Complaining to Jag main dealer

[shatnersbassoon]

Some advice required, or maybe just for me to vent a little.

I had my car serviced at a main dealer a couple of months ago, just before we went on a trip to Switzerland.
They made a note that the tyres were wearing slightly unevenly and that a 4 wheel alignment would be a good idea. The price was reasonable so I told them to go ahead and do it.

Everything seemed fine, but on the way back from the trip I noticed that there was a very slight knocking when going over bumps. I'd been driving it as they are meant to be driven while on the Swiss passes, so I guessed that maybe there was some suspension component that needed replacing.

The knocking was getting worse, so I took it to a trusted independent specialist (my closest Jag dealer couldn't look at the car for 2 months and wanted £380 to diagnose!)
Turns out that both track rod end lock nuts were loose. According to the independent, it could have been very dangerous if one had come off completely. Loss of steering on the Furka pass wouldn't have been fun!

Obviously I noticed before anything bad happened, but is it worth even complaining to the dealer?
They're not likely to do anything, and I'll not be taking my car back to them in the future.

Anyway, rant over.

[stefan9107]

Some advice required, or maybe just for me to vent a little.

I had my car serviced at a main dealer a couple of months ago, just before we went on a trip to Switzerland.
They made a note that the tyres were wearing slightly unevenly and that a 4 wheel alignment would be a good idea. The price was reasonable so I told them to go ahead and do it.

Everything seemed fine, but on the way back from the trip I noticed that there was a very slight knocking when going over bumps. I'd been driving it as they are meant to be driven while on the Swiss passes, so I guessed that maybe there was some suspension component that needed replacing.

The knocking was getting worse, so I took it to a trusted independent specialist (my closest Jag dealer couldn't look at the car for 2 months and wanted £380 to diagnose!)
Turns out that both track rod end lock nuts were loose. According to the independent, it could have been very dangerous if one had come off completely. Loss of steering on the Furka pass wouldn't have been fun!

Obviously I noticed before anything bad happened, but is it worth even complaining to the dealer?
They're not likely to do anything, and I'll not be taking my car back to them in the future.

Anyway, rant over.

I'd argue it probably isn't worth the effort in all honesty. Main dealers don't care in reality and will always have a steady stream of customers coming through the door. One less isn't going to bother them.
All you'll likely achieve is the stress relief of telling them how incompetent they are and getting that rage out.

[jonm]

I used a main dealer to service my jag once, they put the wrong grade of oil in it, never again will I take a car to a main dealer.

[cj10jeeper]

As above, not worth wasting your breath, time and stress in going to the dealer. They won’t do anything about it, nor can you expect them given time since it happened, other than them doing the alignment again for free. Probably not something you’d want anyway.

[scm]

The only time I've ever been persuaded to have an alignment done when I had new tyres I had exactly the same loose locknut situation. Now, I'll only go to a specialist aligner (is that a word?) if I ever think the car is misbehaving tracking-wise (did that just once with excellent results).

[shatnersbassoon]

Thanks all.
Confirmed my thoughts that’s it’s prob not worth the effort.
Lost faith in jag dealers to be honest. I’ve had dealings with 3 different ones in the last year, and they’ve all been bad in their own way.

Are other brands like Porsche any better?

[Eclipse83]

I agree it's not worth the effort, but still can't hurt to tell their service dept. manager how useless they are .

[shatnersbassoon]

Maybe a low effort ChatGpt email would be worth it!

[Tel]

Fair rant, but be proactive!

Definitely worth letting the dealer and JLR customer relations know. I think it is a responsible move to flag it up.

I have had excellent work carried out (not without the odd fubar) because I put the effort in to forge a relationship with the dealer, so if/when and if things did go belly-up, I had extra leverage, and yes, it worked.
I rejected my first F-Type new F and got it replaced with a newly built one, just like that, not to mention other warranty works.

If you don't bother doing anything, they certainly won't be motivated to at least investigate it.
I would do it, a) for the personal satisfaction and b) to hopefully stop another customer having the same issue!

Phone call or two away, no brainer to me.

[simpleR]

I hate things like this and sub standard work.

I would personally log a complaint and request the money back you paid Jaguar. As you have paid for a service that was not complete or to a standard not acceptable.

If they refuse I would contact the bank you paid via, presuming it was credit card, and request a charge back/refund and let them take it up.

That's just me though.