Dealerships - How honest are they?

[voltaire1102]

I took my LR3 into the dealership yesrterday for an A/C cleaning and a recharge. The price was quoted at $180 so I thought why not. They night before I took the LR3 in I took a R134A reading and wrote down the pressure on the high and low ends. Next day after the A/C service I brought the LR3 home and took the pressure reading again. Dead on exact. Not one pound more or less. After 4 phone calls today, I discovered that my LR3 was not serviced. They checked the pollen filter , but it was never passed on to the next tech to peform the R134A extraction, cleaning, and recharge. So in other words, I was charged $180 dollars for a filter inspection. The dealtership was extremely embarrased that I found their mistake, but I wonder, how many people would not have caught it.

After all this rambling, I am at the point that I don't know what to do. Should I settle with the dealership 'making this right' or contact Land Rover directly and let them know what's going on there? I don't think that I can ever trust them again.

 

[Disco Mike]

On a scale of 0 to 10 they rate about a 1 on honesty and a 3 on knowledge, why would you waste your money there.
By the way, they don't exchange your 134, just add to it and you could have checked and added to it,if needed for under $30.

 

[voltaire1102]

I had an agreement with the Service Manager that they would purge all of the R134a and do a complete replacement. This is not usually done on a /c service but I wanted it done to purge out the $30 stuff with additives that you get from the local parts store.

That's what made me all the more mad. An out of the oridinary service was requested and priced, and in the end they didn't do anything.

 

[Disco Mike]

You still never purge the system, he can't throw it away, he would have to reinstall it with new oil and how cares about the additives.
Your lack of knowledge on a/c 134 is just costing you money that wasn't nneded to have been spent.

 

[voltaire1102]

Are you really a smart ass or do you lack the ability to communicate properly. Almost every post you comment on has smart ass undertones. I think it's funny you have the Service Manager tag placed on your Avatar and that's my main complaint on this post. Most Service Managers and tech's are simply working for a paycheck,not because they love the Land Rover products. I simple terms, they could give a crap less about my problems when I go in.

As for your actual comment, I can tell you I know more about R134 than 99% of the population. For additional information, I extracted the Tetrafluorethane myself (or as much as I could) using a vacuum recovery pump that's why I knew the exact pressure before I took the LR3 into the dealership. The dealership was to remove/replace the remaining.

 

[hawkster]

Check out the dealership using www.bbb.org. My local LR dealership has been quite honest with me and has done good work. The service manager has been quite cool with me as he owns my old Discovery 1. I'm particular fond of my local Buick/GMC/Pontiac dealership which actually lets me bring my own high performance parts and throws in extras like wheel alignments.

 

[bbyer]

my dealership is good

Other than the cost, I regard my dealership as good. Yes, they have been known to make mistakes, but they do try to do the job correctly the first time. Also I do make a distinction between the shop people and the dealer.

I think that working on Land Rover and Jag is tougher than with normal vehicles. The Land Rover engineering is perhaps too far ahead of the curve, particularly for what is supposed to be a bush machine.

At times I think there is too much Ferrari in them and maybe not enough GM or Ford. The dealer is the first guy to suffer from this and us, a close second.

Failing to move the vehicle to the next station is a procedural thing and probably happens more often than not everywhere, but is rarely discovered. My complements on you measuring the pressures. You have won there, as the shop will remember that you are a guy who actually understands the 3 and cares.

When I last had my AC topped up, I got the dealer to put some dye in so that if the system leaks, they may be able to find the leak with less difficulty. Shop people like that kind of owner interaction as well. Yes, bringing parts in is rarely greeted with enthusiasm.

Even for me, I will sometimes order from the dealer parts dept, LR OEM parts I want installed just so they are on hand when they are needed by service. Sometimes I get the feeling there are different profit centres involved - parts dept vs service.

 

[EGRIZZLE]

Are you really a smart ass or do you lack the ability to communicate properly. Almost every post you comment on has smart ass undertones. I think it's funny you have the Service Manager tag placed on your Avatar and that's my main complaint on this post. Most Service Managers and tech's are simply working for a paycheck,not because they love the Land Rover products. I simple terms, they could give a crap less about my problems when I go in.

As for your actual comment, I can tell you I know more about R134 than 99% of the population. For additional information, I extracted the Tetrafluorethane myself (or as much as I could) using a vacuum recovery pump that's why I knew the exact pressure before I took the LR3 into the dealership. The dealership was to remove/replace the remaining.

That's funny. He often does come across as a condescending grumpy bear. But he appears to know what he's talking about.

 

[voltaire1102]

That's funny. He often does come across as a condescending grumpy bear. But he appears to know what he's talking about.

Yeah, I guess I appologize. I was already ticked, so the comment about the lack of knowledge from a former Service Manager pushed me over the edge.