WARNING. Hassle your dealer to make sure your build spec is correct

Some of you may have read about my disappointment over on 'the other side' (forum) where after collection of my Prestige Lux yesterday and querying with the salesman the colour of the headlining because I thought it was wrong, I today discovered that the build sheet does indeed show that the order had been incorrectly submitted.

I took ages deliberating on the various colour choices, and decided to opt for the Element Cirrus leather interior, and because of this, ensured I ordered the Cirrus headlining in lieu of the standard default Ivory. We discussed this at some length with the dealer salesman and all agreed that Ivory would look wrong with the light grey. I also discussed at some length the issues reported on Fora about order errors, so he knew I was aware of the potential problem and 'guaranteed' my order would be 100% correct.

When we collected the car yesterday, I almost immediately noticed that the headlining didn't look as I expected and was much more 'yellowy' than grey, but was assured 100% that it was correct as he'd checked the spec to make sure all was as I'd ordered.

It was only this afternoon, whilst the car is at the detailers for a day and a half that I decided to register with Topix - I didn't know what I was actually registering for, but thought I could possibly see any recalls or updates on there. I was quite amazed when I entered the VIN just how much info was shown, and started to read down the displayed build list. Only to come across the line 'IVORY HEADLINING'.

To say I was both gutted and very annoyed is an understatement and have now been in discussions with both the salesman and the Dealer Principal. It WILL get resolved one way or another, after being offered a very derisory £500 which I immediately turned down (bloody cheeky).

So if you have an order in the system, I URGE you to hassle your salesman to ensure that your order is totally 100% correct on the system. Get them to print off the LR build sheet or get them to give you the VIN and register on TOPIX to check it out yourself. DO NOT 'believe' what they tell you is the whole truth. I cannot describe how I felt after finding out my car was not 100% as I'd ordered it, after spending the best part of £50k.

The problem is that the process is prone to error as the order that a customer gets is NOT the order entered on the LR system. The salesman has to take the customer order and give it to someone or enter it onto another back end system. In my case, I believe there was some delay between me placing my order at the sales desk and paying my deposit, and the order being passed to the clerk to key it in. And because of the way the customer order is done on a spreadsheet, mistakes creep in. In my case because for the field marked interior, the salesman had just entered Element/Cirrus Headliner and they just missed entering the Cirrus Headliner.

I won't yet name and shame as I don't want to prejudice any resolution, but if you are in the South West and are a bit worried about your order/dealer, please PM Me.

My salesman told me he was the only one at the dealership who hadn't had an error on a customer order and based on lots of other order errors this appears to be very common. One would think LR would get on top of this!!

I would suggest rejecting the car and insisting they order you another with a properly negotiated discount - 5% seems to be about the average now and insist hey give you use of this car until the new one arrives. I'm assuming you placed your order before the discounts kicked in?

If you have used finance to purchase the car then also involve them and tell them the car is not the spec you ordered and ask for them to assist you/ advise

It's very disappointing when you have spent so long on something for it to arrive wrong. I'm lucky that I use the same salesman, who prints of a copy of the order and gets me to check before its submitted.

Just a quick update in case you haven't followed on the 'other place', I have rejected the car and my rejection has been accepted by the dealership.

Initially they refused to let me continue to use the car, and wanted to gve my p/ex back, but after informing them that I'd cancelled my insurance, breakdown cover and warranty, and that my private plate retention is going through, after a fair bit of huffing and puffing they agreed.

However to cap off the fact that the order was wrong, my GTechniq detailer Adam from Revolution in Brisol discovered some major bodywork defects, one of the major ones being a huge dent in the drivers side front sill, which he reckoned was done before paining of the shell, the leather dash on the passenger side has a dent in the backing material and this causes a crease in the leather, which is really quite noticeable once you see it, and the front grille has been damaged and then touched up with a touch-up brush... and not forgetting the poorly fitted and sagging drivers seal bolster and leather cover and all of the minor blemishes in the paintwork caused by either a dirty environment or poorly maintained spray kit.

Any one or a combination of these should be enough to reject the car, and notwithstanding the wrong trim colour I feel the car is not fit for purpose.

I am planning on meeting the Dealer Principal and Sales Manager on Tuesday as there are many things that need sorting, such as the GAP insurance and Alloy Wheel insurance.

I have bought a few new cars in my lifetime, but NONE has been such a bad experience. I feel that I was deliberately misled by the dealership, as I cannot understand how they could NOT have discovered some if not all of these issues when the vehicle was PDI'd. The car was not fit to leave the factory, let alone reach a customer in this condition.

Will now have to wait until at least May to get a replacement, and instead of enjoying my new ride and playing with all the toys on it, I look at it in the garage and feel that really, I'm not that fussed about going out in it. I elected to take the Mrs car out this morning, and this feeling is not helped by the fact the dealership want me to keep the miles well down on the car so presumably they can sell it on once I hand it back.

See these pics in my DropBox for more detail....

   

   

   

LR assembly foreman.