I have been treated so poorly by Land Rover dealerships in Milford CT and by Landrover corporate that I traded my 2011 Land Rover LR2 into a Lexus Dealership this week.


Landrover positions its vehicles and company as a premium commodity, but the service and quality that I experienced at their Landrover Connecticut dealerships and from the Landrover Complaints Department was mediocre and apathetic at best.


I should have heeded the warnings from all the Landrover LR2 owner bloggers that have had problems and from Consumer Reports.


My 2011 Landrover LR2 with 89,000 miles cost me $3500 to fix due to a blown Power transfer case. I was also informed during the same service visit that my rear differential is humming and should be watched closely. This would be another $4000 to fix.Considering my 2011 Landrover LR2 was only worth around$12,000 it didn't seem sensible to spend $7500 to fix it.
After my transfer case repair, my LR2 was returned to me by the Milford CT Landrover dealership with oil leaking from the bottom of the engine. The oil leaked all over my driveway and my garage.

When I reported the problem to the Milford CT Landrover dealership, I was told that they could not pick the car up for a week. The attitude at the dealership was apathetic, like it was no bid deal.

I reported my problem to Landrover corporate and they didn't do much except to glad-hand me. I told Landrover corporate that they should pay for the transfer case repair because it was an excessive repair given the age and use of the LR2 (my new Lexus came with a 6 year unlimited mileage warranty). Landrover corporate refused to compensate me in any way for this repair. They didn't even bother to follow up. They made me feel like they didn't care. My 2011 Landrover LR2 leaked and smelled like burning oil all week long.

My local mechanic looked at my 2011 Landrover LR2 and told me that the Milford CT Landrover dealership had filled the transfer case with too much oil.

My overall experience with the Milford CT Landrover dealerships it that they didn't care about my customer experience.

My overall experience from Landrover corporate is that they did not care about my customer experience.

My experience with Lexus and Mercedes Benz has been quite different. They make me feel special. I was expecting the same from Landrover.

My purchase of the entry level LR2 was a test for a furture purchase of a Discovery or a Range Rover. Landrover failed me and I will not be buying another vehicle made by Landover.

 

they will miss you

 

What causes a blown transfer case? Was this vehicle driven off-road or used for towing? Just curious how a catastrophic mechanical failure like this happens.

 

I'm really sure the dealership will miss this customer and his LR2. Probably will have to shut the doors.

 

Bye bitch.

 

Bye, Bye Love, Bye Bye Happiness, Hello Loneliness, I think I'm a gonna Cry.

 

Really?

 

Is it me or are you all siding with Land Rovers deplorable treatment of this customer?
I'm new here so maybe I'm missing something?

 

Hey, he came on a land rover forum, with his user name, with a vehicle with almost 90k miles, didn't ask for help or for a line of advice but proceeded to bitch and complain when a mistake is make in repairing it and demand that because a mistake is made, that the dealer should pay for the entire repair.....

As a dealer tech, I would have told you to drive the vehicle back, or tow it, whichever made him feel more comfortable. And not to deal with the service advisor but to get ahold of either the Service Manager or the Parts and Service Director.

As a dealer tech, I would also tell him to not make demands. The dealer is the last place to make demands, but if a cooler head prevailed, things happen alot faster and they would have been willing to work with you.

As a dealer tech, I would have also said that the last thing to do is to compare your bottom of the rung LR2 to a Mercedes or a Lexus and claim you were using the LR2 as a gateway into how you get treated at a dealership. Sure, and I buy coffee at Starbucks to see how I get treat so I can maybe one day buy a breakfast sandwich.

As a dealer tech, I can tell you Mercedes and Lexus's dealer system get paid off something known as survey's and customer experience. The happier the customers are via survey, the more the dealer bonus's go up. and its not a small chunk of change we are talking, it's millions of dollars every year. And many people game the system. I have watched customers who were told no, we cant do that turn around and say, and I quote "I know you people get paid off of surveys, and when I get mine, I will F*$k it up" And I'm sure this fine gentlemen, based on his attitude conveyed in his one and only post on our humble help line forum, would be one of those individuals.

Listen I get it, they ****ed up the repair and wouldnt send a tow truck to get the vehicle. Common sense would say, have the dam thing towed back and let them fix it. and let them pay for the tow back. Simple.

Where he ****ed up would be making demands, insisting that he compensated for someone(a human being, not a robot) making a mistake.

No, we weren't siding with Land Rovers treatment of this guy. Not even close. But he came here, not to solve a problem, or ask for help, but to complain and for pity.

And well, as you see, we don't take kindly to that sort of thinking.
End rant.

 

Not to hate on LR2 ownership but he did mention reading about all the bad things that plague that model, and still bought one...

I am sorry to hear that the dealership messed a few things up. Some are good and some less so. As DGI said above, what makes the situation worse was the behavior afterwards. Everyone makes mistakes. Nobody likes someone who feels they are entitled to everything. Where I work in construction you get quite a few people who wander onsite before a demo and want things, like rose bushes, or pavers, or windows, whatever. If they're nice and courteous, and I can do it for them, I usually try to help them out. What will guarantee them nothing is when they show up basically acting like what they wanted is a done deal and because they know X or Y, they are just here to grab it and get gone. Fastest way to make me do the opposite of what you want and generally get you thrown off the site is to act entitled.

I wasn't incredibly pleased with the dealership I started going to after I moved from the east coast but little by little I gave them more and more repair work or parts orders, hung out with the guys a bit, and tried to be a decent customer. And it pays off.

I think it was getting a new tranny pan that they sheared off some bolts for the exhaust or possibly needed another night to soak them before getting them off (very rusty from its time in VA). I said no problem, I'll get it next day after work. Came in, hung out with the service advisor for a bit while we talked how the work got done, weekend plans, etc., while I waited maybe 30 minutes. At the end of it, went to pay the (large) bill, and he comped me a few hundred dollars off for some obscure discount they had running at the time. He said he really appreciated that unlike most of his customer base I didn't come in screaming about how my truck was late and they promised this/that, and demanding it be free, I just said ok, waited a bit, and saved some $$$. Unforseen circumstances happen, and the worst thing you can do is start threatening people/making demands. The dealership here serves an extremely affluent customer base, makes huge sales constantly, and honestly didn't have to care about a twenty-something with an older rover.

While I do have a favorite indy shop, I wouldn't hesitate to keep using the dealer near me for whatever came up. It took several months of building a rapport but that's what you gotta do to get a good working relationship.