When my heated 2015 Land Rover Sport windshield cracked at the top, I knew there was something wrong. My Land Rover 2013 Sport had done the EXACT same thing while I was on the road on the way to a funeral.

It was cold outside and I was heading North. It had been warm and then a cold front passed through, the rain came, I turned on the Land Rover authorized Pilkington heated windshield and it popped--no, it was not an impact, it was a 'Pop" from the split-- and it split from the top. No rock, no strike, no aliens. There has to be something around the edges that causes these to split. I have seen countless forums where they split at the top and at the bottom.

My service rep, upon looking at said "We've never seen break like that." We paid to replace it. It's a $1500 windshield through Land Rover.

In May 2016, my Land Rover Sport 2015 was sitting in the driveway, acres away from everyone and everything except birds. And the windshield broke. That morning, it was just a little crack right at the top. That afternoon, it had cracked down, cracked sideway, and bisected the entire windshield.

I took it into Land Rover. The service rep rattled off their standard reply to any problem, "WE'VE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE THIS." It must be in the training manual.

"Oh, really?" I said. Please check 2013, because I brought mine in for the exact same thing. In the exact same place. I should buy a Lotto Ticket because the odds of two windshields cracking in the same place on two different cars because a rock struck not once, but twice in the PRECISE location, has astronomical odds associated with it.

By now the crack had spread so that to even drive the car would be incredibly unsafe. In less than 24 hours, it was completely bisected.

Our Land Rover dealership had a third party auto glass company take a look at the windshield when they were out to repair YET ANOTHER Land Rover windshield. I asked both my service rep and the service manager for the name of the person who looked at the windshield. "Colton" was the name they gave me. "No one else?" "Nope, no one else."

Colton, it turns out, is a new trainee. A trainee looked at it and "determined" that it was a rock hit that broke the windshield.

I called the auto glass dealership to speak with the owner. The woman on the phone now said it wasn't a trainee who looked at the windshield, but the owner of the company.

I asked to speak with the owner. Remember, my windshield is bisected from top to bottom and side to side in less than 24 hours from a "rock hit" that took a picture magnification to find.

The owner then called and the story changed again. It wasn't he who looked at the windshield. Now, it was someone named "Josh" who had over a year's worth of experience. The owner then hemmed and hawed, saying that "determining a rock strike wasn't an exact science. It was rather like being a lawyer or a doctor. Many things were 'open to interpretation'."

Actual. Statement.

So my completely broken, unsafe, $1500 Land Rover windshield now has had a three story change, and it was Josh that looked at it in spite of everything the service rep and the service manager said and confirmed in a call, not once, but twice.

Back to Land Rover corporate, who is handling my case. Janie or Jennie depending on how she pronounces her name that day, does not have a voicemail set up for some reason. So I had to keep calling to get her. It took my own service rep three days to get to her on the phone.

I asked to speak with someone who would be able to make a determination based on this being the second windshield that had cracked in the same place.

This, I was informed by Jeannie/Janie, is never done. I asked to escalate it as the windshield was unsafe.

There is, I was informed, no such thing as an escalation.

I asked who I would speak to if I felt after speaking to her, my problem was not cleared up.

That would be the manager, but they only handle administration, not problems.

I asked to be contacted by a manager.

ONE WEEK LATER. Four calls later to request follow-up because we are all waiting for a response. I was told Kathleen would call back that afternoon. No call. I was told she and the other managers were called into an emergency meeting. No call. I was told at 1:00 CST, that she was on her way in and would call. No call.

"How to ruin a brand one customer at a time."

Kathleen called. Lo and behold! If you have two Land Rovers, two windshields that break in the same place, then yes, by all means, they should at least be looked at. But please send confirmation that you actually paid for at least one replacement. Sent, with pictures, the same day.

Still waiting for a reply.

 

This thread is worthless without pictures

Sorry to hear about the issues your having.

 

Interesting rant.

1) breaks should be covered by warranty and documented as such. Don't you have a glass deductible for your insurance? Mine is high but it ain't that bad.
2) a "LAND ROVER SPORT" does not exist.
3) This reads like a James Joyce novel

 

I guess as Land Rover got bigger in the US they lost the intimacy they had over twenty years ago. I remember my first Range Rover left me stranded so many times I was on a first name basis with Charlie Hughes, the CEO at the time. My calls were so regular all I had to do was talk to his assistant and a flatbed was on its way, laden with a loaner.

My first Range Rover drove me insane with all its problems. Honestly, the only thing that saved Land Rover, in my mind, was how corporate went our of their way to accommodate me. They did everything short of buying back my Range Rover. They even went so far as to offer a very attractive way to trade up to a new 4.0SE.