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After I sold my BMW, I said I will never buy another make that does not have a service here. One day while in Honolulu I ventured into the Land Rover dealership and they told me they outsource the service on the neighboring islands (Big Island Honda/Mercedes in Kona) and one of their technicians goes to the nighbor islands every two months to service the Land Rovers. Since I alway wanted a Land Rover, I bought one. Low and behold, they stopped doing the service on the neighbor islands about a year later! To make things even worst, they just had a Safety Recall because of a faulty break switch and they said I will have to ship my Freelander to Honolulu! I thought it was ridiculous, so I contacted Land Rover USA in New Jersey. Guess what?! They said the same thing! The part cost $50 and it takes 15 minutes to replace it. I told them just send me the part and I will have it done here and I will pay for the repair, but they said NO! If I want the repair done I have to ship the car to Honolulu! Are the communists taking over here?! This is ridiculous! A friendly warning: don't even think about buying a Land Rover here! (Or, based on this experience, maybe anywhere!) Apparently, they produced a car with a junk crap part and they don't even stand behind their product!
Aloha,
John S. Rabi, ABR,CM,CRB,FHS,RB
http://www.JohnRabi.com
Typically Tropical Properties
"The Next Level of Service!"
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What a bunch of @*#%#$#! I hope my Lovely Lotus doesn't run into the same problems with her Saturn...
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Sorry to hear about your experience. Every Land Rover owner I have ever known has been crazy in love with the feel, drivability, and off-road performance. They have also invariably described horrific problems with mechanical reliability, cost of parts and labor, and customer service that makes the Soviet Union look like a consumer paradise. Consumer Reports does not like them, and Ford is trying very hard to sell the whole operation, but running into EU regulations that may require them to fund a really big pension liability unless they can con the new owners into taking it on. (Like Ford didn't have enough problems, they had to buy Land Rover.)
Bear and I have spent a lot of time in the UK, and it's not uncommon for farmers to have three Land Rovers of the exact same model . . . one that runs (most of the time) and two others cannibalized for parts. We encountered one guy on Dartmoor who had four! He told us it was cheaper to buy a junker than to get major parts new. In areas where environmental regs don't allow junkers to be kept, people have come up with clever ways to camouflage their dead Land Rovers such as covering them with tarps and then putting a haystack on top.
My advice is sell it if you can. Things will only get worse as it ages, and you probably won't be able to find any appropriate junkers around here.
Sympathetic cheers,
Jerry
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John, imagine you're at a swinging door, you're pushing it to get in while at the same time someone on the other side is pushing to get out.
Land Rover is hearing RECALL REPAIR. Yes, they can't give you the part for you to conduct your own safety recall repair. They must do it for you. So call the parts dept in Honolulu, don't say anything about the recall, and just order the part like any other part. You mention RECALL, they are thinking all the federal rules surrounding it. You will be listed as not responding to the recall, and subject to the recall's sunset clause, but what the heck so long as its fixed.
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My plumber (who is fantastic!) told me during one of his colorful rants that I should never buy a vehicle that does not have an associated dealership/service department on island. That list is actually pretty small, I think. Guess he was right. That's outrageous though.
And no, we are not living in a communist country. We are living in something equally as frightening from the consumer standpoint: a country in which customer service has been outsourced, chased up a phonetree and left for dead.
Edited by - glen on 11/08/2007 14:13:54
oh man, I'm so sorry John.
hey, I own a Honda, you would think I have it made, but a year ago it took them six weeks to repair my A/C. At least I didn't have to ship my car.
Sell your repaired Land Rover to a newbie!
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Aloha! Welcome to Hawaii- here buy a lemon. Great way to spread aloha NOT. This is an island and reputation spreads fast. Great way for John to ruin his Real Estate business.
quote:
Sell your repaired Land Rover to a newbie!
Edited by - Andrew on 11/08/2007 14:09:14
___________________________
Chinese curse "May you live in interesting times".
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Well, I think he should just park it at the entrance to Mauna Lani with a "For Sale" sign on it.
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Somehow I think you are missing the spirit of Punaweb. I don't think this site has ever been about sticking it to someone (regardless of their financial situation be it wealthy or not).
quote:
Well, I think he should just park it at the entrance to Mauna Lani with a "For Sale" sign on it.
___________________________
Chinese curse "May you live in interesting times".
goodness, Andrew, respectfully, might you consider lightening up and not acting like we're plotting a scam here?
besides which--
a car repaired under a recall is not a lemon.
My Honda hybrid had a recall, which was fixed, and then it was fine. Recalls are not uncommon. A lemon is that rare car that was made so poorly it can't be fixed.
If John decides to sell his car and buy one with an on-island dealership, as a result of his experiences, that is not unethical.
Plenty of people, not even in Hawai`i, buy specialty cars because they love them, then find them too high maintenance -- selling them to someone who loves the ride, who can either afford the maintenance or is still in the phase the first person was when buying the car. Aloha or not aloha has nothing to do with it.
As with real estate -- you honestly disclose any known defects, and leave it to the buyer to make a decision.
Edited by - KathyH on 11/08/2007 14:44:26
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