I recently (07/02/06) purchased a used 02 4.4 hse from Stratstone and to today it has gone back 16 times, but nobody at this dealer thinks this is unusual. The standard of aftersales leaves a lot to be desired. My question has anyone else had problems/praise with this company.

Think you need to ask yourself a few questions - 16 times ? How many times do you fall over before you tie your shoelaces !!

I ask myself questions about this car often, trouble is the cars great (probs exepted) but to get things sorted I always have to chuck stuff out of the pram. Im a disabled driver so rely heavily on my car but Stratstone cant get their heads round my requirements.

So what is the problem/s with it ?

You really want to know? My problem with Stratstone is that the lack of communication, the fact that the car was serviced prior to purchase yet i had to return it 3 times with brake probs, culminating in complete replacement of front brakes leaving me without transport for 2 days. They collected my car, a +point but their driver baxked into a van in my road with resultant damage. new washer pipes, new door locks doors failing to open leaving me locked out!, should I go on, ha ha

Tony Allen said:

You really want to know? My problem with Stratstone is that the lack of communication, the fact that the car was serviced prior to purchase yet i had to return it 3 times with brake probs, culminating in complete replacement of front brakes leaving me without transport for 2 days. They collected my car, a +point but their driver baxked into a van in my road with resultant damage. new washer pipes, new door locks doors failing to open leaving me locked out!, should I go on, ha ha

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to be honest it sounds like the dealer is a bit dim, why not take it to a good independent?? i think most LR dealers are ONLY good for ordering parts from and thats only if you have checked around on the net first and not found what you want. my local dealer tried to charge me £60 to synch a new key to my P38 - needless to say i didnt pay and synched it myself with help from rangerovers.net.

Also, again, being brutally honest - did you not read up on these vehicles BEFORE you went ahead and bought one?? I know I did and I knew I wasnt going to be buying the most reliable vehicle in the world, I knew that I would most likely have problems and I knew that I would probably need to repair alot of things and lastly I knew that I probably would be constantly driving around with one or two things that 'still wont work' - niggles basically. Yes, I own a P38 and I have heard that the latest RR has had alot of the old problems solved but still you should always check out every aspect of the vehicle - including reliability & build quality BEFORE you go and buy.

Since I have had my RR I have replaced multiple parts and spent alot of weekends doing repairs etc to get it into a condition that i am happy with. Alot of these repairs and replacements would of cost me the absoulute earth if i had gone to the dealer. As a result i have learnt lots about my vehicle, the way its made, the way it functions and just a general better understanding (plus i have a geeky technical mind so found it great to learn and understand all the electrical stuff in my RR) of the thing. What it comes down to is maybe try and figure a few of these things out yourself and accept that its a Land Rover and probably wont work 100% perfectly 100% of the time (sorry if that offends anyone but, come on, you know its true really ).

if you really really dont want to get into the vehicle and work on it yourself then find a good independent shop who can work on it.

you dont say what type of RR you have. im guessing its the latest generation though as its a 4.4?? did the dealer give you any sort of warranty with the vehicle, did you have a long test drive before you bought?? if they have given a warranty then i would lay into them hard and say you are not happy and that the service you have recieved isnt acceptable and see what they say, of course they may ignore you totally or may bend over backwards to help - i just dont know - i havent ever bought a car from a dealer, only 2nd-hand from private induviduals.

Sorry to go on a bit but your last post just seemed a bit ignorant and harsh to me (especially the bit about the truck driver - who cares what he backed into/destroyed, its his fault and his problem, not yours), i know you may feel liek you have been totally ripped off by the LR dealer but it doesnt sound like you looked into what can be entailed owning such a vehicle, im not saying 16 visits to the dealer for repair is right but maybe you should of checked things out a bit more before buying...

i dont mean to sound horrid or nasty in this post at all and sorry if it upsets anyone, im just typing my mind at this moment <gets back to doing some proper work>

-Wills

to be honest it sounds like the dealer is a bit dim, why not take it to a good independent?? i think most LR dealers are ONLY good for ordering parts from and thats only if you have checked around on the net first and not found what you want. My local dealer tried to charge me &#163;60 to synch a new key to my P38 - needless to say i didnt pay and synched it myself with help from rangerovers.net.

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I have to agree totally. I've only found one LR main dealer who is even remotely close to being half decent. Independents offer far better value, and are (in general) much more knowledgeable. I think you'll find that a lot of the independents are started up by ex-main dealer mechanics (usually the better ones) who have got fed up of working for a crap dealer.

Also, again, being brutally honest - did you not read up on these vehicles BEFORE you went ahead and bought one??

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Wills - whilst broadly agree with your statement, I think this is a little unfair - the guy was buying a 3/4 year old 'current shape' vehicle - one would expect such a modern vehicle to be pretty reliable, and if not to get good service from a main dealer because it is still a current model. People who buy newer vehicles (no offence Tony) generally have enough money not to think about reliability and the cost of repairs, where as us poor folk tend to look properly into what we are buying to make sure that it isn't going to cost us more fixing it than we have!

It seems that the L322 is not quite as much of a jump in reliability over the P38 that has been promised. Apparently front diffs have a habit of falling to pieces on the L322 as well - you would have thought LR would be able to make reliable diffs at least! I've also heard of serious gearbox problems too.

Matt

recently purchased a P38
had a puncture, and a problem tightening the locking wheel nut which was out of shape.
took it to stratstones to check the torque
30seconds of work = &#163;22 +VAT !!!

Thankyou all for your responses which I read with interest and a few laughs. Just to put a few things straight, I always take the time to research ANY car I consider buying. Ive run Monza's *2, Porsche 911, 944S, but with the onset of Multiple Sclerosis I decided some serious changes had to be made, so I decided the Range Rover suited my needs. I liked everything about the RR and to date Im on my 4th variant, 2 Classics, a P38 and now my 4.4 HSE, the best of all. My car has to have lots of room to take my wheelchair, and my Grandsons pushchairs etc.
Now to the point of my original comment. The car I bought is superb and as far as The Inspection from the RAC said "no faults could be found" and as Im no longer able 'to get my hands dirty' much as Id love to.
Having used a main dealer I was hedging my bets that I would get a good buy, plus I have a used car warranty which gives me peace of mind. However the point I wanted to make was that Stratstone, once the sale was made they assumed the the normal garage attitude and I was interested in anybody else who had dealt with Stratstone good/bad.
Another correction to a comment is that Im not loaded, but just like nice cars, and never judge a book by its cover. I have posted a couple of pics of my cars.
Regards Tony

Stratstone..hm ex Strattons...? Had my lotus three times, eventuallty one of their mechanics/ drivers crashed it and wrote it off. Had the car in and out of their so often before that , to be honest I wouldnt let them put a wheel on a dead parrot stil maybe they have changed since then ,, but doesnt sound like it !!

Hi, which branch of Stratstone's are you talking about, if its High Wycombe ( formerly Wooburn Green), I'd have to agree with you, and probably say never let them near your vehicle ever again,and certainly don't buy from them ever again.Rgds.

You guessed, yes it was High Wycombe, though since I started this thread I have been back, (again) and found a very different attitude, infact they were damn good, maybe because I and my daughter had been in and complained to the Principal. I guess it pays to make a fuss. Thanks for your responses, very interesting
regards Tony

I HAVE OWNED LANDYS ALL MY LIFE AND I LOVE THEM BUT LETS FACE IT.
THERE CRAP .
ITS ABOUT TIME SOLIHULL BUILT A VEHICLE THAT DOES NOT BREAK DOWN EVERY FIVE MINS.
At the moment i am driving a p38 dse with 80 k o the clock.
I have spent thousands on it and **** still happens.
Dont get me wrong because i do love it but after nearly 60 years of building 4x4s landrover should realy start to think about reliability and make a car that works.
Hey if the yanks and japs can do it then why cant thosse idle brummies put things on a car first time correctly.
If you think im wrong then thats your misguided opinion because i have owned 9 landrovers and they do breakdown all the time.
The trick is to have 2. ONE IN THE GARAGE BEING REPAIRED AT 100 POUND PER HOUR AND ONE ON THE DRIVE.

baldeagle said:

Hi, which branch of Stratstone's are you talking about, if its High Wycombe ( formerly Wooburn Green), I'd have to agree with you, and probably say never let them near your vehicle ever again,and certainly don't buy from them ever again.Rgds.

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Maybe High Wycombe shares its management team with Solihull.

Does any out there have problem with Stratstone??My Range Rover has had new gear box,new turbo,new parking sensors,new computer on board,new windscreen,ect....Thats just in few months it has gone back to Stratstone over 60 times for so called repair.....H E L P M E P L E A S E...