I had my first experience of Jaguar service (and warranty) today, and I must say that I was very pleased with both the experience and the outcome.

Over the last few weeks, I had noticed a buzzing noise behind my right ear, that almost seemed to be emanating from where the seatbelt retracts into the door trim (remember, we're right hand drive here, guys). Sitting in the passenger seat, though, it seemed to be more centrally located around the speaker behind the seat.

I was concerned, after reading all the Meridian complaints, that perhaps it was a speaker problem. However, the buzz was there even with the sound system turned off, and it happened on rough road, and also became more prevalent for no obvious reason around 60-70 kmh, so it pointed to something loose, exaggerated by a body harmonic at speed.

I dropped in to Service unannounced two days ago and explained the problem. The young lady at the front desk couldn't have been more helpful. She immediately got one of the mechanics to go for a drive with me and he quickly confirmed there was an issue.

They booked the car in for this morning, and asked if I could leave it for 2 hours, which I did.

When I dropped it off today, she also told me (take note here if you have any creak or rattle just behind you) that their service computer had automatically added a Jaguar Service Action, to fix a known problem with a creaking parcel shelf.

They fixed the parcel shelf issue, and then worked to resolve the buzzing noise I reported. It took a couple of hours longer than they expected, but they rang me to be sure it wouldn't inconvenience me to keep it longer, which was fine.

Now, the resolution to my buzzing noise... This MIGHT be of benefit to those complaining of speaker vibration. Apparently, there are two "control units" (they didn't tell me exactly what they're for) mounted behind the speaker behind the seat. They removed, then refitted the control units, ensuring they were seated securely. Voila! Noise gone!

There was a bit more to this service visit story worth relating. I posted another thread earlier this week about a chrome chip, and in one of the responses, Foosh mentioned Jag sell a touch up kit. I had a couple of tiny stone chips right on the edge of the drivers door frame, so thought I should get one, and ordered it Wednesday on my first visit. They advised it would be there today for me to collect after the warranty repair. Unfortunately, it had not been dispatched from their warehouse. I mentioned to the young lady that this was disappointing, as I'm going to a Cars and Coffee meet on Sunday. Rather than simply just apologising (which she did) and leaving it at that, she said, "can you give me a couple of minutes?", then jumped on the phone, spoke to a body shop they regularly deal with (which ironically was just 100 meters from my office), and said, if I take it straight in, they'll do it immediately.

Not only did the shop do the touch ups, they also gave me a little pot of Stratus Grey paint, AND polished out the chip in the grille chrome. They said there was no charge, and that they regularly do this sort of touch up job for my Jag dealer and that I can bring it in any time for anything similar and they'll deal with that for free too.

Now, I've read many complaints about dealers and Jag customer service on this forum, but this was everything you'd expect from a premium brand and then some. Perhaps some of the U.S. dealers should be sent over here on a study tour!

I made a point of emailing the dealer principal late this afternoon, thanking him for the attention of his excellent team, and especially the young lady on the front service desk who owned the problems from start to finish.

 

Thanks Oz, a very nice story of all the little things that make a difference in producing a stellar customer service experience.

My one and only visit for an between annual service oil change was quite good. It's only fair to report the good with the bad, but it's too often only the latter that is dominant on car forums.

 

Now that's simply superb, a really nice story to put out there for all to see some of the positives that are out there, unfortunately we just don't generally hear about them as much as we do the negatives.


So pleased for you and really cool that you took the time to email the dealer principle to thank them, so few do.


Best
Jim

 

Well done Oz, and delighted to hear your problems got resolved!

I also completely concur accentuating the positive (and letting people know about it). My experience in purchasing my F-Type was so brilliant that I 1) wrote a letter to the owner of the (large) dealership [re] my experience and specifically how the GM and Sales Person dealt with me - and he wrote me back thanking me profusely - and 2) wrote a number of "reviews" of the dealership on various websites. So, yes, definitely good (karma) spreading the positive vibes.

Cheers mate!
Jay

 

Great to hear Oz...

 

Hi OzRisk,

That's above and beyond what car service centres would normally do. My F type will be arriving in 3 weeks and I think I will be bringing it to the port melbourne centre for future services as it is closest to where I live. Which Jaguar service did you go to in Melbourne?

 

Brighton JLR, Gene. Their service centre is in New St, Brighton, closer to where I live. The body shop I mentioned is Corso Bodyworks, in the Port Melbourne end of Southbank. They are great - I often see them doing Jag's and Land Rovers for both the Brighton and Port Melbourne dealers.

 

Great story and actually about what I would expect from my dealer, based on prior experience with them.
Jaguar does have good dealers, no doubt overshadowed by the poor ones.
Lawrence.

 

Once again, so good to hear of members piping up with happy ending stories of good / excellent service and dealers that have gone way above and beyond.


I know they exist, unfortunately we tend to hear more about the bad ones / experiences, so its good to balance things out a little


Thanks

 

I ah e also so far had good experiences with my dealer. I had a TPMS issue and O2 sensor issue from pick up which they resolved quickly and also the paint chipping issue on the rocker panel which they fixed with no quibbles at all.

 

I previously noted the great experience with my dealer. When I had an AC issue and booked an appointment they offered to pick up the car and leave me a loaner as I live an hour from the dealer. Since I was going to be in the dealer area anyway I declined.

When the repair took longer than expected they drove me to a mall for lunch and shopping and came back and picked me up. At that point they thought they were going to have to keep the car overnight and offered me a loaner and said they would have someone deliver the car to my house the next day and pick up the loaner. When I replied that I really did not want anyone driving my car for that period of time on this particular highway, they offered to flatbed the truck to my house! I thought that was really above and beyond normal service. Fortunately, the repair was completed by the end of the day and I drove the car home.

The dealer also invites me to many local events which I have not been able to attend due to work and travel. Very happy with the dealer thus far.

 

Wow - that's really paying attention to your customers concerns! Very impressive!

 

A long gone Jag dealer in West Covina, CA. (Penske Jaguar) had similar amenities for customers. Some that I remember...free car wash every day (if wanted), free movie tickets to a local place (driven to and from by an employee if car was worked on for several hours), a very nice waiting lounge with lots of very good food (donuts, fresh fruit, juices, etc). Trailered our car back and forth with an upgraded loaner a couple of times when necessary.
This was in 2002 when the X-Type first came out and we leased one.
Sales lady was superb..beyond top notch.

 

I took my car to Niello Jaguar Sacramento on Monday evening for its first service, a minor recall fix and a couple warranty issues. I got treated like royalty from the minute I pulled into the service department by the very personable staff who were eager to make sure my experience was perfect. I was impressed! They gave me a new XF loaner and did a great job of keeping me informed throughout the service. I picked up my car tonight and the excellent customer service continued with a thorough explanation of the work performed on my car. Unfortunately the technician was unable to duplicate an issue I have been having with my navigation screen going blank on startup occasionally, which I will discuss in another thread. They kept the car an extra day to try to fix it and were very concerned they were unable to correct this issue. They told me to try to bring it in the next time it happens.

I must be honest that I was initially concerned about the level of service I would get from a Jaguar dealer. I purchased my car from another dealer and was less than impressed with their dull and impersonable sales staff. Luckily, my in-laws have two Jaguars and recommended Niello for service. I have had many years of fantastic service from my local BMW dealer and always set them as the standard of greatness because of their outstanding service department. I can honestly say that Niello Jaguar surpassed them on this visit.

One of the issues that was corrected on this visit was a rattling sound in the center vent when going over rough road. Nothing major but always seemed like a loose wire rubbing on plastic to me. It turns out that the grill on the speaker mounted in the vent was loose and there was a service bulletin for this issue. The technician installed sound deadening material and no more rattle.