Good evening folks. In the last 13 years I have purchased 9 vehicles from guy salmon. One from the Coventry branch and eight from the Northampton branch. Six rangerovers, one evoque for the men sahib and two discoveries. Two rangerovers, the evoque and one of the discoveries were brand new. Today I get a call from service to say we have reloaded the updates to my sdv8 and it has worked this time. After the first attempt the car came back with two warning signs, the sat nav didn't work and the main screen kept going blank. Service advised me that all is well apart from the occasional warning saying forward alert unavailable. They then say to cure that you need to pay us £200 for further update. I informed them the forward alert only came on after you messed up the first attempt and his answer was, its coincidence. I then say I have JLR warranty to sept 21 only to be told it doesn't cover it. To add to the pee take he said your front pads are down to 3mm and I should also replace the front discs at £1006. I tel him, I've done 5k since I bought from you last sept at which time sales assure me it had just had full service, discs and brakes. He didn't really know what to say. I rang our local brake and service centre who quoted me £360 for discs, brembo pads supply and fit. I can only assume the sytner group have come up with a brilliant sales campaign dealing in reversed psychology where all the dealers wait for customers who have spent a fortune staying loyal to them and the brand and then treat them like sh.t and behave like cretins. I must be missing something as I fail to see the brilliance in their plans. A couple of the staff three have always been good to deal with but for reasons I can't explain, this seems to be in decline. My wife has just been and test drove the new defender first edition but after this I may have to purchase away from my local dealer which is not good for business and I have always tried to trade locally. I am totally dismayed.

That sounds par for the course.

I would get on to LR customer care with a complaint and query from them as to the level of service which should be expected. For a reference

It takes 1 hour max to swap the pads and discs
The genuine front discs are quite reasonable from site sponsor Duckworths about £170 a set.
The pads are expensive at almost £300 for genuine ones.
The sensor is £28.

So parts all in £500....

As them to give you a labour only price...... then laugh at them. Since when are they charging £500 an hour. There is nothing that can't be fixed with a hammer😜😜
FFRR 4.4 SDV8 Autobiography Santorini Black.
Fiat 500x 1.4 multiair Lounge 2015
2010 LR D4 Commercial 2.7 TDV6

I would rather have genuine so I will try duckworths. I don't wish a recession on any one and I genuinely feel for all those loosing their jobs but if we do go into a deep decline for a while I know I will be receiving the usual pile of emails trying to convince me it's time to change my car. I won't put on here my answer as I will be bared. I have had problems before and always been treated well but I have never experienced this behaviour from guy salmon. Shocked but it's their loss.

I had a similar thing with a Sytner owned dealer a few years ago. It was in my wilderness years before I got my Range Rover. I had an Audi Allroad as my everyday car. During a routine service when it was 18 months old They rang early afternoon to say, it needs brakes very soon and tyres, but we can do it this afternoon for £x. I said “no thank you”. When I picked the car up and they gave me the invoice and service sheet, they inadvertently gave me an additional sheet of paper that was internal document that said something like: “additional sales plan” and listed the tyres and brakes etc.

I made a note in my file and am pleased to report that I got another 30,000 miles from the brakes before the pads needed to be changed.

I try not to use main dealers........except Duckworths who are privately owned and a different breed to norm. Can’t speak highly enough about them for parts. 2004 L322 4.4 V8 Vogue Bonatti Grey
(205,500 miles and counting.......)

The large chain owned main dealers of pretty much all makes are generally utterley dismal. Most of them don't deserve to be in business and don't get me started on the sharp practices on tyres and brakes, they're all at it and quite frankly should be done for fraud. Find yourself a nice privately owned dealer with maybe one or two outlets and they'll almost certainly wipe the floor with the other lot. All the manufacturers know what's going on but none of them are doing anything about it, meanwhile the great unaware that makes up most customers are getting royally ripped of by this bunch of charlatans. If you think you've spotted an element of distaste in my post, you could be right. Drives:
2010 FFRR TdV8 Vogue - Stornoway Grey
2010 FFRR TdV8 Vogue SE - Zermatt Silver
1998 BMW E36 M3 GTII

Most of my best customers have been treated this way in the past!!! Shocking!!!

I’ve had similar experiences with Inchcape, who own the “Cooper” branded Mini dealerships. When our first mini went in for a service they tried to up sell brakes and wipers, which my wife was all set to pay for. I asked them to show me on the car and so they took me into the workshop and put the car on the ramp. I asked to speak to the tech who did the work and asked him directly which of the pads or discs he thought needed replacing on a car which does about 8000 miles a year. “Errr, none of them....” service receptionists face was a picture. Apparently the workshop manager thought it hilarious and at a later visit remembered me and dealt direct with me, knowing I wouldn’t fall for the up sell. From then on no issues and they gave good service.
Contrast that with the privately owned LR dealer I’ve always used. No mucking about, up front prices and plenty of advice for free. There’s a reason I’ve spent so much money buying cars from them!

AndyS - which privately owned LR dealership do you use? I see you're in Sevenoaks... Gone to a good home: 2011 4.4 TDV8 Vogue SE Buckingham Blue with Ivory and clear glass = "Rory"
2025MY Defender D350 90 in Silicon Silver on coils
1974 Series 3 Lightweight = "Millie"
Many, many other Landies over the years
My preferred specialist: www.glenrands.co.uk
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Inchcape do a walk round video and show you bits which need replacing.

When mine went in to have the oil sensor wiring update the tech did one, and commented that all looked well and nothing needed doing under there. Which was nice. But not surprising given is just chucked new tyres and brakes at it a couple of weeks before!

I’ve had the sell off them before in the past but the haven’t done it for a while now, knowing what needs doing on your car at any time is a useful thing. It can’t be that hard to know how much tread your tyres have or when the brakes were last done so as to avoid the bovine excrement they can spout.

I used to deal specifically with one chap at our local, who has now left and he was good, back when they were hunters. Never had any none sense off him, he knew I knew what the score was and never tried to Upsell anything. There is nothing that can't be fixed with a hammer😜😜
FFRR 4.4 SDV8 Autobiography Santorini Black.
Fiat 500x 1.4 multiair Lounge 2015
2010 LR D4 Commercial 2.7 TDV6

DrRob wrote:

AndyS - which privately owned LR dealership do you use? I see you're in Sevenoaks...

Heard good things about that Harwoods from another source too. There is nothing that can't be fixed with a hammer😜😜
FFRR 4.4 SDV8 Autobiography Santorini Black.
Fiat 500x 1.4 multiair Lounge 2015
2010 LR D4 Commercial 2.7 TDV6

It's nowt new in the main dealer world, back in the 1990's I had a Sierra Cosworth and I got the same "desparate for brake disks and pads" story. I declined but decided to buy new pads and fit them myself, I thought they were oddly reluctant to sell them for me to fit. when I went to fit them the fronts were less than half worn and the rears were as new, the rears were still in my garage when i sold the car 50K miles later.
I'm actually gratefull that this happened as it made me wise to their stunts at a relatively young age and has probably saved me a fortune over the years since.

by all your comments this seems more common than I thought. It needs to be exposed but I think they have been at it so long it falls on deaf ears. I removed the offside front today and the disc is in very good condition. There is an outer lip you can barely feel as you rub your finger across the disc. The pads measure 4mm. The rear discs are as new and hardly any wear on the pads. I missed the comment on the report that says the front wipers are smearing and quoted £76 to replace. I operated the wipers and jets and there is no smear at all. I have decided to contact customer service at landrover and at least log the complaint. I expect no action because the whole thing is a stitch up but at least I will be able to vent. Why do I keep buying rangerovers ??????? They are like a bad girlfriend who drove u mental when you were younger but you just kept going back

It's fraud. Drives:
2010 FFRR TdV8 Vogue - Stornoway Grey
2010 FFRR TdV8 Vogue SE - Zermatt Silver
1998 BMW E36 M3 GTII

Andy S wrote:

DrRob wrote:

AndyS - which privately owned LR dealership do you use? I see you're in Sevenoaks...

Harwoods at Edenbridge, which was previously Testers. I know some branches of Harwoods get a bad rep, but this one has always done well by me. The guys on service have been there years and know me (and other customers) well enough not to take the p. It’s a single brand dealership (no Jag outlet) in a small rural town and back in the Testers days was also an agricultural engineers.

Good to know  Gone to a good home: 2011 4.4 TDV8 Vogue SE Buckingham Blue with Ivory and clear glass = "Rory"
2025MY Defender D350 90 in Silicon Silver on coils
1974 Series 3 Lightweight = "Millie"
Many, many other Landies over the years
My preferred specialist: www.glenrands.co.uk
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