TazDaz
Member Since: 07 May 2007
Location: South East Essex
Posts: 2858
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| STRATSTONE WOODFORD, SERVICE and REPAIR CENTRE |
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I have delayed posting this until I have experienced service from another LR dealer, which I did yesterday.
I purchased my (used) D3 in late May 2007 and I discovered a few problems with it over the next few weeks.
Nothing too major I thought:
A plastic seat base retaining clip broken on the third row seats
The nearside bonnet catch was not locking easily
The interior space alarm self-triggering when parked out in the open
I could not make the DVD player play audio through the car audio system.
In late June I contacted my local LR dealer (Stratstone Woodford) and they directed me to their main service/repair and bodywork facility for Jaguar and Land Rover located in Roebuck Road, Hainault. As this is a only few minutes from my house I went to see them.
Very posh reception area with 6 desks but had to wait nearly 20 minutes just to talk to a receptionist. Weird, considering it was not at all busy there. Eventually I got attended to. I explained all the problems and whilst I was sitting their explaining the alarm problem it sounded off in their car park. The receptionist said "Is that your alarm?" I said yes and he said “OK I can see you have a problem with itâ€. He then booked in my D3 for the first week in July - he said they would need the car overnight and arranged for a loan vehicle for me. He then said "We'll phone you the day before the booking to give you the reg. number of the loaner so you can put it on you insurance" I then left feeling happy that they were going to attend to the matters and that I'd be able to conduct my normal business while my D3 was in with them.
On the day before the appointed work was due by late afternoon I hadn't heard from them regarding the loan vehicle so I phoned them at 5pm to enquire about it. "Ahhh I'm sorry but we don't have a loan vehicle available" they said. I asked why, as it had been agreed, and booked the previous week. "Very sorry but demand etc etc... but we can re-book you in and we will guarantee a loan vehicle in 2 weeks time" OK I agreed to that and the D3 was re-booked, with a firm assurance of a loaner.
2 weeks later, (guess what?) on the day before the appointed work was due I hadn't heard from them regarding the loan vehicle so I phoned them at 5pm to enquire about it. "Ahhh very sorry but we don't have enough technicians to do the work and we now have a backlog to clear so we are going to have to cancel your appointment" I was not happy with this and said "Well exactly when will you be able to attend to the car as I'm off to France in just over 2 weeks time?" After holding for a few minutes they came back on the line and said that they are re-arranging some other appointments to fit me in the following week. “Loan car?†I enquired, "Yes, absolutely no problem" they said.
They did phone me the day before the appointment with the loaner details (a 54 plate FL) and I took the car in on a Wednesday morning. I asked how long the work would take and reminded them that I had booked my travel for the following Tuesday - I was told that I'd have my car back by latest Friday afternoon and they would phone me when it was ready. Friday... I waited for the phone call ... nothing ... by the time I managed to phone them they had finished for the day. Got home and checked my answer phone in case they had left a message ... nothing!!
Saturday morning at 8.30 I arrived at their centre and sat around (again) for at least 20 minutes to find out what was going on. Eventually, I was seen by someone who said they would go and check with the work progress - then promptly vanished for about 20 minutes! Another person came back in with the cars job sheet. "Is it all done?" I enquired "Ahhh well not exactly" they said "We haven't actually started any work on it yet as we can't locate the fault with the alarm system, it's been standing in the workshop for 3 days and hasn't triggered once". I felt like shaking this person warmly by the throat and reminded them, courteously, that the  ALARM ONLY FALSE TRIGGERS WHEN IT'S OUTDOORS as their original receptionist has SEEN... "Ahhhhhh that could be why we haven't found the problem then.."
"But you've had the car here now for THREE days!!" I said "surely the other items could have been fixed by now?"
Silence ... and some shuffling of job sheets etc then frantic pounding of keyboard keys .."Ahh I see we are waiting for parts for them" was the answer "but they WILL be here on Monday, so it will be ready Monday afternoon" I left feeling rather annoyed ...
Monday – waited for phone call … nothing!!
Phoned them and was told that they had located a faulty sensor in the roof/DVD player and would fit a new one tomorrow. Now I started to get Very Annoyed !! “But I’m booked to travel to France TOMORROW evening†“Oh dear .. well the workshop won’t be able to finish the car today I’m afraid but it shouldn’t take us long in the morning to finish it.†was the reply. I said goodbye and hung up as I did not want to express my feelings to them about this.
Tuesday – It was a busy day for me at work tying up all the jobs planned for the next 4 weeks so it was late afternoon before I realised I hadn’t heard from Stratstone. Phoned them and had terrible problems trying to get through to the service department. Eventually managed to get through to them and asked if the car was finished as I wanted to collect it on my way home. Imagine my HORROR when they said that it was still in the workshop!
I’ll take it as it is I said, “Oh but you can’t as the DVD player has been removed and there’s wiring exposed and blah blah …but we will GUARANTEE that you can collect it tomorrow…†by this time a red mist had descended over my eyes and I cannot put my thoughts into words here…
I had to accept that there was no way I could get the car back for my travel and had to phone Eurotunnel to cancel and re-book for the next evening. Luckily I had a ticket that allowed this without penalty!
Wednesday – A whole FIVE working days and a weekend later I collected my D3. I was told all had been fixed and it was 100% now. I said very little and hurriedly left not wishing to be seen back there again.
The Verdict:
STRATSTONE WOODFORD, ROEBUCK ROAD, HAINAULT
REPAIR and SERVICE CENTRE
Do NOT go anywhere near them – avoid them like the Plague!
Totally unprofessional, incompetent, unreliable and LIARS!
After Effects:
The bonnet catch – well, guess what, it wasn’t fixed and the only way to get it to lock was to SLAM it a few times before it would catch.
The alarm – Nothing had changed after they worked on it. It still false triggered when parked out doors in busy areas (roadside or large car parks)
The DVD Audio via the cars audio system - According to Stratstone Hainault, you cannot play DVD audio via the car audio system. I explained that the manuals say you CAN but they said that the handbooks showing this have been misprinted. Apparently, (they said) they were copied from the Range Rover manuals and not corrected for the D3!
(This problem was subsequently solved via the D3 forum with the aid of a piece of an audio jack placed in the rear AUX socket)
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 29th Aug 2007 10:48 am |
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DN
D3 Decade
Member Since: 23 Jun 2006
Location: W.London.
Posts: 2344
  
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Well TazDaz, all I can say is that the St***stones that I have encountered on the opposite side of London certainly appear to be operating consistently with your findings, and I too have suggested many times - AVOID AT ALL COSTS.  ........In fact, recently I drove past one of the dealerships I'm referring to and they had an almost empty (compared with a year or two ago) sales forecourt, and were trying to sell a couple of Cadillac (yes, Cadillac), mid size saloon type thingy's at knockdown prices, hmmm, I wonder what's happening there. 
Last edited by DN on 29th Aug 2007 11:57 am. Edited 1 time in total
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| 29th Aug 2007 11:16 am |
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Shainy
Member Since: 20 Dec 2006
Location: London
Posts: 29
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Sounds like you've had a rough deal, I can totally understand your frustration after spending so much money and then been treated in such a manner.
Its good we Name dealers that are unhelpful or just greedy and lie through their teeth when dealing with customer issues, so that they are avoided and hopefully lose more and more business.
I will be avoiding stratstone after reading the poor service they offered.
I too am awaiting a resoloution from a dealer and will be posting a fair comment at the end of it.
Hope you have better luck with the next dealer you visit.
Reputaion is everthing in business.....
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| 29th Aug 2007 11:56 am |
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simon
Member Since: 11 Jan 2005
Location: Shropshire
Posts: 18296
 
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Shainy wrote:Hope you have better luck with the next dealer you visit.
Reputaion is everthing in business.....
He went to Yeovil and had an excellent time 
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| 29th Aug 2007 12:04 pm |
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DG
Site Moderator
Member Since: 12 Dec 2005
Location: The Gaff
Posts: 50978
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When will they learn ??  The customer handling process is so simple 
Could a dealership please have the balls to post here why it's not simple?? I and 3000 others really need to understand why !
Nice post Taz 21 year LR veteran > D2 GS 2003 > D3 S 2006 > D3 HSE 2009 > D4 HSE 2013 > D4 HSE 2015 > D5 HSE 2018 > DS HSE R-Dynamic P300e 2021
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| 29th Aug 2007 12:50 pm |
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DrLex
Member Since: 15 Jul 2005
Location: Ciderspace [Oi be in Zummerset]
Posts: 4863
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simon wrote:
He went to Yeovil and had an excellent time
Although the dealership is smart and pleasant, I can recommend that people with 3 hours to while away could get a cab upto Ham Hill Country Park (has good pub too) or meander to the retail park around the corner.
A trip into town might well confirm Yeovil's recent topping of the 'unmarried teenage mother' league, although in the school holidays it's sometimes hard to tell how many generations are present in a single family unit out shopping  Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana
Member of Club Med Sucks
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| 29th Aug 2007 12:59 pm |
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TazDaz
Member Since: 07 May 2007
Location: South East Essex
Posts: 2858
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DrLex re Yeovil ... I was offered a lift into town and back but I had heard that it was the SW capitol of 'Chavs' so I politely declined that 
I was also told about the retail park (but not the Ham Hill Country Park) but 3 hours with a good book was not unpleasant.
One thing i was dying to try out though was the mini"off road" type of test track they have on the forecourt !
Side gradient, steep up n down 'bridge' and the rock crawl 
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| 29th Aug 2007 1:16 pm |
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The Large One
Member Since: 20 Apr 2007
Location: Down the polytunnel
Posts: 6143
 
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DG wrote:When will they learn ?? The customer handling process is so simple
You might find with Land Rover's new 2010 vision of "Best Ownership Experience" that some of the not so's
may be looking for other franchises in the near future  TLO has left the building.......
I no longer work for a Landrover Dealer
My little chilli sauce business http://www.thechillees.co.uk
if you would like to order anything just give me a shout
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| 29th Aug 2007 2:55 pm |
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DSL
Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 73079
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TLO, getting restless on the avatar front or a slow day in Parts???
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| 29th Aug 2007 2:57 pm |
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The Large One
Member Since: 20 Apr 2007
Location: Down the polytunnel
Posts: 6143
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A tad bit busy this week as 2 off on hols...
The avatar is a representation of me on 3 tins of Red Bull...................................
Somebody not sleeping tonight.............. TLO has left the building.......
I no longer work for a Landrover Dealer
My little chilli sauce business http://www.thechillees.co.uk
if you would like to order anything just give me a shout
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| 29th Aug 2007 3:04 pm |
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DG
Site Moderator
Member Since: 12 Dec 2005
Location: The Gaff
Posts: 50978
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chcc wrote:
Anyone know what type of power upgrades they sell?
Over-priced ones by the sound of it 21 year LR veteran > D2 GS 2003 > D3 S 2006 > D3 HSE 2009 > D4 HSE 2013 > D4 HSE 2015 > D5 HSE 2018 > DS HSE R-Dynamic P300e 2021
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| 29th Aug 2007 7:16 pm |
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Bodsy
Site Sponsor
Member Since: 06 Nov 2006
Location: In the Clubhouse
Posts: 21361
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Glad you got your problems sorted TazDaz, at least you kinow who to go to next time  Bodsys Brake Bible
D4/D3 Remote FBH heat kits
BAS Remaps/ EGR Blank
Transmission Flush
Software updates/enabling
Clock/ SNOTM /3Flash / 4x4Info /BT Update /Service Reset/Error Codes / Gearbox Reset
See It Here
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| 29th Aug 2007 7:29 pm |
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