[seenno]

Background
==========
I placed my Velar order in March and paid £1000 deposit on 26th March (my birthday and a dream Velar as my yet-to-come-present). I reached out to the dealer a couple of times to make sure they've got my order right, along with some reminder emails and couple of visits. I picked up my Velar on 10th of August. Getting home same day (i was last customer attended to by the day/evening), I realized that something not quite right with my +£52k D180 Velar.

I happened to have sent dealer a reminder email on 20th May specifically highlighting that they make sure I get the "Light Oyster Perforated Grained Leather and Ebony Suedecloth". On delivery I got the black/dark gray perforated TRIM.

I drove back first thing in the morning the next day/Friday 11th August 2017 and shared all the emails and pictures, the dealer apologized, and confirmed that the omission is obvious and stated that I will more than likely keep the VELAR and they'll re-order my spec, (i asked specifically if that was the "process" and he said, usually "YES") but will however confirm/get official words from his higher-ups (while also confirming he's not sure if the error/omission was theirs or JLR). Final words was he'll provide me updates on Monday - 14th August.

NOTE: On the pickup date (10th August), I pushed and pushed (pleaded might be a better word), for Service Plan to be added as a "Goodwill/add-on", and I got a complete NO/Never, and not possible (besides the GUARDX + boot mat).

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NOTE: YYYY is "Myself", while XXX is the "Dealer"
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On 20 May 2017,, <XXXXX> wrote:
Hi YYYYYY,
Nice speaking to you.
I have attached your revised order as discussed.
Please sign and scan back to me.

Regards

XXXXXXX
Sales Specialist
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
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From: YYYYYYYY.co.uk]
Sent: 20 May 2017
To: XXXXXXXX
Subject: Re: YOUR LATEST VELAR

Hello XXXXXXX,

Please kindly confirm that the below is the seat choice (which comes as standard) - was included

"Light Oyster Perforated Grained Leather and Ebony Suedecloth" and "No Derivative and/or Engine Badge" and "Fixed Rear Recovery Eye" and "Summer Tyres"

I added the above 3 "standard" options on the below configuration

http://buildyour.landrover.com/lr2/r/summary/_/en_gb/l560_k18/3gh3g/a-2td4_a-l560_sp1/n-030ib_n-032ja-088hh_n-033yh-ni-eb_n-041cx_n-041hc_n-185aa_n-1af and also attached the pdf.

Thanks
==============================================================

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: XXXXXXX.co.uk>
Date: Monday, 22 May 2017
To: <YYYYYYY>
Subject: RE: YOUR LATEST VELAR

Hi YYYY,
It is the seats that come as standard.

Regards
XXXX
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LATEST email today / was a bit shocking
=====================================
==========================================================================
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From: XXXXXX>
Date: Monday, 14 August 2017
To: YYYYYY
Subject: RE: Re- YOUR LATEST VELAR -

Good afternoon YYYYY,

I hope you are enjoying the new Range Rover Velar?
I have spoken with <<higher_up/Manager>> & the 2 suggestions we have are as below.

Option 1 - If you are happy to stay in the Velar you currently have we will provide you with a Land Rover Service plan by way of apology from <dealers_Name>.
Option 2 - You can return the Velar and we will re order your car with the light interior. We will give you back your BMW until the vehicle arrives. This is likely to be around 3 months.

I am not in the business for the next 3 days, but do have some access to my emails.
Look forward to hearing from you.

Regards

XXXXXXX
Sales Specialist
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
==============================================================

I'm totally disappointed with the dealer and considering my options here ):-

 

[KRG]

Ugh, that's my nightmare. If my car shows up wrong I'll be so mad.

Didn't you get a copy of the order when you place it though? My dealer gave me a printout of my full spec once it was ordered.

Only you know how important the interior color is to you. If you like the black, keep it, enjoy it, and take the free service add on. If you absolutely love the oyster, re-order the car. I'm afraid both options are a compromise; but try to make the best of it.

 

[Arianne]

Hello Seenno,

I really feel for you. I suspect we all do on this forum.

Sadly, these things happen. I have read about it on the F-Pace forum and I have spoken with a Sales Rep who admitted causing it himself at one time.

Amongst the options I have read are those you have been offered and also that of dealers swapping the seats from one car to another! I wouldn't recommend that!

Firstly, try and stay calm. Secondly, stop communicating by email....

.... email is great when creating an audit trail evidencing agreements or suchlike. Email is hopeless at this stage in the process - i.e. trying to explore options and brokering a deal. Tempting as it is to use email you should either use the telephone or, better still, make an appointment to see the Sales Manager.

Email has served you well thus far. It has created the audit trail by which your dealer has admitted error. But now is the time to turn up at the dealership - nice and calm, focused and clear headed about what you want as a satisfactory outcome. And you need to speak to the Sales Manager and not the Sales Specialist (that's a contradiction in terms, don't you think in the circumstances?). It's the Sales Manager that has the delegated authority to make you offers in compensation. Since your Sales 'Specialist' has just taken leave you have the ideal opportunity to skip up the chain of command.

Don't let them tempt you into explaining everything on the telephone if you are asking for a meeting. That phone call is simply to secure the time for an early meeting and to signal its purpose - to work together to identify some options and then choose the one that works best for you and the dealership. Collaborative! And then stop! Otherwise you will have stolen your own thunder before you ever get to the meeting. Leave them hanging.

Next, you need clarity about what you want as an outcome. As the previous poster said, this is a personal choice. But, if I am spending £52k it's got to be right. If you accept the Service Pack then you will still be left staring at that dark, boring ebony interior for years to come - long after the value of the Service Pack has left your mind. If it was me, I would hold out for the right car specification. And I would want some compensation.

Fourthly, people will tell you about the Walt Disney fairy tale offers and compensation they receive when things go wrong. A few might well experience such miracles but the rest of us mere mortals need to be a little more realistic about what is possible. Here's what I would pitch for...

a) I would like to continue driving the Velar, or a similar quality demonstrator. My bottom line, must have position, is to be driving my old BMW but that the part-ex value is unchanged and that I am not liable for any upcoming service costs or replacement tyres etc. In other words, other than fuel, insurance and road tax, using my BMW represents depreciation-free motoring for me. Preferably a demonstrator or the Velar, but the BMW on these terms as a final fall-back position. Any of these options have value to you and help with the feeling of fairness and compensation.

b) Having agreed element (a), it's time to agree the new order for the replacement Velar. If it takes longer than three months to arrive then it's not the end of the world - you have low cost motoring. And the dealer is incentivised to expedite matters because (a) is costing them money each month.

(c) Your dealer needs to include the Service Pack as part of the whole deal. They have clearly already shown that they have the will to throw in the Pack from their earlier offer. My dealer has done so (albeit they are sharing the cost with JLR who are partly responsible for the reason we rejected our earlier F-Pace). So it can be done and it's not unreasonable.

The deal is the whole deal. All three elements need to be in place. No cherry picking by the dealer. If they behave with integrity and do the right thing then you tell them you will reciprocate. Tell them it's their opportunity to truly demonstrate that they really mean it when they say that their values are about customer service excellence. And how you will tell people how true they have been to their values, how it's a rare commodity these days in business but they have set the lead in putting things right when things go wrong - as they do from time to time.

If you really want to be ambitious - why not ask them for a discount on their finance APR if you're using their finance or PCP plan. That 6.9% JLR finance rate is flexible, especially in your circumstances and if you have a good credit rating. The dealer can take a hit on their commission in exchange for lowering the APR with the lender, Black Horse Finance.

Believe me, making the appointment and then discussing this with the Sales Manager is the best way of getting a good deal. And take someone with you - either your partner or grown up son / daughter. It helps, even if they stay silent throughout.

Oh, and of course, mention that you are an active member of this forum (& the sister forum for Jaguar F-Pace) and people are reading, watching and waiting to see what your dealer does. Tell them how many views your thread has already received and even offer to provide them with a hyperlink if they would like to read it themselves!

Finally, you need to know what your bottom line is. At what point will you throw in the towel and walk away from the whole thing. On this count you're not in a strong position. I suspect your dealer will be able to resell your Velar without taking much of a hit because they're in demand at the moment with a looong lead time. Clearly, they have this option in mind as they don't want you racking up the miles in it as per their earlier offer. If they don't care about their reputation then your decision to walk away might save them a few pennies. Shame that. But you need to feign that, if all else fails, you might press the nuclear option and throw your toys out of the pram - even if you never seriously do it - and then 'lose it' on the forum with a 'name and shame'. By the way, for the moment it's best not to disclose the dealer's details as the power currently rests with you not actually deploying it, just the threat that you might!

And when you have secured the deal verbally with the Sales Manager at the meeting, it's back to email to confirm what you have agreed. Yes, later that day, ping him / her an email as confirmation of the deal and thanking them for making good of a dreadful situation.

I wish you well. Not great but have some fun feigning how cut to the heart you are, how awful your partner feels - even the dog is disappointed (last point about the dog, just joking). Deploy the Mad Uncle in The Attic routine - "I want to strike a deal but my partner is devastated, has given me a hard time for screwing this up with the dealer and is not renowned for his/her empathy and patience. You really wouldn't want to deal direct with them which is why it's better we strike a deal between us!").

If you get a decent deal you will feel better. A fair deal in your head. And this time, demand a copy of the Vista print out as that's the best evidence of what the dealer has entered on the computer system with JLR. It's not an easy document to four-eyes check but make sure you do it.

Best wishes.

Arianne

PS. Somehow, all of the foregoing helped me broker a deal with my dealer and JLR Customer Services that has included a loan car, £500 compensation for the higher VED and the Service Pack too. My dealer has been fabulous as has JLR - they just needed a bit of encouragement to get to the right place, as is ever the case. Cool, focused and reasoned discussion mindful that they are running a business too and so a fair deal cuts both ways. Once the deal was done, they have been true to their word. So somewhere, deep down at heart, JLR clearly does try to rectify errors properly. Let's hope the culture of your dealer is similar to mine.

 

[Yip-man]

^that is some excellent and clearly written advice, and the best plan. I totallly agree speaking with the sales manager is the best route.

This also gets you a relationship with him or her for any future dealings you may have. I had problem with first evoque, after someone reversed into our car and we gave it to main dealer to fix ( they used a coachworks company to do body work repairs) picked car up directly from coach works with overspray on black plastic and got told what do you expect us to get it right the first time. My answer was YES

Spoke to sales manager and got everything sorted in long run. But story is actually having a relationship with sales manager and ended up with a little deal on new Velar (3 years later) as this issue we had started the relationship.

So as above would highlighy recommend the route of the above post. Should get you what you really want and possibly more in the future

 

[seenno]

Arianne & Yip-man

Your advice, response and feedback is truly worth the OSCAR's. I couldn't have asked for more than what you've written... wow, it was very detailed and thorough. Negotiation is still ongoing with the dealer and I honestly must say that they've been 'professional' and "caring" about the issue, while also being tough on how-much-they could/couldn't do.

@Arainne - I looked up your car challenge on the FPACE forum and found your details very interesting and referred to the similar 'due-care' you were provided by dealer and JLR; and got the not-so-surprising response 'my case is dealer specific and has nothing to do with JLR'... of which I admired their honesty in accepting that they caused it themselves.

I also popped over today and spent some good long while speaking with the Sales Manager who was calm and humbly raised his hands up admitting their omission for the order. Goodnews is that a new Order has been (will be) placed, and the earliest I could get a replacement D180 will be 9 weeks [no Velar replacement for me... a firm affirmative and big NO NO NO, we can't give you a demo velar...else I'll have to pay my two monthly rates {before my replacement comes}.....

The only yet-to-be-agreed negotiation [{currently ongoing}] left to be finalised is around ([A:] take my old bmw {not feeling up to it though} vs [B:] My insisting they give me a demonstrator car [which they're claiming they've got non to give out for 9 weeks]).

Couple of point you mentioned, I thought i could flesh out a little more: i'm buying outright (HP) and already committed a good percentage £££ towards it (including part-ex cost), and I'm still loving the Velar 100% and will not change a thing about the smooth/quiet drive. Interestingly, the dealer pushed all he could to get me into the option of "swapping the seats from one VELAR to another" - which i firmly declined (too early to have my current Velar be that guinea pig ride for electrical/electronic instability, and being unable to convince myself that my car is NOT a retrofit...etc). Thanks to this forum and the fpace+RRS forums that has provided some good/great insight on some of the repetitive niggling issues that sometimes hits/hunts JLR cars/brands.

Hopefully we'll agree on one of the above two options, while I've got 48 hours to return my VELAR - which is up for grabs - if it perhaps it interests anyone...see link below:
http://buildyour.landrover.com/lr2/r/summary/_/en_gb/l560_k18/3gh3g/a-2td4_a-l560_sp1/n-030ib_n-032ja-088hh_n-033yh-ni-eb_n-041cx_n-041hc_n-185aa_n-1af

The Velar is certainly a must have/own and the head spinning it gets in my locality and neighbouhood is surely raising it's bars and giving me more conviction why I should patiently hold off on getting the right spec (as the joy of the ride starts in the heads before hitting the hearts). I've found this forum truly helpful, as it has helped me transition from being a passionate BMW fan to a JLR (perhaps for longer) fan... the VELAR made this possible.

I'll share some updates once we both hit the 'resolved' button.

 

[Arianne]

Glad we could help. Sounds like your dealer is being reasonable. It also sounds true that, if the dealer bungled the order, JLR UK has no jurisdiction other than possible nudging because of brand reputation. But ultimately it will be the dealer that decides.

I hope it works out for you. A long term positive relationship with the dealer is worth its weight in gold.

Have a good day.

Arianne

 

[VelarMan]

Good advice Arianne - thanks for sharing your learnings. Agree a good relationship with a dealer is the best thing one can do to enjoy a car

 

[velofixed]

Personal preference but I think black interior with Firenze red is a sweet combo and won't be too dark as you have Pano roof anyway. So if it were me I'd be inclined to keep it and milk as good a deal you can off them as compensation (service, wheel coverage etc )

 

[Little Lofty]

I was slightly nervous about choosing Oyster/black with Firenze but I love it, I'm pleased I don't go for black so I can see why your annoyed, hope you get a decent outcome. Firenze looks great with the black pack btw