PaulB wrote:

Martin,
If I'm passing by and your car is on the drive, I'll drop in to say hello.

Paul

Took RR in for a noise from rear suspension, told they had change a bush. when i drove car out, all the stearing was to cock, took it back and they had the nerve to say i had hiot something and it was nothing to do with them.
went back next day and they sorted it, so they said, 2000miles later rear tyres had warn out.went and got wheels checked at another dealer ship, all to cock, had to get it straigtend, £850 for new tyres.
they could not have given a toss. made complaint to land rover, but nothing came of that either.
there are some good people out there though.,
we must remeber that.

PaulB wrote:

Just to make it absolutely clear, this thread relates to Guy Salmon in Coventry and NOT Trinity in Hinckley.

While Trinity have so far been unable to identify the vibration, they have always been professional and courteous. (Not too sure about their bodyshop though)

Martin,
If I'm passing by and your car is on the drive, I'll drop in to say hello.

Paul

Hi Fiona,
Based on my experience and a few other people who work for me and have taken their cars to GS, I have total contempt for them, sorry, but that's how I feel and I shall never again give them the privilage of my custom.

Paul

PaulB wrote:

Hi Fiona,
Based on my experience and a few other people who work for me and have taken their cars to GS, I have total contempt for them, sorry, but that's how I feel and I shall never again give them the privilage of my custom.

Paul

PaulB feels about GS what I feel about Stratstone - several bad experiences tend to colour your perception of an entire franchise even though I'm sure there might be some better Stratstone dealers out there somewhere. My GS experiences have also been positive, but alas you tend to go into dealerships these days (of any marque) and expect to be provided with a big pile of crap service. 

I have received a letter from the Managing Director at Guy Salmon in Coventry following my posting of this thread. I am at least encouraged that he has at last taken the time, albeit belatedly, to respond to my concerns.
He has requested that I post a copy of his letter on this forum, which I will do later today along with my reply.

Paul

Good to hear feedback from "the other side"  

Here is the letter from the Managing Director of Guy Salmon in Coventry in response to this thread (the full size images are in my gallery):



Here is my reply:

Dear Mr. Martin,
I was pleased to receive your letter dated 18th August. It does, at the very least, demonstrate a level of interest on your part. It is a shame, however, that I had to post on a public forum to elicit a response from you.
I can assure you that I made every effort to contact you personally before I took the step to post my dissatisfaction on www.rrsport.co.uk. In the first instance, I called your reception to get your name and then on three subsequent occasions I called to speak to you. On each occasion, I was told that you were either in a meeting or otherwise engaged, I then asked to speak to Peter Loach. Again, I was told that he wasn’t available. Each time I left my name and telephone number and requested that either Mr. Loach or you call me back. I have called on close to a dozen times and only on one occasion has my call been returned and that was by Mr. Loach.
If you believe that all incoming calls are recorded, you are clearly being let down by either your staff or your systems. I am prepared to give you the benefit of doubt and accept that, had you known about my call, you would have called me back. It would however, appear that not all of your staff are singing from the same song sheet.
With regard to your Assistant Service Manager, I have no reason to doubt that he is either “hard working” or “honest”, but in my experience, his customer relationship skills are seriously lacking. His only concern on the 22nd June was to absolve himself and the dealership of all responsibility for the total failure to address any of the issues relating to my car. I had taken my car in two weeks prior to this date specifically to point out the different issues so that the necessary replacement parts could be ordered in where required. To be then informed that none of the faults had been addressed because the necessary parts weren’t in stock demonstrates a clear breakdown of the system somewhere along the line. Two of the faults were simple replacements that required neither diagnosis nor investigation. The only work that had been done on my car during the day was to valet it in spite of me specifically requesting that it not be. You can never “win” an argument with a customer. The pleasure in taking the moral high ground is very short lived when the client takes his or her business elsewhere, but in my opinion this is what Mr. Sweetman tried to do. I also contend that his arguments were fundamentally flawed.
The ONLY non-standard item on my car on the 22nd was the stainless steel exhaust tailpipes. The wheels were the standard 19” V-spoke supplied with the car from new. To dismiss the entire car on the basis of some shiny tailpipes is ridiculous.
Whilst it would be reasonable for you to expect to have the car “as the manufacturer built it”, this surely, should only apply to any components relating to the specific fault in question. The problem I was experiencing related to the steering, therefore, the tailpipes had no reasonable bearing on the problem. I also took the time to call Land Rover Customer Services to clarify the point, who confirmed that a fault wouldn’t be dismissed unless it directly related to the after-market components fitted. Land Rover cars must be amongst the most frequently modified of any manufacturer.
I also made it clear that the vibration had been evident from new and that the car had already been into Trinity Land Rover on three previous occasions. I had decided to bring my car to Guy Salmon firstly, to get a different perspective on the problem and secondly, because my office in only ½ mile up the A45. Indeed, when I dropped the car off, I walked back to my office. Had the service met or even been close to my expectations, you could have assured yourself of my continued business.
The option or availability of 20” wheels on the TDV6 is irrelevant as my car came to you with the standard 19” wheels and was still demonstrating the same vibration. My contention regarding the 20” wheels was with Mr. Loach’s claim that the TDV6 was in some way structurally inferior to the V8 or Supercharged and that fitting 20” wheels would compromise its integrity. The only difference is that all Supercharged Sports are fitted with a damped steering rack and not all TDV6s or V8s are. For the record, I have also had the brakes upgraded to the Brembo items from the Supercharged Sport using genuine Land Rover components throughout. So I hadn’t “chosen to simply bolt on larger wheels” as you claim.
I accept your apology, but I urge you not to simply dismiss me as a problem customer. This unfortunate episode has highlighted clear failings in your internal systems that you should seek to rectify.
Guy Salmon are not alone when it comes to perceived poor customer service within the Land Rover dealer network, or indeed the networks of many motor manufacturers. I have been a long standing Audi customer and I have had cause, on occasion, to be unhappy with some of their dealers. Before we purchased the Range Rover, we visited a number of different dealerships, including Guy Salmon, to test drive their products and the only one that impressed us with their service was Lexus Coventry. They were courteous, considerate and attentive to our requirements without being overly pushy. You would be well advised to check them out for yourself, if only to gauge a measure against your own levels of service.
The motor industry dealer networks, on the whole, tend to rely on having great products that people want to buy and only pay lip service to positive customer service. You don’t even have to “sell” them as the manufacturers have already done 99% of the selling for you. The positive perspective on this is that there is a huge opportunity for the dealership that stands themselves head and shoulders above the rest.
I own and run a company that is entirely dependant on high quality customer service. Our products, whilst complex, are available from any number of similar organisations to ours. Our only way to differentiate ourselves from the masses is through high quality customer service and we regularly survey our customers to ensure that we are at the very least, meeting their expectations.
I will publish your letter on the forum as requested along with this response.
You have my details on record, if you wish to discuss this matter further, please feel free to call me.
Yours sincerely,
PB

Last edited by PaulB on Sat Aug 26 2006 1:57pm. Edited 1 time in total

Today, I have received a reply from Guy Salon to my letter above.
I think, to be fair to Mr. Martin, he has put his hands up to my complaints and acknowledged that it needs to improve.
I'm not happy about being called "a bit daft" for not taking my car to Guy Salmon, especially have just detailed all the resons why I haven't
I may give them another chance, maybe when my car needs its first service, which will give them the time that he has requested. But, they will need to be much, much better than they currently are for me to continue to give them any business.
However, if they are better, I will very happily report it here.



Cheers,
Paul

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It's just such a shame that we have to go to such lengths to get a response...  

we had few issues with this dealer.My father raised his voice slightly and hey presto,the MD appeared.We were ushered to his office and the problems were put right within minutes and we even got some freebies
In my experience they will fob you off all day long until you stand up for yourself and make a fuss.My calls are now always returned by the salesman and i will be picking my car up a month earlier than previously expected.

Good result Anton, and paulb.. Past: Bmw M3 Coupe 57, 335d Coupe 56, Audi RS4 06, RR Sport TD HSE 05,
Current: 57 Bmw 730d Sport, 56 Merc S320 CDI L, 57 Merc Viano L 2.2CDI

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