[GTO]

Ranjan Gupta - a justifiably disgruntled Range Rover owner - shares the following unfortunate ownership experience.

• March 2012: Bought the Range Rover Vogue SE for ~2 crore rupees.

• In 2 years of ownership, the SUV has been with the dealer for about 10 months.

• JLR India, on various occasions, has failed even to accept & diagnose problems with the vehicle...adopting trial & error methods. Due to this, the vehicle had to be taken repeatedly for the same repairs to Dada Motors, Ludhiana. Do note that the owner's residence is 140 kms away from the dealership!

• The car was originally delivered, with two different brands of tyres!

• As of date, the Range Rover suffers from starting problems. Various parts have been changed, but JLR hasn't been able to solve it. The car is currently lying at the dealership since 13th March 2014 for the same problem. They replaced the starter motor, but the issue still persists.

• Ranjan Gupta asked for a loaner vehicle as no timeline was provided for the repairs, but was refused.

• The Vogue met with a frontal accident. It took Jaguar Land Rover's dealer SEVEN months to repair the SUV.

• Ranjan says that no one is responding to his phone calls. He's worried about the upkeep of the SUV once it runs out of warranty coverage.

Problems faced:

• Starting issues (only tuk tuk sound is heard when cranking). Starter motor replaced, issue not resolved
• Transfer case replaced
• Water seepage inside the trunk area
• Water ingress & moisture in both rear tail lamps
• Inside door lock trouble: Doors not opening. Two door latches replaced under warranty
• 3 tyres replaced under warranty (two burst, one bulged)
• Rear camera doesn't work sometimes ((surrounding camera not working, blue screen appears for front lh & rh side camera). Equalizer kits replaced under warranty
• Loud noise above 100 kph in the cabin
• Wind & whistling noise from front doors
• Heater core replaced under warranty
• Squeaking & rattling from front suspension
• Squealing drive belts. Faulty belts replaced under warranty
• Alternator bracket replaced under warranty
• Coolant Pump: Water pump pulley replaced
• Cooling fan: Bracket with pulley replaced
• The entire air circulation cluster was changed
• Misaligned front RHS door
• Unusually loud sound when switching off the engine
• Check engine light error (shows engine oil error)
• Instrument cluster shows "restricted performance" error (limp mode)
• Battery replaced under warranty
• Paint chipping off from the Range Rover badge
• Cloth peeling off from the rear parcel tray
• Horn & switch harness replaced under warranty
• Steering horn pad replaced under warranty
• Front sets heating and cooling not working. Steering wheel heating not working

Light scratches all over the car, and on the front right glass. Dealer's statement:

Rubbing to be done pertaining to light scratches all over the car and on front right window glass, which incurred during this visit (Happened because the person cleaning the car was wearing rings on his hand). As discussed with you, rubbing will be done when car will visit workshop. For Glass which I have already told nothing can be done.

Ranjan adds:

I think problems do occur in all the cars, but if they are resolved in a timely manner no one would complain. But instead dealers careless attitude and inability to diagnose and also non availability of parts adds to the injury.

I have a BMW 525d too but haven't faced such problems at all. In case of my Range Rover, the product has lots of problems and service backup is extremely inadequate.

I would certainly like to spread awareness about product and services, so that people can avoid wasting their hard earned money and make wise decisions.

Service Invoices:

Full History:

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to Technical Stuff!

[amansanc]

Oh man!! Another Range Rover horror story! The number of issues the owner has faced is astonishing
Feel sad for the owner. After having spent a big amount on a car, the least a person can expect is good service. Not getting a loaner car is absolutely ridiculous!!

Hope the issues are sorted soon and to the satisfaction of the owner.

Cheers!
amansanc

[speedmiester]

What is up with the European car brands?
Do they think their job ends with just selling the car?

This is ridiculous, first you need to pay through your nose to buy the car and you can't even get proper service.

Shame on you JLR, this is not the first thread on this forum detailing the horrific service and unreliability of JLR products.

[lurker]

Sometimes the car is a lemon, sometimes the dealer is a lemon, sometimes both dealer & India representatives are lemons. A lemon law in India would consume all.

[Octane_Power]

Man this is so sad.. When one spends 2 crores, one expects to be treated nothing less than a King and why not?! The outlook of such companies towards Indians and our stone-age law is so pathetic and disheartening (Speaking of Skoda, JLR etc.).

If it had been in the US or any European country, by now JLR would have been asked to cough up a huge amount for mental agony and selling such a car. I think no company would ever dare to treat their customers in other countries in such a manner.
They know they can stretch cases in India for decades and get away with it.

JLR SUVs were my favourite cars on Indian roads and after this I won't look at a Range Rover with the same respect with which I did yesterday.
As BHP'ian fine69's signature reads :"Land Rover if you wish to go anywhere, Land Cruiser if you wish to come back too!"

-Bhargav

[svsantosh]

Wow, I always ass-u-me'd that only the cattle class with sub-10 lac cars ended up taking a buffalo ride in a.s.s's.

This is ridiculous!

Even a 2Cr car customer (who should have some clout, the society would think), is made to run from patiala to ludhiana!!

It happens only in India!

[GTO]

Come to think of it, instead of 1 unreliable SUV, Ranjan could have bought 200 Maruti 800s for the same money.

Unfortunately, he didn't get the quality of service that Maruti would extend to even 1 single owner of a Maruti 800.

Jaguar & Land Rover should understand that reputations are very important in India (just ask Daddy, Tata Motors). Takes years to build, and only a couple of incidents to break. There's a reason why Mercedes & BMW take such good care of their customers.

Big thumbs down to the shoddy manner in which this customer was attended to.

[srishiva]

I hope we should have some law wherein after a threshold is crossed for consumer complaints, heavy fine or other penal action should be taken against the manufacturer.

Toyota is supposedly paying 1 billion dollars for not handling the consumer complaints pertaining to un-intended acceleration properly. Govt should look at these more seriously.

[fine69]

Considering the current condition of Indian Laws, if you think you have an unreliable car, sell it off. No point trying to fight it off with the manufacturer or dealer. They are big corporations and have hired Legal Advisors just so that cases filed in court by the customer can be dragged till death (literally).

As the owner has himself said, he simply wants to spread awareness that if you are buying a JLR vehicle, be cautious!

Its ok for a customer in India to expect world-class service for a world-class vehicle but if he thinks its his right, then he's gravely mistaken!

I thank the owner for putting it up and even if one potential customer changes his mind because of this thread then we've achieved something.

[tsk1979]

This is a Tata dealer. Tata dealers are now JLR dealers.
When Tata started making cars, there was a lot of problem because now we had truck dealers dealing with passenger car customers who had different expectations.

Same case now. Its Tata dealers dealing with JLR customers, and service level is same as Tata.

That said, I have always said, if your car is not good in the first place, there is nothing a dealer can do. He can always make your experience worse, not better.

So JLR obviously is selling atleast a few cars which are "defective".

The service is provided by the Tata network which is legendary for poor service.

So you have two negatives creating a massive negative.
So at JLR end they should make better quality cars.
At Tata end, they should ensure that their service network is better trained to handle cars.

But then, they have had over 10 years to fix their service network, and they have been unable to do so. I doubt they even know what needs to be done.

And last but not the least the consumer protection scenario is bleak. Barring one or two cases, after years of struggle courts will simple tell company to pay 10,000 INR + repair car. This is peanuts. Until we have a strong watchdog(which will never happen due to SIAM lobby with deep pockets), there is no solution to this problem except one.

Buy cars which have a proven track record of being of good quality. For example, even if your heart desires a LR, buy a Landcruiser instead. That is the only power a paying customer has in this scenario.

[prkiran]

Originally Posted by GTO

Light scratches all over the car, and on the front right glass. Dealer's statement:
Rubbing to be done pertaining to light scratches all over the car and on front right window glass, which incurred during this visit (Happened because the person cleaning the car was wearing rings on his hand). As discussed with you, rubbing will be done when car will visit workshop. For Glass which I have already told nothing can be done.

This one statement made me Can anyone be any more arrogant?
That too when the car is still in warranty. My respect towards Maruti's service went up a few notches reading through this post.

[rikhav]

It is now very clear that TATA is not at all equipped to service JLR cars, hell not even standalone JLR service centres

They have almost all models costing in range of 50 lacs to 2 crore and few above that, and still they have the audacity to give such a shoddy service. I just cant believe they refused for a loaner car


Sadly, my trust on TATA is almost over. Whatever they do and how much ever they improve, I will never even think of buying any car from them.

If this is how they treat their premium customers, god help us

I was hoping there is some mechanism for these issues to reach Mr. Ratan Tata. Atleast he should be aware even if he is not active

I know he is the one solely responsible but he should know how customers are being treated

This makes me think about one more point. Surely Mr. Ratan Tata or anyone from the board of Tata sons would be owning a Jaguar or a Land Rover product

Are they given the same kind of service?


This is really a VERY sad thing happening

[AlphaLamb]

Originally Posted by rikhav

It is now very clear that TATA is not at all equipped to service JLR cars, hell not even standalone JLR service centres

They have almost all models costing in range of 50 lacs to 2 crore and few above that, and still they have the audacity to give such a shoddy service. I just cant believe they refused for a loaner car


Sadly, my trust on TATA is almost over. Whatever they do and how much ever they improve, I will never even think of buying any car from them.

If this is how they treat their premium customers, god help us

I was hoping there is some mechanism for these issues to reach Mr. Ratan Tata. Atleast he should be aware even if he is not active

I know he is the one solely responsible but he should know how customers are being treated

This makes me think about one more point. Surely Mr. Ratan Tata or anyone from the board of Tata sons would be owning a Jaguar or a Land Rover product

Are they given the same kind of service?


This is really a VERY sad thing happening

Mr. Ratan Tata might not be the right person in this case as he no longer serves as the Chairman of the TATA Group, the new chairman or as in this case the Top Dog in the TATA chain of command is Mr. Cyrus Mistry

[rikhav]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

This is a Tata dealer. Tata dealers are now JLR dealers.
When Tata started making cars, there was a lot of problem because now we had truck dealers dealing with passenger car customers who had different expectations.

Same case now. Its Tata dealers dealing with JLR customers, and service level is same as Tata.

What if its a sub 10 lac sedan or under 5 lac hatchback or a nano for that matter

Who ever has purchased has the right for top notch service.

Yeah, one can do without a welcome coffee, ac lounge but why any kind of compromise can be accepted with ones vehicle irrespective or whatever its cost is or if its a truck, hatchback, sedan or a super luxury sedan

If a dealer or a manufacturer can give good service to truck buyers, for sure it can give A grade service to any kind of vehicle they deal in. I say again, this is w.r.t. to the vehicle. i.e. proper diagnosis and solving of an issue and taking good care of ones vehicle

TATA is lacking that since its truck days and its the same right now

If I am not wrong, Mercedes Benz broke partnership with TATA for th every same reason i.e. mistreating customers