Not sure if anyone has had this experience or not, but last year my annual complimentary service needed to be performed 30 days before or after May 21st (My original factory warranty and free maintenance expired April 29, 2020). At that time the dealership was being remodeled so appointments were for emergencies and safety issues only (which performing annual service was included). I confirmed that the service would be free and that next years would be as well; however, they referred me to someone else to set up the appointment. When I went to do that I was told their "system was down" and they would call me back. I began calling again the next business day and throughout the next week; although I was only able to leave voicemails and received no calls back. Finally I called and asked to speak to the General Manager which of course grabbed their attention and they asked me what it pertained to and then routed me to the Volvo service manager who asked what the problem was. I explained that I could not locate my little orphan annie decoder ring to crack the code for getting an oil change appointment. He did got me in touch with someone to make an appointment; however, the soonest they had was June 15th which is when I took the car in. This year, anticipating not being able to drive due to surgery I called ahead and asked for the earliest appointment within the 30 day before/after window and was told May 29th (My new window way May 15th to July 15th) so I scheduled the service and was promptly charged for the oil change. I questioned it and was told that I would have had to bring it in by April 29th which was now outside my annual window. I inquired again and was told to call Jag USA. I took the car home and left 3 messages because their line was full and didn't get a response so I called again and waited 2 hours to talk to someone who was going to contact the dealer. Of course none of that happened and three phone calls and 2 weeks later I hear that the dealer cant be reached and warranty may not reimburse me. I get that the maintenance ended on April 29th, but I was unable to bring it in the previous year on-time because of an issue with the dealers service department, not a lack of effort. I'm not going lose sleep over $125, but every indication was given that it would be covered and the level of service and response from Jag and the dealer is pretty terrible. I didn't expect much from the dealer as I have had numerous interactions with them on several cars/models and literally all were negative (the owner has a number of local auto dealerships), but I would have expected to feel like someone from Jag USA would care a little, but apparently that was a bad assumption. For context, I worked in various areas of the auto industry for 14 years including sales, finance, and service as well as handling customer buybacks, goodwill repairs etc. I get it, some dealers are awesome, others shouldn't have a franchise, but the customer service is well below average based on past experience and I don't think a meeting of majority stock holders needs to be had to cover the cost of an oil change in this instance. Again, the oil change cost relative to the cost of the car and all the ridiculous aftermarket parts I have purchased is immaterial, it's just the principle of the whole thing......now I sound like my Dad - dammit.

 

There's no real way to look at the "service window" nonsense Jag has cooked up other than a way to overpromise and underdeliver. The complimentary services are clearly definable monetary value baked into a jaguar purchase; the idea that this value can be withheld if you dare drive you car more or less frequently than the accountants project is ridiculous. Or in your case, extraneous circumstances.

As long as it's in the warranty period, I should be able to schedule all my complimentary services on the same day if it made me happy. Feel your pain dude.

 

I just took my 2017 XJL in for it's "service" today. I purchased a CPO at the end of September of 2019 with 4,300 miles. I don't drive that much and it just hit 9,900 miles with the service light coming on. Apparently, the car entered service in February of 2017, so the dealership won't cover the cost of the service until February 2021. I had the car in for another issue in late January of 2020 and at that time the dealership never mentioned anything about having the complimentary service done, although they had the car for 2 weeks and if definitely fell into that particular service window. So now, I'm having them only do an oil change, which I have to pay for and will have to wait for the actual service until February, at which time the dealership will be doing another oil change. Of course, the car will only have about 3,000 more miles on it by that time. Very disappointed in Jaguar right now. Apparently, they changed their policy regarding complimentary service recently without any fanfare.

 

Amazing, my yearly mileage is like 1200-1800, so that’s never an issue and the car is cleaner than he ones they keep on the showroom, but I’m sure the world will end if I don’t get oil changed in the provided timeframe.

also-interesting and equally ridiculous, I got an estimate for next years service when the car will have about 16k miles - it’s $1600 and includes all the 96,000 mile items. If that isn’t bad enough, the service includes (And charges for) checking for open recalls and rotating my tires. Tires are staggered and why the &@$# would they not check for tsb/recalls every time, especially when it’s under warranty - that’s free money! Perhaps I’m cynical from my years working with cars and dealers etc, but some of this stuff is borderline insulting, also, I hate the argument of “these cars are expensive so we should get better service” but at a certain point, if you want to fashion yourself as a premium brand and charge a premium for everything, you might want to deliver service that is commensurate with the so-called “elite care”.

 

My 2015 F-Type is out of the warranty period next month. I've only got 13,000 miles on it, and no issues, so I'm not bothering to take that one in to the dealership. Now I can start to tinker with it. I work in the automotive industry as well and constantly scratch my head at some of the decisions Jaguar (and to be fair, others) make from time to time. And why they would even mention tire rotation on an F-Type is comical, to say the least!

 

Once out of warranty, I never take a car to the dealer unless it requires,"Dealer only service(my XK8 had to go in for specific repairs). I always have a local mech that I trust who can do work as god, at a less cost.

 

I bought mine at 20 months old and in Oz Jags come with only three years warranty (or at least mine did, not sure about what it is now).
So I had the two year and three year services done at two different Jag qualified independent workshops, both at half the cost the local JLR dealership would have charged, purely to preserve the warranty otherwise I would have done them myself. Since then, coming up on three years ago, the car has never been to a mechanic of any type and I have done all the servicing and maintenance myself at a tiny fraction of what the JLR dealership would have charged, and I know it was "done right".
I have explained before that my local JLR dealership has a monopoly and the next closest is 700 km away so they charge like a wounded bull, their attitude is very condescending and the service quality is crap. So I have used them once and once only, for a warranty repair (the common SC torsion isolator / couple rattle) and even then they misdiagnosed it and cost me time and money taking the car back in again and again, and I will never go near them again.

 

I have no issue using the dealer for annual oil changes, but I will likely do belts and plugs well in advance with my independent. And again, everyone is free to service where they want, but I’m sick of getting Jaguar propaganda about special engagements and their use of the words premium and elite when they can’t even exercise a minimal amount of respect and courtesy towards customers. As far as my actual dealer (Tom Wood of Indianapolis) - they are easily the worst organization I have ever dealt with. I own numerous autos, all of which are sold by his network of dealers and none of them were purchased there. I’ve tried numerous times and they demonstrated virtually every unsavory and stereotypical car salesman/dealer behavior. Condescending and insulting are where they begin and arrogance and dishonesty is where they finish.

 

That is jaguar dealerships for you most all the same . I was once tempted to welding their gates shut , dont tell

 

My understanding of the free maintenance was that the first for annual services needed to be performed within 30 ddays of the warranty date (60 day window). The final free service needs to be performed within 30 days prior to the expiration of the warranty. Worked well for me.

 

Sounds about right; however, the dealers remodeling delayed service #3 which meant service #4 was on me, not the factory and the subsequent customer service has been consistent with the JD power ratings for initial quality. Glad it worked perfectly for you, I have not enjoyed the same seamless results.

 

I was fixated on getting the free service and put reminders on my calendar for all 5 annuals. I figured they’d be hard asses about it.

 

Funny, because I still have the reminders in my phone to. Kept a detailed timeline and passed it along to the corporate folks who conducted zero follow up and then mischaracterized the situation to the dealer and then back to me; proving that they don’t give a crap.

 

Jag dealers are some of the worst I've ever dealt with, not nearly as bad as Corporate though, This paid service thing confuses me since my dealer can never give me a straight answer, an another note one time they told me they would void my warranty if I went to an indy since I really don't like the 15k mile oil interval period but didn't want to a south florida jag dealer price, which is hundreds of dollars, I think they wanted 350 something. I will say though my advisor isn't bad and does get lots of stuff changed under warranty for me. but yes jag needs to step up customer relation's big time.

 

Jaguar advertise the heck out of it:

JAGUAR ELITECARE

With Jaguar EliteCare, you’ll enjoy Best-In-Class, 5-year/60,000-mile coverage*, complimentary scheduled maintenance and roadside assistance, plus Jaguar InControl® Remote & Protect™ that lets you stay connected to your vehicle. Together, these features ensure both you and your Jaguar vehicle are looked after 24/7, 365 days a year — letting you focus on something more important: driving and enjoying your Jaguar vehicle.

My C7 Vette had 5 complementary oil changes within 24 months. You can bring it in anytime within the 2 yr period.
My BMW has same complimentary annual service, or 10K miles, for 4 yrs.

Jaguar should just kept it simple, with all their logging technology today , just let us bring it in any time up to 5 times within the 5 year period. Simple. No need to keep track of the 30 day window around purchase date. How hard is that?

 

LOL, that's not even legal. Did he say it with a straight face?

This is the absolute best idea in the world.

To the OP, I understand the frustration of being pushed outside of your window that was no fault of your own making.

 

I sadly have a very similar story and left feeling pretty much the same: everyone involved was incapable of caring, both the dealership and corporate. Seems shortsighted that they would be willing to squander an enormous amount of goodwill for so little

 

Exactly my point - I have purchased my last 4 cars from well outside my area simply because I would rather not deal with this particular group of franchises and while not financially significant, this experience doesn't enhance "brand loyalty". Quick anecdote: my "local" dealer hen I lived in Florida was actually in Mobile Alabama - I bought 4 cars from them and they were amazing (multiple models from various brands) - when I moved to Indy I had a wear issue on the inside door handles (material peeled easily; known issue and fixed once previously under warranty) - Indy dealer said they would not cover it so I asked them to call the dealer in Mobile whole promptly told them to fix the handles on all four doors regardless of condition and bill them. Ridiculously good experience and that's not the only example from them.

 

Yeah, not all Jaguar dealers are created equal. I've had some always offer a loaner during service, while others say they don't provide loaners at all. During sales, some are much more accommodating than others to the point of the take it or leave it attitude. I've dealt with dealerships in Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Florida, and Texas. The worst to me was the Dallas Fort Worth, and the best was in Charlotte. That is why I bought 2 of my 4 Jaguars from the Charlotte dealership, both times while living in another state. Always a pleasure to deal with.