Oof - Well I’m still expecting potential surprises when I actually go pick it up, but in the meantime I requested and got a pdf of MSRP info so I can at least verify that all of my ordered items match up.
Too bad that doesn’t include what was installed at the port too. Guess I’ll believe it when I see it!

 

Timeline:
Contacted Dealer with on-line build specs and deposited $2K - 2/21/2021
3/19 Confirmed Build
3/29 Put into build queue (each Dealer has an allotment) - ETA 7/3
4/30 Found out Salesperson no longer worked there and needed new update source
5/29 Found out that they ordered a 2022 and changed specs
6/9 Arrived at Dealer and needed to add (and mark up the prices) of all the things I ordered that the Manufacturer doesn't install
6/15 Picked up after waiting 4 days for tires.

Details:
You may not have the same experience that I did, but here goes. I played on-line for a couple weeks until I nailed exactly what I wanted. If it's going to be that expensive and things are going to take a while, I figured I should just order. I contacted a nearby dealer via the on-line contact form on 2/21 and almost instantly got a reply. We traded e-mails, texts and calls and I sent the build link. She sent an online deposit form for $2k and placed the order. I got NO info of any build information. I knew things were going to be sketchy then. I recommend getting a Purchase Order and get it pretty close! On 3/19 she sent me a build form via text photo that matched what I ordered. On 3/29 she said we made it into the build list. They don't immediately get into a queue as each dealer has a different allotment. She said the target was 7/3. On 4/30 everything was silent and I texted her again. Only to find out that she had quit. She pointed me to a different sales person (likely to toss the commission to a buddy). He was pretty decent so I didn't mind. He said that they placed the order for a 2022. That was both good news and bad news. That meant the specs were completely off. The truck increased about $4k from what I expected mainly because they added the labor to add non-manufacturer items, the new year costs, and other miscellaneous bull-****. They dropped about three things from the "perfect" order. The dynamic electronic diff is now a ~$1,600 add but was a free option. Screwed on that. The extended flares they didn't add, but on seeing it - I actually prefer it with the wheels. And the Clearsight rear mirror. I was pissed with the later because I thought that meant I wouldn't get the groundview. Once I found out the Clearsight groundview was standard with the 360 cameras - I was good! It arrived last Wednesday but they've been farting around trying to find off-road tires. Still not sure I got screwed out of that! What are the off-road tire specs? I thought they were Wrangler Duratacs. I have Wrangler All-Terrain. I think they did a slight of hand that I didn't notice until I got home. So I "ordered" it 3/19 and received it 6/15. Three months almost exactly and a lot of BS and missed items. BE CAREFUL. You shouldn't have the switch of year to throw you like I did. At the end, I'm fine with the minor variances but the landing was rougher than I was expecting. I got a 2022 Defender X-Dynamic HSE with a lot of tech adds. If I did it again, I'd carefully consider the 2022 X. Fortunately EVERY dealer is ordering those for their lots.

 

Sorry to hear about your experience. The many crappy experiences I have read in this forum make me appreciate my dealer and sales team even more. For those considering ordering and if you don’t care about ordering to an out of state dealer (or live in Salt Lake) just PM me happy to share my CAs info.

 

What I’m amazed at is how many people on here report receiving a Defender with serious, substantive, non-correctable differences from what they ordered, and I’m not just talking about 21s that got updated to 22s, which I can understand how errors would occur there (though still not excuse them.) I’ve literally never heard of anyone getting an ordered vehicle that didn’t match the build sheet the customer has in their hand from three months earlier, but it seems to be such an integral part of the JLR modus operandi that we customers just shrug and say things like, “Wasn’t what I wanted but after all, I’m okay with how it turned out.”

When I owned Jeeps I used to laughingly say, “Thank God for Land Rover, otherwise Fiat/Chrysler/Jeep/Ram would absolutely own the JDPower Basement.” Now I’m getting a tiny bit of insider info on just how lax things appear to be over there. Is this an Indian ownership thing or an English management thing? I can’t imagine it’s the fault of the Slovakian plant, unless they’re just ignoring the build sheets, but even then it’s on the management to not accept that.

And I get that we’re in limited resources times; seems like a coms link would be established where the build wouldn’t be begun if all the parts weren’t there (I know that’s the case at Porsche) and if it had to be delayed because of a missing part it would either be delayed or they would let the dealer know it’s being held up for X and do they want it built without X or do they want to wait.

 

I purposely waited until the 2022 configurator was online and worked it over for 2 months. Previously, I was working off a spreadsheet and a PDF manual that the dealer provided to me. When it came time to order, I went to the dealer and provided the build link from the configurator. He pulled out his iPad tablet and we went through it again step by step. Once it was complete, he printed off the build sheets and stuck them in a folder. He also provided me with the link to the build. My build date was 6/11 (last week) but he has not provided a VIN number yet. I'm wondering how long it takes to the VIN after the build is complete. I'm waiting for an August delivery.

 

Right there is the way to do it! @clubguy in my book dialed it in. If I had to do it again, I would have hiked my butt the hour trip to the dealer and sat down to get it all set. Nail it at the dealer and leave with all the paper, watch it go through, and follow up on it. That's the pro-tip you're going to get from reading all of this if you haven't ordered yours yet: Do NOT do it remote (as I did).

 

I think that depends on the dealer, I had an excellent experience ordering mine remote. Going back and forth with the dealership on my build several times over email until every detail was confirmed.

@clubguy - regarding VIN and build date. I just got my VIN and the build date that showed on the sheet was about 2.5 weeks later than the original build date i got when i ordered.

 

Configurator is not always correct. When the my22 configurator went live, and for the first few months, the XS model was shown with the blackened tail lights. Now it has been revised to have the regular tail lights.

 

yeah, the configurator shouldn't be being used as a final reference tool while ordering, as it actually has nothing to do with the actual ordering process. It's super useful to help you visualize/decide on what you want your car to have, but there are just too many minor errors/differences to be able to rely on it. you 100% have to go through every little option and all the fine print on the actual build sheet to make sure you get what you want. It shouldn't be that way, specially as most dealers rely on it to spec peoples builds.

I think that's the biggest pain point most people experience. Most of the posts I see with people complaining can be traced back to build tool errors/confusion that could have been avoided if the dealers knew what they were doing and took the time to explain everything before placing the order. Some do a great job of this, and some are absolutely terrible. Reflects very poorly on JLR, and it's really mostly their fault as the build tool should be 100% accurate, and be crystal clear about what is factory vs dealer/port installed. The dealers should really be using the build tool internally to actually submit orders to the factory. That would remove all of these issues, don't think I've noticed anyone post about the factory screwing up, it's always the dealer. I'm sure there are many practical reasons forcing them not to do that, but they should at least be better about fixing these bugs, like the $0 active rear diff on the 21 configurator, that was there the whole time it was live.

 

I just received confirmation my Defender will arrive Monday, so probably ~ Wednesday for pick up

Last amendment date: 3/28/21
Build date: 4/30/21
Planned delivery was 6/28/21, so almost 2 weeks ahead of schedule.
So far, my dealer has been great to work with. Like clubguy, I had a spreadsheet AND landrover.com build that I shared with the dealer. I then reconciled the Vista sheet they provided (both with MY21, and then later MY22 build) to confirm everything was correct.