This is a bit of a comedy of errors!

Regardless of the final outcome, given the poor customer service, poor technical knowledge, and lack of ethics displayed by Land Rover Australia means that it is unlikley I'll be returning to purchase any Land Rover products in the future.

On 9th Feb I called Land Rover Assist due to a noise and reverboration I heard when travelling home in my Range Rover Sport. They diagnised a steering column problem and provided this report..

Over the pursuing months from Feb Through Aug, my Range Rover Sport would go into and out of Melbourne Land Rover (MLR) many many times as they tried to fix the problem. At first they blamed the tyres, then they couldn't hear the noise, before eventually replacing the Steering Column and Rack.

Each and every time my Range Rover Sport was handed back to me I was told a Melbourne Land Rover (MLR) technician had test driven the car and it was fixed. However on each occasion, within moments of leaving with my Range Rover Sport the problem would reoccurr.

In August Land Rover Australia were called in, and now I had to take time from work to take Darrel Blakeman for a test drive. Mr Blakeman is the regional Technical Manager for Land Rover Australia in Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia. He would tell me that he has previously worked for Land Rover at the Land Rover factory in Gaydon, and a similar regional role at Land Rover South Africa.

Within a hundred meters or so of leaving the dealership the noise occurred. Mr Bateman’s exact comments were:

Darrel Blakeman wrote:

I have not heard this noise before

Darrel Blakeman wrote:

If this was my car it would annoy the hell out of me

I'll skip some detail, but it got to September and my Range Rover Sport was still broken, and my email escalations to Melbourne Land Rover (MLR) were disrespectfully dealt with.

I even called Mr John Cooke, the National Customer and Technical Services Manager for Land Rover Australia. He promised to call me back and never did. So with this running theme of poor customer service by Melbourne Land Rover (MLR) and Land Rover Australia as a last option before taking both parties to court, I emailed Mr Roger Jory who is the General Manager of Land Rover Australia:

2nd Rower wrote:

Dear Mr Jory,

RE: Ongoing problems with my 2008 Range Rover Sport.

In reading my letter, please refer to the attached emails. These do not cover all of the communications between myself, MLR and Land Rover Australia, as the majority of conversations were phone based. In brevity, my 2008 Range Rover Sport has had the same ongoing issues since February of this year. As I have stated in my attached correspondence, had the Lemon laws been implemented by the Victorian government then my car would clearly be deemed such.

Specifically, my Range Rover Sport has been into MLR many, many times to have the issues investigated and fixed. During these visits, many parts have been replaced including the entire steering rack and column. Each and every time I have collected my car I have been informed that MLR engineers have performed a test drive to confirm the issues are fixed. Each and every time I left the dealership, the problems would immediately reoccur.

Eventually in August, MLR asked Land Rover Australia to look at my car. I took time from work to take Darryl from Land Rover Australia for a test drive as requested by MLR. Darryl immediately noticed the issues, and stated (to the rattle/reverberation issue) that he had not heard the noise before, and that if it was his car it would annoy the hell out of him.

On Aug 17th my car went back into MLR for three days to have its entire dash board taken out per Darryl’s instructions. I was given a Volvo loan car for the time as MLR had informed me that they do not have any Land Rover or Range Rover loan cars. The car was given back to me after the three days, and I was told a modification had been made and a part placed on order from the UK. I was asked to give feedback if the issues had been remediated or not. Alas they had not and I informed MLR on 31st August via email. I have since found out that the modification was to ‘tape some parts together’ under the dashboard.

Following my note on 31st Aug, there was no further feedback from MLR as to the ongoing issues, or the arrival of the part on order. I called MLR in Early Sept and spoke to John on the service desk to report a new issue as my suspension was also now clunking/knocking. I was told it could be looked at whenever the part arrived for the known and ongoing issues. On 16th September I wrote via email to Mr Tobias Keller of MLR, as there was still no feedback or progress as to the part’s arrival or the ongoing issues. Mr Keller did not initially reply as he had promised, and when I chased him he told me via email that it was my responsibility to demonstrate the problems(yet again) to the MLR Service Team. I declined this and informed him that I would escalate to Land Rover Australia.

The following day, Friday 25th September, Mr John Ayre from MLR called me and asked for some background to the issues. He informed me he would investigate and that he would and call me back in a few days. He has still not called me back.

On Monday 28th September Mr Eden Howard of Land Rover Customer Care called me. He said he would investigate and call me back in forty eight hours. He has still not called me back.

On Wednesday 30th September I called Mr John Cook of Land Rover Australia to escalate these issues, he initially said all Range Rover Sports had the reverberation/rattle issue, but when I quoted Darryl he asked me to allow him 24 hours to investigate and took my number to call me back. Mr Cook has still not called me back.

On the morning of Friday 2nd October, Darryl from Land Rover Australia called me. I questioned when would I be getting a permanent resolution to my issues, and Darryl informed me that when my car came in they would keep it until it was fixed. In a further discussion about loan car for this, I told him that I required a Range Rover Sport. I was surprised to hear from Darryl that MLR had Land Rover loan cars as they had informed me previously they did not have these. Darryl suggested a Freelander as a loan car several times, and each time I said this was not agreeable to me, and that I required a Range Rover Sport. He then said he would call back in the afternoon regarding the loan car matter. Darryl did not call me back in the afternoon on Friday as he had committed. I did however receive a call from Mr Matthew Hunt from the MLR service team. Mr Hunt has been dealing with my ongoing issues since February. He informed me that there was no update on the arrival of the part, and that they may have a Freelander loan car for me. I specifically asked Mr Hunt if Darryl had asked him to call me and Mr Hunt confirmed this. I then informed Mr Hunt that I required a Range Rover Sport as a loan car, and followed this up in writing.

Mr Jory, as I am sure you can see not only have I had to endure the very annoying issues with my Range Rover Sport for 8 months, of late I have had to suffer a poor customer service ethic and bad manners from both Land Rover Australia employees and management, and MLR Senior Management. The latter is not what I expect of companies producing and selling premium products. That said, the priority for me is the complete resolution of all of the current known issues with my Range Rover Sport, and for this I will concede and suffer any ongoing poor customer service. With this prioritisation in mind I understand a standard Range Rover Sport part has been on order since mid August – almost two months – and it still hasn’t arrived. This is most bemusing as I post parcels to the UK regularly, and they take about 5 business days to arrive via airmail. Courier is even quicker. Therefore the best estimate I can make at this juncture is the end of October/early November for the arrival and fitting of this part. Yet still no one has been able to guarantee this part will actually fix all of the known issues.

Therefore, what I am requiring from Land Rover Australia, is a guaranteed fix and (reasonable) date for such, so that I can at long last enjoy driving around in a fault free Range Rover Sport. During the time that my car is off the road, I require a Range Rover Sport loan car for the entirety of the period, until the issues with my car are fixed, and agreed as such by Land Rover Australia and myself. If this is not possible then Land Rover Australia will need to provide me with a like for like replacement of my car (i.e. a MY 2008 Range Rover Sport).

It is regrettable that I need to make statements regarding my next steps, but should I not receive an agreeable response from Land Rover Australia by close of business Wednesday 7th October, then I will pursue these matters against both Land Rover Australia and MLR using via all the public and legal avenues available to me. To this end I already spoke to my finance company and Consumer Affairs Victoria last Friday to inform them of the current position regarding my faulty vehicle.

I look forward to your response.

Your sincerely

Mr John Cooke wrote:

This is to inform you that I will take personal charge of this issue and come back to you no later then Friday of this week. The issue you describe are unacceptable to LRA.

Regards

John Cooke
National Customer & Technical Support Manager
Jaguar & Land Rover Australia

2nd Rower wrote:

Mr Cook,

Thank you for the call, and for the discussion when I returned the call. From this discussion, my understanding of the commitments you have made on behalf of Land Rover Australia are as follow:

1. Once collected my car will remain at MLR under warranty until it is agreed all known issues are fixed.
2. I will have a Range Rover Sport loan car for this entire period, at no cost to myself.
3. If necessary your Senior Technician from Land Rover UK will be flown to Melbourne at Land Rover Australia’s expense to assist.
4. In future, whenever my car is in an official Land Rover garage for subsequent visits I will be provided with a Range Rover Sport (or better) courtesy/loan car at no cost to myself.
5. Upon receipt of a copy of the appropriate pages from my finance agreement, you will forward me a cheque equivalent to the value of one monthly payment, made payable to myself.

I have also sent an email today to Mr Matthew Hunt at MLR as he requested. This details the current issues with my car to be rectified.

Mr Cook, I am satisfied thus far with the tenor of your response in light of the ongoing issues my Range Rover Sport, and the poor customer service. Clearly the priority now needs to be on getting my car to a point where Land Rover Australia and I agree that all of the known issues are completely rectified at the root cause level. I am very hopeful with the steps that you have taken today that we will be able to reach this point.

I hope you have an enjoyable weekend, and please do not hesitate to contact me should you wish .

Yours sincerely

Mr John Cooke wrote:

This is all agreed.

I will be in touch.

Regards

John Cooke
National Customer & Technical Support Manager
Jaguar & Land Rover Australia

Mr John Cooke wrote:

Please refer to the technical vehicle condition report below carried out by our Technical Engineer Oliver Harding.



Regards



John Cooke
National Customer & Technical Support Manager Jaguar & Land Rover Australia

Mr Oliver Harding wrote:

From: Harding, Oliver (O.)
Sent: Monday, 2 November 2009 3:24 PM
To: Cooke, John (J.)
Subject: RE: ********



John,



Subject: Range Rover Sport Vin ******* Condition Report - Vibration



On the 26th of October I travelled to Melbourne City Land Rover to Assess ******* Range Rover Sport during this time I carried out a under vehicle check, this included checking body and suspension fixings to insure correct torque specifications, bush condition checks and a general overall visual check. I could not find any defects at all that would cause me to suspect they would in any way contribute or cause a noise or vibration that the customer has described.



I then drove the vehicle over several different road conditions to try and induce a fault in the vehicle with the standard road wheels fitted. I was not able to fault the vehicle. The vehicle operated normally with only normal operating sounds apparent which would be classified as characteristics of the vehicle.



The All train tyres where then fitted and balanced. I drover the vehicle over the same conditions as previous and the only difference was the tyre noise and slight vibration that where being caused by the different tread pattern and compound of tyre.



In conclusion to the customer's complaint, there was nothing abnormal with the vehicle when I carried out this test. Any further issue regarding vibration which relate to the all train tyres the customer should approach the tyre manufacturer.



Regards



Oliver Harding

Technical Engineer

Jaguar Land Rover Australia

Mr Oliver Harding wrote:

Nut and bolt check of the entire car

im looking at purchasing a new sport, what i have just read makes me think twice, or if possible i will make them sign for lemon laws if possible.

hope all fixed now. Regards

CT

Hi GTO,

Unfortunately its not all fixed, far from it.

Land Rover Australia will do no more on my Range Rover Sport, even though they have not categorically proven it to be the tyres that are the issue. All the independant LR experts I have spoken to suggest it is unlikely to be the tyres!

As for the knock, well they've just issued a new TSB but would never acknowledge that to the public unless you printed it and take it in!

What I have found, and I believe others on this site have commented previously, is that Land Rover will only honour the warranty if there is a complete failure of the part. Otherwise they struggle to diagnose it, or worse, say the problem is a characteristic of the Range Rover Sport.

Also if you make the slightest change to factory spec then they will also refuse your warranty claim carte blanche! I only put the correct sized All terrain tyres on - with their approval

Over and above this has been the poor technical and customer service, whereby Melbourne Land Rover (MLR) and Land Rover Australia have been unable to diagnose problems in an acceptible timframe. I reported this in Feb, and its now exactly 9 months later today!

I pointed out to John Cooke at Land Rover Australia that if the Victorian government had stuck with the original timeline for Lemon laws here, then I would have been able to reject my Range Rover Sport a long time ago as being a Lemon! Good luck with that if you pursue your purchase, I would be keen to know how you go there!

At this stage I have decided not to buy any more Land Rover products in the future, and stopped recommending them to friends and colleagues..

2nd Rower

You should go to Lance Dixon in Doncaster.

Their customer service is excellent.

Try taking the car to them. When I had a steering wobble which I put down to a simple wheel balance they couldn't fix it by balancing the wheels and it was THEY who said it maybe something more serious.

They tried numerous other wheels from other cars to prove that it was not a simple wheel balance and went to great time and trouble to diagnose and eventually fix the problems replacing many significant and expensive parts in the process.

I think LD has its own (or affiliated) tyre shop right next door. I am sure it would be worth having a chat to them.

Speak to Andrew in their service department.

Even when I was in buying mode, I found MLR to be less than helpful or willing to deal.

BKHK

BKHK wrote:

You should go to Lance Dixon in Doncaster.

Thanks for the pointer and recommendation BKHK.

I have a new key due under warranty, and following the above poor customer experience, and ongoing problems/issues with my Range Rover Sport , out of principle I have had Melbourne Land Rover (MLR) send the key over to Lance Dixon for them to undertake the work tomorrow.

Its a very small job (less than an hour), but if Lance Dixon prove to be as good as you say in the area of customer service, then they'll likely get the next corporate service (around Feb 2010), and any other work whilst i still own the Range Rover Sport "lemon"

So I went to Lance Dixon last week and was impressed with the customer service levels, albeit it was a very brief visit to just have a new key programmed.

I took the opportunity to take the service manager for a 5 minute test drive, and was quickly and easily able to demonstrate, and have acknowledged, the knocking suspension noise I reported at the start of September, firstly to Melbourne Land Rover and then later to Land Rover Australia when John Cooke took "personal charge of my issues" .

This being the same knocking noise that Land Rover Australia continued to say didn't exist. Specifically when their Regional Technical Manager (Mr Darrel Blakeman) gave my car a clean bill of health, and lastly when (as descibed in my post above) Land Rover Australia's most senior technician (Mr Oliver Harding) after driving my car, and carrying out a so called "nut and bolt inspection" reported that he found no fault with my car!

Therefore I had no choice but to commence my legal process to protect my interests. I did this yesterday. The first channel to use is Consumer Affairs Victoria, and specifically this form:
http://www.consumer.vic.gov.au/CA256902000...plaint.pdf

I posted the form yesterday, so it should arrive today. My claim detail is 9 pages long, and is supported by 38 detailed attachments.

If this doesn't provide me the required outcome, I will then go to VCAT next, and then a common law court after that!

<========= I hope you like my new avatar, its a picture of my Range Rover Sport Lemon



Moving on, does anyone know any good printers in Melbourne as I need to get some appropriate, and similar, stickers made for my Range Rover Sport Lemon

What frustrations

This kind of tale is what helps give the Landrovers bad reputations, my experience is that get a bad un and it will remain a bad un, but thankfully their is some good uns out there as well.

Howabout getting a re-spray or lemon graphics to advertise your woes

G'day 2ndRower,
I could not find anywhere in your report of noise from your Sport that mentioned that MLR had tried putting standard tyres on the car to see if the noise disappears. My D3 (essentially the same running gear as the Sport) makes quite a bit droning noise up to and around 60kph with the Grabbers fitted. I was disappointed with this after initially fitting the Grabbers and tried my original Goodyears on the car to see if it was the car or the tyres. The noise disappeared with the Goodyears.
Of course there is no excuse for the way you have been treated by MLR and LRA.
I have to say that ULR (related to MLR) have been excellent in the couple of issues I have had with my D3 and my Sport. Lance Dixon were also good but their location is not so good for me.

Send me a PM if you want to have a yap about it.

PS:The knocking noise is a bit of Sport trait I'm afraid, mine was vastly improved after a new antiroll bar was fitted to replace a leaking one. SDV8 arrived and fantastic even the infotainment!
1983 2 door Range Rover ARB Bar X9000 winch ARB Rear Bar now semi retired.
Many big trips done in this one.
1982 Rangerover nearly restored.
22 Defender D250 with lots of stuff for outback touring
Nice 2013 Freelander TD4 manual (for daughter to learn on) with much better stereo compared with previous SD4 SE with Meridian which sounded bad!
2013 Land Rover Defender ute.

lespes wrote:

What frustrations

This kind of tale is what helps give the Landrovers bad reputations, my experience is that get a bad un and it will remain a bad un, but thankfully their is some good uns out there as well.

Agreed Lespes, as I've said in another post I don't think all Land Rover products are like this.. Just that I have unfortunately ended up with a Range Rover Sport Lemon!

What the key issue is, is the poor serice and ethics from Land Rover Australia and Melbourne Land Rover (MLR) Senior Management in the dealings and management of my 10 month long problems!

lespes wrote:

Howabout getting a re-spray or lemon graphics to advertise your woes

Exactly what I'm thinking... My car then may just conveniently need to be parked at key locations outside certain Land Rover dealerships!

rangiejools wrote:

G'day 2ndRower,

Thanks for joining the discussion Rangie, good to have some feedback from another Melbourne based rrsport member! Maybe you can make the next "Vic mini meet" whenever that is scheduled?

rangiejools wrote:

I could not find anywhere in your report of noise from your Sport that mentioned that MLR had tried putting standard tyres on the car to see if the noise disappears.

rangiejools wrote:

My D3 (essentially the same running gear as the Sport) makes quite a bit droning noise up to and around 60kph with the Grabbers fitted. I was disappointed with this after initially fitting the Grabbers and tried my original Goodyears on the car to see if it was the car or the tyres. The noise disappeared with the Goodyears.
Of course there is no excuse for the way you have been treated by MLR and LRA.

rangiejools wrote:

I have to say that ULR (related to MLR) have been excellent in the couple of issues I have had with my D3 and my Sport. Lance Dixon were also good but their location is not so good for me.

Send me a PM if you want to have a yap about it.

Glad you have only had good experiences with your dealer, and may yet take you up on your offer for a chat!

rangiejools wrote:

PS:The knocking noise is a bit of Sport trait I'm afraid, mine was vastly improved after a new antiroll bar was fitted to replace a leaking one.

Lance Dixon believe its something else...

I am now long past putting up with the continual issues/problems with my Range Rover Sport, having done so for 10 months, and being continually told by Melbourne City Land Rover (MLR) and Land Rover Australia, that its the tyres, or something else and that its fixed and that there are no issues. I am not a professional when it comes to matters of the automotive trade and engineering, but on pretty much each and every occassion I have proven them both wrong, and that there are issues/problems with my Range Rover Sport!

I've been contacted by Mr Darrel Blakeman of Land Rover Australia again. His voice message specifically stated that he had been instructed by his manager, Mr John Cooke, to contact me on 2nd November, but was only ringing now, as he went away on holiday!

Glad to hear my comments to Mr Roger Jory about Land Rover Australia's poor customer ethic have struck a positive chord!

Needless to say I've told them I will continue via the channels I have now had to commence!

I have been informed it will be about another week before I am appointed a case manager by Consumer Affairs Vic.

I have also been reliably informed by a 3rd party that if my case is deemed to fulfil the valid criteria, and thus is taken forward by Consumer Affairs Vic then from the first contact/letter onwards, the other parties (i.e. Melbourne City Land Rover(MLR) and Land Rover Australia) will attract "fines".

Good Luck with your issues 2nd.

Can completely understand your frustrations, especially when you actually love the car, but you just can't understand the lack of customer service.

I've received a letter from the Department of Justice - Consumer Affairs Victoria. They have assigned a case manager and a case number! And my case has been deemed "Appropriate for dispute resolution"..

It will be a few more weeks before this commences apparently!