Hey everyone,

Some of you may know that I have been on the hunt for a good dealership in the Bay Area to service my car since purchasing it in Santa Barbara last year. About a week ago I brought my car in for some warranty issues at Cole European, one of the Jaguar Land Rover dealerships within my local area.

Long story short, while most of the issues were indeed resolved, my car sustained some minor damage to the interior while it was in service, namely a cut to a door panel and some scratches to another panel (both on the same door warranty work was performed) and the ignition button. Thinking it was no big deal, and that we can just work it out, I drove back to the service center to report it only to be called by the Service Advisor, Bernard, the next day who then yelled at me, accused me of lying, called me cheap, threatened not to work on my car because I had not purchased it from them (despite not having lived there at the time of purchase), and hung up on me.

The damage is not a big deal, and I know that we can all get a little OCD with our beloved cars here, but I'm honestly appalled that a so-called "professional" Service Advisor would ever even consider interacting with a client like this. Completely unacceptable behavior, especially given this entire debacle could have been discussed and settled in a civil manner.

If you guys are interested in the full story (it's a long read), you can go ahead and read my Yelp review here. In the meantime, beware of getting your cars serviced at Cole European in Walnut Creek, CA, especially if your car is not originally purchased from there. If anyone has some good dealership recommendations in the Bay, please let me know!

 

It's people like this that give the Auto industry a bad name..... but unfortunately as consumers we have to take extra measures to protect ourselves.


I don't think its OCD, its the fact its your vehicle, and it wasn't that way when it arrived, why should it be when you collect it? Something as simple as a cut can turn into something much bigger as time goes on. Door panels are not cheap when buying new, much less 2nd hand....




Just a suggestion - I'd recommend installing a phone call recorder app on your phone, and make sure to use that as your contact. This way if it happens again, you have evidence of what's being said and can take it directly to the GM of the dealer.


Also I'm surprised they don't have a vehicle silhouette on the job card to note and damage done to the vehicle prior when arriving at the dealership...

 

I live about 25 miles from Cole European Walnut Creek, but drive 58 miles to Niello Jaguar Sacramento for service for my F-Type and XF. A 25-minute ride vs. up to 2 ½ hours to Sacramento, depending on the time of day and traffic. It is very inconvenient with my busy schedule. Why? I have a family member, with two Jaguars, who was less than satisfied with the way they were treated at Cole. I, personally, have not had any service experience with them, so I cannot provide a fair review of their performance. I simply chose to go elsewhere based on a recommendation.

Even though, neither of my cars were acquired through Niello, they have given me first class treatment on every visit. Excellent communication, friendly, very accommodating and no damage. Like many on this forum, I keep my cars immaculate and receive them back in the same condition. They know I drive a distance and work with me. I got the XF in San Jose and the F-Type in Monterey. Both dealers try very hard to entice me to come to them for service. I have been satisfied with Niello and the drive to San Jose and Monterey is even more horrendous from where I live.

Service and parts are a big profit center for dealerships. It seems foolish for a dealer to not welcome any service business regardless of whether they sold the car or not. I would speak directly to the service manager and bypass the advisor to address your problem, if you haven’t already.

If it isn’t unrealistic for you, I recommend trying Niello Jaguar. I see your location listed as San Francisco. Have you tried British Motorcars? I had an opportunity to meet the service manager at a Jaguar event several years ago and he was a very nice gentleman. I have not tried them for service though.

 

I don't get that whole " well they didn't buy it here anyways " concept. Over the years I've been around service advisors that think this way as well. I have to " kindly " remind them, it shouldn't matter where the vehicle is purchased.


A Jaguar in the USA is no different than a Jaguar in the UK, at the end of the day, its a Jaguar... period.


People who think this way obviously don't put themselves in other peoples shoes....

 

Dang, Cole was next on my list after getting bad service at Marin. I bought it at Livermore and was less than thrilled with them. San Jose is the closest to me but not even considering them after seeing the horrid reviews. I considered Niello even though at least 2.5 hrs for me too. But I figured that if something goes wrong, I reeeally don't want to have to drive back up to fix it. Guess I will check back in 10 months, when mine is due again... Thanks for the heads up.

 

Thanks for the "heads up" on Cole's service department. I had heard some unpleasant things before, but this confirms it. The question is where does one go in the San Francisco bay area when dealer level service is the only option?

 

Hey all, sorry for the late update, but wanted to follow up after my original post. After what initially took place with the service advisor, I got in touch with Steve Hallett, the assistant service manager at Cole, and after some aggressive back and forth he was willing to replace the ignition button and do a repair for the damaged door panel (Although he was only willing to split the cost of a new door panel). Steve was actually quite good about the whole situation and the door repair, while done by an outside party, was done very well and is now completely unnoticeable.

After the repair was done, there were still some issues that the team at Cole were unable to fix (A/C vent rattle, buzzing speakers). After taking a look at Bay Area dealer reviews I ended up taking the F-Type to Jaguar of Livermore who were actually great. I worked with Daniel and his team was able to fix the rattle and find a software update which fixed the speakers (which somehow Cole missed multiple times the car was in for warranty repair?) all within an hour. A couple weeks later a fuse blew out which caused my cigarette lighter socket to fail, and they were able to take it in and fix it without an appointment in about 10mins. Was pretty impressed, and so a week ago I also brought my car in with Daniel for its annual service, which was also done great and only within 2 hours! Only downside is they have almost no loaners, but service is quick so I'm okay with just sitting around for a while.

TLDR: Cole took responsibility for their damage but only after I pushed hard for it, but the repair and replacement was done well. Found Jaguar of Livermore afterwards and worked with Daniel, have only had good experiences since!

Given the reviews of most dealers and having bad experiences with BMC of SF and Cole European, I think Livermore and as jmfan suggested Niello are the two good options in the Bay Area. If anyone has any other experiences with Bay Area dealers please let us know!

 

Thanks for the recommendation! I actually live a bit closer to Niello than you guys do, haha, I'm located out of Emeryville. So far Livermore has been great and a bit closer, but if things fall through Niello is next on my list!

I had actually brought the car to BMC first for some rattling, and was given not that impressed with the service. Granted, it wasn't a service but a warranty repair, but they repeatedly didn't answer calls or return them (5+ calls a day) for multiple days after they said they would follow-up, and when I finally drove back to check after 4 days they hadn't even done diagnostics. From talking to a service tech at Cole who used to work at BMC, a while ago they changed pay from hourly to per vehicle completed, which drove out a lot of good techs and left it as a shell of a service center, which makes sense given they're missing even the manpower to respond to calls. The place is like a car show though, they had some crazy Paganis when I went in.