So I changed my tack and tried to speak to the salesman. He was off as were both the sales managers so I spoke to the receptionist. I politely explained my predicament stating I was going to meet my daughter in Dorset next week. I told her I’d collected the car Wednesday and the problem came up on Thursday. She told me to call the service dept but I asked her to as they’d just tell me they were too busy. She did and in ten mins later I’m booked in for Thursday. Yay!

Ok so they found the problem was an oil leak which has managed to swamp some of the turbo electronics. Everything has to be replaced it seems and it's a huge job (Manifold, turbo, electronics and solenoids). Now I'm away on a short break tomorrow afternoon and the original loaner from Enterprise via LR Assist was an XE Jag which they chopped me out of so I could get a load of stuff up to my Daughters new house in Letchworth. I now have a Volvo XC60. Not a car I'd choose if I were in the market as the autonomous stuff is just too intrusive. I had a call from the service Dept who asked me "what time are you going away on Wednesday?". This quite obviously meant it wouldn't be ready for Tuesday as originally agreed and I explained that I'm towing my 2500kg caravan down to Dorset to see my other Daughter. I don't have another tow car and Enterprise seem unable to provide a car big enough with a tow bar so what happens if the car isn't ready by then. "Don't worry, it will be" she tells me with no real conviction in her voice.
On a brighter note I have agreement in writing that they will deal with the spare wheel needing a refurb and the mismatched paint (unblended repair) to the NSR. They'll even supply new carpet mats which are there in the photo's I took but the front were missing when I collected the car. One day I expect to be really happy with my new car!

This has turned into quite the saga. I called the service centre at 12:30 for an update as the promised early morning call didn't happen. I was told the car was almost done and the girl (For want of a better title) would call me back at 2:00pm when she had spoken with the technician. At 4:00pm I called and was left holding on for 10 mins until I was told she would call me back. An hour plus later I got a call to say it was all done and they just needed to check the oil in the morning and give it a wash so I can collect it at 9:00am tomorrow. I asked if the spare wheel had been delivered from the sales guys and they knew nothing about it. I spoke to sales who put me through to the only person who makes any sense, the teenage receptionist. She said she would find out what was going on and call me back. 10 mins later she's on the phone saying the service guys had found the spare and would have it in the boot for me ready for collection tomorrow.
Why and how they make such a simple job of customer liaison so difficult is beyond me. It's so easy with a digital diary to keep promises I just can't see how they get it so wrong. I asked why I didn't get a call at 2:00pm as promised and was told that she hadn't spoken to the tech guy. I explained that she should have called to say just that and tell me she would call as soon as she had spoken to him. Then I haven't been let down and feel like my business with them is so unimportant. They just don't see it.

was this lookers Chelmsford by chance ?

No. I had reasonable service from Lookers. I almost bought a D5 but had to cancel the order for business reasons. They gave me the deposit back without argument immediately. The service side of things were ok but as ever you have to speak to inexperienced non technical people who don’t understand what the mechanic or the customer are talking about. It’s another communication step where it can and does go wrong.
I’ll tell all once the dealership has dealt with all their promises.

The car has been sorted with just a few body problems to finish off after I get back from my six week tour of France, Italy France, Spain and France again. I have to say the trip to Dorset towing my tintent went extremely well and I just love the adaptive cruise/Queue assist. The M25 was never so relaxed at both 60 and 6mph. The pulling power was excellent and stability was faultless. I was surprised to see my road lights on the van being permanently on but having returned the car to the service dept they told me the car is designed to have the lights running off the DRL circuit. I asked why they did that and as ever, no one knows. Suffice to say the Technician didn't wire the 13 pin system and merely plugged in to a socket. Seems reasonable that he shouldn't get that bit wrong given the ease of fitting. The car itself is incredible, effortless and filled with loads of useful tech. I did have the tow assist sticker stuck on my tow cover but it must be stuck to the windscreen of another reason for a queue on the M25 as it wasn't there when I got to Dorset!
The interior quality seems very good and there's comfort to match. Everyone who's been it in is blown away by the opulence and finish. The infotainment has been spot on. There doesn't seem to be a long warming up period and everything works quickly and as it's intended. I must have been lucky with that issue or they've sorted the bugs out. Everything has done just as it should apart from the contacts downloading. Then I found it was a phone option I needed to "tick" to allow the download, all works well now. It really is a huge step up from the D4 in terms of comfort, refinement and power. MPG has been pretty good considering with a run of 10 miles each way to the in-laws last night returning 32mpg on country lanes, Lakeside and urban streets. The towing returned 22mpg which was a fair amount of small A road and 65mph motorway driving. There was little in the way of traffic to contend with down south but that changed the nearer I got to London and the M25 (Bless it).
All in all, despite the battle to be taken seriously by the dealership, I'm pleased I stuck it out. I got a 17MY AB for £66k which was way better spec than I initially expected for way less money than Autotrader says it should be when compared to others of similar spec.

Just read your thread, it would make a good book !

What a cracking car for that money. Superb colour combo too, that's what I would choose given the choice.

It's astounding how some dealers can get things so wrong. This is why we stopped using our nearest dealer. Our current dealer (Harwood crawley) actually understand customer service, and couldn't be more helpful.

Enjoy your car, can't wait to read your nextchapter  Too many toys, not enough time

2011 4.4 TDV8 AB Black

bertie1 wrote:

was this lookers Chelmsford by chance ?

I see you have used this fine firm - to be fair their service dept when I can get a booking are good, they never really want to sell me a car so I keep other dealers in biz niz instead.

Looking for my first service and wondering who to use... Ipswich or Colchester instead of Chelmsford who are just to busy...


Huw... lots of ag, it shouldn’t be like that. Let’s hope it now all works out and u can have a million care free miles... Filters are in fact so good that in certain circumstances, when the ambient air is already polluted, a diesel car will tend to extract more particles from the air than it emits. Emissions Analytics worked with........etc etc

He who dies with the most toys wins...

Hi Bill
They all seem to be the same regarding how busy they are. I found one of the better ones to be Beatles at Leigh on Sea. There’s still a 6 week wait though.
Today I noticed that my rear side windows and tailgate glass were Chinese. I immediately thought it was a rear end shunt problem and had been fixed. I questioned the salesman by email stating I’d be getting the structure of the car checked independently and he came back with a very shirty response. The obviously never spent a shedload of cash to be thoroughly disappointed by utter amateurs then!

Quote HUW
The obviously never spent a shedload of cash to be thoroughly disappointed by utter amateurs then!
Unquote

That’s why they are salesmen in the front office-

Thanks for L-O-S. Filters are in fact so good that in certain circumstances, when the ambient air is already polluted, a diesel car will tend to extract more particles from the air than it emits. Emissions Analytics worked with........etc etc

He who dies with the most toys wins...