forestgrump

Sheffield, I agree entirely, and I don't disagree with the reasonableness of it. Although, from experience, having to take the clutch out of a three year old car with 30,000 on the clock is, by today's standards, a little strong. However the vehicle was out of guarantee, and that is an end to it. There may be a connection/relationship between price, value, service.. someone, somewhere could probably write a thesis. Is it entirely unreasonable of me to expect a personal, thoughtful, careful response to my needs as a customer with a £ 30k vehicle as to, say, someone with a phone contract, a gas boiler fault, an busted laptop? The reply I achieved from LR was quite matter of fact i.e. customers are a nuisance, and should be treated with the appropriate disdain. ( especially those who insist on purchasing an obsolete tractor we've been attempting to axe for twenty years ). My point is that it wouldn't have been hard to play it differently, but that's not how Land Rover rolls, as it were. This '**** end of the stick' treatment is not how I treat my customers, but I'm self employed and I have staff to feed, so I may be a little more sensitive to some of the more subtle nuances of trade. In my limited experience settling unreasonable matters with grace rarely hurts. Especially if you want the customer back, of course you can do what you like if you don't. Anyway, no longer my problem. If my experience with my past Toyota's is anything to go on there isn't enough work to keep a "Case Manager" on full time.

although clearly I'd expect LR to send a letter checked for spelling, typo's and grammar ....

I've re-written the letter in the manner of a UK Customer Relationship Centre, Case Manager, who cares. See if the difference is noticeable. I don't mind how Land Rover treat me, they have lots of customers and I have lots of choices of car to buy. We will find and make our relationships based on trust and respect, as businesses and customers always do. Land Rover don't make a car I can't afford but they make quite a few I don't want to buy and, as in so many things, I am more Defender and a Pint than RR Autobiography and Gigi Cocktail. I just think it wouldn't take much to keep their cash customers on side, after all they'll have a new Defender to flog soon, and ( especially with Land Rover ) you never know when you are going to need your friends. Dear Mr , I am sorry to hear of the problems you are experiencing with your Land Rover Defender. As you probably know Land Rovers enjoy a strong reputation for toughness and reliability, it is concerning that on this occasion you are suffering difficulties. As the vehicle is out of the manufactures warranty I would need a Land Rover approved retailer to confirm the fault and the root cause, thereafter any contribution towards cost would be considered as goodwill which we will need to be discussed once the fault is diagnosed. However I am anxious that your Defender should be back on the road as soon as possible, I notice from your postcode that your local dealer is ********** I have spoken with the workshop manager and he is happy to arrange for your vehicle to be inspected, his number is ****************** As a valued Land Rover customer I am keen to ensure that your experience of our vehicles is as positive as possible, I shall followed up this email in the next week to see how you have got on. With kind regards. -- MP Case Manager UK Customer Relationship Centre

The cylinder isn't like the TD5 (which I've done, it's easy) the tdci unit is inside the bell housing assembly, which means dropping the gearbox. The part number has changed a number of times, so I'm thinking it needs occasional 'improvement'. The unit failed approaching a busy roundabout where the a505 crosses the a1301, peddle straight to the floor, in neutral, no engine braking on a 110 doing 60. Fortunately there was enough space to coast onto the narrow strip of soil between the tarmac and the ditch. Could have been a totally different story. My past experience with Toyota, I've run Colorado's in the past and my daughter has a rag top MR2, is that the service, communication and back up has been first class ( even on ancient MR2's ). In fact my first Colorado was purchased after visiting a LR dealer in Bury St Edmunds, the LR salesman suggested a Defender would be a terrible purchase & I should really be thinking of a freelander, a disco, a RR anything but a Defender..... I'm a fairly high mileage user, I've had Alfa, BMW, Citroen, Jeep, Saab, Toyota, Vauxhall and VW. It maybe I have had more contact with LR because the Defender does tend to fail ( I speak nicely to spares, don't hassle for warranty, pay cash, I'm actually an easy customer ) but LR in general do seem to be enjoying the moral superiority of selling more cars than they can make. The old maxim of a customer in the hand is worth two in the field seems to have no weight. Anyway, just my experience, I'm sure there are far more glowing reports than there are disgruntled customers. And it has to be said the Defender is hands down the better bit of kit in the rough, I'm hoping the replacement is going to be just as capable.

There has been a Land Rover in the family for pretty much as long as I've been alive. Dad had his first Series back in the 60's, so they've been a habit. Over the years I've enjoyed 4x4 Jeep, Toyota, Audi, but still kept coming back to LR. My first 90 came from Roy Hammond in Halesworth. Bought 2nd hand at about 30,000 miles I'd run it for a few months when the clutch master cylinder went, Roy sent out a driver, collected the 90, fixed it, sent it back. No questions asked. I don't expect super reliability for my defenders, something is pretty much always going wrong, but I'm loyal, stump up the cash and keep a spare from BMW, or Volvo, or VW or Toyota or Lexus kicking around just so I don't get stuck ( yes, you need to, Defenders really are that idiosyncratic ) Last year I bought another 110, a TDCI Puma, to park beside Roy's 90 ( yes I still have it ). Bought at 20,000 miles I'd put about 10k on it when, guess what, the clutch master went. The wagon was three years old and out of warranty. Aware as I was of the TDCI's historic trouble with all things clutch related I wrote to Land Rover and asked if they'd put it right... The reply is below. I'm not sure exactly why, but I suddenly became very tired of LR's corporate b/s. On receipt of their email it took me exactly three hours to sell the troubled 110 on and replace it with a Hilux. LR lost a loyal customer of many decades and Toyota made a valuable sale. I may be being unreasonable. I might be trying to justify the move to a 3ltr, automatic, legendarily reliable truck from Japan because I'm feeling guilty. Or perhaps the absence of the word 'sorry' in the reply just turned my head. Who can say. Either way I let them know I'd sold it, but they couldn't be ar*ed to reply. So that's a LR customer lost for life and the missus is getting an TT this year not an Evoque, lucky girl. Dear Mr , Thank you for your email dated 11th December regarding the concerns you have been facing with your vehicle. As the vehicle is out of the manufactures warranty I would need a Land Rover approved retailer to confirm the fault and the root cause. Please note that for vehicles outside of the manufacturers warranty, any contribution towards cost would be considered as goodwill which would need to be reviewed once the fault and root cause has been diagnosed. You will need to book your vehicle in with your local approved retailer to which they will need to book an engineer out to diagnose any faults. If your vehicle is not under warranty there will be a diagnostics charge which the retailer will be able to advise you on. Once you have booked in your vehicle please contact me or have the retailer contact me and I will be more than happy to work with the retailer to try and resolve any issues you have. If you have any questions please do not hesitate in contacting me back on my contact details below. Kind Regards -- MP Case Manager UK Customer Relationship Centre

I can recommend these guys, they did a brilliant job. Got a lift from the rail station too. Rustbuster Dinol rust proof Land Rover 90 £350.00 + vat. the service takes 3 days to complete. Ian Allen, Rustbuster Ltd www.rust.co.uk

Has anyone got any experience with these ? http://www.vanarack.com/store/land-rover-defender-deadlock/ I have a set of exterior van locks on my defender but I like the look of these flush fitted things..

The helpful LEZ zone flowchart, cobbled together to meet Boris's change of mind about vehicle qualification in the zone ( Olympics anyone ? ) requires a V5C to fill in the questionnaire, the document however is mismatched with the questions. At the section requiring vehicle weight you are asked for a figure in imperial tons ( t ) the V5c supplies a figure in metric kilograms ( KG ). It's nice to know the old boys in Bowler hats are still fighting off European red tape with furled umbrella's but a sodding nuisance if you have to find a conversion chart to figure it out. Or has my innate suspicion of anything remotely Whitehall overtaken my common sense?

I, for one, am very happy the forum is able to report these matters. I have a td5 90 which I wanted to trade in for a 110, needing a larger vehicle for my business, I had approached Nene but, having been appraised of their brush with the law by this forum, was able to make a informed choice. Trading Defenders worth £ 10 - 20k may be chump change for some but is a serious business for those who rely on their vehicle for business. Nobody needs the hassle of a dodgy transaction. Obviously there are those who want to fabricate stories out of malice or a desire to slander rivals, however, there should be no impediment to report the truth and report it LOUDLY so that the whole Land Rover community can benefit !

NASA used that shot as the basis for the Shuttle flight deck.....

Too be fair....... the rakeway refurbished gearbox did explode a little under 1,000 miles later.... quite a colourful incident while doing 70 on the m1 ( apparently it would have worked better with some oil in it ) .... so the lesson is.... get the clutch fitted by a decent mechanic, make sure the gearbox has a bit of oil to help it spin and don't tug ambulances unless the thick end of a £ 1,500 rebuild is going to be on the nhs !

I have a safari equip tank: It took 5 months to deliver they didn't answer emails when they answered calls they lied about delivery made more "dog ate my homework' excuses than a schoolboy since the tank has been fitted the fuel filler panel supplied has been resprayed, ( the original had shockingly carp powder coat ), the supplied pump has failed and all the switch gear has had to be replaced.... I'd recommend you look elsewhere ....

Cable it up for each battery on it's own so you don't cook anything incase of failure... always slightly alarming watching cable insulation melt against bulkheads... Split charge systems may be more trouble than they are worth, I've just binned my National Luna, the flashing lights were pretty an' all but left for a week or so it would flatten my yellow tops .... not exactly fit 'n forget

Quick update on my Safari Equip tank .... With a hours in service record of about... oh 25 minutes I'm disappointed to report the transfer fuel pump is dead. I've ordered another from Safari-equip.. if it turns up ( here's hoping ) I'll be sure to let you know if it manages to last a week ! At least having the tank in parts gave me the opportunity to respray all the ( powder coated ) supplied parts that had rusted ... If this set up fails I thought I'd give my daughter a go at building a tank, she's 19 and at art school, which is as good a guarantee that she'll do a better job than safari equip that you can get ! Oh, and on behalf of British engineers across the globe I'd like to apologise for Safari-equip.. they're not typical.. really.. honest.. they're just stuck in the '70's working at British Leyland in a time warp..

not negative at all ! sounds like a good effort.. best, perhaps, to underestimate when tugging ambulances though ? perhaps !