spider

iTrader: (1)

Sounds bad mate - you have my sympathies.

Meant to ask before, which dealership branch was it? Sevenoaks, Pangbourne (Reading), or another?

Hope it's all sorted soon without too much heartache.

Cheers,
Steve

spider

iTrader: (1)

Ah - that explains the difference in service we recieved a bit better then - mine came from the Pangbourne dealer.

Still, no excuse as to the poor condition yours was in when you got it.

Give 'em Hell!

cjones944

The thing I can't quite understand is why you took delviery of the car considering the condition it was in.

Did you inspect it before handin your money over?

Rab

Get in touch with IM. If the car was sold as a Subaru Assured car it MUST come with a full service history and all the small niggly faults should have been picked up in the PDI

scooby-new

sorry to sound thick but whats "IM"??? sure it will come to me in a bit!

spider

iTrader: (1)

IM = International Motors. The UK importers/concessionaires for the Subaru brand.

Phone: 0121 522 2000

scooby-new

Thanks mate- I'll get in touch and tell them about my problems- not quite sure what they can do at this point but maybe they will spur Lancaster to find the rest of my service history/keys etc

TomCat

I am having a similar bad experience.

So far they've paid me for the knackered windscreen wipers and the full tank of fuel I never got. Still debating the mixed tyres (3 Bridgestone of one speed rating and a Champiro of a lower rating)and front brake discs badly worn. Just been told one of the front tyres needs replacing too and the tracking is out.

The person to fax is Mr Eamon Bradley, Chairman, Jardine Motor Group plc, Charter Court, Colchester, Essex CO4 9XB 01206 855189.

Do you have a contact for the local Trading Standards?

Charlie_Boy

Hey Tomcat, how funny i also had the same issues, 3 bridgestone tyres and 1 other, also wasn't happy about the brake discs and brake pads that have started to squeal after a few weeks. And still waiting for a query to be resolved.

scooby-new

Full tank of fuel???????? I got £15 worth of 95 Ron from he salesman! Seems like its not just an isolated problem then. I'll be faxing them tommorow with some of my complaints.

jw

I bought a MY00 wagon from them in November 02, it too had a missing set of keys! It took a long time to fix that. Also missing was the PIN number for the alarm, still trying to sought that out.

More interestingly, after a front bumper respay, I've learnt that the front wings, grille, bonnet and doors are not quite the royal silver they are supposed to be. It seems that it has been given a bad (or really cheap) paint job after some crash repairs. My repair shop are not able to match without more details of paints used, this could be difficult to find out. I wonder if Lancaster will help????
Otherwise I will have to respray most of the car to get it back to original/one colour.

scooby-new

In case anyone needs the address for IM Customer relations its:-

John Sherwood
International Motors
Ryder St
West Bromwich
B70 0EJ

I faxed Lancaser Subaru Sevenoaks with my complaints but they havent bothered to reply- so it's on to contacting IM and the head of Jardine Motor Group.

Sorry to hear about your problems with the respray- the car shouldn't be accident damaged if Subaru Proven- but who knows what happened with any of our vehicles before we got them? It only takes a less than scrupulous dealer to sell you damaged goods. Let's hope this isnt the case with Lancaster Subaru- I desperately still want to believe they arent as bad as it seems- for all our sakes.

TomCat

This is getting spooky. 4 cars, bought from Lancaster Subaru, all with very similar problems: Brakes, Tyres, missing history, and now accident damage.

My car, bought Nov 02, turns out to be accident damaged (n/s/f door ill-fitting) and I can prove it - I've now got a copy invoice for the repairs. If this is in breach of Subaru Proven, can I ask for my money back?

JW - suggest you fax Jardine Motor Group's chairman and IM too. He does seem genuinely concerned. I'ld ask that the dealership pay for a full bare-metal respray. nothing else would restore the car to the condition it should have been in

scooby-new

you know my nearside front door doesnt sit flush either- makes a weird whistling noise when you go above 80 mph- its not looking good is it?

the girlfriend pointed it out about 5 days after we got it - I'm really worrying now- I will contact the chairman of Jardine as well as IM. How did you find out about the damage - they havent given me anything with the car to indicate that happened but then againt they didnt give me the PDI sheet or HPI check either.

Scoobynetters be warned there is a common pattern emerging here and it isnt too good.

[Edited by scooby-new - 1/22/2003 1:58:35 PM]

Charlie_Boy

Still waiting for my alarm PIN number after almost 2 months of calling, and not particularly happy about my car, was expecting a bit more in the power department.

LB4

Charlie Boy .... i wouldn't hold my breath for that with them, i wanted the same thing, but never got it ... i can email you though how to re programme your own PIN assuming its the M30 alarm.
I'm also still waiting for them to call me regarding when i can have my spare key programmed in, been 4 months now!! .... ok so i have been to a dealers at Chelmsford and had this done 3 months ago as i got fed up calling and waiting for Lancasters.
I actually went there as they told me they have the key in, but when they tried to programme it in they said their computer broke or some excuse and would call me back whens its fixed ... still no call.

scooby-new

Just to recap- thats five individuals who have a whole range of quality and customer service problems with Lancaster Subaru- Any one else find that they have problems with Lancaster Subaru???

I still have no keys, no missing paperwork and not even a response from them regarding my concerns.....are all Subaru dealers like this???

jw

LB4 could you email me the details on how to reprogram my pin. Also any ideas how I can tell if the alarm is a M30?

Ta

LB4

JW ... i will get back to you on this, this weekend. Very busy at work until then (what am i doing on here then?? )
I'll email you ok.

I'm sure if its the factory fit alarm then it is the Sigma M30 .. i have a UK MY00 wagon too.

[Edited by LB4 - 1/23/2003 7:27:35 PM]

scooby-new

Free BTTT for Lancaster Subaru- 'cos you didn't bother replying to my fax and I still havent had my keys after a month!
An unnaceptable lack of good customer service from Lancaster Sevenoaks Subaru.

[Edited by scooby-new - 3/9/2003 3:55:01 PM]

gareth60

I know you probably don't want to hear this, but I haven't had any problems with them. I guess the situation is slightly different as both cars I’ve brought were new and nothing has gone wrong with them.

I am however still awaiting my PPP Certificate and my insurance company is getting stressed, I may have to escalate it soon.

A point of note. A couple of years ago, I had the clutch replaced under warranty, but I had it done at the Maidstone Subaru dealer. Not for any particular reason, just that it's closer to me and they were very friendly in the service department.

Gareth

scooby-new

So you havent had any problems with them- thats good- apart from the fact they havent even been able to supply you with your PPP document for insurance. Sounds like pretty poor service to me - I'm glad your problems are limited to that.

Many others on the board have had these kind of niggling problems- the majority it seems have more serious issues to resolve. The problem is Lancaster Sevenoaks don't seem to be doing anything for anyone- its pretty sad for them actually because they will lose a lot of business due to this lack of customer care/standards.

minister of speed

Yep agree ... crap service, crap people etc moan moan


I now go to Gatwick, another 20 mins away , to a "decent dealer".

Mungo

Definitely worth going to someone further up the Jardine Motor Group, and letting them know you're in touch with IM - there's no way they'd want to lose their franchise. I've used Lancaster Reading (actually in Pangbourne...) and they've been very good, alway excellent service.
It sounds as if Sevenoaks have let profits get way too far ahead of customer care. How on earth can they sell a Scoob with dog-**** tyres on?

TomCat

Update: I've had a nice letter from the Chairman of JMG.

Lancaster Pangbourne are now showing excellant customer service. They will be picking up the car (from the West Country!), leaving me a courtesy car, investigating/fixing the car, and returning it to me filled back up with petrol.
They want it for 2 days so they obviously mean business.

jw

thanks for the update Tomcat. I am still trying to resolve my paint problems with Lancaster. Will be talking to IM and JMG on Monday.

scooby-new

Glad to see someone is getting decent service out of a Lancaster franchise- Pangbourne sound OK- unfortunately Lancaster Sevenoaks have still done nothing for me- not even a reply to my e-mails or fax.

I took my wagon to my local dealer- Subaru Lons here in France (rt Bayonne if anyone ever needs a good garage in the Pyrenees) they said it was one of the worst they'd seen. So far I've spent £500 on new tyres to replace the "Stunners" provided by Lancaster. The garage tells me the rear disk are knackered and have been for a long time. So to recap I will be spending over £1000 to put the car right. Also the passenger door is now bubbling with rust.
Maybe they will decide to put things right in my case as they have done in others but they should get it right in the first place. There is no excuse for providing a vehicle in such a poor state.

[Edited by scooby-new - 3/9/2003 3:55:56 PM]

mutant_matt

jw, Charlie_Boy and Scooby new,

Why don't you follow up TomCat's method and contact both JMG and IM. You could also point them in the direction of this thread to show that you know the bad service is not an isolated incident?

You could also try contacting Ian Francombe (if he is still there) in Sales @ Lancasters Sevenoaks as I know he reads this board and posts as "Frankie". If he is aware that you are complaining to head office and IM and that a bunch of you are sharing horror stories on this thread, he may feel inclined to help out.....

Just a thought!

Good luck,

Matt.

scooby-new

Thanks for the input- it's nice to get support from others in the community. As to faxing Lancasters- I've done this a few times telling them if something isnt done I'll be on to IM+Mr Bradley of the Jardine Group. I can only presume they don't care. I wrote to Mr Bradley and IM this week so maybe that will spur them on. My solicitor suggests I just sue them for reperation to the vehicle or return it to them for a refund under the sale of goods act. If they can't get their acts together then I'll do that. I'm also contacting trading standards and the motoring press- I talked to a chap from Auto Express who was very interested in the falling standards of Subaru dealerships considering their once excellent reputation. I'll keep you all posted and hopefully some action may finally be taken by Lancaster Subaru.

scooby-new

Just got a letter this morning from Jardine group saying their customer service manager "will be investigating"- seems like Jardine do take complaints seriously even if Lancaster Subaru Sevenoaks don't. Watch this space I'll keep you all informed.

I'll be interested to know what IM have to say too.