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wags2034
| | Posted on Sunday, March 03, 2002 - 04:28 pm: | 
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PLEASE READ!!! THIS MAY HELP YOU SOMEDAY!!!
I need to share an experience to get some input from my fellow Rover owners. I took my 96' Disco 1 to L.R. Alexandria for a sunroof repair. It was found to be an aftermarket unit, so they could not work on it. (cool, reasonable) But I also asked that they look at the keyless remote. (did not work at all) First they replaced the battery, that did not work. They ended up selling me a new remote for $110.04 charging me labor of $94.00, AN ENVIROMENTAL DISPOSAL FEE of $2.98 and SHOP SUPPLIES of $7.52! Total for remote and reprogram from L.R. Alexandria $219.97!!! (It still does not work properly: You have to be right beside rover, and it still only works about 1/2 the time!) It is my understanding that this job only takes 5-10 minutes. (ask around) Granted THEY replaced the battery and had to re-repair it(NEW REMOTE), but that should be on them, not me, especially for a 5-10 minute job. AND the HIDDEN Charges! Please use extreme caution with this Dealership. I plan on calling them tomorrow to see if/how they are going to make this right. I will advise tomorrow how it is handled! |
Phillip Perkinson (R0ver4x4)
| | Posted on Sunday, March 03, 2002 - 06:06 pm: |
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I have been doing some studies under Bussiness Law and I think that you should call your loayer regarding that..they should not be able to do that |
Anonymous
| | Posted on Sunday, March 03, 2002 - 06:17 pm: |
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I would have told them to go f*ck themselves, and walked out. |
Kyle
| | Posted on Sunday, March 03, 2002 - 06:33 pm: |
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I dont really see a problem aside from the labor. They dont work until you aprove the work so you had to know it was coming before they just handed you a bill...
When I was turning wrenches we would get cases of "buyers remorse" on a daily basis. Someone would get some serice done knowing full well what the cost would be. Then , after this service they wanted didnt produce the results they thought it would they would get pissed for spending the money. The Disco remotes blow goats and its performance after the fix seems right on par with both trucks here and all the others I have ever been around...I look at it like this . If you are walking to the car to get in , then you are at some point going to be right there inches from it. The same with exiting the car. There some reason you want it to lock and unlock from a 100 yards away? 
Kyle |
Eric N (Grnrvr)
| | Posted on Sunday, March 03, 2002 - 08:55 pm: |
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I have had nothing but great service from LR Alexandria.. They have never charged me for anything without telling me first. They are good bunch of folks.. I get my Disco serviced there all the time.. I have never had any issues with them.. |
JMcD
| | Posted on Sunday, March 03, 2002 - 10:38 pm: |
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Anytime I have ANYTHING done to any of my rigs I ask, what are you going to do?, how much will it cost me? If it goes above $(fill in blank) call me and we will discuss it.. This seems to be especially true at LR dealers due to the outragous labor and parts costs.. I learned this the hard way, just like 'wags'. I know it may seem like a pain in the ass, and the service writer gives you that, "What are you, too cheap to afford it?" look, but screw 'em..
I am sorry this happened to you wags, but Kyle really is so right, They are just mechanics, doing what the service orders says to do. sorry again. JMcD
ps. blow goats? what the hell is that?? |
wags2034
| | Posted on Monday, March 04, 2002 - 08:59 am: |
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Thanks for all of your input. I guess I just really needed to vent. If you have a Rover you must expect to pay exorbant prices for things. Can anyone else share how much they have paid for this or a similar repair? And Kyle, there is one good reason that I would like it to work at 100 yards away, fiance' just told me. We live/work in DC area, she says that she would feel safer if she knew that it would un-lock from further away. In case she's ever in a panic? Just a thought. |
Patrick Hartigan (Patrick)
| | Posted on Monday, March 04, 2002 - 09:11 am: |
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Just be thankfull you didn't go to HBL. They really suck. I don't know if you heard, but they lost their dealership license for Land Rover and Rosenthol will be taking over in the Tyson's Corner area. |
Dean Brown (Deanbrown3d)
| | Posted on Monday, March 04, 2002 - 09:32 am: |
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This may sound crazy, but hold the remote under your chin when you unlock the damn thing. I would never have believed it unless I saw it myself. It increases the distance substantially sometimes. |
Kyle
| | Posted on Monday, March 04, 2002 - 10:16 am: |
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Wire the remote antennae into the radio antenna and there ya have it. Works from all over then...
And venting is a good thing....
Kyle |
Eric N (Grnrvr)
| | Posted on Monday, March 04, 2002 - 10:31 am: |
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Mine works better when I hold it up to my chin as well.. It's kind of like you are a big human sized transmitter that way.. |
gp (Garrett)
| | Posted on Monday, March 04, 2002 - 02:30 pm: |
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i hold mine to my.......um.....nevermind. you get the idea. sometimes works better than others. for some reason in the cold weather it does not work at all. or when i have just gotten out of a cold stream. go figure. just move the wire......it's under the passenger side carpet right.
ps: you guys are weird. chin? |
Eric N (Grnrvr)
| | Posted on Monday, March 04, 2002 - 02:36 pm: |
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Hey, just cause yours isn't big enough to reach your chin doesn't mean that we are weird.. |
gp (Garrett)
| | Posted on Monday, March 04, 2002 - 02:46 pm: |
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you guys are weird with big chins. |
Eric N (Grnrvr)
| | Posted on Monday, March 04, 2002 - 02:53 pm: |
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Could also change out the batteries in the remote.. That might help as well.. |
JRoc
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 05, 2002 - 03:26 am: |
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Wags,
I totally understand your frustration! When one pays for a vehicle as much as a Land Rover costs, one expects the alarm to work as normal! You shouldn't have to hold the remote up to your chin, stand on one leg, riverdance, or anything else to get it to work!!! And as far as customer service at the dealer, I too have been disappointed from time to time with dealerships. As you seem to have stated, it varies from dealership to dealership. I didn't think you were blaming the mechanic who worked on your vehicle, but rather the service manager who charged you for this service. You would think that they would consider this a defect in the system, and not anally rape you the way they did! You were pissed and you have every right to have been.
I recently purchased a '95 Disco and was experiencing the same thing with the alarm system, and specifically the remotes. They wouldn't disarm unless I was standing right next to the vehicle! I changed the battery's and they still wouldn't work any better. I then decided right there I was going to yank the Land Rover Alarm and Install a Quality Alarm. I couldn't be happier with this decision. I bought a high end Clifford Alarm and it works increadibly! More features than I can name, including remote start, and works from within eyesight. Most aftermarket alarms also have a feature called "Panic" that when needed can be activated from a distance and the alarm with sound, lights will flash, and will create a scene.
Sorry I didn't catch you before you spent the $$ on the remotes but you can definately recoup some of that on E-Bay. People are always looking for them because they think the ones they have must be bad. I should add that the alarm I got was far from cheap, but in my opinion worth every penny. I got one of the top of the line models with pleanty of features. I've seen this model go for between $600 and $1000, depending on what add-ons you get. However, one could spend considerably less for a great alarm, with less features than I have, and still be quite impressed with the difference from the Land Rover Model. Good Luck |
Eric N (Grnrvr)
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 05, 2002 - 08:11 am: |
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If you are going to get an aftermarket alarm I would suggest getting an Alpine with a proximity sensor. I had one on my old car and loved it.. With the proximity sensor it will flash the lights and beep (optional) three times when people come to close to your car. If they continue to move around it and make it cycle through 3 notices then the alarm goes off really quick.. There is also an inside field that if broken automatically sets off the alarm. It also had all the other ussual add ons like glass, motion, and all that.. The cool thing about it is that it will keep people from stealing the lights off the front of your truck or other things that you have attached to the out side. I plan on getting another installed in my Disco this summer. |
JRoc
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 05, 2002 - 05:31 pm: |
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Proximity sensors are not exclusive to Alpine. Good idea though. Some will even speak to you and can say just about anything you want it to, ie. Please step away from the Disco! LOL |
Eric N (Grnrvr)
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 05, 2002 - 05:36 pm: |
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Ya, but, from what i have seen the Alpine unit is the better one to get.. Less false alarms and better quality in my opinion. |
niall forbes (Forbesn)
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 06, 2002 - 04:46 pm: |
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My friend and I were just talking about this. He was talking about how the past president of his yacht club was a real jerk and he had one of these alarms on his Jag that would say "you are in my space" if you stood too close. He would always park his Rover as close to it as possible to make the alarm freak out.
Niall Forbes
66 IIa 88SW - The Red Zit <--For Sale
http://www3.ns.sympatico.ca/forbes/forsale.htm |
Dave
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 06, 2002 - 07:29 pm: |
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Back to the topic of the range of your keyless entry system.... Kyle hit at the solution up in one of the previous posts- The problem with range is not typically with your key fob transmitter, the problem is on the receiver end. The receivers drift with time and loose sensitivity, thus the range will drop. Sticking the remote against your chin changes the radiation pattern of the printed circuit board loop antenna inside, which in effect points more transmit power in the direction that you are looking.
So, back to Kyle's solution to hook the remote receiver to the car antenna.... That will help out the feable receiver and improve range... It would be better to re-align the receiver on frequency and add an antenna tuned specifically for 315MHz, which is the frequency used in all north american land rover models. Don't try to tell all this to the dealer... they will think you are from outer space. I'm an RF design engineer and work with this sort of stuff every day... Most of my friends think I'm from space when trying to explain these things.
The short of it is you where charged for a new transmitter (whether or not you really needed one) and one hour's labor to program or "learn" the new transmitter's security code into the vehilcle receiver's microcontroller.
Oh and don't worry, you are not alone with your dealer horror stories, my local dealer once tried to charge me $49.95 to spray some WD-40 on a squeaking spring.
That's my 2 cents worth on the subject-
Dave |
JMcD
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 06, 2002 - 07:34 pm: |
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$49.95? Thats cheap!! Parts AND labor?? wow JMcD |
Dave
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 06, 2002 - 07:41 pm: |
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Note I said "tried" to charge me $49.95. They took the charge off my bill after I bitched about it and besiides, the vehicle was under warranty at the time.
Dave |
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