Hennessy Jaguar in Buckhead is Horrible!!
 

What a disaster!
My keys got stolen. Only a Jaguar dealer can program new ones, or at least that is the impression I have.
So I had my car towed to Hennessy Jaguar in Buckhead (central Atlanta). They were a very nice dealership to visit, if somewhat pompous in atmosphere. I was met in the parking lot and kindly escorted to where I needed to be. Offered coffee, tea, water, muffins, pastries, and snacks; hell, they'd probably have made me a sandwich and poured me a nice glass of scotch if I had asked politely. But that is where the good ended and the bad started...
They received my car on Tuesday morning. I didn't get it back until Friday afternoon. All I got was 3 keys and a transmitter fob. The ticket was 950 bucks! Seriously, that does not include the tow or anything else, 950 dollars for just 3 keys and a fob. On Ebay the same 3 keys and fob would cost 50 bucks total, 10 for each key and 20 for the fob.
When I mentioned a forum member rebate, the secretary just chuckled and said that they do not offer discounts for anyone, for anything, for any reason. So I payed for 50 dollars worth of keys, and an extra 900 bucks for Jaguar service to offer me muffins. :icon_gunhead:
To make matters even worse, they removed my insurance and registration papers from the car, and I assume they lost them or threw them away because I couldn't get so much as a return phone call from them when I called and asked what they did with my vehicle paperwork. Its Sunday morning, and I called them twice on Friday before 1pm, Left a recorded message because no one answered the phone the first time, and the second time I called, the receptionist said she would figure it out right away and then promptly sent me to a voicemail again. I bet if I was trying to buy a new F-Type they would have called me, rather than me having to call them twice and get zero help or even a response. :icon_deal:
To be clear, I am extremely polite to people in general, I dont have harsh words for the secretary when somebody else caused my problem. So I did not call them angry, just concerned over my paperwork.
But wait, it gets way way better! Not only did they take my paperwork and ignore my request for it back; they broke my glove compartment stay, and put cracks in my wood poly finish over the airbag panel! :icon_cry: How the hell they did it, I have no idea. But the glove box just flops open and spills everything out; and the cracks are huge, all the way from the top to the bottom, 4 of them, like a big fat witches nose on a pretty girl, horribly apparent as soon as you open the door.
Finally, sad to say, there's even more bad news. A nice big fat ding on my deck lid, and a ripple dent on the rear quarter. I cant say for sure how these happened, but they did happen sometime after the car went on the wrecker, because I was waiting on the wrecker and admiring my beautiful shapely XKR (you do it too, don't laugh!), and they were not there then, I would have noticed for sure. I immediately noticed them both the day I got my car back.
My poor cat has been desecrated by heavy handed ingrate morons!! :(
I opened my glove box ten minutes before my vehicle went on the rollback to go to Hennessy Jag, to remove some paperwork, reciepts, and cash. It was all fine then. I noticed the wood damage on the way home, and when I opened the glove compartment, it dumped its contents all over the passenger floorboard. The car was in the wreckers custody for 45 minutes, during which time they had no reason to open my glove compartment. I believe if they had, they would have been more careful, since they would have been looking for something to steal in that situation. That leaves Hennessy Jag as the only possible culprit. They also left a dirty crumpled up paper floormat in my passenger seat, to add some insult to my injury I guess...
I am certain they will not own up to, or repair, any of this damage. Id be afraid to let them touch my car to fix it at this point anyway. Ill have it done by someone with a decent reputation, not Hennessy.

2 new dents, a cracked dash, a broken glove box, 4 days to make spare keys for 950 dollars, lost my paperwork, no return phone calls, and left trash in my seat. They even laughed at me when I mentioned the forum member discount!

I hope this helps someone make the right choice in dealership service.

Avoid Hennessy Jaguar in Buckhead at all costs!!

I had a bad experience with them also. I guess since they also sell and service Rolls Royce, they don't feel Jaguar is a premium car. That is why they did not get my business when I bought a new Jaguar. Although there are 3 Hennessey Jaguar Dealerships in the Atlanta area, they are all different. Hennessey Jaguar Northpoint will always get my business. Never a problem there.

Ill certainly keep that in mind. I'm so disappointed and discouraged by the damage Hennessy Buckhead did, I may not be able to overlook the Hennessy name, regardless of the separation of each branch.
I think if I were the person in charge of the Hennessy name brand of dealerships I would be ashamed to include the Buckhead branch in my group. Since they are all ultimately run by Hennessy, I would personally look elsewhere for my new F-Type, rather than take the chance that Northpoint is the exception, rather than Buckhead.
Not that I can afford a new F-Type quite yet! :icon_smile:

I have used Hennessy of Gwinnett on my 95 XJS and my wife's 99XJ8L for routine service and some repairs. They have always done a good job and have been polite as well. I purchased my wife's 99 from them 10+ years ago with the "Select Edition" Warranty. The first week it blew off the upper radiator hose when my wife pulled into our driveway. I called Hennessy and they sent a flat bed and took it in. I meet with the service people and they told me the thermostat hung up and they will replace it and all the fluid it lost. I asked how much would they charge to inspect the chain tensioners. The quoted $300.00 to remove the valve covers, clean them and reinstall with new gaskets. Upon inspection they found cracked tensioners and said they would replace all chains and tensioners with the latest upgrade. I said if they had to take the water pump off would they install the upgraded water pump and I would pay for that. Got the car back 2 days later with a $0.00 bill. They covered it all under the select edition warranty, including the water pump. When they brought it out for me it had been cleaned inside and out and they gave me the safety inspection form and said there was nothing it needed. I have had it serviced there ever since and it is delivered to me the same way each time. I had them do a post purchase inspection on my 95 XJS 2+ years ago. I worked with the service manager on a Saturday as he did the inspection. that is when I found the miss fire problem, wrong plugs. He suggested I go buy the cheap Champions and replace the iridium the PO had installed. I have not had a problem with either car since I purchased them, other than the first week.


I have been to the Buckhead Hennessy to look around and found them to be just as you described. Aloof, cold and insincere. I get my Jaguar Club discount at Gwinnett.


I hope you find the service I have received at the next shop you use.

FreeThePirate, now you have me nervous.
I'll keep your event in mind if I ever need a tow or service. While I'm walking around my beautiful shapely XKR, I'll do it with camera in-hand, documenting all the pristine damage-free interior and exterior, and have the truck operator on-camera verbally agreeing that there is no damage anywhere. Liability protection for me AND him. Also for after it gets to the service destination. Of course now I'd want to be there for the unload to again check it out, have a rep from the service desk there to again verify the no damage condition.
I'd throw a bloomin' fit if I were in your situation. I'm also now glad I don't live near Atlanta.
Hopefully others can avoid this debacle through your misfortune.

I must admit, after hearing the excellent experiences Lew and Ron have had with the Northpoint and Gwinnett locations, I now see the Hennessy name in a better light. In comparison this makes Buckhead Jaguar look even more incompetent and careless; hard to believe Buckhead Jaguar can even stay in business. Imagine choosing between two shining gems and a steaming turd...
(wait, don't really imagine that, :icon_no: bad metaphor!)

Cee Jay, your advice is taken wholeheartedly! I had my shiny new smartphone in my pocket through this whole ordeal and never thought to film the process and verify any damage between handlers. It would have saved me some money for sure.
One more lesson learned the hard way! :icon_doh:

freethepirate


Did you purchase your XJR out of Lawrenceville about 4 or 5 months ago. It looks like the one I tried to chase down. I called them several times on the number posted on the for sale sign. I have always wanted the XK8 coupe since I first saw one in 1996 when I lived in Texas. Well I found a beautiful 95XJS coupe and had to have it as I wait for that XJ8 coupe to come along. I prefer the first series with the single oval opening front grille.

Ive always had a keen appreciation for the flowing lines of the jaguar coupes, the elegance of Connolly leather and wood burl. But I can still remember first seeing the magazine advertisement for the new XK8, and the excitement i felt for it. I promised myself I'd have one right then and there! (at the time I was about 16, and had just got my first car, a 600 dollar 75 Ford LTD 4 door, because that's all my single mother could afford...) It only took about 18 years of driving crap domestic beaters to realize that kids dream. Well, that and some serious personal ambition to succeed in life.

I have always preferred either the split mesh and bumpers, or an open grille, with or without the chrome bar and badge. I think the flush mounted screen is too overbearing.

I got my XKR from a shady used car lot in Robertsdale Alabama, run by a Russian guy, from a craigslist ad. They were asking 14, I haggled and payed 11,500 with a 50 feet warranty.
It had 47k miles, and looked like it hadn't had any maintenance done since before the factory warranty ran out.
The headliner was falling down, vizor covers were broken off, shifter knob was cracked, and the front seats were worn thin and ragged, as well as the console arm rest; ashtray wouldn't close, and the cupholder was broken. The stock subwoofer was floppy and sounded terrible.
The exterior was perfect, engine compartment wasn't too dirty, and showed no signs of having been worked on recently. Oil was dark, but not burnt or new. Undercarriage was clean and straight. The suspension was trashed, shock mounts and bushings were all degraded.
The title was in the form of a Federal Marshall seizure claim, so I assume my car has partied harder than me in its time lol, I did look through it thoroughly to make sure the Feds hadn't missed anything... for once, they did a good job.

(Funny story... A cousin of mine once bought a 98ft fishing boat from a seizure auction. He found 12.5 dump truck loads of baled Mexican pot in the fuel tanks, that the Feds had missed. The cops used county inmates to remove it, and there was a steady stream of smoke coming from the hatch all day long. Cops just laughed and said something about strip searches. Only time I've ever seen a happy and cheerful chain gang.)

My XKR is currently in the shop having all the mechanical issues taken care of. Also on the list for this tour of the shop are: shock mounts and bushings, engine and transmission mounts, Irridium plugs, hotter MSD coils, slotted drilled rotors, redstuff brake shoes, 5.1 fluid replace, red paint and decals for the calipers, K&N filter, fuel filter, a toggle attached to the sport mode button to force-stiffen the C.A.T.S. shocks, a RealGuage system for the temp and oil gauges, AmsOil 5w30, transmission refresh, center muffler swap for X-pipe, and a Quaife helical LSD.
I can't stress enough the importance of a LSD in this car, they go from a one wheel wonder to a cat with proper claws; I seriously consider this LSD a fix for both safety and performance, rather than an upgrade - It should really have been a stock part to begin with.

Once it's done there, Ill put in the replacement cupholder, ashtray, vizors, armrest, leather seats, Alpine 10' subwoofer, suede rear deck and headliner, growler badged shift knob, medium window tint, and custom growler floor mats.

Then what wood I have will get refinished by BritishAutoWood with a small gold leaper on the airbag cover, and ill reinstall that along with whatever custom wood parts I can talk Saul into making. In particular I hope he will make me a set of seat-back lever trim and knobs. Mine are broken, Jaguar discontinued the part, and I think wood would look beautiful right there.

Later Ill save up for a twin screw, move the E-brake to the right of the driver seat, replace the terrifyingly placed fuel tank with a cell that wont immolate me in a wreck, adjust the front seat position for more legroom (Im 6'4 and can barely scratch an itch once the door is closed lol) Install everything the JagWrangler has plans to sell in the future, especially the intercooler fan control and steering resistance modulator. And last, once all that's done... I was thinking of replacing the whole console cluster with a large tablet, using this: controlanything.com It sure would look nice to get rid of all those buttons and repalce them with a nice big touch screen.

One last thing to note... My rear bumper got scratched in the shop. This was at Bracketts Ratchet south of the Atlanta perimeter. Rick, the owner, brought my attention to the scratch immediately, and let me know it was definitely his employee who scratched it. He offered a sincere apology and will repaint the whole bumper free of charge.
Now that's what I expect from a service shop! Honesty and integrity, unlike the blank stares i got from the dishonest bums at Buckhead Jaguar.

Sounds like a lot of wear and tear for 47K miles. Do you think your Russian used car salesman "adjusted" the mileage on the car a bit before he sold it?
Vector

Well, Vector, I don't think he did, because the Fed Marshal paperwork listed the mileage. If it wasn't for that piece of paper I would say yes, it was a doctored odo; but because the paperwork the dealer gave me was basically what the Marshals gave him, I think he was honest...
Other things also lend credit to this assumption; the headliner is simple to replace, every used car lot on the planet has a few rolls of common color headliner material in the back, and I think he would have replaced it before doing anything else to the car. Its a hard sell when the buyer gets into the car and has headliner cloth draped across his head lol. There were a few other really ugly and easily fixed spots, like the center caps on the rims were all degraded and nasty, easily fixed for under 20 bucks.

What I think happened is that the car was bought new and treated well by the first owner, probably driven lightly, garage kept and regularly maintained, then sold around warranty end. Second owner would have paid around 30-40 for it, and probably treated it as well as the first owner. By the time the third owner bought it, it was sold for under 20 and used to transport drugs, probably did a lot of interstate driving, which is very hard on the suspension and would account for the wear. Then the dealer was caught in a Federal Marshal net, and the car sat for a good long time in a seizure lot baking in the sun. Headliner fell, plastic parts were embrittled, speaker got floppy, etc.

Most of the problems I have encountered are from neglect over time, rather than abuse. There were no dents or scratches in the original paint, no tears in the seats or headliner, no scuffs on the rims, very minor road rash under the chin and none under the tail, and the wear on the rear tires was even (Im assuming this means not a lot of wheel spinning, due to the lack of a LSD causing the passenger side wheel to spin basically at will when the TC is off)

So yeah, It has a few wrinkles, but they're mostly cosmetic and lack of maintenance, rather than from rough use and abuse or high mileage.

That makes sense. Maybe some of the boys at the seizure lot had to take it out to get some lunch once in a while too.

As we say with horses: "She's been rode hard and put up wet."

This refers to riding a horse so hard the sweat is dripping off them and then failing to wipe them down/cool them down before you put them in the stall. This is considered "poor maintenance" with horses.
Vector

had a key fob and key made at the place near a ferrari dealership up ne burbs believe it was nally jaguar cost 450 dollars told them sat good bye to the car theyll never see it again got a letter awhile back saying "come in and well check your brakes for $99". not repair anything just check.... believe most places now days do that for free .

Vector, that's exactly the right saying for the situation; tho usually the term is reserved for cougars and barflies, rather than Jaguars or horses! :icon_smile:


Wolfpck1, I believe you went to Hennessy Northpoint; Nalley has closed its Jaguar dealership in Roswell.
If it makes you feel any better (I'm sure it wont), I talked to two of the most recommended independent Jaguar service shops, Road Britannia and Kuhns, and they are no longer able to obtain or program keys for our cars. Jaguar will not even sell them key fobs any longer!
This has been the case for about two years, since Jaguar changed their policy regarding keys and fobs to exclude sales to indy shops, or basically anyone who is not the owner of the car and having the work done at the dealership. Like a bad joke! :icon_frown:

From what Ive read here on the forum, now that you have keys, as long as you have 2 of them, you can program a 3rd and 4th key yourself, as well as programming the fobs yourself. It's a relatively simple process detailed in several forum threads.
Keys are 10 bucks, and fobs are 20, on ebay. They don't seem to have any with the Jaguar emblem tho... Finding a locksmith to have them cut is harder than programming them, once you have the 2 working keys to start with.

I struggled to finally find an independent smith to cut my keys from the key code. He had quite a problem cutting the first one as his machine kept making horrible screeches and groans. After about a half hour and four passes, he finally had the first one cut. We tried it and it worked.
Cut the second one??? He told me "Not A Chance".
So I now have one working key and a blank. WHAT are these things MADE out of???

The keys are made of pure Unobtanium, had forged by magical gnomes deep in the heart of Black Mountain in Coventry England.
That's why they're so unbelievably expensive!

Now you know where the expression comes from!
Vector

free this had to have been close to 5 yrs or so ago when i first bought the car not sure when nalley closed up there .hope to maybe see you tomorrow at rosarios

Wolf, I'd really like to attend, but my cat is in traction for a couple more weeks. Still waiting on the LSD I ordered to arrive, haven't even sent my dash wood pieces in yet, the poor thing is in a sorry state... I have the time, just don't have the car quite yet.

I went to Buckhead before I bought my Jag. I felt like they were doing me a HUGE favor by talking to me. Pompous @ssholes if you ask me. Must have been my lowly Mercedes I pulled up in. I wouldn't let them work on my lawn mower. In contrast the Gwinnett dealer makes me feel like a rock star. I feel like the most important customer in the world there.

I know exactly how you feel Fly! One would think the blinding glare in that place would be unbearable, with the sun shining out of everyones butt like it does...

I had an '03 Acura CL 3.2 S-Type (AT) before I got the XKR. It was all made of plastic, fake chrome, and fake wood trim, but it was sporty in a V-6 FWD sort of way, and had lots of Japaneezy options. It was a special edition, but certainly not a special car in any tangible way...
The point is, when I took it to the dealership, I was treated like I had just ordered a new NSX. The first time I went there (Proctor Acura in Tallahassee), I was given a bottle of water without being asked if I was thirsty; I opted to wait on my repair, and while in the waiting area I grabbed a couple of cookies from a well stocked snack bar - the service rep brought me a glass of milk to go with my cookies! Then when the car was done, it had been fully detailed, inside and out, at no extra charge.
My second trip in, the car had several hours of work to be done, so they gave me a loaded MDX as a loaner. The MDX is a crossover, truly horrible car in my opinion, but the thing was worth 60k - approximately 7 times more than my CL was worth. The rep said it wasn't an official loaner, those were TL's, but he thought Id prefer something more sporty to play with for the day. Upon picking up my fixed and freshly detailed CL, I was invited to return any time I was in town for a quick detail, always on the house.

Imagine my surprise when the next dealership I visited was Buckhead Jaguar, where they trashed my ride, raped my wallet, lost my registration, and sent me home with a sore rear end. Surely Sir William Lyons is turning in his grave!


Vector, how about 'Drove hard and put up smoking!' Just doesn't have the same ring does it...