd :blub:
[/quote]

Just got reply now 14th December...slowly moving backwards