I wonder if any of the news outlets have picked up on this? It seems like Jalopnik regularly posts pictures of misbuilt wranglers and fords. The idea of going to the trouble of ordering a car, only to be forced to accept whatever they built for you, seems very Ferrari in the 80s. I know the guys at JLR may be shocked to hear this, but it isnt the 80s anymore.


OH, and to pay full MSRP + extra, for the privilege of submitting an order. Boy is this rich.

 

Not to excuse the end result, but I think there were a few local factors that contributed to the errors.
1) New dealership (they were provided a couple Defenders so I was able to test-drive one before ordering - where as all other dealers in the Phoenix area had no inventory)
2) Incompetent sales rep (who ended up leaving post-order, pre-delivery)
3) Initially modifying an order on a MY21 which then changed to MY22 and the lack of competency around both the changes and the ordering system.

 

Let us hope it's all at the dealer level. But MAN there have been a lot of posts on here that begin something like, "Order came in yesterday. I LOVE it! I thought I wanted Tasman but I'm really starting to like this Yulong White! And I didn't order 3rd row seating since I'm retired and don't have any friends, but you know what, I may want it one day if I get any friends so I'm glad they put it in here! And it turns out I'm just fine with the 4 cylinder."

 

OH NO! Your VIN and order match your vista as well? What did your dealer say for the reason of the mix-up?

 

There are so many flaming F' ups with folks that ordered 21's to get a differently configured 22 that I think it has nothing to do with local dealers. In fact, I think fewer people had the correct order than something different. It makes me think that the Dealers had little to nothing to do with it and JLR just did mass data conversions with no Customer/Sales input. That would go on par with their sub standard customer focus that is currently going on. With the halt of Defender production, I think JLR has effectively stopped making ANY vehicles. If this goes on for long, any sales person on a commission compensation plan is likely to find work elsewhere. As SC's leave Dealers I think we may start hearing the "behind the scenes" stories about all of this.

Was ANYONE contacted by their Sales Rep that their order was being switched to a 22 and they wanted to confirm the specs? Or did everyone have the same experience: ordered a 21 and down the line find out that it was/is built to a 22?

 

These stories bring me back to the days when as a sales rep we used to order a company car, which was a Ford Taurus. My manager didn't bother to go to the Ford dealer to look at colors and selected "blue" on the order sheet. It arrived in a lovely light powder blue color with matching light blue seats. Of course the next new hire got the hideous blue Taurus and he reordered a new Taurus for himself in white.

As for my Defender, my sales rep sent me a confirmation of my order. Then there is a person at each dealership that logs into the Nitra order entry system and places the actual order at the plant. He sent me a confirmation of what he entered as well. The only issue was that I had to take some $125 air filter option when ordering 3-zone AC. Most order problems occur because of differences between the build feature on the LR USA website and the actual online order system at the Nitra plant.

 

My order got switched from a my21 to my22 and everything was on there including adding air suspension and clearsight mirror which became options in my22. I was upset because I had been emailing my sales rep every few days inquiring about switching from the HSE to the XS model. He ignored all that and sent me a confirmation when the my22 HSE order was confirmed. Having to create a new order for the XS has added 3-4 months to my timeline.

But now I wonder if he was the one who confirmed it or if the order was never going to be able to be changed after already being confirmed for a my21

 

Well, the general manager got involved and unfortunately wouldn't take responsibility. Basically put it back on me. I seriously thought about getting my deposit and just walking away. They wouldn't really care as there would be a line of people willing to buy it if I chose not to take it. So in the end I took a risk and took it, and then worked on another order (correct, but about 9k more expensive as I had to go X rather than X-Dynamic) that has a 8/20 build and 10/29 delivery. Who knows if that date will hold true, but I have something that is close and HOPEFULLY will hold it's value so when I trade it back to them in November, I won't take too bad of a depreciation hit.

 

Breeze, why did you need to go X rather than X-Dynamic? What things pushed it from one to the other? My X-Dynamic SE was $80k, but every item I wanted was either included in XDSE base or I could a la carte it as a standalone option.

 

The main reason is the Vintage Tan & Ebony seating was available in the MY21 X-Dynamic (and is what I had specified with the dealer, but arrived with the lighter Acorn/Ebony) in MY22, the Tan/Ebony interior combo is only available on the X.