I recently took my 2005 S type in for an extended warranty repair. I have the elite coverage from Performance First to the Park Place Plano Jag Dealership. I had several problems of a semi-minor nature of where I had an oil pan gasket leak and leaks around the timing cover, crankcase seal and inlet man gaskets, along with a rear door actuator and the fuel door latch not working. I also had the car aligned I got all of this done and ended up only paying for the deducatable and the alignment and left minus only $352.00. A good deal and First Performance did what it was supposed to do without an issue.

However and they are well aware of this now, I had the following problems, I noticed once I got home and took a longer look at the car. My view is that there is apparent quality control problem there or someone started and stopped what they were doing and forget where they were. Below is what I have told them.

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The purpose was to try and solve problems and by in large that was done. But due to people not checking their work, ie good quality control, I had to deal with the following issues.
1.the exterior door handle bezel on the driver's rear appears to be missing a retaining clip or something of that nature and so it does not fit back completely and at some point will break or come off. When I took this back and asked for it to be fixed, I was told that it was this way when they got. several points here- first it was not that way as I wash and wax the car personally and would have noticed such. Second I had the car recently under an insurance claim as someone had keyed my car and if they had made a mess of that piece, I would have had them take care of it as I did with another piece they tore the chrome off of and they had no problem doing it, since it was Geico's repair group. Since then I have epoxied it and it looks fine and that seems to be sufficient, although I am disappointed about this even being an issue. If it were a problem before, it was not noted on the work order and bill, although 4 dings (blemishes were noted on line G of my bill).
2. When I noticed the loose bezel the exterior door handle retaining screw had not been screwed in at all. That I took care off, but is again evident that someone stopped or started and did not do a final check.
3. The chrome and rubber around the rear quarter glass was not fitted and snapped in properly and I took care of that as it was a simple alignment and snap in, although I did have to go and buy new X shaped trim fasteners XR826786- as the old ones had lost some of their holding power and that affects holding in place to some degree of the lower aluminum trip piece on the door.
4. When I washed the car the next day, I could tell that there was the slightest of leaks into the interior of the car. Having experience with this, I took off the door cover and say that the grey insulation material with the black sticky material had not been pushed completely into place and made sure to adhere as it should to prevent leaks. So in a detailed way I went around and had to press all of the ribbon areas so not to have leaks. I am familiar with this as I had a leak when I first got the car and had to buy a new one of these and put it in. They also made a tear in that piece that was putting stress on another area of the insulation. If this continues to have problems, I will expect your dealership to be responsible for this.
5. They fixed the fuel door latch, but did so in a way that the door would not open, without putting pressure on it in some fashion. Again a quick closing of the door and then pushing the fuel door open button (at least 10 seconds of work) would have noticed this and fixed the internal spring problem.


I had an excellent and very honest service adviser that even advised against some work I might have authorized as he said it was probably a waste of money at this time and that seems to be an exception to the rule.

I am curious as to other's experiences in this type of service needs and any suggestion are always welcomed.

Tom in Dallas
2005 S-Type Jag, 3.0 57k

 

Dealership quality varies greatly from city to city and state to state. Tech quality varies greatly within the same dealerships. You roll the dice and you take your chances. I've found similiar incomplete work on our vehicles at various times after picking them up from a dealership visit. That's just one of many reasons why I D-I-Y everything I possibly can. No one will be as meticulous with your own vehicle as YOU will....

 

I generally agree with you, but I was not equipped to deal with the leaking gaskets, did not have the equipment or a lift and since the extended warranty company paid out $2400, the practical choice was to to to them . I would have rather gone to Russell and Ian at Jagmag, but being single and they don't have loaner cars creates a huge time hassle and renting of a car (which the warranty group, may or may not have paid for) and time is a huge issue for me and what I do in business. So they were the only choice that made sense, although I could have gone to one of their other locations, but that is a flip of the coin as well.

Tom

 

Tom I feel for you. I despise some so called proffesionals.

Anyways I did the lock actuator myself I broke off the tab that holds the back of the cover plate to outter door skin. I used a small piece of 3M automotive trim tape to secure it. According to Brutal its just about impossible to remove the cover plate without breaking the tab off.

See picture #11 in this link: https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/s...ics-faq-65657/

 

Rick:

Wow- quite a bit of work, but mine was covered under extended warranty - so I am happy for them to take care of it. I just don't like the broken handle problem, by my epoxy has worked fine, although I am more concerned that they did not do the right job with the door and the sound proofing which also keeps water out. If it leaks again I am going to really go to the mat with them. The rest is just horrible product quality control and in my business I have to check every little thing I do from the bottom up.

Tom in Dallas
2005 S-type 3.0
57K

 

At least you have an extended warranty. My high mileage 03 STR is like an open book.

 

If you are happy with your adviser, use him. Sit down with him and ask about their tech lineup and tell him you would like to settle on one. Ask who does work for him, maybe. Get to know the guy working on your car and form a relationship, stick with him.

Over the years I have done that with many of my people and have had several return to me regularly, even from adjoining states. These folks don't come to the dealership, they come to me. I do that with my banker, my insurance man, even wait staff at my favorite restaurants.

Become familiar with and to your service people, that's the way to assure consistent and satisfying service; car or anything else.

My two cents.......

 

 

That all makes sense, however is there not some sort of set in place procedure for having someone go through and check the work is done correctly. In my case, we are talking about a very insignificant amount oi time to check some very simple things and certainly indicate a brand, that at one point had a bad reliability rating, is doing what they say they are doing. It is certainly less time consuming and costly than having someone to have to bring their car back to get it right. No reflection on you in any way, but do not the Jag service people take any pride in their work?

Thanks

Tom in Dallas

 

thats person specific character, you cannot in any industry inspect every aspect of every persons work. Thats personall acountabilty. Ive heard people say. "ill do better if you pay me more" no you won't. You do what you do because thats your character, not your payscale

 

Boy, Tom, I truly wish it was that easy. Brutal laid it very square, character. My original point was just that, if you get to know people, you get a feel for their character, whether you really want to be associated with them or not long term. I don't know what business you are in, but I'm sure somewhere along the line you have worked with someone that you KNEW didn't measure up, no attention to detail, couldn't care less, maybe didn't even have much of a conscience. In other words, who you thought to yourself shouldn't be there. I/we are no different. Like it or not, over the years I to have worked with such people, once many many years ago to the point I went to management and said it's me or him, who do you want working here?? I'm still here....... I felt this person was sullying me and the business, but in this day and age management everywhere is hesitant to deal with these things. Mostly the liberal mentality that 'everyone needs a second chance', 'he just needs some instruction'. Bull, you just can't fix or train to correct a lack of character.

Now I ramble. Sit down, get to know who's working for you and you will find someone you can trust. Granted, you may not find that person on the first try.

Good luck!

 

10% are truly great workers, 80% are OK, 10% are bad

The numbers are approximate but sounds like you got one of the bad. Happens everywhere: doctors, teachers, managers, lawyers, everyone.

 

I work in the IT industry with security issues and financial programs and if I make a mistake it costs someone bunches of lost dough.

I think the term that might apply that we use is FKS (FALSE KNOWLEDGE SYNDROME)

Tom

 

I had a remote key problem covered under warranty. The dealer took all my keys and returned them to me when done programming. After inspection, thankfully before I left the premises, I found that they reinstalled the bad key back onto the remote!! Told the adviser and we ended up confronting the mechanic who then dug the good key out of the trash and resolved it.
One off??, possibly, but I now dread going to the dealer after they botched this simple job!!!

 

Take that incident to the dealer management, face to face, register your displeasure and ask to be acquainted with another technician. If they don't blow you off, you are probably in good hands. If they do, find another dealer and register your incident with Jaguar Cars. If you just run after a problem occurs, no one gets any justice.

Cheers,

 

@Tom, I'm a bit late in here, but why did you rectify the defects you outline yourself?

Once you go down that road you have accepted this as part of normal service.

This does not help you, nor does it help the Dealer/Service manager to improve their standards for future customers.

As for advice, for what its worth, go in there with a bit of a check list to go through before you sign off for the repair.

When I'm dealing with cars for absent clients, as soon as I produce a 'snagging' list I generally have a tech and the service manager all over me.

The comments of our two esteemed Techs here, are very valid. Try to build a relationship, it works.

Even my local guy who most certainly does not have loaner cars, will always lend me a car whenever we arrange for a visit.

 

Indeed my fault and the time and distance and the fact we were going to have rain- made me not want to have a greater problem. I did take it back for them to fix the spring for the gas door latch and pointed out the bezel problem, but then he tried to come back and say that it was that way when I came in with it, although it clearly was not and it was not noted on the work order. Said he would talk with management and maybe we could split the cost- which gave me the sick feeling of either just leaving or forcibly removing teeth.

Tom