After a bad experience with not one but three local Stratstone Dealerships when looking for a FL2 cash purchase with no part ex, I went to Stafford Land Rover and have to say the service was like chalk and cheese. Dealt with a salesman by the name of Steve who was a top bloke.

for a cash purchase with no part exchange I'm sure most of them would be licking your boots !!

Iain

Well Stratstone certainly didn't, Iain!!

I have dealt with the same dealer near to me, sales don't give a went to the Site Sponsor LPR last time and will go back again when the time comes. Don't be frightened of the distance, some members on here are a lot further away than you are.

SimonC wrote:

After a bad experience with not one but three local Stratstone Dealerships when looking for a FL2 cash purchase with no part ex, I went to Stafford Land Rover and have to say the service was like chalk and cheese. Dealt with a salesman by the name of Steve who was a top bloke.

that sounds sooooooooo familiar glad you go things sorted  Current: Freelander 2 GS, Orkney Grey, Factory fit privacy glass, design pack and Clearview pack. Almond Leather ,rear spoiler,rear mudflaps.my13.

Gone:Freelander 2, GS, "61"

Gone: Freelander 2, GS.e, "59"

Gone: Freelander 2, S, "08"

ad210358 wrote:

I have dealt with the same dealer near to me, sales don't give a went to the Site Sponsor LPR last time and will go back again when the time comes. Don't be frightened of the distance, some members on here are a lot further away than you are.

My buying at a distance could not be faulted at all.

Bought from LPR, took to AM, York to refit the towbar, service staff could not have been more helpful, though I had already decided that AM would not be my servicing garage as they totally failed to fix a small issue i had with a seat saying the issue wasn't there when they had the car.

I then took it to Farnells in Leeds City centre, as they had fixed a previous fault on my 1st FL2 that AM was pussying about with, they now greet me with smiles and a very warm welcome, I have only ever used them as servicing and they greeted me with a big "hi Nick, thought i saw you come in" greeting had a nice chat, asked if i needed anything whilst i was down.

Now bearing in mind i only visit for the odd part and service, they know i didn't buy from them, they treat me like i did and i would say the sales team are as pleasant as well, and that from just popping in to look at a D3 2+ years ago, sale chap gives plenty of time to chat, showing me some stuff on the evoque before it was release, happy that he didn't sell me a car, and seems happy that i got a good deal elsewhere.

AM on the other hand, the salesman who came back with a price a few thousand more than i paid for my FL2 from LPR and still missing half the spec was like a kid throwing his teddy out of the pram when i saw him, with the you didn't give me a chance speech  Former Mod/Member, with the most post & Chicken George Arch nemesis

I agree if you have a close by choice of repairers/servicing and you manage to hit upon a good dealer, but it fails when you only have one dealer and that one is a Stratstone that don't give a toss.

It all depends where you are in the country and maybe like me, where I have my back to the sea with only one bad choice nearby, then it can fail.

Of course if we were talking of servicing and not warranty then I'm sure that Stratstone would have taken my money and given a satisfactory service.

It's warranty work from a dealer that you didn't purchase from, and that for some is the deciding factor not to want to fight your corner.

Now the majority of Stratstone dealerships get a bad press, don't any of them have to answer to anyone at all? Are they a rule unto themselves? Does not Landrover give a toss that dealerships can ruin a manufacturers image? Do they even know or care? Some bloody door knocking is called for at Halewood

If you happen to get the phone number or Email of someone further up the ladder it's always his/her secretary that intercepts the call/message and if you do get a reply it will be from the secretary referring you back down the ladder again. <rant>

Oh, and on the 29th September between 'Stratstone' ignoring me and my call to LR Customer Services, I rang Lookers Park Royal where I purchased the car, hoping for advice. Promised a call back but that never came either.

that's why saying that Steve, or whoever, in sales is "a top bloke" means nothing as once they've done the deal and made their bonus, they are not interested.

in general Landrover dealer after sales service is shocking, sure you will get people saying they had a great experience, but they are in the minority.

you shouldn't need to travel 400mls to get some decent customer service, it's absolutely disgusting.

Iain

EYorkshire wrote:

Oh, and on the 29th September between 'Stratstone' ignoring me and my call to LR Customer Services, I rang Lookers Park Royal where I purchased the car, hoping for advice. Promised a call back but that never came either.

EYorkshire - Apologies if you didn't get called back. Have you resolved this issue? I will chase Steve (assuming it was he who promised you a call?).

If you can give me some more info jamestayler@lookers.co.uk then I will gladly help.

James

Hi EYorkshire,

Really sorry to hear about this. Was a message left for myself?

If you would like to drop me an email on steveallum@lookers.co.uk i'll see what we can do to help.

Many thanks

Steve If possible please email rather than PM!

Sales - steveallum@lookers.co.uk
Service - davidkingsnorth@lookers.co.uk
Parts - andrewharding@lookers.co.uk

Tel 0208 992 2299

Please do not take any information contained within this post as factual. Always check the manufacturers web site if in doubt.

As far I am concerned Stratstone are a bunch of , wouldn't buy a rocking horse from them or take my wheelbarrow for a service.
can't understand why RBS haven't cut them loose before now like they did with Dixons up north as I can only see them making a substantial contribution to the banks already huge losses. Gone, 2007 TD4 SE Auto Baltic blue, clear side repeaters, full sized alloy spare.

English by birth..... Yorkshire by the grace of God.

SimonC wrote:

Well Stratstone certainly didn't, Iain!!

To be fair (and I have never dealt with Stratstones) all dealers can have a bad day and it's the bad ones we remember. What I've noticed is that the sales people may be good while the service people are rubbish, and vice versa. The parts dept are yet another variable. In the London area I've experienced an excellent sales set up with possibly the worst service dept in the world (but top-notch parts dept), a service set up with excellent customer service desk and pretty poor mechanics, and a service centre that did a good but overpriced job, but with a front desk that made me cringe. The worst I ever heard was the man on the desk saying to his mate, in front of customers, "no no, they're bringing in a blank check, stick another £80 on the bill".
I've always assumed that the problem with the servicing was that they only knew about the latest models, and had no expertise with older cars. I'm shocked to hear of problems with recent models as well.
btw I bought mine 2nd hand from Marshals in Bedford and although they are a bit expensive I've had nothing to complain about at all (so far!).