The Truth about the Land Rover Discovery 3: Land Rover Responds openly and honestly.

Mike Mulholland from Land Rover UK called me today and we had a constructive and very worthwhile conversation. I think he is head of Customer Relations. I immediately remembered his name from the numerous postal feedback questionnaires I have received over the last few years: most notably the one I mailed off slating Land Rover for their terrible Breakdown Recovery service they call Land Rover Assist. I never hear back from him even after taking the trouble to write it all down and walk it to the post office - which shouldn’t be the rules of the game.

He confirmed that Land Rover had been aware of my campaign from the outset but chose not to react to it. He told me their PR Manager had received my emails dated June 2, as had their PR Company, Harrison-Cowley. I asked him why it had taken him 6 weeks to make contact with me and his defence was that he felt the dealership was looking after me. Mike said he dedicated resources to tracking the blogosphere, but I told him it wasn’t good enough just listening you had to do something about it- Communicate! I don’t profess to be a blog expert but I do know someone who is - he understands how brands should deal with blogs and I am sure I can convince him to give up some of his time to guide Land Rover through this new mine field. (That's a free offer Land Rover)

Mike was open and honest with me (which I appreciate greatly): Land Rover has released 5 new models in a very short space of time to great acclaim. The demographics of their customers are changing with the release of the Discovery 3 and Range Rover Sport and Land Rover UK are doing their best to keep up with customer demands but haven’t yet got to where they need to be.

In case you have missed this piece, like others who accuse me of blackmail, the case involving the replacement of my Discovery 3 is now closed. Stratstone of Mayfair and Land Rover struck a fair deal in which I took delivery of a new vehicle last week and paid £5k for that privilege- so it doesn’t set any nasty blackmail precedent because we met half way and resolved it. (Having said that, I feel that the only reason Land Rover stepped up to the plate was because I was forced to kick up this dust – prior to launching this campaign everyone treated me with blasé apathy)

This campaign is now for the greater good of Land Rover owners who have one thing in common: they are frustrated with the lack of communication and care that Land Rover appears to afford them.

I explained to Mike that if he is selling a car with a sophisticated Satellite Navigation system (like the Discovery 3) he can bet that his customers spend a lot of time on-line and that they want to interact with their Brands online. Land Rover UK only receives feedback by post and when I accused Mike of not even reacting to my written feedback – he held up his hands and took the criticism with laudable admission. This made me feel much better. He is guilty of one offence here, he should have initiated this conversation with me 8 weeks ago when he received the postal feedback I sent him concerning my vehicle’s electronic system failure when it was forced off the road for 3 weeks.

I told Mike that I had started to feel like Land Rover’s Agony Aunty: I was being heralded by frustrated Land Rover owners all over the world. He asked me whether I would forward all the emails I had received and I agreed to do this. He honestly wants to hear about these experiences. Perception rules reality – is the reality that Land Rover does care and they just don’t have the processes and systems to cope with a changing customer base that has exploded in recent years? You only have to read this blog to understand the perception that I and many other customers have – I am afraid Land Rover has a chasm to cross.

Mike is going to talk to his colleagues at Land Rover UK and come back to me. By the end of the conversation we tacitly agreed that we could boil our conversation down to a couple of issues:

1) Land Rover UK needs an efficient platform to listen and care for their customers. The reason I am getting 700 hits to www.haveyoursay.com, mostly search engine driven, is because their existing customers want to talk to one of there favourite brands – just like me – they want to be loyal – but they are frustrated 'cause they think nobody listens. They have no way of communicating with Land Rover save through the Royal Mail, and that doesn’t work for them.

2) Mike acknowledged that a little conversation and relationship building could have averted the whole problem – and that should have happened long before this URL started breathing fire

I offered Mike an olive branch: to use the haveyoursay.com platform as a means to communicate with his customers – I agreed to post verbatim any content that Land Rover wished to publish.

Not sure what will happen next, but I do hope that the message isn’t

“Thank you for visiting this site, please write to:
Land Rover UK Customer Relationship Centre, Browns Lane, Allesley, Coventry CV5 9DR"

I still expect and am looking forward to a conversation with Andy Griffiths (the Marketing Director) because I have a series of questions for him and after all this effort I think I deserve some of his time. Of course, all the above assumes that my experience with the Electronics of the car was an isolated case: I hope it was for Land Rover's sake.

I am not around for the rest of the day as I am off to Glyndebourne in my shiny new Discovery 3 – which (by the way) is the best SUV on the road by far! We are all human – even Land Rover and I only reached that conclusion when I got to talk to them yesterday after two and a half months of battle.

Comments

Well done - it's a start...

Posted by: Dennis Howlett | July 13, 2005 at 11:47 AM

This is a great website, we have a 51-reg discovery which has had 2 new engines, ecu light constantly lit up, sat nav cd changed. Current problem is that when one of the problems occured the alarm code was changed and now the car doesn't move and the laptop diagnostics is locked out of the cars system. So a 51-reg discovery unusable. So much for a range rover sport, they are just as useful as any other large company, no longterm loyalty.

Posted by: Vince Fenlon | March 14, 2006 at 09:57 PM

Its great to find other people who love Land Rover and hate Customer Services. My Range Rover 4.0 SE has just had its forth engine in Four years overheat and require another engine. This time my patience has blown along with the engine and I aim to make it my mission in life to have Land Rover listen to its loyal customers rather than igore them. I have been trying to get Mike Mulholland respond to my letters of frustration for two years. Anybody with any advice would be appreciated

Posted by: Mike Pettet | May 07, 2006 at 08:44 PM

If anyone in Australia wants to know some truths about the Freelander Lemons touch base.

I had the Land Rover "heavy handed legal eagles" come after me because I wanted a defect repaired.

They stink, the customer service is non existent and a charming man in CR in Sydney ended up in Court lying about his actions.

WAKE UP LAND ROVER - I am now happy with my Volvo, it NEVER breaks down!

Take the path of least pain - trade it in, cut your losses and buy a real vehicle.

Posted by: Disatisfied Australian Ex Land Rover Driver | May 20, 2006 at 04:25 PM

Extremely Frustrated Freelander Owner (TD5)

I have a TD5 Freelander that has been off the road now for 7 weeks due to the absence of a simple spare part (a bolt)that cannot be sourced from anywhere. It looks like the car will be off the road for at least another 4 weeks whilst they try and source the part!

I'm paying a monthly lease on a vehicle that I cant even drive. I'm a sale rep so I need my car, but landrover dont give a sh*t!! When I spoke to customer care they suggested that I try and call around to the local and UK dealers to source the part..What the!!!

If I want a loan vehicle then I need to pay for it. This is not the first time that the car has been off the road for weeks on end waiting for a part. To anyone who is even contemplating buying a landrover...think again. Stick to Toyota or Nissan, at least they always have the parts in stock and their 3 year old cars dont break down. I have a 1997 Corolla that still goes like a dream and even better, it's cheap to service. I'm lucky to get change out of $1000.00 when I get the freelander serviced!

Landrover...YOU STINK!!

Posted by: Rebecca Cotterill | June 01, 2006 at 07:35 AM

It's a great site,very cool,I like it,thanks.

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Posted by: 虚拟主机 | June 23, 2006 at 08:20 AM

Great site, pity about LR. Much the same as Adrian but in the end sold the discovery when Stratstone made poor offer for exchange of the vehicle. Now an Audi owner again. What a shame our number one car maker treats its customers so badly. Sadly the vehicle now seems to run well after warranty issues. My main gripe is the total lack of care from both LR and Stratstone when dealing with problems , if I treated my customers the same I would be out of business!

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Posted by: Mike Chan | July 31, 2006 at 04:51 AM

I am a Freelander owner. Car is 2.5 years old 2 litre turbo diesel HSE. After covering 19,500 miles the gearbox now has to be replaced as it is broke. Land Rover dealer most unhelpful. Land Rover UK most unhelpful. They are not bothered or interested that the gearbox has gone after such a short time and say that I should be lucky to get a courtesy car as they are hard to come by. Vehicle off road for approximately 3 weeks. Have experienced minor faults over the last 2.5 years. Would not buy another Land Rover.

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