So I went to the dealership today...

[Sodium]

Made an appointment a few weeks ago to get my tail lamp guards installed and to check out why my LR3 is only getting 8-9mpg local and 11-12mpg highway. The appointment took two weeks due to the dealership telling me that's the first day that they would have an availible loaner car for me. NP there, I didn't mind waiting as none of the things I was bringing the car in for was urgent. I only mention this because of what followed this morning.

I show up at the dealership (Massapequa Land Rover, NY) at 8am to drop it off. They advise me that there are no loaner cars availible and that I would be getting a rental car from Avis, who was onsite. Slightly annoying, but whatever. Secondly, I explain the problem I'm having with the gas mileage on the vehicle and ask if they would please, if nothing else was wrong with the truck after they inspected it, perform the "transportation mode" fix noted numerous times on this and other LR forums. Not only did the service manager look at me like I was some freaking nut job after that request, he told me he would check the vehicle for any problems but he would not perform the transportation fix and if I insisted that they do it they would charge me for it.

Now mind you, I'm not some garage monkey. I can change the oil in my cars and a few other minor things but I couldn't imagine that placing the vehicle into transportation mode and taking it out of that mode would be some major ordeal. With the lack of anything evident being "wrong" with the truck, is it too much to ask that they perform this possible fix, even if it doesn't work, just to rule it out?

OK, now I'm getting kinda ****** so I tell him to just check the vehicle out and let me know if he finds anything that might be causing the problem. I'll bring up the trans fix again if he doesn't find something else. So now we move on to the rental car for the day. I start filling out the papers with Avis and they want my credit card for deposit.....well guess what Johnny, I didn't bring my credit card with me. A) Nobody told me I'd be renting a car today (I even called to confirm the appointment before I left the house, good time to tell me) B) I don't own any credit cards (Long story, I only use debit / cash for everything in life). So the service dept tell me, oh well, guess you better look for someone to pick you up.

I'm a really easy going person, but this was really pushing me over the edge. I asked for the service manager and after a half hour of total nonsense he finally pulls a piece of crap Freelander out of his butt to loan me for the day. I realize all LR dealerships are an entity unto themselves, but I must say this is totally unacceptable customer service considering the product. When I plunk down 50k cash for a car, I expect at least a moderate amount of pampering. Speaking of pampers, they're prolly taking a dump on my drivers seat after my little tantrum.

You could also try LR Glen Cove, NY.. not too far from Massapequa. They seem very helpful and concerned about their customers.

 

[34RoveR]

Got the LR3 back today, here's what went down. They kept my car an additional day, stating that they couldn't work on my car yeasterday, I guess 9am is too late to drop off a car to expect to get it done in the same day hehe. So they called me at 1pm this afternoon and told me the car was ready, but that they couldn't install the tail light guards because they were out of stok. HRMMM, OK fools wake up, I told you when I dropped the car off the guards were in the back seat and I only wanted the installation done. Oops, they apologize and tell me to pick the car up at 5pm, it'll be ready for real at that time. They installed the tail light guards for 68.00 (pretty cheap considering the dealer quoted me 120.00 initially). For some reason they decided the swap out my fuel tank as per the recall even though my truck doesn't fall into the vin number's effected.

Not sure why they did the swap on this item, they told me they were doing it before I even told them about the mileage issue. I'm guessing they just assumed I came in for the recall items in addition to my part install.

As for the mileage issue their response was "no problem found" and their advise.....drive the car another 6 months to break it in, if I'm still getting bad gas mileage they'll look into it further. I asked them if they performed the transportation fix (I know, I'm a glutton for punishment) and they tell me no, of course.

Anyway, I decide to call it a day and hit the road. Go out to my car and start it up....now I have no heat / a/c fans. Half an hour later with the tech guys, they fix that problem (loose fuses from working on the car they say) and I'm out of there finally.

Overall experience : 3*

* +1 added to score because the receptionist was hot as hell

 

[xcursion]

As usual, LR dealer service not at their best. You paid big bucks for your truck and shouldn't have to "drive anther 6 months" to solve the bad mileage issue. I would try another dealer at your area that is more willing and capable.

 

[Amir]

34RoveR, just so you know, all the four dealerships in long island area are owned by the same owner/company. So you can take your vehicle next time to any of those. Before I bought mine, I went through a couple of them and ended up buying at Glen Cove. I remember the Massapeqea one, and I definitely visited them on the wrong day (saturday) as the receptionist there that day wasn't hot at all...

 

[LR3Dude]

I have had to use three different land rover dealers in the Washington DC area to get timely appointments. I get into debates, requests for repeat visits to complete work and lack of information on the status of my LR3 from the service advisor at each dealership. They seem to have a lot of service advisor turnover. I have to wait several days for a call back to make an appointment or update on status. In one case I NEVER got my calls returned to schedule an appointment. Called my Jaguar salesman, who got me a Land Rover appointment (The dealers are co-located).

As for loaners, they all use Enterprise rentals in the DC area and the Enterprise loaners are hard to get. But don’t feel so bad because my Jaguar dealer and my Porsche dealer use Enterprise. Imagine when they want to give me a POS to drive for my XJ8 ($60+K car) or my 2003 Porsche Carerra 4 convertible ($97K) or My LR3 HSE ($55K). Mercedes seems to be the exception in getting you in a similar Mercedes. So may switch out Jag with the Mercedes.

I also paid cash for all my cars. I have a huge “mayonnaise jars.” It’s my way of “sticking it to the man”