frankreid wrote:

I bought my Freelander Freestyle (56) from Stratstones, Stockton. in a word.. poor.

Frank

Ied drive a little further than york Towards leeds:wink: Former Mod/Member, with the most post & Chicken George Arch nemesis

I recently tried to purchase a Freelander from Hunters in Norwich. I requested a brochure from them, it didn't turn up, I then went into the showroom and was told that if I wanted to speak to someone I would have to make an appointment and come back, finally when I did get to speak to someone a week later he said he would put some numbers together and come back to me, he didn't and have since left him a message to call me without any call back.

I've since purchased a 60 plate freelander from Lookers in Bishops Stortford who were awesome.

Carnoch wrote:

Nae problem. I only went there to start with because all my family live in St. Andrews, so it's like my local, but then found there actually is one Stratstones that is half decent and very pleasent, surprisingly.

That's good news as I've started to use them (service and attend to a rattle next week - part of a problem with rattles). I used to use Pentland, but wasn't happy with their service manager (cuts a long story short ). Got my car from Guy Salmon Wakefield originally and they have been great. Car has had rattles in the roof trim and elsewhere. Pentland service manager wasn't very good so Guy Salmon sent up a car for me to use, took mine from Edinburgh to Wakefield and then delivered it again (didn't quite sort all the problems though). I also have to say that my experience of Land Rover customer service is very good as well. They have been extremely helpful in getting my problem sorted (still not quite there though - fingers crossed visit to Stratstone next week will sort that).

To be fair, it isn't the dealer so much, but the person you are dealing with and trying to sell you a car.

Sure, the sales person represents the dealer, but the sales person is who you interact with. If you don't get on, for whatever reason, or he is/she is simply pants, then no amount of dealer rating is gonna help you.

In my experience, poor car sales people have short life spans in that dealership anyway ...

Unfortunately, that means they lose the dealership business - even though the dealership is very sound.

In these days of cut-throat economy and business, it would be hard to find a POOR dealer. Just poor staff ... Chris

I suppose we tend to think a dealer is rubbish as soon as something goes wrong, but in fact there are lots of different aspects and it would be hard to get them ALL right. Even the worst dealer I can remember using for service had (and probably still has) a very good parts dept and a reasonable sales team! Pity about their incompetent mechanics and dishonest front-of-service staff. Remember they have to juggle all of the following, and possibly more:
Sales staff (poor performance is really down to bad management by the sales manager). I wonder how many timewasters they get for each genuine customer though.
Parts dept. - but a good storeman who knows and cares about his parts must be like gold dust.
Service managers - ones who go the extra mile do a lot for a reputation. The ones who quibble about warranty items or are just plain dishonest ("he's bringing in a blank cheque - how much shall I add on the bill?" is a genuine quote I heard in a dealer I don't use any more) are losing their company business in the long run.
Mechanics - this is where they fall down most in my experience. You don't expect them to do an incompetent job (they should be able to gap a set of plugs, or torque up a set of nuts, for goodness sake). Or they diagnose an expensive repair when all you have is a loose connection, or something completely different. The ones at the dealerships only seem to know about the latest models, so are stumped if you take in an older vehicle, or they can only follow the simple procedures they have been taught, with common sense pretty well absent.
So should they manage to get ALL of these right? Yes they should, and yes we expect them to. But it's not a total surprise that they're not always perfect.

ttc546 wrote:

To be fair, it isn't the dealer so much, but the person you are dealing with and trying to sell you a car.

Sure, the sales person represents the dealer, but the sales person is who you interact with. If you don't get on, for whatever reason, or he is/she is simply pants, then no amount of dealer rating is gonna help you.

In my experience, poor car sales people have short life spans in that dealership anyway ...

Unfortunately, that means they lose the dealership business - even though the dealership is very sound.

In these days of cut-throat economy and business, it would be hard to find a POOR dealer. Just poor staff ...

I bought my FL2 from James Edwards at Brock (near Preston). I'd had dealings with the salesman (Stuart) at a previous dealership (Jaguar) and found him very friendly and helpful at both dealerships. When I took the Freelander back for warranty repairs (rear park sensors, loose drivers seat & leaking rear high level brake light) he seemed genuinely concerned as to what the problem was.
The service staff were helpful enough and when I picked the car up from its repairs the workshop manager came out to explain what had been done.
So far I have been pleased with the service I've had from them.

I have found it helps to go armed with information from this forum if you are looking at repairs or faults, but don't be too pushy, nobody likes to be told how to do their own job after all! Poke it, Poke it, make it do it again!!

Gone - 2008 Freel2 HSE Santorini Black
Hello - 2010 RRS TDV6 3.0 HSE Santorini Black

I could tell you a long story of lies and bullshit about Stratstone which started in 2005 with my facelift FL1 being less than well looked after by S/T Newport (Gwent)

Anyway... stupidly we went to Cardiff S/T for our MY10 FL2...

Durrggghhhh


We bought it, but had a hadnful of delivery niggles - salesman was USELESS - "have you contacted the service guys?".. no because my relationship is with S/T not one dept or another..


Anyway.... whilst far from perfect (I've spend years striving to deliver and looking for great customer service) we now go to MJ Fews in Gloucestershire who are a family outfit...

As I said - far from perfect but a whole lot better than Stratstone

The power of social networks and owner networks like this will be the death nell of rubbish dealers and suppliers... watch this space over 2011

Called to farnells in leeds ( hunslet ) today regarding my lost locking wheel nut key, while i waited they took off the old locking nuts and fit a new set me, although it costs £38 for the nuts they charged nothing for the labour.

All in all i cant complain and excellent service  freelander 2 SE black and beige - now sold

I had a strange encounter with Stratstone in Aylesbury.

Went on a test drive and loved the FL2, gave them my target figures which a day later they said they were struggling to meet, so I had a rethink and thought I would up the monthly payment/car price and asked them to proceed on a car they had coming in, and I must have phoned 3 times for a update.. and nothing.... I ended up buying one from a Ford dealer miles away.

SS in Aylesbury still havent phoned back! I hope their aftersales isnt as bad as the car sales

I'm still awaiting 3 promised callbacks from Lookers, Chelmsford, to arrange a test drive that I first tried to set up before Xmas. I'm still hoping they'll ring so I can tell them that I've since ordered a car from Beadles, Sidcup who have been excellent so far.

This is all quite bizarre to me... I had a similar experience with my local LR dealer... Roger Young is Saltash. I really wanted to buy from them as I live just 1/2 mile from them.

I went for a test drive of a used car but we decided to buy new so I called the same salesman and asked him if he could meet the price I was after. He said he would call me back with a price. I made it clear I was wanting to make a decision that day but by 5pm I still hadn't heard anything. So I called him to see how he was getting on with the price but was told he was busy. I never received a call. I placed the order next day with another dealer... one that got back to me with an acceptable price within 15 mins!!!

What is it about LR sales people? Is it just LR? I suspect not. Here I am with £33k in cash burning a whole in my pocket... a guaranteed sale at any sensible price, and I am ignored!!!

It is all quite bizarre.

sparkzz wrote:

I had a strange encounter with Stratstone in Aylesbury.

Went on a test drive and loved the FL2, gave them my target figures which a day later they said they were struggling to meet, so I had a rethink and thought I would up the monthly payment/car price and asked them to proceed on a car they had coming in, and I must have phoned 3 times for a update.. and nothing.... I ended up buying one from a Ford dealer miles away.

SS in Aylesbury still havent phoned back! I hope their aftersales isnt as bad as the car sales

@PaulC

Wish I had 33K burning a hole in my pocket, I'd rescue it out PDQ