Useless After Sales Service

[Wessex]

I have just received the worse after sales service I can recall.

I purchased Claire the Cat two weeks ago on a warm sunny Saturday lunch time. The guy was affable enough.
It's a place that I wouldn't have normally bought a car from but this particular XJ8 was in extremely good
condition; no rust, no stone ships on the front. Original windscreen with not stone chips or sand blasting effect
so the car hadn't been driven too fast in it's life time. The price was right and there was a heap of paperwork
to support servicing and repairs. 83,068 on the clock, the car had only done 6,000 over the last 4 years and had been owned by
an old gentleman.

So, the price being in my budget I bought it. Got it home and then later that evening realised that the heater didn't work.
Also when I test drove it one of my requests to have fixed was the non functioning radio. Now it worked but the climate
control panel was flapping about. I stripped the centre reservation down to find that the fixing lugs on the radio were
partially snapped and the ones on the climate control had snapped off. Also the cassette shield was permanently
lying down. Also the J selector plastic surround holding the wooden "ski slope" in place had split.

I sourced these on eBay, I can't speak highly enough of Jay from East Coast Car Parts. When the radio and climate
control panel arrived I first of all wired up the radio and ......nothing. The radio would tune but no sound.
A little worried I sent hime a message and almost immediately he replied asking was my sound system
the standard or premium one. Told me where the switch was to change to premium and suddenly Taylor Swift
filled the car. Anyway, once I had fitted the new climate control panel the fitting of the radio is dead fiddly.
I can see why the clumsy ha'peth had snapped the lugs. The plastic must become brittle and he just rammed the set back into place.

So when I told him of the heater problem he said bring it in we have the water heater pump to fit but first of
all give it a tap with the handle of the screwdriver as they sometimes stick. This made no difference so I arranged
to take it in today. The mouthy guy who sold me the car drove me into Melksham, a 5 minute drive,
and said it should be done in an hour or so and they would pick me up. I said don't bother just ring and we'll
get a taxi back. So after 2 hours and no call we got a taxi and arrived back at the garage. The garage owner, not the mouthy guy,
told me they had replaced a couple of fuses and managed to get the heat up to 80 degrees at the vents but on ticker over the temp fell off.

I asked if he had changed the heat pump and he shuffled about a bit from one foot to the other. He hadn't. He said go for a drive
and let them know if it was better, It was cold. With the temp control on high it was cold. It was at this time that I started to notice oily hand prints over the door and wings, on the roof and Oil on the passenger seat. An oily hand print on the dash top.

I pointed these out and began to wish I hadn't come back but to have booked it into a proper garage not this excuse for one.

I also had mentioned the gearbox fault and they said they would read the codes. They hadn't so I insisted they
did so and it apparently was down to a communication problem between the selector and CAN BUS or ECU.

Then, I got hold of the MoT that they said they would post and didn't. Four Advisories. Slight corroded front brake pipe
(apparently clean under the muck), Top suspension bushes wearing and the rear tyres were perished. They knew these problems
but failed to tell me before I purchased the vehicle. I know I should have asked for the MoT on the day but in
the excitement of getting behind the wheel of a Jag at last I forgot. Lesson learnt and passed on (if you are still following).

Drove back to Ferndown and had four new tyres fitted vowing never to go back to them cowboys again.

No names, no pack drill but I will not Bower myself to go over the Hill there again.

[Old Peter]

Hi Peter,

 

Last Saturday, I went with my son to look for a suitable car, as his 15 year old Skoda is suffering from age, and he needs a new one.

 

We went to quite a few car dealers and it soon became apparent that there were quite a few cowboys around.  The information  given on cars seems to omit certain things:

 

Fitted with Climate control [they often get to add that is doesn't work]

Recently serviced - usually means in the last 12 months.

etc

 

 But the best one we came across was a charge of £399 for their mechanic to check the car for any faults before sale!

 

Still, you have got a great car and I guess you will solve the problems yourself!

 

Peter.

[SteveSheldon]

I am sorry to hear you have had so many problems with your XJ8 :-( but once you manage to get on top of those initial issues you should have a fantastic car - just watch out for the tensioners, water pump etc that can go on these OK?

 

My first XJ8 came from a place I would never normally go to, was 'sold as seen' and overheated fatally four months later.. but that car is what converted my family to Jaguar and we currently have another XJ8 (same year), and an X-Type!

 

I have yet to find another car that I love the look of so much, has the capacity to take my wife, my 2 children and me on holiday with three normal size suitcases, plenty of legroom for the children, that runs quietly (understated), is super smooth on the motorway and cost less to buy than you would ever expect. Every problem is worth it to me for the feeling of chilled out relaxation the moment I sit in the drivers seat..

 

All the best

Steve

 

And for that I forgive the dodgy geezer that sold me my first Jag :-)

[O.T.H]

Well said Steve :rolleyes: Thats the best after sales service i've heard in a long time. :D :D

 

Frank

[SteveSheldon]

LOL - weird but true! Without that first XJ8 that overheated we would never have become Jaguar fans, or to be honest even considered that a Jag could be within reach financially.. In fact buying it was a complete gamble - but as soon as we got in it it was soooo gorgeous we were hooked :-) I remember it was approx £500, and we found a whole stackload of issues with it over the next few months, but despite that it had character - something missing in all the Vectras, Omegas, Focuses we had had to-date lol Unfortunately it burst a water pipe and overheated, but we had already been bitten by the bug :-) My wife is an accountant, and she was the one who pushed for us to replace the XJ8 with another one (in better condition but same year) because the prices have bottomed out, unlike some of the new style XJ's that as she pointed out are losing almost as much in value per year as our XJ8 cost to buy!