An interesting one for you here.....

You might remember I posted on here a few weeks ago that I was having a problem with my 56 plate Sport TDV6. When accelerating heavily (motorway slip road kind of heavily) I was feeling a vibration through the drivetrain. And also the touchscreen wasn't responding properly.

I live in Carlisle in the north of England and took it to my local dealer who told me that the touchscreen was broken and needed replacing at a cost of over £1,000 and the vibration was caused by a whole host of suspension problems that would cost around £2,100 to fix.....total cost £3,100.

Thankfully I took some time to think about it and took it to a Landrover specialist about an hour away from here who told me that in their experience the vibration was caused by the gearbox oil needing changing. The cost of doing this was around £350. They did this and hey-presto the problem is fixed! I've been running around in it for a couple of days now and no trace of the original problem. With regard to the touchscreen I was advised to clean it. I cleaned the thing and once again problem fixed!

How sick would I have been had I parted with £3,100 of my hard earned to find that the bloody vibration was still there???

I could go into a rant about the other poor experiences I've had with this dealer but wont. Instead I'd like to understand how a main dealer who has a forecourt full of very nice Rangerovers and services vehicles from here to God knows where can be so poor at diagnosing a fault? They must surely see these sort of things from time to time? Two very different faults on one vehicle and they get them both so wildly wrong.

Scary stuff!! I've started a poll to see how people feel about using a dealer or not.

Warranty claims at main dealer, servicing and warranty excluded work specialist garage.
My local stealers is Stratstones

Nik 2015 Golf R DSG
Gone 2013 Mercedes C220 CDi AMG Sport Plus
Gone 2008 2.7 RRS HSE

Unfortunately it's like anything, One dealer may be great another is pants..... You don't know till you try!
I for one have nothing but praise for my Main Dealer (Town & County Aberdeen) The service I get is superb and I don't mind paying a bit more for it. I know if I ever have an issue that I can call the After Sales Manager (Bryan Borwick) and whatever the issue, it will be sorted. The staff on the service desk are a delight to deal with, and I mean all of them, not a weak link amongst them! That said, If my Dealer wasn't up to the job I'd be the first to look elsewhere. So, I guess it's all down to personal experience and mine has been a good one!  2013 Discovery HSE Luxury - 3.0 SDV6 - Santorini Black
2013 Evoque 5 Door Pure Tech SD4 - Orkney Grey with Panoramic Roof (Mrs E's new baby)

GONE - RRS - 3.0 TDV6 HSE - Santorini (2010)
GONE - RRS - 2.7 TDV6 HSE - Java Black (2007)
GONE - Porsche Boxster S - 3.2 - Black

m3grant - was the dealer a Stratstones?
m3grant - was the dealer a Stratstones?
m3grant - was the dealer a Stratstones?
m3grant - was the dealer a Stratstones?
m3grant - was the dealer a Stratstones?
m3grant - was the dealer a Stratstones?

 ============
2010 TDV8 HSE - ooo laa laaaaaaaaa
2007 TDV8 HSE - superb car and very reliable
============
2012 - dearly departed, sadly missed.. to return in late 2013 with a new TDV8!

Lloyds if its Carlisle, had issues with their technicians myself. Now gone Orkney grey SDV6 HSE with body style kit contrast stitch ebony leather, privacy, black piano, 22" Lowenharts for summer, 20" with Leon LTZ for winter.
Here 110 black edition defender.

Yeah it's Lloyds in Carlisle. Don't get me wrong it's lovely being handed a cup of tea when I walk into the very plush showroom but the experience of late means I'll be having no more tea.....

Got to agree front of house can't be faulted but when it comes to servicing they are about £150 more than Lakeland.
And couldn't compete with guy salmon Stockport for my new motor. Now gone Orkney grey SDV6 HSE with body style kit contrast stitch ebony leather, privacy, black piano, 22" Lowenharts for summer, 20" with Leon LTZ for winter.
Here 110 black edition defender.

So far I've used the dealer because they've been doing warranty work. I let them do the service too but only because they were having the vehicle in for warrantly work for a couple of days so, rather than mess around booking it in somewhere else a few days later, I had them do the service.

My intention, however, is to get an indie to do the next service and only use the dealer for warranty work. 2012 SDV6 - it's missing a couple of cylinders
2008 TDV8 - it was a labour of love and is much missed

"Warranty claims at main dealer, servicing and warranty excluded work specialist garage.
My local stealers is Stratstones Censored"
Nik


Nik, I had probs too with that one very near to you. I now use North East 4x4 on Ross Road, Portrack they are a breath of fresh air. Spud

That's who I use now, top service so far

No way I'm paying Stratstones top dollar

Nik

spud1234 wrote:

"Warranty claims at main dealer, servicing and warranty excluded work specialist garage.
My local stealers is Stratstones Censored"
Nik


Nik, I had probs too with that one very near to you. I now use North East 4x4 on Ross Road, Portrack they are a breath of fresh air.

It sounds like it's worth travelling if it ever needs to go back to the dealer then. I can't see me ever wanting rid of it so I have one or two more services ahead of me. I've had it for almost 3 years now, by far the longest I've ever had a car. Still makes me smile every time I turn the key. Dodgy dealer almost spoiled that for me!